Chapter V: Fourth Day (1)

_Section_ I.--THE SUN.

Signs -- Names -- Nature -- Motions -- Form -- Magnitude --
Distance -- Suspension -- Idolatrous worship of the Sun -- The
Sun an Emblem of Christ.

On the _fourth day_, “God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.” The light which had hitherto been scattered and confused, was now collected and formed into several luminaries, and so rendered more glorious and of greater utility.

A sensible and pious author observes, that not only the two great lights, which were made after a special manner to rule the day and the night, but, in general, all the lights in the firmament of the heaven, are said to be for signs and for seasons; or, as some render the words, “for signs of the seasons.” And indeed this seems to be the meaning of the inspired writer. As for the manner of expression, “for signs and for seasons,” it is very common in the Hebrew, as well as in many other languages, and is a figurative way of speech, expressing those things disjunctively, which must by the understanding be joined together. First, these lights are said to be _for signs_, and then the things are mentioned which they are to signify, namely, the _seasons_, the _days_, and the _years_: whereas, if we understand the word _signs_ in an indefinite sense, and not confined to what follows, we are through the whole text left in great uncertainty; seeing that there are _signs_ appointed _in the heaven_ for some purpose or other, but not knowing for what. Besides, if we must take all the parts of the text disjunctively, then “the lights in the firmament” must be taken for _seasons_, and for _days_, and for _years_, as well as for _signs_. But we know, that the celestial bodies are not themselves _seasons_, and _days_, and _years_, but only _signs_ of them, by such particular motions and aspects, as God, according to the laws of nature, has ordained them. Neither can I see reason to believe, that every motion or position of the heavenly bodies has a special signification in it: though serving in general to display the wisdom and power of God, in their regular courses. The sun, indeed, which is called the _greater light_, is said _to rule the day_, as it is by the appearance of his light, increasing and decreasing, that we measure the length of the day; and the moon likewise _to rule the night_, partly on the like account. Thus likewise the sun’s course (if we may so call it) is a determining sign of the beginning and ending of the year, and of its various seasons. And in general, the sun, the moon, and the other lights, are necessary signs of the seasons of sowing, reaping, planting, and are useful in navigation, as well as other arts.

Costard, in his History of Astronomy, makes some critical remarks on the name of this greater light. He says, The sun is, by the Greeks, called Ἡλιος: which is nothing more than the Hebrew word אל _El_, modelled after the Greek manner of pronunciation, and signifies _Lord_; the first idolatrous worship being paid to this planet. In the Hebrew language it is called שמש _Shemesh_, and in the Chaldee שמשא _Shimsha_, from שמש _Shamesh_, to _minister_, on account of its administering light and heat to this world. From this property of communicating heat, it is also called המה _Hammah_. By the Phœnician idolaters it seems to have been called בעל _Baal_, or בעל שמים _Baal-Shamim_, the _Lord of Heaven_. And on account of the supposed swiftness of its diurnal motion from east to west, it had a chariot dedicated to it at Sidon, an ancient town of Phœnicia. Such a chariot is still seen on the coins of that place. This superstition was likewise imitated by the idolatrous Jews: for we read of _the horses which the kings of_ Judah _had given_, or dedicated, _to the sun_. By the Chaldeans it seems to have been called בל _Bel_, and by the Assyrians פל _Pul_; and, with the addition, sometimes of אב _ab_, or אף _ap_, i.e. _father_, אף-פל _Ap-Pul_, or _Father-Lord_; from whence the Greeks formed their Απολλων, another name given by them to the sun. The name of this luminary, among the Romans, was _sol_; given more probably, on account of his scorching heat in the summer, or from his determining the length of the year by his course, than because he appeared _solus, alone_, according to the derivation given by Macrobius.

The _nature_ of the sun is a subject which has not only excited the most diligent inquiry among men of scientific knowledge, but the opinions concerning it have passed through a variety of vicissitudes. The sun being evidently the source of light and heat, was by the ancients considered to be a globe of fire. But Dr. Herschell’s discoveries, by means of his immensely large telescopes, tend to prove, that what we call the _sun_ is only the _atmosphere_ of that luminary: “that this atmosphere consists of various _elastic fluids_, which are more or less transparent; that as the clouds surrounding our earth are probably decompositions of some of the elastic fluids belonging to the atmosphere itself, so we may suppose that in the vast atmosphere of the sun similar decompositions may take place, but with this difference, that the decompositions of the elastic fluids of the sun are of a _phosphoric_ nature, and are attended by lucid appearances, by giving out light.” The body of the sun this celebrated astronomer considers as hidden generally from us, by means of this luminous atmosphere; that what are called _maculæ_, or _spots_ on the sun, are real openings in this atmosphere, through which the _opaque body_ of the sun becomes visible; that this atmosphere itself is not _fiery_ nor _hot_, but is the instrument which God designed to act on the caloric or latent heat; and that heat is only produced by the solar light acting on and combining with the caloric or matter of fire contained in the air, and other substances which are heated by it.

