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 UNITED STATES OF A3IERICA. 
 
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Life in Other Worlds: 
 
 INCLUDING A BRIEF STATEMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF LIFE 
 IN OUR WORLD. 
 
 BY 
 
 Adam Miller, M. D. 
 
 WITH AN APPENDIX OF THREE SERMONS, 
 Rev. Hi W. Thomas, D. D. 
 
 " It is not vulgar curiosity or idle fancy that suggests the possibility of 
 life in other worlds."— B, A. Proctor. 
 
 "More worlds than one— the creed of the Philosopher and the hope of 
 the Christian."— Sir David Brewster. 
 
 m 
 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 FOX, COLE & CO., PUBLISHERS. 
 
 1878. 
 
 <r 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by 
 
 ADAM MILLER, M L\, 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
 OF £3S 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 C. E. SOUTHAKD, 
 
 PRINTER, 
 
 175 Monroe Street, Chicago. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages were written at intervals, be- 
 tween professional engagements, and not originally 
 intended for publication. Having, however, derived 
 much pleasure and comfort in tracing the designing 
 hand of an infinitely wise and almighty Creator in 
 the land prepared for our race, and then looking out 
 upon the great universe containing millions of worlds, 
 all under the same great Father's care, I have thought 
 others might also take an interest in looking at more 
 worlds than one. 
 
 For want of space in this volume I have been com- 
 pelled to abridge my chapters and give only outline 
 thoughts on the different subjects named, and hence 
 there is frequently an abrupt breaking-off, or appar- 
 ent want of connection between different subjects. 
 
 Some theologians and scientists will quite likely take 
 exceptions to some of the ideas advanced ; but as this 
 is a world of conflicting opinions as well as conflicting 
 powers, and complete harmony will only follow upon 
 the acquisition of a higher degree of knowledge than 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 has yet fallen to the lot of mortals in our present 
 state, we are all liable to err in opinions where we 
 lack positive proof; and if, in an earnest search after 
 truth, I have fallen into errors, these errors will be- 
 come subject-matter for honest criticism, and may be 
 set down with the numerous other mistakes made by 
 men wiser and more learned than the writer of these 
 sketches claims to be. 
 
 By permission I have added three sermons — as 
 an appendix — closely connected with the subjects 
 treated in this volume. These sermons were preached 
 in the regular course in the Centenary M. E. Church, 
 in the city of Chicago, by Rev. H. W. Thomas, D. D., 
 and published in the Chicago Times. They are pre- 
 sented here just as they were delivered from the 
 pulpit. 
 
 I am indebted to the beautiful poem, An Epic of 
 the Starry Heaven, by Thomas L. Harris, for a num- 
 ber of the poetic quotations in this work. 
 
 And now, with a hope that some one who will read 
 these pages will find encouragement for a union in the 
 great future with friends that have gone before, as well 
 as for an acquaintance with the millions of happy 
 spirits who have passed through the vale of sorrow 
 to their final home, I submit this work to a generous 
 public. 
 
 Adam Miller. 
 Chicago, June, 1878. 
 
Life in Other Worlds. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORIGIN, PROGRESS AND PERPETUATION OF LIFE. 
 
 No created and dependent being can travel back 
 through the ages and define the period when an im- 
 pulse was first given to material organized forms and 
 the phenomena of motion, with all the other attributes 
 of life imparted to them. Behind, and anterior to all 
 living things, is the great first cause of all life. In 
 this direction, our mightiest efforts soon reach their 
 utmost boundaries. The finite cannot grasp the in- 
 finite ; neither can he trace the living stream to its 
 fountain-head, and find the origin of all existing 
 things. Materialism seeks causation in some indefin- 
 able force, and unfoldment, and progress in evolution. 
 But whence is this force derived, which propels mate- 
 rial and living entities out of nothing ? Does it ex- 
 ist independently in the universe, and is it possessed 
 of infinite power ? If so, then this may be that divine 
 and intelligent power we are contending for. If it 
 is mere force, without intelligence, then we cannot 
 
6 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 % 
 
 account for the harmony in nature. The advocates of 
 evolution do not deny some absolute creations — epochs 
 of creative power producing the lower orders out of 
 which higher types are evolved. If it is admitted 
 that there have been several distinct creations, why 
 not more ? Why not distinct creations for especial 
 epochs ? If one class or one type of existences re- 
 quired a creative process, why not the same for every 
 form of existence ? Life, in combination with matter, 
 evinces intelligence as a cause; and as the union of 
 matter with spirit is beyond the comprehension of 
 finite beings, and implies infinite power and intelli- 
 gence, we descend from a higher to a lower power when 
 we claim for evolution that which belongs to the prov- 
 ince of especial creation. The argument runs thus : 
 With evolutionists, there is a creative power some- 
 where, and, somehow, there have been creations of low 
 and imperfect types of life ; and then an inferior power 
 produces from these lower creations a higher and en- 
 tirely different form of life. It is not the unfoldment 
 and perfection of* existing types, but the production 
 of new types out of old ones, that evolutionists con- 
 tend for. The theory of life evolving from the mole- 
 cule, and from it through the various stages, until the 
 fully-developed man is produced, is mentioned from the 
 fact that there are, naturally, these intermediate steps 
 until perfect manhood is reached. 
 
 That the life of man, in all his dignity, and highest 
 and best estate, is a progress from minute life germs 
 to his full development, is admitted ; but not any more 
 
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. 
 
 so now than in his original constitution ; and we have 
 no evidence that he was ever in any other form than 
 human, so far as his essential existence is concerned, 
 save that the atoms of which his material body- 
 is formed may have existed in other living forms ; 
 but, while so organized, there was no part of the pres- 
 ent structure, nor intelligence in any of those living 
 forms, through which this matter may have passed. 
 Human life can only exist under certain peculiar con- 
 ditions, and it is quite probable that the successive 
 steps of creation which preceded human life on earth 
 were so many steps in preparing those conditions 
 where human life could find existence and support. 
 But these preparatory processes were not those of 
 evolving human beings from lower types. When the 
 habitation was formed, and the elements of nature re- 
 fined and arranged in their proper position and order, 
 to make " the human form divine," then the breath of 
 the Infinite Power made this noble structure the abode 
 of essential man. If human beings came up through 
 the slow process of evolution from these lower types, 
 would not these have disappeared when man had been 
 evolved out of them ? But we find no evidence of 
 change nor progress in any of them. The baboons, 
 apes, monkeys, chimpanzees, and all that class of 
 animals, manifest the same dispositions through all 
 historic time, without improvement in any of their 
 habits or manner of life. 
 
 Darwin, in his " Descent of Man," traces our gene- 
 alogy as follows : 
 
8 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 " The early progenitors of man were, no doubt, 
 covered with hair, both sexes having beards ; their 
 ears were pointed and capable of movement, and their 
 bodies were provided with a tail having the proper 
 muscles. The foot was prehensible ; and our progeni- 
 tors were aboriginal in their habits, frequenting some 
 warm forest-clad land. The males were provided with 
 formidable canine teeth, which served them as formi- 
 dable weapons. At a still later period the progenitors 
 of man must have been aquatic in their habits, for 
 morphology plainly tells us that our lungs consist of a 
 modified swim-bladder, which once served as a float." 
 
 (Vol. I, p. 198.) 
 
 In reply to this, Mr. Peebles says : 
 
 " Physical organization does not create the conscious 
 soul ; brain does not secrete the intellect ; scientific 
 discoveries and Miltonian poems are not bread and 
 beef transmuted by chemical laws ; 'nothing and 
 nobodies' are not on the way to intelligent men and 
 women ; cold, inert phosphates cannot be developed 
 into thought, nor a dead ox into a living epic, aflame 
 with truth and beauty. In primitive man lay con- 
 cealed future Bacons, Newtons, Humboldts and Em- 
 ersons, just as orange groves lie hidden in the orange 
 seeds that lie scattered about our yards." 
 
 Progress toward higher conditions is evident through 
 the whole realm of nature but in the onward march 
 toward completeness; repellent forces are often en- 
 countered, and, hence, we have periods of falling back 
 
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. 9 
 
 from higher to lower conditions, in organic life as well 
 as in our social relations. 
 
 In these cycles of running up and running down of 
 the same species of living organisms we have not the 
 shadow of proof that one order of animals can pass 
 into the other by evolution. All life may be traced 
 to its germinal cells ; its progress is sustained by the 
 same materials that contribute to the growth of all 
 living organisms. Whatever of similarity there may 
 appear in the germinal life cells of different animals 
 to the advocates of the Darwinian theory of evolution, 
 there is, undoubtedly, an impassable gulf between the 
 life germ of man and that of the lower animals. 
 
 From the monad to the molecule, as well as from 
 the minute life germs, there are certain fixed laws of 
 reproduction established by infinite wisdom, moving 
 in appointed orbits, up to a full development ; and we 
 might as well allow that suns and planets could leave 
 their orbits and revolve in other orbits, as to believe 
 that the order of progressive development could be 
 changed by evolution from lower animals so as to ar- 
 rive at the lofty position occupied by man. Our 
 microscope and chemistry may fail to detect the differ- 
 ence between the minute life germs of man and the 
 lower animals, but the progress of inferior animals to 
 the perfection of animal life and the unfoldment of 
 man from helpless infancy to his high moral nature 
 are two very different things. 
 
 The lower order of animals arrive at certain fixed 
 boundaries, and over these they cannot pass. The 
 
10 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 birds, that now charm us with their music sang 
 as sweetly in the bowers of Eden or the groves of 
 primeval forests as they do now. They construct their 
 nests and follow the laws of instinct without variation 
 through all ages, and these unchanging characteris- 
 tics are found in all other animals. 
 
 Pindarus, a Greek poet, born 522 years before 
 Christ, said : 
 
 And the great laws of nature ne'er expire, 
 
 Unchanged the lion's valiant race remains, 
 
 And all his father's wiles the youthful fox retains. 
 
 In the progress of man's physical nature from in- 
 fancy to manhood we have a typical representation of 
 his moral progress to a higher civilization. 
 
 But history furnishes many melancholy examples of 
 retrocession from a high civilization to rude barbar- 
 ism. The finger of Time has written on the pages of 
 history some fearful lessons of decay and death of 
 national greatness. In the upward march the un- 
 foldment is gradual, and is an outgrowth of man's 
 necessities. At first he may be a Nimrod — a " mighty 
 hunter," living by hunting and fishing and upon such 
 fruits and nuts as he may find of a spontaneous growth. 
 From these 1ow t conditions of social life the progress 
 has been gradual; step by step he has gone up : first, 
 to the care of domestic animals for food and their skins 
 for clothing ; the next steps are, the cultivation of 
 the soil, the construction of dwelling places, the use 
 of agricultural implements, and the manufacturing of 
 
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. 11 
 
 wearing apparel, from the coarse to the fine. Com- 
 munities grow into cities, and cities and countries into 
 empires, or republics. 
 
 These, in the cycle of years, have again run down 
 to low conditions, and the halls of learning and arts 
 and sciences have been abandoned — and the once 
 proud cities, with their teeming thousands, have been 
 laid in ruin, their places forgotten and their names 
 only known in history, which is often shrouded in 
 doubt and obscurity. Have we not a counterpart of 
 this coming up and running down in lower forms of 
 life ? " Where is the dust that was not once alive?" 
 New life is nourished and sustained by the atoms that 
 were once habitations of living organisms. 
 
 Life germs are found everywhere : in air, and earth, 
 and water. In this all-pervading life principle we are 
 irresistibly forced to recognize the direct act of infinite 
 creative energy, and have no evidence that by spon- 
 taneous generation living organisms are produced. 
 
 The experiments hitherto made with the most refined 
 apparatus have failed to detect germs of living organ- 
 isms when the Creator had not planted that life germ. 
 
 While we find improved varieties of the same spe- 
 cies, we can detect no evidence of the production of 
 new species. The acorn produces the oak tree, and 
 the apple seed the apple tree and fruit, but the kind of 
 tree and fruit depends on certain conditions, such as 
 soil, cultivation, climate, etc. The progress to ma- 
 turity and the retrogression to primitive elements, in 
 longer or shorter periods, appear to be governed by 
 
12 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 some law of compensation, perhaps not fully under- 
 stood by scientists. There appears to be an ebbing as 
 well as a flowing tide in the struggle of all living 
 things, from lower to higher conditions, and if the 
 falling back does not sink life to the level of the start- 
 ing point, if something is gained with every upward 
 effort, there is encouragement to hope that in every 
 ebbing and flowing tide something has been gained for 
 life — some firmer foot-hold has been planted upon 
 stronger foundations. There will finally be an unfold- 
 ment and outgrowth from this conflict between decay 
 and death and life and progress that shall lift all life 
 to a higher plane and give every intelligent being 
 grander conceptions of the workings of the infinite 
 plan of bringing a new and higher form of life out of 
 decay and death. 
 
 We will finally learn this great lesson, that what 
 we call death, and our ideas of sadness connected 
 with the thought of death, is not destruction — not the 
 terrible spectre that haunted our imagination from our 
 earliest recollection — but a mere falling back to rise 
 again, a going down to come up again, a laying off of 
 old garments to be clothed in new and brighter ones. 
 We die, but, as Dr. Bonar says, 
 
 We but die to live. 
 
 It is from death we 're flying, 
 
 Forever lives our life ; 
 
 For us there is no dying. 
 
 We die but as the Spring bud dies, 
 
 In Summer's golden glow to rise ; 
 
 These be our days of April bloom. 
 
 Our July is beyond the tomb. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. ■ 13 
 
 Schiller gives us a beautiful analogy of the new 
 life from nature when he says: 
 
 " When the measured dance of the hours brings 
 back the happy smile of spring the buried dead is 
 born again in the life-glance of the sun. The germs 
 which perished to the eye within the cold breast of the 
 earth spring up with joy in the bright realm of day." 
 
 Over all this changing world there presides an all- 
 pervading, an all-controlling and changeless life-sus- 
 taining power, under whose direction innumerable 
 life-sustaining forces are kept in perpetual motion. 
 
 Among these we have the superior and the subor- 
 dinate. The premium mobile of this life force is the 
 sun — the great central heart of our solar system — 
 and under its throbbing pulse the multiplied forces of 
 nature work with marvelous harmony and regularity 
 for the accomplishment of nature's vast designs. 
 
 " There is no such thing as death — 
 
 In Nature nothing dies ; 
 From each sad remnant of decay 
 
 Some forms of life arise. 
 The little leaf that falls, 
 
 All brown and sere, to earth, 
 Ere long will mingle with the buds 
 
 That give the flower its birth." 
 
14 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Paradise was first called "a garden eastward in 
 Eden," said by Moses to have been planted by the 
 Lord for the accommodation of the first human pair, 
 according to one Bible chronology. Whether there 
 was actually and literally a place thus set apart, with 
 all the pleasures, beauties and delights ascribed to 
 the ancient paradise, has been a matter of doubt with 
 some who, notwithstanding, take the Bible as a reve- 
 lation from God, but give many of its narratives a 
 symbolical meaning. The word Eden signifies pleas- 
 ure, or delight ; hence, some have concluded that noth- 
 ing more is intended than a pleasant home or habita- 
 tion, without any fixed locality. There are, however, 
 other passages of Scripture that appear to give it a 
 geographical locality, such as, " Cain dwelt in the 
 land of Nod, on the east of Eden." — Gen., iv. 8. 
 This place is also referred to in II. Kings, xix. 12 ; 
 again in Ezekiel, xxvii. 23. The merchants of Eden 
 are spoken of as dealing in spices, precious stones and 
 
PARADISE, THE HOME OF OUR ANCESTORS. 15 
 
 gold. In Amos, i. 5, the scepter of the house of Eden 
 is spoken of, and from the connection of this name 
 with other names that frequently occur in the Bible 
 it is quite likely that it was the name of a province, 
 or country, without any reference to the ancient home 
 of our race. 
 
 As a matter of history, it is curious to notice the 
 different opinions that have been entertained in refer- 
 ence to the location of Eden, or the ancient paradise. 
 There is scarcely a place conceivable where the fan- 
 cies of men in different ages have not located para- 
 dise. Dr. Adam Clarke, the great commentator, 
 says: " Some place it in the third heaven, others in 
 the fourth ; some within the orbit of the moon, others 
 in the moon itself; some in the middle regions of the 
 air, or beyond the earth's attraction ; some on the 
 earth, others under the earth, and others within the 
 earth ; some have fixed it in the north pole, others 
 in the south ; some in Tartary, some in China ; some 
 on the borders of the Ganges, and some in the Island 
 of Ceylon ; some in Armenia, others in Africa, under 
 the equator ; some in Mesopotamia, others in Syria, 
 Persia, Arabia, Babylon and in Palestine." Others, 
 again, have contended that it never did exist, and 
 that the whole account is to be spiritually understood. 
 There are many who now believe with the ancients, 
 that there was a literal paradise, such as Moses gives 
 an account of, under the name of Garden of Eden. 
 Others give it a spiritual or symbolical meaning. One 
 thing is certain, with all the uncertainties surrounding 
 
16 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 this question of location : It is certain our race had 
 an origin in something higher than a mere fortuitous 
 aggregation of material substances, or evolution from 
 lower types of animals originating in indefinable 
 monads or etherial molecules. 
 
 Whatever the materialistic tendencies of modern 
 philosophy may be with regard to the origin of all 
 things, they cannot get away from the idea of an es- 
 pecial creation and an Almighty Creator. But the 
 tendency is to push the creative act, as well as the 
 Creator's power, into the background as far as possible; 
 and strong and persistent efforts are made to prove 
 that, if some things were primarily created, they were 
 but comparatively insignificant forms, out of which 
 wondrous worlds have been evolved by laws governing 
 the material universe, and that intelligence and all the 
 faculties of the human soul have their origin in some 
 low type of life which came from some place unknown 
 to the academies of science. They would have us 
 believe that the soul of man, glowing with hopes and 
 high aspirations, and inward and anxious longings for 
 a future life, is nothing but an outgrowth from trans- 
 muted bread and meat, and cabbage and beans. The 
 doctrine of spontaneous generation is given up by 
 Prof. Tyndall, after several hundreds of experiments. 
 All efforts to evolve life where creative power had not 
 first placed life germs have failed; and every candid 
 mind must admit a divine origin to life in any form, 
 and especially to that higher form found in human or- 
 ganisms, manifesting itself in human intelligence. 
 
PARADISE, THE HOME OF OUR ANCESTORS. 17 
 
 Man, then, had a creator, and that creator provided 
 a home for man in his primitive state. That the 
 place with its surroundings was pleasant and adapted 
 to man's condition may reasonably be supposed. 
 That he was made capable of progressing out of lower 
 into higher conditions is in accordance with the law 
 of progression everywhere, and will scarcely be doubt- 
 ed. With intelligence we naturally associate a power 
 to choose between right and wrong ; and upon this fol- 
 lows man's accountability to a higher law-making 
 power; and out of this comes the natural sequence of 
 punishment for transgression and rewards for obedi- 
 ence. Moses, in his account of primitive man, gives 
 a brief sketch of a rebellion, upon which follows a 
 prophesy of his restoration and final elevation to a 
 higher condition than that of the ancient paradise. 
 Whatever of mystery and myths have surrounded the 
 ancient home of our race, where the first man took 
 the first woman by the hand and they commenced with 
 united hand and heart the journey of life, there is 
 something pleasant to the poetic soul in the name of 
 paradise. It is to us an emblem of everything that ia 
 beautiful and lovely, and points the weary traveler to 
 the celestial abodes 
 
 " Beyond the frost chain and the fever ; 
 Beyond the rock waste and the river." 
 
 It is sad to think that the natural tendency in the 
 
 human mind to superstitious ideas in things connected 
 
 with our spiritual nature has wrought fearful pictures 
 
 out of this place of so many lovely associations. 
 
18 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 Mr. Blake, in his " Legendary Worlds of the Mid- 
 dle Ages," says : " The famous knight, John of 
 Mandeville, gravely wrote as follows: 'No mortal 
 can go to or approach this paradise. By land no one 
 can go there, on account of savage beasts which are in 
 the desert, and because of mountains and rocks that 
 cannot be passed over, and dark places without num- 
 ber. Nor can one go there any better by sea ; the 
 water rushes so wildly, it comes in so great waves, 
 that no vessel dare sail against them. The water is 
 so rapid, and makes so great a noise and tempest, 
 that no one can hear, however loud he is spoken to. 
 And so, when some great men with good courage have 
 attempted several times to go by the river to paradise, 
 in large companies, they have never been able to ac- 
 complish their journey. On the contrary, many have 
 died with fatigue in swimming against the watery 
 waves. Many others have become blind, others have 
 become deaf by the noise of the water, and others 
 have been suffocated and lost in the waves, so that no 
 mortal man can approach it except by the special 
 grace of God.' " 
 
 The history of the middle ages abounds with legends 
 of the wildest as well as widely different characters, 
 and many of the honest-hearted people believed these 
 things as firmly as they believed any truth per- 
 taining to their future welfare. Frequent attempts 
 have been made to find the ancient home of our race ; 
 among them we will notice the one recorded by Mr. 
 Blake : 
 
19 
 
 " The most curious and interesting of all attempts 
 to discover the situation of paradise was that made 
 half unconsciously by Columbus when he first found 
 the American shore. 
 
 " In his third voyage, when for the first time he 
 reached the main land, he was persuaded not only that 
 he had arrived at the extremity of Asia, but that he 
 could not be far from the position of paradise. The 
 Orinoco seemed to be one of those four great rivers 
 which, according to tradition, came out of the garden 
 inhabited by our first parents, and his hopes were sup- 
 ported by the fragrant breezes that blew from the 
 beautiful forests on its banks. This, he thought, was 
 but the entrance to the celestial dwelling-place, and if 
 he had dared — if a religious fear had not held 
 back him who had risked everything amidst the ele- 
 ments amongst men, he would have liked to push 
 forward to where he might hope to find the celestial 
 boundaries of the world, and, a little further, to have 
 bathed his eyes, with profound humility, in the light 
 of the flaming swords which were wielded by two ser- 
 aphim before the gate of Eden. 
 
 "He thus expresses himself on this subject in his 
 letter to one of the monarchs of Spain, dated Hayti, 
 October, 1498 : ' The Holy Scriptures attest that 
 the Lord created paradise, and placed in it the tree of 
 life, and made the four great rivers of the earth to 
 pass out of it, the Ganges of India, the Tigris, the 
 Euphrates, (passing from the mountains to form Mes- 
 opotamia, and ending in Persia,) and the Nile, which 
 
20 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 rises in Ethiopia and goes to the Sea of Alexander. 
 I cannot, nor have been ever able to find in the books 
 of the Latins or Greeks anything authentic on the 
 site of this terrestrial paradise, nor do I see anything 
 more certain in the maps of the world. Some place 
 it at the source of the Nile, in Ethiopia; but the trav- 
 elers who have passed through those countries have 
 not found either in the mildness of the climate or in 
 the elevation of the site towards heaven anything that 
 could lead to the presumption that paradise was there, 
 and that the waters of the deluge were unable to 
 reach it or cover it. Several pagans have written for 
 the purpose of proving it was in the Fortunate Isles, 
 which are the Canaries ; St. Isadore, Bede and Stra- 
 bo, St. Ambrosius, Scotus and all judicious theo- 
 logians affirm with one accord that paradise was in 
 the East. It is from thence only that the enormous 
 quantity of water can come, seeing that the course 
 of the rivers is extremely long ; and these waters 
 (of paradise) arrive here, where I am, and form a 
 lake. There are great signs here of the neighborhood 
 of the terrestrial paradise, for the site is entirely con- 
 formable to the opinion of the saints and judicious 
 theologians. The climate is of admirable mildness. I 
 believe that if I passed beneath the equinoctial line, and 
 arrived at the highest point of which I have spoken, 
 I should find a milder temperature and a change in 
 the stars and the waters; not that I believe that the 
 point where the greatest height is situated is naviga- 
 ble, or even that there is water there, or that one 
 
PARADISE, THE HOME OF OUR ANCESTORS. 21 
 
 could reach it, but I am convinced that there is the 
 terrestrial paradise, where no one can come except 
 by the will of God.' 
 
 " In the opinion of this illustrious navigator, the 
 earth had the form of a pear, and its surface kept 
 rising toward the east, indicated by the point of the 
 fruit. It was there that he supposed might be found 
 the garden where ancient tradition imagined the cre- 
 ation of the first human couple was accomplished. 
 
 " We can scarcely think without astonishment of 
 the great amount of darkness that obscured scientific 
 knowledge when this great man appeared on the 
 scene of the world, nor of the rapidity with which the 
 obscurity and vagueness of ideas were dissipated al- 
 most immediately after his marvelous discoveries.' 
 Scarcely had a half century elapsed after his death, 
 than all the geographical fables of the middle ages 
 did no more than excite smiles of incredulity, al- 
 though during his life the universal opinion was not 
 much advanced upon the times of the famous knight, 
 John of Mandeville," as mentioned above. 
 
 These legends only show the wonderful fertility oi 
 the human mind under the influence of superstition, 
 and the tenacity with which it clings to traditions 
 and fables, as if they were essential to its religious 
 enjoyments here and happiness hereafter. Discov- 
 eries in science have done much toward sifting the 
 chaff from the wheat, and extremists in the scientific 
 world are now disposed to throw aside the wheat be- 
 cause it was once mixed with chaff. We should not 
 
22 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 reject sublime truths because they have been mixed 
 with errors by the ignorance and superstitions of men. 
 Astronomy is not rejected on account of its former 
 connections with the superstitions of astrology or the 
 errors of the early astronomers. Chemistry is no less 
 valuable, in all its wonderful operations and transfor- 
 mations, on account of its former connection with the 
 vagaries and errors of alchemy. So the teachings 
 of the Bible, in reference to man's moral relations to 
 the Creator, are none the less true because supersti- 
 tious and ignorant men have mixed with them legends 
 and fables of their own invention, and have given 
 such interpretations as are calculated to repel and 
 discourage the honest seeker for truth. The Bible 
 needs science to brush away the chaff of error and the 
 fogs and mists of superstition, and science needs the 
 teachings of the Bible to aid it in building light- 
 houses and towers on the coasts of the stormy ocean 
 of life, over which we are moving toward the shores 
 of a brighter world and a higher destiny. 
 
COSMOS AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 COSMOS AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 
 
 The change of cosmography produced by science 
 does not conflict with the teachings of the Bible in ref- 
 erence to the creation of all things, notwithstanding 
 the progress of knowledge, during the past two hun- 
 dred years, has produced a great change in the relig- 
 ious beliefs in reference to the structure of the universe 
 and the exegeses of theologians in biblical cosmogra- 
 phy- 
 
 The discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, and others, 
 
 which caused great alarm to the expounders of the 
 Bible, are now found to be harmless in their re- 
 sults, and in no manner to come in conflict with the 
 teachings of the Divine Revelation. This alarm at 
 new discoveries arose from the mistaken apprehension 
 that the Bible, as a revelation from God, should be 
 regarded as a critical treatise on the cosmos of the 
 universe, and that every new discovery of a purely 
 scientific character should be sustained by its direct 
 teaching and should stand or fall bv its decisions. 
 
 The Bible, as a moral code, does not pretend to 
 treat on scientific subjects ; and yet, after having been 
 
24 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 subjected to the severest criticisms, in its moral teach- 
 ings as well as its utterances in reference to scientific 
 subjects, it has been found, when correctly interpreted 
 and properly understood, to be in harmony with 
 science. The latest scientific discoveries have not 
 shaken any one of the main pillars on which the super- 
 structure of Christianity rests. 
 
 The theory of a plurality of worlds, inhabited by 
 intelligent beings, may, at first view, appear to come 
 in conflict with God's moral government and the in- 
 stitutions of religion in our world. 
 
 A careful examination of the extent of the provis- 
 ions of the Divine Economy in the scheme of moral 
 restoration will remove these difficulties. 
 
 It is not the teaching of the Bible, but the wrong 
 interpretation of it, that has caused the numerous di- 
 visions among Christians, as well as their opposition 
 to progressive ideas in natural and physical science. 
 We should never be afraid to look at scientific facts, 
 from a fear that they might lead us in a wrong direc- 
 tion. That Infinite Intelligence which is the personi- 
 fication of truth itself will make all truths harmonize 
 in the final outcome. No matter what contradictions 
 may appear to stare us in the face during our investi- 
 gations in the different fields of science, they disappear 
 as we progress toward higher attainments in knowl- 
 edge and a better understanding of the harmonies 
 between nature and her laws and the Divine Hand 
 that holds and directs her mysterious operations. 
 And while we should be on our guard against adopting 
 
COSMOS AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 25 
 
 mere speculations in science, founded on doubtful 
 hypotheses, we should, nevertheless, be willing to look 
 at facts clearly demonstrated by physical laws, and, 
 having obtained a resting place on a basis of clearly- 
 proven facts, we may proceed in our arguments from 
 analogies in nature and arrive at conclusions for which 
 we would have no warrant in mere abstract deductions 
 without primary facts. 
 
 In the discoveries of the telescope new fields were 
 brought to view, and with them new truths that could 
 not be successfully controverted. On account of the 
 evidences by which these truths were supported, came 
 a determined opposition, and even persecutions, on 
 the part of the expounders of the Bible, from a fear 
 that these new discoveries might come in conflict with 
 some of its teachings. The question, then, with those 
 zealots, should not have been, Will these discoveries 
 lead us from our old habits of thinking and believing ? 
 but, Are they true? Instead of refusing to look 
 through Galileo's telescope, from a fear that they 
 might see the moons of Jupiter and find other evidence 
 of the earth's and planets' movement around the sun, 
 they should first have made themselves acquainted 
 with the nature of his invention, then, finding that 
 it was neither art-magic nor sleight-of-hand, that 
 glass of certain forms placed in a tube will magnify 
 distant objects and bring to view that which cannot 
 be seen by the naked eye, and these facts being once 
 established, the over-zealous priests who preached 
 from the text, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye 
 
26 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 gazing up into heaven?" should themselves have gazed 
 through the telescope, and looked at the harmonious 
 movements of the planets and their satellites around 
 the central sun. Errors that are entertained against 
 the clearest convictions and demonstrations of truth 
 are inexcusable. 
 
 Theories in science and religion are not necessarily 
 true because they are old. The astronomical theories 
 of Ptolemy, which held sway over the minds of men 
 for two thousand years and were interwoven with the 
 religious beliefs of the Christian church, had to yield 
 to the discoveries of later astronomers. 
 
 The well-worn grooves and tramways in which theo- 
 ries founded on doubtful hypotheses have run will 
 frequently have to be reconstructed. 
 
 The outer boundaries of human knowledge are yet 
 in the dim and shadowy distance. Nature, in her 
 wonder and unfoldment, moves by gradual and, ap- 
 parently, tardy steps, and those who attempt to inter- 
 pret her mysterious operations will have to sit 
 meditatively in her vast temple and be receptive to 
 the impressions that flow into the longing soul from 
 the Infinite Source of all Wisdom. 
 
 Theories should be formed from clearly-established 
 truths. Instead of supposing a thing to be true because 
 it corresponds with some antiquated notions that 
 have come down to us through the uncertain channels 
 of tradition, and then demanding that nature's laws 
 should conform to our preconceived notions, we 
 should be willing to bow with submission to truth 
 
COSMOS AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 27 
 
 and follow its divine teachings. Expressions found 
 in the Bible that accord with our observations ot 
 natural phenomena should not be construed so as to 
 contradict the well-established facts in nature's laws. 
 The rising and the setting of the sun, as these terms 
 are generally used, do not allow us to conclude that 
 the sun actually goes down in the evening and comes 
 up in the morning. Although the expression would 
 justify the conclusion, yet the truth is clearly demon- 
 strated that the sun stands still and the earth rotates 
 on its axis and gives us a succession of day and night. 
 Again, in the winter the sun is said to run lower and 
 its rays strike the earth obliquely, and rise higher 
 in the summer and its rays strike the earth directly. 
 The truth is, the earth's axis inclines from the sun 
 in the winter and toward the sun in the summer, 
 while the sun remains stationary. The same is 
 true in reference to the position of the sun in the 
 zodiac, through which it is said to pass in its annual 
 round. 
 
 The men of the present generation who claim to be 
 defenders of the Bible against the encroachments of 
 infidelity, now manifest a surprise at the stupidity of 
 their ancestors for not receiving the truth when it was 
 presented to them with such clear demonstrations by 
 the revelations of the telescope. 
 
 It is now acknowledged that the expression, " rising 
 and setting of the sun," does not teach that the earth 
 is the center of the universe, and that the sun, moon, 
 planets, and all the stars, only a comparatively small 
 
28 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 distance out in space, are performing a rapid whirl 
 around our earth every twenty-four hours. 
 
 Through the teaching of modern astronomy we are 
 now permitted to look out on a universe of wondrous 
 harmony, held together by the mighty grasp of gravi- 
 tation ; and still the teachings of the Bible, in all its 
 sacred precepts and promises, have not had one single 
 passage marred by these discoveries in astronomy. 
 
 The priests at the sacred altars now find that their 
 forefathers were alarmed without cause — that the per- 
 secutions of Galileo and others were the result of a 
 blind zeal, "without knowledge." 
 
 Following the age of new discoveries in astronomy 
 come the revelations of geology, and with it the as- 
 tounding announcement that this earth is more than 
 six thousand years old. The evidences on which this 
 announcement rests are not to be controverted. The 
 rocks and fossils speak in an unmistakable language, 
 and say, " This world on which we live may have 
 existed for millions of years." The first effort was 
 to throw discredit on the teachings of geology ; but as 
 evidences were multiplied, and neither argument nor 
 ridicule could stand against the clearly-revealed truths 
 of geology, consternation and a kind of forced distrust 
 seized the minds of the timid, and the question came 
 up with a peculiar solemnity, " Shall we give up the 
 teachings of the Bible for the revelations of geology ?" 
 If geology is correct in its calculations, then, as a 
 natural result, Moses in his Genesis must be wrong. 
 The Bible was looked at by its advocates as the world's 
 
COSMOS AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 29 
 
 only hope for a final triumph of light over darkness, 
 right over wrong, and happiness over misery. Shall 
 this hope be blasted with one dash of the geolog- 
 ical pen ? Shall the moral world's great torch be ex- 
 tinguished and our race be left forever in the dark ? 
 These were the perplexing questions that forced them- 
 selves upon the minds of the thoughtful, while the 
 thoughtless enthusiasts who take their theology at 
 second hand, and who, like a blind bird which gulps 
 down every insect thrown in its mouth, asked no 
 questions and cared little about the result of the im- 
 pending conflict. But, not willing to yield all to the 
 discoveries of geology, the man who has received the 
 Bible as a revelation from God reads again, carefully, 
 thoughtfully, the first chapter of Genesis. He com- 
 mences, " In the beginning God created the heavens 
 and the earth." At the end of these solemn words 
 he finds a period, a full stop. A new idea flashes 
 on his mind. He asks himself the question, When 
 was that beginning ? Was it six thousand years ago ? 
 No ; Moses does not say so. He simply announces 
 the sublime truth that all created things had a begin- 
 ning ; but who can reckon by the years that measure 
 our time when that beginning was. Many millions 
 of years may have passed since the boundless void 
 was filled with rolling and shining worlds. Now, let 
 geology run back in mathematical numbers, and trace 
 her periods in fossils, rocks and skeletons, until the 
 mind becomes bewildered in its backward march to 
 find the beginning ; and still the Bible is true when it 
 
30 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 says, " In the beginning God created the heavens and 
 the earth." Now geology and the Bible join hands. 
 The former teaches that we have a world of wondrous 
 structure. That different deposits and formations tell 
 of long ages past. The latter reveals to us the origin 
 of all worlds. That there exists in the vast universe a 
 power to produce material forms and put in operation 
 forces that, in accordance with the laws of their exist- 
 ence, work out the great problems of a material uni- 
 verse in obedience to a divine plan ; that there is a 
 progress from lower to higher forms in the material 
 universe, and from lower to higher types in living 
 organisms, is clearly demonstrated by scientific ex- 
 plorations in the empire of nature ; but science has 
 never evolved one particle of matter nor produced one 
 living organism without an especial primary creation. 
 The Bible gives us the only rational account of crea- 
 tion, and the language of the Hebrew prophets re- 
 ceives additional importance from the more recent 
 discoveries in astronomical science. This is especially 
 so in reference to the discovery, through the telescope, 
 of the magnitude of creation. On the supposition 
 that our earth is the center of the universe, and our 
 race the only subjects of God's moral government in 
 physical forms, and that this earth was made for man 
 and man for the earth, would we not naturally conclude 
 that our race must be very highly estimated by the 
 Infinite Father, and be viewed as the center of his 
 moral government. Such views would deprive many 
 of the declarations of the inspired volume of their 
 
COSMOS AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 31 
 
 beauty and sublimity. If ours was the only nation 
 in God's great universe, would the inspired prophet 
 have said, " All nations before him are as nothing ?" 
 doubtless referring to the nations of this earth. 
 
 Again, it is said: "He sitteth upon the circle of 
 the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grass- 
 hoppers. The nations are as the drop of a bucket- 
 All the inhabitants of the world are reputed as noth- 
 ing in His sight ; and He doth according to His will 
 in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of 
 the earth. Thou has made heaven, and the heaven 
 of heavens, with all their host, and Thou preservest. 
 them all; and the host of heaven worship Thee. 
 When I consider Thy heavens, what is man, that 
 Thou art mindful of him ? " 
 
 When the telescope revealed the fact that our solar 
 system was but a small point in the sidereal heavens, 
 and our earth dwindled almost to annihilation in 
 comparison with other worlds, both in number and 
 magnitude, dogmatic theologians hurled their anathe- 
 mas against these pestilent worlds that arose to their 
 astonished vision as so many specters from the lower 
 world. But it has been in this case as in the one 
 referred to about the period of creation : when they 
 read the passage above quoted, in reference to the 
 host of heaven and the insignificance of our race, 
 they found that these sublime descriptions received 
 additional force and significance as their views were 
 enlarged with regard to the vastness of creation ; and 
 now they find that the Bible is the only book in 
 
32 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 existence that takes in all creation. They are not only 
 willing to admit the truth of astronomical discoveries, 
 but are ready to say to the astronomer : Lengthen 
 out your tube ; increase the power of your reflectors 
 and refractors a hundred fold ; bring as many more 
 worlds to view as you can find ; let new systems arise 
 to view ; fling your plummet line of investigation 
 to the farthest possible point of the universe, and the 
 sublime declaration of our Bible in its description 01 
 Jehovah will take them all in. We say, then : Come, 
 welcome, telescope ! Come, welcome, spectroscope ! 
 Welcome, every renewed effort of the mightiest mind 
 and most approved instruments for exploring the 
 physical universe ! Lead us out as far as possible 
 from our little earth home. If we cannot visit them, 
 let us at least look at the homes of the millions on 
 millions who dwell in the boundless kingdoms of the 
 one universal Father ; and, as we move out, and look 
 at these shining worlds, we will keep our Bible in 
 hand, and the better understand its inimitable lan- 
 guage when it says: "All the inhabitants of the 
 world are reputed as nothing in His sight." " The 
 nations are as a drop of a bucket." And while our 
 adoring souls fall prostrate before His divine majesty, 
 may we also remember that He is our universal 
 Father and Protector, and provides for us with a fatherly 
 care, and comes to us in the tenderness of His love; 
 and while the host of heaven worship Him, we may bear 
 a part in the grand chorus that goes up from innumer- 
 able worlds : "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 
 
CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN OUR WORLD. 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE VARIOUS CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN OUR WORLD. 
 
 Among the marvelous things in living organisms 
 are the strange variety of living creatures, and the 
 means through which their wants are supplied and 
 their existence perpetuated. One class of animals 
 live and flourish where other classes would immedi- 
 ately perish. The fish out of the water gasps and 
 struggles a few minutes, and, if not hastily returned 
 to his native element, soon breathes his last ; the air 
 breathing animal soon dies where the fish is at home 
 and perfectly comfortable. Among the animals out 
 of the water there is also a great difference in the 
 means as well as mode of existence, even down to the 
 minute animalcula ; some will live and multiply in 
 acids and die in alkalies, others soon perish in alkalies 
 and do well in acids. Some insects will live without 
 water, or moisture, while others must have a constant 
 supply of water to sustain life. Some animals flourish 
 in the extreme north, amid almost perpetual frosts 
 and snow ; others, again, can only live under the 
 scorching sun of a tropical climate. To change their 
 positions would produce their extinction. It does 
 
34 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 not come within the range of this work to give a 
 description of these different forms of animal life, but 
 merely refer to the fact of their existence ; in accord- 
 ance with the design of the work, to show that, if we 
 find life on our earth under such different conditions, 
 we may conclude that the Infinite Creator, who made 
 life after such different patterns to exist under such 
 different conditions, in the air, and earth and ocean, 
 on our globe, could, in accordance with the same 
 plan of variety, create innumerable forms of living 
 beings to inhabit the spheres which His almighty 
 hand has formed, and sent spinning on their axes and 
 moving in their orbits through the immeasurable 
 depths of space. 
 
 With regard to the supply of food, or nourishment, 
 for these million forms of life, we trace the operations 
 of the same designing hand recognized by the psalm- 
 ist when he says: "All these wait upon Thee. Thou 
 openest Thy hand, and givest them their meat in due 
 season." And a higher authority says : "Behold the 
 fowls of the air, they have no barns nor store houses," 
 etc. 
 
 The supply is furnished by the operation of nature's 
 incomprehensible chemistry, and the life of one part 
 is sustained by the death of the other. It is an almost 
 universal rule through the domain of terrestrial nature 
 that life is sustained by death. Animals and vegeta- 
 bles make up the supply of food for living creatures, 
 and both must die before they can supply the demands 
 of life. The newly hatched little fish takes his 
 
CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN OUR WORLD. 35 
 
 breakfast the first morning of his existence on the 
 minute animalcula that struggles and flounders through 
 the mashes and network of the stagnant water, where 
 it has been feeding and feasting on the green scum 
 produced by the rays of sunshine. Here are grand 
 pasture fields for millions of these animalcula, often 
 invisible to the naked eye. While the little fish feeds 
 on these, along comes another fish, whose stomach and 
 appetite have outgrown the delicate food furnished to 
 baby fish, and gulps down the little fish that had eaten 
 the animalcula ; and before the delicious morsel is half 
 digested in his stomach, a still larger fish comes along, 
 hungry for his breakfast, and down goes the fish that 
 swallowed the fish that eat the minnow that had feasted 
 and fattened on the animalcula. In almost endless 
 succession, from the lower to the higher class of 
 animals, one feasts on the other, until man comes 
 along and selects the most suitable out of the whole 
 range of animal and vegetable life to build up his 
 earthly tabernacle. There is, then, in nature an 
 endless, revolving chain, from death to life, and life 
 not only in multiplied, but in multifarious forms. 
 
 There is another marvelous feature in this general 
 arrangement for the supply of a hungry world of 
 living beings : it is the means through which the prey 
 is seized and the food obtained ; and at the same time 
 the animal doomed to the slaughter is provided with 
 means of escape or weapons of defense against his 
 deadly foe. This makes the world of life one great 
 battle-field. Either by running, jumping, flying or 
 
36 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 swimming, and often by other ingenious contrivances, 
 as the spider spreads his net to catch the fly, the 
 hungry expect to catch their prey. Those animals 
 feeding on herbs and grain and seeds are provided 
 with means to gather and instincts for storing away 
 their food, when not especially provided for by men, 
 as in the case of domestic animals. 
 
 If such is life on our planet, with all the compli- 
 cated arrangements to sustain it, while in many in- 
 stances we can see no good reason why some forms of 
 life should exist, unless it is to try our patience or 
 excite our sympathy for the suffering, may we not 
 reasonably conclude that other worlds are also the 
 abode of different forms of life ? 
 
 Prof. Mitchell, in his Popular Astronomy, says : 
 
 " It would be most incredible to assert, as some 
 have done, that our planet, so small and insignificant 
 in its proportions, when compared with other planets 
 with which it is allied, is the only world in the whole 
 universe filled with sentient, rational and intelligent 
 beings capable of comprehending the grand mysteries 
 of the physical universe." 
 
 Where we lack positive information on a subject so 
 interesting, we may safely be guided by the analogies 
 of nature. 
 
VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE. 37 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE WHERE LIFE 
 MAY EXIST. 
 
