De Moor VIII:29: The Sixth Day, Part 3

β.  The other of More Recent Men, concerning Living Beings, and according to some even Men, on the Moon, and on other Planets.  Upon the credit of PLUTARCH, the Pythagoreans are believed to have already formerly established, that the Moon appears Terrestrial, which, just like our Earth, may be inhabited by animals, yet larger and more beautiful than ours.  Xenophanes[1] argues the same, as CICERO testifies.  Heraclitus, Democritus, Plato, and other ancient Philosophers are said to have taught things similar to these, should the tradition of others concerning these men stand.  PLUTARCH discoursed concerning this matter at length and most subtly in his little book, de Vultu Lunæ maculoso, opera, tome 2, pages 910 and following.  But there are not wanting learned Men that believe that Plutarch in this manner desired to set forth an elegant fashion of speaking, rather than to give a solid example of philosophizing.  He narrates the Moon’s lands and waters, mountains and valleys; even its inhabitants, but of a short stature, and who, since there are few foods, generally feed on odors and exhalations.  Concerning which opinion of the Ancients, wherein they maintain that living beings are born on the sphere of the Moon, see also EZEKIEL SPANHEIM,[2] ad Callimachi[3] Hymnum in Dianam, verse 113, page 212.  LUCIAN sets forth the same matter, but as a fable to be ridiculed, as he in advance advises, Vera Historia, book I, tome 2, Basel edition, pages 441 and following, holding forth, that he, after he with his companions had been carried through the air for seven days and nights by a great whirlwind, on the eighth day landed in his ship at some great land in the midst of the air, an island, which, having the form of a sphere, was twinkling with a great light.  He found it both inhabited and cultivated.  But, lest they should wander as uncertain, being uncertain on what shores of the sphere they were cast; an advantageous thing happened, that by certain winged horse (these were men, mounted upon vultures instead of horses, of the principal ministers to the King) they were escorted to the Palace of a new arrival.  From their form and habit the King judged them to be Greek men; but he related to them, that the land, upon which they, having passed through such vast distances of air, were deposited, by the Greeks was called σελήνην/Selene, the Moon:  that, moreover, he had a grievous and difficult war with the King of the Sun (for that region, no less than the Lunar, teems with numerous inhabitants):  and more things of that sort.  Yet those dreams of the Ancients have been embraced as true histories by More Recent Men, Galileo, Kepler, Campanella,[4] and others addicted to the hypothesis of Copernicus, and attempt to confirm that error by experiments conducted through the recently invented Telescope; as KEPLER relates in his Selenographia, that through the optic Telescope he saw on the Moon incredibly lofty mountains, great valleys, extensive and numerous trenches, small forests, seas also, and many other things very similar to earth which we inhabit.  He also ascribes inhabitants to the Moon, of a short life, but of an astounding size, fifteen times greater than our men, rivaling whales, constructing towns against the flames of the Sun.  And Kepler concludes, that he also saw workers laboring in the same place.

Before this, Cardinal NICHOLAS of CUSA, who lived in the Fifteenth Century, and was esteemed by men of his profession to be a man of eminent learning and piety,[5] affirmed, not only inhabitants of the Moon, but also of all other Planets, and of the fixed Stars also.

These inventions, especially concerning Lunar Inhabitants, pleased many Philosophers, who follow the things believed by Descartes.  Hence we also read in WITTICH’S Theologia pacifica, chapter VII, § 70:  “It is evident from the observations of Hevelius,[6] that on the Moon are places lofty and depressed, similar to our mountains and valleys; but whether on the Moon there be animals and men is not able to be determined:  it appears closer to the truth to affirm, rather than to deny, it, if we attend to the immense power of God.  We do not in fact know, whether on the Moon there be men, or other creatures; but, should we wish to judge taking all things into account, it appears more likely to assert that there are men there, than to deny it.  For, we ought not to deny a thing to be for this reason, that we have no notice of it, which notice he thinks vainly to be supposed that we are able to acquire it from Scripture concerning this matter.”  With too much confidence, not only concerning the Lunar World, but also the Planetary, as undoubtedly existing, REIMARUS also speaks, over de voornaamste Waarheden van den natuurlichen Godtsdienst, Essay 3, § 10-12, pages 165-175.

Nevertheless, this assertion concerning Lunar inhabitants, and the hypothesis in the same work concerning inhabitans of the other Planets, our AUTHOR undertakes to assail, and does not hesitate to appeal to Scripture for the relief of his cause.

