of sensitive and intellectual beings; that the scenery of the heavens, as viewed from the surfaces of the larger planets and their satellites, forms a presumptive proof of the same position; and that the fact that every part of nature in our world is destined to the support of animated beings affords a powerful argument in support of this doctrine. These arguments and considerations, when viewed in all their bearings, and in connexion with the wisdom and goodness of the Divine Being, might be considered, without any farther discussions, as quite sufficient to substantiate the position, that the planets and satellites of our system, as well as other departments of the universe, are the abodes of sensitive and intelligent beings.

In the preceding pages I have offered a few additional considerations bearing on the same point, which I trust will tend to corroborate the arguments and reasonings formerly adduced. I have shown that the doctrine of a plurality of worlds is more worthy of the perfections of the infinite Creator, and gives us a more magnificent idea of his character and works, than to suppose his benevolent regards confined to our comparatively diminutive world; that it is more accordant with the infinity and eternity of the Divine Being, and with his wisdom and benevolence, than the opposite position; that wherever any one perfection of Deity is exerted, there also all his attributes are in operation; and, consequently, wherever Omnipotence is seen to operate, there likewise wisdom, benevolence, rectitude, and every other Divine perfection must be displayed in reference to intelligent beings; that there is an absurdity involved in the contrary supposition; that this supposition would represent the universe as an immense desert, unworthy of the contemplation of intelligent minds; that it would prevent the progressive expansion of intellectual views in a future state, and present a distorted view of the character and attributes of the Almighty Creator. All these arguments and considerations, when viewed in a proper light, tend to yield a mutual support to each other; they hang together in perfect harmony, and they are in full consistency with the most amiable and sublime conceptions we can form of the Divinity, and therefore ought to carry irresistible conviction to the mind of every unbiased and intelligent inquirer. To my own mind they amount to a moral demonstration; so that I am as fully convinced of the truth of the position we have been maintaining, as if I were transported to the regions of distant worlds, and permitted to mingle in association with their inhabitants.

CHAPTER XVII.

A PLURALITY OF WORLDS PROVED FROM DIVINE REVELATION,

It is somewhat difficult to persuade the greater part of mankind that there are any habitable worlds besides our own, or that rational beings, somewhat analogous to man, may inhabit the planets of our own or of other systems. Even the greater part of Christians, and some who are possessed of a considerable degree of intelligence, can scarcely be persuaded that there are more worlds than one, or that the Divine government extends beyond the Christian church and the nations of the earth; and they attempt to vindicate their opinion by asserting, that the Scriptures never make the least allusion to any world except that in which we dwell. Although this were in reality the case, it would form no argument against the doctrine of a plurality of worlds; for the revelations contained in the Scriptures are chiefly of a moral nature, their great object being to counteract the depravity of man, and to afford information respecting the plans, and perfections, and moral government of the Divine Being, which the unassisted light of nature was unable to explore. They were not intended to teach us the principles of physical science, or the particular knowledge of any other subject which the human faculties were of themselves adequate to acquire; but to direct us, in all our surveys of the works of God, to look upward to him as the Supreme Agent, to trace his attributes in all his operations, and to offer him a tribute of grateful adoration. The Scriptures, therefore, would be fully sufficient to answer all the purposes of a revelation to man, although they made no allusion to other worlds or to other intelligences within the range of the Divine government.

Since the system of nature, the system of revelation, and the rational faculties of man, had their origin from the same Almighty Being, we should naturally expect that they should perfectly harmonize in their grand lineaments, and in the truths they are calculated respectively to unfold; or, at least, that there should be no glaring contradictions between the intimations given by the one and by the other. If the investigations

of reason in regard to the material universe necessarily lead to the conclusion that numerous worlds exist throughout immensity, and if the Scriptures contain a communication from God, we should never expect to find in that revelation any proposition asserting that there is only one world and one race of intelligent beings in the universe, and it is needless to say that no such proposition is to be found in the Bible. On the contrary, though the Scriptures never directly or explicitly treat of this subject, the doctrine of a plurality of worlds is imbodied in many passages of the sacred writings; and the language of the inspired penmen is in all cases perfectly consistent with the idea of myriads of worlds existing throughout the universe. To illustrate this position, in a few instances, is the object of this chapter; and as the passages of Scripture in which this sentiment is imbodied are more numerous than is generally apprehended, I shall select only a few of them as the subject of comment and illustration.

The first passage on which I shall offer a few remarks is Psalm viii., 3, 4: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him! or the son of man, that thou visitest him!"

