Shall not, then, such a frail creature as man, think and speak of this omnipotent Being with the greatest reverence and profound humility? Oh God, fill the minds of all men with just and enlarged views of thy majesty and greatness! for thou killest, and thou makest alive; thou woundest, and thou healest: neither is there any that can deliver out of thy hand.

Divine wisdom also shines forth in the regular and uninterrupted succession of the seasons. “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, and by understanding established the heavens.” Not only the different magnitudes of the heavenly orbs, but their particular distances, and the harmonious laws by which they move, do loudly proclaim, that he who formed, ranges, and actuates them all, must be infinitely wise. Without looking into boundless space, where shine many thousand globes of light, or fixed stars, supposed to be suns like our own, and to have planets revolving round them, we may discover luminous displays of Divine wisdom in our own system, in the constant succession of the seasons, that may justly excite our wonder and adoration. How wise must he be who has so exactly proportioned the different magnitudes of the earth and the sun, and placed them at a proper distance from each other! Is not equal wisdom discovered in that equable, steady, swift, and complicate motion of the earth, by which the delightful and necessary succession of the seasons return? It is the wisdom of God that at first arranged the motion of the celestial bodies, and that preserves them in their rapid and yet regular progressions and rotations, with so much order and harmony. “How manifold, oh Lord, are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all. Thy understanding is infinite, for thou tellest the number of the stars, and callest them all by their names.”

The goodness of God to the inhabitants of the earth, is also displayed in the revolving seasons. When the almighty Creator took a survey of all the works his hands had made, he saw that they were good; not only conformable to eternal reason, but proper to answer the end for which he designed them. And this goodness manifested in the formation of the world, is not more clearly discovered in any thing than in the return of day and night, heat and cold, summer and winter. We are pleased with the light in the morning, but it is after we have rested well in the night: when a few hours are spent, we grow weary of the light, and wish for the return of the silence and darkness of the nocturnal season. After a long cold winter, we joyfully welcome the approach of summer; but when scorched a few months with its heat, and ready to faint, the return of winter is not so unpleasant to us as it appeared more early in the spring. But whatever effect these successions may have upon us, it is certain they are very beneficial. The light of the day is advantageous for managing the toils and business of life; and the coolness and stillness of the night are as suitable for rest and sleep. The summer’s heat is necessary for ripening the fruits of the earth, and hastening the harvest: but the winter’s cold and hoary frost are subservient to prepare the earth for the seed, and render it fertile. Nay, this dreary season is serviceable both to man and beast; it tends to remove distempers contracted in the summer’s unwholesome air, and gives a new spring and vigor to nature. How great, then, is the Divine goodness in preserving the constant and regular revolution of these seasons, so pleasant and beneficial to mankind! “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.”

We cannot but perceive the faithfulness of God in continuing these seasons, according to his promise, to this period. We still see day succeeding day, and year succeeding year: this covenant made with mankind is inviolably kept. The husbandman cultivates his land, ploughs up the furrows, casts in the seeds, in hope of the ensuing harvest, when he expects that his expense, labor, and patience, will be recompensed with a rich and large increase. But should God, in anger, open the bottles of heaven, pour down the rain in torrents, cause swelling floods to arise, and, rolling with alarming impetuosity forward, to sweep away at once the fruit of all his toil, how great must be his grief and astonishment! Such were the consternation and confusion that seized mankind at the time of the flood. The husbandman had tilled his land, thrown his seed into the ground; he saw it with pleasure springing up, and promised himself a plentiful harvest: when quickly, all the flood-gates of heaven were opened, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and a rapid current overflowed the springing corn, swept away numerous flocks of cattle, overthrew the habitations of the people, and drowned man and beast to the very tops of the mountains! But in this general ruin, Noah found favor with God, and he and his family were preserved in the Ark. When the waters had abated, and the earth became dry, this pious patriarch, being much affected with the awful judgment inflicted upon mankind, especially with the distinguishing mercies conferred upon himself and family, offered sacrifice, in testimony of his gratitude, to his great Deliverer, who was well-pleased with it. And on this, he made a covenant with him, and with all his posterity, in which he promises that he will not again curse the ground for man’s sake, nor any more smite every living thing, but that, “while the earth remaineth,” the successive seasons of the year shall be continued. The awful disobedience of the inhabitants of the old world rendered it necessary to inflict so dreadful a judgment; but as soon as it had subsided, God promised never to punish mankind again so universally. And, in token of his faithfulness, he set the rainbow in the cloud, to be a sign of his covenant, which has not been broken, but faithfully kept even to this day. However the Almighty may contend in anger with particular nations or provinces, he will no more do so with mankind in general.

