If you turn to the seventh book of
_Paradise Lost_, you will find there stated the hypothesis to which I
refer, which is briefly this: That this visible universe of ours came
into existence at no great distance of time from the present; and that
the parts of which it is composed made their appearance, in a certain
definite order, in the space of six natural days, in such a manner that,
on the first of these days, light appeared; that, on the second, the
firmament, or sky, separated the waters above, from the waters beneath
the firmament; that, on the third day, the waters drew away from the dry
land, and upon it a varied vegetable life, similar to that which now
exists, made its appearance; that the fourth day was signalised by the
apparition of the sun, the stars, the moon, and the planets; that, on
the fifth day, aquatic animals originated within the waters; that, on
the sixth day, the earth gave rise to our four-footed terrestrial
creatures, and to all varieties of terrestrial animals except birds,
which had appeared on the preceding day; and, finally, that man appeared
upon the earth, and the emergence of the universe from chaos was
finished. Milton tells us, without the least ambiguity, what a spectator
of these marvellous occurrences would have witnessed.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25