seeks to stimulate wider interest and research into all that the monuments of Egypt can tell us in confirmation of the historical parts of the Bible, and of the history of that wondrous country which is prominent in the forefront of both Old and New Testaments, from the day when “Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there,” until the day when Joseph “arose and took the young Child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt: and was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son.”

CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE.

CHAPTER I.

The Religious Character of the Ancient Egyptians.

Standing some time ago on the top of the great pyramid, the present writer gazed with wonder at the wide prospect around. Above Cairo the Nile Valley is hemmed in on both sides by limestone ridges, which form barriers between the fertile fields and the barren wastes on either side; and on the limestone ridge by the edge of the great western desert stand the pyramids of Egypt. Looking forth from the summit of the pyramid of Cheops eastwards, the Nile Valley was spread out like a panorama. The distant horizon was bounded by the Mokattam hills, and near to them rose the lofty minarets and mosques of Grand Cairo.

The green valley presented a pleasing picture of richness and industry. Palms, vines, and sycamores beautified the fertile fields; sowers, reapers, builders, hewers of wood and drawers of water plied their busy labours, while long lines of camels, donkeys, and oxen moved to and fro, laden with the rich products of the country. The hum of labour, the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, the song of women, and the merry laughter of children, spoke of peace and plenty.

Looking towards the west how changed was the scene! The eye rested only on the barren sands of the vast desert, the great land of a silence unbroken by the sound of man or beast. Neither animal nor vegetable life exists there, and the solitude of desolation reigns for ever supreme; so that while the bountiful fields speak of activity and life, the boundless waste is a fitting emblem of rest and death.

It is manifest that this striking contrast exercised a strong influence upon the minds of the ancient Egyptians. To the edge of the silent desert they carried their dead for burial, and on the rocky platform that forms the margin of the sandy waste they reared those vast tombs known as the pyramids. The very configuration of Egypt preached a never-ending sermon, which intensified the moral feelings of the people, and tended to make the ancient Egyptians a religious nation.

The ancient Egyptians were a very religious people. The fundamental doctrine of their religion was the unity of deity, but this unity was never represented by any outward figure. The attributes of this being were personified and represented under positive forms. To all those not initiated into the mysteries of religion, the outward figures came to be regarded as distinct gods; and thus, in process of time, the doctrine of divine unity developed into a system of idolatry. Each spiritual attribute in course of time was represented by some natural object, and in this way nature worship became a marked characteristic of their mythology.

The sun, the most glorious object of the universe, became the central object of worship, and occupies a conspicuous position in their religious system. The various aspects of the sun as it pursued its course across the sky became so many solar deities. Horus was the youthful sun seen in the eastern horizon. He is usually represented as holding in one hand the stylus or iron pen, and in the other, either a notched stick or a tablet. In the hall of judgment, Thoth was said to stand by the dreadful balance where souls were weighed against truth. Thoth, with his iron pen, records on his tablet the result of the weighing in the case of each soul, and whether or not, when weighed in the balance, it is found wanting. According to mythology, Thoth was the child of Kneph, the ram-headed god of Thebes.

Ra or Phra was the mid-day sun; Osiris the declining sun; Tum or Atum the setting sun; and Amun the sun after it had sunk below the horizon. Ptah, a god of the first order, worshipped with great magnificence at Memphis, represented the vivifying power of the sun’s rays: hence Ptah is spoken of as the creative principle, and creator of all living things. Gom, Moui, and Khons, were the sons of the sun-god, and carried messages to mankind. In these we notice the rays personified. Pasht, literally a lioness, the goddess with the lioness head, was the female personification of the sun’s rays.

The moon also as well as the sun was worshipped, and lunar deities received divine adoration as well as solar deities.

Thoth.

Thoth, the reputed inventor of hieroglyphs and the recorder of human actions, was a human deity, and represented both the light moon and the dark moon. He is also called Har and Haremakhu—the Harmachis of Greek writers—and is the personification of the vigorous young sun, the conqueror of night, who each morning rose triumphant from the realms of darkness. He was the son of Isis and Osiris, and is the avenger of his father. Horus appears piercing with his spear the monster Seth or Typho, the malignant principle of darkness who had swallowed up the setting sun. The parable of the sun rising was designed to teach the great religious lesson of the final triumph of spiritual light over darkness, and the ultimate victory of life over death. Horus is represented at the coronation of kings, and, together with Seth, places the double crown upon the royal head, saying: “Put this cap upon your head, like your father Amen-Ra.” Princes are distinguished by a lock of hair hanging from the side of the head, which lock is emblematic of a son. This lock was worn in imitation of Horus, who, from his strong filial affection, was a model son for princes, and a pattern of royal virtue. The sphinx is thought to be a type of Horus, and the obelisks also seem to have been dedicated, for the most part, to the rising sun.

There were also sky divinities, and these were all feminine. Nu was the blue mid-day sky, while Neit was the dark sky of night. Hathor or Athor, the “Queen of Love,” the Egyptian Venus, represented the evening sky.

There were other deities and objects of worship not so easily classified. Hapi was the personification of the river Nile. Anubis, the jackal-headed deity, was the friend and guardian of the souls of good men. Thmei or Ma, the goddess of truth, introduced departed souls into the hall of judgment.

Amenti, the great western desert, in course of time was applied to the unknown world beyond the desert. Through the wilderness of Amenti departed spirits had to pass on their way to the judgment hall. In this desert were four evil spirits, enemies of the human soul, who endeavoured to delude the journeying spirits by drawing them aside from the way that led to the abode of the gods. On many papyri, and on the walls of tombs, scenes of the final