Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/361

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THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS.
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at all parallel when we deal with different worlds, inhabited by beings of different natures.

Another supposition of the same distinguished author is, that Christ might be supposed going from world to world to die for sinners. He died on our globe, but He afterwards assumed life, and He maydo this in indefinite succession, so that our world does not stand out as an exceptional case. But the same difficulty, as before, is felt. When Christ rose from the dead, it was in the nature of man. A nature different from man's cannot be redeemed by human sufferings and death. To carry out the analogy, it would be necessary to suppose that Christ assumes a new nature, corresponding to that of the intelligences for whom He lays down His life in different worlds. But this supposition is in direct opposition to Scripture, which declares that He will for ever bear His human nature. The objection to all such hypotheses as these is, that they are far more improbable than the simple proposition they are intended to support. The naked doctrine, that there are other intelligences beside man, is far more probable than the hypothesis that Christ goes from world to world laying down His life for sinners. If there is a difficulty in supposing man alone to be benefited by redemption, the difficulty is not at all lessened by such improbable suppositions. Even granting that the benefits of Christ's death did not extend beyond this world, there is no appalling diffi-