 Objects around us, as well as countries, kingdoms 
 and empires, are relatively great or small. The gar- 
 den is large in comparison with the tiny flower bed ; 
 but the garden becomes an insignificant parcel when 
 compared with the large farm ; and the farm, in turn, 
 loses its importance in comparison with the county; 
 and the county, state, republic or empire, each 
 in turn loses its importance as it is exceeded by 
 other and larger territories. The child that has 
 always moved in the narrow home circle receives sin- 
 gular impressions with regard to distance and extent 
 of territory, if it is old enough to appreciate the 
 pleasure of traveling, when it makes its first trip from 
 home. A few miles seem a long journey. But when 
 the child grows to manhood and travels over the length 
 and breadth of his own country, the first ten-mile trip 
 shrinks to an insignificant point. Again, as men 
 travel over oceans and continents, or make a journey 
 
38 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 "around the world," their views are wonderfully 
 enlarged with regard to the extent of territory where 
 human beings have their habitations, and where ani- 
 mal and vegetable life abounds in thousands of forms 
 and under varied conditions. 
 
 Before the invention of the telescope, and the con- 
 sequent discoveries in sidereal astronomy, men were 
 taught to look at our earth as the only place in the 
 universe where the throb of one great life-giving heart 
 could possibly be felt. To the ancients, the pale blue 
 sky was a solid sphere or crystal vault into which the 
 sun, moon and stars were fixed, as diamonds or gems, 
 to adorn the celestial vault, and to serve " for signs 
 and for seasons, and for days and for years," and to 
 give us light by day and by night. The Fathers of 
 the early Christian church advanced from the earlier 
 pagan notions, and conceived a heaven of superposed 
 layers, making the first, second and third heaven, and 
 some went as high as the tenth heaven, and even far- 
 ther, according to their conceptions of the grandeur 
 of the universe. TJiey considered these heavens as 
 so many hemispheres supported on the solid earth. 
 Their most advanced ideas of the works of creation 
 left them like little children amusing themselves 
 around a little flower garden, without the means or 
 the power of advancing out into the great world be- 
 yond the range of their limited vision. As the farms 
 and orchards, and counties, countries and continents 
 are unknown to children sporting around their flowery 
 lawns, and feasting on a few berries and fruits in the 
 
VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE. 39 
 
 old homestead garden, so were the life-bearing worlds 
 of this great universe unknown to the earlier dwellers 
 on this earth. 
 
 No movement could be made out of these narrow 
 circles without some aid to our natural vision. That 
 Providence which appoints means to ends, and makes 
 a progression from lower to higher conditions possible 
 to all intelligent beings, so ordered that Hans Lipper- 
 shey, or Lippersheim, as some call him, should make 
 lenses of various kinds, and for what purpose we need 
 not state here. In the year 1606, while the children 
 of Lippersheim were playing in the yard with his 
 lenses, "one of them happened to hold one before the 
 other to look at a distant clock. Their great surprise 
 in seeing how near it seemed attracted their father's 
 attention." He soon made several experiments with 
 them, and the interesting discovery in a short time 
 spread to different countries, and from this accidental 
 discovery Galileo obtained his ideas for the construc- 
 tion of the telescope. In reference to this discovery, 
 Huyghens, the distinguished astronomer, " declared 
 that the man who could invent the telescope unguided 
 by chance would be more than mortal." If we sub- 
 stitute for the word " chance" that of overruling 
 Providence, we will have more rational conceptions of 
 that Infinite Father above us, who leads his erring 
 children, step by step, out of ignorance and darkness 
 to a superior light and knowledge. 
 
 The telescope at once swept from the minds of men 
 the myths and errors of the ancient astronomers, and 
 
40 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 revealed to us numerous worlds of such magnitude 
 and magnificence as to cause our globe to shrink into 
 an insignificant little garden in an obscure corner ot 
 the old homestead farm. With the discovery of the 
 telescope came the possibility of calculating the rate 
 at which light passes through space, by observing the 
 transit of planets across the sun and satellites across 
 their primary planets. 
 
 As the carpenter lays his foot rule on his timbers 
 to measure the materials for the construction of build- 
 ings, and the surveyor stretches his chain over the 
 land to measure section lines and to plant his mile 
 posts, so the astronomer stretches his line of light 
 motion from the earth to the planets and from the 
 planets to the sun. But, going beyond the sun, he 
 finds miles to become meaningless and as insignificant 
 as a foot rule would be in a surveyor's hand to meas- 
 ure a line across a continent. Hence he makes a 
 measuring line of the distance from the earth to the 
 sun, and instead of saying so many miles, he says so 
 many times the earth's distance from the sun. But 
 it is exceedingly difficult to realize the length of this 
 measuring line. A reference to things familiar to us 
 may serve to impress the mind with distances and 
 magnitudes in our solar system. We know how long 
 it would take an express train, running thirty miles an 
 hour, on one of our railroads, to run across the con- 
 tinent. With a knowledge of the distance of the 
 planets from the central orb, we can calculate how 
 long it would take an express train, running night and 
 
VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE. 41 
 
 day, without intermission, to accomplish the distance 
 from the sun to the different planets in that system of 
 worlds to which our earth belongs. Remembering at 
 the same time that this sun system is but a small frac- 
 tion of that universe which is as boundless as infini- 
 tude, let us then draw an imaginary line from the 
 sun to the planet Neptune, and in imagination start a 
 locomotive with an express train from the sun. Run- 
 ning thirty miles per hour, we would reach the planet 
 Mercury in 136 years. Dashing past this little planet 
 at the same rate of speed, we would arrive at Venus 
 in 251 years. We are now getting a considerable 
 distance from our starting point ; but, in proportion to 
 the length of the journey we may compare this dis- 
 tance to a child's first ten-mile trip from home. On- 
 ward we move, and reach the earth in 348 years. 
 Going outward from the earth, we would reach the 
 planet Mars in 532 years. A beautiful little planet 
 very much resembling our own earth. Between Mars 
 and Jupiter we pass the zone of the asteroids in 850 
 years from the sun ; and by the time we arrive at the 
 giant planet Jupiter we will find that our train has 
 been 1,809 years on its journey, and still we are not 
 half way to the end of the journey. Our next sta- 
 tion will be the beautiful planet Saturn, where we 
 arrive in 3,318 years ; and Uranus would be reached 
 in 6,662 years. Now we have only one more station 
 to make before we reach the frontier of our solar 
 system. This is Neptune, the farthest planet known 
 to astronomers ; and continuing at the same rate of 
 
42 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 speed with which our imaginary train started, it would 
 reach its destination in 10,465 years. This planet 
 may be considered the border state of the republic of 
 worlds belonging to our solar system. It has a sin- 
 gular history, and if its territory could be annexed to 
 the national dominion of its discoverers, France and 
 England both would claim the owership. But as 
 neither of these nations can take possession of it, it 
 must remain as neutral territory in nature's vast do- 
 main, to be admired by all who love to contemplate 
 its slow and majestic movement on the outskirts of 
 one among the thousands of systems that enter into 
 the universe. If a dweller of this earth could take 
 his stand on Neptune and look up into the celestial 
 vault, he would see the same starry heavens we see 
 from the earth. The same constellations marked out 
 by the ancients would be as familiar to him there as 
 they are here, while the earth and the interior planets 
 would all have disappeared, and could only be seen 
 through a powerful telescope. Although it would 
 take an express train 10,465 years to reach this planet 
 from the sun, yet the distance is so small compared 
 with the distance to the fixed stars, that there would 
 scarcely be a change noticeable in the position of the 
 fixed stars. 
 
 And now, if we wish to engage in an exploration 
 of worlds in the great plantation of the Infinite, we 
 must leave our imaginary locomotive and prepare for 
 a more rapid flight through space. No mortal being 
 could expect to live through the years it would require 
 
VASTNES5 OF THE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE. 43 
 
 to make a journey on an express train across the 
 semi-diameter of our solar system. Methuselah would 
 still be a young man compared to the years it would 
 require to do this. 
 
 Could we, then, for a time divest ourselves of the 
 ponderable substances of which our bodies are com- 
 posed, and start out on an exploration of worlds of 
 life and light that lie beyond the range of our own 
 sun system, we would find that the stars we, at our 
 great distance, are looking at as fixed stars, are so 
 many suns, with planets and satellites similar to our 
 own, and in many instances far exceeding ours in 
 magnitude and magnificence. They only appear to 
 us as fixed in unchangeable positions, as laid down in 
 the star maps of astronomers. But they are moving 
 in mighty orbits around different centers of gravity. 
 It is their immense distance that makes them appear 
 stationary to us. A locomotive flashes by our dwell- 
 ing like a thing of life on swiftest wings, and in a 
 few moments it is out of sight. The same locomotive 
 seen ten or fifteen miles off, on a level prairie, at the 
 same speed, seems stationary, and we have to watch 
 it for some time before we can determine the course 
 in which it is moving. On the same principle astrono- 
 mers may look at distant stars for thousands of years 
 and not detect their change of position. 
 
 Even if we could travel on the swift wings of light, 
 traveling at the rate of twelve millions of miles per 
 minute, it would require nearly four hours to go from 
 the sun to Neptune, ten years to go from the sun to 
 
44 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 the fixed stars, and to reach others of the bright stars 
 that adorn our nightly sky would require more time 
 than is allotted to an ordinary life for man. 
 
 We might then stretch our imagination for a more 
 rapid flight through impenetrable regions of darkness 
 and the silence of death, between worlds aglow with 
 light, and, in all probability, teeming with life in dif- 
 ferent forms. We would soon find ourselves in the 
 presence of other suns, and sun systems, and in the 
 dim distance still other lights would burst upon us 
 from blazing suns and rolling worlds, as so many 
 bright spots in the desert wastes of infinitude. 
 
 But whence have we come and whither are we go- 
 ing ? Perhaps only human thoughts and disembodied 
 spirits can visit these bright abodes and mingle with 
 the celestial hosts. Here, then, our thoughts may 
 linger around archways and temples without number ; 
 and high and low and deep and broad have lost their 
 meaning. The end is not here. The highest and 
 the lowest are not here ; neither can the utmost lim- 
 its be found, for there are no limits to space. 
 
 " Lo, these are parts of His works ; but the thunder 
 of His power, who can understand?" The thoughts, 
 bewildered, return to our own little earth home, and 
 exclaim, " God is all in all !" "What is man that 
 Thou art mindful of him ?" And waking to a full 
 consciousness from these dreaming thoughts, we ask 
 for some information about this mysterious being who 
 reared these wondrous structures. We may go to the 
 wise men of this world, and they will tell us that they 
 
VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE. 45 
 
 are only standing on the shores of infinitude, picking 
 up a few pebbles of truth, and looking at them, trying 
 to find out something, while the great ocean of truth, 
 in its boundlessness, lies still beyond. The world 
 " by wisdom knows not God," and by searching it 
 cannot find him out. Heathen mythology tells of 
 gods many, and lords many, but these are more 
 powerless than those who made them. 
 
 The Hebrew poet tells us, " The heavens declare 
 the glory of God and the firmament showeth His 
 handiwork." We turn to the Bible for further in- 
 formation, and on the first page we read, " In the 
 beginning God created the heavens and the earth." 
 After this grand announcement, there comes a solemn 
 pause, and no answer is given to the anxious inquiry, 
 When was the beginning ? No one can tell. The 
 Bible tells us that, about six thousand years ago, God 
 prepared our earth as an abode for a moral race of 
 beings, responsible to him for their conduct, and amid 
 all the rebellious uprisings of this race, held account- 
 able to the highest authority in the universe, they 
 have been dealt with in kindness and in love. The 
 plan of a moral restoration to the divine favor reveals 
 to us the astounding truth that Infinity comes out 
 of his own eternity, and vails himself in our humani- 
 ty, to lift the erring ones out of their misery and sor- 
 row to a nearer relation to himself. He by whom 
 all things were made clothes himself in the mantle of 
 his own materials ; and now Infinity shines out upon a 
 whole universe of intelligent beings through a divine 
 
46 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 and glorified humanity. " Principalities and powers 
 in heavenly places now learn new lessons from the 
 wondrous scheme of man's restoration." He who 
 originally said, "Let there be light, and there was 
 light," now sheds a diviner light on an intelligent 
 universe, to give the light of the knowledge of the 
 diviner glory in the face of a divine incarnation. 
 
 The grand discoveries in sidereal astronomy, during 
 the last two hundred years, strongly indicate that our 
 earth is not the only inhabited world in the universe. 
 
 There is nothing in the moral aspect of this ques- 
 tion of a plurality of worlds that can possibly come 
 in conflict with the revealed will of God, as recorded 
 in the Bible. On the other hand, there are strong 
 intimations, if not positive declarations, that there 
 are other worlds than ours, inhabited by intelligent 
 beings. And the vastness of the universe, and the 
 existence of intelligent beings in different and distant 
 worlds, all sharing an interest in the divine manifes- 
 tations through Christ, give us grander conceptions of 
 the universal fatherhood of God and the unity of the 
 divine family. This, however, will be more fully 
 treated when w T e present the Scripture argument on 
 this subject. It is said that, at the creation of this 
 earth, " The morning stars sang together and the 
 sons of God shouted for joy." 
 
 "Around the sun, in orbs of light, 
 The planets pulsate, roll and shine, 
 
 And, glowing in the darkened night, 
 They sing an anthem all divine, 
 
 Of life and light, and joy and love, 
 And the creative power above." 
 
VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE. 47 
 
 The analogies of nature lead us to the conclusion 
 that our earth was not the first life-bearing planet in 
 the great universe. How many millions of years may 
 have passed away since the matter contained in suns 
 and planets was first projected into space no one will 
 pretend to tell. We have the most striking evidence 
 that over and anterior to matter there exists an eter- 
 nal creative power, possessed of infinite wisdom and 
 goodness, appointing means for the accomplishment 
 of his wise designs through the whole realm of crea- 
 tion. 
 
 " Speaking through nature, weaving periods, times, 
 Angels, angelic heavens, and poet rhymes." 
 
 In looking on these vast fields of nature — a limit- 
 less universe — we may say: 
 
 " All matter is God's tongue — 
 Out from its motions God's thoughts are spun ; 
 And the realms of space are the octave bars, 
 And the music notes are the suns and stars." 
 
 All creation does not bloom at once in one eternal 
 youth. There is an onward march to maturity in 
 worlds, as in their flora and fauna. Orchards have 
 their growing, blooming and fruit-bearing seasons. 
 It may be so with these mighty worlds planted in 
 space by the omnipotent hand. Our earth, in its 
 present physical form, may be comparatively young, 
 although in moral depravity and deeds of darkness 
 and violence many think it is quite old enough, and 
 
48 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 about time its affairs were wound up and a great part 
 of its inhabitants forced into a moral bankruptcy. 
 Millions of acres of its virgin soil, however, still in- 
 vite millions more of living beings to come and possess 
 the land, and the analogies of nature indicate to us 
 that through the broad fields of the universal empire 
 there is room for all the life that is to be, as well as 
 for that which is now existing. 
 
 " The earth, trembling in infant grace, 
 Whirls round with fair and youthful face ; 
 And as the cycles dimly run, 
 And still the earth receives the sun, 
 Man says that life and death complete 
 Are laid here at the infant's feet. 
 Not so — the infant grows a man 
 Upspringing, and God's perfect plan 
 Is not cut short with downward wing, 
 But rises upward, and from clay 
 Links man unto the realm of day." 
 
 The belief among the ancients that our earth was 
 the center of the universe, and that the sun and plan- 
 ets, and all the stars, performed their diurnal journey 
 around this common center, precluded from the minds 
 of the wisest of their astronomers any proper concep- 
 tion of a plurality of worlds. It is only since the 
 telescope has revealed the true structure of the uni- 
 verse that the minds of men have ventured out from 
 their own small habitation and given expression to a 
 great truth, almost forced upon them by the analogies 
 of nature. 
 
VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE. 49 
 
 " Nor is this earth but set apart 
 To feel the throb of one great heart, 
 For life and motion — beauty, power — 
 Are not expended in a dower 
 Of earthly dust and human clay, 
 But reaches far, and far away, 
 Till every star and every world", 
 By portions of that light entwirled, 
 Fashioned and shaped in forms divine, 
 That in their life and light shall shine." 
 
 These conceptions of life in other worlds give sig- 
 nificance to many of the sublime passages found in 
 the Bible, in reference to the vastness of the works 
 of creation. 
 
 " Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens 
 is the Lord's." — Deut. x. 14. On this passage, Dr. 
 Adam Clark says : 
 
 " These words were probably intended to point out 
 the immensity of God's creation, in which we may 
 readily conceive one system of heavenly bodies, and 
 another beyond them, and others still in endless pro- 
 gression through the whole vortex of space — every 
 star in the vast abyss of nature being a sun with its 
 peculiar and numerous attendant worlds ! Thus there 
 may be systems on systems in endless gradations up 
 to the throne of God." 
 
 The same author says, in his comment on I. Kings, 
 viii. 27, " Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens 
 cannot contain thee." 
 
 " The words are all in the plural number in the 
 Hebrew, 'the heavens and the heavens of heavens.' 
 What do these words imply ? That there are systems 
 
 4 
 
50 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 and systems of systems, each possessing its sun and its 
 primary and secondary planets, all extending bey«nd 
 each other in unlimited space, in the same regular 
 and graduated order which we find to prevail in what 
 we call our solar system, which, probably, in its 
 thousands of millions of miles in diameter, is to some 
 others no more than the area of the lunar orbit to 
 that of the planet Neptune. When God, his mani- 
 fold wisdom, his creative energy, and that space which 
 is unlimited, are considered, it is no hyperbole to say 
 that, although the earth has been created nearly six 
 thousand years ago, suns, the centers of systems, may 
 have been created at so immense a distance that their 
 light has not yet reached our earth, though traveling 
 at the rate of one hundred and ninety thousand miles 
 every second, or upward of a million times swifter 
 than the motion of a cannon ball! This may be said 
 to be inconceivable ; but what is even all this to the 
 vast immensity of space ? Had God created a system 
 like ours in every six days since the foundation of the 
 world, there might have been by this time (1819) three 
 hundred and three thousand five hundred and seventy- 
 five mundane systems. They would occupy but a 
 speck in the inconceivable immensity of space." 
 
 Rolling and shining worlds, and floating atoms in 
 the sunbeams, are alike under the control of laws es- 
 tablished by infinite wisdom. Matter is a unit, and 
 worlds and atoms are but different combinations of the 
 same material, under the same all-controlling hand. 
 
 While beholding bright orbs moving along their 
 
VASTNES3 OF THE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE. 51 
 
 appointed highways, marked out for them by the 
 omnipotent hand, appearing so small to us when com- 
 pared with our earth, we would soon change our 
 views if we could take our observation from one of 
 our nearest planets. Let us, in imagination, take our 
 stand on Mars or Jupiter. Looking back toward the 
 earth, we might say : 
 
 '' Strangely it looks to me to see from far 
 The planet earth like any other star ! 
 Once its round side seemed limitless, but now 
 Its disc is like an apple on a bough. 
 All size is relative, and God alone 
 Knoweth the actual value of each one 
 Of the bright globes that in the ether swim, 
 And worlds, because of men, are dear to him." 
 
 How many have listened, in childhood days, to the 
 beautiful nursery song, commencing 
 
 " Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 
 How I wonder what you are." 
 
 And now, from a recollection of youthful reveries, 
 we may look back and say : 
 
 " I often used to wish, at eventide, 
 I were a spirit free and glorified, 
 Wandering through trackless ether at my will, 
 And as the planet Mars shone bright and still 
 I hailed its ruddy flame, and wished I were 
 Midst its unvisioned realms a wanderer." 
 
 " 0, God ! thy goodness everywhere I find — 
 The space we think devoid of life is all 
 One high celestial hall, 
 
 Thronged by the deathless spirits of the free, 
 Members of one sublime humanity." 
 
52 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT. 
 
 That the sun, glowing with an indescribable bril- 
 liancy, exceeding by millions on million-fold every 
 other light that comes within the range of our vision, 
 may be a heated body in a state of incandescence or 
 glowing hydrogen will be readily admitted. But it is 
 difficult to conceive how heat radiating from this 
 central fire could reach and warm the planets without 
 dissipating the nearer ones into a vaporous mass, and 
 leaving the outer ones congealed in perpetual chains 
 of frost and ice. The instruments that have been in- 
 vented to estimate the intensity of solar heat have 
 yielded no satisfactory results; and even if there 
 had been a uniformity in the estimates of different 
 observers, this would by no means prove that this 
 heat was radiated directly from the sun. But the 
 difference between the estimates of different philoso- 
 phers is so great, both with regard to the intrinsic 
 brilliancy of the sun, when compared with other bodies 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 53 
 
 of the celestial sphere, as well as its radiated heat, that 
 we are forced to the conclusion that no reliance can 
 be placed on these estimates. 
 
 The estimates of temperature on the surface of the 
 sun, made by different astronomers, range from 3,000 
 degrees (Fahrenheit) up to 50,000. Several estimate 
 it as high as from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000, while 
 Secchi contends for a temperature of 18,000,000 de- 
 grees. Now, to keep up this enormous temperature, 
 various estimates have been made of the amount of 
 fuel that would be consumed in a given time; but these 
 differ nearly as much as those made of the different 
 degrees of temperature, so we may justly regard these 
 estimates as mere conjectures, instead of scientific cal- 
 culations. 
 
 J. Norman Lockyer, an English astronomer, says 
 of the sun's heat : u The heat thrown out from every 
 square yard of the sun's surface is greater than that 
 which would be produced by burning six tons of coal 
 on it each hour. Now, we may take the surface of 
 the sun roughly at 2,284,000,000,000 square miles, 
 and there are 3,097,600 square yards in each square 
 mile. How many tons of coal must be burned, there- 
 fore, in an hour, to represent the sun's heat ? 
 
 " But the sun sends out or radiates its light and 
 heat in all directions. It is clear, therefore, that as 
 our earth is so small compared with the sun, and it is 
 so far away from it, the light and heat of the earth 
 can intercept it but a very small portion of the whole 
 amount; in fact, we only grasp the 2 .3oo,ooo,ooo P ar * 
 
54 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 of it. All the planets together receive but ^p^oqo 
 part of the solar light and heat. 
 
 " The whole heat of the sun collected on a mass of 
 ice as large as the earth would be sufficient to melt it 
 in two minutes, to boil the water thus produced in 
 two minutes more, and to turn it all into steam in a 
 quarter of an hour from the time it was first applied." 
 After describing the energies of the sun as the pri- 
 mary source of all motion, and locomotion as well, he 
 asks this question : " Is the sun inhabited ?" and says : 
 " This is a question more easily asked than answered. 
 If the whole body of the sun is an incandescent globe, 
 of course no organized beings of whom we can con- 
 ceive can live upon it. But if the incandescence is 
 confined to its photosphere, as many think, and the 
 surface of the globe itself is protected from its outer 
 envelope by a dense atmosphere, which absorbs its in- 
 tense light and is at the same time a non-conductor ot 
 heat, there is nothing to prevent it from being inhab- 
 ited."* 
 
 Similar opinions have been expressed by other 
 astronomers in reference to the habitability of the sun ; 
 but the commotions described by Mr. Proctor and 
 others, as observed on the surface of the sun, would 
 indicate the improbability of such an uproar occurring 
 on the photosphere of the sun without affecting the 
 internal globe. The combustion of cosmical matter, 
 such as meteoric showers, as has been suggested, 
 would entirely preclude the idea of a quiet globe for the 
 
 * Lockyer's Elements of Astronomy, p. 66. 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 55 
 
 habitation of 'life inside of this incandescent covering. 
 But, on the assumption that the sun's photosphere is a 
 glowing mass without material combustion, we might 
 still conceive of some form of life in the sun. 
 
 Mr. R. A. Proctor, in his lecture on the sun, 
 as reported in the New York Tribune, Jan. 9th, 
 1874, says : " The actual emission of solar light 
 and heat corresponds to what would be obtained if on 
 every square yard of the sun's surface six tons of coal 
 were consumed every hour." Other astronomers es- 
 timate from ten to ten and a half tons for the same 
 space and time to keep up the solar temperature. 
 
 Again he says : " The hideous groanings of the 
 earthquake are surpassed a million-fold by the dis- 
 turbance of every square mile on this inflamed sea. 
 This is no idle dream. This great central . machine 
 of the solar orb, the central heart, pulsates with life, 
 and will continue to do so until the fuel is exhausted." 
 
 He may well ask this significant question : " How 
 does the sun maintain this fire?" To answer this, 
 he notices two theories that have found strong ad- 
 vocates among scientists. The one is that the heat 
 is kept up by the downfall of meteoric matter, and the 
 other by the gradual contraction of the substance of 
 the sun, by which its heat is maintained — the same 
 process, he says, by which the rest of the solar sys- 
 tem was formed. 
 
 Mr. Proctor evidently inclines to support this first 
 theory, and utters the fearful prediction that u in any 
 case there is certainly a time in the far future when 
 
56 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 the sun's heat will be exhausted," but suggests a way in 
 which we may imagine that the perennial supply -will be 
 continued. He tells us that our sun is traveling along 
 through space, carrying with him the planets, the 
 comets, etc., which circle around him as he sweeps 
 onward, and it may be that he comes to new regions of 
 meteoric matter, or, as it were, to "fresh fields and 
 pastures new," where the supply may be renewed. But 
 again he says "there is this process of exhaustion which 
 may one day come to an end." This fancy picture of 
 fresh fields and pastures new to feed the flames of the 
 sun may be good poetry, but it is poor philosophy. 
 
 Prof. Langly, whose distinguished services in the 
 department of solar physics are so highly spoken of 
 in Appleton's Journal, in a lecture on this subject, 
 says " that a column of ice forty-five miles in diameter 
 and reaching out into space to the lunar orb, so as to 
 make a bridge to the moon, would, by the full force of 
 solar heat, be melted and dissipated into vapor in less 
 than a second of time." He also states "that all the 
 coal beds of Pennsylvania would last considerably less 
 than one-thousandth part of a second to keep up the 
 present rate of emission of solar heat." 
 
 These estimates run figures and fractions into in- 
 finitesimals, and leave them meaningless. 
 
 Prof. Langly adopts the theory, now advocated by 
 a number of distinguished astronomers, that the sun's 
 heat is " a mode of motion, itself renewed to a finite 
 but almost inconceivable extent by the shrinking of 
 its mass." 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 57 
 
 " This," says the reporter of Mr. Langly's lecture, 
 " may be accepted as the most reasonable theory re- 
 garding the heat of the sun." It is well added, how- 
 ever, by the same writer, that it is " yet possible that 
 continued observation may bring to light facts that 
 will call for a more satisfactory theory." Here we 
 again have the same intimation of dissatisfaction 
 and uncertainty so often expressed by writers on this 
 subject. Other theories have been advocated by dis- 
 tinguished names; among them is that one advanced 
 by Sir Wm. Thompson, who is indorsed by Guillimin 
 as a philosopher of great eminence. His views 
 should therefore be entitled to respectful considera- 
 tion. This eminent philosopher maintained, for some 
 time at least, that the solar temperature was con- 
 stantly sustained by meteoric and other bodies sur- 
 rounding the sun producing heat by the immense force 
 of concussion, on a much larger scale than Dr. Young's 
 "spark from smitten steel or nitrous grain the blaze." 
 To such an extent has this sublime folly been carried 
 that estimates have been made of the amount of heat 
 that would be developed at the sun's surface by the 
 fall thereon of eight of our principal planets. Ac- 
 cording to Sir Wm. Thompson's theory, the sun's 
 heat would be kept up by the fall of Mercury, 6 
 years and 214 days; Venus, 83 years and 227 
 days ; Earth, 94 years and 303 days ; Mars, 12 
 years and 252 days ; Jupiter, 32,240 years ; Saturn, 
 9,650 years ; Uranus, 1,610 years ; Neptune, 1,890 
 years. 
 
58 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 This theory is very evidently untenable, and no 
 argument need be produced to show its fallacy. 
 
 The sudden contact of such heavy bodies falling 
 upon the sun without disturbing it in its orbit, and 
 at the same time to produce such a flood of light and 
 heat as comes to us with such uniforn flow and such 
 penetrating power, without variation for thousands of 
 years in succession, is contrary to all our conceptions of 
 cause and effect in the production of these phenomena. 
 
 Yet, wild as are these dreamings of philosophers, 
 strange as are the contradictions and inconsistencies 
 in which they are involved, they appear as plausible 
 as the almost universally received theory of direct 
 heat radiation from the solar orb, as a burning mass 
 consuming crude substances. Now let us look, in the 
 light of chemistry, at the conditions of an active com- 
 bustion. Oxygen is necessary to sustain it; and where, 
 according to nature's laws, is this supply to come from 
 to maintain such an enormous fire ? 
 
 Carbonic acid gas will be thrown off; and how is 
 this to be disposed of? We know that in the animal 
 and vegetable kingdoms there are certain laws of com- 
 pensation, or of demand and supply. The ox feeds 
 on the vegetation that manufactures oxygen gas. This 
 gas sustains the life of the animal, which respires the 
 carbonic acid gas that in turn feeds the growing vege- 
 tation. It will, however, not be contended that Proc- 
 tor's "fresh fields and pastures new" will need this 
 supply of carbonic acid gas to make these fields grow 
 and flourish. 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 59 
 
 Again, in all ordinary combustion there will remain 
 certain products, such as cinders, ashes, etc.; and how ar« 
 these to be disposed of, resulting from a burning globe 
 of nearly a million of miles in diameter, receiving a 
 constant supply of fresh materials from surrounding 
 space for thousands on thousands of years in succession? 
 
 Again, if the solar orb is dependent for a constant 
 supply of fresh materials, and is moving through 
 space as a devouring monster, carrying with him his 
 planets and their satellites, seeking for fresh supplies, 
 and, according to Professor Langly, could gulp down 
 into his rapacious maw all the coal fields of Pennsyl- 
 vania in "considerable less than the one-thousandth 
 part of a second," would there not be grounds to fear 
 that the crop of meteoric supply might fail, and leave 
 our earth by times without its ordinary supply of light 
 and heat, from a want of a sufficient amount of fuel to 
 feed this fire on the surface of the sun ? 
 
 The amount of waste material on such an immense 
 globe of fire would, in the course of time, result in an 
 increase of volume as well as have a tendency to ex- 
 tinguish these wondrous flames, neither of which have 
 been detected from our earliest historic periods of 
 observation. 
 
 The discovery of Prof. Lockyer, by spectroscopic 
 observation, of an immense stratum of hydrogen gas 
 in an incandescent state, extending five thousand miles 
 above the photosphere, would indicate a far less objec- 
 tionable theory than either the meteoric or contraction 
 and "mode of motion" theory. 
 
60 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 The commotions and sweeping storms that have been 
 observed on the sun's surface are undoubtedly gov- 
 erned by certain established laws, in which the latent 
 powers of the different elementary principles are 
 aroused to this high degree of activity, by which both 
 light and heat may be produced. 
 
 If the body of the sun is dark, and only surrounded 
 by a luminous photosphere, and is endowed with a 
 magnetism of vastly different degrees of intensity, we 
 safely conclude that these magnetic currents will 
 awaken storms that may rush from the equator to the 
 poles, and, rebounding upon themselves and returning 
 upon their own course, may alternately expose and 
 again conceal from view the dark body of the sun, and 
 on this hypothesis the sun spots of thousands of miles 
 in extent may be accounted for. 
 
 We have certain established laws that govern ter- 
 restrial storms and tempests, and the operation of these 
 laws does not produce a diminution of material forces. 
 Our storms are as strong now T as they were thousands 
 of years ago, and the same laws that have governed 
 them in the past will cause them to sweep over earth 
 and ocean for thousands of years to come. 
 
 The storms that agitate the solar disc, and plunge 
 anon into its deep abyss, and then again emerge to the 
 surface thousands of miles away, must be endowed 
 w T ith a magnetic force of a nature of which we can 
 have but a very limited conception. 
 
 Every writer of any notoriety on this subject, of late 
 years, has given us different pictures of spots on the 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 61 
 
 sun, produced from actual observation, and these 
 pictures are as different as those produced by storm 
 clouds. No two observers have seen them alike. We 
 might as well expect to obtain a similarity in pictures 
 of clouds agitated by whirlwinds, taken on different 
 days and in different seasons of the year, as to find a 
 similarity in sun-spots seen at different times. 
 
 We have this further evidence of a constant com- 
 motion on the surface of the sun from the different 
 descriptions of different observers. Hence, we have 
 the "willow-leaf and rice-grain" appearance; some 
 again, compare it to granules ; one lady observer, 
 from want of a proper name, represented the solar 
 surface with " untidy circular masses," "things twice 
 as long as broad;" while some observers have noticed 
 spiral whirls, and sometimes "down rushes," and then, 
 again, "up rushes," and lateral currents of a gaseous 
 substance. 
 
 Almost every imaginable form has been seen by dif- 
 ferent astronomers at different times, indicating an up- 
 roar compared with which all terrestrial tempests and 
 tornadoes must be regarded as but gentle breezes of a 
 summer's evening. There are no crude materials — 
 such as terrestrial flames feed upon — consumed on its 
 fair surface. This great central magnet has resources 
 within itself, supplied by omnipotent power and di- 
 rected by infinite wisdom, to furnish all the planets of 
 our solar system with light and heat for all coming time. 
 
 We may dismiss from our minds all fears that 
 this great torch of the world may finally become 
 
62 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 extinguished from a want of fuel that blind chance 
 may throw in its way, and leave our u icy earth swing 
 blind and blackening in the moonless air." Magnet- 
 ism and electricity, the twin sisters of gravitation, un- 
 doubtedly play an important part in the production of 
 solar light and heat, although their mysterious opera- 
 tions upon the solar orb is, as yet, but imperfectly 
 understood. 
 
 Of one thing we may be certain, that as the power 
 of gravitation by which the planets are held in their 
 orbits is not diminished by time, neither will the elec- 
 tric forces that direct and control the storms on the 
 sun decay with age. No thoughtful mind can survey 
 these displays of power, and the adaptation of their 
 results to the necessities and for the comfort of intel- 
 ligent beings, without being overwhelmed with amaze- 
 ment at the splendor and glory of this bright lumi- 
 nary and its influence upon the worlds around it. 
 And although we do not understand all the laws that 
 govern the phenomena of light and heat, there is no 
 good reason why philosophers should tax our creduli- 
 ty with statements that are contrary to all well-known 
 laws of physical science. 
 
 The supply of heat from the central sun appears 
 to be the difficulty with astronomers. They view the 
 sun as one great blast-furnace, fed by cosmical matter 
 and throwing out its heat by radiation, warming 
 space in every direction, while only a small part 
 reaches the planets, and the rest is a waste of the 
 energies produced by this enormous conflagration. 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 63 
 
 In a recent publication on astronomy, by Professor 
 Newcomb, we are told that by "the constant trans- 
 formation of motion into heat and the constant loss of 
 heat by radiation into space, a constant dissipation of 
 energy is going on in nature;" and it is strongly inti- 
 mated that this wasting process will go on until the 
 machinery of our solar system is run down and the 
 worlds depending for life on the central suns will die 
 out from want of a supply of heat. 
 
 The comparison of systems of worlds with machin- 
 ery that may wear out, or a clock-work that may run 
 down and come to a stand-still, has concealed in it a 
 hypothesis that ignores all creative energy and strikes 
 a death blow at the whole fabric of the universe. It 
 would be strange if a man that made a clock and set 
 it agoing could not wind it up, or the man that con- 
 structed a machinery or mechanical contrivance could 
 not keep it in motion. Through the death of a con- 
 triver some secret of the contrivance might be lost, 
 and a stopping of the machinery might be the result. 
 But we have an omnipotent hand at the head of af- 
 fairs, and this talk about wasting energies in nature 
 amounts to nothing more than a hypothesis that, by 
 some fortuitous movement of nebulous matter or fire- 
 mist, worlds were rolled into being, and that the chance 
 that brought them up will allow them to run down 
 again, without a power to perpetuate their existence 
 by a constant supply of energies. 
 
 From the views entertained of a solar fire fed by 
 cosmical matter, or the shrinking of the sun in a 
 
64 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 gradual process of diminishing force, there is only 
 one conclusion, and this is irresistible: the power will 
 be exhausted, the supply of fuel will fail, or the solar 
 orb will be diminished to a point where it will cease to 
 throw off heat sufficient to sustain life on the earth, 
 and our world would naturally die out. Behind all 
 these speculations about nature's powers becoming 
 exhausted, and our earth, and with it our whole solar 
 system, slowly yet surely running to a final decay and 
 death, there is concealed a materialistic philosophy 
 which ignores an infinite power, and which seeks to 
 account for the origin, progress and final change of a 
 phenomenal universe by blind chance. The same law 
 by which our solar system would finally fall back into 
 primitive chaos would apply to all sun systems, and 
 there would be no stability in the universe. To show 
 the tendency of this materialistic philosophy, I will 
 quote at length from Professor Simon Newcomb's 
 recent work on astronomy. His views may be re- 
 garded as the latest expression of science on this sub- 
 ject. Under the head of " Progressive changes in our 
 system"* he says: "Suppose an inquiring person 
 walking in what he supposed to be a deserted building 
 to find a clock running. If he is ignorant of mechan- 
 ics, he will see no reason why it may not have been 
 running, just as he now sees it, for an indefinite 
 period, and why the pendulum may not continue to 
 vibrate and the hands to go through their revolutions 
 so long as the fabric shall stand. He sees a continu- 
 
 * Popular Astronomy, p. 409. 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 65 
 
 ous cycle of motion, and can give no reason why they 
 should not have been going on since the clock was 
 created, and continue to go on till it shall decay. But 
 let him be instructed in the laws of mechanics, and 
 let him inquire into the force which keeps the hands 
 and pendulum in motion. He will find that this force 
 is transmitted to the pendulum through a train of 
 wheels, each of which moves many times slower than 
 that in front of it, and that the first wheel is acted 
 upon by weights with which it is connected by a cord. 
 He can see a slow motion in the wheel which acts 
 upon the pendulum, and perhaps in the one next behind 
 it, while during the short time he has for examination 
 he can see no motion in the others. But if he sees 
 how the wheels act on each other, he will know that 
 they must all be in motion; and when he traces the 
 motion back to the first wheel, he sees that its motion 
 must be kept up by a gradual falling of the weight, 
 though it seems to remain in the same position. He 
 can then say with certainty, "I do not see this weight 
 move, but it must be gradually approaching the bot- 
 tom, because I see a system of moving machinery, the 
 progress of which necessarily involves such a slow 
 falling of the weight. Knowing the number of teeth 
 in each wheel and pinion, I can compute how many 
 inches it falls each day ; and seeing how much room 
 it has to fall in, I can tell how many days it will take 
 to reach the bottom. When this is done, I see the 
 clock must stop, because it is only the falling of the 
 weight that keeps its pendulum in motion. Moreover, 
 
66 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 I see that the weight must have been higher yester- 
 day than it is to-day, and yet higher the day before, 
 so that I can calculate its position backward as well 
 as forward. By this calculation I see backward to a 
 time when the weight was at the top of its course, 
 higher than which it could not be. Thus, although I 
 see no motion, I see with the eye of reason that the 
 weight is running through a certain course from the 
 top of the clock to the bottom ; that some power must 
 have wound it up and started it; and that unless the 
 same power intervenes again the weight must reach 
 the bottom in a certain number of days, and the clock 
 must then stop." That our solar system is kept in 
 motion by arrangements and laws that rival the finest 
 mechanical contrivance ever witnessed by men is very 
 evident from Kepler's three astronomical laws, but 
 that these laws are subject to the same process of 
 running down like a clock may well be doubted. 
 Any of the mechanical powers known to science may 
 be put into operation, by which a force is produced in 
 intensity and duration in accordance with the power 
 applied; but the power can only manifest itself in 
 force as long as there is a propelling or driving con- 
 trivance behind it. Finite powers can only produce 
 limited effects. Infinite power knows no exhaustion, 
 and hence to talk of "the waste of natures forces" 
 is to limit the resources of infinite creative energy. 
 
 But let us look further at this theory of " dissipa- 
 tion of energy." Professor Newcomb says, p. 500 : 
 
 " The corresponding progressive change exhibited 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAPv LIGHT. 67 
 
 by the operations of nature consists in a constant 
 transformation of motion into heat, and the constant 
 loss of heat by radiation into space. As Sir William 
 Thompson has expressed it ? a constant ' dissipation of 
 energy ' is going on in nature. We all know that the 
 sun has been radiating heat into space during the 
 whole course of his existence. A small portion of 
 this heat strikes the earth, and supports life and mo- 
 tion on its surface." I have already, in part, given 
 my views on the subject of heat radiation from the 
 sun, and will here offer additional remarks. The 
 mistake with those who maintain that heat radiates 
 directly from the sun, as heat, consists in giving to 
 heat an entity, consisting of something imperishable, 
 something that can actually exist when the cause by 
 which it is produced is withdrawn, or like an insect 
 that lies torpid through the cold and dreary winter 
 and awakes to life in the spring. Heat is not pos- 
 sessed of any of the properties of matter, nor spirit. 
 It does not "slumber in a dreamless bed" in cold 
 space to come to life again. It is not found outside 
 or separate from the coordinate forces by which it is 
 produced. It is the effect of force, and when the force 
 ceases to exist in any given direction it dies ; and 
 when force again manifests itself a new supply of heat 
 is evolved, not the identical heat that existed under a 
 previous force, and died a quiet, natural death, because 
 that on which its existence depended was taken away 
 and it breathed its last. As long as it does exist it 
 will produce certain effects that unmistakably indicate 
 
68 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 its presence. Now, let us imagine two of these philoso- 
 phers, who contend for the radiation of heat from the 
 sun through cold space, to make the following experi- 
 ment : Let them get into a large, well inflated balloon, 
 on a warm summer day. Their friends, standing by as 
 spectators, might suggest to the gentlemen the pro- 
 priety of taking along some extra clothing ; they might 
 find the air chilly up toward the clouds. No, says one 
 to the other, we are philosophers. We know that the 
 sun is a burning mass. Does not Mr. Proctor tell us it 
 is going through "fresh fields and pastures new" con- 
 suming all the meteors that come in its reach ; and are 
 we not going right up toward the sun ? Does not our 
 philosophy tell us that heat diminishes as the square 
 of the distance increases from the sun ? We'll have it 
 quite warm up there. But, just before the rope is cut 
 loose to let the balloon fly, along comes an old farmer 
 and cries out, " See here, gentlemen, you had better 
 take your overcoats along. You'll catch cold ; it's 
 always cold on high mountains." "Who is that? " in- 
 quires one of the philosophers. " It's an old farmer," 
 shouts one, from the crowd. " What does he know ? " 
 responds the philosopher. " We know that the sun is 
 hot. Our reasoning is philosophical ; the old farmer's 
 is empirical. We cannot stop to argue this with em- 
 pirics. Cut the rope, and we will be off." They 
 start amid the cheers of the crowd, and the old farm- 
 er gravely says : " Those fellows will want their over- 
 coats before long." " Up they go !" "A grand bal- 
 loon !" " How beautifully she rides !" say some 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 69 
 
 among the gazing crowd. But how is it with the 
 philosophers by the time they are two miles up ? 
 
 We will suppose, for the sake of illustration, that 
 the two philosophers are Tyndall and Proctor, as these 
 are two of the most distinguished scientists of our day, 
 and I mention their names with veneration and respect. 
 We may imagine Tyndall to say to Proctor : 
 
 " It is getting quite cool. I wish I had brought 
 my overcoat." 
 
 "Yes," replies Mr. P. "I delivered a lecture in 
 New York on the sun's heat, and when I talked about 
 the sun as a rapacious monster, consuming the mete- 
 ors just as the whale gulps down the little fish that 
 come in his way, the audience cheered me lustily ; 
 but, really, it does not appear that there is much heat 
 here now.'' 
 
 Mr. T. replies : " I was once on Mt. Blanc, and 
 stood waist-deep in the snow, and the sun was very hot. ' ' 
 
 "But," interrupts Mr. P., "did you ever hear of 
 any one else nearly suffocating with heat on the top of 
 snow-clad mountains ? " 
 
 "No," was the reply; "but, then, you know, we 
 believe and teach that the sun warms the earth by 
 direct heat radiation, and that is our philosophy. 
 But, really, this is getting awful cold up here." 
 
 "Well," says Mr. P., "did you not publish in one 
 of your scientific works that the atmosphere of the 
 planets outside of the earth's orbit might be provided 
 with barbs to catch the heat as it came down from the 
 sun, and hold it and prevent its returning into space ?" 
 
70 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 " I did publish such an idea," replied Mr. T., "and 
 you took my idea and applied it to Mercury and 
 Venus, only you turned the barbs in the other direc- 
 tion, so as to keep the heat out. My arrangement 
 was a trap to catch the heat and hold it, and yours 
 was to keep it out. But, really," says Mr. T., gravely, 
 " if there is such a thing as catching heat and hold- 
 ing it, I wish I had brought with me a bag full — an 
 air-tight india-rubber bag full, I mean." 
 
