248 ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



and each external power and each human activity 

 was regarded separately, later the rise of civilization 

 led to a modification of custom, to a reference of 

 action and belief to the standards of pure reason, and 

 to an attempt at unification. Once this occurred, 

 and equally so whether the attempt at unification 

 had an intellectual or a moral basis, polytheism was 

 doomed. Its downfall has been often described ; 

 the reasons for it are suggestively put by Jevons in 

 his little book. The Idea of God, It passes through 

 a stage where one among the gods is pre-eminent : 

 but finally even that does not suffice, and in its place 

 arises a monotheistic creed. 



Monotheism may start as a purely local or tribal 

 affair — my one God against yours. It may not 

 only start, but long continue so. Readers of 

 Mr. Bang's collection of startling German war- 

 sayings will remember the superbly national prayer 

 of the Prussian pastor who addressed his God (I 

 quote from memory) as ' Du, der hoch iiber Cheru- 

 binen, Seraphinen, und Zeppelinen, ewig tronst.' 

 (J. P. Bang, Hurrah and Hallelujah. London, 

 1 91 6.) But this idea, too, is self-contradictory, 

 and merges into that of one God for all men. 

 The primitive anthropomorphism which had in- 

 vested the first vague and mysterious spirits with 

 human parts and passions, human speech and 

 thought, also fell into gradual desuetude. It was 

 kept up as a symbol, or because of the difficulty 