How happy is the situation of our native isle! There are few countries, if any, that exceed it. The climate is temperate; neither days nor nights are ever of immoderate length; the summer and winter are neither extremely hot, nor excessively cold; the seed-time and harvest are generally favorable, and the produce of the land is plenteous. The inhabitants of some countries endure a long and severe winter, seeing not the sun for many weeks: nay, there are some places where it rises not for several months; but these parts are not inhabited in the winter season. In other countries, the inhabitants are scorched with the rays of a vertical sun, and wish in vain for the cooling winter’s snow. Some know not what is meant by the heat of summer, and others are as ignorant of the cold of winter. Some see the sun, but comparatively feel not his warming influence; while others are penetrated with his burning rays all the year. But the people of this country have moderate summer, heat sufficient for ripening the most useful fruits, and winter that may be well endured. The days are not so hot in the summer, but the nights are sufficiently cool for allaying the heat; and they are long enough in winter for managing the business that is requisite to be done. Some warmer climates produce more delicious fruits: but no country under the canopy of the heavens does more abound with all the substantial supports of life; not only equal to our own consumption, but frequently to enable us to assist our neighbors. Happy are the people that are in such a case: yea, thrice happy are they whose God is Jehovah. All his works praise him: may we join the grand chorus, and bless his holy name. Surely, if the works of creation were attentively viewed, and seriously considered, they would not only be truly admired, but their glorious Author would be sincerely regarded, diligently worshipped, and practically obeyed.

The following table has been ascribed to the illustrious astronomer, Dr. Herschell. It is constructed upon a philosophical consideration of the attraction of the sun and moon in their several positions respecting the earth, and confirmed by the experience of many years: actual observation will, without trouble, suggest to the observer what kind of weather will most probably follow the moon’s entrance into any of her quarters; and that so near the truth, that in very few instances will it be found to fail.

Hence, the nearer the time of the moon’s entrance, at full and change, or quarters, is to midnight (that is, within two hours before or after midnight), the more fair weather is in summer, but the nearer to noon the less fair. Also, the moon’s entrance, at full, change, and quarters, during six of the afternoon hours, viz. from four to ten, may be followed by fair weather; but this is mostly dependant on the wind. The same entrance, during all the hours after midnight except the two first, is unfavorable to fair weather; the like, nearly, may be observed in winter.127

It is an easy and excellent method of conveying instruction, and impressing it upon the heart, to take occasion from natural objects to raise the mind to things spiritual and divine. The day and night, and their alternate changes, may suggest such thoughts as the following, to a serious mind engaged in meditation.

What a glorious creature is light! How beneficial to this world! How useful, nay, how necessary for managing those employments which could not be done in the night! How unwise, then, is he who postpones the necessary business of the day till night overtake him?—So beneficial, so requisite, is the light of life in the important work of human salvation. Does God allow men a day, a gracious season, and the light of his word, for the good of their souls? Of what extreme folly shall they be guilty, if they neglect the necessary business till the night of death come, and they drop into the grave, where there is neither work, nor wisdom, nor device! Now is the day of grace, and God is favoring them with the light of reason and revelation. May he give them wisdom to improve these advantages, to his glory, and their own happiness! They know not how soon their sun may set, and the night of death come upon them. If it should be before their everlasting interest is secured, they will be lost for ever. Oh Lord, teach us so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom!

Night comes on apace; I must soon undress, and lie down to sleep. And it cannot be long before I must put off this body, lie down in the grave and sleep in the dust. What shall I do that my soul may not be found naked, but be clothed and adorned with the glorious robes of righteousness? Jesus, to whom shall I go but to thee, for thou hast the words of eternal life!—How awful, and full of horror, is this approaching darkness! If the imperfection of man did not require the rest of sleep, surely it would be a pleasant thing always to dwell in the light. Will it not then, be unspeakably delightful to abide in the light of God’s countenance, to see the Divine Majesty with a strong and open eye? and to behold his unutterable glories without any fear of being deprived of the beatific vision, or of returning night? But oh! how dismal must that place of darkness be where the light never shines! where the miserable inhabitants never see one beam of Divine light, one ray from God’s reconciled face! where the grossest darkness reigns for ever, without the least hope of returning day! and where nothing remains for them, but a black, a horrible, an eternal night!

