I Have already handled the Seasons, and Meteors belonging to this new World: tis requisite that in the next place I should come unto the third thing which I promised, and say somewhat of the inhabitants; Concerning whom there might bee many difficult questions raised; as; whether that place bee more inconvenient for habitation than our World (as Keplar thinks;) whether they are the seed of Adam; whether they are there in a blessed estate, or else what meanes there may be for their salvation? with many other such uncertaine enquiries, which I shall willingly omit, leaving it to their examination who have more leisure and learning for the search of such particulars.
Being for mine owne part content only to set downe such notes belonging unto these, which I have observed in other Writers.1 Cum tot a illa regio nobis ignota sit, remanent inhabitatores illi ignoti penitus (saith Cusanus) since wee know not the regions of that place, we must be altogether ignorant of the inhabitants. There hath not yet beene any such discovery concerning these, upon which we may build a certainty, or good probability: well may wee guesse at them, & that too very doubtfully, but wee can know nothing; for, if wee doe hardly guesse aright at things which bee upon earth, (Wisd. 9. 16) if with labour wee doe find the things that are at hand, how then can wee search out those things that are in heaven? What a little is that which wee know, in respect of those many matters contained within this great Universe? This whole globe of earth and water, though it seeme to us to bee of a large extent, yet it beares not so great a proportion unto the whole frame of Nature, as a small sand doth unto it; and what can such little creatures as we, discerne, who are tied to this point of earth? or what can they in the Moone know of us? If we understand any thing (saith Esdras) tis nothing but that which is upon the earth; (2 Esd. 4. 21) and hee that dwelleth above in the heavens, may onely understand the things that are above in the height of the heavens.
So that ‘twere a very needelesse thing for us to search after any particulars; however, we may guesse in the generall that there are some inhabitants in that Planet: for why else did providence furnish that place with all such conveniences of habitation as have beene above declared?
But you will say, perhaps; is there not too great and intolerable a heate, since the Sunne is in their Zenith every moneth, and doth tarry there so long before he leaves it?
I answer, 1. This may, perhaps, be remedied (as it is under the line) by the frequency of mid-day showers, which may cloud their Sunne, and coole their earth. 2. The equality of their nights doth much temper the scorching of the day; and the extreme cold that comes from the one, requires some space before it can bee dispelled by the other, so that the heat spending a great while before it can have the victory, hath not afterwards much time to rage in. Wherfore notwithstanding this doubt, yet that place may remaine habitable. And this was the opinion of the Cardinal de Cusa, when speaking of this Planet, he sayes,2 Hic locus Mundi est habitatio hominum & animalium atque vegetabilium. This part of the world is inhabited by men, & beasts, and plants. To him assented Campanella; but he cannot determine whether they were men or rather some other kinde of creatures. If they were men, then he thinks they could not be infected with Adams sinne; yet perhaps, they had some of their owne, which might make them liable to the same misery with us, out of which, it may bee, they were delivered by the same means as we, the death of Christ; and thus he thinks that place of the Ephesians may be interpreted, where the Apostle sayes, (Ephes. 1. 10) God gathered all things together in Christ, both which are in earth, and which are in the heavens: So also that of the same Apostle to the Colossians, where he sayes, (Col. 1. 20) that it pleased the Father to reconcile all things unto himselfe by Christ, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
But I dare not jest with divine truths, or apply these places according as fancy directs. As I thinke this opinion doth not any where contradict Scripture; so I thinke likewise, that it cannot bee proved from it. Wherefore Campanella’s second conjecture may be more probable, that the inhabitants of that world, are not men as we are, but some other kinde of creatures which beare some proportion, and likenesse to our natures. Or it may be, they are of a quite different nature from any thing here below, such as no imagination can describe; our understandings being capable only of such things as have entered by our senses, or else such mixed natures as may bee composed from them. Now, there may be many other species of creatures beside those that are already knowne in the world; there is a great chasme betwixt the nature of men and Angels; It may bee the inhabitants of the Planets are of a middle nature between both these. Tis not improbable that God might create some of all kindes, that so he might more compleatly glorifie himselfe in the works of his Power and Wisedome.