pe, even of our Lord
Himself, and of His future coming in glory. St. Peter bids the
disciples, to whom he writes, take heed unto the word of prophecy as
unto a lamp shining in a dark place "until the day dawn, and the Day
star arise in your hearts." In almost the last words of the Bible, the
Lord uses the same image Himself:--

"I, Jesus, have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these
things in the Churches. I am the root and the offspring of
David, the bright and morning star."

In the sublime and ordered movements of the various heavenly bodies, the
Hebrews recognized the ordinances of God. The point of view always taken
in Scripture is the theo-centric one; the relation sought to be brought
out is not the relation of thing to thing--which is the objective of
physical science--but the relation of creature to Creator. We have no
means of knowing whether they made attempt to find any mechanical
explanation of the movements; such inquiry would lie entirely outside
the scope of the books of Holy Scripture, and other ancient Hebrew
literature has not been transmitted to us.

The lesson which the Psalmists and the Prophets desired to teach was
not the daily rotation of the earth upon its axis, nor its yearly
revolution round the sun, but that--

"If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord,
then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation
before Me for ever."

In the Bible all intermediate steps are omitted, and the result is
linked immediately to the first Cause. God Himself is the theme, and
trust in Him the lesson.

"Lift up your eyes on high, and see Who hath created these,
That bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by
name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong
in power, not one is lacking.

"Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is
hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed away from my God.
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? the everlasting God,
the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary; there is no searching of His understanding.
He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might He
increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
wings as