The successive changes of day and night may suggest what is frequently the condition of good people in this world. Their day of prosperity is sometimes followed with a night of adversity; and then, when sorrow and weeping have endured for a night, light and joy spring up in the morning.—Is the light of the day pleasing? rejoice in it with trembling, for the night is advancing. Is the darkness of the night solemn and awful? rejoice in hope that the day is approaching. Hence be instructed, oh my soul, in the concerns of thy eternal welfare. Are prosperity, health, and relatives, agreeable? rejoice in them as one that rejoices not: these must have an end; and adversity, sickness, and death, will come. Are losses, affliction, and pain, not joyous, but grievous? mourn as one that weeps not: ease, health, and gladness, are in prospect, and will continue for ever. And how happy and glorious will that world be, where light and joy shall never cease! But how dreadful is that abode where darkness, despair, and anguish shall never end!

The succession of cold and heat, winter and summer, will always suggest pious and useful reflections in retirement. How pleasing it is to see the sun return, and to feel his cheering rays, after a long, cold, and tempestuous winter! So it is delightful to the humble penitent sinner, after a long season of darkness and sorrow, when the Sun of Righteousness arises with his reviving influences, and God lifts upon him the smiles of his reconciled countenance. All misery, and clouds of doubt and fear, are then dispersed, and heavenly light breaks into the soul, and fills it with gladness. And does the want of the light of God cause the serious Christian to mourn and weep, and taste no sweetness in any of the comforts of life? How extremely miserable, then, must a person be, who is driven to an everlasting distance from the presence of God, and from the glorious Sun of Righteousness; only to see his glory very remote, but never to feel the reviving beams of his love; and to be punished in hell, far “from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power.”

Section IV.—The Planets and Fixed Stars.

Mercury — Venus — The Earth — Mars — Ceres — Pallas — Juno — Vesta — Jupiter — Saturn — Georgium Sidus — Comets — Fixed Stars — Religious Improvement.

Moses, after stating that God created the sun and the moon, says, “he made the stars also.” A learned author explains it, “he made the lesser light, with the stars, to rule the night.” It is very probable that the whole solar system was created in six days: but as the design of the sacred historian was to relate what especially belongs to our globe and its inhabitants, he therefore passes by the planetary system, leaving it simply included in the plural word, שמים shamayim, heavens. In a work of this nature, it is proper to take a concise view of all the planets, their number, distances, magnitudes, revolutions, &c.

Wandering Stars, says Baseley, is one of the many appellations by which our solar system has been sometimes designated. And the figure it makes in the heavens is not unaptly expressed by the phraseology. For we distinguish the planets from the fixed stars by the lustre of the former, which is only from that side which faces the sun, and by their motion, which is seldom, and then but apparently, interrupted. Their brightness seems more uniform, has the cast of reflected rather than direct illumination, and is altogether free from scintillation or twinkling. Their connection with the globe we inhabit is more perceptible, and their relative situation to one another less stationary. Their distance from us is not so remote, and more susceptible of calculation. The latter occupy a certain region situated in our neighborhood between us and the former.

The planets are opake bodies, and nearly spherical. Being opake in themselves, they become visible only by reflecting the light, which they receive from the sun. The laws by which they are governed were discovered by Kepler, who demonstrated that they must necessarily revolve in elliptical, and not in circular orbits. Astronomers have divided them into classes: the primary planets are Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Georgium Sidus; and the second class includes the satellites which belong to some of the primary planets, such as the Moon, the attendant on the Earth, the four moons or satellites that revolve about Jupiter, the seven that attend Saturn, and the six that wait on the Georgium Sidus.

Mercury is the smallest of the seven primary planets, and nearest to the sun; he appears as a small star, and emits a very vivid white light. He was called by the Greeks Στιλβων, plainly alluding to his brightness. Costard observes, “ברק אור Bark-oor, ברק אורי Bark-oori, or, changing the letter ב into מ as letters of the same organ frequently are, מרק אורי Mark-oori, we have in another dialect, with a Latin termination us, another name of this planet, Mercurius; and from whence comes Mercury, as he is called by us.” This planet never goes to a greater distance from the sun than about 27° 50ʹ; so that he appears only a little after sunset, and again a little before sunrise; he is never longer in setting after the sun than an hour and fifty minutes nor does he ever rise more than an hour and fifty minutes before that luminary: he is then about as far as the moon appears to be from the sun on the second day after the change. His mean distance from the sun says Dr. O. Gregory, is to that of the earth from the sun as 387 to 1,000: hence his distance is about thirty-seven millions of miles. To an inhabitant of Mercury, the sun appears almost three times broader than we see him from the earth; because the planet is almost three times nearer to the sun than the earth. Whence also the solar disk, seen from Mercury, is seven times greater than the disk as it appears to us, and Mercury has seven times more light than the earth.