 "But," replied Mr. P., "this is really getting to 
 be a serious affair. Have you any brandy with you — 
 any Cayenne pepper — anything under the sun to 
 warm us? My nose and ears are frost-bitten." 
 
 "So are mine," replies Mr. T. "The sun shines 
 beautifully ; we must be above the region of the 
 clouds. By the way, have you seen Professor New- 
 comb's new work on popular astronomy ? He says 
 4 the stars radiate heat as well as the sun.' " 
 
 " I begin to see stars," says Mr. T. 
 
 " So do I." replies Mr. P. " 0, for a trap to catch 
 some of this radiated heat !" 
 
 "Well, this philosophy about catching heat," says 
 Mr. T., " looks well enough in theory, but I doubt 
 whether it is practical." 
 
 " But, is it not provoking, with all this sunshine, 
 that we cannot get a little heat out of these descending 
 beams?" Mr. P. replies. "Something must be done 
 soon, or we perish. I recollect of hearing a man in 
 Chicago say that heat did not radiate from the sun ; 
 but by the passage of rays of sunlight through the 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 71 
 
 atmosphere, acting upon it as a lens and crowding the 
 rays into a smaller compass, heat was evolved." 
 
 " Why have we not thought of this before ?" replied 
 Mr. T. "I have with me my large lens. ' Let us try 
 it." So, holding it to the sun, soon there was a glow 
 of warmth ; an intense heat follows. 
 
 " Here, hold it over my ear," says Mr. P. 
 
 "Wait till I get my nose thawed out," replies 
 Mr. T.; "and we had better open the valve and try 
 to get down." 
 
 On the way down, says Mr. P.: "After all, is it 
 possible for heat to come ninety millions of miles 
 through cold space and warm the earth ?" 
 
 "Well," answers Mr. T., "that is the theory, but 
 theory is one thing and facts another thing ; and I do 
 not see how heat can come through such cold regions 
 and warm the earth. I will reconsider my barbed 
 atmosphere theory." 
 
 "Well," replies Mr. P., "I will reconsider mine. 
 The whole difficulty is solved by allowing that the 
 earth's atmosphere acts upon the rays of light, and 
 this produces heat ; and, on this theory, every planet 
 in our solar system may have a sufficient supply of 
 heat to sustain life. Is it not singular that this truth 
 in solar physics has not been discovered before?" 
 
 We may imagine that the two distinguished gentle- 
 men, on returning home, would revise their theories 
 of heat radiation direct from the sun. One thing is 
 certain, if those who contend so strongly that heat is 
 radiated from the sun to the earth through cold space 
 
72 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 could make such a trip as I have imagined, they would 
 come down wiser than they were when they went up. 
 
 I proceed to notice Professor Newcomb's theory on 
 this subject. He says : 
 
 " The stars radiate heat as well as the sun. The 
 heat received from them, when condensed in the focus 
 of a telescope, has been rendered sensible by the ther- 
 mo-multiplier, and there is every reason to believe that 
 stellar heat and light bear the same proportion to each 
 other that solar heat and light do. Wherever there is 
 white stellar light, there must be stellar heat ; and as 
 we have found that the stars in general give more light 
 than the sun, we have reason to believe that they give 
 more heat also. Thus, we have a continuous radiation 
 from all the visible bodies of the universe, which must 
 have been going on from the beginning." 
 
 Now, if Professor Newcomb had said stellar light 
 contains properties out of which heat may be evolved, 
 " when condensed in the focus of a telescope," he 
 would have been philosophically correct. But when 
 he says heat is radiated to our planet from a distant 
 star, he represents a thing as existing that has no ex- 
 istence. When he speaks of a " continuous heat radi- 
 ation from all visible bodies of the universe," he only 
 represents the material diffused through the universe 
 that will produce heat when properly acted upon by 
 arrangements made by infinite wisdom. This heat 
 producing fuel, shot out into space from all luminous 
 bodies in which it has been stored up by infinite crea- 
 tive power, assures us that all worlds may be warmed 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 73 
 
 in the same manner that our world is. These rays of 
 light, in their passage through space, are as cold as 
 the coal* fields under the mountains ; and as our fuel 
 only warms our dwellings when placed in certain con- 
 ditions, so these rays of light only warm our earth 
 when kindled into a radiant glow through the refractor 
 ordained by Infinite Wisdom. 
 
 But the most startling announcement yet made is 
 the following, by Professor Newcomb, on page 501. 
 He says : 
 
 " Until quite recently, it was not known that this 
 radiation involved the expenditure of something neces- 
 sarily limited in supply, and, consequently, it was not 
 known but that it might continue forever, without any 
 loss of power on the part of the sun and stars/ 
 
 " But it is now known that heat cannot be produced 
 except by the expenditure of force, actual or poten- 
 tial, in some of its forms. And it is also known that 
 the available supply of force is necessarily limited." 
 
 With such announcement from such high scientific 
 authority we might well exclaim : 
 
 " 0, star-eyed Science ! hast thou wandered there 
 To waft to us the message of despair ?" 
 
 Professor Newcomb continues, on this subject, by 
 saying : 
 
 " One of the best-established doctrines of modern 
 science is, that force can no more be produced from 
 nothing than matter can. To find it so produced 
 Tvould be as great a miracle as to see a globe created 
 
74 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 before our eyes. Hence, this radiation cannot go on 
 forever, unless the force expended in producing the 
 heat be returned to the sun in some form. That it is 
 not now so returned we may regard as morally cer- 
 tain." 
 
 The fallacy of the argument consists in giving an 
 independent existence to heat and force, as well as to 
 matter. The latter contains parts and particles which 
 no change of form can destroy, while the former are 
 only effects produced by material action and contain 
 none of the properties of matter. To illustrate : If 
 I give a hungry man his dinner, he receives a supply 
 of a material substance that goes to nourish his body. 
 If I warm him by my fire, he receives only an im- 
 pression from a force produced by the combustion go- 
 ing on in the stove or grate. When he leaves the 
 warm room, the material substance taken into his 
 stomach remains, to undergo the necessary changes to 
 nourish his body. The heat has no farther effect on 
 him; it has no identical existence; it is not a thing, 
 but the effect of things combined. 
 
 But Professor Newcomb inquires : " Since, then, 
 the solar heat does not return to the sun 3 what be- 
 comes of it, and whether a compensation may not at 
 some time be effected whereby all the lost heat will 
 be received back again?" 
 
 Why not inquire, with equal propriety, what be- 
 comes of all the lost wind ? Is the gentle breeze that 
 fans us in the summer's evening, or the sweeping 
 tornado, lost forever? Yes, just as the heat is lost. 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOLAR LIGHT. 75 
 
 When the cause that produced them is withdrawn 
 they simply cease their manifestation. 
 
 Heat is not stored away in central suns, to be dis- 
 tributed through space until the supply is exhausted ; 
 but the materials from which it may be evolved are 
 found everywhere, and these materials cannot be an- 
 nihilated nor destroyed through all the transforma- 
 tions to which they may be subjected, and, conse- 
 quently, we have an unending supply from an infinite 
 source. 
 
76 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT THE SOURCE OF ALL VITAL- 
 IZING ENERGIES UNDER THE CONTROL 
 OF NATURE'S LAWS. 
 
 Nature's operations are marvelous, and the con- 
 stant recurrence of her wonderful phenomena should 
 make them none the less interesting to the attentive 
 observer of her laws. 
 
 They give evidence of an infinitely wise designer, 
 and an execution of these designs with a wonderful 
 exactness and regularity. By the operation of na- 
 ture's laws, chaotic masses in their wildest confusion 
 are transformed into order, and harmony, and beauty. 
 It is not only in the harmonious movement of worlds 
 around their centers of gravity, nor in those more po- 
 tent agents of nature, such as wind, fire and water, but 
 also in the more silent chambers of nature's wondrous 
 movements, that we see the works of an almighty 
 hand. Here we find innumerable chemical combina- 
 tions and transmutations running their ceaseless rounds 
 
SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT. 77 
 
 in working out the plans of Infinite Wisdom. So far 
 as these operations concern our earth and the other 
 planets of our solar system, the sun is the central 
 power that keeps the rolling orbs in motion and pro- 
 duces the changes that aVe constantly occurring on 
 each respective planet. It is to this family of worlds 
 what the great central engine was to the complicated 
 machinery of our Centennial Exhibition. With its 
 magnetic belts it reaches from this center of gravity 
 to the different and most distant planets, and holds 
 them by the mighty grasp of its attraction, while even 
 the erratic comet, plunging for many billions of miles 
 into the depths of space, is subject to its sway. 
 
 From this central source of power there issue not 
 only magnetic belts to hold and to drive, but also elec- 
 tric currents and vitalizing forces that extend to 
 every part where life is possible ; and when nature's 
 products are exhibited to the admiring gaze of intelli- 
 gent beings, in any part of God's universe, it will be 
 found that where the conditions have been favorable 
 all forms of animal and vegetable life measure up to 
 the standard of original types. 
 
 Flowers, fruits and seeds are spun and woven by 
 sunbeams, and then they are colored, pressed and fin- 
 ished up in perfect style in nature's extensive manu- 
 facturing establishment. 
 
 As in mechanical operations many hands are often 
 employed to produce the different parts of a complete 
 whole, so nature works through different channels to 
 supply the million forms of life that may exist in the 
 
78 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 different parts of her vast dominion. Every channel 
 through which nutritious particles flow derives its 
 supply from sunbeams. The propelling force that 
 moves the precious freight to build up living struct- 
 ures is also derived from this central engine of 
 power. Then, again, there are sentinels to guard these 
 millions of highways — regular custom-house officers 
 in their way, allowing nothing contraband to enter 
 these channels, nothing poisonous to go up along the 
 line where freight is carried to build up the apple, the 
 peach, the orange and other delicious and wholesome 
 fruits. The materials that make the wheat and the 
 corn, and other valuable grains, have their peculiar 
 channels guarded with an unerring skill, so that 
 no noxious and poisonous particles shall enter into that 
 which was designed for the support of human life. If 
 nature worked at random and outside of well defined 
 laws and plans, our grain might lose its nourishing 
 qualities, our fruits their flavor, the rose its sweet- 
 ness, the lily its whiteness, and the birds of the forest 
 their beautiful plumage and melodious songs. There 
 would be a strange mixing of species, so that original 
 types would soon be lost in the wild confusion. It is, 
 then, from nature's inexplicable operation, wrought 
 out in her multitudinous laboratories, through the 
 agency of solar light and heat, that we have what is 
 delicious to the taste, pleasant to the sight and harmo- 
 nious to the ear. But let us approach as near as her 
 inexorable laws will allow, and watch with a scrutin- 
 izing eye the admirable contrivance of the channels 
 
SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT. 79 
 
 through -which materials flow for building up new 
 structures and furnishing them with their needed 
 supply. 
 
 We may understand this better by personifying 
 these agencies of nature as workers in the different 
 departments assigned to them. The dry grains of 
 wheat put into the ground might slumber there for 
 ages if it were not for nature's forces producing power 
 to awaken their latent energies, so as to bring out of 
 a comparatively small number of grains a multiplied 
 supply for the support of life. The first step in the 
 process of growth is the descending shower. But the 
 shower is begotten of the sunbeams. The rays of 
 light shot out from the central orb fall upon oceans, 
 lakes and rivers, and from these broad sheets of water 
 they gently and silently lift up a supply, out of which 
 rain clouds are formed. By nature's inimitable chem- 
 istry the lime and various salts that combine with the 
 water are separated and left out, and nothing but the 
 pure, soft, nutritious rain water is allowed to float in the 
 cloud chariots that carry it to. the waiting grain. 
 Then, after sunbeams have gathered up the water, 
 separated innutritious properties from it, and then 
 heated the air in distant localities, by which vacuums 
 are produced and wind currents started up to drive 
 the cloud with its precious freight of rain, which is 
 gently distilled upon the ground, the first condition 
 for growth is accomplished. 
 
 The next thing required is light and warmth from 
 the sun. These same sunbeams that first lifted the- 
 
80 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 moisture from the "water, and produced the condition 
 for the transportation of clouds over forest and field, 
 now come with their different properties to give vital- 
 ity to the apparently lifeless and dry grain of wheat, 
 we will say, for the sake of illustration. 
 
 Now comes another set of nature's active working 
 forces to arrange the materials for growth in their 
 proper order. The roots must have their direction 
 downward ; the stalk must spring upward. A mis- 
 take here would derange the whole process. 
 
 The next order of nature is that the young and 
 growing stalk shall be green ; and sunshine has in it 
 a beautiful green color ; but how can it be extracted ? 
 The process is interesting and beautiful, and operates 
 with a mathematical certainty. The materials in the 
 growing stalk are so arranged that all the colors of 
 sunlight are absorbed, except the green, and that is 
 reflected and shows itself on the surface. 
 
 The little rootlets soon reach out their tiny fingers 
 to gather up material from the soil for the growth of 
 the stock. These materials flow in these regular 
 channels until other supplies are called for. The 
 material that makes the stalk grow will not form the 
 ear nor produce the shell that is to hold the coming 
 grain ; neither will it produce the beautiful little blos- 
 som that foretells its coming. 
 
 This new material is furnished from the soil, and 
 the blossom shoots out, under which a white, milky 
 substance is formed. This would soon be wasted 
 by evaporation or fall to pieces, and hence a new 
 
SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT. 81 
 
 substance must come up through the main channel to 
 form the shell for the precious accumulation that 
 makes the staff of life. The shell is formed around 
 the grain for its protection, and when this is taken off 
 by the grinding process it makes a nourishing food 
 for lower animals, while the fine flour supplies the 
 wants of a hungry world. 
 
 No less harmonious are the operations of nature in 
 forming the flowers with their fragrance and beautiful 
 colors, and the fruits with their delicious flavors, in 
 almost endless varieties. 
 
 Not only is man provided for in nature's vast store- 
 house, but also the million forms of life found on the 
 earth, in the air and in the ocean are cared for and 
 have their supplies adapted to their wants. The He- 
 brew poet sings : " 0, Lord, how manifold are thy 
 works ; in wisdom hast thou made them all ; the earth 
 is full of thy riches." " So is this great and wide 
 sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both 
 small and great beasts." " These wait all upon thee, 
 that thou mayst give them their meat in due season : 
 thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good." 
 
 To exclude from the conscious soul the idea of an 
 infinite intelligence over all these complicated move- 
 ments in the material universe is an act of violence to 
 the inward consciousness among all nations, whether 
 savage or civilized. There rests a deep conviction 
 upon every human soul that there exists in the universe 
 a supreme and overruling power, directing and con- 
 trolling material powers. This conviction brings 
 
82 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 with it a sense of dependence upon this higher power 
 and an assurance that, in some way by laws estab- 
 lished in infinite wisdom, our wants will be supplied. 
 Upon this follows not only a willingness, but a univer- 
 sally expressed desire, to approach this divine being, 
 and to make offerings and pay homage to Him who 
 causeth His sun to shine upon the just and upon the 
 unjust. 
 
 The Psalmist saw the sun as a " bridegroom com- 
 ing out of his chamber and rejoicing as a strong man 
 to run a race." 
 
 Another poet, who did not claim divine inspiration, 
 said: 
 
 " Till as a giant strong, a bridegroom gay, 
 The sun springs dancing through the gates of day, 
 He shakes his dewy locks and hurls his beams 
 O'er the proud hills and down the glowing streams, 
 His fiery coursers bound above the main, 
 And whirl the car along the ethereal plain ; 
 The fiery courser and the car display 
 A stream of glory and a flood of day." 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF SOLAR HEAT. 83 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF SOLAR HEAT TO THE PLANETS. 
 
 Mr. R. A. Proctor, in his "Myths and Marvels of 
 Astronomy," says : " Continually we hear of some 
 new paradoxist who propounds as a novel doctrine the 
 teaching that the atmosphere, and not the sun, is the 
 cause of solar heat." When Mr. Proctor was in 
 Chicago, lecturing on astronomy, I propounded sev- 
 eral questions to him in reference to the cause of solar 
 heat as we have it on the earth, varying as it does in 
 different degrees of intensity in the different seasons 
 of the year, and being at its highest intensity when 
 the sun is farthest from us, or, more properly, 
 when the earth is at its farthest point of its orbit from 
 the sun. One of my questions was : How can heat 
 come from the sun by direct radiation to the different 
 planets for many millions of miles, through space 
 colder than anything known to us on the earth ? This 
 question he was not disposed to answer. He could 
 not do it on the theory of heat radiation from the sun. 
 
84 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 Theories may be plausible on paper, but facts are 
 stubborn things. Now, the theory most commonly 
 entertained and advocated is that the sun is an incan- 
 descent body, with its heat kept up by combustion of 
 some meteoric or cosmic matter falling upon its sur- 
 face, or, as some later writers contend, that the heat 
 is produced by a contraction of the substance of the 
 sun upon itself, producing heat by a "mode of mo- 
 tion." Against these theories, and all others that 
 heat, as such, that is, sensible or perceptible heat, is 
 radiated from the sun to the different planets and di- 
 minishes in intensity as the square of the distance in- 
 creases from the sun, I reply : This is simply a 
 physical impossibility. You might as well attempt to 
 warm your neighbor's house, five or ten miles away 
 from you, by building an intensely hot fire in your 
 own house, while a fierce wind was prevailing be- 
 tween the two houses and the thermometer ranging 
 30° to 40° below zero. This is not an exaggerated 
 nor unfair statement of the case, and the following 
 facts cannot be successfully controverted nor denied, 
 nor can they be disproven by any appeal to known 
 laws of physical science : 
 
 1. The space between the sun and the earth is cold 
 beyond anything we can conceive on this earth. 
 
 2. Heat from an incandescent body does not radiate 
 through space equivalent to light. A burning lamp that 
 will burn your hand at the distance of one inch will 
 not affect the most delicate thermometer at a distance 
 of ten feet, yet the light may be seen five miles off. 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF SOLAR HEAT. 85 
 
 3. Radiated heat cannot pass through cold space 
 and manifest itself merely by impinging on a solid 
 surface, not even in a vertical descent, as under the 
 equator, as is proven by the perpetual snow upon the 
 high mountains everywhere. 
 
 4. Heat is not an entity, with an independent exist- 
 ence separate and apart from its co-ordinate forces. 
 
 5. Solar rays shot out from the central sun become 
 intensely heated when acted upon mechanically, as is 
 demonstrated by the action of the lens. 
 
 6. The earth's atmosphere is a concavo-convex lens, 
 and as such it acts upon the rays of light passing 
 through it, and in this way heat becomes a mode or man- 
 ifestation of motion. Friction will produce heat, and 
 the action of the lens upon the rays of light, crowding 
 them into a smaller space, produces an excitement or 
 friction, out of which heat is evolved. It is unphilo- 
 sophical to speak of latent heat, or heat concealed in 
 everything. It has no substance, and only manifests 
 itself, under certain conditions, through chemical or 
 mechanical action, or other co-ordinate forces ; hence, 
 we might as well talk of latent force as latent heat. 
 There can be no such thing as unfelt force, neither 
 can there be heat where there is no perceptible mani- 
 festation of it. There can be no concealed light ex- 
 isting independently, yet it may be instantly produced 
 by chemical or mechanical action. There may be 
 innate power, or concealed power, always ready to 
 produce force. Morally speaking, as well as figura- 
 tively, we may say a man has force of character, or, 
 
86 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 in other words, he has a character that may manifest 
 itself in force. 
 
 Now, the earth's atmosphere has a power to divert 
 a ray of light from its course, and to crowd the 
 numerous rays that fall upon it into a smaller com- 
 pass, and this force produces heat. 
 
 But, say the advocates of direct heat radiation from 
 the sun, " the heat is in the rays of light, and only 
 manifests itself when it impinges on a solid surface." 
 To this we reply that the solid surface is found on the 
 highest mountains under the direct rays of the sun, 
 and yet these mountains are covered with perpetual 
 frost and snow. The absence of heat is caused by 
 the rarity of the atmosphere, and consequently its 
 limited refracting power. As the density of the at- 
 mosphere increases nearer the earth its refracting 
 power increases, and this increased force on the rays 
 of light produces an increase of heat. 
 
 What are the facts in this case proven by actual 
 experiments ? The rays of light from the sun pass- 
 ing directly through a lens made of solid ice will set 
 fire to any combustible material in the coldest winter 
 day as quickly as passing through warm glass lens 
 in a hot summer day, and while the fire is kindled 
 at the focus of the ice lens there is not the least indi- 
 cation of thawing or melting on the part of the lens. 
 The same is true in a lens of cold water, as the follow- 
 ing experiments will show : I have placed a concavo- 
 convex glass in both ends of a tin tube three inches 
 long and two inches in diameter, then filled the tube 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF SOLAR HEAT. 87 
 
 with ice-cold water, and then allowing the rays of 
 sunlight to pass directly through the water, and pla- 
 cing the bulb of a thermometer at a proper distance, 
 would raise the mercury from fifteen to eighteen de- 
 grees, without in the least affecting the temperature 
 of the water ; while at the same time changing the 
 position of the water lens, so that the rays of sunlight 
 would strike it obliquely, would cause the mercury 
 to sink ten to fifteen degrees. 
 
 Now, the atmosphere that surrounds our earth is in 
 the form of a concavo-convex lens. The aqueous 
 vapor in the upper regions of the atmosphere is in- 
 tensely cold, yet, acting on the rays of light like a 
 cold water lens, produces heat ; and here is the secret 
 of solar temperature on the earth, and the change in 
 temperature is caused by the varying angles at which 
 the solar rays strike the atmosphere. 
 
 I repeat, it cannot be denied that refraction of the 
 rays of light will produce heat. The heat at the focus 
 of a 32-inch lens exceeds almost every kind and in- 
 tensity of heat known to terrestrial chemistry. Again, 
 it cannot be denied that the earth's atmosphere is a 
 refracting medium, and that as such it is capable of 
 producing heat from rays of light. 
 
 Now, what are the interesting conclusions we may 
 draw from this theory of solar heat ? It will at once 
 open to us wider fields for the play of heat and cold 
 on the different planets of the solar system, and de- 
 liver us from the strange paradox of heat radiating 
 for many millions of miles through cold space, and 
 
88 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 manifesting itself by its own innate power in regions 
 beyond the cold through which it has come. 
 
 I know that these views come in conflict with old 
 and apparently well established theories in solar phys- 
 ics, but I am also aware that scientists are constantly 
 contradicting each other in this very subject of solar 
 heat Mr. Whewell thinks the earth occupies the only 
 zone in the solar system where a temperature to sup- 
 port animal life is possible. Tyndall thinks the outer 
 planets may be provided with a barbed atmosphere to 
 hold the heat after it passes through and prevent its 
 escape from the planet. Proctor thinks that the 
 nearer planets may have the barbs of their atmosphere 
 turned in the other direction to prevent an improper 
 amount of heat from coming down upon the surface 
 of the planet. I do not believe that barbs can guard 
 against heat, nor catch it and hold it. Fish and other 
 animals may be caught in this way, but heat cannot. 
 Prof. Mitchell says : 4 We are compelled to acknowl- 
 edge that up to the present time science has rendered 
 no satisfactory account of the origin of solar light and 
 heat Whence comes the exhaustless supply scattered 
 so lavishly into space we know not. Doubtless the 
 time will come when these phenomena will be ex- 
 plained. Persevering and well directed effort will, in 
 the end. criumph." 
 
 We may say, with regard to these conflicting views 
 on scientific subjects, what Jonathan Edwards said on 
 questions of theology, " He who believes principles 
 because our forefathers affirmed them makes idols of 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF SOLAR HEAT. 89 
 
 them, and it would be no humility, but baseness of 
 spirit, for us to judge ourselves incapable of examining 
 principles which have been handed down to us." Old 
 theories in astronomy, and on other subjects, hoary 
 with age and venerable from the distinguished names 
 that supported them, have been compelled to yield to 
 new discoveries; and so long as learned men cannot 
 positively agree on the mere hypothetical theories ad- 
 vanced by one and condemned by another, the field 
 may be considered, open for new suggestions. 
 
 I do not, however, " propound as a novel doctrine 
 that the atmosphere is the cause of solar heat," as Mr. 
 Proctor says ; but I do say that as soon as the bright 
 beams from old Sol kiss the round face of our fair 
 world there is caused a blush which sends a glow of 
 warmth to every living thing on the earth. It is the 
 action of the atmosphere that produces the heat from 
 the sunbeams, and not the atmosphere itself. 
 
90 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ANALOGIES IN NATURE. 
 
 With this view of the cause of solar beat, we have 
 a central sun to meet the wants of all the planets and 
 their satellites, with different degrees, varying from 
 heat to cold, according to the construction of their 
 atmosphere. If the sunbeams falling on a 32-inch 
 lens can collect the rays of light so as to produce a 
 sufficient heat to melt the hardest metals into invisible 
 gases in a few minutes, why may not Infinite Wisdom 
 have constructed atmospheres around each planet, so 
 as to concentrate the rays to a proper temperature for 
 the peculiar kind of animal or vegetable life that may 
 exist on them? 
 
 With an increase of aqueous vapor, pure and free 
 from gases that obstruct the rays of light, the farthest 
 planet from the sun may kindle a heat from the feeble 
 light that falls upon that distant world, so as to shed 
 a glow of warmth on its different zones, and make 
 the whole planet a temperate abode for life 
 
ANALOGIES IN NATURE. 91 
 
 The question is not so much, nor so important, about 
 the kind of life — whether in form and intellectual en- 
 dowments it exceeds our earth life or is inferior — but 
 is there life there under any condition, or is it a life- 
 less solitude? Do these mighty orbs move majestic- 
 ally around their orbits, accompanied by their moons, 
 rising, culminating and going down with a regularity 
 rivaling the best chronometers in the world, only to 
 be gazed at by a few astronomers, while perpetual 
 solitude reigns surpreme through all these dreary 
 wastes ? 
 
 The analogies in nature, as stated in other parts of 
 this work, point strongly to the great truth that we 
 are contending for. Some of the wisest men the 
 Christian church and the world have known have 
 expressed themselves in favor of a plurality of worlds 
 of life. Sir. David Brewster says : 
 
 "There is no subject within the whole range of 
 knowledge so universally interesting as that of a plu- 
 rality of worlds. It commands the sympathies and 
 appeals to the judgment of men of all nations, of all 
 creeds, and of all times ; and no sooner do we com- 
 prehend the few simple facts on which it rests than 
 the mind rushes instinctively to embrace it." 
 
 The vastness of the universe forbids the thought 
 that all should be a solitary waste except this little 
 world in which we live. 
 
 We may draw a comparison that will illustrate this 
 idea. We will suppose a number of insects of a few 
 days' existence found their home in one single apple 
 
92 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 on a large apple tree, and that there were hundreds of 
 other apples of different sizes and qualities on the same 
 tree, each of them containing different forms of insect 
 life. 
 
 And suppose in one of the smallest apples on the 
 tree these insects were endowed with intelligence suf- 
 ficient to look out from their apple home and to see 
 other apples on the same tree. And suppose, again, 
 they had among them some insects smarter than the 
 rest — little Newtons or Galileos and Herschels, in 
 their way — and suppose these wise ones would tell 
 the rest of their tribe that some of these apples were 
 much larger and more beautiful than their own home. 
 They might readily come to the conclusion that out- 
 side of their own small apple no life could exist, be- 
 cause everything there was adapted to their wants, 
 and all other apples must be regarded a? ornamental 
 appendages to their little home. But suppose, further, 
 that these little fellows had the most positive proof 
 that outside of the orchard to which their tree be- 
 longed there were numerous other orchards, forming 
 groups and clusters of trees to an unlimited extent. 
 Would not their little brains be puzzled to know why 
 this wonderful number of trees were laden with apples, 
 if they were not intended as homes for other living 
 creatures ? 
 
 Still, somo of the wisest among this insect tribe 
 might get up an argument against life on any other 
 apple world, from the fact that they occupied only a 
 small part of their territory. They might conclude 
 
ANALOGIES IN NATURE. 93 
 
 that if their apple was not all occupied there could 
 be no good reason why others should be; and as for 
 the other trees on other orchards beyond theirs, they 
 might be considered too far away in space to disturb 
 them in their own home. 
 
 Here is where Whewell's argument from designs in 
 nature against the habitability of the planets is de- 
 fective. 
 
 He concludes that because a great part of our earth is 
 not adapted to the support of life, because desert wastes 
 and burning sands spread over vast districts of coun- 
 try, and through all these solitudes no human being 
 can find a comfortable home, therefore the planets of 
 oar solar system may remain in a state of desolation, 
 without animal or vegetable life. Again he says: 
 "The earth may have existed for millions of years 
 before it became a suitable abode for human beings, 
 and therefore other planets may remain in the same 
 condition." 
 
 This argument is hypothetical and not sustained by 
 the analogies of nature. He might as well argue that 
 because some parts of our globe are not capable of 
 sustaining life, therefore all parts of the globe must 
 remain a tenantless waste. These regions are nature's 
 great parks, and often serve as boundary lines between 
 different nations, causing atmospheric and climatic 
 changes, and producing the different flora and fauna 
 of different countries. 
 
 That Providence which delights in variety and has 
 made no two things after the same pattern, and no 
 
94 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 two pebbles on the boundless ocean shore exactly 
 alike, has scattered His treasures in great variety 
 over different lands, and this creates a demand for 
 commercial intercourse among the nations of the 
 earth. 
 
 In this we see a wonderfully wise arrangement. 
 These commercial ties bind the different races scat- 
 tered over the face of the globe into one common 
 brotherhood, under the care of one providing Father. 
 These bonds that bind men together may be denomi- 
 nated wardrobe ties, table ties, luxury and literary 
 ties, reaching out to and coming in from all nations. 
 But we must remember that all this is, as it were, on 
 one small apple, while there are many more on the 
 same tree, and millions more scattered over neighbor- 
 hood countries and continents, all bearing different 
 kinds of fruit. 
 
 This apple world, with its insect inhabitants, will 
 give us an imaginary, though not an exaggerated, idea 
 of the different sun systems of the universe — the in- 
 numerable fruit-bearing orchards of the Infinite Crea- 
 tor. But when we view these worlds in their motion 
 through space the analogy fails. It is true, the apple 
 may swing on the branches by the force of the wind, 
 but this gives us no correct idea of the motion of these 
 heavenly bodies in their orbits around their centers of 
 gravity. The different systems are divided into groups 
 and clusters, and these, rising one above the other and 
 extending their orbits one around the other, not only 
 like a wheel within a wheel, but like wheels beyond 
 
ANALOGIES IN NATURE. 95 
 
 wheels and around wheels, until all finally move 
 around some common central point, where there may 
 be absolute rest. 
 
 In this movement among the celestial orbs, satel- 
 lites revolve around their primaries, and the planets 
 around their central suns ; and these suns, like mighty 
 engines of incomprehensible power, drag their train 
 of planets and their satellites around their extending 
 orbits, until the mind, in contemplating these mighty 
 movements, becomes bewildered in view of these in- 
 comprehensible magnitudes. 
 
 There is a very strange coincidence between the 
 question propounded by the Almighty to his ancient 
 servant, Job — " Canst thou bind the sweet influence 
 of the Pleiades ?" — and the discoveries of the great 
 Prussian astronomer, Madler, who found motion in 
 every star on which he fixed the telescope, except the 
 central star of the Pleiades. Here he found no mo- 
 tion, but he found numerous stars sweeping around 
 this central sun. His views have been favored by 
 other distinguished astronomers; and should it finally 
 become a settled fact, demonstrated by unmistakable 
 proofs, that Alcyone does not move, and that hosts of 
 other stars move around him, then the words above 
 quoted will have a significance hitherto unthought 
 of. The calculations based upon the hypothesis of a 
 central sun, around which all worlds revolve, has 
 led astronomers to the astounding conclusion that it 
 would take our sun system 18,200,000 years to make 
 one revolution around this center of gravity. Light ? 
 
96 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 traveling at the rate of 12,000,000 miles per minute, 
 would require 537 years to come from this sun to our 
 earth. 
 
 Looking out, then, upon this universe, we must 
 consider our solar system a comparatively small re- 
 public of the vast empire of worlds, and our earth 
 shrinks down to a very insignificant point, compared 
 with the stupendous whole. 
 
 The diameter of the earth is too small to afford us 
 a base for observation to obtain a parallax of even 
 some of the nearest stars, and it is only by making 
 observations at opposite points of the earth's orbit, 
 190,000,000 of miles apart, that astronomers find a 
 minute change in the position of some of these stars. 
 
 Yet, small as this earth is, shrinking almost to an- 
 nihilation in comparison with the universe, it is not to 
 be despised, for there are millions of forms of life, and 
 other wonderful things below us as well as above us. 
 The microscope, as well as the telescope, reveals to us 
 the wonders of creation, and a careful study of the Infi- 
 nite Creator, through His works, will lift us out of 
 our selfishness and above the little affairs of our short 
 earth life, and excite in us a laudable pride in our re- 
 lations to other and higher spheres. 
 
 Dr. Whewell says that "the vast bodies which hang 
 in the sky at such immense distances from us, and 
 roll on their courses and spin around their axes with 
 such exceeding rapidity, will lose nothing of their 
 majesty in our eyes by being uninhabited, any more 
 than the summer clouds, which, perhaps, are formed 
 
 
ANALOGIES IN NATURE. 97 
 
 of the same materials, lose their dignity from the same 
 cause." If living organisms are a higher type in 
 nature's phenomena than inert and lifeless matter, 
 then life in any form becomes a matter of interest to 
 us. In pursuing his argument against life in other 
 worlds, the distinguished author above quoted asks 
 " whether the dignity of the moon would be greatly 
 augmented if her surface were ascertained to be 
 abundantly peopled with lizards ; or whether Mont 
 Blanc would be more sublime if millions of frogs 
 were known to live in the crevasses of its glaciers." 
 Now, the question is not one of lizards and frogs, but 
 of intelligent beings and life in any and every form. 
 No matter how colossal the structure may be, if there 
 is no life there we soon lose our interest in it. The 
 planets would most assuredly have an additional in- 
 terest for us if we knew to a certainty that they were 
 inhabited, and what kind of inhabitants exist there. 
 
 Would we not look upon Mont Blanc with additional 
 interest if we knew that on its solitary summits there 
 were some forms of life — some beings to break the 
 silence of death and the solitude of the grave with 
 the melody of their songs? With what interest would 
 men direct their telescopes toward those dizzy heights 
 if they had any prospect of seeing living beings mov- 
 ing over those lonely rock wastes and finding a home 
 and subsistence in those hyperborian regions. 
 
 How much the dignity of the moon would be aug- 
 mented if her surface were peopled with lizards, I am 
 not prepared to say ; but should the traditional man in 
 
98 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 the moon show signs of life to the telescopic observer, 
 every eye in the civilized world would be strained to 
 catch a glimpse of the lonely dweller on the luner orb. 
 But how would the matter stand if some successful ex- 
 plorer had really and unmistakably discovered a race 
 of intelligent beings in the moon, who lived happily 
 amid the craters of her extinct volcanoes and found 
 pleasure in roaming over her rock-ribbed mountains ? 
 We would most assuredly look with renewed interest 
 on the fair face of our satellite if we knew that she 
 was teeming with life. 
 
 As to the summer clouds having nothing added to 
 their dignity by being inhabited, we can assure our 
 distinguished and learned author, who appears to de- 
 light in solitude and death, that if the summer clouds 
 were known to be abodes of life, even in the most 
 airy and fairy form, every eye would watch them as 
 they rode in their chariots of clouds on the wings of 
 the wind; and if we could only get an occasional 
 glimpse of their cherubic forms, it would give us an 
 additional interest in the clouds that water the earth 
 with their showers. Even the awe-inspiring thunder 
 storm would be looked at with greater attention if 
 we knew there were living beings concerned in the 
 uproar and the gloom produced by the whirlwind and 
 the tornado in their destructive sweep over land and 
 sea. 
 
 All life is a matter of interest to the living, from 
 the radiata to the molusca — to the articulata — to 
 the vertebrated, at the head of which stands Man. 
 
ANALOGIES IN NATURE. 99 
 
 Men, women and children will stand around the 
 cages of our parks and zoological gardens, and gaze 
 for hours on the living animals confined there, while 
 they pay comparatively little attention to the other 
 ornaments of the park. The fish that swim in the 
 water and the swans that float on the surface of our 
 tiny park lakes give to them an especial interest. 
 Life cheers us everywhere, while lifeless matter alone 
 brings over us the gloom of banishment and the soli- 
 tude of the tomb. 
 
 While residing in Colorado, a few years ago, I re- 
 ceived a letter from a friend in Basel, Switzerland, 
 (Europe,) to send, if possible, some wild animals from 
 the mountains of North America for a zoological gar- 
 den in Basel. The order was accompanied with $400, 
 and an advertisement in the papers soon brought the 
 animals to my residence. A Methodist presiding elder 
 caught two buffalo calves and brought them in, others 
 brought different animals ; and I soon had a supply 
 of bear, buffalo, foxes, wildcats, catamounts, wolves, 
 coyotes and prairie dogs. All were shipped in due 
 time, in appropriate cages, marked, "Wild Animals 
 from Denver, Colorado, North America," and after a 
 " pleasant voyage " reached their destination in safety. 
 These animals would be of more interest in the eyes 
 of the people than the finest specimens of gold quartz 
 or silver ore, or any mechanical contrivance that the 
 art of man could produce. How far would people 
 travel and how much would they give to see a bird or 
 wildcat or any other animal from some of the planets ? 
 
100 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 And if living things are so interesting, can we for a 
 moment bring ourselves to believe that this vast uni- 
 verse is one solitary waste of lifeless matter, excepting 
 our own insignificant earth, which, for all we know, is 
 only floating on the outer circle of that inner glory 
 where the Infinite Father reveals himself more espe- 
 cially to an intelligent universe? 
 
 The very thought of infinite resources and infinite 
 power forbids the idea of limiting life to one minute 
 point in creation, and leaving millions of worlds hung 
 out in space, as dumb-bells, for the amusement of 
 speculative astronomers. 
 
EARTH COMPARED WITH OTHER PLANETS. 101 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 EARTH COMPARED WITH OTHER PLANETS. 
 
 In the chapter on The Vastness of the Universal 
 Empire where Life may Exist I noticed the planets in 
 their regular order, by running an imaginary express 
 train from the central sun to the outer planet of the 
 solar system ; but, as that was a hasty trip, gotten up 
 for an especial occasion and for the purpose of im- 
 pressing the mind with the magnitude of one of the 
 fields among thousands where the analogies of nature 
 indicate the existence of life, there was no time for 
 detailed description. I have also noticed the varied 
 conditions under which life may and does exist on our 
 earth. We will now look at the position of our earth 
 in the solar system in connection with the other 
 planets, with a view of offering an argument in favor 
 of life on the other planets, from the resemblance 
 between them and the earth. In a word, since life 
 exists here in such diversified forms, why should it 
 
102 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 not exist where the physical condition corresponds so 
 nearly with that which we find here? What superior 
 claim has our earth to be filled to overflowing with 
 living beings, while the other planets are viewed as 
 barren wastes moving in solitude along their ap- 
 pointed course? In its position, the earth is neither 
 the nearest to the sun nor the farthest from it; 
 neither is it in the middle of the system. It is not 
 the smallest, nor the largest; it has only one moon, 
 while some of the superior planets have from four to 
 six, and as high as eight moons. But Dr. Whewell 
 tells us it is in the temperate zone "of the solar 
 system, and in that zone alone is the play of heat and 
 cold, of moist and dry, possible." On the theory of 
 direct heat radiation from the sun, he concludes that 
 "on Venus and Mercury no vapors can linger. They 
 are expelled by the fierce solar energies, and there is 
 no cool stratum to catch them and return them. * * * 
 If they were there they must fly to the outer regions — 
 to the cold abodes of Jupiter and Saturn, if on their 
 way the earth did not, with cold and airy fingers 
 outstretched afar, catch a few drops of their treasure 
 for the use of plant, and beast, and man." "Solid 
 stone," says Dr. Whewell, "only, and the metallic 
 ores which can be fused and solidified with little loss 
 of substance, can bear the continued force of the near 
 solar fire and be the materials of permanent solid planets 
 in that region." Again, he says: "It was agree- 
 able to the general scheme that the excess of vapor 
 and water, which must necessarily be carried away or 
 
EARTH COMPARED WITH OTHER PLANETS. 103 
 
 stored up in outer regions of the system, should be 
 put into shapes in which it should have a permanent 
 place and form." Whence does he get his informa- 
 tion when he says: "And thus it was suitable to the 
 general economy of creation that this vapor and 
 water should be packed into rotating masses, such as 
 Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune"? How 
 did he obtain this knowledge? Not by telescopic 
 observation, nor by spectroscopic analysis. 
 
 In his way of arguing, he stands alone ; and what- 
 ever his scholarship may be on general scientific sub- 
 jects, as ah astronomer his authority does not rank 
 first-class. I have presented his statements with a 
 view of offering objections. The planets, instead of 
 being "rotating masses of water and ice," have been 
 regarded by the highest authorities, if not at present, 
 at least in their original formation, globes of liquid 
 fire, that could only be the abodes of life after the 
 cooling process has gone on for ages. It is strange 
 that a man who has written so many popular works on 
 different scientific subjects should contradict himself 
 and the laws of physical science for the sake of main- 
 taining an opposition to life anywhere outside of our 
 own world. 
 
 He is especially unfortunate when he says: "The 
 earth's orbit is the only zone in the solar system 
 where the play of heat and cold, moist and dry, are 
 possible." What becomes of his water and vapor 
 theory on the outer planets ? If Mars is too far 
 away for "the play of heat and cold, moist and dry," 
 
104 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 what would be the condition of Jupiter, and more 
 especially of Uranus and Neptune, from one to two 
 billions of miles farther away ? How can water and 
 vapor exist in rotating masses on these distant planets 
 according to his theory? 
 
 But the most singular part of his statement is, that 
 when this scorching process commenced on Mercury 
 and Venus, and the watery vapors started out into 
 the cold abodes of Jupiter and Saturn, the " earth, 
 with cold and airy fingers outstretched afar, caught 
 a few drops of this treasure for the use of plant, and 
 beast, and man." If Mercury and Venus contained 
 such a mass of surplus water in their original forma- 
 tion — which may well be doubted — is it not likely 
 that the earth contained its due proportion with the 
 other planets ? and why should she "stretch out her 
 airy fingers to catch a few of these fugitive drops as 
 they passed out to the cold abodes of the other 
 planets ?" These statements only show that logic 
 must yield to sophistry where men have formed 
 opinions to which everything must buckle and bend. 
 
 Now, what is the physical condition of the planets ? 
 Mercury and Venus have each an atmosphere. This 
 atmosphere, in all probability, is so constructed as to 
 modify the heat on the interior planets, so as to make 
 them comfortable abodes for life. It may not be such 
 as we have on earth. The eyes of living beings there 
 may be so constructed as to endure a greater amount 
 of light, and the nervous system to endure more heat, 
 and the forms of life may be as different from that on 
 
EARTH COMPARED WITH OTHER PLANETS. 105 
 
 our earth as life in the water differs from 'life on land 
 in our world, as noticed in the chapter on the Varied 
 Conditions of Life on Earth. 
 
 It is very evident, to every observing and candid 
 mind, that different astronomers and scientists have 
 made such vastly different representations, in reference 
 to the physical condition of the planets, that any 
 hypothesis founded on anything short of positive proof 
 will be viewed with suspicion and distrust, when one 
 class of writers affirm that the planets were thrown 
 off from the sun in rotating rings, which finally 
 formed themselves into globes, and some of the rings 
 of Saturn were left in their original position, to show 
 us how the worlds were made. This same class of 
 philosophers further tell us that these globes are 
 glowing masses of liquid fire, and can only become the 
 abodes of life after a cooling process which may last 
 for millions of years. Then another class of writers 
 represent these planets " as rotating masses of water 
 stored away in these outer planets, or globes of ice, 
 where any kind of life known to us on earth is im- 
 possible. Now, where we have nothing more certain 
 than the conjectures of men in these fields of specu- 
 lation, we may safely follow the analogies of nature 
 and draw conclusions from existing facts. Among 
 these existing facts we have the following, viz.: The 
 planets have atmospheres like our earth, perhaps dif- 
 fering considerably in density and extent, and this 
 difference may be needed to modify the sun's heat on 
 the nearer planets, and to increase the same by an 
 
106 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 increase of refracting power on the outer planets. We 
 have found another well established fact by telescopic 
 exploration : The planets rotate on their axes and 
 move in their orbits around the sun the same as the 
 earth, yet in different periods, according to their vary- 
 ing distances from the central sun. We also find them 
 accompanied by moons to cheer the darkness of their 
 nights, and in some instances their magnificence far 
 exceeding that of our satellite. 
 
