e that there is no michi (ethics) to be learned and practised
is really to have learned to practise the 'way of the gods.' . . .
Many miracles occurred in the Age of the Gods, the truth of which was
not disputed until men were taught by the Chinese philosophy to
analyse the acts of the gods by the aid of their own feeble
intelligence. The reason assigned for disbelieving in miracles is
that they cannot be explained; but in fact, although the Age of the
Gods has passed away, wondrous miracles surround us on all sides. For
instance, is the earth suspended in space or does it rest upon
something else? If it be said that the earth rests upon something
else, then what is it that supports that something else? According to
one Chinese theory, the earth is a globe suspended in space with the
heavens revolving round it. But even if we suppose the heavens to be
full of air, no ordinary principles will account for the land and sea
being suspended in space without moving. The explanation offered is
as miraculous as the supposition previously made. It seems plausible
enough to say that the heavens are merely air and are without any
definite form. If this be true, there is nothing but air outside the
earth, and this air must be infinite or finite in extent. If it is
infinite in extent, we cannot fix any point as its centre, so that it
is impossible to understand why the earth should be at rest; for if
it be not in the centre it cannot be at rest. If it be finite, what
causes the air to condense in one particular spot, and what position
shall we assign to it?

"In any case all these things are miraculous and strange. How absurd
to take these miracles for granted, and at the same time to
disbelieve in the wonders of the Divine Age! Think again of the human
body. Seeing with the eyes, hearing With the ears, speaking with the
mouth, walking on the feet, and performing all manner of acts with
the hands are strange things; so also the flight of birds and insects
through the air, the blossoming of plants and trees, the ripening of
their fruits and seeds are strange; and the strangest of all is the
transformation of the fox and the badger into human form. If rats,
weasels, and certain birds see in the dark, why should not the gods
have been endowed with a similar faculty?.... The facts that many of
the gods are invisible now and have never been visible furnish no
argument against their existence. Existence can be made known to us
by other s