ANCIENT AND MODERN VIEWS OF NATURE. 5 



one or other of his numerous sons should 

 prove stronger than himself, and dethrone him 

 as he had dethroned his own father. The same 

 idea reappears in Judaism, Christianity and 

 Islam as the Fall of the Angels. 



We learn from the Edda that Othiii is the 

 fortunate possessor of a throne from whence he 

 can survey the whole earth. Although this is 

 but a primitive idea of omniscience, it is never- 

 theless far superior to the ideas entertained by 

 the ancient Hebrews regarding theElohim,* who 

 were always obliged to descend to the earth in 

 person, in order to obtain correct information 

 about terrestrial matters,f and who appear not 

 to have known that Adam had transgressed their 

 commands, until the latter betrayed himself by 

 his own conscience- stricken words and actions. 



In the Indian mythology, the gods are often 

 represented as inferior to men, and are com- 

 pelled to resort to extraordinary expedients to 



* The finite nature and attributes of the God (or Gods ?) of the Penta- 

 teuch, who was little superior to the gods worshipped by other nations 

 at the same period, and who is represented as less just and merciful than 

 his servant Moses, are familiarly known and admitted ; but it must al- 

 ways be remembered that the later Jewish writers entertained far higher 

 ideas of the national deity ; and that some of the noblest sentiments 

 of the Gospels may be paralleled in the " uninspired " Talmud. 



t Gen. iii. 8 ; xi. 5, etc. 



