I wondered how it could have become, as it were, like a
dead earth; but this is one of the things which God has not told us about.
What He _has_ told us is that He made this "lesser light to rule the
night," and as she moves over the sky in her calm silent beauty, she speaks
to us of His goodness in giving not only the sun to rule by day, but the
moon and stars to rule by night, those wonderful stars whose silent voice
is ever making known His power, and telling of His glory; as the poet
Addison has beautifully said--
"For ever singing as they shine,
The hand that made us is Divine!"
This is a long chapter, but we have been speaking of a vast subject, and
before I close it, I want to refer to two wonderful things about the stars,
to which God draws our attention in His word. He tells us that "one star
differeth from another star in glory," and astronomers have discovered
that there was a deeper truth than they at first imagined underlying these
words.
But what I specially want to speak of for a moment is the number of these
heavenly bodies, and their distance from us.
In the hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm, two verses are placed close
together, the one speaking of the power and greatness of God, the other of
His tenderness and compassion towards His creatures.
"He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds."
"He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by names.
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