2 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RIZES. 
of antiquity and modern times ; and it is for that reason often difficult to 
show how they are connected in their origin and in the propagation of their 
doctrines and principles. 
The systems of religion best known to us are: Monotheism, viz. the 
worship of one god, and Polytheism, the adoration of several gods, the latter 
of which includes also Dualism (the worship of two gods) and Tritheism (the 
worship of three gods). 
The lowest grade of polytheism is Fetishism, viz. that idolatry which 
teaches its followers to worship inanimate nature, sticks and stones, and the 
productions of their own skill. Next to this comes Pyrolatry or the worship 
of fire, and Sabzism, which considers the stars as gods. All other creeds are 
varieties of the same géneral system. 
Mytuoxoey is the name given to the science which treats of the various 
systems of idolatry, and the doctrines of its votaries. It embraces also the 
language of figures and symbols by which the ancient and modern Pagans 
sought to teach their religion, philosophy, and history. Their manner of 
testifying reverence for the gods, and the other devotional acts appertaining 
to their religion, are designated as Reticious Rrres. 
Every reflecting man must feel a desire to inquire into and make 
himself acquainted with these various systems of religion. For, conscious 
that religion is the most important subject, and of the most vital interest to 
our race, he will naturally feel inclined to inquire into everything pertain- 
ing to it, whether true or false, and to examine the beacons which different 
portions of our race, at different times, have set up for their religious 
guidance. This field of human research will present him, like all others, 
with a view of a slow but constant progress from the imperfect to the 
perfect. In it he will also learn that notwithstanding all the aberrations of 
the human mind which have manifested themselves more particularly in 
systems of religion, there is always a higher power whose overruling influence 
cannot be mistaken. 
It is also impossible, without a thorough inquiry into the migration of 
religious ideas as they passed from nation to nation, properly to appreciate 
this progress in the scale of perfection, or to understand the spirit which 
pervades individual nations in their every-day life, in their heroic deeds, and 
the vicissitudes that befell them. This inquiry is even necessary to a 
thorough understanding of the religious systems of our own times. 
A knowledge of mythology is also indispensable to explain the growth and 
spread of the arts and trade, which were indebted to the fostering care of 
religion for the high degree of perfection to which they attained at so early 
a period. 
We will now endeavor, as far as possible, to pursue a systematic course 
in tracing the progress of religious development as it is delineated in 
mythology. To do this we shall have to examine chronologically the various 
religious systems of antiquity. We begin with those of non-classic anti- 
quity, the more developed religious systems of the Greeks and Romans 
constituting the subjects of the mythology of classic antiquity. 
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