CHAPTER I.
WHAT MAY BE SEEN IN THE HEAVENS.
"And God said, Let there be light; and there was light."
—Genesis.
"A sound of song
Beneath the vault of Heaven is blown."
—Goethe.
The unequal duration of Day and Night, the succession and regular return of the seasons, all the phenomena observable upon the earth, are but the effects of a cause which we must seek in the heavens. It is impossible to explain them unless we contemplate it on high, relegating our planet into the great chorus of the worlds, where it holds but a modest rank. Only, to perform this miracle, we must for a moment repress in ourselves the senses which deceive us by their exaggeration or appearances, and give free course to enlightened thought. It is by this means alone that we can succeed in fully demonstrating the close and perpetual relationship which exists between our planet and the other spheres composing what we call the Solar System.
Permit us here a parenthesis, or, shall we say, a digression?
The whole secret of science, the whole secret of human knowledge—in truth, the whole future of humanity—lies in these two words—Enlightened Thought.