and virtue, that thereby provision may be made for adding to the population of the kingdom of heaven, the immensity of which is such that it can never be filled. The circumstance of those worlds being inhabited may suggest a vast idea; so also may the purpose for which they are inhabited; but what are they to Him who made them all, and whose understanding is infinite? As a thousand years in His sight are but as yesterday, so a thousand worlds in His presence may be considered as a unit; and surely a never-ceasing population must be conformable to His love. If it be true that the other earths of the universe are inhabited, and we think that the conclusion is established by evidence little short of demonstration, then it will follow that the inhabitants of this earth never could be numerically adequate to supply the purposes of the Divine love. Therefore the idea of their cessation is utterly dispersed.
But why should they be discontinued? Some, indeed, assert that men were originally created merely to supply the vacancies which had occurred in heaven by the expulsion of rebel angels. This being accomplished, it is supposed that the Divine purpose in their creation will be fulfilled, and, as a consequence, the human race will have an end. This, however, is mere fiction, which owes its prevalence and popularity more to poetry than to history or to fact.[1] Moses, in his description of the origin of the
- ↑
"He, to be avenged,
And to repair His numbers thus impaired,
Whether such virtues spent of old now failed
More angels to create (if they at least
Are His created), or to smite us more,
Determined to advance into our room
A creature formed of earth, and him endow
With heavenly spoils (our spoils)."
Milton.
