Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/218

190 of a tree exhibits the concentric rings of the planet. The flower with its pistil in the centre, and its encircling anthers, petals, and calyx, shadows forth the all-pervading plan, alike stamped on the orb of heaven and the lily of the valley.

When we range beyond the solar system, and extend our view to other suns and systems, we shall find diversity, but nothing to destroy the unity of plan, or shake our belief that all is the product of one divine idea. When we fathom the depths of space, we discover similar forms. We behold the masses of stars grouped into rings, and sometimes exhibiting traces of stratification. But there is a higher form, into which increased telescopic power is fast resolving other forms, viz., the spiral. The planetary type is the concentric arrangement of the section of a tree. The streams of stars constituting nebulæ, are coiled up like the mainspring of a watch, or wheeling round to the centre of a vortex. The spiral is the archetype, and comprehends the concentric circles of the planetary systems. We may not be able to trace the transition, but no one can compare the rings of Saturn with the spiral of a nebula, without feeling that they are allied forms, though the link may not yet be detected.

Our dwelling-place is in a small corner of a vast edifice, and, roam where we may, we shall find proofs that the plan is the same throughout. The cathedral of Cologne, now drawing towards completion, has