The diameter of this planet is more than one-third of the diameter of the earth, or 3,180 miles. Hence his surface is about 1/7th; and his magnitude 1/16th of that of the earth. His period of revolution round the sun is 87 days, 23 hours, 14 minutes, 33 seconds, which is his year, and falls short of three of our months: hence he moves in his orbit round the sun at the rate of more than 95,000 miles in an hour. According to some astronomers, it has not been ascertained by observation, whether Mercury turns upon his own axis, and therefore it cannot be certainly affirmed that he has the vicissitude of day and night, neither the return of summer and winter: because they depend upon the inclination of the axis of his rotation, which is unknown, to the plane of the orbit which he describes about the sun; though there is very little doubt entertained on the subject. But Schroëter affirms that he “has distinguished spots and mountains, which he has assiduously followed, till he has arrived at the subsequent conclusions: that the apparent diameter of the planet is about 6ʺ; that it does not present any sensible ellipticity; that the mountains it contains are proportionably larger than those of Venus and the Earth; that the highest are, as in these two bodies, in the southern hemisphere; that the angle which the equator makes with its orbit is very considerable; that the difference of days and seasons ought to be much greater in Mercury than it is on the earth; that its atmosphere, like that of Venus, is very dense; and lastly, that its rotation about its axis is 24 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds.” When examined by means of a telescope magnifying about 200 or 300 times, he appears equally luminous throughout his whole surface, without the least dark spot. He exhibits the same difference of phases with the moon, being alternately horned, gibbous, and shining almost with a round face, though not entirely full because his enlightened side is never turned directly toward us; but at all times perfectly well defined without any ragged edge, and completely bright; and, like the moon, the crescent is always turned toward the sun. Mercury has no inferior planet known to us, and if that be actually the case, a spectator on his body will want the argument taken from the horned phases of the planets, to establish the true system of the world. But though we do not see any planets inferior to Mercury, it does by no means follow that there are none: for we seldom see Mercury himself, he being buried in the rays of the sun; and a planet much nearer the sun could never be seen from the earth. The first observation that was ever made of a transit, was by Gassendi, who saw Mercury on the sun, A.M. November 7, 1631. Since his time there have occurred seventeen other transits of this planet, the last of which was at his ascending node on the 9th of November, 1802. The ascending and descending nodes are in the 16° of Taurus, and 16° of Scorpio. Other transits are expected in the years 1822, 1832, 1835, 1845, and 1848.

Venus, the second planet from the sun in the order of the system, is the most beautiful star in the heavens, being easily distinguished by her brightness and whiteness, which exceeds that of all the other planets, and is so considerable, that in a dusky night she projects a sensible shadow. Concerning her name, Costard remarks, “From the Chaldee הן Han, or Hen, which signifies gratia, decor, elegantia, with the Æolic digamma Ϝ, comes Fen, or Ven, and with the additional termination us, Venus; the name by which this planet was known among the Romans, and by which, from them, it has been transmitted to us.” The mean distance of Venus from the sun is about 69,000,000 miles; her diameter is 7,630 miles; she performs her revolution round the sun in 224 days, 16 hours, 41 minutes, 27 seconds; her diurnal motion on her axis, according to some observations accurately made by Schroëter, is performed in 23 hours, 21 minutes; and she moves at the rate of 81,398 miles an hour.

This planet constantly attends the sun, and never departs from him more than forty-seven degrees, and consequently is never seen at midnight, nor in opposition to that luminary; being visible only for three or four hours in a morning or evening, according as she is before or after the sun. Venus is a morning star when she appears westward of the sun, for she then rises before him, and is among poets called Phosphorus or Lucifer——

but when eastward of the sun, she is an evening star, shining after he is set, and then the poets give her the name Hesperus or Vesper.

She is in each situation, alternately, between nine and ten months, or about 290 days. Pythagoras is said to have first discovered that Hesperus and Phosphorus were one and the same star. “From the name Phosphorus,” says Costard, “it seems as if this is the same star that in Isaiah is called הילל בן שהר Helal-ben-shahar, or Helal, son of the morning; a name given it on account of its remarkable brightness. If so, that is the oldest record of a planet that occurs in any author whatever now extant: this was about the year before Christ 710.”

Venus is frequently seen in the day-time, when in the inferior part of her orbit, at about forty degrees distant from the sun.

