28G THE EIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



Vishnu, the preserver, struggles with Shiva, the 

 destroyer. In ancient Egypt the good Osiris is 

 opposed by the wicked Typhon. The early Hebrews 

 had a similar dualism of Aschera (or Keturah), the 

 fertile mother-earth, and Elion (Moloch or Sethos), the 

 stern heavenly father. In the Zend religion of the 

 ancient Persians, founded by Zoroaster 2,000 years 

 before Christ, there is a perpetual struggle between 

 Ormuzd, the good god of light, and Ahriman, the 

 wicked god of darkness. 



In Christian mythology the devil is scarcely less 

 conspicuous as the adversary of the good deity, the 

 tempter and seducer, the prince of hell, and lord of 

 darkness. A personal devil was still an important 

 element in the belief of most Christians at the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century. Towards the 

 middle of the century he was gradually eliminated 

 by being progressively explained away, or he was 

 restricted to the subordinate role he plays as 

 Mephistopheles in Goethe's great drama. To-day 

 the majority of educated people look upon " belief in 

 a personal devil " as a mediaeval superstition, while 

 " belief in God " (that is, the personal, good, and 

 loving God) is retained as an indispensable element 

 of religion. Yet the one belief is just as much (or as 

 little) justified as the other. In any case, the much- 

 lamented " imperfection of our earthly life," the 

 " struggle for existence " and all that pertains to it, 

 are explained much more simply and naturally by 

 this struggle of a good and an evil god than by any 

 other form of theism. 



The dogma of the unity of God may in some 

 respects be regarded as the simplest and most natural 

 type of theism ; it is popularly supposed to be the 



