THE ANCIENT FAITH OF EGYPT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5179, 27 October 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE ANCIENT FAITH OF EGYPT.

(From the Dublin University Mayasine.) The Great God, Osiris, the Lord'of Truth, sits on a lofty throne, wearing a mitre of gold with long feathers attached to each side, and balancing either way ; he holds a sceptre, the crosier of authority, and the Tan cross, or emblem of life ; and the flabellum of justice rests upon his shoulder. Mystic serpents are in the canopy above him. He is mild-faced, but inexorably calm, as llhot-amenti, or judge of the unseen life, of the hidden being : he is the great prototype of the deity known to the Greeks as Ehadamanthus: !' Before the divine judge are placed , sin offerings, and hear him are seated the four mediators, or daimonic genii of the dead. Beneath his footstool is the dark cavern of descent to the world of chastisement. The deceased man holds up his hands in prayer, and is supported by the sister goddesses, Isis and Nephthys, the spirits of the upper and lower heavens respectively ; each wears on her head the emblem of truth. In front of the judge is the dragon (the Cerberus of the Greeks), guarding the mouth of the regions of death, aud taking the part of accuser or diabolos. Ranged around the Judgment Hall are forty-two assessors, whoso prerogative is to examine the prisoner and report, each having his special province and function. A large pair of scales is in the midst, presided over by attendant deities. In the one scale is placed the conduct or character of the deceased, typified by the heart (or the fuueral'vase that held it); in the other is the ostrich feather, or the figure of the Goddess of Truth—Thmei, the Great Themi, the Hebrew Thummim. A small weight is moved along the beam, to make a balance, and so determine how much the heart falls short of its standard. ' Horus, the redeemer and divine son, takes the suppliant shade by the hand, and pleads his merits before the calm Osiris. Thoth, the deity of letters, as recording angel, ■ inscribes on his tablets the actions of the deceased, and presents them before the judge. The door of entrance is guarded, retreat is impossible ; the trembling creature is before the tribunal of infallibility, with his heart all open to view, and his every action weighed in the balance. Osiris was president over judgment rather than judge ; the recorded actions spoke for themselves ; there was no impugning facts in the pure spiritual light; the conscience of the awkward spirit saw itself in the true'bill of the jury, and in the verdict of the balance.