To quiet the minds of some superstitious people, greatly alarmed at the appearance of Venus in the day-time, Dr. Halley wrote a small piece, published in the Philosophical Transactions (No. 349) to show that this was nothing extraordinary, and might be expected every eight years. Venus, when viewed through a good telescope, is rarely seen to shine with a full face, but has phases just like those of the moon, being now gibbous, now horned, &c., and her illuminated part constantly turned towards the sun, looking toward the east when a morning star, and toward the west when an evening star. M. de la Hire, in 1700, through a telescope of sixteen feet, discovered mountains in Venus, which he found to be larger than those in the moon. These observations have recently been confirmed by M. Schroëter, who, in the year 1780, commenced a course of observations on this planet, the results of which were published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1792.

Venus, as well as Mercury, is sometimes seen to transit the sun’s disk, in form of a dark round spot; but these transits seldom happen. The first that was ever observed, was seen by our countryman Jeremiah Horrox, at Hool, an obscure village fifteen miles north of Liverpool: his account of which was published by Hevelius at Dantzic in 1661, under the title, “Venus in sole visa, anno 1631, November 24.” Mr. Horrox’s friend, William Crabtree, according to his direction, saw this transit at the same time, at Manchester. Two have occurred in the last century, namely, one June 6th, 1761, seen by many astronomers, which excited particular attention by a dissertation published by Dr. Halley in the Philosophical Transactions (No. 348) in which he proposed finding, from that transit, the sun’s parallax, and thence the distance of the earth from the sun: and the other, June 3d, 1769, at 10^h. 10ʹ, according to M. de la Lande, and consequently invisible at Paris and London; but by comparing together two observations made, one at Mexico, and the other to the north of Petersburgh, we perceive the sun’s parallax, was determined with great precision. The transits of Venus, occurring between the years 1631 and 2110, according to the calculations of persons most eminent in astronomical science, are as follow:

The Earth is the next planet in order; called by the Greeks Γη, and by the poets Γαια, from γαω to generate, produce, which, says Parkhurst, is from the Hebrew, גאה to grow as a plant, because it produces, or is the mother of all terrestrial things; or in the poetic language of the Orphic hymn to the earth,

The word used by Moses is הארץ haarets, translated earth, whence in the Anglo-Saxon, eard and eord; Danish jord, jorden; Dutch erd and aerd; and Teutonic erd, erde.

The distance of the earth from the sun is about 95,000,000 miles: her orbit round the sun is 597,000,000 miles, and she performs her revolution round the sun, from any equinox or solstice to the same point again, in 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, 57 seconds; of course, her hourly motion in her orbit is 68,000 miles. Her diameter is 7,964 miles, her circumference is 25,000 miles, and the time of rotation upon her axis, from west to east, is 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds: by which the inhabitants upon the equator are carried after the rate of 1,042 miles an hour, and those upon the parallel of London, 580 miles, as we have already noticed. The annual and diurnal motion of the earth is thus described by Milton:

From this circumstance arises the apparent diurnal revolution of all the heavenly bodies from east to west.

“The motion of the earth,” says an intelligent writer, “has so long ceased to be a disputed question, that the arguments on each side are nearly forgotten; and those who do not scruple to adopt the hypothesis of the earth’s motions, are often less acquainted with the arguments on which it is supported, than they would have been in former times, when their opinions must have been the subjects of fierce contention.” La Place observes, “that if the earth be at rest, and the stars move, the velocity of these latter must be immense; and yet all the purposes thereof might have been answered by a moderate motion of the earth alone. The moon’s distance from the earth is 240,000 miles; of course, the length of the tract which it traverses, if it moves round the earth in 24 hours, is about 1,500,000; that is, at the rate of 62,500 miles an hour, instead of 2,290 miles, which is really the case: consequently, in each second of time, the moon, known to be the slowest of all the heavenly bodies, must move more than seventeen miles. Again, the sun’s mean distance from the earth is about 95,000,000 miles; consequently, the diurnal path of that luminary, if it revolve about our globe in twenty-four hours, must be 580,000,000: and therefore, in a single second, the beat of a clock, he must move nearly 7,000 miles. Upon the same principle; that is, supposing the earth to be the centre of the system, and not the sun, the planet Mars, in a second of time, must travel at the rate of more than 10,000 miles, Jupiter 36,000, and Saturn 62,000. And, lastly, the fixed stars being yet indefinitely more remote from the earth than the sun or Saturn, their motion in or near the equator must be vastly swifter than this. If the earth does not move round the sun, the sun must move with the moon round the earth; now; the distance of the sun to that of the moon is nearly 400 to 1, and the period of the moon being about twenty-eight days, the sun’s period should be, by the law above mentioned, full 600 years, whereas, it is, in fact, but a single year. This consideration was, of itself, thought of weight enough to determine the controversy between the two opinions, and to establish the motion of the earth in its orbit for ever.”

