various orders of angels are in some way related to the orbs of heaven; but all this is far from establishing the probability, that any given bodies are the abodes of life and intelligence in the same sense that the earth is the abode of man. The existence of material worlds is certain, and the existence of angels is also certain; but is it probable that angels have any material abode? and, if so, is it probable that the planets of our system are such abodes? Scripture throws no light whatever upon this subject.
4. The next is the analogical or astronomical argument. If the navigator discovered a new island, he might, from its general appearance, conclude, before he approached near enough to descry them, that sentient beings lived upon it. If he saw mountains, valleys, rivers, and all the usual marks of a habitable region, he would have abundant ground, from his past experience, to conclude that it was inhabited. There would be no violence done to this analogical principle, though we pushed it a little further. Suppose that the land descried is not in the ocean, but floating in space; if we discovered the usual conditions of life, we would have ground for the inference that it was probably inhabited; and though the conditions were somewhat different, we might infer with probability that life, suited to these conditions, might nevertheless exist.
We see a wide range of adaptation under the very diverse conditions existing at present in the earth;