This indefatigable investigator of the heavenly phenomena shows, by many substantial proofs, drawn from natural philosophy, that _heat_ is produced by the sun’s rays only when they act on a calorific medium; and that they cause the production of heat by uniting with the matter of fire which is contained in the substances that are heated,--as the collision of flint and steel will inflame a magazine of gunpowder, by uniting with its latent fire, and bring the whole into action. This point is capable of a very clear elucidation. “On the tops of mountains, and at heights to which the clouds seldom reach to shelter them from the direct rays of the sun, we always find regions of ice and snow. Now if the sun’s rays themselves conveyed all the heat we find on the earth, it would of course be hottest in situations similar to the tops of mountains, where their course is least interrupted. But all those who have ascended in balloons confirm the coldness of the upper regions of the atmosphere; and, therefore, since even on the earth the heat of the situation depends on the facility with which the medium yields to the impression of the sun’s rays, we have only to admit, that, on the sun itself, the fluids composing its atmosphere, and the matter on its surface, are of such a nature as not to be capable of any excessive heat from its own rays. It is also a well known fact, that the focus of the largest burning lens thrown into the air, will occasion no heat in the place where it has been kept for a considerable time, although its powers of exciting heat, when proper bodies are exposed to it, should be sufficient to melt or fuse the most refractory metals.” That the sun is a luminous, and not an igneous body, has met with the general consent of modern philosophers; an opinion to which every new discovery in philosophy gives additional support.

The telescope, said to have been invented by the children of a spectacle-maker at Middleburgh, in the year 1590, but first brought to such a degree of perfection by Galileo as to make any considerable discoveries in the celestial regions, has led to the most important results in the science of astronomy. Among which are the _spots_ in the sun’s disk, by whose motion from west to east the sun is perceived to revolve upon his own axis in 25 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes. This revolution of the sun round his own axis is probably not the only motion which this luminary experiences. There is great reason to believe that he has another motion, either rectilinear, or round some indefinitely remote centre of attraction. In this last course, he carries along with him, through space, the entire system of planets, satellites, and comets; in the same manner in which each planet draws his satellites along with him in his motion round the sun. He communicates light and heat to at least twenty opaque bodies, which revolve round him, at different distances, in ellipses that differ but little from circles.

From the motion of the spots, which is sometimes straight and sometimes curved, we learn that the sun’s axis is not perpendicular to the plane of his ecliptic, but inclined to it, or the plane of the earth’s annual orbit, so as to form an angle of about 83 degrees. Christopher Scheiner, a most diligent observer of these spot’s in the sun’s disk, published a treatise concerning them in A.D. 1626. These spots are sometimes seen to increase to a very large size, and to continue for a considerable time. In the year 1779, there was a spot on the sun’s disk which was large enough to be seen with the naked eye: it was divided into two parts, and must have been 50,000 miles in diameter: this, and other phenomena of the same kind, may be accounted for from some natural change of the atmosphere. For if some of the fluids which enter into its composition be of a shining brilliancy, while others are merely transparent, then any temporary cause removing the lucid fluid, will permit us to see the body of the sun through the transparent ones. Dr. Herschell supposes that the spots in the sun are mountains on its surface, which, considering the great attraction exerted by this luminary upon bodies placed at its surface, and the slow revolution it has about its axis, he thinks may be more than 300 miles in height, and yet not be rendered unstable by the centrifugal force.

[There appears to be a _discrepancy_ between this last
statement--“Dr. Herschell supposes that the spots in the sun
are _mountains_ on his surface;”--and the statement made a
few paragraphs preceding--“that what are called _maculæ_,
or _spots_ on the sun, Dr. Herschell thought to be _real
openings_ in his atmosphere, through which the opake body
of the sun becomes visible.” These statements must have been
made at different periods of his observations on the sun,
which continued about fifteen years. The last statement was,
doubtless, Dr. Herschell’s mature opinion.

As this seems to be a settled question among philosophers;
and as it has induced the enlightened world to regard the sun
as a _habitable globe_, it will not be out of place to enlarge
a little on this point.

The spots on the sun’s surface has led to the conclusion
above, and also to a determination of the motion of the sun
around his own axis. They appear to have been observed, for
the first time, in A.D. 1610, by Fabricius and Harriot; the
first in Germany, the second in England. It is uncertain
which noticed them first; but it is certain the discovery was
_original with both_.

After the observations of these two fortunate persons
were known, the attention of the scientific was directed to
this phenomenon. Scheiner supposed the spots to be _planets_
which revolved very near the sun. In process of unwearied
observations, it was ascertained that these spots changed their
positions. Sometimes two would blend together, and thus run
into each other. Sometimes one large one would divide into
two or three smaller ones. They were observed to dilate, and
contract; and to have umbræ, or shades attending them.

From these phenomena Galileo and others supposed the solar
spots were _schoria floating on the burning liquid matter_, of
which they supposed the sun composed. M. de la Hire, and La
Lande supposed them to be eminences which occasionally rose
above the rolling tides of fire, as islands rise above the sea.
All these theories were on the supposition that the sun was an
igneous body, in a high state of combustion, by which means he
dispenses heat and light to the surrounding planets.