It is opposed, says he, to Moses:  for, 1.  he, recollecting the work of the Fourth Day of Creation, Genesis 1:14-19, does not compare the Moon with our Earth, nor subject it to th feet of Animals; but he numbers it with the Sun and other Stars, placed in the expanse of Heaven; neither does he mention another end of the creation of the Moon, than that it, as mistress of the night, might shed light upon the earth.  Concerning forests and seas, beasts and men, the Sacred Writer does not utter a γρὺ/syllable; certainly those miracles of the other sphere, if there were such, would not be passed over in silence.  2.  While the Sun, Moon, and all the Stars were created on the Fourth Day, God on that day certainly created and perfected all things that pertain to the systems of each.  Therefore, not only on the Third Day did God adorn the earth with herbs and trees, but on the Fourth Day He furnished the Lunar World with the same.  Not only on the Fifth and Sixth Days did He bring forth whatever sort of animals and man, but on the Fourth Day He had already created on the Moon all these things, which differ from the Mosaic narration in a noteworthy manner.  On the other hand, 3.  he, recounting the whole works of God in an unbroken series and with consummate precision, thus encloses lands and seas, plants and animals, in the circuit of our World, so that it might prove to be undoubted and altogether plain, that domain of living things is to be sought nowhere except in this place alone.  To what end, in particular, would God be introduced, saying, Let us make man, etc., as if He would place the finishing touch upon His works, if He had already two days before furnished the Moon with Men?  To what end is it narrated that He reflected at last upon the formation of the Woman for him, as if the Man were found not to be well, should he remain alone? these things would lack all their luster, if some equivalents of Men had already existed elsewhere.

But that Hypothesis, says our AUTHOR, is also opposed to the whole Scripture.  Of course, the Sacred Page everywhere makes mention of the Heavens in the plural, but of the Earth only in the singular; thus amply demonstrating, that terraqueous Globes are not to be multiplied to the number of the heavenly bodies, but that this our one Earth is set over against whatever Heavens; whence also the distribution, well known to the Sacred Writers, of this whole machine into Heavens and Earth.  That God created this to be inhabited; that He gave this to the sons of men; that in this have been the delights of eternal Wisdom with mortals:  they constantly affirm, everywhere asserting inhabitants for our one Earth, in such a way that to them they set in opposition the army of stars:  see Isaiah 45:18; Psalm 115:16; Proverbs 8:31; Daniel 4:35.  It is as the Apostle affirms, that πᾶν, the whole and every, ἔθνος ἀνθρώπων, nation of men, was formed of one blood, to dwell ἐπὶ πᾶν τὸ πρόσωπον, upon the entire, whole, and every face of the earth, Acts 17:26:[7]  therefore, no Land is granted that was not destined for the habitation of men; but all these were begotten of the one blood of Adam, therefore all on face of our Earth:  unless with Lucian they were conveyed to the Moon by a whirlwind.  Certainly by all these things no place is left for a new sphere on the Moon.

That thesis is even more opposed to Scriptural Reasons:

1.  If creatures partaking of the same nature with us live on the Moon, will it seem fair and agreeable to the divine Goodness, that no such regard of them is had by the Creator, that the consummation of the ages, and that day of the Lord, on which even the Heavens, kindled with fire, shall pass away with a great noise, 2 Peter 3:9, 10, are suspended upon the fulfillment of the number of the earthly inhabitants to be saved?

2.  If Men live on the Moon, either they have remained in their primeval integrity, like the good Angels; or they fell into sin, as we did.  It appears that neither ought to have been passed over in silence in the Scriptures, especially since they furnish so many occasion for mentioning it.

              α.  If you should posit the former:  our sin was to be aggravated, or the divine mercy towards us to be magnified, or the greatness of that blessed fellowship, in which we are going to rejoice in Heaven, to be exhibited; it was worth the trouble to have made mention, even if in passing, of so many myriads of saints from another world:  especially when in this argument frequent mention of Angels is made, who nevertheless are inhabitants of the other world no less than those Men, and whose activities appear to touch us less than those of others that are of the same species with us.

              β.   But if they have sinned, even as we have done; it is to be said, either that all remain miserable forever; or that certain of them, like us, have been redeemed through Christ; or that another way of salvation for them has been revealed.  But not one of these appears likely.

                             a.  Not the first.  Paul appears to have been about to mention this in Hebrews 2:16, where he relates, that Christ assumed, not Angels, but the seed of Abraham.[8]  Indeed, in this way he would have even more strongly commended the love of Christ towards us, if he had added, that not only the Angels that sinned, but also the entire worlds of men of the same nature with us, were passed over, so that the grace of so great a benefit was for the men of this world alone.

