NOW we have come to our last talk, for the present, about the stars; and there are a few more groups I want you to look at tonight, so that when you are out on starry nights, you may see above you many that you know and recognize, each in their own particular place.
We will take the Great Bear as a starting-point—so will you look at that, and then let your eyes pass along an imaginary line from it to Cassiopeia; now carry your line on in the same direction, until you see a large square formed by four bright stars—an almost perfect square do these four stars form—and they are known by the name of Pegasus. Lying at one side of these is an extension of three other stars, very much like the tail of the Great Bear in form, but with the stars at greater distances from each other; this bright group is called Andromeda. The last star in the group of Pegasus forms the first in that of Andromeda; the two constellations seem to form but one as we look at them, and they together seem to join the North to the southern part of the skies by the flashing belt they form in the eastern part of the heavens in autumn.
Now if you look closely at the last star in Andromeda, you will discover two others, one on either side of it, they are not so bright as the central one; but with it they are formed into another constellation, known as Perseus. Exactly opposite lies a very singular star, known as Algol, this is what is termed a variable star; that is, its brilliancy becomes gradually dimmed until it is almost invisible, then it returns for a certain time to great luster, and again fades and pales as before. I am afraid that some of us are “variable," too.
Do not we know something of it? Lessons seem so hard to conquer sometimes, and even when we have really tried, and think we have learned them quite perfectly, we often find that when our time comes to be tested as to whether we are perfect in them or not, our knowledge is not enough to get "good marks" for them. And too often our brightness fails us then.
Yes! There are lessons to be learned all one's life, you know. And this world is the school. But those who see something of the beauty and the glory of the One who is "the bright and morning Star," know a great deal, too, of His unfailing patience. There is a question that I love very much, about this—have you ever thought of it I wonder?—it is this: "Who teacheth like him?” You will find it in Job 36:2222Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him? (Job 36:22).
We ought to make rapid progress with such a Teacher. But we easily get discouraged and tired, and forget that every stroke that we do well for Him will have its full reward.
Now for one more look at our flashing friends above us. Turn again to the North, almost opposite to the last star in the tail of our useful Bear, we see a bright triangle of stars; carrying a curved line downwards from the tail of Ursa Major for some distance we come to a very bright orb, called Arcturus, this, together with the triangle above it, forms the group known as the Herdsman.
Arcturus is one of the stars that are the earth's brightest neighbors-though many millions of millions of miles these same neighbors are from us. Arcturus is a very beautiful star of a rosy color. The one directly above in this constellation is a double star, one of them of an azure color, the other yellow: two distinct suns blending their light in this wonderful way.
Now look a little to the left; on very bright, clear, nights you may see a lovely cluster of small stars, seven or eight in number, called the "Northern Crown," in the form of an incomplete circle; and, seen on a bright autumn night, very beautiful are these flashing clusters of light.
The Herdsman sets as the Pleiades rise, and so in olden times the Pleiades were sometimes called the Herdsman's daughters.
Many other groups are there which we have not looked at yet; but if all of you get familiar with those that we have seen, so as to easily recognize each one without help, you will be able to go on with the help of others, or with a star-map, and find out more for yourselves. But as you look at them, never forget that each one has a voice for you if you will listen to it, human language of course I do not mean; but you all know that there are other voices than that. And if you will look at every passage in God's word where the stars are mentioned, or the sun and moon, I think you will be surprised to see how numerous they are. And then beyond all the visible stars that are seen by the very strongest telescopic power, lie flashing points, and clouds, and wavelets of golden light, that seem to denote that there, beyond all vision of man, are other stellar universes in countless profusion.
Sir William Herschel was the first to see and make known these clouds of light, as he was the first who used a telescope of sufficient power to bring them within the range of the human sight.
Many of these brilliant clouds were, when carefully examined by him, found to be enormous clusters of distinct stars—or rather, suns. These are called clusters; there are many of these clusters in the various groups we have looked at. There is a most beautiful one in Orion, and also another in Andromeda.
Some appear like shining fragments of clouds, others like deep masses of light: some of a golden color, others a lovely blue; one appears rosy in the center, paling off to white at the edge. Some have clearly marked forms, and have received names to correspond with that form. Those that are so far distant that no known telescopic power avails to see more than a brilliant cloud of light, are called “Nebula."One of these is said by a recent writer to “write in the midst of the page of heaven the last letter of the Greek alphabet, Ω, [Omega].”
