Classical Theology.—Xxxvi.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —XXXVI .

X . —VESTA ASH DECEVIBEE . Moses , wlio spoke face to face with the Almighty , and ¦ was instructed hy the G . A . 0 . T . U ., wrote that " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth , and the earth was without form and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep . And the Spirit of God

moved upon the face of the waters . " Thus the earth was in tlie first ages under the waters . From these theocratical record of natural philosophy , allpantheological theologies have been devised . Thence the great deep , the sun , the moon , the earth , ancl the stars , as sprung

from creation , were described as an immortal progeny , the sous and daughters of the pi'imordial deity under various names , ( according to different nations and tongues , ) and therefore , as his offspring classed as gods and goddesses . Vesta , Terra , or the Earth , was described as the wife

of Crelum , the mother of Saturn , and the eldest of all the deities ; consequently here is represented the celestial element embracing the terrestial body . Here also isplainly apparent the symbolism of a covenant betwixt heaven ancl earth . Nothing is more visibly magnificent , more effulgent , more wonderful , more distant , and at tlie same

time near , in its shining , than the sun . The learned ancients concurred in placing the eai'th at the centre of the universe . Of this opinion was Varro ( tip . Atu / . vii , tie Civ . )• Cicero ( Bo Somno Ilecai ) ; Phurnutius ( Miles , General ) ; and Ovid , who says ( Fasti ) .

" Vesta vi sta-ndo dicitiu * , Stat vi terra sua , vi stando Vesta vacatur . ' ' " . By its own strength supported Terra stands , Hence ifc is A ' csta named . ' ' ' "With these names it ought to be borne in mind , the Greek words xflav and T-ns Eopre si gnifying "the earth , "

or otherwise Ceres , correspond . Although we may not agree entirely ivith the computations ofthe best astronomers , we will not deny that their most exact calculations make the greatest distance of the sun from onr earth ( that is in its northern diurnal arch ) to be about fifteen hundred and fifty

semidiameters ( more or less ) of the earth , and its smallest distance from the same , ( that is , in its southern diurnal arch . ) fourteen hundred aud forty-six semi-diameters , from the same centre , of the earth . Tlie sun ' s diameter is found to be about fifteen semi-diameters of the earth ; whence , consequently , the sun is believed to surpass the size of the earth about four hundred and thirty-four times .

The higher a star is above the horizon , and the further it is distant from us , tlie less is its parallax . The parallax of the sun , unless when it is in the horizon , is ineffective or not sensible , aud even then when in that circle , it is with difficulty ascertained , and hardly

determinable . By a similar calculation , the farthest distance of the earth's centre from the moon is a little more than fifty-six semi-diameters of the globe , ancl its nearest distance close upon fifty-one of the same

semidiameters . The moon ' s diameter is about a fourth psrir of the earth ' s , it follows therefore , thatthe earth is about forty five times larger than the moon . The circumference of every circle , compared" to its diameter , is as twenty-two to seven . Therefore if the

earth be nine thousand leagues in circumference , its diameter must be somewhat about two thousand eight hundred and sixty three leagues : which shows that thedistance of any acquired centre of the earth from itscircumference , is almost one thousand four hundred ancl

thirty-one leagues . With these pallaxical , or angular and . latitudial admeasurements , we will g ive , according to the position of the earth at the time , what has been considered a- pretty authentic table of the diameters ofthe p lanets , and their distances from the sun : yet still , one second more or less-different in the variation of a minute in a degree , would make a very extensive alteration of

the whole of the figures . Some may suppose that the wonderful accuracy of immediate astronomical calculations must prove such tables to be very nearly perfect , but in decreasing the circumferences and altitude of the heavens or rather their spheres , ancl allowing for the subtraction , there would be the same correctness in .

ascertaining a result , But as tlie moon varies from the same degree of the zodiac with tlie sun , to ninety and to a hundred and eighty astronomical degrees distant from the sun , can its mean distance be any thing like fifty three million eight hundred thousand English miles ? In

like manner the other planets have their circular variationsof distances in the heavens attributed to them : the sun ' s distance must be eminently less than fifty-four millions of English miles from the earth . The following table is , we believe , the revised one of Sir Isaac jNTewton as respecting the numerals , but of course not as respecting the Georgium Sklus of Herschel .

' vines j : i Ji . 'nr . ietei-. K'Je . s from ihe Suui The Sun 494 , 100 Saturn 43 , 025 513 , 540 , 000 Jupiter 52 , 542 280 , 582 , 000 Mars 2 , 81 ti 82 , 243 , 000 Vesta , or the Earth 8 , 202 54 , 000 , 000

Luna , or the Iiloon ... 2 , 223 53 , 800 , 000 Venus 4 , 041 39 , 006 , 000 Mercury 2 , 71 ? 20 , 95 * 2 , 000 Georgium Sidns 37 , 000 900 , 800 , 000

When the Almi ghty Creator said , "Let there be lig ht , " the heavens were opened , and something immensely vast and wonderful appeared , and wasneAv under * the sun . Tlie earth ivas uncovered , the planets ivere revealed , and mortality was made immortal in the image of its maker . The sun , as the supreme luminary may

be considered to have existed in the old woriel , ancl to have been the same lig ht as in the new order of things . Typically considered it represents the effulgence of God in the Old Testament as the shining lig ht of Christ m . the -S ew Testament , or as Heber expresses it : —

" His crown a rainbow , and a sun his head . To highest heaven lie lifts his kingly hand ' . And treads at once the ocean and the laud , "