He that believes, as
everyone must believe, that the Divine created the universe for no
other end than that the human race might exist, and heaven therefrom,
for the human race is a seminary of heaven, must needs believe that
wherever there is an earth there are men. That the planets visible to
us because they are within the limits of our solar system are earths
is evident from their being bodies of earthy matters, which is known
from their reflecting the sun's light, and from their not appearing,
when viewed through telescopes, like stars, sparkling with flame, but
like earths varied with darker portions; also from their passing like
our earth around the sun and following in the path of the zodiac,
thus making years and seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn,
and winter, also revolving on their axes like our earth, making days
and times of the day, morning, mid-day, evening, and night; also from
some of them having moons, called satellites, that revolve around
their earth at stated times, as the moon does around ours; while the
planet Saturn, being at a greater distance from the sun, has also a
large luminous belt which gives much light, though reflected, to that
earth.
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