Marriage. Married, at Inch House, Kelso, Scotland, on the 13th August, by the Rev. Daniel Kerr, Dunse, Mr. John Barton Pixton, of this city, to Arabella, eldest daughter of the late Mr. Peter Pringle, Dunse. Obituary. Died, on January 19th, 1855, Miss Mary Thompson, of Foulsham, Norfolk. Our departed friend was educated in the doctrines of Socinianism, but somewhere about the year 1833-34 embraced the doctrines of the New Church, and was admitted a member of the Norwich Society, under the ministry of the Rev. Thos. Goyder, in July, 1834. She continued a firm receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines to the last, not without some trials and temptations at the latter part of her declining years. As her eyesight was nearly gone she could not read much; her large family Bible was chiefly her study when able to do so, and she derived much consolation from the spiritual sense of the Holy Word, having read rather closely some of the principal works of E. S. The recollection of the truths received into her mind in her healthful days, formed a source of satisfaction and comfort to her often drooping spirit during her severe affliction. On the 1st of June last, at Kersley, Mrs. Thomas Gee was, after several years of suffering, removed into eternity, at the age of 41 years. The deceased was born of New Church parents, at Accrington, where she attended the Sunday-school in connection with our church. On her removal afterwards, with her parents, to the neighbourhood of Manchester, she became a teacher in the Sunday-school connected with the Temple, Salford. Shortly after her marriage, she removed with her husband to Kersley, and attended the worship of the New Church there, till prevented by a painful disease, which grew upon her to such a degree, that for several years prior to her death, she was deprived thereby of the entire use of her lower extremities,-the joints having become stiffened into a solid mass. In her affliction, she found the benefit of the early religious teachings she had received, as they enabled her to bear her sufferings with a patience, and even cheerfulness, truly exemplary. Doubtless her removal, involving as it does the exchange of a decrepit tenement of clay for a body glowing with immortal vigour, will have been her unspeakable gain. W. At Kersley, on the 16th of July last, aged 62 years, Ralph Entwistle was removed into eternity. The cause of his removal was an accident as appalling as sudden. Whilst oiling some machinery in the paper works of Mr. R.. Crompton, where he had worked for many years, he was caught and carried up by a strap that was revolving near him, and before those who were working in the vicinity were aware that an accident had occurred, was thrown down a mutilated corpse. The Rev. W. Woodman, on whose ministry the deceased had attended for some years, improved the occasion in an appropriate sermon, at which many strangers were present, attracted partly by the striking nature of the catastrophe, and partly by respect to the deceased. W. At Pendlebury, July 30th, aged 50 years, after a protracted illness which he bore with great patience, Richard Seddon. The deceased was connected with the Kersley Society from the time of its establishment, where he attended till prevented by paralysis, with which he was attacked several years previous to his death. His sufferings were at times very great, but he bore them with exemplary resignation, supported by the doctrines of the church. Doubtless with him, "to die was gain." Cave and Sever, Printers, Palatine Buildings, Hunt's Bank, Manchester. W. PLURALITY OF WORLDS, AND THE REASONS WHY THE LORD, FOR THE PURPOSE OF UNIVERSAL REDEMP TION, WAS BORN UPON THIS EARTH. THE subject of a Plurality of Worlds has of late awakened much attention. On the one hand it has been denied that there are more habitable globes than this, and on the other, it has been maintained that there are innumerable planets, and that these, judging from analogy, and from rational considerations as to the final END which the Deity designs in creating the universe, must be inhabited not only by animals, but by rational beings reflecting the image of their Maker, and intended, like the human race upon this planet, for immortality, in the spiritual or eternal world, after death. Both these positions have been maintained by distinguished men in science, the negative by Professor Whewell, and the affirmative by Sir David Brewster.* We, of course, maintain with Brewster, that the planets in the universe are innumerable, and that they are inhabited by rational beings, capable of receiving and acknowledging the love and wisdom of their Maker, and of returning it to Him in acts of worship, love, and praise. Whatever tends to enlarge our views and conceptions of the Deity, will, at the same time, enlarge our own minds, and thus render them more capable of receiving divine blessings from Him. The more a man See this Periodical for July last, page 319. [Enl. Series.-No. 22, vol. ii.] loses himself in conceptions and views of the greatness, grandeur, and benevolence of God, the more his mind will be prepared to resemble God, and to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. The study and contemplation of these subjects are consequently of great use and profit to the mind. Astronomy has led many reflecting minds in all ages, especially in modern times, to conclude, that there is in the universe a plurality of habitable planets, and that every fixed star is a central sun around which planets, more or less numerous, revolve, analogous to our own sun and its revolving orbs. These planets no doubt exist in endless variety, the genius, so to speak, of one being totally unlike that of another. Each has its own physical conditions, its own science, and its phenomena peculiar to itself. This endless variety is perfectly consistent with the idea that the planets are inhabited with races of animals, and also with human beings, capable, as above stated, of knowing and of loving God, and thus of serving as the rational and conscious medium of conjoining the creation with the Creator Himself. If we look abroad over our own planet, we find that it is inhabited by human beings of a great variety as to genius and as to all the physical and mental characteristics of humanity. Every nation has thus a marked peculiarity which distinguishes it from every other. This diversity in the inhabitants of the numerous planets is, doubtless, infinitely greater, partly arising from the physical conditions of the planet on which they dwell, and partly from the distinctive genius which, from its