es a monarchical conception of the divine control of a clan or a
tribe, and that this simple system is followed by a more or less
elaborate theology. In both civil and religious systems the increasing
complexity of social life has called forth correspondingly complex
organizations, but this movement away from simplicity does not denote
falling off in civil and religious purity and wisdom. A true monotheism
has never arisen except as a criticism of polytheism.

+986+. It is obvious that the popular cults of the great nations of
antiquity were far removed from monotheism. The Egyptians, the
Babylonians and the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, the
Arabs, the Hindus, the Greeks and the Romans, down to a late period,
worshiped a multitude of gods and were not disturbed by any feeling of
lack of unity in the divine government of the world. The proof that such
was the case among the ancient Hebrews down to the sixth century B.C. is
found in the Old Testament writings: the historical books from the
entrance of the Hebrew tribes into Canaan down to the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and the prophetical writings of the eighth,
seventh, and sixth centuries represent the people generally as addicted
to the worship of a great number of gods. In Persia also, since the
Mazdean system recognized a considerable number of deities, it cannot be
doubted that the people were polytheistic, not to speak of the
probability that there were survivals of a lower form of religion which
preceded Mazdaism. In the modern nations of the east of Asia, China and
Japan, the popular worship is anything but monotheistic: in China the
local spirits play a very great part in the life of the people, and in
Japan the old gods are still objects of worship. It may be added that
among the masses in some nominally Christian countries, particularly
among the peasants of Southern Europe, the old polytheism continues in
the form of the worship of saints and the Madonna.

+987+. While the popular cults in the civilized world have held somewhat
pertinaciously to pluralistic views, there has been a general tendency
in advanced circles everywhere toward a unitary conception of the
government of the world. As this tendency has been general it must be
referred to the general progress of thought, the demand of the human
mind for unity or simplicity. The particular lines of the movement have
varied among different peoples according to the peculiarities of