MAN. 105 
religion of many Gods) and finally evolved Monotheism 
(a belief in one God). But all agree in this, that Religion 
in its earliest form was of a very crude and elementary 
character, and only in the course of many thousands of 
vears, attained to the conception of one Supreme Being. 
There was at first a faith in gods,—Polytheism, and 
much later a faith in God—Monotheism. 
Now, let it be observed that this is the only possible 
view from the standpoint of Evolution. Remember that 
this doctrine is not only conceived as bearing on the de- 
velopment of the animal kingdom. The principle is 
assumed to operate in the development of the earth, of 
man, of society, of government, of manufactures, of 
language, of literature, science, art, and religion. Ac- 
cording to the theory, there must have been progress 
from a crude form of spirit-worship to a worship of 
gods, and thence to a worship of one God. But what are 
the facts? Has religion so developed? It has not. 
Not only has history failed to show a single form of 
belief which has advanced in the manner demonstrated, 
but every religion, no matter how pure and exalted, has 
gone through a process of degeneration, of devolution. 
The founders of the comparative study (or Science) 
of Religion, and the greatest authorities in its various 
departments, are practically unanimous in their opinion, 
that all pagan. systems of mythology and religion con- 
tain remnants of a more exalted form of belief, of a 
higher, clearer knowledge of the Divinity, which gradu- 
ally became dimmed and corrupted. 
From Max Mueller’s Lecture on the Vedas (the an- 
cient hymns of India) we quote the following: As a 
result “to which a comparative study of religion is sure 
to lead, we shall learn that religions in their most an- 
cient form, or in the minds of their authors, are generally 
free from many of the blemishes that attach to them in 
later times.” 
