, and
established worship, and maxims of morality, attributed all
this--their birth as a nation, so to speak--to one or more
great men, all of whom, without exception, _were supposed to
have received their knowledge from some deity_.

"Whence did Zoroaster, the prophet of the Persians, derive his
religion? According to the beliefs of his followers, and the
doctrines of their sacred writings, it was from Ahuramazda,
the God of light. Why did the Egyptians represent the god
Thoth with a writing tablet and a pencil in his hand, and
honor him especially as the god of the priests? Because he was
'the Lord of the divine Word,' the foundation of all wisdom,
from whose inspiration the priests, who were the scholars, the
lawyers, and the religious teachers of the people, derived all
their wisdom. Was not Minos, the law-giver of the Cretans, the
friend of Zeus, the highest of the gods? Nay, was he not even
his son, and did he not ascend to the sacred cave on Mount
Dicte to bring down the laws which his god had placed there
for him? From whom did the Spartan law-giver, Lycurgus,
himself say that he had obtained his laws? From no other than
the god Apollo. The Roman legend, too, in honoring Numa
Pompilius as the people's instructor, at the same time
ascribed all his wisdom to his intercourse with the nymph
Egeria. It was the same elsewhere; and to make one more
example,--this from later times--Mohammed not only believed
himself to have been called immediately by God to be the
prophet of the Arabs, but declared that he had received every
page of the Koran from the hand of the angel Gabriel."[61:2]

FOOTNOTES:

[58:1] Exodus xix.

[58:2] Exodus xxxi. 18.

[58:3] Exodus xxii. 19.

[58:4] Exodus xxxiv.

[58:5] Ibid.

It was a common belief among ancient Pagan nations that the gods
appeared and conversed with men. As an illustration we may cite the
following, related by _Herodotus_, the Grecian historian, who, in
speaking of Egypt and the Egyptians, says: "There is a large city called
Chemmis, situated in the Thebaic district, near Neapolis, in which is a
quadrangular temple dedicated to (the god) Perseus, son of (the Virgin)
Danae; palm-trees grow round it, and the portico is of stone, very
spacious, and over it are placed two large stone statues. In this
inclosure is a temple, and in it