Page:Anecdotescatechi00spiruoft.djvu/52

 Our solar  system,  to  which  eight  greater  and  about 280 lesser  planets  belong,  is  but  an  isolated  group in immeasurable  space. The planet  Neptune,  the farthest from  the  sun,  is  more  than  1,200,000,000 miles distant  from  it. Thus the  group  of  orbs  appertaining to  our  solar  system  is  fairly  extensive. Yet there  are  millions  of  other  similar  systems  of  far greater magnitude  than  ours,  for  the  sixty  million fixed stars  which  are  visible  in  the  heavens  are  all  of them  suns,  round  which  other  orbs  revolve. And how many  more  millions  of  suns  may  there  not  be, which are  invisible  to  our  eye  I The  interval  is  so enormous  from  our  solar  system  to  the  nearest  star that there  is  room  for  thousands  of  similar  systems in the  intervening  space. Imagine yourself  standing at the  north  pole,  and  the  sun  as  a pea  held  in  your hand, and  the  distance  between  you  and  the  south pole would  be  much  the  same  as  that  which  separates our solar  system  from  the  star  nearest  to  it.

''Q. If  God  is  everywhere,  why  do  we  not  see  Him? ''

''A. We  do  not  see  God,  because  He  is  a pure  spirit and  cannot  be  seen  with  bodily  eyes. ''

Religious beliefs  make  people  conscientious. Two servants, one  a Christian,  the  other  a total  unbeliever, were in  the  employ  of  one  and  the  selfsame  master. On one  occasion  their  master  left  home; thereupon the unbelieving  servant  said:  “ Master  is  gone  away now, so  we  need  not  go  on  working.”  His  Christian