Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/339

Rh case, the means would be greatly disproportioned to the end. It is held, that it would be a useless expenditure of power to create so many worlds that affect, in no appreciable way, welfare of our earth. What benefit, it is asked, can a cluster of stars be to us, which can be only discoverer, by the telescope—while, at the same time, that cluster consists of thousands of worlds, each as large as our sun? We are not, however, judges of what is an adequate end for means employed. If disproportion, according to our notions, were to be the measure of our judgment, we would everywhere quarrel with the works of God. Besides, other ends than the giving of light to us may be served. We do not know all the relations which our world bears to the rest of the universe, or will yet serve in the course of its history. We see an end served, different from that of light-giving, by the exalted view which the study of celestial bodies gives us of the Creator; and, in a future state of being, the inhabitants of this globe may be brought into a closer relation with these remote bodies of the universe. And even though it should be proved, that the means are disproportioned to the assigned end, we are by no means forced to the conclusion, that the peopling of these worlds is the only adequate end. We can readily conceive of other ends besides this.

(2.) It is held that the benevolence of God requires that the planets should be inhabited, otherwise He