That the shape of the earth was an extended plane, and the visible horizon its utmost bounds, was the opinion of the ancients. But that it is globular, a little raised at the equator, and flattened at the poles, being about thirty-seven miles shorter than at the equator, so as nearly to resemble an orange, is demonstrable on the most evident and unquestionable principles. 1. All the appearances of the heavens, both at land and at sea, are the same as they would be if the earth were a globe. Mariners first begin to lose sight of the lower parts of objects, and then gradually of the higher parts; also, persons on shore first discover the masts before the hull of approaching vessels, and on leaving a port the masts are seen when the hull is out of sight, which must be owing to the convexity of the water between the eye and the object, otherwise the largest and most conspicuous parts would have been visible the longest.

2. Navigators sailing round the globe, as Magellan, Drake, Lord Anson, Cook, and others, have steered their course directly south and west till they came to the Magellanic sea, and from thence to the north and west, till they returned to their port from the east; and all the phenomena which should naturally arise from the earth’s rotundity, happened to them. Beside, their method of sailing was also founded upon this hypothesis, which could not have succeeded so happily, if the earth had been of any other figure. 3. In all lunar eclipses, the shadow of the earth falling upon the moon is always circular; and a body can be no other than a globe, which in all situations casts a circular shadow. It is true, the surface of the earth is not an exact geometrical globe: but what the earth loses of its sphericity by its inequalities, as writers on this subject have remarked, is very inconsiderable: the highest mountains bearing so little proportion to its bulk, as scarcely to be equivalent to the minutest protuberance on the surface of an orange, or a grain of dust to a common globe.

It is not so easy as some imagine, says a German philosopher and divine, to determine exactly the size of the earth. It is true, there is but one longitude; but there are two latitudes, the north and the south. Both of these begin at the equator; the one extends northward, the other southward, as far as the arctic and antarctic poles. But, no one has yet been able to reach either pole. The mountains of ice in Greenland and the Northern Sea, have always obstructed the passage to the north pole: and immense fields, mountains, and islands of ice, have rendered the passage to the south pole impossible. Thanks, however, to the geometricians, we can at present know very nearly the size of our globe. According to the most exact calculations, the surface of the earth is 199,512,595 square miles. The seas and unknown parts of the earth, by a measurement of the best maps, contain 160,522,026 square miles. The inhabited parts contain about 38,990,559 square miles, in the following proportion: Europe—4,456,065; Asia—10,768,823; Africa—9,654,807; America—14,110,874: Hence it appears that scarcely one-third of the globe is habitable. It has been calculated, that there might be at least three thousand millions of men upon the earth at once: but in reality there are no more than about a thousand and eighty millions: of which there are, in Asia—650 millions; in Africa—150; in America—150; in Europe—130.

The path traversed by the earth, which, in astronomical language, is called its orbit, is the apparent path of the sun: it is called the ecliptic, because eclipses, both solar and lunar, always happen in this circle—also via solis, or the sun’s path, because the sun never departs from it; and, therefore, at any time to denote the sun’s place in the heavens, astronomers have divided the whole circle of the earth’s motion in 360 equal parts, which they term degrees, and every thirty of these a sign, of which there are twelve. In this circle the sun advances nearly one degree every twenty-four hours, and thirty degrees every month; thus passing through the whole 360 degrees in a year. The signs are called by different names, and, with regard to their situations and corresponding seasons and months, they stand in the following order:

The order of the signs is thus poetically described by Dr. Watts.

Dr. Long observes, that ♈ represents the horns of the ram; ♉ the head and horns of the bull; ♊ the figure of gemini, the twins joining hands and feet; the character cancer ♋ represents the changes of the sun’s declination from north to south, by two lines or figures drawn so as to point two contrary ways; ♌ is the tail of the lion; ♍ was originally the three ears of corn which Virgo held; ♎ is the beam of the balance; ♏ was at first the picture of the scorpion; ♐ the arrow of the Archer; ♑ represents capricorn, the goat-fish; ♒ is a natural representation of the water’s undulating surface; ♓ is the picture of two fishes tied together back to back.

