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REV. G. F. WHIDBORNE, M.A., F.G.S., ON 



inhabited worlds in the solar system beyond our own. Brewster's 

 work, entitled More JForkh than One, received, as you are aware, 

 great attention and support when published, but Dr. Wallace 

 shows on purely physical grounds that those views are untenable, 

 and with great elaboration contends that this world alone amongst 

 others of the universe has been the home of such a being as man, 

 and has been, therefore, the object of the Creator's special care and 

 governance. Surely this is in accordance with scriptural doctrine. 

 Nowhere in the Bible are there any references to God's dealings 

 with inhabitants of those celestial bodies as He has dealt with those 

 of this world of ours in the work of creation, supervision, and 

 redemption. Of this world alone it is written, " God so loved the 

 world that He gave His only begotten Son," and again, " The 

 Heaven, even the Heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth hath He 

 given to the children of men." 



This subject, I was going to say, hardly bears on that of the 

 paper, but I now think perhaps, to some extent it does, and I 

 thought it would be interesting to you to know the views of such a 

 distinguished naturalist and philosopher as Dr. Alfred Wallace on a 

 question of this kind. 



Mr. Martjn Rouse. — Three times at least the quotation given by 

 the Secretary occurs in such a remarkable way as to suggest to the 

 mind that the speaker was alluding to the universe containing many 

 such worlds as ours. Twice, at least, it is mentioned in connection 

 with Deuteronomy, Micah, and Nehemiah, " Thou hast made the 

 Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens." Solomon appears, at the 

 dedication of the temple, to have expressed it, "Behold, even the 

 Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Thee," and therefore the words 

 added, " and the host of them," after the expression " the Heaven 

 of Heavens," imply, to my mind, that the vast universe, with its 

 different celestial bodies, was in the mind of the speaker, who, 

 however, might not have known the full import of his words 

 (though God afterwards gave him very great wisdom, and probably 

 he did), and that this was the only world surrounded by its Heaven, 

 while the Heaven of Heavens contained a yet greater host. 



Rev. F. A. Walker, D.D. — May I be allowed, though it is 

 difficult to say anything in criticism of such an admirable paper, to 

 draw attention to a few points of detail 1 



The author, speaking of the attributes of God, says, " as God is 



