too 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE 



the reach of our assisted vision, comprehends 

 within its capacious sphere, at least two thou 

 sand four hundred millions of worlds that each 

 of these worlds, being constructed by infinite 

 wisdom, must exhibit, even in its external as 

 pect, a scene worthy of the contemplation of 

 every rational being that it is highly probable, 

 from ascertained facts, from analogy, and from 

 revelation, that each of these worlds has a pe 

 culiarity of scenery, and of appendages, which 

 distinguish it from every other that there is a 

 gradation of intellect, and beings of different 

 orders among the inhabitants of these worlds 

 that it is probable their corporeal forms and 

 their organs of sensation are likewise wonder 

 fully diversified and that the natural and moral 

 history of each presents scenes and transactions 

 different from those which are found in any other 

 world. So that when the mind endeavours to 

 grasp the immense number of worlds, here pre 

 sented to our mental view, and considers the 

 variety of aspect in which each of them rejquires 

 to be contemplated there appears, to such 

 limited intellects as ours, no prospect of a ter 

 mination to the survey of a scene so extensive 

 and overwhelming ; but, on the contrary, a ra 

 tional presumption, that one scene of glory will 

 be followed by another, in perpetual succession, 

 while ages roll away. 



If it would require, even to beings endowed 

 with mental powers superior to those of man, se 

 veral hundred of years, to survey the diversified 

 landscapes which our globe displays, to investi 

 gate the numerous chymical processes going on in 

 the animal, the vegetabloi and the mineral king 

 doms, throughout the surface of the earth, the 

 recesses of the ocean, and the subterraneous re 

 gions, and to trace the history of every tribe of 

 its inhabitants during a period of six thousand 

 years, if it would require thousands of years 

 to explore the plantery system, which pre 

 sents a field of inquiry two thousand times more 

 extensive how many hundreds of thousands of 

 millions of years would be requisite to study 

 and investigate the visible universe in all that 

 variety of aspect to which I have now ad 

 verted ! To explore the diversified structure 

 and arrangements of the bodies which com 

 pose the solar system, and the moral events which 

 have taken place among its inhabitants, would 

 require a long series of ages. The system of 

 bodies connected with the planet Saturn, would, 

 of itself, require several hundreds of years of 

 study and research, in order to acquire a. general 

 view of its physical, moral, and intellectual as 

 pects and relations. Here we have presented 

 to view, 1. A globe of vast dimensions capable 

 of containing a population of sentient and intelli 

 gent beings more than a hundred times greater 

 than that of the earth. 2. Two immense rings, 

 ihe one of them containing, on both its sides an 

 area of eight thousand millions of square miles, 



and the other an area of twenty thousand miUitmt 

 of miles, and sufficient to contain a population, 

 one hundred and forty times larger that of our 

 globe, although they were as thinly peopled a 

 the earth is at present. 3. Seven satellites, 01 

 moons, each of which is undoubtedly as large as 

 the globe on which we live, and some of them, pro 

 bably, of much greater dimensions. The mag 

 nificent and astonishing scenery displayed in 

 this planet, so very different from any thing that 

 is beheld in our terrestrial sphere the stupen 

 dous luminous arches which stretch across its 

 firmament, like pillars of cloud by day and pil 

 lars of fire by night the diversified shadows they 

 occasionally cast on the surrounding landscape 

 the appearance and disappearance of its moons, 

 their eclipses, and diversified aspects in respect 

 to each other, and to the inhabitants of the 

 planet itself, the novel scene.-, which would ap 

 pear in the animal, vegetable, and mineral king 

 doms the customs, manners, and employments 

 of the inhabitants the series of events which 

 have happened among them and the tenor of the 

 divine dispensations in relation to their past 

 history and their future destination these, and a 

 thousand other particulars, of which we can 

 form no distinct conception could not fail to af 

 ford a sublime and delightful gratification to a ra 

 tional intelligence for a series of ages. 



&quot; It is probable, too, that even within the 

 boundaries of our solar system, important phy 

 sical and moral revolutions have happened since 

 its creation, besides those which have agitated 

 the world in which we dwell. On the surface 

 of the planet Jupiter, changes are occasionally 

 taking place, visible at the remote distance at 

 which we are placed. The diversity of appear 

 ance that has been observed in the substances 

 termed its belts, in whatever they may consist, 

 or from whatever cause this diversity may ori 

 ginate, indicates change as great, as if the 

 whole mass of clouds which overhang Europe, 

 and the northern parts of Asia and America, 

 were to be completely swept away, and suspen 

 ded in dense strata over the Pacific and the In 

 dian oceans, or as if the waters of the Atlantic 

 ocean were to overflow the continent of Ame 

 rica, and leave its deepest caverns exposed to 

 view. There were lately discovered, between 

 the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, four small planeta 

 ry bodies ; and, on grounds which are highly prob 

 able, astronomers have concluded, that they once 

 formed a larger body which moved in the same 

 region, and which had burst asunder by some 

 immense eruptive force proceeding from its cen 

 tral parts. This probable circumstance, toge 

 ther with a variety of singular phenomena exhi 

 bited by these planets, naturally lead us to con 

 clude, that some important moral revolutions 

 had taken place, in relation to the beings with 

 which it was peopled ; and suggest tc the mind 

 a variety of sublime and interesting reflections 