 Having given the opinions of Whewell in reference 
 to the condition of the planets and the improbabilities, 
 if not the impossibilities, of their being abodes of life, 
 I will now give the views of another English writer 
 of great eminence, whose opinions are entitled to great 
 respect.* Sir David Brewster says: "In the exam- 
 ination of Mars, Venus and Mercury we find analogies 
 more or less numerous and striking with those of our 
 own earth. * * * * An atmosphere of great height 
 and of a peculiar constitution, reflecting on the planet 
 the light of the sun many hours after he has set, might, 
 in all of them, supply the place of a moon. The densi- 
 ty of Mars and Venus is very nearly the same as that 
 of the earth, the density of the former being 0-25 
 and that of the latter 0-82, while the density of Mer- 
 cury is a little greater, amounting to 1*12. As the 
 diameter of Venus is nearly equal to that of the earth, 
 the force of gravity upon its surface will be almost 
 exactly the same; and in Mars and Mercury, whose 
 diameters are only about one-half that of the earth 
 
 * More Worlds than One, by Sir David Brewster, p. 81. 
 
EARTH COMPARED WITH OTHER PLANETS. 107 
 
 the weight of bodies will be about one-half of what 
 they would be if placed upon our own globe. 
 
 "In Mars, Venus and Mercury the length of the 
 day is almost exactly twenty-four hours, the same as 
 that of the earth,* and in many other points the an- 
 alogy with our globe is very striking. Continents 
 and oceans and green savannahs have been observed 
 upon Mars, and the snow of his polar regions has 
 been seen to disappear with the heat of summer. In 
 Venus and Mercury their surface is variegated with 
 mountain chains of great elevation, and but for the 
 brilliancy of their discs and the clouds which envelop 
 them the telescope would have discovered to us more 
 minute details upon their surface. 
 
 " The planets of this inferior group are surrounded 
 with atmospheres like our earth. We actually see the 
 clouds floating in the atmosphere of Mars, and there 
 is the appearance of land and water on his disc. 
 Venus and Mercury are surrounded with the same 
 medium essential to life, and in Venus astronomers 
 have even observed the morning and the evening twi- 
 light. These atmospheres are doubtless the means of 
 tempering the great heat which Venus and Mercury 
 receive from the sun; and the same purpose may be 
 answered by the absence of that internal heat which 
 exists in the earth, and which may be used to increase 
 the temperature of the remoter planets. The intense 
 
 * The mean of the length of the day in these four planets is within 
 less than a minute of twenty-four hours. The days of Mercury, Venus, 
 the earth and Mars are respectively 24h. 5m., 23h. 2lm., 24h. 7m., and 24h. 
 7m., the mean of which is 24h. 0m. 45s. 
 
108 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 light which Venus and Mercury receive from the sun 
 may be adduced as an objection to the existence upon 
 these planets of inhabitants like ourselves ; but this 
 objection is at once removed by the consideration that 
 this intense light may be completely moderated either 
 by a very small pupil or by a diminished sensibility 
 of the retina, or by a combination of both. 
 
 " Such are the numerous analogies which subsist 
 between our earth and Mars, Venus and Mercury. 
 They afford, as a popular writer observes, i the high- 
 est degree of probability, not to say moral certainty, 
 to the conclusion that these three planets, which, with 
 the earth, revolve nearest to the sun, are, like the earth, 
 appropriated by the Omnipotent Creator and Ruler of 
 the universe to races very closely resembling those with 
 which the earth is peopled.'* After concluding his 
 examination of the four exterior planets, Jupiter, Sat- 
 urn, Uranus and Neptune, the same able and candid 
 writer closes his elaborate chapter in these words : 
 
 " 'We have thus presented the reader with a brief 
 and rapid sketch of the circumstances attending the 
 two chief groups of globes which compose the solar 
 system, and have explained the discoveries and strik- 
 ing analogies, which, taken together, amount to a 
 demonstration, that in the economy of the material 
 universe these globes must subserve the same purposes 
 as the earth, and mast be the dwellings of tribes of or- 
 ganized creatures having a corresponding analogy to 
 those which inhabit the earth. 
 
 * Dr. Lardner's Museum of Science and Art, vol. i. p. 23. 
 
EARTH COMPARED WITH OTHER PLANETS. 109 
 
 " i The differences of organization and character 
 which would be suggested as probable or necessary 
 by the different distances of the several planets from 
 the common source of light and heat, and the conse- 
 quent differences of intensity of these physical agencies 
 upon them, by the different weights of bodies on their 
 surfaces, owing to the different intensities of their at- 
 tractions on such bodies, by the different intervals 
 which mark the alternation of light and darkness, are 
 not more than are seen to prevail among the organized 
 tribes, animal and vegetable, which inhabit different 
 regions of the earth. The animals and plants of the 
 tropical zones differ in general from those of the tem- 
 perate and the polar zones ; and even in the same zone 
 we find different tribes of organized creatures flourish 
 at different elevations above the level of the sea. 
 There is nothing more wonderful than this in the 
 varieties of organization suggested by the various 
 physical conditions by which the planets are af- 
 fected.' " * 
 
 This subject I have noticed more fully in the 
 chapter on The Different Conditions of Life in Our 
 World. 
 
 It only remains for us to look at the physical con- 
 dition of the superior planets and trace their analogy 
 with our earth. 
 
 The asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupi- 
 ter are too small to allow us to know much about their 
 condition. If there are inhabitants there, they must 
 
 ♦Dr. Lardner's Museum of Science and Art, vol. i. p. 63. 
 
110 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 be small and of slender formation. The power of 
 attraction on these planets must be in proportion to 
 their bulk or specific gravity. It has been estimated 
 that a man on one of these small planets might spring 
 sixty feet into the air and come down without any 
 injury to himself. It is not unreasonable to suppose 
 that a race of spiritual beings may exist there, pro- 
 vided with means of communication or traveling from 
 one to others of these lilliputian worlds, floating in the 
 ocean of space like the islands in our Pacific Ocean. 
 The idea of life on these little worlds presents a 
 pleasant picture to the mind, especially if we can con- 
 ceive of a kind of republic of worlds where some kind 
 of telephonic correspondence can be kept up between 
 the different races that may be found there. Can it 
 be that these planets were placed there by Omnipotent 
 Power to run their solitary rounds through the ages, 
 without life in some form to magnify the Creator's 
 power and skill ? 
 
 Passing from these to the great planet Jupiter, we 
 find the mass of this planet largely exceeds all the 
 planets of our system combined. His diameter is 
 estimated at between 85,000 and 88,000 miles by dif- 
 ferent astronomers. In mass he exceeds our earth 
 213 times, and his time of revolution around the sun 
 is a little less than twelve years of our time. His 
 surface presents a diversified appearance, which may 
 be caused by cloud masses passing over or through 
 the upper part of his atmosphere. When we consider 
 the comparatively small light he receives from the sun, 
 
EARTH COMPARED WITH OTHER PLANETS. Ill 
 
 on account of his immense distance, and how bright 
 he shines in our sky, we may well suspect that he is 
 self-luminous and shines partly by his own light. This 
 idea is strengthened from the luminous appearance of 
 his four moons at the great distance at which we view 
 them through our telescopes. In many respects he 
 resembles our earth, as do the nearer planets. We 
 may well conceive that races of men, as well as other 
 living beings, there, are all on a larger scale than those 
 found on the smaller planets. 
 
 The same may be said of the three other large 
 planets outside of the orbit of Jupiter — Saturn, 
 Uranus and Neptune — with their moons changing, 
 rising, culminating and going down like our own soli- 
 tary satellite. 
 
 Looking at these bright worlds, with their atmos- 
 pheres and moons, and with their axis rotations and 
 so many other things analogous to our earth, can we 
 for a moment allow ourselves to think that the Creator 
 has placed these mighty orbs in their positions and 
 given them conditions for the support of life such as 
 we find them to possess, and then leave them all a 
 tenantless waste, without one living being to respond 
 with gratitude to the throb of the great Father's 
 heart, or to look with adoring wonder through these 
 rolling and shining worlds up to their great Author ? 
 Taking our Bible as a revelation from God, and col- 
 lecting the numerous passages that exhort His intelli- 
 gent beings on earth to praise their Creator, we are 
 led to conclude that the homage of praise from a 
 
112 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 grateful heart is well pleasing to Him who made all 
 things ; and why may we not suppose that He who 
 delights in the adoration of the millions of His intelli- 
 gent creatures would fill these worlds with such as 
 would bring their homage of praise to the Infinite 
 Source of all life ? 
 
COSMOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENTS. 113 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE COSMOGRAPHY OP THE ANCIENTS. 
 
 It is not unreasonable to suppose that among the 
 earliest studies of our race was that of astronomy and 
 the structure of the universe. This may have been 
 closely connected with an inquiry into the cause of all 
 existing things. The why and the wherefore will 
 come up in the minds of all nations. Among all 
 peoples there are found those who assume a leadership, 
 and who, as a general rule, manifest a willingness to 
 communicate any superior knowledge they may possess 
 to their fellow-men. Agricultural pursuits and the 
 care of herds and flocks to supply man's temporal 
 wants came in the natural order of things, in every- 
 day life, and the minds of men settled down on facts 
 proven by repeated experiments, that became familiar 
 to all. 
 
 The humblest peasant and herdsman would soon 
 become familiar with the routine of his daily toil, but 
 the minds of men were never intended to be satisfied 
 with the supply of mere bodily wants. We are here; 
 
114 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 and how came we here ? Who provided for us this 
 beautiful world in which we live? Who made the 
 sun and the moon and all these stars ? By what mys- 
 terious power are they kept in motion? These and 
 many other similar questions will ever and anon come 
 up in the minds of men. The first communications 
 made to the race had reference to moral character and 
 conduct. We infer that this earth is not to be the 
 final home of the race, because there is so little said 
 in the revelation the Creator has made to us in refer- 
 ence to its physical structure. But that He intends 
 us to know something about other worlds we may also 
 infer from the fact that He has spread out the vast vol- 
 ume of nature before our eyes. 
 
 Without books or other means of obtaining knowl- 
 edge, save that which was directly communicated to 
 the early races, either by spoken words or through the 
 medium of angels or prophetic visions, they could 
 study the lessons of a wondrous creative power in 
 looking out upon the starry heavens by night, while 
 they enjoyed the light and heat from the sun by day. 
 To them "the heavens declared the glory of God and 
 the firmament showed His handiwork. Day unto day 
 uttered speech, and night unto night showed knowl- 
 edge." Men soon advanced beyond the sphere of the 
 rude cottage or the shepherd's tent, and sought to read 
 the lessons of the sun, moon and stars. To the soul 
 panting for knowledge the universe is one mighty epic 
 pouring out in melodious strains the praise of the 
 Omnipotent. 
 
COSMOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENTS. 115 
 
 The ancient astronomers and philosophers, who 
 claimed to be the repositories of knowledge, without 
 the telescope to aid their natural vision, tried to an- 
 swer the questions that arose in the minds of men as 
 best they could, and many strange errors were enter- 
 tained before the light of scientific truth dawned upon 
 the world. The strangest thing, however, in all litera- 
 ture, is this singular fact, that while the wisest of 
 heathen and pagan writers expressed their ideas with 
 regard to the structure of the universe in such lan- 
 guage as to make them a laughing-stock in the light of 
 modern science, the Hebrew prophets alone expressed 
 their views in reference to the vastness of the works of 
 creation and the one almighty Creative Power in such 
 terms as accord with the latest discoveries in the cos- 
 mography of the universe. It is true that, in later 
 periods, the Christian church adopted and believed the 
 cosmography of heathen philosophers and astronomers, 
 but these Christian fathers and teachers did not pre- 
 tend to speak under a divine inspiration when they 
 expressed their belief in the teachings of heathen 
 philosophers. They were unacquainted with the laws 
 of gravitation and attraction, and could not understand 
 how the celestial bodies could float through space 
 without a solid background to hold them. The theory 
 of a solid sky received the assent of all the ancient 
 philosophers. They supposed that the stars were per- 
 manently fixed within the crystalline concentric sphere 
 that surrounds the earth above us and rested upon its 
 outer surface, while they were at a loss to know what 
 
116 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 the earth itself rested on. To them the earth was the 
 center of the universe. 
 
 These views of cosmography were interwoven with 
 the religious creeds of pagan and Christian worshipers, 
 and, among the latter, so deeply fixed in the minds of 
 religious teachers, that no one dared to contradict 
 these theories without incurring the displeasure of the 
 church and subjecting himself to the charge of heresy. 
 To account for the irregular movement of the planets, 
 in accordance with the astronomical system of Ptole- 
 my, they invented smaller circles, called epicycles, 
 around which the planets were supposed to move, in 
 addition to their motion around the earth. So com- 
 plicated and inharmonious was this system, that the 
 old astronomer, King Alphonso, said "if God had 
 consulted him he would have suggested a more rational 
 plan for the construction of the universe." 
 
 "There is extant," says Mr. Blake, "a small work 
 ascribed to Aristotle, entitled 'Letters of Aristotle to 
 Alexander on the System of the World,' which gives 
 so clear an account of the ideas entertained in his 
 epoch, that we shall venture to give a somewhat long 
 extract from it : 
 
 "' There is a fixed and immovable center to the 
 universe. This is occupied by the earth — the fruit- 
 ful mother, the common focus of every kind of living 
 thing. Immediately surrounding it on all sides is the 
 air. Above this, in the highest region, is the dwell- 
 ing place of the gods, which is called the heavens. 
 The heavens and the universe being spherical and in 
 
COSMOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENTS. 117 
 
 continual motion, there must be two points on opposite 
 sides, as in a globe which turns about an axis, and 
 these points must be immovable and have the sphere 
 between them. They are called the poles. If a line 
 be drawn from one of these points to the other, it will 
 be the diameter of the universe, having the earth in 
 the center and the two poles at the extremities. Of 
 these poles the northern one is always visible above 
 our horizon, and is called the Arctic pole; the other, 
 to the south, is always invisible to us — it is called 
 the Antarctic pole. 
 
 " c The substance of the heavens and of the stars 
 is called ether ; not that it is composed of flame, as 
 pretended by some who have not considered its nature, 
 which is very different from that of fire, but it is so 
 called because it has an eternal circular motion, being 
 a divine and incorruptible element, altogether differ- 
 ent from the other four. 
 
 " ' Of the stars contained in the heavens, some are 
 fixed and turn with the heavens, constantly maintain- 
 ing their relative positions. In their middle portion 
 is the circle called the Zoophore, which stretches ob- 
 liquely from one tropic to the other, and is divided 
 into twelve parts, which are the twelve signs (of the 
 zodiac). The others are wandering stars, and move 
 neither with the same velocity as the fixed stars nor 
 with a uniform velocity among themselves, but all in 
 different circles and with velocities depending on the 
 distance of these circles from the earth. 
 
 " * Although all the fixed stars move on the same 
 
118 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 surface of the heavens, their number cannot be deter- 
 mined. Of the movable stars there are seven, which 
 circulate in as many concentric circles, so arranged that 
 the lower circle is smaller than the higher, and that 
 the seven so placed one within the other are all within 
 the sphere of the fixed stars. 
 
 '"On the nearer — that is, the inner — side of this 
 ethereal, immovable, unalterable, impassible nature is 
 placed our corruptible and mortal nature. Of this 
 there are several kinds, the first of which is fire, a 
 subtle, inflammable essence, which is kindled by the 
 great pressure and rapid motion of ether. It is in 
 this region of air, when any disturbance takes place 
 in it, that we see kindled shooting-stars, streaks of 
 light and shining motes, and it is there that comets 
 are lighted and extinguished. 
 
 " * Below the fire comes the air, by nature cold and 
 dark, but which is warmed and inflamed and becomes 
 luminous by its motion. It is in the region of the 
 air, which is passive and changeable in any manner, 
 that the clouds condense, and rain, snow, frost and 
 hail are formed and fall to the earth. It is the abode 
 of stormy winds, of whirlwinds, thunder, lightning 
 and many other phenomena. 
 
 " 'The cause of heaven's motion is God. He is not 
 in the center, where the earth is a region of agitation 
 and trouble, but he is above the outermost circumfer- 
 ence, which is the purest of all regions — a place 
 which we call Auranos, because it is the highest part 
 of the universe, and Olympos — that is, perfectly 
 
COSMOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENTS. 119 
 
 bright — because it is altogether separated from every- 
 thing like the shadow and disordered movements which 
 occur in the lower regions.' " 
 
 The above gives an outline idea as entertained by 
 the ancient astronomers with regard to the structure 
 of the universe. But, as all their knowledge was 
 mere conjecture, we are not surprised that many, under 
 the influence of a lively imagination and the supersti- 
 tions of their age, were led into extravagant notions 
 with regard to magnitudes, revolutions and distances 
 of the heavenly bodies. 
 
 Hesiod, one of the most celebrated Grecian poets, 
 in giving an idea of the distance from one extreme of 
 the universe, said: 
 
 "From the high heavens a brazen anvil cast, 
 Nine days and nights in rapid whirl would last, 
 And reach the earth the tenth ; whence strongly hurled, 
 The same the passage to the infernal world." 
 
 It is now known that it would take an anvil forty- 
 two millions of days to reach the earth from some ot 
 the nearest fixed stars ; and it would require no less 
 than sixty-four and a half days for an anvil to fall 
 from the sun to our earth. Their conception of the 
 universe as an inclosed space, outside of which there 
 was nothing, gave rise to numerous conjectures with 
 regard to the foundation on which this universal 
 structure rested. They saw the sun in the east in the 
 morning, at the meridian at noon, and in the west at 
 night; but how this rapid transition was effected was 
 not so easily explained. "If we are to believe Plu- 
 
120 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 tarch,"saysMr. Blake,* "Xenophanes, who flourished 
 about 360 years B. C, was very wild in his opinions. 
 He thought the stars were lighted every night and 
 extinguished every morning ; that the sun is a fiery 
 cloud ; that eclipses take place by the sun being extin- 
 guished and afterward rekindled; that the moon is 
 inhabited, but is eighteen times larger than the earth ; 
 that there are several suns and several moons for 
 giving light to different countries. This can only be 
 matched by those who said ' the sun went every night 
 through a hole in the earth, and round again in the 
 east ; or that it went above ground, and if we did not 
 see it going back, it was because it accomplished the 
 journey in the night.'" With regard to the founda- 
 tion on which the earth rests, there were among the 
 ancients many and varied opinions, some of which 
 we will briefly notice. For the information given on 
 this subject I am principally indebted to J. F. Blake's 
 account of the terrestrial world of the ancients. 
 • Xenophanes gave to the earth infinitely extended 
 roots to sustain it. 
 
 Thales, of Miletus, makes the earth rest upon water, 
 without finding anything on which the water itself 
 can rest, or answering the question how it is that the 
 heavier earth can be supported on the lighter water. 
 
 A number of others considered the earth flat and 
 sustained by the air, which is accumulated below it. 
 
 Aristotle himself says that " he agrees with those 
 philosophers who think that the earth is brought to 
 
 * Astronomical Myths, p. 159. 
 
COSMOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENTS. 121 
 
 the center by the primitive rotation of things, and 
 quotes with approval the opinion that the earth placed 
 in the center of the universe, at an equal distance 
 from its extremities, there is no reason why it should 
 move in one direction more than another, and rests 
 immovable in the center without being able to leave it." 
 
 " The Vedic priests among the Hindoos asserted 
 that the earth was supported on twelve columns, which 
 they very ingeniously turned to their own account, by 
 asserting that these columns were supported by virtue 
 of the sacrifices to the gods, so that if they were not 
 made the earth would collapse." 
 
 Again, some of the Hindoos symbolized the power 
 that held the earth in its place by four elephants 
 bearing it on their backs with their feet resting on an 
 immense tortoise, which itself floated on the surface 
 of a universal ocean. But what this ocean rested on 
 must have remained an unexplained mystery. 
 
 There is one striking feature in the cosmography 
 of all nations : This is, the religious element com- 
 bined with their views of the works of nature as seen 
 in the material universe. Matter, in motion or at 
 rest, from the smallest atom to the largest globe, 
 forces upon the minds of all attentive observers the 
 conviction that there is a power somewhere that some 
 how or in some manner regulates and sustains this 
 vast empire of matter ; and that we owe allegiance to 
 this superior power, and are accountable to him for 
 our conduct. Men may invent a thousand forms and 
 symbols, and multiply images to any possible extent, 
 
122 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 yet all have their origin in the deep conviction that 
 there is an almighty power existing, to whom we are 
 trying to approach in our darkness, and to whom we 
 look for help. 
 
 No sooner had the Christian church gained power 
 sufficient to control the thrones of kings and con- 
 sciences of men than they commenced ecclesiastical 
 legislation in reference to the physical structure of 
 the universe, and considered a departure from their 
 system of cosmography a violation of a divine law and 
 an opposition to the teachings of the Bible. With 
 varying shades of interpretation they adopted the 
 system of Ptolomy and Aristotle. To them the 
 earth was the universe ; the stars were fixed in the 
 celestial vault, rotating around the central earth, for 
 which they were made. The idea of a plurality of 
 heavens was generally entertained, but the number 
 was not satisfactorily settled. Some fixed the number 
 at seven, others ran their calculations up to ten, and 
 some to a still higher number. It was decreed by the 
 church that above the sphere of the fixed stars was 
 the dwelling place of God and the angels in an eternal 
 abode of joy. 
 
 The fathers of the church located the infernal re- 
 gions in the center of the earth. The form of the 
 infernal regions was that of a funnel, or reversed 
 cone, with concentric and diminishing circles. These 
 circles were also divided into several different regions 
 — perhaps to accommodate the different grades of 
 sinners — and this would correspond with the different 
 
COSMOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENTS. 123 
 
 degrees in heaven, where from seraphim and cheru- 
 bim they were graded down to a lower order of angels, 
 and the spirits of the just who had gone from this 
 life with their varying shades of character, and con- 
 sequently different degrees of fitness for the enjoyment 
 of the different heavens. In these different grades of 
 happiness, in the different spheres, there was a con- 
 stant motive to virtue and piety, and many have been 
 found, in all ages of the church and among all 
 nations of the earth, who were willing to endure 
 hardships and privations almost incredible with a view 
 of gaining the highest enjoyment in the future world. 
 
 " By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, re- 
 fused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 
 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of 
 God, for he had respect to the recompense of reward." 
 
 Whatever ideas the ancients may have had of the 
 structure of the earth and the location of heaven, 
 and its proximity to the earth, their beliefs on these 
 subjects could not affect their religious or moral char- 
 acter, and every honest and sincere soul, looking for 
 light, and following the light that comes to all earnest 
 and anxious seekers, would make progress in the right 
 direction, and meet with the divine approval at the last. 
 
124 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LEGENDARY WORLDS OF THE DARK AGES. 
 
 The superstitions that prevailed for a number of 
 centuries, in Europe and other parts of the old world, 
 afford a singular, and withal an interesting history. 
 Wrong and fanciful interpretations of the Bible, 
 a very limited knowledge of the structure of the uni- 
 verse, and a dogmatism that would not yield to any 
 scientific discoveries outside of the narrow grooves in 
 which their religious thoughts ran, unless it was in 
 the direction of the marvelous and mysterious, soon 
 produced an abundant crop of legends, which were 
 incorporated into their religious beliefs. Many of the 
 stories invented by the fertile brains of superstitious 
 religionists, who delighted in the marvelous, must have 
 been known by their authors to be mere pictures of 
 fancy, or, as St. Paul in his day calls them, " old 
 wives' fables." But it was among early Christians, in 
 some measure at least, as it was among heathens in an 
 earlier day. 
 
LEGENDARY WORLDS. 125 
 
 The idols that were at first intended as mere sym- 
 bols of a divine and invisible power, in the course of 
 time became objects of worship ; so these legends be- 
 came interwoven with the texture of the religious lives 
 of the early Christians, and as their faith was founded 
 on the supernatural, and on a divine revelation, instead 
 of following the plain teachings of this revelation their 
 minds readily drifted into many of the superstitious 
 notions of the ancient idolators. 
 
 It is an interesting study to learn how far a knowl- 
 edge of astronomy and its kindred sciences will dispel 
 the gloom and remove the fetters that so long enslaved 
 and degraded the people. However different the 
 creeds and opinions of the worshipers at the different 
 altars and shrines may be, they all point to a place of 
 repose for the soul after this life, or a spiritual heaven, 
 where angels and the spirits of the just might have 
 an eternal existence. This seems to be the aim and 
 desire of every human being. Although there are 
 various opinions in reference to the mode of our exist- 
 ence, as well as the conditions that surround us, yet 
 there has always been more unity of sentiment in ref- 
 erence to the final abode of the good and devout wor- 
 shiper than there has been in reference to the condi- 
 tion of the lost and the outcast from divine favor. I 
 have already given an account of the different opinions 
 in reference to the location of the terrestrial paradise, 
 and will now give an account of some of the legends 
 that were published, and the places that were de- 
 scribed, and were believed to have a real existence, 
 
126 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 and had an influence on their ideas of astronomy and 
 cosmography. Some of the enthusiasts of those early 
 days claimed to have visited the regions that lie beyond 
 the range of our mortal vision, and reported the result 
 of their adventures among the departed, so as to give 
 information to the living with regard to the fates of 
 those who had gone before. Among the most re- 
 markable of these legends we have several recorded by 
 Mr. John F. Blake, in his "Astronomical Myths." 
 The first is that of Thespesius, who claimed to have 
 visited the infernal regions : 
 
 " This Thespesius relates his adventures in the 
 other worlds. Having fallen head-first from an ele- 
 vated place, he found himself unwounded, but was 
 contused in such a way as to be insensible. He was 
 supposed to be dead, but after three days, as they 
 were about to bury him, he came to life again. In a 
 few days he recovered his former powers of mind and 
 body ; but made a marvelous change for the better in 
 his life. 
 
 " He said that at the moment that he lost conscious- 
 ness he found himself like a sailor at the bottom of the 
 sea ; but afterward, having recovered himself a little, 
 he was able to breathe perfectly, and, seeing only with 
 the eyes of his soul, he looked round on all that was 
 about him. He saw no longer the accustomed sights, 
 but stars of prodigious magnitude, separated from 
 each other by immense distances. They were of daz- 
 zling brightness and splendid color. His soul, carried 
 like a vessel on the luminous ocean, sailed along freely 
 
LEGENDARY WORLDS. 127 
 
 and smoothly, and moved everywhere with rapidity. 
 Passing over in silence a large number of the sights 
 that met his eye, he stated that the souls of the dead, 
 taking the form of bubbles of fire, rise through the 
 air, which opens a passage above them; at last the 
 bubbles, breaking without noise, let out the souls in a 
 human form and of a smaller size, and moving in dif- 
 ferent ways. Some, rising with astonishing lightness, 
 mounted in a straight line ; others, running round like 
 a whipping-top, went up and down by turns with a 
 confused and irregular motion, making small advance 
 by long and painful efforts. Among this number he 
 saw one of his parents, whom he recognized with dif- 
 ficulty, as she had died in his infancy ; but she ap- 
 proached him, and said, 'Good day, Thespesius.' 
 Surprised to hear himself called by this name, he told 
 her that he was called Arideus, and not Thespesius. 
 'That was once your name,' she replied, 'but in 
 future you will bear that of Thespesius, for you are 
 not dead; only the intelligent part of your soul has 
 come here by the particular will of the gods ; your 
 other faculties are still united to your body, which 
 keeps them like an anchor. The proof I will give 
 you is that the souls of the dead do not cast any 
 shadow, and they cannot move their eyes.' 
 
 " Further on, in traversing a luminous region, he 
 heard, as he was passing, the shrill voice of a female 
 speaking in verse, who presided over the time Thes- 
 pesius should die. His genie told him that it was 
 the voice of the Sibyl, who, turning on the orbit of 
 
128 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 the moon, foretold the future. Thespesius would 
 willingly have heard more, but, driven off by a rapid 
 whirlwind, he could make out but little of her pre- 
 dictions. In another place he remarked several par- 
 allel lakes, one filled with melted and boiling gold, 
 another with lead colder than ice, and a third with 
 very rough iron. They were kept by genii, who, 
 armed with tongs like those used in forges, plunged 
 into these lakes, and then withdrew, by turns, the 
 souls of those whom avarice or an insatiable cupidity 
 had led into crime ; after they had been plunged into 
 the lake of gold, where the fire made them red and 
 transparent, they were thrown into the lake of lead. 
 Then, frozen by the cold, and made as hard as hail, 
 they were put into the lake of iron, where they became 
 horribly black. Broken and bruised on account 01 
 their hardness, they changed their form, and passed 
 once more into the lake of gold, and suffered in these 
 changes inexpressible pain. 
 
 " In another place he saw the souls of those who had 
 to return to life and be violently forced to take the 
 form of all sorts of animals. Among the number he 
 saw the soul of Nero, which had already suffered many 
 torments, and was bound with red-hot chains of iron. 
 The workmen were seizing him to give him the form 
 of a viper, under which he was destined to live. 
 
 " The locality of these infernal regions was never 
 exactly determined. The ancients were divided upon 
 the point. In the poems of Homer the infernal re- 
 gions appear under two different forms : thus, in the 
 
 
LEGENDARY WORLDS. 129 
 
 Iliad it is a vast subterranean cavity ; while in the 
 Odyssey it is a distant and mysterious country at the 
 extremity of the earth, beyond the ocean, in the neigh- 
 borhood of the Cimmerians. 
 
 " In every case, however, both among pagans and 
 Christians, the locality was somewhere in the center 
 of the earth. The poets and philosophers of Greece 
 and Rome made very detailed and circumstantial maps 
 of the subterranean regions. They enumerated its 
 rivers, its lakes, and woods, and mountains, and the 
 places where the Furies perpetually tormented the 
 wicked souls who were condemned to eternal punish- 
 ment. These ideas passed naturally into the creeds 
 of Christians through the sect of the Essenes, of 
 whom Josephus writes as follows : ' They thought 
 that the souls of the just go beyond the ocean to a 
 place of repose and delight, where they were troubled 
 by no inconvenience, no change of seasons. Those of 
 the wicked, on the contrary, were relegated to places 
 exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather, and 
 suffered eternal torments. The Essenes,' adds the 
 same author, ' have similar ideas about these torments 
 to those of the Greeks about Tartarus and the king- 
 dom of Pluto. The greater part of the Gnostic sects, 
 on the contrary, considered the lower regions as sim- 
 ply a place of purgatory, where the soul is purified 
 by fire.' 
 
 "Amongst all the writings of Christian ages, in 
 which matters such as we are now passing in review 
 are described, there is one that stands out beyond all 
 
130 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 others as a masterpiece, and that is the magnificent 
 poem of Dante, his Divine Comedy, wherein he de- 
 scribed the infernal regions as they presented them- 
 selves to his lively and fertile imagination. 
 
 " The theology of Dante, strictly orthodox, was 
 that of St. Thomas and the other doctors of the 
 church. Natural philosophy, properly so called, 
 was not yet in existence. In astronomy, Ptolemy 
 reigned supreme, and in the explanation of celestial 
 phenomena no one dreamt or dared to dream of 
 departing in any way from the traditionally sacred 
 system. 
 
 " In those days astronomy was indissolubly linked 
 with a complete series of philosophical and theological 
 ideas, and included the physics of the world, the 
 science of life in every being, of their organization, 
 and the causes on which depended the aptitudes, 
 inclinations, and even in part the actions, of men, 
 the destinies of individuals, and the events of his- 
 tory." 
 
 I have stated in another chapter of this work that 
 religion and the Bible need the influence of science to 
 control the human mind and to check the tendency 
 to a gross superstition. It is only when these two 
 great factors in man's moral and religious elevation 
 are united, and have each their proper sphere, that 
 men can arise to the dignity and high destiny to which 
 the Infinite designs to lead His children. We say 
 again, science and religion should walk hand in hand 
 through the vast temple of nature. It is now claimed 
 
LEGENDARY WORLDS. 131 
 
 in high quarters that a departure from the dogmas 
 of religious teachers has led to all the disorders and 
 moral delinquencies with which modern society is 
 afflicted. History, on the other hand> assures us 
 that the breaking asunder the fetters of ecclesiastical 
 restraints, in the character of prelates, has opened 
 the way out of the darkness and errors of the middle 
 ages. In proof of this we take a few more extracts 
 from Mr. Blake's interesting work on this subject. 
 After describing the abode of the blessed and happy 
 souls in "the empyreal heaven of pure light," he 
 gives a description of the interior of the earth, as 
 believed in those days: 
 
 "Within the earth is a large cone, whose layers 
 are the frightful abodes of the condemned, and which 
 ends in the center, where the divine Justice keeps 
 bound up to his chest in ice the prince of the 
 rebellious angels, the emperor of the kingdom of 
 woe. Such are the infernal regions which Dante 
 describes according to ideas generally admitted in 
 the middle ages. 
 
 "Not only was the geography of the infernal 
 regions attempted in the middle ages, but even their 
 size. Dexelius calculated that the number of the 
 damned was a hundred millions, and that their abode 
 need not measure more than one German mile in 
 every direction. Cyrano of Bergerac amusingly said 
 that it was the damned that kept turning the earth, 
 by hanging on the ceiling like bats, and trying to 
 get away. 
 
132 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 "In 1757, an English clergyman, Dr. Swinden, 
 published a book entitled, Researches on the Nature 
 of the Fire of Hell and the Place where It is Situated. 
 He places it in the sun. According to him, the Chris- 
 tians of the first century had placed it beneath the 
 earth on account of a false interpretation of the de- 
 scent of Jesus into hell after his crucifixion, and by 
 false ideas of cosmography. He attempted to show, 
 1st, that the terrestrial globe is too small to contain 
 even the angels that fell from heaven after their bat- 
 tle; 2nd, that the fire of hell is real, and that the 
 closed globe of earth could not support it a sufficiently 
 long period ; 3rd, that the sun alone presents itself as 
 the necessary place, being a well-sustained fire, and 
 directly opposite in situation to heaven, since the em- 
 pyreal is round the outside of the universe, and the 
 sun in the center. What a change to the present 
 ideas, even of doctors of divinity, in a hundred years ! 
 
 " So far, then, for mediaeval ideas on the position 
 and character of hell. Next as to purgatory. 
 
 " The voyage to purgatory that has met with most 
 success is certainly the celebrated Irish legend of St. 
 Patrick, which for several centuries was admitted as 
 authentic, and the account of which was composed cer- 
 tainly a century before the poem of Dante. 
 
 " This purgatory, the entrance to which is drawn 
 in more than one illuminated manuscript, is situated 
 in Ireland, on one of the islands of Lough Derg, 
 County Donegal, where there are still two chapels 
 and a shrine, at which annual ceremonies are per- 
 
LEGENDARY WORLDS. 133 
 
 formed. A knight, called Owen, resolved to visit it 
 for penance; and the chronicle gives us an account of 
 his adventures. 
 
 " First he had his obsequial rites performed, as if 
 he had been dead, and then he advanced boldly into 
 the deep ravine ; he marched on courageously, and 
 entered into the semi-shadows ; he marched on, and 
 even this funereal twilight abandoned him, and ' when 
 he had gone for a long time in this obscurity there 
 appeared to him a little light as it were from a glim- 
 mer of day.' He arrived at a house, built with much 
 care, an imposing mansion of grief and hope, a mar- 
 velous edifice, but similar nevertheless to a monkish 
 cloister, where there was no more light than there is 
 in this world in winter at vesper-time. 
 
 " The knight was in dreadful suspense. Suddenly 
 he heard a terrible noise, as if the universe was in a 
 riot ; for it seemed certainly to him as if every kind 
 of beast and every man in the world were together, 
 and each gave utterance to their own cry, at one time 
 and with one voice, so that they could not make a 
 more frightful noise. 
 
 " Then commenced his trials and discourse with 
 the infernal beings ; the demons yelled with delight 
 or with fury round him. l Miserable wretch,' said 
 some, ' you are come here to suffer.' ' Fly,' said 
 others, 'for you have not behaved well in the time 
 that is passed : if you will take our advice, and will 
 go back again to the world, we will take it as a great 
 favor and courtesy.' 
 
134 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 " Owen was thrown on the dark shadowy earth, 
 where the demons creep like hideous serpents. A 
 mysterious wind, which he scarcely heard, passed over 
 the mud, and it seemed to the knight as if he had 
 been pierced by a spear-head. After a while the de- 
 mons lifted him up ; they took him straight off to the 
 east, where the sun rises, as if they were going to the 
 place where the universe ends. ' Now, after they had 
 journeyed for a long time here and there over divers 
 countries, they brought him to an open field, very long 
 and very full of griefs and chastisements ; he could 
 not see the end of the field, it was so long ; there were 
 men and women of various ages, who lay down all 
 naked on the ground with their bellies downward, who 
 had hot nails driven into their hands and feet ; and 
 there was a fiery dragon, who sat upon them and drove 
 his teeth into their flesh, and seemed as if he would 
 eat them ; hence they suffered great agony, and bit the 
 earth in spite of its hardness, and from time to time 
 they cried most piteously, ' Mercy, mercy ;' but there 
 was no one there who had pity or mercy, for the dev- 
 ils ran among them and over them, and beat them 
 most cruelly.' 
 
 " The devils brought the knight toward a house of 
 punishment, so broad and long that one could not see 
 the end. This house is the house of baths, like those of 
 the infernal regions, and the souls that are bathed in 
 ignominy are there heaped in large vats. ' Now so it 
 was, that each of these vats was filled with some kind 
 of metal, hot and boiling, and there they plunged and 
 
LEGENDARY WORLDS. 135 
 
 bathed many people of various ages, some of whom 
 were plunged in over their heads, others up to their 
 eyebrows, others up to the eyes, and others up to the 
 mouth. Now all, in truth, of these people cried out 
 with a loud voice and wept most piteously.' 
 
 " Scarcely had the knight passed this terrible place, 
 and left behind in his mysterious voyage that column 
 of fire which rose like a lighthouse in the shades, and 
 which shone so sadly betwixt hope and eternal despair, 
 than a vast and magnificent spectacle displayed itself 
 in the subterranean space. 
 
 " This luminous and odorescent region, where one 
 might see so many archbishops, bishops and monks of 
 every order, was the terrestrial paradise; man does 
 not stay there always ; they told the knight that he 
 could not taste too long its rapid delights ; it is a 
 place of transition between purgatory and the abodes 
 of heaven, just as the dark places which he had trav- 
 ersed were made by the Creator between the world and 
 the infernal regions. 
 
 " < In spite of our joys,' said the souls, ' we shall pass 
 away from here.' Then they took him to a mountain, 
 and told him to look, and asked of him what color the 
 heavens seemed to be there where he was standing, 
 and he replied it was the color of burning gold, such 
 as is in the furnace ; and then they said to him, ' That 
 which you see is the entrance to heaven and the gate 
 of paradise.'" 
 
 It brings to the thoughtful mind melancholy reflec- 
 tions to think that ignorance and superstition have 
 
136 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 forged such chains to bind the free and noble souls of 
 men, and instill into the mind such low conceptions of 
 the divine plan for the elevation and moral transfor- 
 mation of our race. Yet out of darkness light has 
 arisen, and upon fallen structures of superstition and 
 error truth has built her temples and lighthouses to 
 guide inquiring souls to a purer light and a better 
 condition. 
 
UNIVERSAL STRUGGLE FOR FUTURE LIFE. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE UNIVERSAL STRUGGLE FOR FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 Among heathen nations the myths and mysterious 
 rites that were so intimately interwoven with their relig- 
 ious beliefs undoubtedly had their origin in the almost 
 universal desire among all nations for a future exist- 
 ence. From this longing for immortality was begotten 
 a sense of dependence upon some higher power, and 
 consequently an obligation to pay homage to that 
 mysterious and invisible Being who is above all ma- 
 terial things. However ignorant and superstitious 
 men and nations may become, from a want of moral 
 and physical culture, they scarcely ever drift away 
 into such low conditions as not to acknowledge an in- 
 telligence and power over and above and anterior to 
 matter. This indwelling consciousness of a Supreme 
 Ruler has found a lodgment in the heart of the rudest 
 savage. 
 
138 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 In a very interesting work recently published by 
 Mrs. I. L. Hauser, who was for seven years engaged 
 in the missionary work in Northern India, we find the 
 following statement: 
 
 " History and the experience of travelers through- 
 out the world show that mankind are universally con- 
 scious of a Supreme Being, and that, however uncivil- 
 ized and barbarous, they know right from wrong, and 
 that they have sinned in the sight of Him who is 
 above all others. Man is a sinner, and he knows it. 
 His religion may range from the highest spiritual type 
 to the grossest form of paganism, yet its object is to 
 get rid of the penalties of sin and appease the wrath 
 of an offended god or gods. 
 
 "Dr. Livingston, in his last journal, states that he 
 did not find a tribe in Central Africa but had some 
 form of religious worship. While in India, I was par- 
 ticular in my inquiries to find, if possible, one who 
 had no idea of God, of sin, or of his moral responsi- 
 bility. On the borders of Thibet, among a people 
 who had never been away from their mountain homes, 
 and on the plains, among the lowest and most ignorant, 
 I never found one person who did not know that he 
 was a sinner and needed to be saved from his sins. It 
 would be as consistent to deny the light and warmth 
 of the sun all over our planet as to doubt the spirit- 
 ual light and influence directly from God upon the 
 souls of all mankind. The Arctic regions are cold, 
 but they would be colder were there no sun. There 
 may be blindness, gross depravity and terrible cruelty 
 
UNIVERSAL STRUGGLE TOR FUTURE LIFE. 139 
 
 among certain portions of our race, but they would 
 be worse still had God utterly left them. It is not 
 exalting God to limit Him to a few people called 
 Christians, or to confine Him to certain portions of 
 the earth. He is God over all, blessed forever." * 
 
 Was not this deep consciousness of weakness and 
 want planted in every human heart to excite a desire 
 to struggle out of their darkness and misery into a 
 higher and better condition ? 
 
 " There's not a pirate in the Indian Ocean 
 God dwells not in with tides of pure emotion, 
 Seeking to hallow, sanctify, inspire, 
 And lift him from that hell of inward fire 
 Whose scorching madness desolates, defiles, 
 Degrades his spirit in those barbarous isles. 
 God worketh there as where the angels are, 
 Seeking to call from out these caverns drear 
 Bright spirits fitted for the holy sphere — 
 Seeking to change the human wolves to men, 
 While angels breathe from heaven 'Amen, amen.' " 
 
 The universal wish for life and future happiness 
 finds expression in a thousand forms of devotional 
 offerings and sacrifices to the supposed or acknowl- 
 edged source of our final deliverance from suffering. 
 From a want of properly authenticated oral instruc- 
 tions to convey to the mind the nature and attributes 
 of that Divinity to whom they reach out their hands 
 for help in their feebleness, and to whom they look for 
 light in their darkness, they first invented symbols 
 that might impress upon the mind some attribute of 
 
 * The Orient and its People, by Mrs. I. L. Hauser, p. 128. 
 
140 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 this Divine Being — something as an ever-present re- 
 minder of a constant care over individuals and nations. 
 For this deep conviction that sinks down into the inner 
 chambers of our hearts' best feelings and assures us that 
 we have a common and a universal Father will lead the 
 soul out into its longings and aspirations toward the 
 Divine Creator. Then comes this feeling that 
 
 " Creation, like a new-born infant, lies 
 Near to his heart, sight, sense and inward eyes, 
 The Moral Reason — all declare how dear 
 Creation is to the great Father Soul. 
 Its little pulses from His bosom roll, 
 O'erflowed and harmonized. Its lips are fed 
 From God, and on His breast it pillows its young head." 
 
 But how to approach this great Father, and what of- 
 ferings to bring to Him, have been the question above 
 all other questions in the history of the whole human 
 race. Leaving out of the question the difference in 
 the creeds of Christendom, we will glance at the life 
 struggles of pagan lands. 
 
 Their religious rites and offerings were an out- 
 growth of personal observations and experience, and 
 from theistic conceptions, through painful lessons of 
 suffering and endurance of innumerable evils, arose 
 the belief in supernatural powers to cause the evils 
 we suffer as well as the good we enjoy. The same 
 power that produced the good was not supposed to be 
 the author of the evil ; and hence the conception that 
 there must be a divinity for the evil as well as for the 
 good in the world. 
 
UNIVERSAL STRUGGLE FOR FUTURE LIFE. 141 
 
 Again, as the different seasons came, with their va- 
 ried products, to supply men's wants, they attributed 
 these numerous supplies to different divine powers ; 
 hence came the idea of multiplying divinities for the 
 seasons of the year, who were supposed to preside 
 over the products of the earth. 
 
