Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/62

clad ranges of the Oberland Alps, feels rewarded for all his toil by the glorious spectacle. The explorer of the southern hemisphere, when he first beholds the southern cross and the Magellanic clouds, experiences no ordinary delight at having ushered into view a new portion of God's universe. But these illustrations can, but imperfectly, enable us to realise the case of the lunar traveller, when he first beholds the earth. He will see an immense blue orb hung up, immovably fixed, in the heavens. It will appear to him fourteen times larger than the moon appears to us. The sun will be seen, as in the other lunar hemisphere, to rise in one horizon, and in fourteen days set, in the opposite; but the earth never moves. The stars at midday, as well as at midnight, will appear to pass behind its disc, while it maintains the same position. But though immovably fixed in the heavens, wondrous activities will be discovered. It will exhibit in twenty-eight days all the phases of the moon — now a thin crescent, then a full orb. Its rapid rotation will, also, be a most notable object, for, in so large an orb, the twenty-four-hours' period will be most marked. And then the blue atmosphere will be undergoing incessant changes. Belts, corresponding to the trade-winds, will be seen, and throughout the whole extent, the varying climates of the world will be observable. Though objects on the surface of the earth will be but dimly descried, still our seas, continents, and mountain-ranges may be