The plough has passed over the remains of
mighty cities, the homes of powerful nations are desolate, the languages
they spoke are forgotten; but the stars that shone for them are shining
for us; the same eclipses run their steady cycle; the same equinoxes
call out the flowers of spring, and send the husbandman to the harvest;
the sun pauses at either tropic, as he did when his course began; and
sun and moon, and planet and satellite, and star, and constellation, and
galaxy, still bear witness to the power, the wisdom, and the love of Him
who placed them in the heavens, and upholds them there.
* * * * *
=_191._= DESCRIPTION OF THE SUNRISE.
Much, however, as we are indebted to our observatories for elevating our
conceptions of the heavenly bodies, they present even to the unaided
sight, scenes of glory which, words are too feeble to describe. I had
occasion, a few weeks since, to take the early train from Providence
to Boston; and for this purpose rose at two o'clock in the morning.
Everything around was wrapt in darkness and hushed in silence, broken
only by what seemed at that hour the unearthly clank and rush of the
train. It was a mild, serene, midsummer's night,--the sky was without a
cloud,--the winds were whist.
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