From all this it results that, so far as the testimony of the Semitic race is concerned (which, by the by, a concurrence of tradition points to as the oldest), the human race did not "emerge into monotheism," but "sank into polytheism;" that monotheism was their belief from "their earliest days," and their language bearing testimony to the same, shows also that it was primitively so. It moreover results, that although mankind may have been allowed to sink into polytheism, as a warning or a chastisement, it certainly could not have been "in order that the foundations of inductive philosophy might be laid;" for it is quite apparent from this extract that the induction was _never made_ that man did _not_ "emerge into monotheism;" but that having "_exhausted its vitality_," and "worked out every problem of theodicy" in the way of corruption, it _received_ monotheism back again from the only people who had preserved it intact. At any rate, monotheism came to it _ab extra_, and before polytheism had attained the "full scope of that development" which was necessary for the perfection of art! But Mr Baring Gould having a perception that this admission (although he has not apparently seen its full significance) is fatal to his theory, hastens to unsay it at page 261, "Whence did the Jews derive their monotheism? Monotheism is _not_ a feature of any primitive religion; but that which is a feature of secondary religions is the appropriation to a tribe of a particular god, which that tribe exalts above all other gods." In support of this view, Mr Baring Gould quotes certain texts of Scripture--Isa. xxxvi. 19, 20 (_i.e._ words spoken by Rabsaces the Assyrian), and Jos. xxiv. 15, "But if it seem evil to you to serve _the Lord_, you have your choice: choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom you would rather serve, whether the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia [query, an allusion to the idolatry in the patriarchal households? Gen. xxxv. 2, "the gods" being of the same kind with "the gods of the Amorites"], or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve _the Lord_." One would have thought this text too plain to be cavilled at. Is not _the Lord_ whom Josue invokes _the same Lord_ who (Gen. i. 1) "in the beginning created heaven and earth," and who said to Noah (Gen. vi. 7), "I will destroy _man whom I have created_, from the face of the earth;" and who (Exod. iii. 2) appeared to Moses in a flame of fire in the bush which was not consumed; and to whom Moses said, "Lo, I shall go to the children of Israel, and say to them, _The God of your fathers_ hath sent me to you; if they should say to me, What is His name? what shall I say to them? (ver. 14), God said to Moses, _I am who am_: He said thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, _He who is_ hath sent me to you." When or where has monotheism been more explicitly declared? Is there any phrase which the human mind could invent in