The Only Authority

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 16, 1911

The Only Authority

DISCUSSING the question as to whether or not Venus is inhabited, the Washington Post of January 20 says:— In our system there are numerous planets much larger than the earth; and why should they not be inhabited by beings as much superior to us as their worlds are larger than ours? Arcturus is a sun infinitely larger than our sun, and doubtless planets revolve around it a million of miles in diameter. What were they made for if not for habitation? And beyond the system of which Arcturus is the center, there are other systems, no doubt, as greatly superior to that as that is to ours. It staggers our minds to try to contemplate the universe, if such a weak term is adequate definition of it. The universe is all; but how can you compute all of that which has neither beginning nor ending? The stupendous genius who wrote the book of Job in the Holy Bible asked, “If a man die, shall he live again?” Revealed religion answers in the affirmative, and there is no rational course for our poor humanity to take but to accept the revelation of the Scriptures.

The prophet states (Isa. 45:18) that this earth was not formed in vain; it was created in order to be inhabited. If this is true of this little earth, we may justly conclude that it is true of the many other planets filling God’s universe. As the Post says, the only rational course for poor humanity to take is to accept the revelation of the Scriptures. Idle speculation accomplishes little. We may allow the imagination to run riot, and seek to penetrate into the unknown; but the great door of the invisible world does not swing outward. We can not peer through its portals. Only as the Scriptures of truth reveal the plan of God in the creation of the universe and the final destiny of the human family, can we form any sort of estimate as to what the future will be.