tably the case in ancient Egypt, where each
invasion and each change of dynasty led to a new adjustment of the
Egyptian Pantheon.

Rome had many gods, but Jupiter was supreme. Herodotus says of the
Scythians, that they had eight gods, but one was supreme, like Zeus. The
Northmen, according to Dr. Dascent, had one supreme god known as the
"All-fader." The Druids, though worshipping various subordinate deities,
believed in One who was supreme--the creator of all things and the soul
of all things. Though conceived of in a Pantheistic sense, He was
personal and exerted a moral control, as is shown by the famous triad:
"Fear God; be just to all men; die for your country." In the highest and
purest period of the old Mexican faith we read of the Tezcucan monarch
Nezahualcoyotl, who said: "These idols of wood and stone can neither
hear nor feel; much less could they make the heavens and the earth, and
man who is the lord of it. These must be the work of the all-powerful
unknown God, the Creator of the universe, on whom alone I must rely for
consolation and support."[157] The Incas of Peru also, though
sun-worshippers, believed in a supreme creator who made the sun. The
oldest of their temples was reared to the supreme god "Virachoca." And
one of the greatest Incas has left his declared belief that "there must
be above the sun a greater and more powerful ruler, at whose behest the
sun pursues his daily and untiring round."[158]

It has been assumed throughout this lecture, that instead of an advance
in the religions of men, there has everywhere been decline. Our proofs
of this are not theoretic but historic. As an example, all writers are
agreed, I believe, that during the historic period the religion of the
Egyptians steadily deteriorated until Christianity and Mohammedanism
superseded it. In strong contrast with the lofty and ennobling prayer
which we have quoted from an ancient Egyptian record, is the degradation
of the later worship. On a column at Heliopolis, belonging to the fourth
century before Christ, is inscribed this petition: "O thou white cat,
thy head is the head of the sun god, thy nose is the nose of Thoth, of
the exceeding great love of Hemopolis." The whole prayer is on this low
level. Clement, of Alexandria, after describing the great beauty of an
Egyptian temple, proceeds to say: "The innermost sanctuary is concealed
by a curtain wrought in gold, which the priest draws aside, and there is
seen a cat, or a cr