The first of the trio[13] was the essay on "Nature," published as a slender little book in 1836. He opened with an appeal for his readers to look at the wonders around them. "If the stars should appear but one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown." He went on to discuss nature as Commodity, or source of all the things man may use or own; as Beauty, or source of delight to body, spirit, and mind; as Language, or source of the images and comparisons by means of which man attempts to express abstract ideas; and as a Discipline, or source of training to the intellect in understanding nature's laws and to the moral sense in obeying and interpreting them. In all these respects he contended that the man who will truly understand nature must combine the exactness of observation which belongs to science with the reverence of feeling which is the basis of religion. [13] Found in the volume "Nature, Addresses and Lectures." No man ever prayed heartily without learning something. But when a faithful thinker, resolute to detach every object from personal relations, and see it in the light of thought, shall, at the same time, kindle science with the fire of the holiest affections, then will God go forth anew into the creation.... So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes.... The kingdom of man over nature, which cometh not with observation,--a dominion such as now is beyond his dream of God,--he shall enter into without more wonder than the blind man feels who is gradually restored to perfect sight. Such was Emerson's gospel of beauty. It did not attract any wide attention; but across the sea it was hailed with admiration by Carlyle, who showed it to his friends, and it attracted the attention of Harvard College, so that Emerson was invited to speak before the Phi Beta Kappa society in the following summer.