Dr. WILSON, Professor of practical astronomy in the
University of Glasgow, was the first to conjecture that these
spots were _depressions_ rather than elevations. This was
about the year 1769. The Doctor rendered this conjecture very
probable, by his close and lucid observations and illustrations.

These spots attracted the attention of the celebrated
Dr. Herschell in 1779, who continued to observe them closely
until 1794, and by means of his immensely large and powerful
telescopes, he clearly established Dr. Wilson’s conjectures,
_that these spots are openings in the luminous surface of the
sun, through which his opake body appears_.

Dr. Herschell regards the real body of the sun to be
an _opake nucleus_, fit for the habitation of intellectual
creatures: that he has an atmosphere suited in density and
height to his own magnitude: that in the higher regions of
this atmosphere there are _two_ sets of clouds surrounding the
sun, which are permanently and essentially luminous, being
_phosphoric_ in their nature. The lower set of these clouds,
which are _next_ the sun, are less bright, and more dense than
the upper set. They are designed to serve as a _curtain_ to the
sun’s body, to prevent a too great intensity of light at his
real surface; the higher set of clouds, which are visible to
us, being the principal source, or rather _agent_, of light.

It is plain from the foregoing theory, that _we_ never see
the real body of the sun, except when we see the spots on his
surface: that what we commonly call the sun, are only those
bright, luminous phosphorescent clouds, which permanently
surround his body, and which give light _outwards_ to the
planets, and also _inwards_ to his own inhabitants.

It will be obvious also to any one, that the inhabitants
of the sun _cannot see_ any heavenly body, as the stars, and
planets; because they are inclosed by those clouds, which are
impenetrable to vision. They may catch a glimpse of a passing
star through these openings as we do of the sun’s body.

It is highly probable (see _our_ paper on light, attached
to our author’s chapter on the same,) that these luminous
phosphoric clouds _do not actually emit light, or heat_; but
only _excite_ them at the surfaces of the different planets.
That is: it is very probable there is a _matter of light_ or
a _luminiferous ether_, diffused through all existing matter,
as caloric is, which is _excited by these clouds_, and _thus_
becomes _visible_, which is light, as latent caloric is
excited, and becomes sensible, by becoming _free_. Indeed it is
very probable _that the matter of heat and light is the same_,
and that heat and light are only _different modifications_ of
the action of the same substance, excited in a different, or
higher degree.]

The sun has two _apparent_ motions, namely, the diurnal and annual. By the _former_ he appears to move round the earth in twenty-four hours: and by the latter he appears to traverse that circle in the heavens, called the ecliptic, in the course of a year. These motions, are, however, only apparent: the sun does not travel round the earth in twenty four hours: he does not change his place in the heavens at different seasons of the year. His apparent motions are occasioned by the earth’s real motions. The sun’s apparent diurnal motion is occasioned by the earth’s real rotation about its axis: and the sun’s apparent annual motion is caused by the earth’s real motion in her orbit, through the whole of which she travels in a little less than 365 days, and 6 hours.

The fixed stars appear every twenty-four hours to make an entire revolution about the earth. The sun makes the same apparent circuit; but the apparent diurnal motion of the sun is evidently slower than that of the fixed stars. This appearance is occasioned by the daily rotation of the earth on its axis; for while it is turning once on its axis it advances in its orbit a whole degree; therefore it must make more than a complete rotation before it can come into the same position with the sun that it had the preceding day. In the same way, as when both hands of a watch set off together at any hour, as twelve o’clock, the minute hand must travel more than the whole circle before it can overtake the hour hand: hence the difference between solar and sidereal days, which it is important to understand in explaining the equation of time.

Though the sun appears to us merely as a circular disk, yet he is a _spheroid_, higher under his equator than about his poles. The deception arises from this; that all the parts of his surface are equally luminous, and consequently there is nothing which can suggest to us, at the great distance he is from the earth, that the central parts are more prominent than the sides, although in reality, they are nearer by half a million of miles.

This luminous body is supposed to be 886,473 English miles in diameter, about 2,700,000 in circumference, in solid bulk 24,000,000 times as big as the moon, and 1,384,462 times as big as the earth, and its superficies in square miles, about 2,236,603,000,000. This _magnitude_ of the sun may appear exaggerated; for our eyes can discover nothing so large as the earth which we inhabit; and as to this alone we compare the sun, so we are tempted to believe the testimony of sense rather than our reason. But what confirms this prodigious size, is his visible magnitude, notwithstanding the vastly remote point which he occupies in space. And, concerning this subject, no doubt can remain, if we admit the calculations of astronomers, which are made on principles indubitably correct.

