318 THE COMING OF MAN 



is a thing so singular that we are at a loss to imagine 

 how our sky would look if those three great rings be- 

 longed to our world. 



Jupiter, the largest of all the planets, is surrounded 

 by a thick, dense fog. It is warm, quite warm, by its 

 own heat, as if it were now going through the same 

 changes that our earth went through when it, too, 

 was so warm that the dense fog lay close and heavy 

 all about it. It is partly from what they see of these 

 other worlds, that the searchers after truth can tell 

 us what our world is like. Is it not strange that 

 we can look up into the sky and learn what our 

 world reaUy is, and see other planets going through 

 the same stages that our earth passes through? The 

 wonderful telescopes through which they look, the 

 carefulness with which the scholars observe, and 

 the wisdom with which they think upon those things 

 have all brought us nearer and nearer to some of the 

 great truths of God's universe. 



Supposing, now, that some one living on one of the 

 planets could look at our earth, what would he see? 

 If he were as far away as Venus he would see a 

 steadily shining star like those we call the planets. 

 If he were upon the surface of the moon he would see 

 a glorious orb which would flood the moon with a 

 silvery light much brighter than that the moon gives 

 us. When our sky was clear and the sun was shining 

 brightly upon the earth, that ^^ someone" on the 

 moon could see the markings of our continents as 

 plainly as we see the markings on the face of the 

 moon. 



While the moon's face is always bright to us unless 