The figures of the twelve signs are supposed by Dr. Jennings, and other astronomers, to be Egyptian hieroglyphics, by which they designed to exhibit some remarkable natural occurrence in each month, as the sun passed through these signs. Thus the first three months, beginning from the vernal equinox, were remarkable for the production of those animals which they most valued, namely, sheep, kine, and goats. The lambs came first, which are represented by their parent, the Ram; next the calves, represented by the Bull; and the kids, which commonly come in pairs, and which, therefore, gave the name to Gemini, the third constellation; which was not at first represented by Two Boys, but by Two Beasts; as referring to the fruitfulness of goats, in producing twin kids about the time when the sun was in that constellation. When, in the fourth month, the sun is arrived at the summer solstice, he discontinues his progress towards the north pole, and begins to go back again to the southward; this retrograde motion the Egyptians expressed by the Crab, which is said to go backwards. The excessive heat that usually follows in the next month, is signified by the Lion; an animal remarkable for his strength and fierceness; or, as others observe, when that animal, driven by thirst from the desert, made his appearance on the banks of the Nile. Nothing could be more proper than the symbol for the harvest: namely, the Virgin reaper or gleaner with an ear of corn in her hand. The seventh constellation, when the sun arrives at the autumnal equinox, is expressed by the Balance or Scales, in equilibrio, because the days and nights, being then of the same length, seemed to indicate an equilibrium like that instrument. October is often a sickly season, when the surfeits acquired in the hot months of the summer produce their fatal effects; the symbol is therefore the Scorpion, who wounds with a sting in his tail, as he recedes; or, according to others, when certain regular winds brought forth a burning vapor like the poison of the scorpion. The diversion of hunting, which is chiefly followed after the fall of the leaf, is designated by Sagittarius, or the archer. The Goat, which is an animal that delights to browse up hill and to climb the highest rocks, is the emblem of the winter solstice, when the sun begins to ascend from the southern tropic, and is continually mounting higher and higher for the ensuing half year. Aquarius, or the Water-bearer, fitly represents the rains, or snows, of the winter. And the Two Fishes in a band, had, it is imagined, reference to the prime fishing season, which began in February.

The names given to our months originated as follows:

The name given to the month of January by the Romans was taken from Janus, one of their divinities, to whom they gave two faces; because on the one side, the first day of this month looked towards the new year, and on the other towards the old one. It was called wolf-monat by our Saxon ancestors, on account of the danger they then experienced from wolves. Some etymologists derive February from Februa, an epithet given to Juno, as the goddess of purification; while others attribute the origin of the name to Februa, a feast held by the Romans in this month, in behalf of the manes of the deceased. The Saxons named February sprout kele, on account of the sprouts of the cole-wort which began to appear in this month. Among the Romans, March, from Mars, was the first month, and marriages made in this month were accounted unhappy. The Saxons called March lent-monat, or length-moneth, “because the days did first begin, in length, to exceed the nights.”—April is derived from Aprilis, of aperio, I open; because the earth, in this month, begins to open her bosom for the production of vegetables. The Saxons called this month oster-monat, from the goddess Eoster, or because the winds were found to blow generally from the east in this month.—May is so called from Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom sacrifices were offered by the Romans on the first of this month; or, according to some, from respect to the senators and nobles of Rome, who were named Majores, as the following month was termed Junius, in honor of the youth of Rome. The Saxons called May, tri-milki, because, in that month, they began to milk their kine three times in the day.—The Saxons called June weyd-monat, because their beasts did then weyd or feed in the meadows.—The word July is derived from the Latin Julius, the surname of C. Cæsar, the dictator, who was born in it. Mark Antony first gave to this month the name of July, which was before called Quintilis, as being the fifth month in the year, in the old Roman calender established by Romulus. July was called by the Saxons, hew-monat, or hey-monat, because therein they usually mowed, and made their hay-harvest.—Sextilis was the ancient Roman name for September, it being the sixth month from March. The Emperor Augustus changed this name, and gave it his own, because in this month Cæsar Augustus took possession of his first consulship, celebrated three triumphs, reduced Egypt under the power of the Roman people, and put an end to all civil wars. “The Saxons called August arn-monat (more rightly barn-monat,) intending thereby the then filling of their barnes with corne.” September is composed of septem, seven, and the termination ber, like lis in Aprilis, Quintilis, Sextilis. This rule will also apply to the three following months, Octo-ber. Novem-ber, Decem-ber. Our Saxon ancestors called it Gerst-monat, “for that barley which that moneth commonly yielded was anciently called gerst.”—October was called Domitianus in the time of Domitian: but, after his death, by the decree of the senate, it took the name of October, every one hating the name and memory of so detestable a tyrant. It was called wyn-monat, or wine month, by the Saxons—The Saxons called November wint-monat, or wind-month, on account of the prevalence of high winds in this month.—December was called winter-monat by the Saxons; but, after they were converted to Christianity, it received the name of heligh-monat, or holy month.129

