given to him to build Jehovah's Temple. But we must not exaggerate the
depth or exclusiveness of his belief in the God of the Jews.

Cyrus's profession of faith, then, is an example of official and
skin-deep religion, of which public and individual life afford
plentiful instances in all ages and faiths. If we are to take their
own word for it, most great conquerors have been very religious men,
and have asked a blessing over many a bloody feast. All religions are
equally true to cynical politicians, who are ready to join in
worshipping 'Jehovah, Jove, or Lord,' as may suit their policy. Nor is
it only in high places that such loosely worn professions are found.
Perhaps there is no region of life in which insincerity, which is
often quite unconscious, is so rife as in regard to religious belief.
But unless my religion is everything, it is nothing. 'All in all, or
not at all,' is the requirement of the great Lover of souls. What a
winnowing of chaff from wheat there would be, if that test could
visibly separate the mass which is gathered on His threshing-floor,
the Church!

Cyrus's belief in Jehovah illustrates the attitude which was natural
to a polytheist, and is so difficult for us to enter into. A vague
belief in One Supreme, above all other gods, and variously named by
different nations, is buried beneath mountains of myths about lesser
gods, but sometimes comes to light in many pagan minds. This blind
creed, if creed it can be called, is joined with the recognition of
deities belonging to each nation, whose worship is to be co-extensive
with the race of which they are patrons, and who may be absorbed into
the pantheon of a conqueror, just as a vanquished king may be allowed
an honourable captivity at the victor's capital. Thus Cyrus could in a
sense worship Jehovah, the God of Israel, without thereby being