The sun does not appear large; but this is owing to his _distance_ from the earth, which is 95,513,794 miles: this is so prodigious, that a cannon-ball, which is known to move at the rate of eight miles in a minute, would be something more than twenty-two years in going from the earth to the sun. If a spectator were placed as near to any of the fixed stars as we are to our sun, he would see our sun as small as we see a common star, divested of its circumvolving planets; and in numbering the stars he would reckon it one of them. But the earth’s orbit being an ellipse, the sun is not always at an equal distance from it. When he is in his apogee, that is, furthest from the earth, the sun is full two millions of miles further from us than when he is in his perigee, or nearest the earth: nevertheless, we feel greater heat than when he is in our winter. The difference of temperature between summer and winter does not depend chiefly upon our nearness to the sun, but upon the following causes. 1. In summer, the solar rays strike upon the earth more perpendicularly than in winter, and therefore they act with greater force than when they strike it obliquely. 2. The rays of the sun coming more perpendicularly in summer than in winter, have less of the atmosphere to pass through. 3. In the summer, the sun continues a longer time above the horizon than below it; and consequently there is time for the earth to accumulate a greater portion of heat than in the days of winter. We know, in the longest days, that the sun to us is above the horizon 16 hours; whereas, in the shortest days, it is not more than 8 hours visible.[114]

The miraculous suspension of the natural powers of the heavenly bodies, as recorded in the book of Joshua, shows that they are upheld, controlled, and directed in their operations, by a Being who is infinitely wise and powerful. To account for this miracle, and to ascertain the _manner_ in which it was wrought, has employed the pens of the ablest _divines_ and _astronomers_, especially of the last two centuries. For the elucidation of this important fact, I shall transcribe the view which Dr. Adam Clarke has given of it, which he considers to be strictly philosophical, consonant to the Pythagorean, Copernican, or Newtonian system, which is the system of the universe, laid down in the writings of Moses.

He assumes, as a thoroughly demonstrated truth, that the sun is in the _centre_ of the system, moving only round his own axis, and the common centre of the gravity of the planetary system, while all the planets revolve round _him_; and that his influence is the cause of the _diurnal_ and _annual_ revolutions of the earth.

“Joshua’s address is in a poetic form in the original, and makes the two following hemistichs:

שמש בגבעין דום
וירח בעמק אילון
Shemesh, be-Gibêon dom:
Vyareach, beèmek Aiyalon.
Sun! upon Gibêon be dumb:
And the moon on the vale of Aiyalon.

“The effect of this command is related in the following words: וידם השמש וירח עמד _vayiddom ha_-SHEMESH _ve_-YAREACH _âmad; And the sun was dumb, or silent, and the moon stood still_. And it is added, _And the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day._

“I consider, that the word דום _dom_, refers to the _withholding_ or _restraining_ this influence, so that the cessation of the earth’s motion might immediately take place. The desire of Joshua was, that the sun might not sink below the horizon; but as _it_ appeared now to be over Gibeon, and the _moon_ to be over the valley of Ajalon, he prayed that they might continue in these positions till the battle should be ended; or, in other words, that the day should be miraculously lengthened out.[115]

“Whether Joshua had a correct philosophical notion of the true system of the universe, is a subject that need not come into the present inquiry; but whether _he spoke_ with strict propriety on this occasion, is a matter of importance, because he must be considered as acting _under the Divine influence_, in requesting the performance of such a stupendous miracle: and we may safely assert, that no man in his right mind would have thought of offering such a petition, had he not felt himself under some Divine afflatus. Leaving, therefore, his philosophical knowledge out of the question, he certainly spoke as if he had known that the solar influence was the cause of the earth’s _rotation_, and therefore, with the strictest philosophic propriety, he requested, that that influence might be for a time restrained, that the diurnal motion of the earth might be arrested, through which alone, the sun could be kept above the horizon, and the day be prolonged. His mode of expression evidently considers the sun as the great _ruler_ or _master_ in the system; and all the planets, (or at least the _earth_) moving in their respective orbits at his _command_. He therefore desires him, (in the name and by the authority of his Creator) to suspend his _mandate_ with respect to the earth’s motion, and that of his satellite, the moon. Had he said, _Earth, stand thou still_--the cessation of whose diurnal motion was the _effect_ of his command, it could not have obeyed him; as it is not even the _secondary_ cause either of its annual motion round the sun, or its diurnal motion round its own axis. Instead of doing so, he speaks to the sun, the _cause_ (under God) of all these motions, as his great archetype did, when, in the storm on the sea of Tiberias, he rebuked the _wind_ first, and then said to the _waves_, Peace, be still! Σιωπα, πεφιμωσο, be _silent_! be _dumb_! And the effect of this command was, a cessation of the agitation in the _sea_, because the _wind_ ceased to _command_ it, that is, to exert its influence upon the waters.

