4 EVOLUTION AND NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



visible heavens formed a hollow sphere, on the 

 inner side of which the sun, moon, and stars 

 were fixed, and it revolved round the earth 

 in a day and a night. Of the real extent of the 

 Universe, or even of the shape and size of the 

 earth, the ancients had as a rule, not the 

 remotest conception, although they occasionally 

 attributed a definite size to the earth, far 

 exceeding its actual dimensions. 



In or above this hollow sphere was the 

 dwelling place of the gods, who were regarded 

 as beings very little superior (and sometimes 

 actually inferior, even in power) to men, with 

 whom they had constant intercourse face to 

 face, as related in Genesis, the Homeric Poems, 

 and in other writings of the mythic-heroic age. 

 The gods were not eternal. In some systems, 

 as in the Scandinavian, they were actually 

 mortal ; and in many mythologies, they lived 

 in perpetual fear of revolutions which would 

 bring their reign to a close. The Scandinavian 

 gods were nearly all predestined to be slain in 

 battle at the end of the world ; and in Grecian 

 mythology we find Zeus, the successor of 

 two fallen dynasties, obliged to be extremely 

 cautious in his matrimonial alliances, lest some 



