Note 478:2 — Chapter XXXIX

The "God the Father" of all nations of antiquity was nothing more than a personification of the Sky or the Heavens. "The term Heaven (pronounced Thien) is used everywhere in the Chinese classics for the Supreme Power, ruling and governing all the affairs of men with an omnipotent and omniscient righteousness and goodness." (James Legge.)

In one of the Chinese sacred books—the Shu-king—Heaven and Earth are called "Father and Mother of all things." Heaven being the Father, and Earth the Mother. (Taylor: Primitive Culture, pp. 294-296.)

The "God the Father" of the Indians is Dyaus, that is, the Sky. (Williams' Hinduism, p. 24.)

Ormuzd, the god of the ancient Persians, was a personification of the sky. Herodotus, speaking of the Persians, says: "They are accustomed to ascend the highest part of the mountains, and offer sacrifice to Jupiter (Ormuzd), and they call the whole circle of the heavens by the name of Jupiter." (Herodotus, book 1, ch. 131.)

In Greek iconography Zeus is the Heaven. As Cicero says: "The refulgent Heaven above is that which all men call, unanimously, Jove."

The Christian God supreme of the nineteenth century is still Dyaus Pitar, the "Heavenly Father."