 Again, the diversity of lands and countries, their 
 hills and valleys, rivulets and rivers, as well as the 
 increasing wants and woes of the race, suggested the 
 idea of divinities for all these varied conditions, and 
 all, in the course of time, had their symbolic repre- 
 sentations in something tangible to the senses of men. 
 From these symbols of invisible powers was begotten 
 the idea of crude and unsightly images — hideous 
 monsters, of horrid shapes and forms. 
 
 A natural tendency in the human mind to enter- 
 tain doubts with regard to the nature and source of 
 invisible powers, and their influence over us, and the 
 tendency to a gross materialism, soon led men to turn 
 away from that which the image primarily represented, 
 and to make an object of worship of the tangible and 
 ever-present idol. In the course of time, idols were 
 multiplied for the house and for the field, for disease 
 and health, for seed time and harvest, for hills and 
 valleys, and almost everything that became a matter 
 of interest to humanity. 
 
 Finally, not satisfied with dumb idols and mere 
 symbols of divinity, they looked for living deities, or 
 incarnations of divine principles in living forms; and 
 hence their mythology abounds with legends of gods 
 
142 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 and goddesses — ancestral heroes — with marvelous 
 histories. From living beings their divinities were 
 transferred to the celestial regions, and had perma- 
 nent places assigned them in the starry heavens, 
 claiming for them a perpetual influence over the 
 affairs of this life. 
 
 Such were the legend of Osiris and Isis, the prin- 
 cipal deities of Egypt. They were intended to rep- 
 resent the conflict between evil and good, or right and 
 wrong. Osiris represents the origin of human civili- 
 zation. His name signified "Lord of the earth," or 
 "many eyed." Isis, the wife of Osiris, was adored 
 as the great benefactress of Egypt, and it was claimed 
 that she instructed her people in the cultivation of 
 wheat and barley, and these cereals were always car- 
 ried in her festival processions. Her worship was in- 
 troduced into Greece and Rome and other nations. In 
 a conflict between Osiris and Typhon, or Evil, Osiris 
 was slain, his dead body put into a box and cast into 
 the Nile, whence it floated into the ocean. Isis, like 
 a faithful wife, after she learns of his death, ransacks 
 the world in search of his body. Typhon is eventu- 
 ally slain by Horus, the son of Isis. Two elements 
 or powers are represented by this legend : Isis, the 
 passive or prolific in terrestrial nature ; and Osiris, 
 that which acted upon passive nature for the good 
 of man — the active energy of life — the beneficent 
 or germinating influence — wherever exhibited. The 
 power to produce discords was represented by Typhon, 
 who was finally to be overcome and conquered by Isis. 
 
UNIVERSAL STRUGGLE FOR FUTURE LIFE. 143 
 
 The whole system of idolatry, with its sacrifices and 
 mystic and mysterious rites, is nothing less than the 
 utterance of one universal outcry for a future life. 
 The burdens of life may be heavy, and the journey 
 through it may be painful, yet the millions of our 
 race are looking through their darkness, anxiously 
 waiting and hoping for a perpetuation of their ex- 
 istence in the great future. 
 
 While there are found among all nations honest 
 hearts seeking for truth, there have also been found 
 designing leaders and priests at sacred altars and 
 shrines who cared more for their own interest than 
 for the welfare of the people whom they under- 
 took to lead and instruct. This has been witnessed 
 among Jews and Christians as well as in pagan 
 lands. 
 
 In every religious system there have been found 
 strong tendencies to a departure from primitive ideas 
 and old established opinions, sometimes in a progres- 
 sion toward clearer conceptions of man's relations to 
 a higher power and his condition in a future life, and 
 perhaps more frequently a retrocession to lower con- 
 ditions of spiritual life and a corruption of primitive 
 truths as well as forms of worship. Declines have 
 followed reformations, and in the cycle of years refor- 
 mation has succeeded decline, and thus the tidal wave 
 of religious feelings has been ebbing and flowing 
 through the ages past. 
 
 There is one remarkable feature connected with this 
 progression and retrocession in religious excitement. 
 
144 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 All leaders in religious movements have claimed to be 
 under a divine illuminating influence, and in this way 
 have gained a power over the minds of their hearers. 
 Another remarkable feature in all progressive move- 
 ments in religious beliefs is the uniform opposition the 
 reformers have met with. This has not been confined 
 to rude and barbarious nations. Some of the so- 
 called Christian nations have been as fierce in perse- 
 cuting those who differed from them as the wildest 
 savages. 
 
 From small beginnings, surrounded with discour- 
 agements, oppressed by persecutions, the leaders in 
 the great religious systems of the world have in some 
 instances triumphed over the obstacles thrown in their 
 way, and their systems have arisen to power and a 
 controlling influence over the minds of men that 
 strongly indicates a supernatural influence in their 
 favor. This world has been, so far as history carries 
 us back, one great battle-field, not alone for temporal 
 power and possessions and territorial conquests, but 
 for the propagation and advancement of religious 
 opinions. 
 
 Whence arises this universal struggle for life in the 
 future ? Is it not planted in every human heart to 
 awaken in every one a longing for immortality ? 
 There is a divine light that shineth on all hearts. The 
 thick clouds of error may obscure it, yet still it pene- 
 trates the darkest shades of human sorrows. " Out 
 of Zion the perfection of beauty God hath shined." 
 Christ is the divine light of the world. 
 
UNIVERSAL STRUGGLE FOR FUTURE LIFE. 145 
 
 " God works through Christ the Lord— 
 The one Deific Word, 
 And through him made all things, 
 The planets and their rings, 
 The suns and all their spheres, 
 The seasons and their years ; 
 Through him the Infinite 
 Shines with creative light." 
 
 As we find foot-prints of a Creator everywhere in 
 the material universe, so we find implanted in the 
 human heart among all the inhabitants on this earth 
 an expressed or implied desire to live in a future 
 state. Nearly, if not quite, all the religious beliefs 
 demand certain prescribed conditions, either on the 
 part of the individual himself or his friends, in order 
 to secure a happy existence. The rude savage finds 
 comfort in hoping while living, and his friends find 
 consolation in helping him on his journey after death 
 and providing for him in the future. Just now, while 
 the Roman Catholic church throughout the world is 
 in mourning for Pope Pius IX., and prayers are 
 ascending from thousands of altars "for the repose of 
 his soul," we see the following report from our West- 
 ern frontier in reference to the funeral services of the 
 Sioux and other Indian tribes : " Soon after death, 
 either the same or next day, the friends and relations 
 of the deceased all gather at his lodge, and by their 
 sad and dirge-like wailings, interspersed with sharp, 
 short cries, console the afflicted kinsfolk, each taking 
 more pains than the other to show great grief. Then 
 such relics as robes, calico, beadwork, ponies, etc., are 
 
146 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 given away by the deceased's relatives, and as those 
 who cry the loudest and longest usually get some- 
 thing, the exhibition is conducted with a great deal of 
 spirit. When ponies are killed, those are selected 
 which had endeared themselves to the deceased, and 
 no matter how fast or how well trained they are they 
 join the spirit. In some cases the pony is saddled 
 and bridled, saddle-bags stuffed with meat and dried 
 berries and blankets, and led by a lariat (long rope) 
 to the lodge just as the owner is about to depart 
 this life. The lariat is placed in the hands of the 
 dying person and the pony shot. In most instances 
 the ponies are killed at the grave. A gun, and in its 
 absence a bow and quiver of arrows, pipe, tobacco, 
 etc., are wrapped up with the body. The pony is 
 killed that the spirit may ride to the happy hunting 
 ground, and the other articles are placed with the 
 spirit so he may have the necessaries of Indian life 
 on his journey to that beautiful place." 
 
 Is not the one as sincere as the other in effort to bene- 
 fit departed friends? And by these deeds of kindness 
 they hope to plant flowers along the pathway they, too, 
 expect to travel at the close of their pilgrimage. 
 
 " 'Tis weary watching, wave by wave, 
 
 And yet the tide heaves onward ; 
 "We climb like corals, grave by grave, 
 
 Yet pave the path that's sunward ; 
 We're beaten back in many a fray, 
 
 But never strength we borrow, 
 And where the vanguard camps to-day 
 
 The rear shall rest to-morrow. 
 
UNIVERSAL STRUGGLE FOR FUTURE LIFE. 147 
 
 " Through all the long, dark night of years 
 
 The people's cry ascendeth, 
 And earth is wet with blood and tears 
 
 And our meek sufferance endeth, 
 The few shall not forever sway, 
 
 The many toil in sorrow ; 
 The powers of hell are strong to-day, 
 
 But Christ shall reign to-morrow." 
 
 It is the strong anchor of hope that sustains the 
 soul in its earthly conflict and points it to "a rest 
 beyond the river." 
 
 "In the Chinese Fo worship, the Liturgy, there is 
 recorded a high act of consecration to the service of 
 humanity : ' Never will I seek or receive private 
 individual salvation, never enter into final peace alone, 
 but forever and everywhere will I live and strive for 
 the universal redemption of every creature through- 
 out all worlds ; I pray for all men that they may 
 attain perfection of wisdom.' In what Christian 
 land shall we easily find a like generous vow of con- 
 secration?"* 
 
 The universal cry for help from earth's suffering 
 millions of anxious souls should excite a universal 
 sympathy on the part of those who have power and 
 means of lifting the burdens from the heavy ladened, 
 and throw a ray of light across the pathway of the 
 weary traveler. 
 
 As long as human hearts and hands are closed 
 against the cries of a suffering race, just so long will 
 the dark shadows of cheerless materialism beset our 
 
 * Budda and Buddhism, by C. D. B. Mills, p. 77. 
 
148 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 way, and portentous clouds rest on our future pros- 
 pects. When Jesus beheld the anxious crowd throng- 
 ing around Him, and spreading out over distant lands, 
 He said to His disciples : "Go ye also into My vine- 
 yard, and whatsoever is right I will give you." And 
 to show the importance of helping struggling human- 
 ity out of their misery, He said : " My Father work- 
 eth hitherto, and I work." And the apostle Paul says : 
 "We, then, are as workers together with Him." Such 
 are the ties that bind the race of man into one uni- 
 versal brotherhood that we help ourselves out of dark- 
 ness and sorrow by reaching out a friendly hand to 
 our neighbor. It is by stooping down to the lowest 
 condition of life that we ascend to a higher plane. 
 It is by walking out into the dreary paths where the 
 wanderers — the Magdalenes and the publicans — 
 have strayed that we find for ourselves the flowery 
 paths that lead to the celestial mansions. It is among 
 these thorns of the moral waste that the sweetest 
 scented roses may be made to bloom under proper 
 and careful cultivation, and their fragrance will wan- 
 der in freshness and live in memories when thorns 
 and flowers and leaves have passed away. The moun- 
 tains over which the erring ones have strayed may be 
 steep and rugged. The night of moral gloom into 
 which we are called to walk, to find the outcast and 
 the lost, may be dark and dreary, but while the cry 
 comes from the mountain top and from the dark 
 valley, "no man careth for my soul," men of means 
 and moral and religious power and influence should 
 
UNIVERSAL STRUGGLE FOR FUTURE LIFE. 149 
 
 run to the rescue, and help the erring ones out of 
 their sorrows. In this great battle-field of life there 
 is work for the whole family, and 
 
 "I am told 
 That could a high archangel's heart grow cold, 
 His wisdom would avail him not, but he 
 Would sink into a dark vacuity — 
 A hollow shell of being, and no more 
 Be visible on Love's celestial shore. 
 Heart thrills to heart through all the wide domain 
 Of heavenly life. All angels form a chain 
 That in God's burning throne begins and winds 
 Down to the lowest plans of earthly minds, 
 And only as each lifts the lower friend 
 Can each into superior joys ascend." 
 
 Any pretension to religion that does not lead us 
 out of our selfishness to suffering and sorrowing hu- 
 manity is a mockery and a delusion, and our highest 
 pretension to a marvelous and miracle-working faith 
 leaves us nothing but a "sounding brass and a tink- 
 ling cymbal." 
 
 Now, I know that 
 
 "This doctrine to 
 The dark earth seems strange, and yet 'tis true. 
 Angels their endless blessedness renew 
 Only in laboring for the world below ; 
 Their added labors added loves bestow." 
 
150 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE WAY TO LIFE OPEN FOR ALL. 
 
 The question has often been asked, Will there be 
 anything like a probation after the close of our present 
 life to those who had died in darkness in reference to 
 the light of the divine truth ? To answer this ques- 
 tion, we should understand another one nearly re- 
 lated to this. Will any intelligent beings be com- 
 pletely happy through all eternity who have never 
 had a choice in the matter — who have never had the 
 subject presented to them for their consideration and 
 decision, but were drawn into an eternal condition of 
 happiness by some irresistible force, without having 
 their wish and will consulted. Virtue and vice can 
 exist only where an intelligent being, of his own free 
 choice, obeys laws or rebels against established authori- 
 ties. The introduction of evil into our world is, ac- 
 cording to our standard authorities, the result of the 
 transgression of a well defined and clearly expressed 
 law. Angels who kept not their first estate are said 
 to have rebelled against the highest authority of the 
 universe, and consequently lost their possession, and 
 
THE WAY TO LIFE OPEN FOR ALL. 151 
 
 were cast out from their habitation among the good 
 and the holy, and "are reserved under chains of 
 darkness unto the judgment of the great day." 
 
 It is supposed by some that angels, and all the in- 
 telligent hosts in the angel world, had to pass a state 
 of probation, and be subjected to some moral trial, in 
 which they could manifest a love and respect for the 
 Divine Creator, before they could fully meet with the 
 divine approval. 
 
 "I made them just and right, sufficient to have stood, 
 Though free to fall." 
 
 If men, living in this life, and arriving at years in 
 which they are capable of discerning between good 
 and evil, can only secure the divine favor by a choice 
 of the good and a voluntary turning away from the 
 evil, is it in accordance with the analogies of grace 
 to force millions of beings into a state of happiness 
 against their choice, and unalterably fix their state 
 without any condition on their part? 
 
 Now, if we admit that all infants, dying before they 
 are capable of complying with any conditions of sal- 
 vation, go to heaven, in virtue of the atonement made 
 by Christ Jesus, then we must allow that millions of our 
 race will go to heaven whether they will or not, and 
 must remain there, no matter what their inclinations 
 might be to tear themselves away from divine influ- 
 ence and restraints. 
 
 The mere accident of an early death would secure 
 eternal happiness to the innumerable multitude of in- 
 fants, while the misfortune of a prolonged existence 
 
152 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 in a world of suffering would expose millions more to 
 endless suffering and torments in a conscious exist- 
 ence. We will suppose a case, which, according to 
 the commonly received doctrines, will be a fair state- 
 ment of this after-death probation. It is generally 
 believed, and taught from the pulpit and by theologi- 
 cal writers, that honest heathens who do the best they 
 can, according to the light they have, will be saved. 
 It is further taught and believed that friends will rec- 
 ognize one another in heaven, and that there will be 
 means, or a language, through which the "family in 
 heaven" will understand each other, and there will 
 be an interchange of thoughts and feelings. This 
 being so, it is quite presumable that we will retain our 
 memory of the events of our earth life. " Son, re- 
 member that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good 
 things," etc., said Abraham to the rich man in hell. 
 Being, then, possessed of memory and means of com- 
 municating our thoughts and feelings, a most natural 
 conclusion would be that the incidents of our past lives 
 would come up, and we would tell of our toils and 
 struggles through life to gain the shores of immortal 
 bliss. Some of the old Jews might tell that through 
 faith they saw the coming Savior, and worshiped Him 
 through the types and ceremonies of their law, and 
 through these foreshadowings of the Great Redeemer 
 they obtained the prize of an endless life. 
 
 The Christian, who lived under the Gospel dispensa- 
 tion, might tell of sufferings, persecution, and, in some 
 cases, of martyrdom, and how, by faith in a reveeald 
 
THE WAY TO LIFE OPEN FOR ALL. 153 
 
 Savior, he conquered all and gained the promised 
 rest. And seated around these Jews and Christians 
 there might be those who "came from the east and 
 from the west, and from the north and from the 
 south," from heathen lands and amid the splendors 
 and glories of heaven ; they could tell nothing of a 
 revealed Savior — had never heard His name — and 
 now for the first time a divine light from the In- 
 carnate and now glorified Savior breaks upon their 
 vision. Will not the question naturally come up with 
 regard to the acceptance or rejection of this Savior? 
 Is it not said by the apostle, " Every knee shall bow 
 to Him and every tongue confess?" But this must be 
 a voluntary bowing of the knee and a voluntary con- 
 fession with the tongue; and if voluntary, then it will 
 be a matter of choice, and if a matter of choice, then 
 a probation. 
 
 If these conclusions are not just, and in accordance 
 with the analogies of grace and the divine economy 
 of man's moral restoration, then we are forced to 
 the unreasonable conclusion that millions of souls 
 will be forced to accept of Christ as their Savior 
 without their own choice. But the objector will 
 say that those who came up through heathen lands 
 have done the best they could according to the 
 light they had, and consequently they are entitled to 
 an admission through the gates into the celestial city. 
 It will be claimed that they have been saved by and 
 through Christ before they left this world. We may 
 admit this, and still contend that at some time and in 
 
154 
 
 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 some way they must give a personal assent to this 
 scheme of moral restoration through Christ — they 
 must believe in Him as their Savior, and submit to the 
 laws of His spiritual kingdom. 
 
 The same may be said of all infants who die before 
 it is possible for them to obtain a knowledge of the 
 plan of salvation. They will have a revelation of the 
 great truths contained in the Gospel in their spirit 
 life, and will, with all the saved from heathen lands, 
 be required to acquiesce in the plan of man's salva- 
 tion. This will amount to a trial or a probation. It 
 recognizes a self- determining power, or a choice ot 
 that which is right and good, and a voluntary turning 
 away from evil. This self-determining power is a 
 fundamental principle of all virtue and goodness. 
 
 In this argument we leave out of the question 
 those who have had a full and clear statement of the 
 case made to them in this life. We only contend for 
 a fair trial for all in every age of the world, under 
 every possible condition of life, and under the influ- 
 ence of the different religious systems that have pre- 
 vailed in the world. 
 
 Two factors enter into all the religious systems of 
 the world. The first is the recognition of an Infi- 
 nitely Wise Being, full of goodness, and willing to 
 communicate His will to His intelligent creatures. 
 And the second is a willingness on the part of man to 
 receive communications from his Creator, and to estab- 
 lish a communion between the dependent creature, 
 and the All-wise and Almighty Creator. With some 
 
THE WAY TO LIFE OPEN FOR ALL. 155 
 
 modifications and explanations, the theory of Dr. A. 
 Winchell* will, perhaps, be received by all who have 
 given serious thought to this subject as a fair and 
 clear statement of the relation of our race to the In- 
 finite Father. In his Deductions from Theistic Prop- 
 ositions he says: "We have found out a being infi- 
 nitely powerful, wise and good. We know another 
 being finite, imperfect, and consciously responsi- 
 ble to the first for all His acts. We find this finite 
 being infinitely correlated to the Infinite One — the 
 product of His creation, dependent, an offender against 
 His justice, the recipient of His goodness, hopeful of 
 His mercy, aspiring to present and future happiness. 
 We find him longing for communion with a loving 
 God, a loving God desiring for communion with His 
 feeble subject. What, now, I ask, is probable in the 
 case ? What is probable if we reason as in a court of 
 justice in reference to the influence of motives ? 
 
 "1. It is probable that this communion will be 
 established. It will not be alone the voice of prayer 
 ascending from the subject to the ear of God. It will 
 also be a response coming down to the consciousness 
 of the petitioner. It will be a communication of good 
 tidings, of good will and of providential purposes. 
 This will be the common privilege of humanity. 
 
 "In exceptional cases itwill become remarkably 
 clear and complete." 
 
 Dr. Winchell, advancing beyond the conceptions of 
 narrow-minded theologians, who fail to see much hope 
 
 * Reconciliation of Science and Religion, p. 201. 
 
156 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 for our helpless humanity outside of their own creeds, 
 opens a wide door for men of every form of religious 
 worship. He says : 
 
 " 2. It is probable that, in the history of the world, 
 numerous instances would occur in which these ex- 
 traordinary communications would be put on record 
 and preserved as written revelations from God; and 
 that bodies of such writings would become the sacred 
 books of the peoples to whom they were communi- 
 cated. 
 
 " 3. There is no antecedent improbability that these 
 communications would come to representatives of va- 
 rious races and peoples. Infinite Goodness, would 
 be as likely to favor one race as another ; and no race 
 would be expected to perform the superhuman work 
 of consulting the records of all other races, in search 
 of the mind of God. 
 
 ' Who shall say that to no mortal 
 Heaven e'er oped its mystic portal, 
 Gave no dream or revelation, 
 Save to one peculiar nation? 
 Souls sincere, now voiceless, nameless, 
 Knelt at altars fired and flameless, 
 Asked of Nature, asked of Reason, 
 Sought through every sign and season, 
 Seeking God ; through darkness groping, 
 Waiting, striving, longing, hoping, 
 Weeping, praying, panting, pining, 
 For the light on Israel shining ! 
 Oh ! it must be ! God's sweet kindness 
 Pities erring human blindness ; 
 And the soul whose pure endeavor 
 Strives toward God, shall live forever: 
 Live by the Great Father's favor, 
 Saved by an unheard of Savior.' " 
 
THE WAY TO LIFE OPEN FOR ALL. 157 
 
 But this Savior, as already stated, will finally be 
 revealed to every longing soul. The prayers and 
 earnest endeavors to find truth and follow it will go 
 up a memorial before God, from heathen as well as 
 from Christian lands. 
 
 Dr. Winchell says : " If God has written His name 
 upon every human heart, then the feeblest and most 
 inadequate gropings after the presence of God should 
 command our respect ; and the rude dance and ghast- 
 ly sacrifice should excite our pity for those who, like 
 children crying in the night, feel that a Comforter 
 exists, though they know not how to search. And 
 though we can neither bow the knee at the mosque of 
 Islam nor shrine of Buddha, let it be remembered 
 that the adherents of these religious systems are 
 moved by the self-same spirit of devotion as leads us 
 to the temple of Christian worship." 
 
 While the Christian Scriptures shed a superior 
 light upon us, for "out of Zion the perfection of 
 beauty God hath shined," we should cherish sympa- 
 thy and hope for the millions of our race less favor- 
 ably situated, remembering 
 
 "There is a Higher Law from heaven descending; 
 It hath no stain nor flaw — all men befriending; 
 It lifts the lowly and abuses none. 
 All families of earth shall yet become 
 Like flowers in one garden beautified 
 From one pure source. The vain, the impious pride 
 Of color, cast and fashion, now adored, 
 Then perish, by no angel heart deplored." 
 
 It is a difficult matter, however, for those who have 
 
 inclosed themselves within the narrow limits of their 
 
158 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 peculiar creeds, to allow a chance for salvation to any 
 outside of their sects who will not and cannot con- 
 scientiously pronounce their "shibboleth." No one 
 familiar with the history of the church will deny the 
 singular and strange facts, that in proportion as the 
 idea of eternal damnation to all outside of the church 
 took possession on the minds of men the persecuting 
 spirit became stronger, and men considered themselves 
 the commissioned instruments, in the hands of God, 
 to inflict punishment upon their fellow-men for the 
 sake of their diiferent opinions. The bloody perse- 
 cutions of past ages speak volumes on this subject. 
 
 As the human heart opens to God and becomes 
 receptive to His divine influence, so it opens to suffer- 
 ing humanity and cherishes desires and hopes for 
 every homeless wanderer from his Father's house. To 
 such, the beautiful parable of the returning prodigal 
 son flashes a stream of light over the deepest gloom 
 of human helplessness and human sorrows. 
 
 While I believe in a Savior that comes to suffering 
 humanity and will deal with all His creatures accord- 
 ing to the principles of eternal justice and right, and 
 "will reward every man according to his works," I 
 also believe that a fearful punishment awaits those 
 who have persisted in sin and wrong against light 
 and knowledge and the convictions of an enlightened 
 conscience. 
 
 I believe that Christ is here and works among us 
 now, as of old ; though not in physical form, yet, by 
 His influence and through His representatives, He 
 
THE WAY TO LIFE OPEN FOR ALL. 159 
 
 comes to us to try our patience, faith and hope, and, 
 above all, our labor of love for His cause, and will 
 hold us to a strict account for our stewardship. 
 
 " So long as human lips remain unfed, 
 Men starve their Christ for lack of coarsest bread ; 
 Wherever a single bondsman fettered stands, 
 Men chain their Christ and bind their Savior's hands ; 
 Wherever a single orphan inly dies, 
 Or grows embruted in their factories, 
 Like old King Herod, they again condemn • 
 To death the infant Lord of Bethlehem ; 
 
 And when they spurn the outcast from their doors, 
 While the thick darkness sweeps along the plain, 
 They drive out Christ into the storm and rain — 
 Frozen, to perish on the barren moors." 
 
 "Inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the 
 least of these, ye have not done it unto Me," said 
 Jesus. 
 
 In the final reckoning up of accounts it will be 
 
 found that 
 
 " Eyes with the bitter tear of misery dim 
 Shall weep no more. The Savior of the poor 
 Shall visible stand, bowing His sacred head, 
 Beneath the rafters of the lowest shed, 
 And kiss the pallid lips of agony, 
 And smooth the wrinkles of the furrowed brow ; 
 I thank thee, Lord, Thou comest here and now." 
 
 And who shall stand in the day of His coming ? 
 Thousands will come from heathen lands and bow the 
 knee to the divine Christ, and choose Him and own 
 Him as their Lord, after having for the first time ob- 
 tained a view of the glory of His spiritual kingdom. 
 
160 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 They take Him as their Savior, although unknown to 
 them in the darkness of their heathen life on earth. But 
 how will it be with the inhabitants of old Capernaum ? 
 Sodom and Gomorrah will stand ahead of Corozain 
 and Bethsaida in the final reckoning. He who knew 
 his Master's will and did it not shall be beaten with 
 many stripes. But here comes a bewildered-looking 
 crowd from the darkness of pagan lands. For the 
 first time they see the "Ancient of days upon a great 
 white throne." They reverently bow the knee, and 
 with adoring wonder look up to Him and say, "This 
 must be Him whom in our darkness we struggled long 
 and hard to find. We gladly take Him for our Sav- 
 ior." Others, again, with the same determining 
 power, may turn away from this divine light and say, 
 "We love our darkness better than the light," and to 
 darkness they will go — it is their own choice. 
 
 But how will the matter stand with the cold-hearted, 
 selfish, bigoted, pharisaical hypocrite whose sympa- 
 thies were never touched with human sorrows ? They 
 may say, " We were told at the revival meeting it is 
 ' only look to Jesus and live.' The hymn 'In my 
 hands no prize I bring ' was an especial favorite, and 
 so we came empty handed to the church." 
 
 Yes, and to Christ's poor. I shall never forget a 
 scene I witnessed on Monroe street, in Chicago, dur- 
 ing the great Moody and Sankey revival. A poor, 
 half-clad woman, with her child in rags, seated on the 
 sidewalk. The Savior had sent her there to try the 
 faith of Christians. Sadness was depicted upon her 
 
THE WAY TO LIFE OPEN FOR ALL. 161 
 
 haggard countenance. The wealthy and fine-dressed 
 crowd surged by. The woman sat with upturned eye, 
 shivering in the cold. I stood and looked till hundreds 
 had passed, and yet not one penny dropped into her 
 half-palsied hand. They had just been taught in the 
 great Tabernacle that all they had to do was to be- 
 lieve and be saved. Be assured, dear reader, in that 
 great day 
 
 " Old frauds shall come to light, and witnesses 
 Long buried in the dungeons of the seas 
 Shall speak out audibly — 
 
 Great names that now 
 Stand loftily and proud with laureled brow 
 Shall shrivel as a parchment cast in flames — 
 White hands shall then grow red with bloody stains." 
 
 The prophets of old wept over the fate of their 
 people when there was no revelation — at least none 
 clearly expressed — of eternal hell of physical suffer- 
 ing, yet they knew that the just judgment of the 
 Almighty would finally fall upon every wrong-doer. 
 The promises and threatenings mostly referred to this 
 life, yet the Psalmist says, "Rivers of water run down 
 mine eyes because they keep not thy law." The 
 Judge of all the earth will do right, and "he that 
 doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath 
 done," and there is no respecter of persons with God. 
 
 Our highest conception of an infinitely wise and 
 holy being, the Creator and Preserver of all things, 
 must be a willingness, on His part, to care for the 
 wants of His dependents. Not only caring for those 
 
162 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 whom the accidents of birth in different localities and 
 the most favorable surroundings have placed in com- 
 fortable positions in society, but also for the poor out- 
 casts who have gravitated down the lowest plane of 
 life. As in the wide realms of nature, so in the moral 
 
 spheres, 
 
 " God worketh everywhere, 
 And everywhere from one divine decree, 
 Urging all forms to one high destiny, 
 Shaping all things in wisdom from His will — 
 And oh, how calm He works! and oh, how still! 
 And works from centers outward to extremes, 
 Diffusing through all forms the tempered beams 
 Of love and wisdom perfect and divine, 
 Through them outworking through all space and time, 
 And everywhere outfashioning the same 
 Great purpose of His being." 
 
 But, as the moral rises almost infinitely above the 
 material, we may expect more attention from the In- 
 finite Father to that life which came from Him than 
 that which is bestowed on lifeless matter. If 
 
 " He works with a master hand 
 In every sun and every grain of sand," 
 
 to make forms of beauty from the crude materials, we 
 may well conclude that He will cast an eye of pity 
 and of love on the unfortunate and the fallen, and 
 gather all who are willing to come to Him into His 
 kingdom, to inherit the mansions prepared by the 
 Divine Savior. 
 
BIBLE TEACHINGS ON THE SUBJECT. 163 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 BIBLE TEACHINGS ON THE SUBJECT. 
 
 We now come to examine what may be called the 
 Bible doctrine of this question of other inhabited 
 worlds than ours. Here we do not find even the ap- 
 pearance of opposition, such as the geologist had to 
 encounter in his researches into the past history of 
 the earth. There is not a single expression in the 
 Bible in opposition to the great truth we are contend- 
 ing for. But, on the contrary, there are many pas- 
 sages of Scripture that will scarcely admit of any other 
 explanation than that they teach the doctrine of dif- 
 ferent worlds, inhabited by intelligent beings, subject 
 to the control of the one Almighty Creator, and the 
 objects of his care. The language employed by the 
 Hebrew prophets and poets, in describing the vastness 
 of creation, and magnifying the power of an Infinite 
 Creator, is as appropriate now to the devout soul as it 
 could possibly be, had it been uttered with a full 
 knowledge of the latest discoveries in astronomy. 
 
164 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 Whence, but through a divine inspiration, could these 
 men, in many instances unskilled in the arts and sci- 
 ences of their day, have obtained these sublime truths. 
 If we compare their language with the descriptions of 
 the wisest among heathen philosophers on the struct- 
 ure of the universe, we will find that of the former 
 awe-inspiring, and calculated to kindle a flame of de- 
 votion and praise to the Creator, while that of the 
 latter does not rise above a childish fancy, resulting 
 from an imperfect knowledge of the physical universe. 
 If the Psalmist, looking out upon the starry heavens 
 in a cloudless sky, had had no higher thoughts of the 
 nature and structure of the celestial vault than that 
 entertained by the astronomers of his day we see no 
 reason why he should express a surprise that God 
 should be mindful of man. To the ancients the stars 
 and the sun and moon were fixed in a solid sphere. 
 If they were viewed by the Psalmist as so many twink- 
 ling lights of lifeless matter, why should he exclaim, 
 on beholding them, " When I consider thy heavens, 
 the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which 
 thou hast ordained : what is man that thou art mind- 
 ful of him ? and the son of man that thou visitest 
 him ? " Psalm viii. 3-4. Would he not very naturally 
 conclude that man made after God's image was of 
 more importance than these little specks of light, or 
 even than the more conspicuous moon? That inspi- 
 ration which dictated the sublime utterances in refer- 
 ence to God's providential care over His creatures on 
 this earth, also led his enraptured vision beyond the 
 
BIBLE TEACHINGS ON THE SUBJECT. 165 
 
 boundaries of terrestrial nature, and opened his pro- 
 phetic eyes to see other worlds inhabited by races of 
 immortal beings, equally as deserving of divine care 
 and protection as the dwellers on our earth, and per- 
 haps more exalted in the scale of wisdom and power 
 and more loyal to the divine government than we are. 
 These views of different and distant worlds naturally 
 excited an exclamation of surprise. "What is man 
 that thou art mindful of him ? " If the starry 
 heavens and the changing moon and the bright sun 
 itself were nothing more important than the concep- 
 tions of the ancients made them, and if men on earth 
 were the only responsible race, in physical form, in 
 God's universe, with a knowledge of the superiority 
 of mind and intelligence over lifeless matter, no mat- 
 ter how colossal the material structures might be we 
 should expect the Psalmist to exclaim, what are these 
 little things compared with the dignity and destinies of 
 immortal minds? 
 
 But, viewing other worlds teeming with life and in- 
 telligence, he found himself and his entire race com- 
 paratively insignificant when viewed in connection with 
 one stupendous whole of moving and shining worlds 
 teeming with living beings. The Psalmist, in his 
 sublime meditations, very evidently referred to a plu- 
 rality of worlds when he speaks of the heavens, the 
 moon and the stars. He could not refer to celestial 
 space, nor some indefinable place where spirits and 
 angels are supposed to dwell, but must have had ref- 
 erence to a material creation, as the work of God's 
 
166 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 finger, brought into an actual existence for some glo- 
 rious purpose. The language of the Bible often con- 
 veys the idea of life in these worlds whose creation is 
 spoken of, separate from the earth. Job tells us that 
 God, who spread out the heavens, made "Arcturus, 
 Orion and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the 
 south."* The Prophet Amos speaks of him "that 
 buildeth his stories in the heaven." f In reference 
 to this passage, Dr. Adam Clarke, in his commentary, 
 says : " There may be here a reference to the various 
 systems which God has formed in illimitable space, 
 transcending each other as planets do in our solar 
 system. * * * There may be millions of millions of 
 stellar systems in unlimited space ; and then what are 
 all these to the vast immensity of God." Moses, in 
 his account of the creation, J says, " Thus the heav- 
 ens and the earth were finished, and all the host of 
 them." Here Dr. Clarke remarks: "The word host 
 signifies literally an army, composed of a number of 
 companies of soldiers under their respective leaders ; 
 and seems here elegantly to apply to the various 
 celestial bodies in our system, placed by divine wis- 
 dom under the influence of the sun." The following 
 arrangement of Scripture passages is taken from Sir 
 David Brewster's More Worlds than One: 
 
 "Nehemia, in his thank offerings to God, says, 
 ' Thou hast made heaven and the heaven of heavens 
 with all their hosts, and the host of heaven worship 
 thee.'§ 
 
 * Job, ix. 8. t Amos, ix. 6. t Gen. ii. 1. £ Neh. ix. 6. 
 
BIBLE TEACHINGS ON THE SUBJECT. 167 
 
 " The Psalmist speaks of 'the host of the heavens as 
 made by the breath of God's mouth'* (the process 
 by which He gave life to Adam) ; and Isaiah furnishes 
 us with a striking passage, in which the occupants of 
 the earth and of the heavens are separately described. 
 ' I have made the earth, and created man upon it : I, 
 even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and 
 all their host have I commanded.' f But, in addition 
 to these obvious references to life and things pertain- 
 ing to life, we find in Isaiah the following remarkable 
 passage : ' For thus saith the Lord that created the 
 heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made 
 it ; he hath established it, he created it NOT IN vain, 
 he formed it to be inhabited.'! Here we have a 
 distinct declaration from the inspired Prophet, that the 
 earth would have been created in vain if it had not 
 been formed to be inhabited ; and hence we draw the 
 conclusion, that as the Creator cannot be supposed to 
 have made the worlds of our system and those in the 
 sidereal universe in vain, they must have been formed 
 to be inhabited. 
 
 " In the New Testament we find passages not only 
 in perfect harmony with the doctrine of a plurality of 
 worlds, but which cannot be well explained without 
 admitting it to be true. When St. John tells us that 
 the worlds were made by the word of God,§ and St. 
 Paul, that by our Savior, the heir of all things, were 
 made the worlds J\ we cannot suppose that they mean 
 
 * Psalm xxxiii. 6. t Isaiah, xlv. 12. % Isaiah, xlv. 18. 
 
 g John, i. 3. D Hebrews, i. 3. 
 
168 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 globes of matter revolving without inhabitants, or 
 without any preparation for receiving them. Our 
 Savior is described as having made all things, and 
 God is spoken of as purposing to 'gather together in 
 one all things in Christ which are in the heavens and 
 which are on earth.' * The creations thus described, 
 under the name of all things, are clearly creations in 
 the heavens, or above them, for Paul tells us that 
 Christ 'ascended up far above all heavens that he 
 might fill all things.' 'f In another place the Apostle 
 speaks of the ' mystery hid in God, who created all 
 things by Jesus Christ ; to the intent that now, unto 
 the principalities and powers in heavenly places, 
 might be known by the church the manifold wisdom 
 of God. 'J When our Savior speaks of the sheep- 
 fold of which He is the door, and of the sheep who 
 follow Him and know His voice, and for whom He 
 was to lay down His life, He adds, i and other sheep 
 1 have which are not of this fold : them also I must 
 bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall 
 be onefold and one Shepherd.' § 
 
 " These views, as deduced from Scripture, receive 
 much support from considerations of a very different 
 nature. Man in his future state of existence is to 
 consist, as at present, of a spiritual nature residing in 
 a corporeal frame. He must live, therefore, upon a 
 material planet, subject to all the laws of matter, and 
 performing functions for which a material body is in- 
 
 * Ephesians, i. 9, 10. t Ephesians, iv. 10. 
 
 X Ephesians, iii. 9, 11. § John, x. 16. 
 
BIBLE TEACHINGS ON THE SUBJECT. 169 
 
 dispensable. We must, consequently, find for the race 
 of Adam, if not for races that may have preceded him, 
 a material home upon which they may reside, or from 
 which they may travel by means unknown to us, to 
 other localities in the universe.* At the present hour 
 the inhabitants of the earth are over a thousand mil- 
 lions; and by whatever process we may compute the 
 numbers that have existed before the present genera- 
 tion, and estimate those that are yet to inherit the 
 earth, we shall obtain a population which the habit- 
 able parts of our globe could not possibly accommo- 
 date. If there is not room, then, on our earth for 
 the millions of millions of beings who have lived and 
 died upon its surface, and who may yet live and die 
 during the period fixed for its occupation by man, 
 we can scarcely doubt that their future abode must 
 be on some of the primary or secondary planets 
 of the solar system, whose inhabitants have ceased 
 to exist like those on the earth, or upon planets in 
 
 * " It seems to accord best with the goodness of God, and with the man- 
 ner in which the universe is made, to suppose that every portion of it 
 may be visited, and become successively the abode of the redeemed ; that 
 they may pass from world to world, and survey the wonders and the 
 works of God as they are displayed in different worlds. The universe so 
 vast seems to have been fitted up for such a purpose, and nothing else 
 that we can conceive of will be so adapted to give employment without 
 weariness to the minds that God has made in the interminable durations 
 before them."— Barnes' Commentary on Peter, iii. 10. 
 
 " The study of the heavens," says the Rev. Mr. Crampton in his charm- 
 ing little volume, The Lunar World, " is the study of the glory of God. 
 If, then, it be permitted to man hereafter, like those bright spirits of 
 whom we read in Holy Writ, to roam with the speed of light from world 
 to world, from planet to planet, and from sun to sun, astronomy is no lost 
 science, and the time that we have given to it is no lost time, for we 
 shall only enter upon its fuller attainment in the world to come."— P. 86. 
 
170 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 our own or in other systems which have been in a 
 state of preparation, as our earth was, for the advent 
 of intellectual life. 
 
 " The connexion thus indicated between the desti- 
 nies of the human family and the material system to 
 which we belong, arising from the limited extent of 
 the earth's habitable surface and its unlimited popu- 
 lation, is a strong corroboration of the views which we 
 have deduced from Scripture. In the world of in- 
 stinct the superabundance of life is controlled by the 
 law of mutual destruction, which reigns in the earth, 
 the ocean and the air; but the swarm of human life, 
 increasing in an incalculable ratio, both in the old 
 and the new world, has never been perceptibly re- 
 duced by the scythe of famine, of pestilence, or of 
 war; and, when we consider the length of time dur- 
 ing which this accumulation may proceed, we cannot 
 justly challenge the correctness of the conclusion that 
 this earth is not to be the future residence of the nu- 
 merous family which it has been destined to rear." 
 
 It is not unreasonable to suppose that other worlds 
 may have produced as large, or perhaps a much larger 
 number of inhabitants than our world, yet all these 
 multiplied a million-fold will find ample room in the 
 vast domain of one common Father, whose omniscient 
 eye sees all the desires of his dependent children and 
 whose almighty hand can supply all their wants. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 171 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 
 
 Among the first things in the mind of an intelli- 
 gent and thoughtful traveler, in his preparation to 
 visit a new country, is a desire to obtain some knowl- 
 edge of the country he is about to visit — some out- 
 line of its geography, and the manners and customs 
 of its inhabitants, and the language through which 
 they communicate their thoughts to each other. 
 
 But while this is true with regard to the dwellers 
 on the different parts of our globe, and entirely prac- 
 tical, it is not so easy for us to gain an accurate 
 knowledge of the character and real condition of the 
 dwellers on the other shore. There are many who 
 contend that the Bible gives them all the information 
 they want, and just such information as will enable 
 them to draw a picture of heaven to suit a lively 
 imagination. The life-like imagery drawn by the 
 
172 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 revelations of St. John afford an abundance of matter 
 for the construction of a beautiful heavenly home, 
 surrounded by enchanting scenery and a glorious 
 company. 
 
 Then the poets may soar on fancy's wings and tell 
 us of "rocks and hills, and brooks and vales flowing 
 with milk and honey" — of "high and flowery plains, 
 where our spirits ne'er shall tire," etc. Another poet 
 
 " No calm below is like that calm above, 
 No regions here are like those realms of love, 
 Earth's softest spring ne'er shed so soft a light, 
 Earth's brightest summer never shone so bright." 
 
 The Savior tells us of "many mansions in the 
 Father's house," and St. Paul expresses "a desire to 
 depart and be with Christ." Yet, after all, no one 
 can tell just how we shall exist. That we shall have 
 a form resembling our earthly form is very evident, or 
 there could be no recognition of friends in the spirit 
 world. But what will be the extent of our spiritual 
 powers, and the range of our spiritual vision, and in 
 what kind of language we will communicate our 
 thoughts to those around us, must all be left to the 
 unfoldment of the future. 
 
 Such, however, is our relation to the spirit world 
 that it appears to me quite proper for us to extend our 
 inquiries into that future state into which we all ex- 
 pect soon to enter. We are here to-day, but may not 
 be here to-morrow. One thing is certain to us all, we 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 173 
 
 will not always remain here. We are on the outward- 
 bound train, and moving at a rapid rate toward a 
 world that is now concealed from our natural vision, 
 as much so as was the new world to Columbus when 
 standing on the shores of Spain looking out over the 
 trackless ocean in the direction he expected to sail to 
 find this new world. He saw the distant world in 
 visions of faith, while the evidences on which his 
 faith rested were found in those deep impressions that 
 often so strangely come to the soul looking and long- 
 ing for light and truth. It may be that the Infinite 
 Father comes to us here and now, through mediums 
 of his own selection, to instill into the mind some of 
 those great discoveries that men call accidental, but 
 should be called providential. Who can tell what 
 secret and invisible agencies were at work with 
 Newton, Harvey, Jenner, Kepler, Galileo, Columbus 
 and thousands of others, while they were studying out 
 the great problems that have resulted in so much good 
 to our race. 
 
 Mr. Wesley, in his sermon on Good Angels, says : 
 "They may assist us in our search after truth, remove 
 many doubts and difficulties, throw light on what was 
 before dark and obscure, and confirm us in the truth 
 that is after godliness. They may warn us of evil 
 in disguise, and place what is good in a clear and 
 strong light. They may gently move our will to 
 embrace what is good and fly from that which is 
 evil. They may many times quicken our dull af- 
 fections, increase our holy hope or filial fear, and 
 
174 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 assist us more ardently to love Him who first 
 loved us. Yea, they may be sent of God to answer 
 that whole prayer, put into our mouths by pious 
 Bishop Kenn : 
 
 " ' 0, may Thy angels, while I sleep, 
 Around my head their vigils keep, 
 Their love angelical instill, 
 Stop every avenue to ill ; 
 May they celestial joys rehearse, 
 And thought to thought with me converse !' 
 
