. most interesting inquiry, but one in which it is difficult 1 > reach certainty, whether there an- in the uncultivat id rac •- remembrances of a primeval mono- theistic faith. 'I In- difficulty is due to several causes, tin- first of which i- their reserve, often extreme, in communicating with persons higher in the scale of civilization, an. I their readiness to agree for the mo- ment to what Mich persons may say. Another cir- cumstance to in- considered is the propagation of relig- ious ideas from foreign sources in Africa on both Bides of the continent from the Mohammedanism which ha- Ion,' been making progress, and in this con- tinent from Christianity. The Red men near the white- have forgotten their former human sacrifices and cannibalism, and neglect of parents in extreme
old age; and they -eem to have imbibed some relig- ions notion- from the white men which have modified their religions. We find, also, this to he sometimes confessed by some tribi - in Africa that they believe in a being above all. hut neglect him because he is too
far oil', too high to c lern himself with their affairs.
This m iy be an exi use for neglect of worship of such a being, or it m iv he conformed to a real hut obscure tradition. We may suppose the supreme LCod to have been in the primeval religion if their fathers, ami to have been thrust out of worship by the spiritual weak- I imbecility of fallen man. In some tribes, a.,' iin, there appear to he no such faint traces of mono- theism. A missionary, who lived over thirty years in Southern Africa, once told the present writer thai he never found any -ii.h embers of an early religion
among those with wh he was conversant. The
question i- thus one not -,, easilj settled. We close
have to Bay of it by a brief citation from the
Important work of Wait/ (Anthropol. </. Naturvolker,
II- is speaking of the religion of the
i denj Ing the justice of imputingto them
ir and rude form of polytheism, In- adds thai
letration into their religions, to which
number of conscientious investigator: have
to the surprising result that a number
imong whom the influent f nations
ill .I- cannot be pointed out ii. . i pected, have mad. much great-
:l c development of their religious i on CCptions than almo t all other nation, i,, .
nature. Vnd thU to sui h a di rrec that, it we maj not call them monotheists, -till we maj assert of them
that thi 3 -i ind on the borders of m theism : while
yet their religion i- mingled with a great amount of
■r-titioii. whil h in ll . ,■ j p]es
wher ii i- found seems entirely t rer up with its
ih tin- |.urer religious conceptions." II W • have consid ired polytheism
8 POLYTHEISM
thus far on the side of its nature and origin. We pro- ceed next to a brief exposition of it- practical Bide, or it- outward wor-hip, including priests, images, altars, and temple-, liturgical Ben ice-, and offerings.
(1.) Throughout paganism it has been felt that the gods must he approached in a certain way. and the knowledge of that way ha- been in the hands of a cer- tain tribe or cla-s. If there were written records, ga- ngs, or formulae, the knowledge of these per- tained to this ela-s alone. Moreover, a method of ascertaining the divine will grew up of which they alone had tin- knowledge; W hatever rites were nee- essary to propitiate the anger of the gods, or to secure their favor, they alum- could authoritative!} tell. j If any occult soience relating to human destiny or the divine will existed, they possessed it exclusively; They had from their position such advantages that they first would have the literature, science, philoso- phy, and history of the nation in their keeping. Thus
to a great extent they controlled the progress of events) -tood by tin' side of rulers to direct their counsi Is.
trained the | pie, shaped the theory of religion,
turned it perhaps into a new direction.
The influence and Btanding of the priests varied with the freedom of the nation, with the compactness of the priestly order, and with various other cau-es. In some countries, as in Egypt and in India, they formed one of the leading castes, and all knowledge, secular or religious, was in their hands. In the Per- sian or Zoroastrian religion tin- priest, called Athrava in tin- records, ha- al-o in the inscription of Behistun (of the time of Darius Hystaspes), and in the Greek and Latin writers, the name of Magus. The Magi, ac- cording to Herodotus, were a Median tribe, which, be- coming necessary for the offices of religion, wa- dif- fused over Persia also, ami perhaps over East Iran or Bactria. They resembled the tribe of Levi in their living in villages, and had no great political power, owing pel haps to the almost religious authority of the Persian kino;. The Avesta consists, to a great degree, of long prayers, of invitations to the <jods to be present at acts of wor-hip, and the like, ami religion entered into all the important concerns of life. Frequent pur- gations, and the maintenance also of the sacred tire, fell to their office. It i- difficult to explain the con- nection bet w em these Magi ami the practice ofmagic< for there were Babylonian Magi al-o; but the word was probably indigenous in Iran. Duncker, the his- torian, finds the connection in the formula; of conjura- tion which they used in order to drive away the dtBVOB or devs, the evil-minded Bpirit-servants of Ahritnan, which formuhe had a kind of constraining power over the spirits, just as prayer in India was conceived of as