CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE PLANETARY GODS.
The Terrestrial God.
Why man should claim that the terrestrial God, the God that was created on this earth, extends his sway beyond the limits of this globe, is not easily accounted for. It is an assumption that is not at all warranted.
We know that the composition of the planets that belong to the family of the solar system are the same as that of our own, this earth. All those worlds seem to be constructed of the same chemical elementary substances as this globe of ours, and working on the same general universal plan. That all the planets of the solar system, and the sun itself, possess the same common characteristics as this earth, is evident. The planets all move in the same direction round the sun. They all revolve upon their own axes, and round the sun. They have day and night, seasons and periods of revolution. They have their atmospheres, snows, rings, and all the necessary equipments of a planet proper. They seem to have seas, mountains, valleys, poles, equators, etc.
Some of the planets seem to be in a much higher state of organization than our own.
Take Saturn, for example, with its series of rings and satellites, its immense distance from the sun, 886,000,000 miles, moving at the rate of 22,000 miles per hour, and having a year equal to about 30 years of our globe. He flourishes at a distance from us of about 300,000,000 miles. He has a diameter of 73,000 miles. His volume is 700 times that of the earth, and he receives his light from the sun, just the same as we do. It is admitted by astronomers that the Saturnal scenery is most magnificent, and surpasses anything we are familiar with. The rings form immense arches, which span the sky and shed a soft radiance around; while in the strange beauty of the night eight moons in all their different phases, full, new crescent, or gibbous, light up the starry vault.
We know that the planets are composed of the same elementary substances as this world whereon we live, that they are also surrounded with an atmosphere, have water upon them, receive the sun’s heat, exhibit all the peculiar characteristics of this globe of ours, and all the planets seem to be obeying the same general universal laws.
Can anyone give us a plausible reason why there is no organized vital matter on our neighboring planets—plants, living creatures, similar to those found on this terrestrial globe?