nable in the statements of Joshua, when we reember the ignorance of the ancients, and their iperstitious distortion of such natural phenemona. he aurora gleaming in the midnight heavens, and illing meteors blazing through the air, have been istorted into all conceivable shapes and wonders. nd these natural wonders have been numerous in 11 parts of the world in all ages, and have been lescribed by many historians. They were known

the Greeks and Romans. Aristotle mentions hem in his Meteorology, as "gulfs of black and blue colors of the sky, like brands or torches from the abyss." Cicero mentions them twice, as "nocturnal torches flaming in the midnight sky." Pliny, the naturalist, describes them as "chasms of light beaming in the heavens that made the night almost as bright as day; and nothing is more terrible for trembling mortals." He tells us of one of these auroras seen in Ameria where two great armies fought a terrible battle in the sky, and adds: "This is no extraordinary thing, and it has often been seen." "This popular superstition of Pliny's," says Angot, "which attributed auroras to great armies combating in the sky, prevailed down to the last century." Seneca describes minutely many wonderful auroras, as "the heavens on fire, when the chasms of heaven seem to open and vomit flames."

Angot says that "On the night of August, 1859, the same aurora was seen at the same time over Europe, Asia, Western Africa, and North America as far south as Cuba." As about twenty-eight auroras are seen annually, it is almost certain that what Joshua described as, "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon," was a brilliant aurora, which made the

night almost as bright as day, and Joshua thought the sun and the moon both stood still. The fact that he thought the sun and the moon both stood still seems almost conclusive that it was an aurora, for there was no need for the sun and the moon to both stand still, and if the sun was shining in midheaven, the moon could not be seen. Therefore, Joshua, not understanding natural phenomena, thought the glowing aurora was the sun still shining, and seeing the moon through the aurora at times, thought both the sun and the moon stood still, at the Lord's command, that he might destroy his enemies.

Yet these misunderstandings and misstatements of natural phenomena have caused many persons to disbelieve the Bible, and reject its divine teachings. While I am a firm believer in the Bible, I am also a firm believer in natural and spiritual law, and am impelled to think there have been no supernatural occurrences since creation began. Whatever happens, happens in accordance with natural and spiritual law. All law is natural, because it is in nature and not above it; all law is spiritual and divine because its source is spiritual and divine. "Nothing less can be said of law, than that its seat is the bosom of God, and its voice is the harmony of the world."

Therefore, if God exists, if heaven exists, if man has an immortal soul, if he can visit heaven and converse with angels, if he can soar on the wings of electric light, and bathe in the bliss of eternal glory, if his soul is an atom of Deity, and he can think the thoughts of God after him, and dwell in the all-luminous sun, and solve the mysteries of the universe; all these he can do because they accord

with his nature and destiny, and the natural, spiritual, and divine law of omnipotent Deity.

And these things man can do here or hereafter as certain as there is an omnipotent, beneficent God. And that there is, and that these things shall be realized, and "come o'er us like a summer's dream without our special wonder," all law affirms, all hope justifies, all affections demand, all truth inspires, and all love makes absolute.

CHAPTER XV

"CANST THOU BIND THE SWEET INFLUENCES OF PLEIADES OR LOOSE THE BANDS OF ORION?"

This remarkable question, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?" is an inquiry into the uses of beauty in nature. And, "Canst thou loose the bands of Orion?" is an inquiry into the marvellous strength and adhesive power of the united and harmonious universe. It shows God's love of the beautiful, and His pride in the strength and power, which binds together His vast and complex creations. God, everywhere in His creation, brings forth the "sweet influences" of beauty, to win and to woo us to a love of the beautiful, knowing that it elevates our thoughts and exalts our nature. He has blessed the earth with verdure and the beauty and fragrance of flowers, and bent above it the sublime beauty of star-gemmed skies and the floating panorama of purple and silvery clouds. He adorns the morning with rosy radiance, and the purple twilight with golden glories. He makes suns and worlds with circling lines of beauty, and all things with curved lineaments of grace and grandeur. He has made the human face so perfect and the human form so graceful that the most skilful artist cannot suggest an improvement. The human eye is a marvel of beauty and perfection, a miracle of utility and wonders; while every limb is replete with grace and strength.

God makes all things beautiful, and requires us to do the same. Nothing really ugly can be found in heaven or in the universe of nature. And the man who makes an ugly, grotesque picture, statue, or image commits an offence against God and a crime against humanity. The divine oracles ask, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades?" God recognizes the sweet influences of beauty and its inspiring, uplifting power. This world was not made by chance, nor formed by the operation of laws and forces uncontrolled by intelligent mind or will. It was created by the beautiful thoughts and glorious dreams of Deity, who loves the beautiful and sublime.

The great Architect, and Builder of the universe, has everywhere and in everything combined beauty with utility. God would not have deemed this a satisfactory or perfect world, or said of it, "Behold, it is good," if it had not been beautiful as well as wonderfully adapted to its purposes and uses. God has an æsthetic nature, and an artistic eye that loves beauty, and revels in visions of grandeur and sublimity. He has set the stars like golden apples in the blue vault of heaven. He has sent the swiftspeeding comets like fair-haired goddesses in their flaming chariots, with their sunny tresses streaming through the startled silence of measureless space. He has lit the pyrotechnics of the skies with shooting stars and flashing meteors, and set the rainbow arch of glowing beauty on the bending sky. He has brightened the polar skies with the shimmering light of auroral glory; and made brilliant with a thousand forms and colors the fluted columns, and luminous arches, and flaring banners of the sun's coronal splendors; and flung out his streamers of