When composing this hymn of praise to God, the Psalmist evidently appears to have been contemplating, with intelligence and pious emotion, the glories of the nocturnal sky, the moon walking in brightness along the canopy of heaven, and the stars and planets diffusing their lustre from more distant regions. Viewing those resplendent orbs, his thoughts seem to have taken a flight into the regions of immensity, and by the guidance of his rational powers, and aided by the spirit of inspiration, he takes an expansive view of the multitude, the magnitude, and the grandeur of those magnificent orbs which roll in the distant tracks of creation. Overwhelmed with his views of the immensity of the universe, and of the perfections and grandeur of its Creator, he breaks out into this striking exclamation, "Lord! what is man, that thou art mindful of him! or the son of man, that thou visitest him!" Surveying with his intellectual eye the boundless extent of God's universal empire, he shrinks, as it were, into nothing, and seems almost afraid lest he should be forgotten or overlooked amid the immensity of beings over which the Divine government extends. Now there could be no emphasis or propriety in this exclama

care.

tion if the inhabitants of this globe were the only rational beings that peopled the material universe; for if man is the principal inhabitant of creation, it could be no matter of wonder and astonishment that God should be "mindful of him,” and exercise towards him a special regard and superintending Such a minute attention and affectionate regard is nothing more than what we should have naturally expected. But if the immensity of space be diversified with ten thousand times ten thousand worlds, replenished with rational inhabitants, as science and right reason demonstrate; if the race of Adam appear no more in the proportion to the beings that people the amplitudes of creation than as a drop to the ocean, then the Divine condescension appears truly wonderful and astonishing; that, from the heights of his glory in the heavens, the Most High should look down with an eye of complacency on the puny inhabitants of earth, and regard them with a Father's attention and care. This is evidently the leading idea which the pious exclamation of the Psalmist is intended to convey; and therefore, if this globe were the only or the principal abode of rational beings, such language would be mere hyperbole, or something approaching to bombast, which would be inconsistent with the veracity and solemnity of an inspired writer.

It appears, then, that the passage under consideration is not only consistent with the doctrine of a plurality of worlds, but necessarily imbodies in it the idea of the Divine empire being indefinitely extended, and comprising within its range numerous orders of exalted intelligences. It likewise teaches us, that while the Almighty has diversified the fields of immensity with innumerable worlds; that while he sits enthroned on the magnificence of his works in the distant regions of his creation, and governs the affairs of unnumbered orders of intellectual existence, he also exercises the minutest superintendence over every world he has created, however diminutive in comparison of the whole. His eye rests on the humblest and the minutest of its objects, and his Spirit watches over it as vigilantly as if it formed the sole object of his physical and moral administration; so that neither man nor the smallest microscopic animalculæ are overlooked amid the multifarious objects of the Divine government. This is an attribute peculiar to the Most High, which flows from the immensity of his nature and the boundless knowledge he has of all his works, and

which gives us a more glorious and sublime idea of his character than if his regards were confined to one department of his empire or to one order of his creatures; and in nothing is the Divine Being so immensely separated from man, or from any other rank of intelligent existence, as in the display he gives of this wonderful and incommunicable attribute. By overlooking this peculiar characteristic of the Divinity, and attempting to compare his procedure with the limited conceptions of our own minds, we are apt to indulge in very contracted and erroneous views respecting his nature and universal government, as well as in regard to the revelations of his word and the dispensations of his providence.

The next passage I shall notice is Isaiah xl., 15, 17: "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance." "All nations before HIM are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity."

In the chapter from which these words are taken, the prophet announces deliverance from the captivity of Babylon, and the approach of that period when "the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and when all flesh shall see it together." In order to obviate every difficulty that might seem to stand in the way of the accomplishment of such a glorious event, the prophet describes, in the most sublime language, the perfections and character of him by whose agency this astonishing change in the world was to be introduced. He is declared to be that Almighty Being "who measures the ocean in the hollow of his hand, who meteth out the heavens with the span, who comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure, and weigheth the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance." The prophet likewise denounces the folly and wickedness of idolatry, by exhibiting the character and operations of him whom no material images, however splendid, can ever represent or adumbrate. "He sitteth on the circle of the sky which surrounds the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; he stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain; he bringeth forth their host by number; he calleth them all by their names, by the greatness of his might; for that he is strong in power, and there is no searching of his understanding.' Among these sublime descriptions are contained the passages I have quoted: "Behold, the nations are as the drop of a bucket." "All nations before him are as nothing," &c.