“A subject of so vast proportions as the title of this chapter indicates, naturally suggests exhaustive study of the investigations of scientists, ancient and modern; but for the sake of brevity, and because the conclusions of ancient philosophy are not accepted in our time, we omit its consideration and confine ourselves to an examination of a small portion of modern investigation. The unity of opinion, however, on the part of our modern scientists and the fact that their investigations are accessible to everyone, make it unnecessary to quote from them, more than just enough to show that the truths we are about to present are in trend with the scientific mind of the day.
It seems that the only objection science has to offer to the theory that the planets are inhabited, is that the conditions existing upon them make life, as we know it impossible. They object that upon certain of the planets, and especially upon the sun, there is an absence of the conditions that make life possible upon our own earth. But what do we mean by the terms, life, living matter, and so on? In their investigations, physicists have reached the point where matter is reduced to a mere center of force, and where heat is only the rate of speed of motion in matter. In the light of these facts, can the line between living and non-living matter be drawn? It has never been drawn, and we are prepared to say that it never will be.
Professor Bose in his book entitled “Response in the Living and Non-Living”, claims to have scientifically demonstrated that there is no essential difference between animal, vegetable, or mineral life. He shows also that metals like the animal organism, can be put to sleep, poisoned, revived, and finally killed. Thus, we are forced to the conclusion that what we call matter is a living organism.
It should be remembered that iron is purified by fire, as in fact are all the metals. It does not kill the life of iron or steel to put it into the furnace and melt it, on the contrary, it seems to bring it into a condition where the life-qualities are more perfectly manifested. And our earth, science tells us, has come from a state of incandescence. Intense heat has prepared it to bring forth living organisms. Yes, more; the heat is absolutely essential to the perpetuation of these organisms.
It is true that our own life requires what we call a moderate amount of heat, but it is well known that there are microbes, that, subjected to a very intense heat, still live. If life in its diminutive forms exists under such conditions, may not the same possibility for life exist in more highly organized forms? May there not be organisms of intelligence, great and mighty minds, whose natural element is a heat transcending our imagination?
The Biblical account states that the three Hebrew children were thrown into a furnace heated seven times hotter than it was wont, that Nebuchadnezzar looking in, saw a fourth form like unto a son of man, and that the three Hebrews came out unharmed. The Bible also declares that God is a “consuming fire”; and while such quotations may have no scientific bearing, they at least show that Revelation seeks to impress upon our minds not only that the cause of all life and being is fire, but that fire in itself is more like God than anything else that we know.
This is in harmony with the scientific conclusion that every substance originated in fire – the incandescent gas from which worlds were made – and may not the Christ have announced a law when he said, “I came out from God, and I return to God”? If the planets came out from fire, may they not return to fire? If God, the Source of all mind, of all life, of all action – in short, of all there is – is a consuming fire, and if the highest angels that the earth’s inhabitants have ever seen appear as flaming fire, is it not reasonable to believe that those blazing suns that illuminate the heavens are the abodes of high and holy beings whose very substance is a flame of fire.
When we say their very substance is a “flame of fire”, do not allow your mind to think of fire from the standpoint of a child. Science has demonstrated that fire is nothing more or less than what is called matter in great activity, the atoms of which are in violent vibration, and there are evidences in human life that the higher the organism, the more rapid are the vibrations of the life-currents in the organism. So that if we allow our reason full scope in connection with what has already been accepted as Divine Revelation and as the truths of science, we may believe, with good reason, that all the heavenly bodies are inhabited.
While inquiring into the facts relative to the universe, the reader should remember that the search is not merely for the wonderful, but for the purpose of confirming and enlarging our conception of God. The answer to the question: Are the Planets and Suns inhabited, that naturally arises in the mind, necessarily reveals the wonders and greatness of the mind, the consciousness, the intelligence that we call Spirit; God, the Cause of all things.”
Hiram Butler
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 