itself, but something beyond the dawn." This Goddess, who is
designated as the "Oldest," is implored "not only to drive away
darkness and enemies that lurk in the dark, but likewise to
deliver man from any sin which he may have committed." "May
Aditi by day protect our cattle, may she, who never deceives,
protect us from evil."
In the Egyptian as in the Indian and Hebrew religions, the two
generating principles throughout Nature represent the Infinite,
the Holy of Holies, the Elohim or Aleim--the Ieue. Within the
records of the earliest religions of Ethiopia or Arabia, Chaldea,
Assyria, and Babylonia, is revealed the same monad principle in
the Deity. This monad conception, or dual unity, this God of
Light and Life, or of Wisdom and generative force, is the same
source whence all mythologies have sprung, and, as has been
stated, among all peoples the fact is observed that the religious
idea has followed substantially the same course of development,
or growth. Within the sacred writings of the Hindoos there is
but one Almighty Power, usually denominated as Brahm or Brahme--
Om or Aum. This word in India was regarded with the same degree
of veneration as was the sacred Ieue of the Jews. In later ages,
the fact is being proved that this God, into whom all the deities
worshipped at a certain period in human history resolve
themselves, is the sun, or if not the actual corporeal sun, then
the supreme agency within it which was acknowledged as the great
creative or life-force-- that dual principle which by the early
races was recognized as Elohim, Om, Ormuzd, etc., and from which
the productive power in human beings, in plants, and in animals
was thought to emanate.
Prior to the development of either tree or phallic worship, the
sun as an emblem of the Deity had doubtless become the principal
object of veneration. Ages would probably elapse before
primitive man would observe that all life is dependent on the
warmth of the sun's rays, or before from experience he would
perceive the fact that to its agency as well as to that of the
earth he was indebted both for food and the power of motion.
However, as soon as this knowledge had been gained, the great orb
of day would assume the most prominent place among the objects of
his regard and adoration. That such has been the case, that the
