A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion/Chapter 48
XLVIII. Plurality of Worlds.
ON the infinity of the Divine Being is justly founded the doctrine of a plurality of worlds: and even were there no planetary bodies within the reach of human sight, it would still be a reasonable conclusion, that other earths besides our own are in actual existence, however remotely situated in the immensity of space. For it is not to be supposed, that, by the creation of only one habitable globe, the great designs of Infinite Love and Wisdom could be fully accomplished, which appear to have in view the happiness of indefinite numbers of intelligent beings from many earths, all varying in their general and particular states of reception of that life, which in itself is, and ever must remain, inexhaustible. But being surrounded on all sides with myriads of heavenly bodies, similar in all appearance to the sun of our system; being convinced also by ocular testimony of the existence of huge masses of matter, revolving in different circuits about the sun, some inferior, and some superior in bulk to our earth; and justly presuming that similar bodies, though too distant to be seen by reflected light, must have their appointed stations under other suns; no reasonable person can entertain a doubt, but that, like the planet which we inhabit, these also are the abodes of animated beings of various orders and descriptions, and among the rest, of man, for whose sake and use the whole has been provided.
He who believes, as every one ought to believe,that the Divine Being created the universe for no other end, than that mankind, and thereby heaven, might have existence, (for mankind is the seminary of heaven,) must needs believe also, that wheresoever there is any earth, there likewise are human inhabitants. That the planets, which are visible to our eyes, as being within the boundaries of this solar system, are earths, may appear manifest from this consideration, that they are bodies of earthy matter, because they reflect the light of the sun, and when seen through a telescope, they appear not as stars glittering by reason of their flame, but as earths variegated by reason of their opake spots. The same may further appear from this consideration, that they, in like manner as our earth, are conveyed by a progressive motion round the sun, in the way of the zodiac, whence they have their years, and seasons of the year, as spring, summer, autumn, and winter; and in like manner revolve about their own axis, whence they have their days, and times of the day, as morning, mid-day, evening, and night. Moreover some of them have moons, which are called satellites, and which perform their revolutions round their central globes, as the moon does round our earth. How is it possible for any reasonable person, acquainted with these circumstances, to assert or to conceive, that such bodies are void or destitute of inhabitants?
That, besides the planets in our solar system, there are also innumerable others in the universe, may be rationally inferred from this consideration, that every fixed star in the firmament is found to shine, not with a borrowed, but with a native lustre: which circumstance, in conjunction with their immense distances, is a convincing proof, that they must be suns in their respective worlds or systems, similar in use to our sun in it's system: and if so, it will thence follow, that there are planetary bodies revolving round each, and as many distinct worlds or systems as there are fixed stars or suns.
So immense a whole must have been created, and be still supported, for some great and worthy end: and this surely can be nothing less than the kingdom of heaven, as before observed, wherein beings gifted with intelligence and love from their adorable Creator may be happy to eternity. For the visible universe, or the heaven resplendent with stars innumerable, which are so many suns, is only a medium for the existence of earths; and these again are only mediums for the existence of men upon them, of whom may be formed an angelic heaven in a purer sphere than that of nature. From which considerations every rational mind may safely conclude, that means so immense, adapted to produce so great an end, were not constituted for the inhabitants of one earth, one solitary planet only, or for an angelic heaven to be derived merely from them but that the Divine Being, who is infinite, and to whom thousands, yea millions of earths, all full of inhabitants, are comparatively as nothing, must hold in contemplation an end at once worthy of himself, and in some degree resembling the infinity of his nature.
The endless variety of uses arising from, and performed by, the many viscera, organs, vessels, fibres, &c. &c. in the human body, every one of which is indispensable to the well-being of the whole, and all of which blended in happy union give the intended result of health and vigour, opens in some faint degree to a reflecting mind, how the immense variety of worlds, and the innumerable multitudes of human beings issuing from them, may in like manner all be necessary to complete the harmony, the union, the perfection, and the happiness of heaven, and thus to form the most indissoluble conjunction of the creature with his Almighty Creator.
The doctrine of a plurality of habitable planets, not only in our solar system, but also in numberless other systems in the universe, may therefore be regarded as a just deduction of reason from the wisdom and design manifested in our own world, and from analogies of the highest order. But is the doctrine susceptible of more positive evidence? Can any human testimony be supposed capable of verifying and confirming, as a fact, what appears so probable in itself, and so worthy of being true? And if so verified and confirmed, can it be demonstrated by an appeal to any of the acknowledged principles or laws either of mind or of body, that it is a possible case for an inhabitant of this earth to see and converse with the spirits of deceased men from other earths, and occasionally even to see the very inhabitants themselves upon those earths, while at the same time the body of the man so visiting those distant earths still remains in it's own proper place? To each of these questions an affirmative answer may be given: and most extraordinary as this part of our doctrine may at first sight appear, we doubt not but the intelligent reader will, on paying due attention to the difference between state of mind, and place of body, see good reason to concur with us in the sentiment here advanced.