                             b.  Not the second.  For, since Christ assumed a human nature not of one blood with them, He was neither their brother nor Kinsman Redeemer.[9]  Since on their globe He neither lived, nor suffered, nor taught; nor, finally, did He show Himself humble or glorious, nor is going to show Himself until the consummation of all things, Acts 3:21:  it is not likely that this salvation was brought to them without the coming of Christ to them, which salvation He brought to us only by His ἐπιφανείᾳ/appearing among us.  Paul, also being about to describe the uttermost extent of the preaching of the Gospel, says in Romans 10:18, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world:  but, that it came to the inhabitants of the Moon, he does not at all affirm.  Concerning them was nothing at all to be said in those passages in which the final Judgment is described?  Since it certainly makes for the glory of our Lord, if He were going to be Judge, not only of the men of this world, but also of others, no less than of Angels.

                             c.  Not the third.  For there is no salvation in any other, Acts 4:12; John 14:6.  Neither is it appropriate for Most Holy Deity to admit sinful men to His communion, without satisfaction of His Justice.  Moreover, it is not able to be done, except through the person of the Θεανθρώπου/Theanthropos/God-man.

Added also are the Physical Reasons, set forth by the Most Illustrious VRIESIUS in his Oratione de Lunicolis, which is found after DANIEL VOET’S Physiologiam, pages 249 and following:  1.  From this, that (since he affirms it to be manifest, that the globe of the Moon undergoes no rotation around its axis) for fifteen whole and continuous days the same part of the Moon is subjected to the most fervent heat of Solar rays, in which interval it is necessary that by the Etnean[10] heat all things in the parched region are roasted again:  and that next this same face in its entirety, cast into a winter of just so many days, deprived of all light and heat, freezes in the Scythian cold.  From which intolerable heat or cold, returning in endless cycles, Vriesius concludes that the region is unsuitable for generating life, nourishing plants, and for men to dwell in cities and villages.

Johannes Kepler

And he shows that these difficulties are not removed by the trifles of KEPLER, pages 256, 257.

At the same time, to others this reasoning of VREISIUS does not appear to be of the greatest moment.

2.  From this, that stiffness of cold and burning of heat would in the same way prevent the terrestrial region of the Moon from ever presenting itself to sight, especially to those that boast that they are able to see smaller things there.

3.  From this, that, should we admit Lunar Inhabitants, others may easily feign the same concerning the remaining Planets; indeed, this error could pass to the fixed Stars according to the Cartesian manner of philosophizing concerning them, and thus terrestrial Worlds could be begotten without end.

Ineptly, says our AUTHOR by way of addition, is this opinion or conjecture propped up:

α.  From God’s Power alone:  inasmuch as, 1.  this Question is treated by many as a Question of fact, wherein it is not merely asked what could be done, but it is contended that there is in actuality on the Moon a region terrestrial, inhabited, and cultivated; which is not able to be concluded from God’s Power, since from power to being no consequence is able to be drawn.  2.  Now, that God was unwilling, that the globe of the Moon nourish living things, some conclude, not only from natural arrangement in which the Moon was placed by the Creator, as they think; but also from the persistent testimony of the Sacred pages previously set forth.  3.  Neither do we, in affirming this, take anything away from the divine Power, since we only assert what God willed in act:  since otherwise the same criticism of the divine Virtue not sufficiently proclaimed could overflow unto the Sacred Writers themselves, who, as we saw, neither acknowledge nor mention any living or rational creatures on the Lunar orb, but require us to believe all things contrary concerning the orb of the Moon.  4.  “It is amazing,” says the Most Illustrious WITSIUS, Exercitation VIII in Symbolo, § 77, “that those that dispute that not even by divine Omnipotence are more worlds similar to this one able to be made, admit without difficult more particular worlds, or bodies of land, than we inhabit, similar, in which either men or other living creatures dwell.”

β.  Neither does our AUTHOR admit an argument from the Opacity of the Moon and other Planets; inasmuch as the Pythagoreans said that the continents and islands were clearer parts of the Moon, by their opacity reflecting Light received from the Sun; but the seas were obscurer, which, since they are transparent, draw the rays in.

But from this nothing is able to be concluded, except that on the surface of the Moon some parts are to be admitted as more solid, other parts more transparent; some lower-lying, some more elevated.  But from this no conclusion is able to be formed on behalf of another world on the Moon, unless it be evident, that nothing but the sea is opaque, nothing but the land is shining:  who would affirm this?