 "Although the manner of this we shall not be able 
 to explain while we dwell in the body." 
 
 Wesley believed that we were surrounded with the 
 angel worlds, and that they had much to do in the 
 affairs of this life. 
 
 I am satisfied that we might know much more 
 about a future life, and have more sublime concep- 
 tions of the great and wondrous worlds above us and 
 around us, and a clearer knowledge of our relations 
 to other worlds as members of one great family, if 
 our hearts were more open and free to receive such 
 impressions as these celestial messengers are ready 
 and willing to bring to us. Our knowledge, like 
 many other gifts of nature, grows from germs of 
 thought that may be projected into the mind like 
 seeds with downy wings that are scattered over the 
 receptive soil. 
 
 It is a cheerless atheism that starts up worlds from 
 nebulus matter or fire-mists, and projects them into 
 space by blind chance, and allows them to run their 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 175 
 
 wanderous cycle and then return to primal chaos ; 
 and it is the gross materialism of our age that shuts 
 up every avenue of the soul against those hallowed 
 influences that come to us from sister spirits and from 
 brother spirits, that help to make up the great " family 
 in heaven and on earth"* 
 
 Mr. Charles Wesley expresses this beautifully when 
 he says : 
 
 " One family, we dwell in Him ; 
 One church above, beneath, 
 Though now divided by the stream — 
 The narrow stream of death." 
 
 Mr. Bonar gives a still different view of the close 
 connection of our present state and the life on the 
 other side when he says : 
 
 "Surely, yon heaven, where angels see God's face, 
 
 Is not so distant as we deem 
 From this low earth ! 'Tis but a little space, 
 
 The narrow crossing of a slender stream; 
 'Tis but a vail, which winds might blow aside ; 
 
 Yes, these are all that us of earth divide 
 From the bright dwelling of the Glorified — 
 
 The land of which I dream." 
 
 The interest that every living, thinking and loving 
 soul has in a plurality of worlds and the unity of the 
 whole family under one Infinite Head, with many 
 millions of subordinate laborers through the boundless 
 fields of life, rises in magnitude beyond the highest 
 conception of mortal minds. It is only when we step 
 
 • Eph. iii. 15. 
 
176 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 out of these walls of " earthly dust and human clay" 
 that we will begin to see the grandeur of this uni- 
 versal empire. We will then find that the bright 
 stars that now adorn our nocturnal heavens, like so 
 many bridal gems of night, are worlds aglow with life 
 and beauty. 
 
 A knowledge of the physical structure of the uni- 
 verse, such as we gain from the study of astronomy, 
 furnishes us with a key by which we unlock many of 
 the hidden mysteries of nature, and walk through her 
 temples and halls and high court-yards with adoring 
 wonder, and trace a designing hand in every arrange- 
 ment for the support of life ; and with this knowledge 
 comes a profound veneration for that Infinite Creator 
 who has so wisely arranged the different worlds for the 
 support of all forms of life. 
 
 The husbandman who has his farm and buildings 
 so arranged as to shelter and protect animal and vege- 
 table life, and furnishes supplies sufficient for the de- 
 mands of those who depend on him, deserves the 
 approval of all his neighbors; and in proportion as 
 the flocks and herds are multiplied, and fields are 
 added to fields and farms to farms, so will be increased 
 the respect for a man who manages his affairs for the 
 good of his numerous dependents. Kings and con- 
 querors who have ruled in righteousness have been 
 honored by their subjects, and the larger the kingdom 
 so much the more profound will be the respect for the 
 sovereign who rules wisely and for the good of his 
 subjects. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 177 
 
 If we carry this thought into the realm of other 
 worlds, and from spirit life to million forms of life, 
 from the lowest to the highest orders, both in physical 
 and spirit form, and then, by following the analogy 
 of life from one world to other worlds in untold num- 
 bers, we find a dominion and a ruler before whom an 
 intelligent universe may bow with the profoundest 
 reverence, and with united voice exclaim : " The Lord 
 God omnipotent reigneth! " 
 
 The man that is brought up in a factory where pins 
 are made, and where points of pins and needles are 
 the constant objects of his attention, will gradually 
 find his mind narrowed down to a very small point; 
 while the man who manages the sledge hammer of a 
 forge, or directs the movement of a powerful engine, 
 will have his views of the world enlarged by the same 
 law by which the muscles in the blacksmith's arms 
 gain strength from constantly wielding the ponderous 
 hammer. It is by moving out from narrow circles to 
 extended fields of labor and of thought that higher 
 conceptions of the works and wonders of creation are 
 excited. That many have been mistaken in their views 
 in speculative astronomy there can be no doubt, but 
 these mistakes have been way-marks to those who 
 have followed the earlier astronomers ; and thus, piece 
 by piece, has the mighty structure been reared through 
 which we move out from our narrow home on earth to 
 the contemplation of worlds beyond worlds, in almost 
 endless progression, under the same Divine Father's 
 care and protection. 
 
 12 
 
178 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 The distinguished astronomer Huyghens, in his 
 Conjectures Concerning the Planetary Worlds, says: 
 
 "If any one shall gravely tell me that I have spent 
 my time idly, in a vain and fruitless inquiry after 
 what I never can become sure of, the answer is that, 
 at this rate, he would put down all natural philosophy, 
 as far as it concerns itself, in searching into the nature 
 of such things. In such noble and sublime studies as 
 these, 'tis glory to arrive at probability, and the search 
 itself rewards the pains. But there are many degrees 
 of probable, some nearer to the truth than others, in 
 the determining of which lies the chief exercise of our 
 judgment. And besides the nobleness and the pleas- 
 ure of the studies, may we not be so bold as to say 
 that they are no small help to the advancement of 
 wisdom and morality?" 
 
 Mr. R. A. Proctor, in his late work on Myths and 
 Marvels of Astronomy, says : 
 
 " The interest with which astronomy is studied by 
 many who care little or nothing for other sciences is 
 due chiefly to the thoughts which the celestial bodies 
 suggest respecting life in other worlds than ours. 
 There is no feeling more deeply seated in the human 
 heart — not the belief in higher than human powers, not 
 the hope of immortality, not even the fear of death — 
 than the faith in realms of life where other condi- 
 tions are experienced than those we are acquainted 
 with here. It is not vulgar curiosity or idle fancy 
 that suggests the possibility of life in other worlds. 
 It has been the conviction of the profoundest thinkers, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 179 
 
 of men of the highest imagination. The mystery of 
 the star depths has had its charm for the mathemati- 
 cian as well as for the poet ; for the exact observer as 
 for the most faithful theorizer ; nay, for the man of 
 business as for him whose life is passed in communing 
 with nature. If we analyze the interest with which 
 the generality of men inquire into astronomical mat- 
 ters apparently not connected with the question of life 
 in other worlds, we find, in every case, that it has been 
 out of this question alone, or chiefly that, that inter- 
 est has sprung." 
 
 Science has done much, during the past two hundred 
 years, toward constructing highways of thought across 
 the mighty chasms that, to our material senses, sepa- 
 rates the different worlds of the universal empire ; and 
 if, in this daring onward march of science, there has 
 been witnessed an apparent clash with the teachings 
 of the Bible, it has only awakened the defenders of a 
 divine revelation to a more critical examination and 
 more rational exegesis of this revelation. 
 
 To cultivate religion, with its emotions upon our 
 spiritual nature and its supernaturalism, to the neglect 
 of scientific knowledge, might bring a return of the 
 superstition and barbarism of the dark ages of the 
 world, when all progressive ideas that did not harmo- 
 nize with the superstitions of the age were crushed 
 by those in power. On the other hand, science with- 
 out the influence of religion on our moral nature 
 would rush us headlong into the vortex of infidelity 
 and unrestrained sensualism. 
 
180 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 The moral world demands, and the happiness of our 
 race requires, that science and religion shall move 
 harmoniously through this world of conflicting forces, 
 each to exert a salutary and restraining influence on 
 the other, and rejoice in their conquests over material 
 and moral nature. 
 
 The difference between advocates of different creeds 
 of the Christian churches is not greater than the dif- 
 ference of philosophers in reference to the nature of 
 the sun in the center of our solar system. But, shall 
 we doubt sunshine because men differ about the nature 
 and cause of solar heat and the structure of the sun ? 
 By no means. The Bible, professedly, deals in mys- 
 teries that rise above our conception, and presents to 
 us a Being who, in all His attributes, is above the 
 comprehension of finite minds. It is not strange that 
 the sublime truths emanating from this infinite, source, 
 clothed in the poverty of human language, should ap- 
 pear obscure to many, and should be differently inter- 
 preted, and, consequently, make different impressions 
 on the diversified classes of readers and hearers. The 
 bitterness with which men of different opinions have 
 assailed their opponents has, no doubt, often arisen 
 from the deep convictions produced on the mind by a 
 truth coming through a divine inspiration, producing 
 a zeal of which was begotten a dogmatism that has 
 blinded the spiritual vision and uprooted those feel- 
 ings of forbearance and charity which the sacred pre- 
 cepts are so well calculated to implant in the human 
 heart. We have a striking illustration of this want 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 181 
 
 of charity toward opponents in a work recently pub- 
 lished, entitled The Final Philosophy or System of 
 Perfectable Knowledge Issuing from the Harmony of 
 Science and Religion, by Charles Woodruff Shields, 
 D. D., Professor in Princeton College. On page 262 
 of this work the author says, after speaking of the 
 different religious creeds that have found advocates in 
 the old country: 
 
 "And in the churches of the United States these 
 different sectaries have simply reappeared, sowing 
 broadcast the dragon-teeth of a new brood of heresies, 
 embracing the additional varieties of Methodists and 
 Baptists, and ranging between the gross Judaism of 
 Mormon and the crude Christianism of Campbell. In 
 a word, for three centuries, throughout Christendom, 
 countless sects, following their different leaders, have 
 gone on protesting against Protestantism, reforming 
 the Reformation, purifying Puritanism, dissenting 
 from Dissent, and redividing after each new division, 
 down to the very dust and powder of individuality 
 itself." 
 
 This is, undoubtedly, an overdrawn picture, and 
 plainly indicates the character and disposition of the 
 heart from which it came. At the bottom of page 
 263 he says, however : u These sects around us are 
 but fragments, more or les3 alloyed, of a common 
 Christianity." 
 
 These bitter reflections on thousands who are honest 
 in their convictions and verily believe they are persu- 
 ing a course that will lead them to final happiness in 
 
182 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 the spirit world, will do no good to Christianity, but 
 put an argument into the mouths of its opposers, 
 founded on supposed errors where there are such dis- 
 agreements. But, as already intimated, scientists, 
 astronomers and philosophers differ as widely ; and yet 
 there are great truths underlying all these theological 
 and philosophical theories, and a better understanding 
 will finally harmonize conflicting theories, and from 
 them a sublimer philosophy and a purer exegesis of 
 divine truth will move upon the moral chaos of our 
 struggling humanity. 
 
 " 'Tis but a little while, 
 And earth again like paradise shall smile ; 
 All things must ultimate in good at last, 
 Freedom and truth and love their glory cast 
 On happy earth, the fair and love-born child, 
 On whose new birth heaven like a mother smiled." 
 
 A cold and narrow selfishness has always drawn 
 division lines between the different parts of the one 
 great family of our common humanity. Cruelty and 
 oppression have been the natural outgrowths of the 
 power one nation or individual possessed over another. 
 When people shall think less of creeds and dogmas, 
 and more of the precepts contained in the sermon 
 of Christ on the mount, and find a unity among all 
 intelligent beings, in all worlds, under one infinite 
 controlling power — as the philosopher has found 
 a unity in matter of which all worlds are made — 
 then we may expect to approach the era of universal 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 183 
 
 harmony and the acknowledgment of a universal 
 brotherhood, and all will acknowledge that 
 
 "There's an Infinite Mind that all mind inspires; 
 There's an Infinite Heart that man's bosom fires ; 
 There's an Infinite Breath from the Infinite Soul 
 Inflowing through all and beyond control. 
 There's an Infinite Sphere in which all things lie ; 
 It encircles all skies — 'tis the present sky. 
 There's an Infinite Presence everywhere, 
 And it beats like a pulse on each globe of air. 
 There's an Infinite Will of an Infinite Cause, 
 And it twines throughout nature's harmonic laws." 
 
184 LIFE LK OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 No question in physical science has been more per- 
 plexing to the astronomer and philosopher than that 
 of solar light and heat ; not only in reference to their 
 influence on our earth, but also in the probability of 
 other planets of our sun system sharing in a supply 
 from the same source, to make them cheerful abodes of 
 life and to place that life under such conditions as to 
 become morally responsible to the Divine Creator and 
 Law-giver. 
 
 The narrow views generally entertained with regard 
 to the physical condition where life may exist, and the 
 limited sphere in which morally accountable beings 
 are supposed to exist, have been a serious barrier in the 
 way of many scientific men against embracing the 
 teachings of the Bible in reference to man's relations 
 to God, as a violator of His law, and his restoration 
 through the plan of human redemption and salvation. 
 
 As the scientist, who in his theory confines life to 
 this earth, is at a loss to know why there should be 
 
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT. 185 
 
 such a waste of energies in the physical structure of 
 our solar system, by the radiation of light and heat 
 in every direction through space, and only such a 
 small fraction be utilized for the purpose of sustaining 
 life on our earth, so does the man who limits the 
 Creator's care for the moral wants of intelligent and 
 responsible beings almost involuntarily stop to inquire 
 why an infinitely intelligent Being should single out 
 so comparatively insignificant a portion of His domin- 
 ions for the manifestation of His love in the gift of a 
 Savior to redeem a lost race. 
 
 Now, while the astronomer and philosopher may 
 indulge in speculations in reference to the sun's power 
 to reach other planets, and there, as well as here, 
 become the source of vitalizing energies, so may the 
 Christian, in his contemplations on the divine plan of 
 moral illumination and spiritual life, overleap the 
 narrow boundaries of this rebellious world, and very 
 justly conclude that the same spiritual sun that gives 
 spiritual life to our dark world may reach different 
 and distant worlds in the vast empire of the one uni- 
 versal Father. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers answers the infidel objection to 
 Christianity on the ground " that Christianity is set 
 up for the exclusive benefit of our minute and solitary 
 world," by saying, " We challenge them to the proof 
 of this announcement." "They have made their 
 argument against us out of an assertion which has 
 positively no ascertained facts to rest upon — an as- 
 sertion which they have no means of verifying — an 
 
186 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 assertion, the truth or falsehood of which can only be 
 gathered out of some supernatural message, for it lies 
 completely beyond the range of human observation." 
 
 It must be admitted that the astronomical objection 
 urged against Christianity and the Bible comes with 
 considerable force when the revelations of the Bible 
 and the mission of Christ to this earth are restricted 
 to one single race in the great universe. We must 
 not lose sight of the fact that our earth is a very small 
 part of our solar system, and this solar system is only 
 one among many millions of sun systems, and accord- 
 ing to the discoveries of modern astronomy, as we 
 have already noticed, there are other suns controlling 
 systems of planets and their satellites far superior to 
 our sun. 
 
 Our race may have been the first in rebellion against 
 divine authority; but that other races, in different 
 worlds, under a moral government, were equally liable 
 to become transgressors, appears to be a very reason- 
 able conclusion. If intelligent beings are free to 
 choose the good and refuse the evil set before them, 
 then other races, in other worlds, might remain in a 
 state of obedience or became transgressors by their 
 own choice. We are told in the Bible that even "the 
 angels which kept not their first estate" were cast 
 out from the divine presence ; and if these higher 
 orders of intelligent beings became transgressors, why 
 not others in lower spheres become involved in trans- 
 gression, when exposed to the same surrounding influ- 
 ence? We are not prepared to admit that the infinite 
 
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT. 187 
 
 plan was to place our race in a condition where rebel- 
 lion would become inevitable, with a view of mani- 
 festing divine compassion to this one rebellious race. 
 Other races, as above stated, in all probability, were 
 as liable to go astray from a prescribed course for the 
 government of their lives as our race has been. The 
 arguments of theologians against the astronomical 
 objections of infidels too often admit what should not 
 be admitted, viz., that if other races were sinners, 
 then they needed a Redeemer and Savior as much as 
 we do ; and if they were not thus redeemed, then Infi- 
 nite Goodness would show a partiality to one obscure 
 part of His intelligent subjects, and leave all others to 
 suffer the consequences of their transgression without 
 a provision for their deliverance. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers makes some very interesting remarks 
 in reference to the knowledge other beings in the uni- 
 verse may have of the history of our redemption, and 
 the interest they may have in the welfare of our race, 
 and the influence it may have upon them to know 
 that we have been redeemed, and have the offer of 
 eternal life through the redemption by Christ. 
 
 "The information of the Bible upon this subject is 
 of two sorts — that from which we confidently gather 
 the fact that the history of the redemption of our 
 species is known in other and distant places of the 
 creation, and that from which we indistinctly guess 
 at the fact that the redemption itself may stretch be- 
 yond the limits of the world we occupy."* 
 
 * Chalmers' Revelation and Astronomy, p. 110. 
 
188 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 Whatever the analogies of nature may teach us in 
 reference to animal and vegetable life in other worlds, 
 it would be foolish and fanciful to theorize on the 
 botany and peculiar forms and conditions of life in 
 these different and distant worlds, and it would be 
 equally so to theorize on the moral relations and con- 
 ditions of their inhabitants. All our knowledge on 
 these subjects must be mere conjecture. 
 
 We cannot say whether sin has found its way into 
 these worlds, nor how many messages may have gone 
 to them from the Infinite Father on the subject of our 
 common Christianity. For all we know, this spiritual 
 kingdom, which, by its author, is compared to a grain 
 of mustard seed, is destined to grow into a tree that 
 shall spread its shadowing influence and life-giving 
 fruit over the universal empire of worlds. 
 
 A communication from God to different worlds, 
 attested by such miracles as Infinite Wisdom might see 
 proper to produce, to convince the different races of 
 the divine authority of the messenger, might reveal to 
 such races, in clear and definite statements, the whole 
 plan of human salvation. The offer of life and future 
 happiness might become as clear to them as it is to 
 us. This would be no more wonderful than many of 
 the transactions recorded in the New Testament. We 
 may well conceive that the "angels' visits," that have 
 been "few and far between" on our earth, might be- 
 come a very common occurrence to other worlds. 
 Angels took a deep interest in the mission of Christ 
 on earth. 
 
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT. 189 
 
 " The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a 
 dream, saying, arise and take the young child and his 
 mother and flee into Egypt."* "But when Herod 
 was dead, the angel of the Lord again appeared to 
 Joseph, and told him to return to the land of Israel." 
 Christ told His disciples that He could have twelve 
 legions of angels at His command to deliver Him if 
 He desired it. In His agony, before the crucifixion, 
 angels appeared to Christ and strengthened Him. 
 They appeared at the sepulcher after His resurrection 
 and assured His anxious disciples that He had risen 
 from the grave, and told them where they might meet 
 Him. In a word, they sang anthems of praise at His 
 advent, and accompanied Him in His ascension, and 
 assured the gazing crowd, as the cloud received Him 
 out of their sight, that He would come again. Now, 
 looking at the Old Testament scriptures in their ac- 
 count of angels appearing in human form and talking 
 to men, as in the case of Abraham, Lot, Jacob, and 
 others, and believing these accounts to be true, we can 
 readily conceive that these celestial messengers might 
 be sent to different and distant worlds, to explain to 
 their inhabitants the whole plan of human redemption 
 and salvation. It is very evident that the transaction 
 that was to take place on Calvary at the crucifixion 
 was previously known among the angels, and some, 
 at least, of the disembodied spirits, for on the Mount 
 of Transfiguration, in the presence of Peter and 
 James and John, Moses and Elias appeared and 
 
 Matt. ii. 13. 
 
190 L]FE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 talked with Him, "and spake of His decease, which 
 He should accomplish at Jerusalem." 
 
 Christ, at one time, told His disciples that He had 
 other sheep, which were not of the fold to which they 
 belonged, and that these also would be gathered in, 
 that there might be one fold and one Shepherd. I 
 now come to a point in theology, on the religious 
 aspect of the question of Life in Other Worlds, where 
 I may come in conflict with the thinking and believ- 
 ing of some of the wise men of the past and present. 
 
 We have looked out upon a material universe, as 
 far as the teachings of the telescope will allow mortal 
 man to gaze into the depths of space, and then on the 
 wings of thought we have tried to soar beyond the 
 range of telescopic power, and through the immeas- 
 urable depths of space the imagination sees systems 
 rising above and extending beyond systems, where 
 our thoughts may linger in strange bewilderment and 
 the mind become wearied in a vain attempt to grasp 
 infinitude. All these worlds under the control of 
 one almighty Creator may well excite inquiry with 
 regard to the moral and religious condition of the 
 dwellers on these distant shores. Is our sin-smitten 
 earth the only plague spot in the universe that needs 
 divine restoring and healing power? If this should 
 be so, we cannot well get away from the conclusion 
 that every intelligent being in the universe will be 
 interested in the plan of man's moral restoration, for 
 this plan brings the infinite Father into a different 
 relation to all created beings. It does not produce a 
 
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT. 191 
 
 change in the divine existence, but a change in the 
 divine relations to morally responsible beings. In 
 the material universe we find a sun for every world, 
 and means through which the light and heat from that 
 sun may sustain the different forms of life existing in 
 those worlds. In the spiritual realms we have found 
 a Christ for every world of moral and intellectual be- 
 ings, from the "principalities and powers in heavenly 
 places" down to the darkest corner on the most distant 
 globe of the material universe. That infinite Being 
 who said to the Jewish law-giver, "No man can see My 
 face and live," now comes in His different relation to 
 His erring children and says, "Come unto Me all ye 
 that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest." The feeble and helpless soul, longing and pant- 
 ing for spiritual communion with the divine power, 
 excites the pity of the infinite Father. Here came 
 the thought — not the after thought, but the one great 
 eternal thought and purpose of Infinity coming to 
 finite beings. When these finite, created and depend- 
 ent beings needed help, then the Eternal Word — the 
 world-creating, life-giving and life-sustaining Power — 
 comes out of eternity to the lowest plane of humanity 
 to allow created beings to approach the divine through 
 a glorified Christ in human or material form. In 
 this form He says to all, "No man hath seen God 
 at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in 
 the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him."* 
 It was the Eternal Word — the Divine Truth. "I 
 
 * St. John, i. 18. 
 
192 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 am the truth," said Christ. It is this that clothed 
 itself in our humanity — that "was made flesh, and 
 dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, as the 
 glory of the Only Begotten of the Father) full of grace 
 and truth." This is what was referred to above by a 
 change in the divine relations to morally responsible 
 beings. The divine incarnation, then, may have, and 
 undoubtedly does have, a significance reaching beyond 
 our own world, yea, reaching to all worlds where men 
 or angels dwell, either in redeeming acts or in admit- 
 ting created beings to approach the Creator through 
 this divine manifestation. Angels and archangels, 
 cherubim and seraphim may be messengers to differ- 
 ent worlds to explain the scenes of Calvary. The 
 resurrection and triumph over the power of death ; the 
 ascension amid a convoy of attending angels ; the 
 seating of Christ on the right hand of the Divine 
 Power — all these great truths may be revealed to ad- 
 miring millions in other worlds ; and if they are trans- 
 gressors, the terms of their pardon and deliverance 
 may be stated to them, and the blissful songs of praise 
 may go up from thousands of worlds to a divine and 
 glorified Christ, who has clothed Himself in a manner 
 so as to allow an approach to Him on the part of 
 those whom His almighty hand had formed. Our own 
 material bodies are only a part of the materials out of 
 which worlds are made. Christ took upon Himself 
 the same material. In that humanity glorified He 
 ascended to heaven, "there to appear in the presence 
 of God for us." We have, then, in His glorified 
 
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT. 193 
 
 humanity a microcosm of the material universe like a 
 central sun shining out upon all who are willing to 
 come to the Divine Light. Shall we be told, as some 
 have said, "the substance of the Son has been taken 
 into the subsistence of the Father;" that we have 
 not now a living Christ, in form as he appeared on 
 earth ? Then we may well exclaim, with Mary at the 
 sepulcher, " They have taken away my Lord and I 
 know not where they have laid Him ! " How often 
 have we received evasive answers when we have asked 
 the question, "Where is Christ?" We are told in 
 heaven ; and when we ask, Where is heaven ? we 
 are told, "everywhere," The prayers and creeds of 
 the different orthodox churches recognize a Christ as 
 risen from the dead ; but how few look at Him in the 
 light of a Christ for the universe, and a medium 
 through which all may approach the divine majesty 
 and have manifestations of the divine glory ? Through 
 His divine influence He pervades all nature, and is one 
 with the Father everywhere, working by His provi- 
 dential influence through all material nature, painting 
 every flower, giving nourishment to every blade of 
 grass, watching the falling of every sparrow, and sup- 
 plying the wants of every living creature through the 
 laws His hand has put in motion, and yet dwelling 
 amid the splendors of the divine mansions, manifest- 
 ing His divine presence to every intelligent being in 
 the universe in a way that would not have been done 
 if it had not been for the divine incarnation. While, 
 then, the astronomer claims to have found a central 
 
 13 
 
194 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 sun for all rolling and shining worlds, we have found 
 a central sun in the spirit world, holding, controlling 
 and giving life to all ; and, as amid the star spheres 
 there may be wandering stars to which are reserved 
 "the blackness of darkness," so in the spiritual uni- 
 verse there may be those who voluntarily withdraw 
 from the divine light, of their own choice, and are lost 
 in the abyss of an eternal gloom. Tell me not, then, 
 that the mission of Christ is confined to one dark spot 
 in the universe, and that all intelligent beings in other 
 spheres know nothing of this wondrous manifestation 
 of infinite love and goodness — this abounding grace 
 to erring mortals — this reaching out of the omnipo- 
 tent arm to lift up the lowly and the fallen — this 
 bringing home of the prodigal son to join the whole 
 family in the blissful triumphs in the higher spheres 
 of intelligence. In this divine plan infinite spirit has 
 become allied to material nature ; and there is not an 
 object on which our eyes fall, or that comes within 
 the range of our senses, in which we cannot recognize 
 a divine presence and the manifestation of a divine 
 power, and our adoring souls may always fall prostrate 
 before one ever-present, almighty Being, who governs 
 all worlds, and who manifests His presence every- 
 where. 
 
PUNISHMENT. 195 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PUNISHMENT. 
 
 That there is life in other worlds, we have endeav- 
 ored to prove by arguments drawn from the analogies 
 of nature and other sources. That life may exist in 
 different forms and under different conditions, I have 
 also endeavored to prove. That every living soul is 
 to have a future existence, we may assume as a fact, 
 without an attempt to prove it here. The idea of re- 
 wards and punishments in a future state, to be regu- 
 lated according to our character and conduct here, is 
 interwoven with all the religious creeds of the world. 
 Yet the extent and duration of the punishment for 
 sins in this life is viewed very differently by the advo- 
 cates of the different creeds among heathen and 
 Christian nations. Among all idolatrous worshipers 
 in pagan lands, as well as among the ancient Jews, 
 where the pure precepts of religion had become adul- 
 terated, there have often been heavy burdens laid 
 
196 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 upon men's shoulders, and fearful punishment threat- 
 ened to those who refused to bear these burdens. 
 We, however, find less said about future punishment 
 in our Old Testament scriptures than we do in the 
 writings of heathen authors. Most of the promises 
 and threatenings contained in the Old Testament had 
 reference to this life. Long life and temporal pros- 
 perity were the motives by which the Jews were 
 urged to a performance of their duties; and when 
 any one proved rebellious his life was cut short by the 
 hand of the executioner, or by a shower of stones from 
 the indignant crowd, without the benefit of the priest 
 or clergy. There are many instances recorded of this 
 sudden taking-off by the sentence of death for what 
 we now would call mere trifling offenses. It is claimed, 
 however, that in the New Testament scriptures 
 Christ and His apostles clearly taught the doctrine of 
 a future conscious suffering of an endless duration. 
 The parables of our Lord, taken in a literal sense, 
 would naturally convey this idea. But when the lan- 
 guage of the New Testament is compared with the 
 language of the Old Testament, where only a temporal 
 punishment was threatened, clothed in language as 
 fearful as the utterances of Christ and His apostles, 
 these passages, relied on to prove an eternal state of 
 conscious suffering in the sight of the redeemed and 
 the saved, lose much of their force and significance. 
 
 Those who undertake to defend the terrible doctrine 
 of an eternal hell of suffering, worse than fire, as 
 some say, do not, as a general thing, evince that 
 
PUNISHMENT. 197 
 
 sympathy for human suffering that this doctrine 
 should inspire. They speak of those who hold differ- 
 ent views as their "opponents," and enter upon the 
 discussion of this momentously solemn question as if 
 their happiness depended upon proving that a great 
 majority of our race would be eternally damned. The 
 advocates of this eternal hell fire are, in social life, 
 like other men. They enjoy the good things of this 
 life, and some of them manifest a comparatively small 
 concern about the eternal doom of the millions of our 
 race. 
 
 Noah Porter, in his article on Eternal Punishment 
 in the March- April number of the North American 
 Review, page 356, in speaking of the figurative lan- 
 guage employed in the New Testament describing the 
 future condition of the wicked, says: "This brings 
 up the ethical objections which are urged against the 
 terrific sensuous imagery that abounds in the New 
 Testament. These delineations, we know, have been 
 very generally interpreted in their literal sense, and 
 out of them painters and poets and preachers have 
 wrought fearful, and even horrible pictures, which 
 have either stupefied or bewildered the young and the 
 sensitive, and have not unfrequently weakened or 
 destroyed the spiritual comfort and effect which 
 they were designed to symbolize. Jeremy Taylor 
 and Jonathan Edwards are examples of those whose 
 genius and piety have not preserved them from grossly 
 erring in this fashion. Against the imagery which 
 we find in the Scriptures, when taken as imagery, no 
 
198 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 man, who has a moderate share of historic sense or 
 of historic candor, can make any show of objection. 
 Many of these images are taken from those agents of 
 terror which are familiar to the race — fire, tem- 
 pest, darkness, chains of darkness, weeping, wailing, 
 etc. Not a few are peculiar to the Hebrew theocracy, 
 its history and its prophetic symbolism. They did 
 not offend the ethical sense of the men to whom nor 
 the times when they were used. 
 
 "They enforced spiritual truth, which is important 
 for all times, concerning the issues of another life. 
 The Great Teacher and His apostles, who used them, 
 are no more responsible for misconceptions of their 
 import in this particular than for the countless 
 other errors and misconceptions under which Chris- 
 tianity itself has been well-nigh materialized and de- 
 stroyed. That eternal punishment has been enforced 
 by symbols and words which have been unwisely 
 and untruly used is no reason for rejecting the 
 doctrine, to which every man's conscience assents as 
 possibly true. It is not the eternity, but the severity, 
 of the punishment which these images illustrate and 
 enforce" 
 
 Undoubtedly, thousands have been induced to re- 
 ject the sublime truths contained in the Bible from 
 a wrong conception of the highly-wrought figures 
 with which the prophets and teachers clothed their 
 messages. The fault lies not in the ancient methods 
 of communicating divine truths, but in the material- 
 istic tendency of their interpretations. We could cite 
 
PUNISHMENT. 199 
 
 many passages from, the Old Testament scriptures 
 where this symbolical method was introduced, even 
 among those who are regarded very explicit in their 
 statements. 
 
 We have a striking example of this in the thirty- 
 fourth chapter of Isaiah. In verse 2 we read: "The 
 indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His 
 fury upon all their armies ; He hath utterly destroyed 
 them, and hath delivered them to the slaughter." 
 
 Now, neither sacred nor profane history gives any 
 account that all nations have been utterly destroyed 
 and delivered to the slaughter. Again, in verse 3 : 
 "Their slain shall be cast out, and the mountains 
 shall be melted with their blood." And in verse 4: 
 "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and 
 fall down as a leaf falleth off from the vine and as a 
 fig from a fig tree." 
 
 No one will claim a literal interpretation of these 
 figures, for the people to whom these threatenings 
 came then lived in Idumea and Bozrah. 
 
 In the fifth verse the prophet says : " For my 
 sword shall be bathed in heaven. Behold, it shall 
 come down upon Idumea and upon the people of my 
 curse to judgment." Again, verse 6: "The sword 
 of the Lord is filled with blood, for the Lord hath a 
 sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land 
 of Idumea." Verses 9, 10: "And the streams thereof 
 shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into 
 
 brimstone,' and the land thereof shall become burning 
 
 7 © 
 
 pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day. The 
 
200 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 smoke thereof shall go up forever ; from generation to 
 generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through 
 it forever and ever." 
 
 Here we find language in some respects similar to 
 that used in the New Testament, where it is claimed 
 that the final doom of the impenitent and wicked is 
 described, and yet we know that these threatenings 
 uttered by the prophet had reference to a people liv- 
 ing in his day, inhabiting a country known to him. 
 For this same country — of which he said "the 
 streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the 
 dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof 
 shall become burning pitch ; it shall not be quenched 
 night nor day ; the smoke thereof shall go up for- 
 ever" — still exists. 
 
 Now, no one, by any legitimate construction of 
 the above language, will attempt to prove that the 
 description so nearly corresponding with the language 
 of the New Testament must have reference to the 
 same thing — the future condition of sinners. 
 
 The following context, still referring to the same 
 country, says, verse 11 : "But the cormorant and the 
 bittern shall possess it, and the owl and the raven 
 shall dwell in it." Verse 13, the prophet, still 
 speaking of the same country that was to be made 
 desolate by war, says: "And thorns shall come up in 
 her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses 
 thereof, and it shall be a habitation for dragons and 
 a court for owls." Verse 14 : " The wild beasts of the 
 desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, 
 
PUNISHMENT. 201 
 
 and the Satyr shall cry to his fellow ; the screech-owl 
 also shall rest there, and find for himself a place of 
 rest." 
 
 From this description of the desolation that was to 
 reign through those dreary regions, from which the in- 
 habitants were to be driven by war, and which was to 
 become a habitation for the wild beasts above named, 
 we clearly see that the threatenings could have no 
 reference to a future state of punishment, notwith- 
 standing the words, " forever, and forever, and for- 
 ever," are used. It would be a singular mixture, if 
 we were to take these passages in a literal sense. 
 "Pitch on land and in the water," "dust turned to 
 brimstone," and "smoke ascending forever," and then 
 all these wild animals thrown in, would make a fear- 
 ful abode for the finally lost. Many more passages 
 could be quoted from the Old Testament, where the 
 temporal judgments of the Almighty are set forth in 
 those terrible figures, and symbolized by the most 
 fearful imagery, which will not admit of a literal 
 meaning. I do not wish to intimate that there will 
 not be a terrible punishment for all impenitent sin- 
 ners in a future state. What the amount and extent 
 of that punishment shall be we may well leave to 
 Him whose throne is established in judgment and 
 justice. 
 
 I am aware that the language of the New Testa- 
 ment is fearfully plain in describing the condition of 
 the wicked ; but the language of Isaiah and other 
 prophets, who were under the same inspiration, is 
 
202 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 equally plain and fearful, and both do not refer to the 
 same state or condition. That we will exist in a 
 future state, and have spiritual bodies and means of 
 communicating our thoughts one to the other in some 
 form of speech, I have no doubt. In these spiritual 
 bodies we will be capable of joys beyond our highest 
 conceptions in the present state, and our suffering for 
 wrongs done in this life will be in accordance with the 
 principles of justice and right. But the horrible 
 pictures drawn by preachers and religious teachers of 
 an eternal hell of fire and brimstone may well be 
 doubted. The man whose motives to piety are no 
 higher than the fear of an eternal hell of physical 
 suffering will pass for what he is worth on the other 
 shore. He will be utterly incapable of deriving any 
 enjoyment amid the splendors of the eternal mansions 
 in the Father's house prepared for the true and faith- 
 ful worshiper. There has, of late, been considerable 
 excitement produced by sermons preached on this 
 subject by some very distinguished ministers, both in 
 this country and in England. Among the most noted 
 of these is Canon F. W. Farrar, D. D., of England. 
 In his sermon on Eternal Punishment he says : 
 
 "I cannot pretend, my brethren, to exhaust in one 
 sermon a question on which, as you know, whole vol- 
 umes have been written. * * * But one thing I can 
 do, which is to tell you plainly what, after years of 
 thought on the subject, I believe, and what I know to 
 be the belief of multitudes, and of yearly-increasing 
 multitudes, of the wisest and most learned in our 
 
PUNISHMENT. 203 
 
 church. What the popular notion of hell is, you, my 
 brethren, are well aware. Many of us were scared 
 with it in our childhood. It is, that the moment a 
 human being dies, at whatever age, under whatever 
 disadvantages, his fate is sealed hopelessly and forever ; 
 and that, if he die in unrepented sin, that fate is a 
 never-ending agony, amid physical tortures the most 
 frightful that can be imagined ; so that, when we think 
 of the future of the human race, we must conceive of 
 a vast and burning prison in which the lost souls of 
 millions writhe and shriek forever, tormented in a 
 flame that will never be quenched." 
 
 After some further remarks on this subject, he con- 
 tinues : 
 
 " Now, I ask you, my brethren, very solemnly, 
 where would be the popular teachings about hell if 
 we calmly and deliberately erased from our English 
 Bible the three words, 'damnation,' 'hell' and 
 'everlasting'? Yet, I say unhesitatingly — I say, 
 claiming the fullest right to speak with the authority 
 of knowledge — I say, with the calmest and most 
 unflinching sense of responsibility — I say, standing 
 here, in the sight of God and of my Savior, and, it 
 may be, of the angels and spirits of the dead, that 
 not one of these words ought to stand any longer in 
 our English Bible, and that, being, in our present 
 acceptation of them, simply mistranslations, they 
 most unquestionably will not stand in the revised 
 version of the Bible if the revisers have understood 
 their duty." 
 
204 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 It is supposed by many that the doctrine of end- 
 less torments had been modified or altogether aban- 
 doned by thoughtful Christians; but the sermons 
 against it have called out replies from able men on 
 the other side, and among these replies we have a 
 sermon in the Complete Preacher, vol. ii., p. 231, by 
 Rev. Howard Crosby, D. D., LL. D., Chancellor of 
 the University of New York. In his sermon on Fu- 
 ture Punishment — "Let them be confounded and 
 troubled forever; yea, let them be put to shame and 
 perish "* — he says: 
 
 " To perish is to continue forever in the conditions 
 just described. The word in the second clause is the 
 echo of the word 'forever' in the first clause. The 
 two parts answer to one another. 'Let them be con- 
 founded and troubled forever ; yea, let them be put to 
 shame and perish.' The 'being confounded' and 
 ' being put to shame ' (as we have seen) are analogous, 
 dismay and disgust being the two sides of the same 
 wretched, godless experience; and so the 'being 
 troubled forever' and the 'perishing' are analogous, 
 representing the internal workings of depravity, with 
 a pang in every stroke. In vain do some try to ex- 
 plain such words as perishing and destruction by an- 
 nihilation. The Scripture explains itself. It speaks 
 of a torment day and night forever and ever (Rev. xx. 
 10), and tells us of those who shall be tormented with 
 fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels 
 and in the presence of the Lamb, the smoke of whose 
 
 * Psalm lxxxiii. 16, 18. 
 
PUNISHMENT. 205 
 
 torment ascendeth up forever and ever. That this is 
 a figure is very evident, but it is equally clear that it 
 figuratively pictures to us a punishment that never 
 has an end. 
 
 "But, say some, why dwell on such horrid topics? 
 Why not preach the love of Christ? We must do 
 what God's Word does. We must preach the love of 
 Christ, and also show the frightful truth of eternal 
 misery. The Gospel is a savor of life, and also a savor 
 of death. It saves and it hardens. It takes to heaven 
 and it sends to hell. Before the great and awful fact 
 of sin it can deal in no compliments and pretty things. 
 It is a question of eternal life or eternal death — of 
 everlasting joy through Christ or everlasting wretch- 
 edness through sin. The Gospel, moreover, warns in 
 order to save. 'That man may know that Thou, whose 
 name alone is JEHOVAH, art most high over all the 
 earth.' These are the words of the text. The word 
 of God would have men see the wicked go down to 
 doom in order that God's grace may be accepted and 
 the wretched procession cease." 
 
 We will give another extract from W. R. Alger's 
 Doctrine of a Future Life, p. 509 : 
 
 " When the general idea of a hell has once obtained 
 lodgment, it is rapidly nourished, developed and or- 
 namented, carried out into particulars by poets, 
 rhetoricians and popular teachers, whose fancies are 
 stimulated and whose figurative views and pictures act 
 and react both upon the sources and the products of 
 faith. Representations based only on moral facts, 
 
206 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 emblems addressing the imagination, after a while are 
 received in a literal sense, become physically located 
 and clothed with the power of horror. A Hindoo 
 poet says : ' The ungrateful shall remain in hell as long 
 as the sun hangs in heaven/ An old Jewish rabbi 
 says that after the general judgment 'God shall lead 
 all the blessed through hell and all the damned through 
 paradise, and show to each one the place that was pre- 
 pared for him in each region, so that they shall not 
 be able to say, " We are not to be blamed or praised; 
 for our doom was unalterably fixed beforehand." 
 Such utterances are originally moral symbols, not 
 dogmatic assertions ; and yet, in a rude age, they very 
 easily pass into the popular mind as declaring facts 
 literally to be believed. A Talmudic writer says: 
 ' There are in hell seven abodes, in each abode seven 
 thousand caverns, in each cavern seven thousand clefts, 
 in each cleft seven thousand scorpions; each scorpion 
 has seven limbs, and on each limb are seven thousand 
 barrels of gall. There are also in hell seven rivers of 
 rankest poison, so deadly that if one touches it he 
 bursts.' Hesiod, Homer, Virgil, have given minute 
 descriptions of hell and its agonies — descriptions 
 which have unquestionably had a tremendous influ- 
 ence in cherishing and fashioning the world's faith in 
 that awful empire. The poems of Dante, Milton and 
 Pollok revel in the most vivid and terrific pictures of 
 the infernal kingdom and its imagined horrors; and 
 the popular doctrine of future punishment in Christen- 
 dom is far more closely conformed to their revelations 
 
PUNISHMENT. 207 
 
 than to the declarations of the New Testament. The 
 English poet's Paradise Lost has undoubtedly exerted 
 an influence on the popular faith comparable with that 
 of the Genevan theologian's Institutes of the Christian 
 Religion. There is a horrid fiction, widely believed 
 once by the Jewish rabbins and by the Mohammedans, 
 that two gigantic fiends, called the Searchers, as soon 
 as a deceased person is buried, make him sit up in the 
 grave, examine the moral condition of his soul, and, 
 if he is very guilty, beat in his temples with heavy 
 iron maces. It is obvious to observe that such con- 
 ceptions are purely arbitrary, the work of fancy, not 
 based on any intrinsic fitness or probability ; but they 
 are received because unthinking ignorance and hungry 
 superstition will greedily believe anything they hear. 
 Joseph Trapp, an English clergyman, in a long poem, 
 thus sets forth the scene of damnation : 
 
 " ' Doom'd to live death and never to expire, 
 In floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire 
 The damned shall groan — fire of all kinds and forms, 
 In rain and hail, in hurricanes and storms, 
 Liquid and solid, livid, red and pale, 
 A flaming mountain here, and there a flaming vale ; 
 The liquid fire makes seas, the solid, shores; 
 Arch'd o'er with flames, the horrid concave roars. 
 In bubbling eddies rolls the fiery tide, 
 And sulphurous surges on each other ride. 
 Tae hollow winding vaults, and dens, and caves, 
 Bellow like furnaces with flaming waves. 
 Pillars of flame in spiral volumes rise, 
 Like fiery snakes, and lick the infernal skies. 
 Sulphur, the eternal fuel, unconsumed, 
 Vomits redounding smoke, thick, unillumined.' " 
 
208 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 But these horrible paintings of torments and suffer- 
 ings are mild compared with those found in some of 
 the writings of the ancient heathen authors. Mr. 
 Alger says : 
 
 "One who is familiar with the imagery of the 
 Buddhist hells will think the pencils of Dante and 
 Pollok, of Jeremy Taylor and Jonathan Edwards, were 
 dipped in water. There is just as much ground for be- 
 lieving the accounts of the former to be true as there is 
 for crediting those of the latter; the two are funda- 
 mentally the same, and the pagan has earlier posses- 
 sion of the field." 
 