“The terms in this command are worthy of particular note: Joshua does not say to the sun, _Stand still_, as if he had conceived _him_ to be _running his race round the earth_; but, be _silent_, or _inactive_; that is, as I understand it, _restrain thy influence_; no longer act upon the earth, to cause it to revolve round its axis; a mode of speech which is certainly consistent with the strictest astronomical knowledge: and the writer of the account, whether Joshua himself, or the author of the Book of _Jasher_, in relating the consequence of this command, is equally accurate, using a word widely different, when he speaks of the _effect_, the retention of the solar influence had on the moon: in the first case, the sun was _silent_, or _inactive_, דום _dom_; in the _latter_, the moon _stood still_, עמד _âmad_. The _standing still_ of the moon, or its continuance above the horizon, would be the natural effect of the cessation of the solar influence, which obliged the earth to discontinue her diurnal rotation, which, of course, would arrest the moon; and thus both it and the sun were kept above the horizon, probably for the space of a whole day. As to the address to the _moon_, it is not conceived in the same terms as that to the _sun_, and for the most obvious philosophical reason: all that is said is simply, _and the moon on the vale of Ajalon_, which may be thus understood: ‘Let the sun restrain his influence, or be inactive, as he appears now upon Gibeon, _that_ the moon may continue as she appears now over the vale of Ajalon.’ It is worthy of remark, that every word in this poetic address is apparently selected with the greatest caution and precision.

“At the conclusion of the 13th verse, a different expression is used when it is said, _So, the sun stood still_, it is not דום _dom_, but עמד _âmad_; ויעמד השמש _vai-yaâmod ha-shemesh_, which expression, thus varying from _that_ in the command of Joshua, may be considered as implying, that in order to _restrain his influence_, which I have assumed to be the _cause_ of the earth’s motion, the sun himself became _inactive_, that is, ceased to revolve round his own axis; which revolution is, probably, one cause, not only of the revolution of the earth, but of all the other planetary bodies in our system, and might have effected all the planets at the time in question: but this neither could, nor did produce any disorder in nature; and the delay of a few hours in the whole planetary motions, dwindles away into an imperceptible point in the thousands of years of their revolutions. I need scarcely add, that the _command of Joshua to the sun_, is to be understood as a _prayer to God_ (from whom the sun derived his being and continuance) that the effect might be what is expressed in the command; and therefore it is said, verse 14, ‘that the LORD HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF A MAN, _for the Lord fought for Israel_.’”

How glorious an object is the sun! too dazzling for mortal eye long to gaze on: the brightest visible emblem of its adorable Creator. This luminary rejoices to run his prescribed course, makes our day joyful, and without his reviving beams we should dwell in perpetual darkness. He, as the great source of day, distributes light and life through all nature. Seeds, in the bosom of the earth, feel his vegetative presence, and unfold themselves. By his diffusive influence he causes the vital juice to ascend in the tubes of trees, plants, and vegetables; and clothes them with their various and beautiful foliage. He nourishes the young fruits, gives them their fine tints, and brings them to maturity. At his approach, millions of insects awake into life, shine, collect themselves, and sport in his rays. Animals partake of his benefits, and without his animating beams they would sink into insensibility and death: even in caves and dens of the earth, his visitation gives life. His heat has a pleasing effect on all the juices and fluids in the human body, which, without his directive or impulsive energy, would soon become stagnant and useless. He is, by the Divine wisdom and goodness, placed at such a proper distance from us, that, were he much nearer, the blood would boil in our veins, and our bodies soon be either dissolved or calcined: or, were he at a much greater distance, we should become torpid, and presently be congealed to statues of ice. The very bowels of the earth partake of his influence, thus producing many valuable and useful metals. He penetrates the highest mountains, though composed of stones and rocks. He darts his beams even into the depths of the ocean, where the watery tribes live and play at his command.

“---- O SUN;
Soul of surrounding worlds! in whom best seen
Shines out thy Maker!----
’Tis by thy secret, strong, attractive force,
As with a chain indissoluble bound,
Thy system rolls entire.----
INFORMER of the planetary train!
Without whose quick’ning glance their cumbrous orbs
Were brute unlovely mass, inert, and dead,
And not, as now, the green abodes of life!

* * * * *

As the sun is the greatest visible glory in the natural world, so it is selected by the pen of Divine inspiration as the brightest emblem of the Supreme Being--“The Lord God is a sun.” This great luminary has been considered by the Heathen as the representative of the Deity, and as such received religious adoration. According to Mr. Bryant’s system of Ancient Mythology, the worship of fire is nearly as old as the flood, having been propagated by the posterity of Ham, in Egypt, who called themselves Ammonians, and carried this worship with them wherever they went, erecting their _puratheia_, or fire-temples, in all their settlements. It is stated, that fire was the primitive, or at least the principal object of idolatrous worship, and common to all idolaters from the first apostasy at Babel. For the original institution of this sacred fire among the Chaldeans, we must go back to Nimrod, concerning whom the Alexandrian Chronicon asserts, that “the Assyrians called Nimrod, Ninus; this man taught the Assyrians to worship fire.” From the Greeks we may trace it backwards to the Ur of the Chaldeans; on which the learned Classius remarks, that “Ur is the name of a city wherein the sacred fire was conserved and worshipped by the Chaldeans, whence it was called _Ur_, which otherwise signifies _fire_.” Plutarch confesses that the Romans, in the days of Numa, borrowed their worship of fire from the Greeks at Athens and Delphi. Numa built a temple of an orbicular form, to represent, as Plutarch interprets, the system of the heavens; which temple was the conservatory of a holy and perpetual fire, kindled at first by the reflections of the sun-beams, and placed in the centre of the building; the astronomy of that early period placing the sun in the centre of the world. Fire has such an affinity to light, that the same word has sometimes comprehended them both. The _Ur_ of the Chaldeans was _fire_; the _Horus_ of the Egyptians was _light_: and the reason is plain, because fire and light are united at the body of the sun, and by him diffused over the world. If, therefore, we consider fire as called into action by the sun, and bear in mind that the ancient Pythagoreans used the same term ΠΥΡ to denote both fire and the sun,[116] we shall get at the root of most of the heathen mythologic divinity.

