The Great Religions of the World.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4838, 11 July 1884, Page 2

The Great Religions of the World.

" EGYPT AND ITS RELIGION,"

The concluding lecture on the above subject was delivered last night in the Presbyterian Church by the Rev. S. J. Neill. There was a'much better attendance than on the occasion of the first lecture being given. After the meeting had been opened by singing and prayer, The lecturer said he] had previously referred to Egypt's peculiar configuration, and in speaking of the.great age of the country, he would mention that the date of the first king, Menes, was put down by the best authorities at 5000 years 8.C., while it was certain that a very great time, some went so far as. to say 13,000 years, had elapsed before the country and people attained th? state of civilisation in which they were in at the time of that 'king's reign. The subject to-night was a vast one, and he would be only able to skim over the surface of it*; what he had to tell'had been gleaned from the " book of the dead," placed with the mummies, and inscriptions, so that the evidence was reliable. Let us go back several thousand years, and watch the passage of the dead and of the soul according to Egyptian customs and notions. A man has died, and whether king or slave an inquest is- held upon him by 42 persons, and according to the evidence as to the man's life,& be §wasi judged worthy of embalming or not. If found .worthy; his body was embalmed according to his rank, the cost varying from a few shillings to £100. This refined race bad so nice a sense of propriety that a man was taken to the embalmer's, but a woman was embalmed in her own house. The lecturer then proceeded to give an elaborate and interesting description of the process, mentioning that the linen cloth used was narrow, while pieces of it, 1000 yds long, woven without a join, had been found, and it was acknowledged that the binding could not be done more skilfully by even modern surgeons. In the folds of the cloth wore placed sheets of papyrus, on which were written sacred texts for the safe passage of the soul in th* next world, and the fragments of these" collected were called "The book of the dead." The chief symbols on the papyrus were a gold crown, signifying purifi* cation ; the sacred beetle,"a symbol of perpetual life*; a beart|Bigmfving life, and a triangle, betokening equilibrium, but others were often used, while seeds were also put in the coffin, each thing having some meaning. The funeral was solemn, and as becoming a highly religions people. ! There was loud mourning as the body was borne in procession to the tomb, where prayers were offered, and a portion of the "Book of the Resurrection" read, while certificates of character were sometimes put with the body, all this having a highly moral effect on the people. Once the >body was buried, mourning ceased, and the people rejoiced with dancing, because of the entry of the deceased's soul into the spirit land. The j lecturer here made a few remarks on the meaning of " embalm," saying that many reasons were giren for the Egyptians prac tising it, one theory being that they .did it to stop the transmigration of; the* soulr another that it was to .preserve the^>ddy for resurrection, and a third, which he thought came nearer the truth, that it was to, facilitate the union of ihe spiritual essence with theanima] soul. This theory explained many of the inscriptions on the tombs. : Caaon Robinson supported this theory, and quoted an inscription which reads—•? Their bodies shall repose in the tombs for ever j they live in the celestial regions eternally enjoying the presence of the Supreme God." This sentiment was worthy even of the: most enlightened "of the present day. The Egyptians believed in life after death from time im ' memorial, and the whole ceremonies in oonpeotipn with jlhe linriali service' were typical -off th«i soul'sipassage? through various stages? and trials: till perfection was reached. A trial was sometimes held after the body Jbad been embalmed, and if it was not joelged worthy of lionortblo informant it was cast into a pit called Tartar, whence, it was saidi came the

Latin Tartarus, a placefor the condemned, The lecturer dwelt fully upon the various^ stages .the soul had to pass through for its <■■ purification, showing that they had all > had a strong moral tendency, as unless the man had lived a good 1 life his soul j would suffer the second death. The' earth, was regarded as the first sphere of trial, and the atmosphere, of which Pooh was prince, as the second. Some Egyptologists said that the Egyptian notions of the soul were the same as those expounded by Paul and Plato—that man consisted of three parts—body, soul, and Bpirit-r-the soul being of some refined substance the shape of the body, and the spirit being still more immaterial, but it was certain they had a living faith in a life beyond the grave, which had a most practical effect on their lives. Mr Neill next'" dwelt upon the Egyptian ideas of hades, or hell, heaven,- and purgatory. The first was amend (from .which our 11 amen," no doubt, comes),, the underworld, the hades, or hell of the Greek, and something like the sheol of the Hebrew—a region of silence. There the "judgment took place, and the final separation was made. Heaven was reached from amenti, and this region represented: as a-land without Borrow, the garden of bliss, where the souls would rejoice in the i presence of the Supreme God, while their bodies reposed for ever in the tombs. Purgatory was spoken of as a place where the soul was educated and purified. It was strange that nearly every religious opinion that has been held since the times of the apostles could be found in the various beliefs in Egypt, even the doctrine of the restitution of all things being taught by some. After giving a vivid description of the literal hell, with its flames and tortured wretches, the lecturer .went on to describe the various gods of Egypt, and to detail their qualities and powers—Keith, Isis, Osiris, Moras, and others, showing v that they they were but names for phenomena of the material or spiritual universes, and -quoting Wilkinson's opinion that each of these figures or emblems was but an attribute of the same great Being, according to the several offices he was supposod to perform.* A brief reference was made to the book of the dead, and to the fact 'that Freemasonry was known among the Egyptians 4000 years 8.C., tli3 lee» i Jurerer passed on to note" that Egypt was a great place for symbols, especially in religion, and to show that our chemical symbols—the sun, moon, cross, triangle, &c.—are of religious origin, and that the broad arrow of England, the custom of Easter eggs, the tolling of a bell at funerals (in the Egyptian case to drive away evil spirits), the sign of the cross, the sacred ark, and the Urim and Thummim of the Bible, were: all known and used in Ancient Egypt. Sex worship was next referred to, and the lecturer regretted that he had not time to speak on Egyptian magic, for 1 mesmerism, clairvoyance, and electro-biology,-were all known. The Egyptians had sacrifices, they were eminently a praying people, and their earliest conceptions of God as the. creator and ruler of all things was the clearest. His great name was "I am that I am," and on an ancient tomb was found the inscription, worthy of a pious Isralite ] —"The Lord is God; there is but .one God for me." The Egyptian belief in God as a Trinity, their conception of the"Logos "or " Word " of. St. John, and their ideal of atonement, justification, and salvation were briefly touched upon, and the lecturer concluded by saying—" Surely there was much noble in this ancient religion, which tended to bring men to live in kindness together, and drew them in heart to God, and whjch illumined the dark valley; a religion which tended to produce piety and peace, and gave such faith in the unseen future that the tears of the mourners were dried, and their hearts comforted in the Great Father, the all* good and ever present-One."