correspondence to the Grand Man, or the universal Heaven, characterizes their mental and their bodily life. All human beings, on whatever planet they exist, are human or rational by virtue of being endowed with a will and an understanding for the reception of the divine love and wisdom of God. It is in these faculties that our humanity essentially consists, and these are, consequently, common to the rational inhabitants of all the planets; and as the human form is essentially the form of will and understanding, or of love and wisdom, consequently all human or rational beings on every planet, must exist in the human form as men, this being not only the form of man, but of God Himself, (Phil. ii. 8.) who is infinite Love and Wisdom. We must, therefore, if we wish to think wisely and consistently, think of the rational beings of other planets as men, similar in form, and also as to the universal faculties of will and understanding, similarly constituted to ourselves-created and intended to receive the Divine Love or Goodness in their Will, and the Divine Wisdom or Truth in their Understanding-and thus of being truly men. The highest conception that we can form of the essence and nature of God is what the Scripture reveals Him to be,-infinite Love and Wisdom. Now the essential characteristic of all pure love, and especially of Divine Love is, that it will have an object to love, and on which it can bestow its affections; it is as absurd to suppose that the eye will not seek for an object to behold, as that the heart should not desire an object to love. Infinite Love, therefore, in the bosom of Deity, is the prompting cause of creation, since from the nature of love God must needs have objects out of Himself, whom He can love, with whom He can become conjoined by love, and upon whom He can bestow His happiness and His bliss. The end or design of creation consequently is, that a heavenly Kingdom of immortal spirits may exist in continually increasing numbers and happiness. This end is so sublimely rational as to be worthy of the vast and magnificent system of means provided for its accomplishment. What, then, are the means by which God accomplishes the end which He designed in creation? If we take a survey of our own globe, we find that it is most wisely arranged, according to a system of uses, for the attainment of certain ends. Thus the mineral kingdom is so formed and constituted, as to be subservient to the promotion of uses for the vegetable kingdom, and this again is so ordered as to be productive of uses for the animal kingdom, and all together are made subservient to the human race in promoting the health, comfort, and happiness of mankind. Hence the carth comprises a system of means by which man is created, trained, developed, and prepared to become a member of human society in the world, and also by religion, or by the Word and worship of God, to become a member of angelic society in God's kingdom in heaven, where he can for ever dwell in the conscious enjoyment of God's love, wisdom, and happiness, and thus be in the End or Design for which all things have been created. The inquiry now comes,-Is one Earth or Planet sufficient for the formation of this Heavenly Kingdom? If we consider this carth in relation to the immensity of space in creation, we find that it is scarcely as an atom compared to a huge mountain, or as a drop of water compared to the entire ocean; and yet we are expressly informed that God created this vast system, with all its stars and worlds, "not in vain, but that He formed it to be inhabited." (Isaiah xlv. 18.) We may, therefore, reasonably conclude, that not only the planets in our own solar system are inhabited, but also that the planets in the sidereal systems are not created "in vain," but are formed in like manner as our own earth, "to be inhabited." Of what use in creation are they if not formed to be inhabited? Can it be imagined that a wise man could build a house without having an intention that the house should be inhabited by some rational being? And is it not fatuity itself to imagine that the Great Builder of the universe should build a house and not, as a final end, intend it to be inhabited by rational beings who can acknowledge, love, and adore Him as the Builder? In order to form this divine and eternal kingdom, the human race, as the seminary and nursery of heaven, must be constantly born upon the planets, as the natural and lowest basis, upon which men can first appear as natural before they can exist as spiritual beings. For in the order of creation it is an eternal law, that "that which is natural is first, and afterward that which is spiritual," (1 Cor. xv. 46.) hence all the angels have once been natural beings or men, and must necessarily have existed in this condition before they could become spiritual beings or angels. If it were known to our scientific and theological writers upon this subject, that all the angels of heaven, and also all the unhappy in the opposite kingdom, had been inhabitants of some earth in the universe before they could become inhabitants of the spiritual world, it would have been easily seen that innumerable earths are required to people the heavens. For it is impossible that one planet could have sufficed, either as to numbers or variety, for this purpose. Nor could the inhabitants of one planet, however great, supply anything adequate to a full image of the Deity, as a divine Man; nor could the inhabitants of that one planet, however numerous, furnish supplies for the indispensable requirements of Infinite Love in forming an angelic heaven. To this end myriads of earths are required, all full of rational beings, to supply heaven with its proper inhabitants, and in some degree to satisfy the desires of Infinite Love in creating, redeeming, and saving mankind. It is, therefore, we think, most reasonable to conclude à priori, that is, reasoning from the Cause of creation, which Cause is infinite Love, that there are innumerable planets in the universe upon which rational beings exist, endowed with faculties by which they can know and love God, and thus become united with Him and be happy for ever. And, indeed, if there were millions of planets full of human beings created for immortality, what would they all be compared with the Infinite, "who with His right hand spans the heavens, and before whom the nations are but as the dust of the balance"? In short, to conceive that there is but one habitable, and but one inhabited earth in the universe, which is the small spot upon which we dwell, savours of a contracted mental intuition, which, like the ant upon |