So universal was the attachment to this fire, that Macrobius undertook to reduce the names of all the heathen deities to the one object of the sun and its attributes. He says, “The Egyptians consecrated a lion in that part of the heavens where the heat of the sun is most powerful, because that animal seems to derive his nature from the sun, excelling all other creatures in fire and force, as the sun exceeds the other lights of heaven. His eyes, likewise, are bright and fiery, as the sun with a bright and fiery aspect surveys the world. The Lybians represented their Jupiter Hammon, which was the setting sun, with the horns of a ram, with which that animal exerts its strength, as the sun acts by its rays. The worship of Egypt abundantly shows, that the bull is to be referred to the sun; which is plain from the worship of a bull at Heliopolis, the city of the sun; and of the bull Apis at Memphis, where it was an emblem of the sun; and of the other bull called Pacis, consecrated in the magnificent temple of Apollo at Hermunthis.”[117]

Wheresoever fire was worshipped in the puratheia of antiquity after the manner of Numa, we may suppose that there the true solar system prevailed, which places the solar fire in the centre; and that this was really the universal opinion of the most ancient Heathens. This doctrine agrees with the name which they gave to the sun in his physical capacity, calling him _cor cœli_, the heart of the heaven;[118] which illustration and allusion is probably of very great antiquity, because it cannot with any propriety be applied to the more modern Ptolemaic hypothesis. The analogy is very striking; for as the heart is the centre of the animal system, so is the sun in the centre of our world: as the heart is the fountain of the blood, so is the sun the source of light and fire: as the heart is the life of the body, so is the sun the life and heat of animated nature, and the first mover of the mundane system: when the heart ceases to beat, the circuit of life is at an end; and if the sun should cease to act, a total stagnation would take place throughout the whole frame of nature. Macrobius, pursuing this analogy, says, “We have before observed, that the sun is called the fountain of the ethereal fire; therefore the sun is in the heavens, what the heart is in animals.” Since the circulation of the blood has been known, this analogy has been taken up with advantage by the celebrated Hervey himself, who, first of all the moderns, explained to us with sufficient accuracy this branch of natural philosophy. He observes, that the heart of animals is the foundation of life, the chief ruler of all things in the animal system, the sun of the microcosm, from which flows all its strength and vigor. The philosophers of antiquity called the sun the heart of the microcosm; the moderns call the heart the sun of the microcosm. There must be something very striking in the analogy which is thus convertible, and has been taken up at both ends by such different persons, at such remote periods of time.

The savage philosophy of America seems to have comprehended in it the relation, which we have already noticed, between the animal system and the frame of nature. Acosta, in his History of the Indies, reports, that in the human sacrifices of the Mexicans, the high priest pulled out the heart with his hands, which he showed smoking to the sun, to whom he offered this heat and fume of the heart, and presently he turned towards the idol, and cast the heart at his face. A very highly esteemed correspondent in Ceylon writes, There is a cast of people inhabiting this island who live wild in the woods, and worship fire as an emblem of purity; they are called Vandals, and several English officers have met a premature death by intruding near the holy fire, which is under a tamarind tree.

With the Persians fire was an object of worship from the earliest times, under the name of _Amanus_, and _Mithas_; and it is retained as such at this day by the Geberrs, Gaurs, Guebres, or Ghebers, a sect of Indian philosophers. Pottinger says, “At the city of Yezd, in Persia, which is distinguished by the appellation of the Darûb Abadut, or seat of Religion, the Guebres are permitted to have an Atush Kudu, or Fire Temple (which, they assert, has had the sacred fire in it since the days of Zoroaster), in their own compartment of the city; but for this indulgence they are indebted to the avarice, not the tolerance of the Persian government, which taxes them at twenty-five rupees each man.” Hanway informs us, that the Ghebers suppose the throne of the Almighty is seated in the sun, and hence their worship of that luminary. “As to fire,” says Grose, “the Ghebers place the spring-head of it in that globe of fire, the sun, by them called Mithras, or Mihir, to which they pay the highest reverence, in gratitude for the manifold benefits flowing from his ministerial omniscience. But they are so far from confounding the subordination of the servant with the majesty of the Creator, that they not only attribute no sort of sense or reasoning to the sun or fire, in any of its operations, but consider it as a purely passive blind instrument, directed and governed by the immediate impression on it of the will of God; but they do not even give that luminary, all glorious as it is, more than the second rank among his works, reserving the first for the stupendous production of the Divine power, the mind of man.” The temples are generally built over subterraneous fires. Rabbi Benjamin observes, “Early in the morning, they (the Parsees or Ghebers of Ouham) go in crowds to pay their devotions to the sun, to whom upon all the altars are spheres consecrated, made by magic, resembling the circles of the sun; and, when the sun rises, these orbs seem to be inflamed, and turn round with a great noise. Every one has a censer in his hands, and offers incense to the sun.”

