“But the simple thought that the stars are far beyond and above everything earthly — the feeling that everything earthly in comparison fades from the view, and that man himself is utterly insignificant when contrasted with those worlds scattered over the firmament, while his fate, his enjoyments, and wants are as nothing — then again that the stars bind together all men and all periods of the world’s history, as they have seen all from the beginning of time, and will see all that shall come hereafter; — when I meditate on all these things, I lose myself in serene delight while contemplating the starry heavens. Certainly it is a truly sublime spectacle, when in the stillness of the night, in an unclouded sky, the stars, like the world’s choir, rise and set, and as it were divide existence into two portions: — the one, belonging to the earthly, is silent in the perfect stillness of night, whilst the other alone comes forth in sublimity, pomp, and majesty. Viewed in this light the starry heavens truly exercise a moral influence over us; and who can readily stray into the paths of immorality, if he has been accustomed to live amidst such thoughts and feelings, and frequently to dwell upon them? How are we entranced by the simple splendours of this wonderful drama of nature?”