 While we may entertain doubts with regard to these 
 questions, and view them as hypothetical and not 
 clearly revealed in the Bible, we may all be certain 
 of one thing: The highest type of true piety, with 
 supreme love to the infinite Father and an unwaver- 
 ing faith in Christ the Redeemer, and the love of our 
 neighbor, which shows itself in deeds of kindness, 
 will, in the end, lead us out of suffering and sorrow 
 to a higher condition and a sphere of more active ser- 
 vice and greater usefulness in the divine family. In 
 what part of the vast universe our earth-born race 
 will finally find a home no one can tell. Some have 
 conjectured that this earth might, in its final change, 
 Le our future home. 
 
 The saddest reflection arising out of this whole 
 subject of our future life is produced by the stolid 
 manner in which this whole question of our future 
 condition is viewed and treated. We see the crimi- 
 
. PUNISHMENT. 209 
 
 nals, in our courts of justice, arraigned "and con- 
 demned to years of penal service for a single offense, 
 committed under the influence of excited passion, in 
 an unguarded moment. Our sympathies are excited 
 in their behalf, and we mourn over their sad misfor- 
 tunes. But the few years in the penitentiary soon 
 pass away, and they are out in the free world again. 
 Men have spent fortunes to save a child or a friend 
 from the ignominy of a few years' imprisonment; and 
 when the hand of the law falls upon its helpless victim, 
 years and days and hours are counted with painful 
 anxiety for the time to come that shall bring release 
 from temporal bondage and suffering; but who shall 
 count the ages of eternity that shall bring release to 
 the soul banished from the "presence of God and the 
 glory of His power," dwelling outside of the divine 
 light that guides the erring ones to a better condition ? 
 Now, add to this banishment actual physical suffering, 
 such as many believe will be the lot of the wicked, 
 and what a fearful picture. Tell me, if you can, why 
 so many who believe in this physical eternal torment 
 are so strangely indifferent to the destiny of their 
 friends, and sport away the hours of life in seeking 
 their own comfort, and often throwing stumbling 
 blocks in the way of anxious, inquiring souls. How 
 terrible is the thought of eternal conscious, sensuous 
 suffering. 
 
 Prove to me that my child or friend has landed 
 where the flames of fire "dash on agony's eternal 
 shore," and you drive me to insanity. I must forever 
 
210 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 forget myself, or become unconscious of my own iden- 
 tity, before I could be happy in heaven and know 
 my child to be in a hell of sensuous suffering. Outer 
 darkness will be bad enough, without the infliction of 
 actual torments upon the wanderer from his Father's 
 house. I trust that the star of hope will yet arise in 
 the great future upon all souls who have strayed away 
 from the divine Shepherd's care, and light will come 
 to the spirits* in prison, and the long lost will be gath- 
 ered into the family of the pure and the holy in an 
 eternal union on the shores of an endless life. 
 
HEAVEN. 211 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 How often have we heard those whose lot in this 
 life has been hard say, "I shall find rest when I get 
 to heaven." Their highest conception of a future 
 life appears to be that of quiet repose within some 
 inclosure or prescribed bounds, and to engage in per- 
 petual songs of praise. Others, again, only think of 
 heaven as an escape from punishment, and as a kind 
 of recompense for the suffering they endured on earth. 
 "I think I ought to get to heaven, after having suf- 
 fered so much in this life," is an expression often 
 heard from the toiling and suffering thousands of earth. 
 I heard a very pious lady once say: "When I get 
 to heaven I intend to stay there ; if others wish to 
 come back to this earth to visit their friends.they may 
 do so, but I have had enough of it." 
 
 The real enjoyment of heaven will not be a nega- 
 tive condition — a mere freedom from pain and labor, 
 and cares and anxieties of this life. It is a positive 
 state, for which every soul must have a fitness, and in 
 
212 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 which our noblest powers will be employed in active 
 service in the different parts of the celestial family. 
 The spiritual faculties will be adapted to the employ- 
 ment, and this activity, so far from exhausting, will 
 increase the powers for a wider range and more ex- 
 tensive sphere of service among the dwellers in the 
 different mansions in the "Father's house." 
 
 The enjoyment of heaven, then, will depend upon 
 our moral relations to the conditions surrounding us. 
 If we have the kingdom of heaven within us, we will 
 be in harmony with the kingly palaces through which 
 the free spirit will move with a perfect delight to obey 
 the divine commands. Could a soul with the moral 
 stains of a sinful and polluted life be admitted into the 
 divine mansions, his want of moral fitness for associ- 
 ation with the pure and the holy would be to him a 
 source of unutterable anguish. The removal of a 
 person wallowing in the filth of a sensual life into the 
 royal palace of an earthly monarch could convey to 
 us but a very inadequate idea of the unrest of the 
 soul ushered into the presence of the pure and the 
 holy in spirit life. 
 
 Divine love and divine purity would be to such a 
 soul "a consuming fire," and, like Judas of old, he 
 would soon gravitate "to his own place." 
 
 Whether, then, w r e view heaven as a place or as a 
 condition, there can be no enjoyment without a pre- 
 paration for the condition. That there will be what 
 to dwellers there would be a real place there can be 
 no doubt. And that there will be different spheres, 
 
HEAVEN. 218 
 
 rising one above the other, is also taught in the Bible. 
 These are called "many mansions." And we are told, 
 "As one star differeth from another, so are the saints 
 in light." The teaching of the Bible is plain and 
 definite with regard to a future home for those who 
 follow this teaching and become willing subjects 
 of the King who rules and reigns in this spirit- 
 ual Zion, represented to us under so many beautiful 
 types and figures in the New Testament. It is com- 
 pared to our habitation here: "And hence," says St. 
 Peter, "we, according to His promise, look for new 
 heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- 
 eousness." — II. Peter, iii. 13. It is also compared 
 to " a city which hath foundations, whose builder and 
 maker is God." — Heb. xi. 10. It is also called a 
 substance: "Hence," says St. Paul, "ye have in 
 heaven a better and enduring substance." — Heb. x. 
 34. Our Savior calls it a place : "I go to prepare a 
 place for you." — John, xiv. 3. It is also compared to 
 an earthly habitation : "We have a building of God, a 
 house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." — 
 II. Cor. iv. 18. "There shall be no night there." — 
 Rev. xxii. 5. 
 
 From the above passages of Scripture we learn 
 that heaven is a place where there will be associations 
 and friendships. It will not be an ethereal condition 
 only, somewhere in the regions of indefinable space, 
 but a real home, where friends will recognize each 
 other, and where there will be progress and improve- 
 ment in wisdom and knowledge. We can conceive of 
 
214 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 no better condition in our earth life than where each 
 individual seeks to better the condition of others. The 
 teachings of Christ, in His sermon on the mount, 
 with its proper interpretations, if carried out in prac- 
 tice, would almost turn the disordered conditions of 
 society into a paradise ; and can we not suppose that 
 in our heavenly home there will be this same spirit 
 manifested ? There will be a disposition to encourage 
 the feeble, to instruct the ignorant, to cultivate the 
 minds of those whose condition in their earth life 
 never gave them an opportunity to hear the sublime 
 truths so well calculated to lead men out of darkness 
 to a pure light, and to a higher degree of knowledge. 
 This would be in harmony with the divine plan. Men 
 are employed here for the elevation of others ; mis- 
 sionaries are sent to heathen lands ; societies are 
 formed for works of piety and works of benevolence ; 
 angels from higher spheres are sent as messengers to 
 minister to those on earth. "Are they not all minis- 
 tering spirits?" We may well imagine that there 
 will be millions from heathen and pagan lands who 
 will need instruction in the divine plan of progression 
 from lower to higher conditions. Infants, whose 
 minds were not capable of receiving instruction in 
 their brief earth life, will receive the necessary in- 
 struction there for their mental development and 
 advancement to maturity. 
 
 But an objection may be raised here, on the ground 
 that Infinite Wisdom and Power can do all these 
 things without any intermediate agencies. This same 
 
HEAVEN. 215 
 
 objection might be made against every humane and 
 Christian effort in our present state. Here, we send 
 missionaries at great expense, and often at the risk of 
 life, to heathen lands, as well as to the destitute around 
 us. The objector might say: "If Omnipotent Power 
 wishes to help the needy, He can do it without our 
 effort." But we know this is not in accordance with 
 the divine economy. He commands us to work for 
 others, that there may not only be a unity of effort 
 among the workers, but that the fact of imparting and 
 receiving help may unite all in one common brother- 
 hood. The idea of mutual dependence — of receiving 
 and giving — runs through all life in its various forms. 
 No particle of matter stands independent and alone 
 in the material universe. No animal nor vegetable 
 life can exist without help or influence from others or 
 from the potent forces surrounding it. "No man liv- 
 eth to himself." No angelic being can have an inde- 
 pendent existence. The happiness of heaven will 
 greatly consist in active labors for the good of others. 
 The types through which heaven is represented to 
 us are all calculated to excite pleasant associations in 
 the mind. Among these we have the Eden where 
 Adam and Eve commenced the journey of life. Para- 
 dise is another type with which we associate everything 
 pleasant and delightful. Again, the land of Canaan, 
 the most delightful spot to the ancient Jews on this 
 green earth ; and in that land was Jerusalem, and on 
 one of its highest hills was the temple. This was 
 Mount Zion, a name ever dear to the pious Jew, and 
 
216 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 a place toward which he turned his wishful eyes when 
 performing his religious devotions in his captivity in 
 strange lands. " The Lord loveth the gates of Zion 
 more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things 
 are spoken of thee, city of God." — Psalm lxxxvii. 
 2, 3. The coming up of the tribes of Israel to worship 
 in the temple at Jerusalem was typical of the glorious 
 gathering of the redeemed and saved from every land 
 as they came with singing unto Zion: "And everlast- 
 ing joy shall be upon their head." 
 
 The Holy of Holies in the temple was also a type 
 of heaven. It is said that " Christ is not entered into 
 the holy place made with hands, which are the figures 
 of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in 
 the presence of God for us." — Heb. ix. 24. Here 
 there may be visible displays of divine light which 
 can only flow out to an intelligent universe of created 
 beings through the incarnation of the divine Word. 
 In that bright world we will have bodies as we have 
 here, but they will be spirit bodies, in which we will re- 
 tain our sense, reason and memories, only in a higher 
 degree than we have them here. Beautiful landscapes, 
 flowers of the rarest and richest colors, and scenes of 
 surpassing loveliness may greet our improved vision, 
 
 " In that fair land that spreads 
 Beneath the slope of the eternal hills, 
 Where nothing fades and nothing dies, 
 But all is without ending and decay — 
 The sky, the sun, the light, 
 The peace, the truth, the love, 
 And, above all, the joy." 
 
OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 DO .OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS RECOGNIZE US i 
 
 The mind almost instinctively delights in calling 
 up the scenes of the past. Memory opens her store- 
 house to the aged, and takes them by the hand and 
 leads them back over the green fields and through the 
 pleasant groves where their youthful feet roamed, and 
 repeats, in whispering to the inner consciousness, the 
 beautiful lessons of love and filial affection that dropped 
 from the lips of parents or friends in other days. 
 
 If we do not lose our memories when we depart 
 from this life — and reason and revelation teach that 
 we do not — then we not only retain a knowledge of 
 the past, but we will continue to take a deep interest 
 in what is going on among our friends in earth life, 
 and if angels and the spirits of our departed friends 
 are one and the same class of beings, then we may 
 expect that our friends will come to us and accompany 
 us amid the joys and sorrows that surround us, and, 
 
218 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 as ministering spirits, they may have an influence over 
 us for good in some way we now, perhaps, cannot un- 
 derstand nor appreciate. 
 
 On this subject, I would refer the reader to the able 
 sermon on the Ministry of Angels, by Rev. H. W. 
 Thomas, D. D., published in an appendix to this 
 work. I need not repeat what he has said in language 
 better than I could, in presenting this subject. Some 
 of the ablest and most eloquent preachers of our day 
 believe that angels and the spirits of our departed 
 friends are one and the same class of beings. Bishop 
 Fallows, of the Reformed Episcopal Church, during 
 his ministry in Chicago, preached a very able sermon 
 on the cloud of witnesses that surround the Christian 
 in " running the race set before him." He maintained 
 that angels were "the elder brethren of those who 
 join them from this life, and while there might be 
 different degrees in knowledge and power, there was 
 harmony in their actions, all working together in one 
 great harvest-field of love and kindness to our race." 
 
 Rev. Dr. A. E. Kittridge, in a sermon preached on 
 the same subject, in this city, is reported, in one of our 
 daily papers, to have said: "He believed that the dear 
 ones that had gone before were ever around the loved 
 ones of earth, like a great cloud of witnesses, and, 
 though they are not seen, they doubtless see and keep 
 continual watch over us. They are ministering spirits, 
 separated only by a narrow stream, and when we come 
 to the river's edge we shall see them like a great vision 
 of glory. In faith, we see them now. Why, heaven 
 
OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS. 219 
 
 is so close, that when he, as a pastor, stood by the 
 death-beds of others, when the silent shadows were 
 stealing over them and shutting out the things of earth, 
 they had said, rapturously, that they saw waiting 
 angels." 
 
 The following is from a work written by the late 
 Rev. D. W. Clark, D. D., one of the bishops of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, and may be considered 
 as good authority on this subject: 
 
 " 'But tell us, thou bird of , the solemn strain, 
 
 Can those who have loved forget? 
 We call — but they answer not again — 
 
 Do they love, do they love us yet? 
 We call them far, through the silent night; 
 
 But they speak not from cave nor hill ; 
 We know, we know that their land is brightj 
 
 But say, do they love there still?' 
 
 "We have here an inquiry of touching interest, 
 and one that requires to be treated with great delica- 
 cy. We have already shown that the righteous dead 
 are with Christ. To wish that they were constantly 
 with or around us would be as selfish as it is unkind. 
 We delight in the society of those nearly allied to us 
 on earth — our children — and yet we send them forth 
 from us because we know the great ends of our com- 
 mon being require it. Heaven we know is the home 
 of the angels of God ; but we also know that they go 
 forth — nay, even come down to earth as ministering 
 spirits. By this means there is a strange, mysterious 
 intercourse between the ministering angels and living 
 
220 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 men. They are not always away from heaven, nor 
 would we wish them to be. We would almost fear 
 that something earthly and gross might be contracted 
 by them, and that even their own joy might be marred 
 by their too constant intercourse with sinful and sor- 
 rowing beings. We would have them return often to 
 heaven, to bathe in its celestial light, to catch anew 
 its holy joy, and thus to come back to us again, to 
 labor with more ardent zeal for our salvation. So 
 should we feel in relation to the dead in Christ — our 
 own loved dead! 
 
 " Among those myriads of angelic messengers is it 
 not possible that there should sometimes be found one 
 who was once an inhabitant of earth? Is it not pos- 
 sible that our departed kindred — our parents, our 
 companions, our dear children that passed from us in 
 the bloom of life, a loved brother or sister — may re- 
 visit earth, and come to minister to us in that which 
 is holy and good — to breathe around us influences 
 that will draw us heavenward ? If it be possible to 
 revisit earth, this, no doubt, is the glorious mission on 
 which they would desire to come. 
 
 "Is such return to earth possible? One, at least, 
 we may claim on Bible authority, has revisited earth, 
 if the spirit of Samuel appeared to Saul after the in- 
 cantations of the sorceress of Endor. ' Had it been 
 satisfactorily known,' says Bishop Burgess, ' through 
 any other channel than divine revelation, that Saul 
 saw Samuel on the eve of his own fall, and heard his 
 words, "To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with 
 
OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS. 221 
 
 me," it would still have been a fact in the history of 
 mankind, and would have proved, as truly as now, the 
 possibility of such apparitions. That there was a 
 real appearance of Samuel is the plainest interpreta- 
 tion of the language, was the belief of the ancient 
 Jews, and has been supposed by the best divines. He 
 came, not through any power of the sorceress, it 
 would seem, but to her utter amazement. Once, 
 therefore, a departed spirit has revisited the earth, 
 and has been seen and heard ; and it is worthy of re- 
 mark that he took the form and aspect in which he 
 might be the best recognized.' But whatever question 
 or room for doubt there may be in relation to this ap- 
 pearance of Samuel, there can be none in relation to 
 the return of Moses and Elias, many centuries after 
 their removal to the world of spirits. They were seen 
 and heard by Peter, James and John upon the Mount 
 of Transfiguration. 
 
 " Dr. Adam Clarke expresses it as his opinion that 
 spirits from the invisible world, including also human 
 spirits which have gone there, may have intercourse 
 with this world, and even become visible to mortals. 
 They are not brought back into mortal life, but only 
 brought within the sphere of visibility. All along 
 through the Bible, the thing, at least by implication, 
 is again and again recognized. As when Peter, 
 miraculously delivered from prison, appeared at the 
 gate, the frightened disciples exclaimed, 'It is his 
 angel ! ' or when the Savior appeared walking upon 
 the water, 'they supposed it had been a spirit.' 
 
222 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 "We might also cite the universal belief of all ages 
 in not only the possible, but the actual occasional re- 
 turn of the departed from the spirit world to revisit 
 tne earth. 
 
 " Who shall say that there is not, then, a real 
 presence of the dead with the living ? Neander speaks 
 of a custom among the early Christians of cherishing 
 the memory of departed friends by celebrating the 
 anniversary of their death in a manner suited to the 
 Christian faith and hope. ' It was usual on this day, ' 
 says he, Ho partake of the communion under a sense 
 of the inseparable fellowship of those who had died in 
 the Lord. A gift was laid on the altar in their name, 
 as if they were still living members of the family.' 
 So also, he says, 'the whole church would celebrate 
 the anniversary of those who had died as witnesses of 
 the Lord — the holy martyrs; and the communion was 
 celebrated in the consciousness of the continued fel- 
 lowship with them.' 
 
 " This is a sublime, beautiful idea ! How simple, 
 and yet how deep and earnest, the faith of the early 
 and holy people of God ! ' The communion of the 
 saints,' says Dr. Nevin, 'regards not merely Chris- 
 tians on earth, but also the sainted dead ; according 
 to the true words of the hymn, " The saints on earth 
 and all the dead but one communion make." There 
 is a pernicious view in the religious world at the 
 present time by which the dead are taken to be so 
 dissociated from the living as to have no part further 
 in the onward movement of Christ's kingdom.' It 
 
OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS. 223 
 
 was the impression of Mr. "Wesley concerning Emanuel 
 Swedenborg, whom he knew personally, that the strong 
 impression on his mind of the presence of deceased 
 friends, at particular moments, was produced by their 
 actual but invisible presence. Oberlin, also, for many 
 years, claimed to enjoy intimate communion with the 
 dead. And thousands of Christians have had, at 
 times, as clear and overpowering a consciousness of 
 the spiritual presence of departed friends as of their 
 own self-being. And what is peculiarly to be observed 
 is that this communion has been realized only by those 
 most spiritual in their nature, and peculiarly allied by 
 the power of a living faith to Christ. 
 
 " There is one other fact bearing upon this subject 
 which we cannot now forbear. It is the affecting 
 recognition of the presence of the dead in Christ, 
 which is sometimes realized by the dying saint. Pa- 
 rents have recognized departed children as present to 
 welcome them, just at the moment of their own de- 
 parture ; so have children recognized the presence of 
 a sainted father or mother ; also, brothers and sisters 
 have thus seemed to meet each other on the dividing 
 line between this world and the next." 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke sums up his belief in the invisi- 
 ble world as follows. He says : 
 
 " 1. I believe there is a supernatural and spiritual 
 world, in which human spirits, both good and bad, 
 live in a state of consciousness. 
 
 "2. I believe there is an invisible world, in which 
 various orders — spirits, not human — live and act. 
 
224 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 " 3. I believe that any of these spirits may, accord- 
 ing to the order of God, in the laws of their place of 
 residence, have intercourse with this world, and be- 
 come visible to mortals." 
 
 It is, however, proper to state here that Dr. Clarke 
 speaks in strong terms against incantations and con- 
 jurers, just as any right-minded man would speak 
 against the pretenders among modern spiritualists, 
 claiming at pleasure to calling up departed friends, 
 and getting communications from them. Some of the 
 most intelligent among the spiritualists themselves 
 denounce these traveling, professional mediums as 
 dishonest tricksters and frauds, unworthy of the con- 
 fidence of any community where they carry on their 
 deceptions for the sake of gain. We must, however, 
 guard against opposite extremes. While we denounce 
 the deceptions of modern spiritualists, we must not 
 lose sight of the great truth taught in the Bible and 
 believed by Christians and ministers of the Gospel in 
 all ages of the Christian world, that there is a great 
 spiritual world all around us, and only invisible to us 
 because our material organs of vision are not adapted 
 to such existences. There are many instances re- 
 corded in the Scriptures where the eyes of individuals 
 were opened to see the spirits around them. There is 
 an interesting instance of this kind recorded in II. 
 Kings, vi. 17. When the king of Syria made war 
 against Israel, and came by night and encompassed 
 the city of the Israelites, and when the servant 
 of the prophet Elisha saw their perilous situation, 
 
OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS. 225 
 
 he said: "Alas, my master! how shall we do?" 
 "And Elisha prayed, and said : Lord, I pray Thee, 
 open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord 
 opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw ; 
 and behold, the mountain was full of horses and 
 chariots of fire round about Elisha." 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke, the learned Methodist commen- 
 tator, says on this verse: u Where is heaven? Is it 
 not above, beneath, around us ? And were our eyes 
 opened as were those of the prophet's servant we 
 should see the heavenly host in all directions. The 
 horses and chariots of fire were there before the eyes 
 of Elisha's servant were opened." 
 
 The Scripture account is so full and explicit in ref- 
 erence to the intercourse of angels and our departed 
 spirit friends, and our recognition of them in our 
 spiritual home, that we need not multiply argument 
 on this subject. We may assume it as an established 
 fact, so clearly revealed in the Bible, that to deny the 
 intercourse of angels and the spirits of the departed 
 with those now living on the earth would be to reject 
 the plain teachings of the Scriptures. That they will 
 appear to us in bodily form, so as to be recognized by 
 us, we infer from the appearance of Samuel to Saul, 
 and Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration. 
 They had not then their resurrection bodies, for no 
 one had risen from the grave before Christ arose and 
 became the first fruits of them that slept. If those 
 who reappeared on earth assumed such forms as to be 
 recognized by men living in the body, may we not 
 
 15 
 
226 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 infer that this is a general law of our spiritual exist- 
 ence, and that in heaven we will readily recognize our 
 loved ones with whom we lived on earth? Infants 
 may have advanced to higher condition. The aged 
 and infirm may wear the bloom of youth. Yet, by 
 our superior knowledge in that bright world, we will 
 know the dear ones who are waiting for us on the 
 other shore. I would again refer the reader to the 
 able sermon by Dr. Thomas, on this subject, in the 
 Appendix. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 TO 
 
 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
APPENDIX. 229 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 The following sermons were delivered by Rev. Dr. 
 Thomas, in the pulpit of Centenary Methodist church : 
 
 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence 01 
 the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. — Luke, 
 xv. 10. 
 
 In geometry, we are told that a circle is a curved 
 line, every part of which is equally distant from a 
 point called the center, or words to that effect. Let 
 us each one imagine ourselves as standing at this cen- 
 tral point, and looking outward. And then let us 
 imagine that this line gradually recedes, or moves 
 away, thus enlarging the inclosed space. And then 
 let us imagine that this line disappears, or is wholly 
 removed, so that we stand at a point that is not 
 
230 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 bounded at all, and from which we can look or move 
 in every direction without limit ; and could we move 
 with any conceivable velocity forever, we should never 
 reach a limit; and in some such way we can form 
 some idea of what we call space. That illustration I 
 heard in the school-room more than twenty years ago, 
 and it has been a seed thought bearing fruit ever 
 since ; not in measuring the earth or calculating forms 
 and distances, for I have done very little in that direc- 
 tion ; but it set me upon a method of study and observa- 
 tion, that of standing at a point and looking outward. 
 And then a little later, when the first book of mental 
 science came into my hands, I got the first impres- 
 sion — and most vivid it was — that each one is a little 
 world in himself, a world of sense or feeling, and of 
 thought; and that the world within each one answers 
 to the world without. That, too, was a seed thought 
 and has been bearing fruit. And then, standing in 
 this center and studying a little further, I came upon 
 the statement, or fact, that what we call our conscious- 
 ness, or inward sense, or knowledge of things, is 
 double, and corresponds to this fact of a world within 
 and a world without. The books call this the con- 
 sciousness of self, and not self; that is, the knowledge 
 that we are, and the knowledge of something besides 
 ourselves. And this, too, has been a seed thought. 
 Indeed, they are points, or centers, or facts, from 
 which none of us ever can get away ; nor need we 
 want to leave them, or lose sight of them, for all 
 knowledge, all that is knowable or unknowable, 
 
APPENDIX. 231 
 
 thinkable or unthinkable, is either within ourselves 
 or without ourselves ; is either part of ourselves or not 
 part of ourselves ; and hence all study, all knowledge 
 must be within one or the other or both of these fields. 
 With this broad analysis or generalization we can 
 easily classify the mental movements of ourselves or 
 of mankind. If we move outside of ourselves we 
 encounter material things, as earth, air, water, fire, 
 light, heat, electricity and the phenomena of life, and 
 hence we have our studies in geography and chemis- 
 try and zoology, and when we pass on to the stars we 
 have our astronomy. These we say are physical 
 studies, or the studies of physical things; then, when 
 we turn in the other direction, or look within, we en- 
 counter mind, and this we call metaphysics, or that 
 which is beyond the physical. Here we observe the 
 phenomena of mind in learning and remembering, 
 and of reason and imagination. And here, also, we 
 discover conscience, and affection, and reverence, 
 and all the moral powers. And when we turn with- 
 out again, and pursue the upward way of metaphysics 
 and morals, we come to theology, or the doctrine of 
 God. 
 
 Our text lies, as we shall see, in both these fields 
 of thought. It touches the inner and the outer 
 world ; it penetrates the realms of both matter and 
 spirit, and of both the good and the -bad. 
 
 Let us each one, then, stand at the point, in the 
 vast circle of things, of our individual being, and 
 from this center journey outward. In doing this, let 
 
232 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 us remember that the outward world corresponds to 
 the world within, and is knowable to us only because 
 of the one answering to the other. Had we not eyes 
 we could have no knowledge of light. Had we not 
 within the sense of hearing, and taste, and smell, and 
 feeling, we could have no idea of such things as 
 sound, or of sweet and bitter, or of odors, or of hard- 
 ness or softness, in the outside world. Had we not 
 each one the sense of truth, or right, or love, or duty, 
 within, we could have no idea of these things or qual- 
 ities or facts, without. And let us premise this other 
 fact, that when any sense or capacity is found within 
 it would Seem that there should be that which an- 
 swers to it without ; and that starting outward each 
 faculty of sense, or mind, or spirit, finds that which 
 corresponds to itself. 
 
 Starting, each one, then, from our own little cen- 
 ter, what do we perceive ? We meet first, the things 
 of sense ; the things that meet the eye, the ear, the 
 taste, the touch. We are thus put in communication 
 or conscious relations with the world of matter. We 
 are also made conscious of the presence of each other, 
 and of the facts of truth and moral relations of right 
 and wrong, and there comes to us some sense at least 
 of the .future and of God. In all this, let us suppose, 
 as must indeed be the fact, that our circle is at first 
 very small, or its boundary line very near us. At 
 first we know but a very little of matter, of its nature, 
 or its properties, or its extent. We know very few 
 people. We know very little of truth, or right, or 
 
APPENDIX. 233 
 
 love, or justice, or of the relations of society. We 
 know almost nothing of the future, or of God. 
 But as we stand and look, or as we move outward, 
 the circle expands or enlarges, and slowly there 
 comes to us a sense of the vastness or the magnitude 
 of things. 
 
 The little circle at first is so small that it holds 
 only ourselves and the members of our own family. 
 Ours is the only house, ours the only people ; and the 
 yard and the garden and the spring are the only 
 world of which we know; and the trees in the yard 
 are our forests, and the sky is the covering just over 
 our heads, and rests down on the field or meadow just 
 beyond, and the sun comes up and goes down beneath 
 this arching roof. But as we journey outward we 
 perceive that the spring flows into the river, and the 
 river to the ocean. We find that beyond the garden 
 is the meadow, and beyond this the field, and beyond 
 this the woodland, and beyond this another farm. We 
 find that beyond the little hill is the valley, and be- 
 yond the broad plain is the high mountain, and be- 
 yond our own ocean-bound shores there are still other 
 continents. The trees that grew near our home are 
 not alone, but spread out into vast forests. Not only 
 is the earth continuous beneath our feet, not only do 
 the streams flow onward, but the roads on which we 
 first placed our feet reach outward, and the people, 
 counted at first by our own family, spread out into 
 neighborhoods, and villages, and cities, and states, 
 and great nationalities, till the world that was once so 
 
234 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 small is now large and covered over with human be- 
 ings like ourselves. But when one circle has enlarged 
 to take in something of our own world, we have only 
 taken a single step forward, have only begun to look. 
 The earth that at first was so small, and then grew 
 to be so large, now becomes very small again as our 
 circle enlarges and takes in Mars, and Jupiter, and 
 Saturn, and Uranus, and Neptune ; takes in the sun ; 
 takes in all the stars of heaven, and all the countless 
 millions of suns and systems that spread out in the 
 infinite depths beyond. Thus the magnitude of things 
 dawns upon us, and we stand with reverence and 
 amazement, not in the presence of one little world, 
 but of a universe. 
 
 Coming back again to our little circle, and moving 
 outward, we are impressed with the unity of things. 
 There is, of course, a vast diversity, but running 
 through all this diversity we perceive a unity of plan, 
 and design, and movement. The earth is one. The 
 rocks are one. Air is one. Water is one. Light is 
 one. Life is one. Growth is one. Death is one. 
 There is a plan, an order, in the vegetable kingdom 
 and in the animal kingdom. And not only in these 
 things, but in ourselves and our kind there is a unity. 
 Everywhere man must eat and sleep, and labor and 
 rest. Everywhere he must have some form of speech 
 or language. Everywhere he has some idea of num- 
 bers and distance, if it be no more than to count his 
 fingers, or to reckon distance by a day's journey. 
 Everywhere he has some idea of beauty, some sense 
 
APPENDIX. 235 
 
 of truth and justice. Everywhere he laughs and 
 weeps and loves. Everywhere he is born and dies. 
 Everywhere he has some thought of God and the fu- 
 ture. When we look out upon the world in this way 
 we feel that it is one. There is always something, 
 however strange the land or language, or people or 
 scenery, that gives us some feeling of familiarity, of 
 likeness to home. We find the same sunlight and air; 
 and however different the birds, or beasts, or moun- 
 tains, or trees, there will be something that we have 
 seen before. And when we study the worlds lying out 
 beyond us, and when the telescope and the spectro- 
 scope tell us that they have night and day, and sum- 
 mer and winter, and air and water, and soil and 
 scenery, and the chemical elements that go to make 
 up our world ; and when we know that we are all held 
 by the one power of gravity and all must move in 
 obedience to the law of matter; when we study these 
 things, the great truth dawns upon us that our world 
 is a part of one great system, that the universe is one, 
 and that over all there is one living God. 
 
 Now let us come back again to our starting point. 
 And standing in our little circle, we find that we are 
 not only ourselves alive, but that we are surrounded 
 by living things. We may not be able to tell what 
 life in its last analysis is, but still we observe it as a 
 fact ; and we perceive, further, that it exists under 
 various forms and types and in an ascending scale — 
 all the way from the simplest ferns up to the most 
 perfect flowers and trees — and from the radiata and 
 
236 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 mollusk up to man. And we observe, further, that 
 the conditions for all these forms of life are present in 
 the earth and air and water and chemical agencies. 
 And in studying these things we are impressed with 
 the fact that the final cause, or that for which all these 
 conditions exist, is that life, or living things, may 
 exist. The one answers to the other; and we find 
 that life is everywhere — spreads out all over our 
 world. Now, when we extend our circle till it takes 
 in other worlds than our own, takes in our solar sys- 
 tem, and the millions of other worlds and systems of 
 worlds scattered throughout space ; and when we re- 
 flect that these other worlds, so far as we know, are 
 on the same general plan of our world — have land 
 and water and air and light — and when we reflect 
 that our world is a part of this general system of 
 worlds, that all are under the same general laws, we 
 find it most reasonable to suppose that the final cause 
 for which they exist is not different from the final 
 cause in ours ; and hence, as life is the final cause 
 here it must be there, and hence that there must be 
 life in other worlds. And as we find that life here 
 looks to and culminates in man, and as our world is 
 one of the least of worlds, we may suppose that other 
 worlds have some form of life not less glorious than 
 that of man here. And hence, as the circle enlarges, 
 we find ourselves standing not only in the presence 
 of a vast universe, but in the presence of a uni- 
 verse filled with life, and filled with rational beings 
 like ourselves, and possibly far transcending us in 
 
APPENDIX. 237 
 
 knowledge and power and goodness. That must, 
 indeed, be a very narrow view — a view in which the 
 circle of vision has not expanded far from the cradle 
 and the walks of childhood — that would limit life 
 and intelligence to this one little world. What a stu- 
 pendous stretch of egotism in the poet, who, in writing 
 of our little world, that is less than a sand on the sea 
 shore, would say : 
 
 We for whom all nature stands, 
 And stars their courses move ! 
 
 That might have done for the days of the old geo- 
 centric theory, when it was supposed that our earth 
 was the center and that the sun moved around it daily, 
 and that the stars were mere gems to adorn the near 
 firmament at night. 
 
 Let us now come back again, and from our little 
 circle study another fact. We find here that what we 
 call truth and goodness are everywhere the same ; that 
 is, as facts they are the same, and all under the same 
 general laws. Our understanding of them may not 
 be the same, and hence there may be differences oi 
 opinion ; but when the final facts are reached we all 
 agree. There is only one moral law in our world. 
 All the religions of our world agree that truth and 
 justice and love and reciprocity and purity are right. 
 And as the various religions and nationalities and 
 governments come more and more to see this, they 
 will cease to be wandering comets and will take their 
 places in the orderly heavens of moral law and love 
 
238 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 and brotherhood. Now, as there is one universe and 
 one living God, and one system of natural laws, and 
 one system of truth and moral law here, we are safe 
 in assuming that there is one system of moral law 
 in all worlds. That law, in its last analysis, is 
 the law of love. It is, figuratively speaking, to 
 the moral world what the law of gravity is to the 
 natural world. 
 
 Thus far we have journeyed mainly by observation, 
 induction and analogy, as illumined by the rational 
 faculty or by reason. And into what a vast outlook 
 have we been lead ! How has the circle been enlarged 
 and lifted up beyond the low, narrow horizon where 
 we first stood ! The mind is overwhelmed with won- 
 der and amazement, and filled with mingled emotions 
 of awe and reverence and fear and hope as it stands 
 and looks out upon such a scene. 
 
 Now, in the light of these things, let us come to 
 the more special study of the text. It needs some 
 such background of observation, some such prepara- 
 tion in thought, before the mind can begin to take in 
 the grandeur and sweep of its declarations. 
 
 And here we can journey no longer by the light of 
 reason alone. Reason does, indeed, give us a stand- 
 ing, a place from which to look, and by all her facts 
 and inductions and analogies creates a presumption, 
 an impression, in favor of some such immense truth 
 as the one here proclaimed. But if we had nothing 
 more than analogy, nothing more than an impression, 
 however powerful that might be, we should still be left 
 
APPENDIX. 239 
 
 in uncertainty ; we should be like Columbus before he 
 had found the new world. He had every reason to 
 believe that there was another continent, and that 
 there would be some form of life and beings there ; 
 but the ocean lay between him and that undiscovered 
 shore. And so with us. We have all the probabili- 
 ties; but we want the facts also. And here let us 
 bring out, not only the inner sense of reason, but that 
 of spirit also ; that which perceives the divine, that 
 which reaches out for God. And here, were we so 
 disposed, we might well reason from analogy that, as 
 every other inner sense finds some answering fact on 
 the outside, so we might expect that the sense of the 
 divine within us, the intuition of the divine, would 
 not in its reaching out be disappointed, but would find 
 that for which it was made and that to which it natu- 
 rally aspires — it would find God. And here this 
 sense of the divine stands, along with reason, out on 
 the borders of spirit life, and here the shores of upper 
 worlds come into view, and here the divine meets us, 
 and here the life of the happy dwellers in those realms 
 is discovered. 
 
 First, there stands before us Jesus Christ. Imman- 
 uel — God with us. God manifested in the flesh. In 
 Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead. He was 
 the express image of the Father, the brightness of His 
 glory. Before Him were gathered a company of sin- 
 ners — men who had missed their way, were wander- 
 ing in the dark, were lost. Of all the chapters in the 
 New Testament this is the sinner's chapter. Hence 
 
240 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 it is mine, and it is yours. Before the Savior were 
 gathered these lost ones, and He began to talk to them 
 of the "lost piece of silver" and of "the lost sheep" 
 and of the "prodigal son." Oh! what a scene is 
 this! The loves and feelings and cares that move 
 our poor hearts down here are kindred to the love and 
 emotions that fill and move the divine nature. The 
 love that leads the shepherd to go into the mountains 
 to find his sheep ; the love that leads a father to look 
 out into the distance to see afar his returning child; 
 the love that rushes out to meet him, the love that 
 takes the son to the father's arms, that forgives his 
 wandering and sinning, and welcomes him home with 
 music and feasting and joy; the love that puts new 
 garments in the place of rags; that love filled and 
 moved the heart of God for the sinful and fallen, the 
 lost, the wandering of our earth, and He must find a 
 way to reach us. Jesus Christ was that way, and 
 here He stands as God revealed to us, and telling us 
 that we are not forgotten, not forsaken — that there is 
 One who loves us, and One who came to save us. 
 This is not a presumption. It is a fact. "It is a 
 faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that 
 Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." 
 And being a fact, the fact of a divine life, the life of 
 God, after which the soul cries, is confirmed. 
 
 Take another truth disclosed here. It is that 
 "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God 
 over one sinner that repenteth." This fact confirms 
 the fact that from reason we were quite ready to 
 
APPENDIX. 241 
 
 believe, namely, that there is life and intelligence in 
 other worlds. But it does more than this, and what 
 is of vastly more interest to us. It teaches not only 
 that there are intelligent beings in other worlds, but 
 that they have knowledge of what is transpiring in 
 our world, and that they are deeply interested in our 
 welfare, and rejoice when we turn from sin to right- 
 eousness. Standing in our little circle, this, too, does 
 not seem unreasonable, for we have means here of 
 knowing the affairs of distant portions of our country, 
 and even of the lands across the sea. Morse set the 
 lightning to carry our news. Daguerre caught the 
 sunlight, and made it paint our pictures. And now 
 comes Edison with his simple phonograph that catches 
 and preserves the very tones of the human voice, so 
 that the world may hear the living words of an orator 
 long after his lips are still in death. And we may 
 easily reason that the higher intelligence of other 
 worlds may have means of communication wholly un- 
 known to us. Analogy might teach us also that, as 
 nations share something of a common interest and 
 sympathy in our world, these bonds of friendship 
 would be found in all worlds, and possibly reaching 
 out from one world to another ; all this we might look 
 upon as possible and probable, but without the Bible, 
 or some direct personal experience, we could not know 
 it as a fact. Jesus Christ affirms the fact. He who 
 came out from the invisible tells of life in other 
 spheres, and that all those happy beings bend over 
 our world and watch our steps with a deep and tender 
 
 16 
 
242 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 interest. Oh, what a revelation, what a fact is this r 
 to know that we are in a universe of life, and that 
 through all worlds there run the same common laws 
 of truth and righteousness and sympathy ! And with 
 what profound interest should the dwellers of our 
 world heed these great truths. How it should thrill 
 our hearts to know that angels attend our way and 
 rejoice when we turn from sin to holiness. We dwell 
 in so much darkness that we see not the perils of sin 
 or the rewards of righteousness as they are seen from 
 beyond. The angels know the night, the gloom, the 
 suffering that must ever be along the path of sin, and 
 they rejoice when the sinner turns from the downward 
 way. They know the rewards of righteousness, and 
 they rejoice when sinners turn to God. They watch 
 the mother as she watches her child, and they rejoice 
 with the father when the prodigal comes home. They 
 are not far from every minister, every teacher, every 
 one who ministers to the poor or visits the stranger 
 or watches by the sick. How these thoughts should 
 cheer us on in our work for humanity. And, oh ! if 
 there be a wanderer here, a lost one here, or a wan- 
 derer or a lost one among the many thousands to 
 whom these words shall go, if you have no permanent 
 rest, no abiding place, no living hope, be persuaded to 
 turn away from sin, to give up your wanderings and 
 come home to your Father's house. Be encouraged 
 to turn, for there is mercy, there is help. None of 
 us shall ever know how deep were the waters, nor 
 how dark was the night that the Lord went through 
 
APPENDIX. 243 
 
 that the lost might be found. Be warned to turn, for 
 there is, there can be, no rest or joy in a life of sin. 
 It may be that the angel first to rejoice over your 
 resolve may be a mother, or some loved one in the 
 spirit life. It may be that even in heaven the hearts 
 of loved ones are sad because you will not turn. A 
 life of righteousness will bring joy to yourself, joy to 
 the angels of God, and joy for evermore. 
 
244 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS. 
 
 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister 
 for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? — Heb. i. 14. 
 
 Some one made the laying of the Atlantic cable the 
 subject of a curious or imaginative speculation as to 
 what effect it produced upon the fish in the sea. It 
 does not require the help of imagination to suppose 
 that the millions of inhabitants down in that deep wa- 
 tery world should observe so striking an event as the 
 stretching of a long, dark cable from one side to the 
 other of their broad domains. But there is room for 
 the widest play of imagination as to what impression 
 the cable made upon the fish ; what explanation, if 
 any, they sought to give of its presence, or purpose, 
 or use. As they gathered about it, and saw it sink- 
 ing down to the bottom of their world, some may have 
 imagined it an omen of evil, or that it was some 
 strange monster or serpent coming to make war. 
 Others may have thought it unworthy of note and 
 gone on with their work or play. The older and the 
 wiser ones may have brought to the strange phenom- 
 enon what of tradition, or science, or philosophy, if 
 any, that they have down in that world ; and possibly 
 
APPENDIX. 245 
 
 some one, the shark or the whale, who sport upon the 
 surface, may have suggested that there was an order 
 of beings dwelling up in the air and out on the land, 
 and whose ships they had often seen sailing above them, 
 and that possibly this strange appearance or visitor in 
 some way belonged to them. We can hardly imagine 
 that the oldest or wisest of the fishes ever dreamed of 
 the uses to which we put such a thing in our world; 
 and much less that they could by any possibility im- 
 agine even the subtle force that played within that 
 dark coil of wire. 
 
 We dwell at the bottom of a vast ocean of air. We 
 live in this air as the fishes do in the sea; our ocean 
 is larger and deeper than theirs ; it extends all around 
 our earth, and is some forty miles deep ; and down at 
 the bottom of this we come and go, labor and rest 
 live and die. And it is no burlesque on man to say 
 that the fishes in the sea can hardly know less of their 
 world than man once knew of his world. He once 
 thought it was flat and that the sun passed round it 
 every twenty-four hours. He was once alarmed by an 
 eclipse, and terrified by shooting meteors, thinking 
 that they were falling stars. The uncivilized races 
 are yet in the bondage of night and fear, and have no 
 knowledge of any other world than this ; and to them 
 a camera or a railroad or a phonograph would be 
 almost as great a mystery as was the Ion cableg to the 
 fish in the sea. And from all this it is evident that 
 whether we be here as the slow and far-off result of 
 evolution, or of a nearer specific act of creation, it is 
 
246 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 certain that we are creatures of growth and education. 
 We have to learn to see and to hear and to feel. We 
 have to learn to talk and to think and to . reason. 
 And so of conscience and affection and volition; they 
 have to be developed. And being thus finite and 
 limited in our being, and dwelling as we do in bodies 
 of clay, it is further evident that the limit of our 
 senses, and even of our mental and moral perceptions, 
 is not to be taken as by any means the limit of things. 
 There may be, and very probably are, many proper- 
 ties of nature for which we have no corresponding 
 sense, and of which we are, and consequently must be, 
 wholly ignorant, just as we could have no knowledge 
 of light without the power of seeing. And then this 
 we know, that the senses and faculties we have can 
 come to their highest uses and results only by educa- 
 tion; and that, in the absence of this, whole worlds 
 of near and easy truth have lain undiscovered and 
 unknown all along the pathway of man, simply for 
 want of education and such supplemental aids as edu- 
 cation could bring. Thus it has been of all the dis- 
 coveries and inventions and truths and principles of 
 our race. The facts and the possibilities were in the 
 world all the time ; they awaited only the seeing eye, 
 the hearing ear, the reasoning mind, or the feeling 
 heart. 
 