It is not a little surprising that the descendants of faithful Abraham, taken into covenant with God, should fall under the influence of this idolatrous worship! The apostasy of the Israelites in the wilderness from the true God to the golden calf, was occasioned by a previous attachment to the sacred rites of the Egyptian idolatry. And the calves which were afterwards set up in Dan and Bethel, were probably derived from the same source. The Israelites were not only cautioned against this worship, but, if the charge of idolatry brought against an Israelite was proved by unequivocal facts and competent witnesses, it affected his life. Such was the progress of this idolatrous worship among this people at one period, that Josiah, king of Judah, took away out of the temple of the Lord the horses, and burned the chariots, which the kings, his predecessors, had consecrated to the sun. Job, in allusion to this vile worship, says, “If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; if my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:[119] this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.” Ezekiel, in a vision, saw “at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east: and they worshipped the sun toward the east,” in imitation of the Egyptians, Persians, and other Eastern nations.

While the heathen have thus paid idolatrous worship to the sun, some persons, believing in the truth of revealed religion, have entertained strange notions concerning this luminary. It is remarkable, observes a polite writer, that whilst some of the ancients imagined the _sun_ to be the seat of future blessedness, from Psal. xix, 14, “He set his tabernacle in the sun,” a Mr. Swinden, among the moderns, endeavors to prove that _hell_ is seated in the sun, chiefly pleading that this is the grand repository of fire; that its horrible face, viewed by a telescope, suits the description given of the burning lake; and that being in the _centre_ of the system, it might be properly said that wicked men were _cast down into it_. But these are mere hypotheses, and unworthy of serious consideration.

Notwithstanding this idolatrous worship of the sun, there is a sober and religious use to be made of this luminary; for being the greatest visible glory in the natural world it is selected as the brightest emblem of the Supreme Being--“The Lord God is a sun.” An object thus illustrious and useful in the regular and wise economy of nature, is mentioned in the sacred volume as a metaphor fraught with truths of infinite moment, imparting wisdom to the simple, and instruction to the ignorant. He admirably represents the unity, glory, and bounty of God.

Viewing our sun in all his paramount qualities to every material object in nature, how is he eclipsed and surpassed by the Sun of Righteousness, of whose splendor, grace, and energy this is but a faint emblem, and from whom issues, in bright and gentle beams, all the light, life, joy, and hope received and enjoyed in the Christian world. The one is the most magnificent creature among the vast variety of objects which surround us, but the other is the source of all that is excellent, attractive, and beneficial, in the whole range of material causes and effects, as well as in the nature, extent, and perpetuity of the kingdom of grace. The material sun runs its course from day to day, with unwearied regularity, activity, and ardor, and thus completes its circuit according to its original destination. And did not our adorable Saviour also finish the great career of our redemption, after he held performed all those miracles, and published his own everlasting gospel, which are the sublime and interesting themes of the sacred writers, by offering himself on the consecrated altar a sacrifice for the sins of mankind? The former diffuses light, vitality, vegetation, and felicity through the whole mass of animated nature in our planetary system. And does not the other likewise dissipate the ignorance which darkens the intellectual regions, enlighten our minds in all saving knowledge, and produce in the human heart every grace and virtue?

Were our natural sun to withdraw his beams, or absent himself from the centre of our system for any given time, the planets would start out of their orbits; darkness, black as night, would instantly spread itself over the whole mass, and “chaos come again.” And if the glorious Luminary of the moral world were to hide his face behind a thick cloud of gathering vengeance and judicial desertion, this would introduce into the soul alarming fears and tumultuous passions, which would exist in a state of opposition and conflict. Those who have been brought out of the darkness of ignorance, wickedness and misery, into the light of knowledge, holiness and happiness, by Christ, who is the light of the world, should be careful to walk in the light of his countenance all the days of their life. Does not the earth return the fructifying warmth of the sun, and all his genial effects, in a profusion of verdure, foliage, and flowers? Do not all the irrational tribes joyfully greet his rising every morning, and bask in his presence through the day with great delight? All the orbs which revolve round him, and are preserved and cherished in their respective spheres by his ministry, pay him perpetual homage by maintaining invariable harmony and order. And being thus taught by natural objects, what is due for the reception of so many mercies, surely it is an unquestionable duty that we guard against every thing which would prevent us doing the will of our best benefactor.

Christian believers, rich in the bloom of holiness, and ripening for the harvest of glory, are said to be “clothed with the sun.” It is the gracious promise, on which all their hopes and wishes confidently rely, that the “righteous shall” ultimately “shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”[120] Thus it is written, “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day.” In the path of the just there is a progress from a less to a greater light: it does not only grow clearer, but increases in clearness till it is light in perfection; advancing from the break of day to the sun rising, and then to the brightness of noon-day.

