make, nor in the plenitude of our presumption can we find an angle, any more than the chemist in his laboratory can produce a particle of blood.

star that appeared in the east, over where the young child was.” The expressions of scripture with regard to them are, for instance, as when Joseph said, "-I have dreamed a dream once more; and, behold, the sun and moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." The way in which this dream is received or understood by Jacob confirms our opinion, for which, it would seem, we have some authority, but the astronomer can have none,and that is, as we have said, that the Host of Heaven is represented by thèse celestial luminaries, and as concerning them with a future reference; as that the promised seed, which is signified by Jacob, should ultimately, as it were, inherit the glory of them, of whom it is written," and they shall tread upon their high places." Meantime, it is pretty evident, (and we are told that it was the opinion of Hermes,) that spiritual things answer to natural things, and natural things to spiritual things; accordingly Jacob answers, with his accustomed prophetic spirit, "What, shall I and thy mother and thy (eleven) brethren, indeed, bow down ourselves to thee

Calculations, though made upon wrong foundations and data, may nevertheless be scrupulously exact, and they may answer also

to the earth?" Surely I may be allowed to quote, "The stone which the builders rejected is become the head stone of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob:" (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel :)" Even by the God of thy father who shall help thee; and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: The blessings of thy fathers have prevailed above the blessings of thy progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren." Joseph, it would appear, is represented by one of twelve stars, which represents, as it were, the promised seed: for, it is written, "I have likened the daughter of Zion," answering to the heel of the woman, or rem

the purposes of navigation; for though the planets are eccentric in their motions, which indicate, as saith Newton, that they are pe

nant of the promises," to a comely and delicate woman," (who being in the calamity of the bondwoman, because of sin imputed, is represented in tra vail with her children, to be delivered, in the time of the end, at what time" the remnant of his brethren, (as it is written,) shall return unto the children of Israel," i. e. the heavenly Israel. Wherefore, in the Revelation we find it said, " And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be deli vered," &c.

In Jeremiah, also, with respect to the celestial luminaries, it is written, (speaking of the Israel, as con. cerning the law,)" and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven*, whom they have loved, and whom they have served,

* In the seventeenth of Deuteronomy, and 3d verse, the sun and moon, &c., are pointed out to answer to, what is there expressed to be, other Gods; it is said, “And hath gone and served other Gods, and worshipped them, either the sun or moon,

rishable, there are stars which are fixed. But I must maintain that it is impossible accurately to calculate the magnitudes and the distances of the heavenly bodies, because of the refraction; for thrust but a stick into the water, and though so near us, behold the deception! This is a sign of the deception, and it is made to be a deception, to set at nought the boasted wisdom of the world......

and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped."

In short, there is no authority, nor reason for supposing the moon, or the planets, or the stars, to be natural worlds like our own. As well might it be said, that the star which appeared in the east, and led the wise men to Jesus, was an inhabited world; but, because the astronomer can magnify with a glass, which only tends to render more indiscriminate where a true focus cannot be obtained, by reason of distance and refraction, he will tell you of mountains and valleys and seas; when there is more wisdom to be deduced from every species of natural locality:—and then we are to be told of the march of intellect,-in the days of the rage for fiction!

The works of God are miraculous, and the calculations of men with respect to them but ingenious. If it should be found that the sun and planets revolve round the earth in three hundred and sixty-five days, thereby forming the year, and earth, as admitted, to turn on its axis, producing the day,—I marvel if the nice calculations of Newton would not come to nearly or exactly the same*.

*It was the opinion of Tycho Brahe that the earth stood still, and though he was contemporaneous with Galileo, it was nevertheless his conviction. It was the opinion also of Aristotle, who must have known nearly or as much as we do about the solar system, for he must have been better acquainted with the school of Pythagoras than Copernicus, who took up with the opinions of that school, which received it from the Persian and Chaldean magi, which were both of them, of course, acquainted with the revolutions of the planets. But opinions were then, as they are now, too frequently established by analogy. By Jupiter and his satellites, it is said we may imagine the great