 And hence, it is at no time safe to say we have 
 reached the limits ; that there is nothing beyond. We 
 are not to make ourselves^ and especially what little 
 we know, the measure of things. The uneducated ear 
 
APPENDIX. 247 
 
 must not be the limit nor the standard of music. The 
 uneducated person must not be the limit nor the stand- 
 ard of thought. The eye that has never looked through 
 a telescope must not set bounds to the astronomer's 
 vision as he gazes at the milky way. The conscience 
 and the heart that have never been opened to the 
 higher and better influences must not be the limit of 
 duty or love. And even if man is not in a position, 
 for want of knowledge or sufficient evidence, to affirm 
 that there is something more and higher than what he 
 at any time knows or believes, he certainly is not in a 
 position to deny that there may be more. There is 
 always a beyond that he has not reached, and an un- 
 known that he has not explored. And all the proba- 
 bilities and analogies point in one direction, and that 
 of more to learn and more to know and do. We are 
 only of yesterday. We have scarcely opened our eyes 
 upon the wonders of creation. Like little children, 
 we have scarcely come to form any conception of the 
 vast system of things all about us, and reaching out 
 above us and beyond us. Some such reflections as 
 we have suggested seem necessary to prepare the mind 
 for the higher study of the ministry of angels. It is 
 one of those higher themes that cannot be approached 
 or realized without reflection. One cannot enter such 
 a field by a single step, any more than he can compre- 
 hend law or music or mathematics without thought. 
 
 Let us first study the subject, then, in the light of 
 such general facts and analogies and impressions and 
 experiences as may tend to render such a doctrine not 
 
248 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 only possible but probable, and then we may be the 
 better prepared to understand and accept the Bible 
 doctrine. 
 
 Let us first recall the general facts or conclusions 
 reached in the reflections of last Sabbath upon Life in 
 Other Worlds, namely : That our world is a part of a 
 vast universe or system of worlds, all created by one 
 living God and ruled by the same natural laws; that 
 as life and intelligence and morality are the final cause 
 of this world, the same may be supposed to be the 
 final cause in other worlds, and hence there is life 
 in the other worlds, and hence, also, intelligence 
 and morality; and as truth and morality are every- 
 where the same in this world, and, so far as we can 
 see, must be the same in all places, there is only one 
 moral law and one moral universe. Such a conception 
 is, to say the least, not unreasonable. Indeed, it is 
 rendered not only highly probable, but almost certain, 
 by the laws of analogy. Its bearing on the subject 
 now under consideration will readily be seen. 
 
 Let us now reflect, further, upon the nature of the 
 life in other worlds, and especially upon the fact that 
 innumerable lives have, for thousands of years, been 
 passing away from our world. From general analo- 
 gies, we are quite safe in assuming that there is and 
 must be a general likeness. in all intelligent and moral 
 beings — that they must all, somehow, be in the image 
 of God. And we have every reason to believe that 
 what we call death makes no change in the nature and 
 feelings of the souls that pass away from the present 
 
APPENDIX. 249 
 
 state. They have thought and memory and affection 
 there, just as they had them here. This reflection o\. ens 
 up a doorway of nearness to the life in other worlds 
 that we could not .otherwise have ; and it invests that 
 life with all the tenderness and interest that made the 
 departed dear to our world before they passed away. 
 When we pause and think of the other life in this light 
 it does not seem far away, nor do the inhabitants seem 
 strangers to us. How many of them once lived down 
 here as we do now ! All the names that have made 
 bright the pages of earth's history, or literature, or 
 religion — names that our world will never let die — 
 are somewhere over there. Socrates and Seneca and 
 Aurelius ; Abraham and Isaac and Jacob ; Paul and 
 John and Luther ; La Fayette and Washington and 
 Lincoln, are over in that life. The great musicians 
 are there; the singers are there ; the poets are there; 
 the orators are there; the statesmen are there; the 
 philanthropists are there ; the martyrs to truth and 
 liberty are there; those who passed through much 
 suffering and trial here are there ; our fathers and 
 mothers are there; our brothers and sisters are there; 
 and, oh, what an innumerable company of sweet chil- 
 dren are there! And it cannot be that those who 
 have gone from our world can forget the scenes they 
 left behind. Plato has not forgotten Greece; Solomon 
 has not forgotten Jerusalem ; Paul has not forgotten 
 Rome; Napoleon has not forgotten France ; Washing- 
 ton has not forgotten America ; Prince Albert has not 
 forgotten his loved Victoria; and, oh, the millions of 
 
250 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 fathers and mothers in that land have not forgotten 
 the world where they first loved and wedded, and the 
 homes where they lived and died ; and the children 
 over there have not forgotten the parlors and gardens 
 and groves where they played, nor do they forget the 
 parents that go to weep at their graves, and kiss their 
 pictures, and put away the little garments they once 
 wore, as all that is left them now. 
 
 Let us consider, also, another fact. It is, that man 
 is the helper of man in this world. It is only by as- 
 sociation that man can rise out of barbarism, or accu- 
 mulate wealth, or achieve any great work. This is 
 not only so in material things; it is a fact also in the 
 world of mind. One mind must lean upon another 
 for sympathy and encouragement ; and one must look 
 to another for instruction in language, or music, or 
 medicine. And this is especially the case in spiritual 
 things. Man cannot, even in religion, well walk alone. 
 He is dependent upon the great laws of sympathy 
 and helpfulness from others. We naturally look to 
 others for help in faith and experience and patience 
 and charity. It is certainly a fact, here in this world, 
 that there is a communion of spirit in friendship and 
 intelligence and faith and prayer and sympathy and 
 love. It is not bodily presence alone that we feel in 
 communion one with another here ; it is a spiritual 
 communion as well — mind meeting mind and heart 
 meeting heart. 
 
 Let us reflect, again, that the life of other worlds 
 may vastly transcend the life of this world. There 
 
APPENDIX. 251 
 
 may be, and I suppose are, orders of beings with 
 endowments above mankind ; and then we must sup- 
 pose that there has been a growth, an increase of 
 power in those who have gone out from our world. It 
 is not to be supposed that Calvin and Wesley and Swe- 
 denborg are on the same plane of wisdom and power 
 that they were when they left this world. And so of 
 all others. And we may not be able to conceive what 
 a hundred, or five hundred, or five thousand years 
 may have done for souls in the other life. And if the 
 analogies of this life are worth anything in such rea- 
 sonings, we must suppose that all the souls gone out 
 from our world, and thus growing, must not only 
 have increased powers for usefulness, but, along with 
 the increase of power, an increase of desire and dis- 
 position as well. This was the case in the earth life 
 of all great and good men. Washington never loved 
 his country so well as in his " Farewell Address ;" and 
 Wesley never felt so deep an interest in Methodism 
 as he did when the time drew near that he must leave 
 its cares and management to others ; and Jesus gave 
 His most tender words of solicitude for His mother 
 and disciples when the hour of separation came. 
 And all who have witnessed the death of parents 
 know with what inexpressible tenderness they turn to 
 their children. Certainly, death makes no change in 
 these 'feelings, that grow stronger as the natural cur- 
 rents of life run lower and lower, and are strongest 
 of all at the very last. 
 
 Let us take still another fact : There is, I think, 
 
252 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 with all, or nearly all persons, a certain conscious- 
 ness — dim it may be — of a higher or deeper sense, 
 by which they sometimes come into communion with 
 spiritual things. I do not mean alone, nor mainly, 
 now, that communion of the heart by which God is 
 perceived; but a consciousness of some spiritual pres- 
 ence about us. It may be of a child, or a companion, 
 or a friend in the spirit life ; or it may be of some 
 less definite and yet perceived presence or power that 
 is felt to be near. And often in such moments the 
 mind finds light and strength, and the heart finds rest 
 and peace. Often sudden impressions of duty or 
 warnings of danger come to the mind, seemingly with- 
 out any earthly cause. And then closely related to 
 these are the phenomena of dreams, and clairvoy- 
 ance, and apparitions, and death-bed scenes, that seem 
 to reveal the presence of a kind of border-land, where 
 the forces and forms usually concealed from the 
 senses in their ordinary moods may, and do, make 
 themselves known in moments of crisis or of great 
 need. 
 
 Now, I submit that all these things taken together, 
 make out a strong presumptive case in favor of the 
 fact that there would be some communication between 
 worlds, and an angelic ministry over mankind in this 
 world. 
 
 There are only three arguments of which I now 
 think that might be, or usually are, brought against 
 the doctrine. The first is, that if angels and the de- 
 parted were permitted to know of the sorrows and 
 
APPENDIX. 253 
 
 wants of this world it would cau=e sorrow in heaven. 
 And this is the most pitiful and selfish of all arguments 
 that can be offered. It is so near akin to the old selfish 
 idea that the redeemed in heaven would find reason 
 of increased happiness by looking down at the lost in 
 hell, that I have no patience even in stating it. It is 
 pure selfishness. It is a libel — a slander on both hu- 
 man nature and religion. Think of a mother reaching 
 a point in any world when she would not be willing to 
 know the sorrow of her child, lest it should mar her 
 own sense of happiness. What a conception of piety 
 and heaven is this ! Why, unless heaven destroys 
 every good and tender emotion, there could be no 
 greater misery than to be denied the privilege of 
 knowing a child's wants or suffering, and no greater 
 joy than to lay down any harp of heaven and rush to 
 any hovel of earth to soothe its tears or stand by its 
 death-bed. Those who, after reflection, hold this 
 selfish view of heaven, have yet to learn the very first 
 principles of the sympathy of Jesus Christ and of the 
 life of the angels. The highest joy of heaven must 
 ever be in the greatest heroism and the sublimest and 
 deepest sacrifice to save others. Since Jesus Christ 
 became poor, became an outcast, suffered shame and 
 death on the cross, all the angels of God and all the 
 redeemed gladly go to any mountain or wilderness or 
 garden of sorrow to find the lost or comfort those who 
 weep. It may be argued, again, that such a ministry is 
 not possible. Such an argument must assume two 
 things: First, that we do not know of any means by 
 
254 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 which it is possible; and second, therefore there are no 
 such means. But neither of these propositions will 
 hold good. We do know that minds read and influence 
 each other while in the body. We do know that we 
 have means of talking to each other across the deep 
 sea. We know that the laws of nature, as gravity 
 and magnetism, act and interact throughout the uni- 
 verse. And by analogy we should infer that the laws 
 of spirit are not less efficient. But the second objec- 
 tion is even less tenable. To say that, if there were 
 means of such communication or ministration, we 
 should know of those means, is neither more nor less 
 than to say that we know all that is; which is in 
 effect to make our knowledge the limit of the possible; 
 that is to say, that what we do not know cannot be. 
 It should be remembered here, also, that the question 
 is not our ministering to the angels, but their minis- 
 tering to us. We, in our houses of clay, and with 
 our dull, heavy, earthly senses, may see, and, indeed, 
 may have, no way by which we may reach out and 
 take hold of angel life; but they, coming to us 
 from above, may have a thousand ways of taking 
 hold of us. We may not see them nor hear them, and 
 yet they may be, and I suppose they are, near us, and 
 all about us, and see us and hear us all the time. We 
 are apt to think of angel life as far away, somewhere 
 up among the stars, when, in fact, it is, probably, 
 all about us, and what we call distance is possibly no 
 more obstruction to angelical ministrations than it 
 is an obstruction to thought with us; and it is just as 
 
APPENDIX. 255 
 
 easy for us to project our thoughts to the sun, or to 
 the Pleiades, as it is to think of an object a mile away. 
 It is probable that no greater surprise awaits us a 
 moment beyond death than to find that heaven and 
 angel life are everywhere, and during our life-time 
 were all about us, though we saw them not. Little 
 did the wisest fishes down in the deep sea even 
 dream of the wonders of the telegraph and of the 
 great upper world above them ; and it hath not en- 
 tered into the heart of man to conceive the things 
 that God hath prepared for them that love Him. 
 
 The last argument against angelic ministrations 
 that we notice is the assertion that there is no such 
 supermundane ministry in the affairs of our world. 
 That, again, is to assume that if there were such min- 
 istrations we should see it, or feel it, or know it. And 
 that in effect, again, is to limit the actual, or that 
 which is, by our own knowledge. But how many 
 other facts and possibilities were long in our world 
 before mankind knew them. The earth turned on its 
 axis, and swept round the sun in its orbit for thou- 
 sands of years, and man knew nothing of it. The 
 blood circulated in their very bodies, and they knew 
 not the true theory. The possibilities of steam and 
 electricity were all about them, but they knew them 
 not. And then, as a matter of experience, or per- 
 sonal knowledge, the limitations of one must not be 
 the limitations of all. Because I could not construct 
 a sidereal chronometer, that is no reason why Dr. 
 Swazey should not do it. Because all the men in the 
 
256 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 world never constructed a phonograph, that does not 
 take away the fact that Mr. Edison has constructed 
 one. Because one man cannot appreciate the beau- 
 ties of art or the higher harmonies of music, that is 
 no reason that others may not have this knowledge. 
 Job may have been the only man in all Chaldea with 
 vision clear enough to read God's providence in afflic- 
 tion, or to say, "I know that my redeemer liveth," 
 but they were none the less facts to him. There are 
 many in this audience who walk from day to day in the 
 sweet assurance that they are the children of God, 
 and the fact that others may not have this experience 
 does not destroy the testimony of those who have it. 
 And there are many who walk the earth with the sa- 
 cred consciousness that their spirit friends are often 
 very near them. It is a fact to them, and this fact is 
 not taken away because Dr. Hammond and the ma- 
 terialists say there is no soul in man. No one is com- 
 petent to deny either the immortality of the soul or 
 the ministration of angels. The probabilities are all 
 on the other side. The probabilities all are that the 
 soul lives after death, and that loved ones, as well as 
 the higher angels of God, do come back and journey 
 by our side. And I think the deeper consciousness 
 of most good and thoughtful souls is often not without 
 some assurance of such presence and influence. 
 
 The Bible is full of such doctrine, and I had 
 thought to bring it out at more length than time will 
 now permit. The text says : "Are they not all min- 
 istering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who 
 
APPENDIX. ' 257 
 
 shall be heirs of salvation?" That is, it directly af- 
 firms, by the idiom of the original language, that they 
 are ministering spirits, and are sent forth to minister 
 for those who shall be the heirs of salvation. In the 
 Old Testament times such ministration was common, 
 so common as not to occasion surprise, and was easily 
 believed by all. In those days of simple trust God 
 was near, heaven was near, and the angels walked 
 and talked with men and women ; met them by the 
 way, came to them at their tent doors, "or in the wil- 
 derness ; came to them in dreams and visions, and 
 talked with them face to face. Thus they came to 
 Abraham and Lot, to Daniel and Ezekiel. And when 
 we come to the New Testament and the life of Christ 
 the whole scene is radiant with angelic presence and 
 light. They speak to Zachariah and Elizabeth, and 
 to Joseph and Mary. They attend in a grand over- 
 ture the birth of our Lord, and the whole heavens are 
 filled with the music of their sweet voices, and the 
 Judean skies echo back the glad chorus of " Glory to 
 -God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will 
 to man." The angels were with our Lord in His 
 temptation, in His baptism, and attended His whole 
 ministry, and in solid columns or legions were wit- 
 nesses to the scene of His death. They attended 
 Paul and Peter ; they opened the iron gates of the 
 prison, that Peter might go free. 
 
 The Scriptures make it plain that these ministering 
 angels have often been human beings who had lived 
 and died in this world. They are often spoken of as 
 
 17 
 
258 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 men, and often appeared in the form of men, and 
 talked as men. In some instances their identity even 
 is put beyond all doubt. Thus it was in the case of 
 Moses and Elias, who appeared on the Mount of 
 Transfiguration ; and thus we read in the book of Reve- 
 lation that when John would have worshiped the angel 
 who spoke to him, the angel said, " See thou do it 
 not; for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren 
 the prophets; worship God." And thus we have 
 opened up to our view the sublime thought of a uni- 
 verse or life — life in other worlds, and lives who have 
 gone out from our world — and all as the angels or 
 the messengers of God, sent forth to do His will. We 
 have opened up in this way a most impressive view of 
 the method of the divine government as carried on 
 through the ministrations of angels. They are His 
 messengers, flying through the heavens, charged with 
 messages of love or mercy, or justice or judgment. 
 They hover over the shock of battle scenes, and are 
 present in the storm where sailors toil with the 
 angry sea; they walk, unperceived, our crowded 
 streets, ready to shield from danger or to comfort in 
 sorrow. There is not a sick bed, nor a death-bed, 
 whether it be of man or child, or in palace or hovel, 
 or out in the desert wild, but the angels of God are 
 there. It has long been the cherished faith of many — 
 and it is my belief — that each soul, that all souls, 
 have guardian angels — bands of angels — who attend 
 them through all their journey here below. Oh, what 
 an upper-world of life and light and joy and minis- 
 
APPENDIX. 259 
 
 trations is just above us and all about us, could our 
 blind eyes and heavy ears but see their bright forms 
 and hear their sweet voices. And in that happy 
 throng are fathers and mothers watching their chil- 
 dren, and children who often come back and walk by 
 our side, but our dull eyes see them not. Alas, these 
 spring days are sad to you and to me and to thou- 
 sands of homes because our children are not with us 
 to see the bursting buds and opening flowers, to run to 
 meet us when weary and tired we come home at the close 
 of the day. But, oh, for them the sweeter spring time 
 the land where the flowers never fade. I expect, 
 has come, and soon, very soon, we shall see them in 
 when my work is done and the hour has come to die — 
 not to die, thank God, but to live — I expect then, 
 as the scenes of earth fade away, that the loved ones 
 will stand all about me, ready to take me by the hand 
 and bear to me their happy home. And loved ones 
 will meet you, and you, and soon shall we all be with 
 that great company of redeemed spirits who are near 
 the throne, and go forth to do the will of God, to visit 
 the needy and gather in the wanderers from all lands. 
 
260 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 MATTER AND SPIRIT. 
 
 Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the 
 flesh.— Gal. v. 16. 
 
 In the light of these words we are in the presence 
 of two worlds — in the world of matter and the world 
 of spirit. And in the light of this teaching we find 
 our lives cast into the domain of both ; that is, we are 
 ourselves both matter and spirit, and are thus related 
 to each of those worlds. 
 
 There are probably no two words in the language 
 that contain so large a meaning, or in human thought 
 stand for so much, as the words matter and spirit. 
 Were I asked to give the two words that, of all others, 
 contain the most, I should say "matter and spirit." 
 They each label a whole world. They are gateways 
 to all we know. They stand for all that is. Over all 
 the organic substances of our world, as stone or iron, 
 or earth or air, or fire and water, write the one word 
 matter. Over the organic forms or substances, as 
 plants and animals and man, place the label matter. 
 Over the imponderable elements, as light, heat and 
 
APPENDIX. 261 
 
 electricity, place the word matter. Over the kingdom 
 of vegetable and animal life, pronounce again the 
 word matter. Write this word on the whole solar 
 system ; write it on Sirius and Orion and the Plei- 
 ades ; write it on the milky-way ; write it on all the 
 stars that shine in the heavens. Take the word spirit, 
 and in its lower sense as covering mind, write it over 
 thought, and reason, and memory, and will, and im- 
 agination. And then, as you rise higher, write it 
 over love and conscience. And then, let it include 
 the world of departed souls, and the world of angels ; 
 let it rise up and find its highest meaning in the nature 
 of God, and you have measured something of its vast 
 depth. 
 
 Midway between these two kingdoms or worlds, 
 and sharing the nature of both, stands man. First 
 above inorganic matter come the lower and then the 
 higher forms of vegetable life ; then come the lower 
 and higher forms of animal life, rising all the way 
 from the radiate and the mollusk to the lower and then 
 the higher vertebrates, and finally reaching its perfec- 
 tion and beauty in the erect form and finer and more 
 expressive features of man. Man is closely related 
 to the world of matter. His body is composed of 
 matter — is made of the very same things that go to 
 make up the plants and trees and animals all about 
 him. But in man matter is carried up to a higher 
 plane and related to a higher reasoning power and to 
 that which is divine. And from this higher plane 
 man can look down upon all the forms of matter and 
 
262 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 life below him. He can see the dull clod, the cold 
 clay, the lifeless stone or iron. He can see the living 
 but unconscious fern in the glen or moss upon the 
 rock. He can see the rose or the tree rooted in the 
 ground, unable to move from place to place, but send- 
 ing down their roots into the soil, and reaching out 
 petal and leaf to the sunshine and the air. He can 
 see moving, feeling, instinctive life in the worm or the 
 insect, or in the sparrow that builds its nest under 
 the eaves of his own roof, or in the patient horse, or 
 the faithful dog. All these breathe the same air that 
 man breathes and live upon the same food; they have 
 a keen instinct and a measure of mind and affection ; 
 but they are unable to accompany man in his higher 
 world. They know not his skill in kindling a fire 
 or cooking food or inventing an engine. They can- 
 not go with man in his study of mathematics or 
 chemistry or philosophy. They establish no courts 
 of justice ; they write out no codes of law ; they 
 build no temples of worship. We are taught that all 
 these lower forms of life are for the higher being — 
 man. And standing on this higher plane, man's life 
 opens out to higher truths, and to spirituality, and to 
 the pure and the good, and to God. Thus, man is 
 the connecting link in the long and ascending scale 
 of creation, and unites in himself both the lower and 
 the higher — the world of matter and the world of 
 spirit. 
 
 As these two terms, matter and spirit, bind up so 
 much meaning, as their contents are so large, it is 
 
APPENDIX. 263 
 
 not strange that nearly all the controversies and the 
 opposing schools of thought among men have started 
 from and gathered around one or the other or both 
 of the worlds for which they stand. 
 
 There is first the extreme materialistic school, that 
 sees only matter and admits only matter, and under 
 matter and in matter classifies and finds the solution 
 of all things. With this school all the phenomena of 
 life and thought and conscience are referred to matter. 
 Matter and force are sufficient to account for every- 
 thing. Mind is only a higher form of matter, or a 
 result of matter. Thought is the result of molecular 
 changes in the brain. The brain secretes thought as 
 the liver secretes bile. This system, of course, denies 
 the existence of mind or spirit as being anything dif- 
 ferent from or independent of matter. It places all 
 knowledge in sensation, or in the things learned 
 through the senses. It denies all intuitive percep- 
 tions of truth, and affirms that man knows nothing, 
 and can know nothing, except what at first comes to 
 him from the outside world. This system makes right 
 and wrong depend wholly on utility, and utility is to 
 be judged by the greater or less amount of pleasure or 
 pain attending any action. In a word, will it pay ? 
 The authority of conscience is set aside, and duty and 
 right are mere matters of commerce. This school 
 denies, or at least cannot affirm, the soul's immortality. 
 Mind and thought are called into being by the organi- 
 zation of matter, and they perish with the dissolution 
 of matter. What has existed here as a force may in 
 
264 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 some form continue to exist, for nothing is destroyed; 
 but all thought or hope of immortality, in the sense of 
 a continued personal existence, or personal identity as 
 man now exists, is abandoned. This system goes 
 further, and denies the existence of God. It admits 
 the system of nature as it has been in the past, and 
 will be in the future ; affirms the eternity of matter, 
 and maintains that all things exist by their own na- 
 ture or by necessity; but it denies the existence of a 
 living God, or of any intelligence or power above 
 matter, or that has not been produced by matter. 
 And hence, of course, it must deny also everything 
 that is called supernatural. 
 
 The materialistic school received its greatest im- 
 pulse in modern times ; first from Lord Bacon, and 
 then from Locke, in England, and Condillac in France. 
 Before the days of Bacon men had thought largely 
 from within, and had dwelt mainly upon the laws and 
 forms of thought. Bacon started the world upon the 
 path of observation — set the minds of men to travel- 
 ing outward. This called attention away from the 
 mind itself, and fixed it upon the instruments of the 
 mind, or upon the senses. Then Locke wrote his 
 celebrated work on the understanding, advocating the 
 doctrine that all knowledge came primarily through 
 the senses. The same view was maintained by Con- 
 dillac in France, and by Hartley and Hobbs and other 
 able writers both in England and on the Continent. 
 In still more recent times the same views substan- 
 tially have been maintained by many of the ablest 
 
APPENDIX. 265 
 
 minds in both England and Germany, including such 
 names as Carl Voght, Hachel, Huxley, Maudsley, 
 Bain, and Dr. Hammond, of this country. It would 
 not be fair to charge all these great names with hold- 
 ing to all the consequences that I think logically flow 
 from the doctrine of materialism, for they do net, or 
 at least they do not avow them. The wonderful de- 
 velopment of the physical sciences in modern times 
 has also given a great impulse to materialism. Under 
 the telescope and the spectroscope the known domain 
 of matter has been greatly enlarged ; the study of the 
 laws of nature has enlarged the domain of law, so that 
 many things that were once thought to belong to the 
 supernatural are now found to be ruled by simple and 
 natural laws, and thus both from the physical and the 
 metaphysical stand-point the tendency is to deny the 
 existence of spirit, and to put nature and law in the 
 place of the living God. 
 
 In both the natural and the spiritual the constitu- 
 tion of things seems to be self-regulating or self-cor- 
 recting. The remedy follows along after the disease ; 
 slowly it may be, or even in the form of one extreme 
 coming in to counteract another. It was so in this 
 case. The thinkers in staid and moral England 
 foresaw the consequences of the sensual philosophy, 
 and halted in their march ; impetuous France received 
 the doctrine gladly, and rushed wildly on over the 
 precipice, denying the Bible and the existence of God 
 and the immortality of the soul, and enthroning a nude 
 harlot in the name of reason. In the midst of the 
 
266 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 anarchy and confusion, Robespierre and the leaders 
 of society were glad to have the assembly reaffirm 
 these doctrines as a basis of restraint and moral 
 rule; and in the world of thought the reaction came 
 along in the form of an extreme idealism over against 
 an extreme materialism. The materialists had affirmed 
 that the source of all knowledge was in the senses ; 
 that the mind knew nothing except what it learned 
 through the senses, or by experience. Locke, and 
 indeed all the philosophers before him, had taken 
 the ground also that the mind does not know things 
 outside of itself, but is conscious of or knows only its 
 own ideas or sensations. Here, Bishop Berkeley, who 
 saw the sad results of materialistic philosophy, saw 
 also its weak point, and his place of attack. Accept- 
 ing the current teaching that the mind learns only 
 through sensation and experience, and that it knows 
 not the outside world, but only its own impressions of 
 the outside world, he simply denied that there was 
 anything beyond these impressions; that is, denied 
 that there was any outside world at all, anything 
 beyond the sensations or impressions in the mind. 
 Thus, one school denies mind, and the other denies 
 matter. Then, to complete the strange scene, David 
 Hume took the same philosophies, and argued that if 
 the mind did not know material things, but knew 
 only its own impressions of them — did not know that 
 there was really any material basis for these impres- 
 sions — how could it know that there was anything 
 more than impressions; that is, how could it know 
 
APPENDIX. 267 
 
 that there was such a thing as mind at all ? And thus 
 the thinking world was on the verge of universal 
 skepticism ; on the verge of denying everything — de- 
 nying both matter and mind. And there seemed no 
 escape. And with the accepted philosophy of the time, 
 there was no escape. Nor was Hume to blame. He 
 created no system ; he simply took the philosophy of 
 his time and carried it out to its logical result. 
 
 Here the tendency in the constitution of things to 
 right themselves again appeared, and between these 
 two extremes arose the common-sense philosophy of 
 Reid and Stewart and Hamilton, that affirms the ex- 
 istence of mind as an entity, a something that has its 
 own laws and principles ; affirms also the fact of mat- 
 ter, and of our immediate perception of the world and 
 of material things ; and, with the philosophy of Cousin 
 and McCosh, affirms also man's perception and intui- 
 tion of spiritual truth and right and of God. 
 
 But it must still be confessed that the materialistic 
 philosophy is not only alive, but vigorous, and rapidly 
 increasing both in Europe and in our own country. 
 And I am free to confess that I regard it as altogether 
 the most dangerous and difficult enemy that confronts 
 the Christian world in our time. Dangerous, because 
 when pressed to its last results it undermines, or at 
 least weakens, the foundations of morality, and de- 
 stroys the sharp, clear distinctions between right and 
 wrong. Dangerous, because it denies immortality and 
 final responsibility to God — denies at the last that 
 there is a God. It robs the world of conscience and 
 
268 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 duty and hope. It takes away the thought of a Uni- 
 versal Intelligence, and in return gives us only un- 
 conscious nature. Dangerous, because, if admitted, 
 everything supernatural or divine in the Bible, or 
 Providence, or religion, or even in man, is a delusion, 
 and must be given up. 
 
 I think it is plain to be seen that here is to be the 
 great battle-field of thought. Is there a spirit in 
 man ? Is he anything more than a collection of ma- 
 terial substances ? Is there a living God ? These are 
 the real, the vital questions that are rapidly coming 
 into the foreground in our times, and that this gener- 
 ation must meet, and beside which all our smaller de- 
 bates are almost as nothing. The question to be met 
 is not as to what the soul is, or how to save it, or what 
 God is, but the deeper question, Has man a soul at 
 all, and is there a God? 
 
 Having indicated the great field of coming conflict, 
 I cannot, of course, enter into the debate at this time 
 beyond a few suggestions. And the first is, that the 
 same tendency that we have observed in the constitu- 
 tion of things, and especially in the human mind, to 
 be self-regulating, or to find a proper equilibrium, will 
 continue in the future as in the past. 
 
 Let us notice some of the forces that are working 
 and will continue to work in this conflict. One that 
 I may mention in the line of contrast and coincidence 
 is, that along with the marvelous and almost bewilder- 
 ing revelations of science in the material world has 
 come the almost equally singular phenomenon of mod- 
 
APPENDIX. 269 
 
 ern Spiritualism. While science is almost literally 
 over-shadowing and burying the world in matter, and 
 the thought of the spiritual and the supernatural is 
 being crowded back, up springs this strange phenom- 
 enon, with its rappings and writings and voices and 
 visions, and fills the popular mind with the thought of 
 spirit and the continued life of the soul after death. 
 Now, suppose that we admit that a large part of 
 these phenomena are unreal, are trickery or supersti- 
 tions — and this I am disposed to believe — yet there 
 remains this fact, that they have called attention, in 
 this crude way, to spirit life, and forced many minds 
 to think upon it. And there is another fact : There 
 must be in the mind of man some powerful basis of 
 belief in spirit life on which, if all this be a fraud or 
 superstition, it can rest, or find even a temporary 
 lodgment. Thus the world has these two strange 
 spectacles — an overshadowing materialism, and con- 
 fronting it a gross Spiritualism. Personally, I know 
 very little of these professed physical manifestations. 
 Some I have found to be false, and all may be for 
 aught I know; but this I do believe, that out of this 
 grosser thing, so often used to deceive, or rather be- 
 yond this, is to arise, and is even now arising in the 
 minds of thousands of the purest and best people, 
 what I may call a sense of the immanence of the Di- 
 vine, and the conscious nearness of angelic ministra- 
 tions, and of departed loved ones, before which all the 
 arguments of materialism fall helpless and harmless 
 to the ground. Even if you admit in argument with 
 
270 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 Dr. Hammond — which of course I do not — that they 
 are all simply nervous impressions, or sensorial delu- 
 sions, there is no way in the realm of philosophy to 
 prove them to be such, or to disprove their reality. If 
 you attempt to prove their delusiveness on the ground 
 of the sensational and representative philosophy, that 
 man knows only through the senses, and knows not 
 things in themselves, but only his mental states, or 
 the impressions of things, then may Berkeley's ideal- 
 ism deny the fact not only of angels and spirits, but 
 also of the material world, and you have no adequate 
 answer ; and Hume, on the same line, may deny that 
 there is any substratum of mind in which the impres- 
 sions adhere, and you are powerless to answer him, 
 and the darkness of Nihilism is all that is left. If 
 you accept the realistic philosophy, that mind is a 
 fact, and that it immediately perceives things outside 
 of itself, then the consciousness of the mind in divine 
 and spiritual things is to be accepted just as implic- 
 itly as it is in things material. And these things of 
 which I am now speaking are on a plane immensely 
 above the grosser forms of Spiritualism. They do 
 not depend upon a dark room, or a medium, but upon 
 a devout, receptive and illuminative spirit within 
 each one, a heart that is open to these divine and an- 
 gelic impressions and ministrations, and that need not 
 go to "this mount, nor yet to Jerusalem," to find 
 them, but, walking in the spirit and living in the 
 spirit, walks with God and with His holy angels. 
 This is not a new thing in the world. It is rather a 
 
APPENDIX. 271 
 
 return to the faith and sweet experiences of patri- 
 archal and apostolic days ; a faith and experience 
 from which, alas, materialism has driven very many 
 in our days only too far. 
 
 Another fact to be noted is the tendency in the 
 nature of man to resist any highly extreme and too 
 long continued bias. The individual life, or the life 
 of a whole people, may be carried too far in any di- 
 rection, and may so remain for years, or in nations 
 even for generations, but it will swing back. This 
 was the case in the dark ages, when spirit and faith 
 were everything, and superstition reigned almost su- 
 preme, and the knowledge of nature was almost 
 wholly ignored. And from this extreme there had to 
 be a reaction. The reason of man could not always 
 sleep. Liberty to think could not be always withheld. 
 The facts of nature needed to be understood. Man 
 could not advance while in ignorance or the neglect 
 of the material world of which he was a part. "When 
 the reaction came it was powerful. The fields of 
 physical science opened out into a boundless realm of 
 beauty and fascination. What was once so small as 
 hardly to be seen, now spread out and became so large 
 as to shut out the vision of everything else. And 
 when men found that God was not sitting just up 
 above the floor of the sky — found there was no floor — 
 and when they found that in dissecting the human 
 body they found only a nervous system, but no visible 
 mind or spirit, it is not strange that the first impulse 
 was to say that God is nowhere, and that man is 
 
272 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 nothing but earth or clay. We are now going in the 
 direction of that far-off extreme of materialism which 
 denies spirit and God, and seeks to find everything in 
 matter. But the spiritual part of man will not be 
 content to look only downward, to look only to the 
 dust. It will cry out for its own upper life and com- 
 panionship in the laws of morality and in fellowship 
 with the divine. And it may be that our world shall 
 have to go into the bondage of materialism to learn 
 more of the great world of matter ; but when it comes 
 back to rebuild its wasted and neglected temples of 
 the spirit and of God, it will in the long ages be wiser 
 and stronger for what it has learned. The thought of 
 God and of spirit and of immortality will be all the 
 greater and dearer because seen through the light 01 
 a whole universe of material worlds. 
 
 Then another fact in this great debate must be the 
 presence of life and intelligence in our world. The 
 facts are not questioned. How shall we account for 
 them ? Does matter as known to us answer the ques- 
 tion? Does it bridge the way from the inanimate clod 
 to the rose, and from inanimate dust to the thought 
 of Shakespeare or the piety of Fenelon? What is it 
 that takes the very same elements and gives to one 
 the form of an oak and to another the form of a pine, 
 makes of one an insect or an animal and of another a 
 man, and goes on reproducing these forms? Mr. 
 Tyndall has declared against the doctrine of sponta- 
 neous generation, and when he looks out upon such a 
 spring-time as this he is ready to say that there must 
 
APPENDIX. 273 
 
 be some one back of all this scene of life that knows 
 more about it than he. Does matter explain life and 
 thought and love and devotion and prayer and hope ? 
 These things are all here. They are facts. If mat- 
 ter produced life and thought in our world, who knows 
 what it may not have produced in other worlds ; and 
 who can say that it has not evolved a God, who has 
 turned around and reshaped matter, leaving on every 
 leaf and star the evidence of a designing mind back 
 of their present existence. What I am contending 
 for is the fact that life and beauty and thought and 
 love do exist, and as such must be recognized; and 
 they call for a higher explanation than simple matter, 
 as we know it, can give. And these thoughts must 
 weigh mightily in this contest. When men have found 
 out by physiology how the blood circulates and how 
 the brain is affected in thought, and by astronomy 
 how the stars are held in their places, there is still 
 back of all these things the power and the intelligence 
 by which these things are done; that power, men will 
 call God. 
 
 One more fact I mention as coming into this debate 
 over matter and spirit. It is the fact of the presence 
 and influence of the Holy Spirit in human hearts. 
 Not only do men perceive a controlling power in na- 
 ture about them ; not only is there a book called holy 
 and that speaks of God ; there is a divine power that 
 reaches human hearts. There is a conscience within 
 that will not sleep, nor will it give the wicked rest. 
 Jesus Christ said: "And I, if I be lifted up, will 
 
 18 
 
274 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 draw all men unto me." There is a living power in 
 religion that must always be its own divinest evidence. 
 These Easter flowers point back to history, and that 
 history may be well certified in fact ; but men do not 
 get their strongest convictions by going back and 
 studying that evidence. Had religion no other power 
 it had long since died. Had the resurrection of 
 Christ no other attestation it had been forgotten long 
 ago. The crowning evidence of Christianity is the 
 gift of the Holy Ghost; not alone on the day of 
 Pentecost, but as a living, witnessing power in the 
 heart of man. And this power, too, I believe, will 
 increase in the world, and that will herald the day of 
 the immanence of a divine spirit, and of the nearness 
 of the spirit world. We are in the days of the dis- 
 pensation of the spirit, and its abundant outpouring 
 draws nigh. 
 
 We should all heed this injunction to "walk in 
 the spirit." This is given as the safeguard against 
 "fulfilling the lusts of the flesh." And surely such 
 caution and strength are needed in these days when so 
 many all about us, and even in the highest places, are 
 falling. If man's life tend downward, he is ruled by 
 the flesh ; and if he live to the flesh, with the flesh, he 
 must die. I think very much of the sad immortality 
 of our times has its unperceived root in an insiduous 
 and growing materialism, that weakens conscience 
 and the sense of duty, and puts life down on the 
 low plane of mere animal enjoyment. Men are only 
 strong in the light of a quickened conscience, and of 
 
APPENDIX. 275 
 
 the divine law, and of responsibility to God, and in 
 the light of eternity. Down in the flesh alone man 
 is an animal. Up in the spirit he is divine, and be- 
 fore him opens the vision of God and of the spirit 
 world. Walk, then, in the spirit, in the divine life, 
 in prayer and trust and love, and all deeds of useful- 
 ness, and you shall live above the sins of the flesh, 
 and reach the rest that remains for the pure in heart. 
 
276 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 VIEWS OF DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS. 
 
 In a work entitled The Final Philosophy, page 
 328, we find the following statements, in reference to 
 the opinions of some of the most distinguished philos- 
 ophers of modern times: "Devout astronomers, such 
 as Huygens and Newton, so far from treating the idea 
 of inhabited worlds with the levity of Fontanelle, 
 thought it consonent with the Scriptures, even if not 
 especially revealed. In later times, the Herschels and 
 Argo have agreed with Bode in peopling the sun with 
 the children of light, sheltered behind his luminous 
 corona, as within the very glory of the Almighty; 
 and orthodox divines have sought a direct correspond- 
 ence between the astronomical and biblical realm of 
 intelligence. 
 
 "Dr. Tholuck could fancy the redeemed finding a 
 congenial abode in the fair savannahs of Venus or 
 the bright plains of Mars, while the lost were con- 
 signed to the dreary wastes of Jupiter or the dismal 
 craters of the moon. 
 
APPENDIX. 277 
 
 "Dr. Thomas Dick made his 'Christian Philoso- 
 pher ' speculate on the magnificent scenery of Saturn 
 with his belted skies, Jupiter with his procession of 
 moons, and the fixed stars with their dazzling suns, as 
 seats of life and intelligence, adorned by the Creator 
 for the worshiping hosts of heaven. 
 
 "Eloquent preachers, descanting upon the fancy of 
 Bradley and Madler, have supposed the central sun 
 may be .the royal seat and court of the great Creator 
 and Governor of worlds, around whom adoring suns 
 and planets revolve as tributary provinces in obedient 
 loyalty and praise. 
 
 "Professor Lange, uniting the speculations of Her- 
 schel with the revelations of St. John in his Land 
 of Grlory, hailed the innumerable orbs beyond our 
 solar system as the many mansions of our Father's 
 house, the New Jerusalem above, where they need 
 no light of the sun nor of the moon, the very heaven 
 of heavens and holy of holies, into which Christ 
 hath triumphantly entered. And Dr. Kurtz, in his 
 Bible and Astronomy, rising to a still higher flight, 
 has claimed the fixed stars, with their luminous, refined 
 structure, as abodes of those pure angels who can 
 know neither birth nor death, and who stand nearest 
 the throne of glory as the eldest children of the Cre- 
 ator, when the foundations of the earth were laid, 
 when the morning stars sang together, and 'all the 
 sons of God shouted for joy.' " 
 
 Notwithstanding the general diffusion of knowl- 
 edge has greatly changed the opinions of men in 
 
278 LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 
 
 reference to the location of heaven above the crystal 
 sphere, Christians still cherish a hope of finding a 
 local habitation into which they will finally enter, and 
 with pious emotions and ardent hopes sing with the 
 pious Doddridge: 
 
 "Ye stars are but the shining dust 
 Of my divine abode — 
 The pavement of those heavenly courts 
 Where I shall see my God." 
 
 Before the discovery of modern astronomy, our 
 knowledge of space terminated with the range of our 
 vision, and the bright stars that adorn our nightly 
 heavens were viewed as insignificant points of light 
 just a little way above our earth ; and the sublime 
 passages from the Bible in reference to a plurality of 
 worlds were passed over as something beyond the 
 comprehension of mortals in their present state. As 
 the light under the Gospel dispensation broke down 
 the barriers and national lines that existed between 
 Jews and Gentiles, and opened the gates of a new 
 spiritual kingdom to all willing souls, so has the tele- 
 scope brushed away the mists of error from the sidereal 
 heavens and revealed millions of shining orbs that 
 now shed a new light on the utterances of the proph- 
 ets and many other inspired writers who spoke of 
 other worlds than ours. Now, since men can look at 
 a universe of worlds in the depths of space, instead 
 of making a universe out of one small world, the 
 
APPENDIX. 279 
 
 sublime passages we have noticed in the preceding 
 chapters have an additional interest for the Christian 
 as well as for the astronomer. 
 
 To the soul struggling through these dark years, 
 mingled with sorrows and joys, hoping for immortal- 
 ity, and expecting to find a final home in the deathless 
 land, the language of Bonar is interesting, when he 
 says: 
 
 " I gaze upon yon everlasting arch, 
 
 Up which the bright stars wander as they shine, 
 And as I mark them in their nightly march 
 I think how soon that journey shall be mine. 
 
 " Not many more of life's slow-pacing hours, 
 Shaded with Sorrow's melancholy hue ; 
 Oh, what a glad ascending shall be ours ! 
 Oh, what a pathway up yon starry blue I " 
 
INDEX 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The Origin, Progress and Perpetuation of Life, . . 5 
 
 Chapter II. 
 Paradise, the Home 01 Our Ancestors, ... 14 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Cosmos and the Bible in Harmony, .... 23 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 The Various Conditions of Life in Our World, . 33 
 
 Chapter V. 
 The Vastness of the Universal Empire where Life 
 
 may Exist, 37 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 Different Views of Solar Light and Heat, . . 52 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 Solar Light and Heat the Source of all Vitalizing 
 
 Energies under the Control of Nature's Laws, . 76 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 Distribution of Solar Heat to the Planets, . . 83 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 Analogies in Nature, .90 
 
 Chapter X. 
 Earth Compared with Other Planets, ... 101 
 
282 index. 
 
 Chapter XI. PAGE 
 
 The Cosmography of the Ancients, .... 113 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 Legendary Worlds of the Dark Ages, . . . 124 
 
 Chapter XIII. 
 The Universal Struggle for Life, 137 
 
 Chapter XIV. 
 The Way to Life Open for All, .... 150 
 
 Chapter XV. 
 The Bible Teachings on the Subject, .... 163 
 
 Chapter XVI. 
 Miscellaneous Thoughts, 171 
 
 Chapter XVII. 
 Religious Aspect of the Subject, . . . . . 184 
 
 Chapter XVIII. 
 Punishment, 195 
 
 Chapter XIX. 
 Heaven, 211 
 
 Chapter XX. 
 Do Our Departed Friends Recognize Us ? . . . 217 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 Life in Other Worlds, 229 
 
 Sermon by Rev. H. W. Thomas, D. D. 
 
 The Ministry of Angels, 244 
 
 Sermon by Rev. H. W. Thomas, D. D. 
 
 Matter and Spirit, 260 
 
 Sermon by Rev. H. W. Thomas, D. D. 
 
 Views by Distinguished Authors, .... 276 
 
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