Lord, the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isa. ix. 3). The words "light," "brightness," and "rising" apply with striking force to the sun, and were used by the ancient Persians in such a relation, while, on the other hand, it is difficult to discover any sense or appropriateness in applying them--at least the word "rising"--to the Supreme Being; for he is represented as always occupying "the highest heavens:" so there can be no higher point to rise to. We might also ask, Why are "the Lord's day" and "Sunday" used as synonymous terms? or why is the Lord now worshiped on the very day anciently set apart for the worship of the sun or solar Deities? Do not these facts prove that many remnants of the ancient idolatrous religions are still retained in Christian theology? _Monotheism_.--This word--from _monos_, one, or alone, and _Theos_, God--represents a belief in but one God. We have shown in the preceding section how a belief in a plurality of Gods originated. We will now trace the progress of this idea to a unitary conception of the Deity. It will be observed, by the study of ancient theology, that, as the human mind becomes enlightened and expanded by the discovery of the laws governing the heavenly bodies, the lesser or inferior Deities gradually fall into disbelief and disuse, and "the Supreme Holy One" proportionally becomes exalted in the devout affections of the worshiping multitude, until most religious nations become, in one view, virtually and practically monotheists. And it may be remarked here, that, as neither the imaginary God nor carved images of God were objects of worship by the most enlightened classes of any nation, they can not strictly and truthfully be termed idolaters. Hence some writers are bold to affirm there never was a nation of idolaters; and we incline to this opinion. We are also bold to affirm that there never was, properly speaking, a nation of monotheists,--believing in but one God, and no more,--neither Jews nor Christians excepted; and we are likewise prepared to exhibit the proof of the affirmation, that every nation, reported in history making a profession of religion, has acknowledged the existence of _one supreme God_. This is true even of those who believe in a multiplicity of Gods,--a circumstance which places both Jews and Christians in rather an awkward position, claiming as they do, and always have done, a monopoly of this faith; and the fact that they have long professedly labored to bring other nations to this belief, while some of those nations have, as we shall show, been much more consistent, both in the belief and practice of this doctrine, than themselves, places them, as we conceive, in rather a ludicrous aspect. The Christian Bible and the Christian world have arrogated vastly too much to themselves, and overstepped the bounds of truth, in claiming to be the only propagators of the unitary conception of a God, as the