Some, as seen through the great telescope that Lord Rosse erected, are in the most beautiful spiral forms; and there seems, indeed, to be an endless variety. The nebula in Orion may sometimes be seen with the naked eye: so what can be the distance and magnitude of an object that even when viewed through a telescope that magnified several thousand times, only appeared as a vast cloud of light, and yet is visible by the unassisted powers of the eye! It is calculated that the light cannot reach the earth in less than a thousand years, so inconceivable is the distance, so immense the mighty universe around us. And the whole of this stupendous universe, the work of one mighty Hand—of Him who from the throne of glory is looking down at you to-night and reads every thought of your heart!
Does He see that you have decided to take eternal life as His free gift, and so become free forever from all that awful weight of sin that is upon you, whether you know it or not?
We have looked at flashing stars and radiant star-groups in all their splendor, at fleecy clouds and golden clusters, and filmy nebulae. And now we will turn for a few moments to the “Shooting Stars," or Meteors, as they are called.
Nearly every evening through the latter part of November, we may see these shooting stars. And sometimes it is one of the grandest sights one can imagine, when the whole sky seems blazing and flashing in all directions with living points of radiance. Only a few nights ago this was to be seen, and over two thousand of these fiery visitors were counted, as they darted and streamed across the sky, many of them leaving long tracks of golden shimmering light behind them.
Some of these meteors exceed the planet Venus in brightness, and are believed to follow in the track of comets: all pursuing a certain defined path. And what we may call the November family of shooting stars is known to pass along in a vast orbit round the sun, nearly twenty times farther away from it than the earth; so you may get an idea of the enormous distance these meteors traverse during one journey round the sun. For they obey the same laws and follow the path marked out for them, in just the same way that the earth does.
It is during November that the earth in its course passes across the path of these beautiful visitors. And sometimes it occurs at the time when that path is strewn in dense profusion with the meteors; the sight is very grand indeed. But every November many are to be seen, though I cannot say studied, for they flash upon us, and are away again.
Amongst some people of America, these "star showers” are looked upon with the most intense dread. During one November night, some years ago, there was a magnificent display of meteors in the United States, and we are told that thousands of people were seen prostrated on the ground, with cries and tears imploring God to have pity on them and on the world, thinking that the end of the world was approaching, or, in fact, had come. So great was the terror inspired by the sight of the flashing stars darting along in the air, to them, mysterious flight.
But when we see that these same stars are only part of the magnificent one great universe, which is all "the action of a single thought," as a writer has truly said, then we cannot help seeing how far from terrifying these visitors of November really are; although until recently many people, even in Europe, regarded them with dread and awe.
Even now it is surprising how very little many people understand what the shooting stars” are. Only a few nights ago I heard of a tradesman, who had been looking at some as he came along to the house where I was staying, and he really seemed to think that the stars were just taking up fresh positions; for in speaking of the meteors, after he had done his business, he said, "I never saw such a sight in my life as I have to-night: why, the stars seem all to be shifting their places." Just imagine a star acting like that! Ah, no! Stars never want to alter their places—they only go where they are sent.
I remember some years ago I was staying in a part of Kent, at the time when astronomers expected that the earth would pass across the track of a vast number of these lovely stars; between twelve at night and four o'clock in the next morning was the time when the star shower was to be looked for.
Some of the others in the house and myself agreed to get up soon after two o'clock, as that was thought to be early enough—and then all go to a very high part of the town, called "Mount Ephraim," from whence it was hoped that we should get a view of the meteors in all their splendor. Well, two o'clock came very quickly, and we dressed and looked out; to our dismay, we found it was misty and drizzling, instead of the clear, frosty weather we had been hoping for. However, at last we decided to go it was some distance from Mount Ephraim, and might be better there. So off we went through the mist, finding, as we got nearer to our place, that we were not the only ones, for there were little groups of people walking up and down on the raised promenade on the top of the Mount, all of them, like ourselves, looking rather foolish and disappointed. For the mist grew thick and dense till it was a fog, and not a star did we behold that night: the vapors from the earth prevented that; and, though it was strangely light, spite of the fog, yet our walk and giving up our night's rest was all in vain.
I dare say if we had been better up in the knowledge of such things, we should not have gone at all, for we should have been sure that no stars would be visible.
And such a mist as we went through that early morning long-ago is not the only mist that ever hides a brightness from our eyes. Too often we make the clouds for ourselves that dim, and sometimes hide altogether, the glory that lies ahead. But then it is an immense comfort to remember that it is there all the same. None of our clouds -be they ever so black or thick-can alter the fact, that for those who are "Christ's own," there lies on before, a place of such glory that, when compared to it, the light of the sun and its glory dims into nothingness.
Since we began our pleasant chats together, we have looked at flashing star-worlds and gleaming groups, and lustrous golden hued clusters at fleecy, cloudy nebulae. Flashing stars, and fleecy clouds of light, all flash and gleam and move at His word who created one and all. Every one of them obeys His word, shines as He orders, moves as and when He directs: "For his pleasure they were," for His pleasure they still are. But not one of those radiant worlds has our God thought fit to become the eternal home of Christ's redeemed.
