The great masses are not very much better off to-day as regards these notions. They still believe in the Bible, and hang their hopes of salvation on its truth. The churches teach it, and it forms part and parcel of the church creed.
It will therefore do no harm to present a few facts—that the holiest priest cannot contradict, that the most pious preacher must admit—that admit of no argument or controversy, because absolutely true.
Every intelligent person knows that we live on this earth; that this earth is also called the world, and that this world is a planet; that this planet belongs to a family of planets. This planet of ours, this earth, belongs to a system of planets known as the solar system. And the solar system is mainly comprised within the limits of the Zodiacs. By the Zodiacs is meant a belt of the Celestial Sphere. 8° on each side of the Ecliptic is styled the Zodiac. This division is of very high antiquity, having been in use among the Hindoos and Egyptians. The Zodiac is divided into twelve equal parts, of 30° each, called signs, to each of which a fanciful name is given.
The sun is the center. Around him the planets revolve in ellipses.
The sun itself has a diameter of 866,000 miles. The major planets revolving around the sun as far as known are as follows:
| Name. | Distance from the sun. | Diameter. |
| Vulcan | 13,000,000 miles. | unknown. |
| Mercury | 36,000,000 miles.,, | 3,000 miles. |
| Venus | 67,000,000 miles.,, | 7,600 miles.,, |
| Earth | 93,000,000 miles.,, | 8,000 miles.,, |
| Mars | 141,000,000 miles.,, | 4,200 miles.,, |
| Jupiter | 483,000,000 miles.,, | 90,000 miles.,, |
| Saturn | 886,000,000 miles.,, | 73,000 miles.,, |
| Uranus | 1,782,000,000 miles.,, | 33,000 miles.,, |
| Neptune | 2,790,000,000 miles.,, | 37,000 miles.,, |
It is not an easy matter to imagine that we are suspended in space; being held up, not by any visible object, but in accordance with the laws of universal gravitation, whereby each planet attracts every other planet and is in turn attracted by all.
There are a number of minor planets, satellites, a moon, and meteors or shooting-stars, and comets, etc., etc.
The sun, the great central globe, is so vast as to overcome the attraction of all the planets, and compel them to circle around him; next we come to the planets, each turning on its axis while it flies around the sun in an elliptical orbit; then accompanying them are the satellites or moons, each revolving about its own planet, while all whirl in a dizzy waltz about the central orb; next the comets, rushing across the planetary orbits at irregular intervals of time and space; and finally shooting-stars or meteors, darting hither and thither, interweaving all in apparently inextricable confusion. To make the picture more wonderful still, every member is flying with an inconceivable velocity, and yet with such accuracy that the solar system is the most perfect timepiece known.
The moon’s distance from the earth is 239,000 miles; and it has a diameter of 2,160 miles.