tes, Moabites, and Themanites, whether from the
Bible, or from Arab historians, from Greek authors, Greek
inscriptions, the Egyptian papyri, the Himyaritic and Sinaitic
inscriptions and ancient coins, are all open to two interpretations.
'The servant of Baal' may mean the servant of the Lord, but it may
also mean the servant of Baal, as one of many lords, or even the
servant of the Baalim or the Lords. The same applies to all other
names. 'The gift of El' may mean 'the gift of the only strong God;'
but it may likewise mean 'the gift of the El,' as one of many gods, or
even 'the gift of the Els,' in the sense of the strong gods. Nor do we
see why M. Renan should take such pains to prove that the name of
Orotal or Orotulat, mentioned by Herodotos (III. 8), may be
interpreted as the name of a supreme deity; and that Alilat, mentioned
by the same traveller, should be taken, not as the name of a goddess,
but as a feminine noun expressive of the abstract sense of the deity.
Herodotos says distinctly that Orotal was a deity like Bacchus; and
Alilat, as he translates her name by [Greek: Ouranie], must have
appeared to him as a goddess, and not as the Supreme Deity. One verse
of the Koran is sufficient to show that the Semitic inhabitants of
Arabia worshipped not only gods, but goddesses also. 'What think ye of
Allat, al Uzza, and Manah, that other third goddess?'

If our view of the development of the idea of God be correct, we can
perfectly understand how, in spite of this polytheistic phraseology,
the primitive intuition of God should make itself felt from time to
time, long before Mohammed restored the belief of Abraham in one God.
The old Arabic prayer mentioned by Abulfarag may be perfectly genuine:
'I dedicate myself to thy service, O God! Thou hast no companion,
except thy companion, of whom thou art absolute master, and of
whatever is his.' The verse pointed out to M. Renan by M. Caussin de
Perceval from the Moallaka of Zoheyr, was certainly anterior to
Mohammed: 'Try not to hide your secret feelings from the sight of
Allah; Allah knows all that is hidden.' But these quotations serve no
more to establish the universality of the monotheistic instinct in the
Semitic race than similar quotations from the Veda would prove the
existence of a conscious monotheism among the ancestors of the Aryan
race. There too we read, 'Agni knows what is secret among mortals'
(Rig-veda VIII. 39, 6): and again, 'He, the upholder of order,
V