Page:The Divine Order of the Universe as Interpreted by Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/18

2 Astronomical Difficulties. tion will be felt the most keenly; felt through all its stages, and in all its incidents. In no country will it be more felt than in England."   What has been the cause of this revolution? We are told that it is pre-eminently owing to the progress of physical science.    Now among the physical sciences which intimately affect our religious ideas, Astronomy has taken the lead, and has urged, especially upon the Clergy, momentous questions concerning the nature and extent of the Christian Economy, as also concerning the Divine Inspiration of the Bible. Does the first chapter of Genesis treat of the Creation of the visible Heavens and Earth? if so, does it accord with the statements of modern science? Is the "round world made so fast that it cannot be moved ?" If the whole system of Christianity rests upon the fact of the Fall of man, are we to suppose that there was a corresponding Fall in other worlds? If not, is not Christianity proper to this world only, and Christ a Saviour upon this earth only? What do other earths know of the Flood upon this earth? What do other earths know of those inhabitants of this earth called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? What could they know of Moses and Aaron; of Joshua, Saul, David, and the rest? What of Egypt, the Wilderness, Canaan, the Twelve Tribes ? What of the Temple, the Jewish services, fasts, and festivals, which form so large a part of our Scriptures called the Word of God ? Were these solemnities common to the inhabitants of other earths, such as Saturn, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter? Do these planets know anything of the Twelve Apostles ? If not, was not Christianity a purely local Economy ; and are not the Trinity, the Incarnation, Atonement, and Redemption purely local doctrines, though