ve worshipped as the god of the groves. There
are, at the same time, other unitizing conceptions of the god-idea.
There is a god of the hills, a god of the streams, of the seas, and so
on. New classes of divinities may be evolved in the mythological system;
the strong and salient passions of our nature may come to have their
deities--to be unitized, at length, with all other gods. Meantime,
mankind are forming into states, with some degree of regular government;
and apparently in accordance with this fact, the gods are subjected to
the partial control of one who is greater than all the rest, and who is
their father and king, but himself subject to the decrees of Fate.
Another grand step, and seemingly in correspondence with the more
centralized government of a vast and powerful empire, we hear of one God
only, who is all-powerful, and master of Fate itself, with a hierarchy
of angels, powers, and principalities, reaching from God to man, and
subordinate to the Central Will, which rules all things, whether 'in the
armies of heaven or among the inhabitants of the earth.' Thus did the
idea of one God eventually swallow up all the others; and the god-idea
was completely unitized.
We now come to consider the political and social evolution of mankind,
as it appears to be revealed by the comparison of various stages of
national growth.
The primitive condition of all races, so far as history and travel
reveal it, correspond with what is characterized as homogeneous or
unorganized. Socially and politically, individuals of the same sex are
all alike. There are no classes in society, no rulers, no
aristocrats--no society even--nothing but individuals; and it is here
that we find individuality in its purest form. There is no law
originating with a sovereign, or with the people, for the adjustment of
difficulties; every individual avenges his own wrongs in his own way.
Cooeperation is scarcely known; there is nothing in their habits, nothing
in their social and political relations to bind society together; there
are no specialized parts or functions--no dependence of one part on
another; it is marked by a homogeneity of structure, if structure it can
be called, which is unimpeachable. The only cooeperation which obtains
beyond the limits of the family, is that of hunting and war; and these
exercises develop the need of a chief or leader. The strongest and most
daring are self-elected by virtue of individual prowess. But still the
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