constellations? Far from the banks of the Nile, in
the western deserts, in Syria, in Arabia, the stars are the same. They
are omnipresent; for we may lose sight of the things of the earth, but
not of those of the heavens. The air of fate-like precision with which
their appointed movements are accomplished, their solemn silence, their
incomprehensible distances, might satisfy an observer that they are far
removed from the influences of all human power, though, perhaps, they
may be invoked by human prayer.

[Sidenote: Principles of Egyptian theology.]

Thus star-worship found for itself a plausible justification. The
Egyptian system, at its highest development, combined the adoration of
the heavenly bodies--the sun, the moon, Venus, &c., with the deified
attributes of God. The great and venerable divinities, as Osiris, Pthah,
Amun, were impersonations of such attributes, just as we speak of the
Creator, the Almighty. It was held that not only has God never appeared
upon earth in the human form, but that such is altogether an
impossibility, since he is the animating principle of the entire
universe, visible nature being only a manifestation of him.

[Sidenote: God. Trinities and their persons.]

These impersonated attributes were arranged in various trinities, in
each of which the third member is a procession from the other two, the
doctrine and even expressions in this respect being full of interest to
one who studies the gradual development of comparative theology in
Europe. Thus from Amun by Maut proceeds Khonso, from Osiris by Isis
proceeds Horus, from Neph by Sate proceeds Anouke. While, therefore, it
was considered unlawful to represent God except by his attributes, these
trinities and their persons offered abundant means of idolatrous worship
for the vulgar. It was admitted that there had been terrestrial
manifestations of these divine attributes for the salvation of men. Thus
Osiris was incarnate in the flesh: he fell a sacrifice to the evil
principle, and, after his death and resurrection, became the appointed
judge of the dead. In his capacity of President of the West, or of the
region of the setting stars, he dwells in the under world, which is
traversed by the sun at night.

[Sidenote: Incarnations; fall of man; redemption.]

[Sidenote: The future judgment.]

The Egyptian priests affirmed that nothing is ever annihilated; to die
is therefore only to assume a new form. Herodotus says that they were
the