gs we
do not perceive, tells us the size and the distances of those little
sparks that adorn the sky, and leads us to reason out their true
relations to our earth. Then it tells us, that what we see is little of
what is to be seen; that our knowledge is but a drop from the great
ocean, a rush-light sparkling in the vast darkness of the unknown. It
tells us, that we do not see right, and that we do not see far; and that
there may be things, both in heaven and earth, not dreamed of in our
philosophy. Further, it confirms the Bible testimony concerning the
facts of its own province, by removing all improbability from some of
its most wonderful narratives, attesting the accuracy of its language,
and confirming, by some of its most recent discoveries the truth of its
statements. Our space will only allow us to select five illustrations of
the tendency of faith in the telescope, to produce faith in the Bible.

1. One of the latest astronomical discoveries throws light upon one of
the most ancient scientific allusions of the Bible, and one which has
perplexed both commentators and geologists; _that which hints at the
second causes of the deluge_. Not that it is at all needful for us to be
able to tell where God Almighty procured the water to drown the ungodly
sinners of the old world, before we believe his word that he did so;
unless, indeed, somebody has explored the universe, and knows that there
is not water enough in it for that purpose, or that it is so far away
that he could not fetch it; for, as to the fact itself, geology assures
us that all the dry land on earth has been drowned, not only once, but
many times. It is not the province of the commentator, but of the
geologist, to account for the phenomenon.

Several solutions of the difficulty of finding water enough for the
purpose have been proposed. One of these supposes that some of the
internal caverns of the earth are filled with water, which, when heated
by neighboring volcanic fires, would expand one twenty-third of its
bulk, and flow out, and raise the ocean. When the volcanic fire was
burnt out, and the water cooled, it would of course contract to its
former dimensions, and the ocean recede. These caverns they suppose to
be meant by "the fountains of the great deep," in Genesis vii. 11.

But the Bible describes another, and plainly a very important source of
the waters of the deluge, in the rain which fell for forty days and
forty nights. At present, all the