Man--that puny worm of the dust!
(Thomas Dick, "The Solar System", 1774-1857)
the work of YOUR fingers, the moon
and the stars, which YOU have set in place--
what is man that YOU are mindful of him,
the son of man that YOU care for him?
Psalm 8:3-4
A survey of the solar system has
a tendency to moderate the pride
of man, and to promote humility.
Pride is one of the distinguishing
characteristics of puny man, and has
been one of the chief causes of all
the contentions, wars, devastations,
systems of slavery, and sinful projects
which have desolated and demoralized
our sinful world.
Yet there is no disposition more
incongruous to the character and
circumstances of man!
Perhaps there are no rational beings
throughout the universe, among whom
pride would appear more unfitting or
incompatible, than in man, considering
the situation in which he is placed.
He is exposed to numerous
degradations and calamities:
the rage of storms and tempests,
the devastations of earthquakes and volcanoes,
the fury of whirlwinds,
the tempestuous billows of the ocean,
the ravages of the sword, famine, pestilence,
and numerous diseases; and at length
he must sink into the grave, and his body
must become the companion of worms!
The most dignified and haughty
of men are liable to these
and similar degradations--
as well as the lowest of the human
family. Yet, in such circumstances,
man--that puny worm of the dust,
whose knowledge is so limited, and
whose follies are so numerous and glaring--
has the effrontery to strut in all
the haughtiness of pride, and
to glory in his shame!
and to dust you will return!"
Genesis 3:19
When other arguments and motives
produce little effect on certain minds,
no considerations seem likely to have
a more powerful tendency to counteract
this deplorable propensity to pride in
human beings, than those which
are borrowed from the objects
connected with astronomy.
They show us what an insignificant being--
what a mere atom, indeed, man appears
amidst the immensity of creation!
What is the whole of this
globe on which we dwell--
compared with the solar system,
which contains a mass of matter
millions times greater?
What is this earth--
in comparison of the millions
of suns and worlds which have
been scattered throughout
the starry regions?
Could we take our station on
the lofty pinnacles of Heaven,
and look down on this scarcely
distinguishable speck of earth--
we would be ready to exclaim with
Seneca, "Is it to this little spot,
that the great designs and vast
desires of men are confined?"
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