26 



PLURALITY OF WORLDS ARE OTHER PLANETS 

 INHABITED? 



A QUESTION Dot of curiosity only, but, if capable of 

 being answered, even presumptively, one of profound 

 interest to our conceptions of the universe and of its 

 Creator. Life, physical and intellectual, is highest 

 among the wonders of creation. To gain the convic- 

 tion that it is not limited to the globe we inhabit, is to 

 enlarge our views of that Supreme Power which de- 

 signed and brought it into being. 



Neither in the Old or New Testament do we find 

 a distinct answer to the question, though perhaps a 

 few inferential allusions to it. The same may be said 

 of the classical writers : Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, 

 and Seneca, as far as I can recollect, are silent on the 

 subject. Pliny, who grasps at everything known or 

 imagined, is equally so. The explanation of this is 

 doubtless to be found in the grand error of all ancient 

 astronomy as to the locus standi of our globe in the 

 planetary system and universe at large. 



The argument for life existing in the planets of 

 our system is summarily this. The earth, tenanted, 

 as we see it, by man and innumerable lower forms of 

 life, is but one in the series of satellites of the sun; 

 intermediate to the others in distance and size, but 

 without any marked specialty in its astronomical 



