d, the blessed soul was allowed to enter the "boat of the
Sun," and was led by good spirits to Aahlu (Elysium), to the "pools of
peace" and the dwelling-place of Osiris. If, on the contrary, the good
deeds were insufficient, if the ordeal was not passed, then the unhappy
soul was sentenced, according to its deserts, to begin a round of
transmigrations into the bodies of more or less unclean animals, the
number, nature, and duration of the transmigrations depending on the
degree of the deceased's demerits, and the consequent length and
severity of the punishment which he deserved or the purification which
he needed. Ultimately, if after many trials purity was not attained,
then the wicked and incurable soul underwent a final sentence at the
hands of Osiris, Judge of the Dead, and being condemned to annihilation,
was destroyed upon the steps of heaven by Shu, the Lord of Light. The
good soul, having first been completely cleansed of its impurities by
passing through the basin of purgatorial fire guarded by the four
ape-faced genii, was made the companion of Osiris for a period of three
thousand years; after which it returned from Amenti, re-entered its
former body, and lived once more a human life upon the earth. The
process was repeated till a mystic number of years had gone by, when,
finally, the blessed attained the crowning joy of union with God, being
absorbed into the Divine Essence, from which they had emanated, and thus
attaining the true end and full perfection of their being.

Such a belief as this, if earnest and thorough, should be productive of
a high standard of moral action; and undoubtedly the Egyptians had a
code of morality that will compare favourably with that of most ancient
nations. It has been said to have contained "three cardinal
requirements--love of God, love of virtue, and love of man." The hymns
sufficiently indicate the first; the second may be allowed, if by
"virtue" we understand justice and truth; the third is testified by the
constant claim of men, in their epitaphs, to have been benefactors of
their species. "I was not an idler," says one; "I was no listener to the
counsels of sloth; my name was not heard in the place of reproof ... all
men respected me; I gave water to the thirsty; I set the wanderer on his
path; I took away the oppressor, and put a stop to violence." "I myself
was just and true," writes another: "without malice, having put God in
my heart, and being quick to discern His