No less than far above all heavens is the place where He who was once called “the Nazarene, the Crucified," now sits, exalted to the throne of the majesty on high. His place is yours and mine, dear fellow-believer in Him.
The more we see how faithless we are in ourselves, the more we see His faithfulness and love; and we can truly sing
"One place have I in heaven above:
The glory of His throne.”
Yes, for us it is death here—glory there. And all the way along—whether we feel it or not— “Underneath are the everlasting arms." Ah I dear young friends, it is only
“When we stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o'er life's finished story;”
it is only then we shall be able to see how those arms have been around us: when we were most wearied and discouraged, and seemed almost ready to faint, and give up in despair. Well, why did we not give up in despair? Just because, though we knew it not, those same arms were bearing us up in their strength-giving clasp, and presently we were strengthened and helped, and saw the bright sunlight again of His own love and pity. And so the weak and tempted and tried ones amongst us are enabled to go on, because it is forever and forever true of those who are His, that “underneath are the everlasting arms.”
Well, that is for the road there. Now let us think a little of where we are going. We are going to Jesus Christ the Lord—the mighty, exalted One. No longer the lowly Stranger, but made both Lord and Christ, a Prince and a Savior: soon to appear in all His glory. But now He who once lay in the grave in that distant lovely land; "over whose acres walked those blessed feet, that eighteen hundred years ago were nailed, for our salvation, to a bitter cross"—He is now set down at the right hand of God in the heavenly places: "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come. And hath put all things under his feet.”
There in that radiant glory is Jesus now, and there we shall be ere long, as certainly as we are now down here—those of us, I mean, who “have redemption through his blood, "and” have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
And this same Jesus is coming again to fetch us. How it sends a thrill of joy to our hearts to remember that at any moment "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Now when first I read this verse, and a friend spoke to me saying, “it may be fulfilled this very hour," I was greatly surprised, for I had never noticed it before; and thought I must die some day. But although that may be so, and we may fall asleep and our bodies rest in the grave while our spirits are at home with the Lord—yet it is just as possible that we may be alive when He comes, and then we shall be caught up to Him even as Elijah was, though not with the chariots and horses of fire; but taken straight from this weary world to a Savior's presence and fullness of joy.
Afterward this same world will see Him come again “in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Are any of you, dear young friends, still among those who know not God—who obey not the gospel? Just think of what is reserved for you, if you are.
And for all who now through His own matchless grace, own His authority and seek to follow and serve Him, let us remember this word of warning and command: “Be not conformed to this world."(Rom. 12:22And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2).) Now, for everyone who is the Lord's, this is as much a command as “Thou shalt not steal;" so that the only thing for us is to be utterly separated from it. Not taking part in its pleasures or gaieties, or mingling in any way with it as friends.
Of course, we have our work to do in it. But let us all remember, that to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God.
But perhaps you will say, “What do you mean by the world?" Just look at 1 John 2:1616For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 John 2:16), and there you will see that the world is all that "is not of the Father." Could I mix in worldly parties and pleasures, if I remembered that Christ died “to deliver us from this present evil world "? So let us seek to obey Him in this, and keep ourselves true for His sake; for we shall bring no glory to Him, and no blessing to ourselves if we do not. A worldly Christian really denies his Savior. Even in our dress we should show that we are not of the world.
May each one for ourselves, seek to be like Daniel, who “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself." He made it a settled determination, a steady purpose. So must we. And then let us go on and study the directions He has left for our life down here; seek in His living word to learn more of His glories; and, before we have learned it all, before we are able to comprehend the half, we shall find ourselves caught up far above this doomed world—far above gleaming stars and flashing suns—up to the many mansions of the "Father's house.”
There we shall forever be learning, in all the surpassing glory and brightness and joy of His presence, what that One is whose love has brought us there, and say, now, "O Lord, no harps, no songs of heaven will be sweet as one word of Thine.”
Ah! that is verily true, is it not, dear friends?
It is Himself we look for—Himself we long for—the bright and morning Star.
And now, as our starlight journeys and talking are over, may He who has read all our hearts, bow every one to Himself for His precious name's sake—for His own glory.
L T.
"With Thee, in garments white,
Lord Jesus, we shall walk;
And, spotless in that heavenly light,
Of all Thy sufferings talk.
Close to Thy trusted side,
In fellowship divine—
No cloud, no distance, e'er shall hide
Glories that then shall shine.
Yet still we wait for Thee,
To see Thee as Thou art:
Be with Thee, like Thee, Lord, and free
To love with all our heart."