and the day,” to the end of the verse.

When a person reflects upon these necessary and finely ordered operations and arrangements resulting from the motions of the heavenly bodies, and observes those bodies moving with determinate shapes, in determinate directions, and with determinate and mutually opposed motions, he knows that these determinate operations proceed only from living, perceiving beings endowed with choice and will.

His conviction is further strengthened when he observes that many of the small, insignificant, lowly, dark bodies found here have not been entirely deprived of life, despite their small size, lowly standing, short lifespans, and darkness. Divine generosity has bestowed upon them life and perception, through which they govern themselves and preserve their existence. He thus knows with certainty that the heavenly bodies are more deserving than these bodies of being alive and endowed with perception, given their immense size, the nobility of their existence, and their abundant light.