Baron Swedenborg professes to have held open intercourse with angels and spirits for many successive years of his life; and there appears no just reason to dispute his solemn and repeated avowals of the fact. By virtue of this intercourse he discovered, that the spaces, distances, and consequent progressions, which exist in the natural world, are, in their origin and first cause, changes of the state of interior things in the spiritual world; and that with angels and spirits all progressions appear according to such changes. Hence he further found, that angels and spirits may, by such changes, be apparently translated from one place to another, and even from one earth to another, whatever may be their relative distances in natural space; and when so translated, enter into conversation with the spirits and inhabitants belonging to the earth which they visit. He also justly observes, that the case is the same with man as to his spirit; and that therefore he also may be so translated, at the good-pleasure of the Lord, whilst his body still continues in the same place. And although this may appear to the sensual man, who believes in no other world than a world of matter, and in no other progressions than such as are measured by space, to be totally impracticable; yet the spiritual or truly rational man, who can discriminate between the laws of matter and the laws of mind, will be under no such difficulty as the sensual man is, but will readily admit both it's possibility and it's probability.
Distances in another life are not like distances here on earth, but are altogether according to the states of the interiors of every particular person. They who are in a similar state, are together in one society, and in one place; for every thing is present by virtue of similitude of state, and every thing is distant by virtue of dissimilitude of state. Hence, to be present with any spirit or angel, whether he be from this earth, or from any other earth in the universe, it is only requisite to be in a similar state with him as to the interiors of the mind, that is, as to the interiors affections and thoughts. And in this way it is as possible for the spirit of a man still living in the body, whose interiors are open to heaven, to be led by the Lord into a similitude of state with the spirits and angels from distant earths, and even with the inhabitants themselves, as with the spirits, angels, and inhabitants of this earth. The various changes of state, which necessarily take place in bringing the spirit of a man belonging to one earth, into a similitude of state with the spirit of a man belonging to another earth, put on, in the spiritual world, the appearance of journeyings and progressions, in all respects resembling such as take place on earth, but in their intrinsic character most essentially different.
In regard to the possibility of a spirit, or what is the same thing, of a man as to his spirit, seeing even material objects on any other earth, besides that to which he belongs, this also is capable of rational explanation. Neither spirits nor angels, by their own proper sight, can see any thing that is in the natural world, any more than man, by his natural sight, can see any thing that is in the spiritual world; the light of each world being as gross darkness to the other. Yet, when it pleases the Lord to open the interior faculties of a man, so as to enable him to see and converse with spirits and angels, which however is a rare case in the present day, then both the spirits and angels, who are present with such a man, can see through his eyes the natural objects of this world, and hear through his ears the conversation that passes among men. So again, the man, who is so privileged as to be the medium of communication between the spiritual and the natural world, as just described, may, by being brought into a similar state of life as to his spirit with an inhabitant of some distant earth, in like manner see through the eyes of such inhabitant, if his interiors are open, the natural objects of his world, and hear through his ears the natural sounds there produced.
From these and similar considerations it may plainly appear, that man was originally so created, that, during his life in the world amongst men, he might at the same time live in heaven amongst angels; and on the other hand, that, while in heaven, he might also have intercourse with the world: so that heaven and the world might be united in man, and men might know what passes in heaven, and angels know what passes in the world; and that, when men depart this life, they might pass thus from the Lord's kingdom on the earths into the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, not as into another, but as into the same, in which also they were during their life in the body. But man, by becoming so sensual and corporeal as he now is in his various affections and thoughts, has closed heaven against himself, and totally changed the order of his life.
That it is possible for man to see and converse with spirits and angels, is very evident from the whole testimony of the Sacred Scriptures, particularly from the cases of Abraham and Sarah, Lot, the inhabitants of Sodom, Joshua, Gideon, Manoah and his wife, Zacharias and Elizabeth, Mary, John, and many others, who all saw and conversed with angels as with men. The Lord himself also appeared in like manner after his resurrection; and they who saw him, knew no other than that he was a man of the earth, until he revealed himself, as he did to the two disciples going to Emmaus, who at first took him for a fellow-traveller, and to Mary Magdalene, who supposed him to be the gardener of the place where the sepulchre was situated. But at this day such appearances are rarely exhibited; the reason of which is, partly because man has plunged himself into a state of gross infidelity, which in a great measure disqualifies him for the sight; and partly because visions, miracles, and supernatural evidences, would have a tendency to force upon the human mind an external and transient acquiescence in the things seen or heard, rather than a salutary and permanent faith in the great realities of heaven and eternal life. This latter kind of faith can only be implanted by the Holy Word, while man is in the full use of his liberty and rationality. On which account our Lord says of such as duly exercise these faculties, " Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed," John xx. 29: whereas of all those who call out for signs and wonders, he says in another place, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead," Luke xvi. 31.