The names of our days are of Heathen origin. The seven planets were anciently looked on as presiding over the affairs of the world, and to take it by turns each one hour at a time, according to the following order: Saturn first, then Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and last of all, the Moon. Hence they denominated each day of the week from the planet whose turn it was to preside the first hour of the nychthemeron, a term compounded of νυξ, night, and ἡμερα, day, which implies both night and day, and is divided into twenty-four parts, called hours. Thus, assigning the first hour of Saturday to Saturn, the second will fall to Jupiter, the third to Mars, and so the twenty-second of the same nychthemeron will fall to Saturn again, and therefore the twenty-third to Jupiter, and the last to Mars: so that on the first hour of the next day, it will fall to the Sun to preside; and by the like manner of reckoning, the first hour of the next will fall to the Moon, of the next to Mars, of the next to Mercury, of the next to Jupiter, and the next to Venus: hence the days of the week came to be distinguished by the Latin names of Dies Saturni, Solis, Lunæ, Martis, Mercurii, Jovis, and Veneris. The ancient Saxons had a great many idols, seven of which were appropriated to the seven days of the week, because of some worship that was offered to each idol on its respective day. The northern nations substituted, for the Roman Divinities, such of their own as most nearly resembled them in their peculiar attributes, and hence the derivation of the names now in use. These were Seater, the Sun, the Moon, Tuisco, Woden, Thor, Friga: hence among us the names of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. For, as Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, plainly denote the day of Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon; so Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, denote the day of Tuisco, Woden, Thor, and Friga, which are the Saxon names respectively answering to Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus. Verstegan, in his “Restitution of Decayed Intelligence,” describes the Saxon deities who presided over each day of the week, and gives plates of the idols, pp. 74-85.

How amazing it is that this ponderous globe should be suspended in the fluid air, without any visible support, and upheld only by the sovereign will of its almighty Creator! His power, who “hangeth the earth upon nothing,” is inconceivably great; and the revolutions of this globe produce the most beneficial effects. The daily rotation of the earth causes the uniform succession of light and darkness; and its annual motion occasions the difference of the length of the days and nights, and the beautiful diversity of the seasons. Many pious Christians, who read the Scriptures to great personal advantage, but who are unacquainted with the science of astronomy, are apt to doubt the truth of the astronomical principles concerning the shape and motion of the earth, because, as Dr. O. Gregory judiciously observes, they think them contrary to divine revelation. Such persons would do well to consider for what purpose the Holy Scriptures were written, whether as a measure of faith, or as a rule to regulate our philosophical notions? Gassendus, though he does not give a direct answer to the question, has made the following very pertinent observations on the subject. “There are,” says he, “two sacred volumes, the one written, called the Bible; the other Nature, or the World; God having manifested himself by two lights, the one of revelation, and the other of demonstration; accordingly the interpreters of the former are divines; of the latter mathematicians. As to matters of natural knowledge, the mathematicians are to be consulted; and as to objects of faith, the prophets; the former being no less interpreters, or apostles, from God to men than the latter. And as the mathematician would be judged to wander out of his province, if he should pretend to controvert, or set aside any article of faith from principles of geometry; so it must be granted, the divines are no less out of their limits, when they venture to pronounce on a point of natural knowledge, beyond the reach of any not versed in geometry and optics, merely from Holy Scripture, which does not pretend to teach any thing of the matter.”

Mars is the first of the four superior planets in order from the sun, his orbit being immediately beyond that of the earth. He was called by the Greeks Αρης, the supposed god of war, which, says Parkhurst, comes from the Hebrew עריץ violent, destructive. Costard remarks, “This planet, I suppose, was called ערע Ara, ערץ Aretz, Αρης, and, in another dialect, מערץ Ma-aretz, or Mars, in a softer pronunciation, from his strong glowing brightness.” He is distinguished from the other planets by the red and fiery appearance, of his disk: whether his ruddy troubled color arises from a natural disposition to reflect the red rays of light best, or from a thick atmosphere attending it, is rather uncertain; but it is generally attributed to the density of his atmosphere.