γ.  Our AUTHOR thinks that observations through Telescopes are too general and doubtful, than that hence that controversy might be able to be decided.  Certainly, 1.  WITTICH acknowledges, that from the observation of Hevelius it is evident only, that on the Moon are high and low places, similar to our mountains and valleys; he believes that all the rest are not able to be ascertained with certainty.  2.  Because of the distance of the object, and perhaps the condition of the Telescope itself, or a defect in the instrument, or prejudice of the imagination, something other than what is actually there is able to appear.  3.  Thus in the winter time you might quite frequently observe in glasses and windows forms most brilliantly depicted of mountains and valleys, of plants and animals:  one could even imagine that these things were true and living, should he inspect them through a Telescope on a more remote body.  Images of all kinds of things daily present themselves for observation in the clouds and live coals, to which, nevertheless, nothing similar in them actually exists.  To such an extent the readiness of our imagination this game of appearances.

This hypothesis concerning Lunar men was cried down by LACTANTIUS, with whose words out of book III of Divinarum Institutionum, chapter XXII near the end, one may put an end to this disquisition:  Xenophanes, says he, what was agreeable to this levity, said, that within a hollow sinus of the Moon is another world:  and there another race of men lives in a manner similar to that in which we live on this world.  Therefore, those Lunar men have another Moon, which furnishes for them nocturnal Light, just as this Moon does for us.  And perhaps this our sphere might be the Moon of another inferior land.  Seneca says that there was one among the Stoics who deliberated whether he should assign to the sun its own inhabitants also; he acted foolishly in doubting.  For what harm would there be, if he had assigned them?  But I believe the heat deterred him, lest he commit so great a multitude to danger; lest, if they should perish through excessive heat, so great a calamity should be said to have happened by his fault:  compare also VOETIUS’ Disputationum theologicarum, part I, pages 697, 698; VAN MASTRICHT’S Gangrænam Novitatum Cartesianarum, posterior Section, chapter XXI, § 1-5, 7, pages 384-391; JOHANNES REGIUS’ Principia Philosophiæ theoreticæ, chapter XVI, § 8.  PIETER BURMANN, in his Oratione in Humanitatis Studia, page 55, ridiculing the false Philosophers, says:  I would travel throughout the world, so that what men do ye might know, ye who hold your mind and eyes fixed on heaven, and point out other spheres, unvisited and unheard of by the authors of annals, worlds furnished with mountains, forests, rivers, cities, and inhabitants.  This opinion concerning Lunar Inhabitants is also held up for ridicule in Itinere per Mundum Cartesii, pages 99 and following.  Although DESCARTES did not at all firmly assert this hypothesis, writing, Epistolis, part I, Epistle XXXVI, page 82:  And, although I do not therefore conclude that there are any intelligent creatures on the stars, or elsewhere, yet I see no reason, whereby it could be proven that there are none; but I always abandon indeterminate questions of this sort, rather than deny or affirm anything concerning them.

In the meantime, it will not at all irk those eager for wisdom to discuss those things that at the same time set forth plausibly and modestly, so that the opinion might be rendered probable, not only concerning the Moon, but also concerning the remaining Planets quite similar to our Earth, and hence also not likely destitute of their own inhabitants; in Epistolis Danicis, part II, Epistle XXXV, pages 226-240.

[1] Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 570-478 BC) was pre-Socratic philosopher, theologian, poet, scientist, and literary critic.

[2] Ezekiel Spanheim (1629-1710), eldest son of Friedrich Spanheim the Elder, was a Swiss diplomat and scholar.

[3] Callimachus (c. 305-c. 240 BC) was a caretaker of the Library of Alexandria and a poet.

[4] Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639) was an Italian Dominican, theologian, philosopher, poet, and astronomer.

[5] Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) was a German Catholic churchman, philosopher, theologian, mathematician, and astronomer.

[6] Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687) was a Polish astronomer, a pioneer in lunar topography.

[7] Acts 17:26:  “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth (ἐποίησέ τε ἐξ ἑνὸς αἵματος πᾶν ἔθνος ἀνθρώπων, κατοικεῖν ἐπὶ πᾶν τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς), and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation…”

[8] Hebrews 2:16:  “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham (οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἀγγέλων ἐπιλαμβάνεται, ἀλλὰ σπέρματος Ἀβραὰμ ἐπιλαμβάνεται).”

[9] Leviticus 25:25; Ruth.

[10] Mount Etna is an Italian volcano.  In Greek mythology, Hephæstus was said to have his forge beneath Etna.