“JESUS, let all thy lovers shine,
illustrious as the sun,
And bright with borrow’d rays divine,
Their glorious circuit run.

Beyond the reach of mortals, spread
Their light where’er they go;
And heavenly influences shed,
On all the world below.

As giants, may they run their race,
Exulting in their might:
As burning luminaries, chase
The gloom of hellish night.

As the bright Sun of Righteousness,
Their healing wings display;
And let their lustre still increase
Unto the perfect day.”

* * * * *

_Section_ II.--THE MOON.

Names -- Dimensions -- Motions -- Seasons -- Phases --
Harvest Moon -- Moon’s Surface -- Aërial Stones -- Eclipses --
Moonlight -- Epithets -- Religious Improvement.

The _moon_ is called a _great light_, but _less_ than the sun. Moses does not here speak philosophically, according to her bulk, but to the proportion of light she affords us, which is more than all the planets in the solar system and all the fixed stars put together.

“He smooth’d the rough-cast moon’s imperfect mould,
And comb’d her beamy locks with sacred gold;
Be thou, said he, Queen of the mournful night,--
And as he spoke, she rose o’erclad wish light,
With thousand stars attending on her train.”

The moon is not a primary planet, but only a satellite, or secondary planet, attendant on our earth, round which she revolves, and along with which she is carried round the sun.

“The moon,” says Dr. O. Gregory, “is a dark, or opake body, shining principally with the light she receives from the sun. If she shone by a light of her own, we should feel a sensible warmth from her rays; but it is a light reflected from the sun with which she shines, and is so exceedingly weak and languid, that the greatest burning glass will not collect enough to make any sensible degree of heat. This has been accounted for, and those who have gone through the computation assert that the light of the full moon is ninety thousand times less than day-light.” The ancients early discovered, that the moon had no light of its own, but shone with that which it reflected from the sun. This, after Thales, was the sentiment of Anaxagoras and Empedocles, who thence accounted not only for the mildness of its splendor, but the imperceptibility of its heat, which our experiments confirm.

In the Hebrew language the moon is called ירה _Yarah_, or, more strictly speaking, says Parkhurst, the _lunar light_, or _flux of light, reflected from the moon’s body_, or _orb_. That this is the true sense of the word is evident from several passages of Scripture, one of which is, “For the precious (produce) נרש ירחים _put forth by_--what? Not the _orbs_ of the moon surely (for the orb is but _one_), but _by the fluxes_ or _streams of light_ reflected from it, which are not only _several_ but _various_, according to the moon’s different phases and aspects in regard to the sun and the earth. And this may lead us to the radical idea of the word ירח; for as יחר and אחר, יחד and אתד &c., are very nearly related to each other respectively, so likewise I conjecture that ירח is to ארה, in sense as well as in sound, and consequently that it signifies _to go in a track_ or _in a constant customary road or way_; and this affords us a good descriptive name of the _lunar light_; for, _Behold_, says _Bildad_ in Job, chap. xxv, 5, _even to the_ ירח or lunar light ולא יאהיל _and he_ (God) _hath not pitched a tent_ (for it); as he has for the שמש or _solar light_. No! The _lunar_ stream has _fixed station_ from whence it issues, but together with the orb which reflects it, and which like a human _traveller_ moves now a quicker, now a slower pace, is continually _performing its appointed journey_, and _proceeding in a constant_, though regularly irregular _track_.”

The Greeks called the moon μηνη, which may be considered as a derivative from μην. Parkhurst says, This word may be derived either from μηνη, _the moon_, by the phases of which the month is reckoned, or else it may be deduced from the Hebrew מנה _manah_, _to number_, _compute_, as being computed by the lunar phases. And it is probable that the first _computations_ of time were made by the _revolutions_ of the moon. It is obvious to remark, that not only these two Greek words, but also the Latin _mensis_, a month, and the English _moon_, _month_, are ultimately derived from the same Hebrew מנה. Leigh observes, that “the Hebrews call the moon and a month by the same name, because the moon is renewed every month. The Greeks also call σεληνη, from σελας, because it every day renews its light.” Parkhurst on the word σεληνη says, “The Greek etymologists, and particularly Plato, deduce it from σελας νεον, _new light_, because its light is continually renewed.” But the learned Goguet says; “The Greeks gave to the _moon_ the name _selene_, which comes from the Phœnician word (לן or לון namely) which signifies _to pass the night_; whence also we may observe is plainly derived the Latin name of the moon, _luna_.” From _lun_ with the termination _a_, comes _luna_, and this name is given to the planet from her _changing_ or appearing under different phases.

As to the _dimensions_ of the moon, according to the most accurate calculations, her diameter is 2,175 miles, the circumference 6,831 miles, the surface contains 14,898,750 square miles, and its solidity 5,408,246,000 cubical ones. Her bulk is equal to about a fiftieth part of our earth, and her mean distance from the earth is about 240,000 miles.