aphysical discussions, must be carefully distinguished, and which
for practical purposes are well kept separate by the definite and
indefinite articles. There is one kind of oneness which does not
exclude the idea of plurality; there is another which does. When we
say that Cromwell was a Protector of England, we do not assert that he
was the only protector. But if we say that he was the Protector of
England, it is understood that he was the only man who enjoyed that
title. If, therefore, an expression had been given to that primitive
intuition of the Deity, which is the mainspring of all later religion,
it would have been--'There is a God,' but not yet 'There is but "One
God."' The latter form of faith, the belief in One God, is properly
called monotheism, whereas the term of henotheism would best express
the faith in a single god.

We must bear in mind that we are here speaking of a period in the
history of mankind when, together with the awakening of ideas, the
first attempts only were being made at expressing the simplest
conceptions by means of a language most simple, most sensuous, and
most unwieldy. There was as yet no word sufficiently reduced by the
wear and tear of thought to serve as an adequate expression for the
abstract idea of an immaterial and supernatural Being. There were
words for walking and shouting, for cutting and burning, for dog and
cow, for house and wall, for sun and moon, for day and night. Every
object was called by some quality which had struck the eye as most
peculiar and characteristic. But what quality should be predicated of
that Being of which man knew as yet nothing but its existence?
Language possessed as yet no auxiliary verbs. The very idea of being
without the attributes of quality or action, had never entered into
the human mind. How then was that Being to be called which had
revealed its existence, and continued to make itself felt by
everything that most powerfully impressed the awakening mind, but
which as yet was known only like a subterraneous spring by the waters
which it poured forth with inexhaustible strength? When storm and
lightning drove a father with his helpless family to seek refuge in
the forests, and the fall of mighty trees crushed at his side those
who were most dear to him, there were, no doubt, feelings of terror
and awe, of helplessness and dependence, in the human heart which
burst forth in a shriek for pity or help from the only Being that
could command th