s
feelings of the people, wax figures, representing human beings, were
permitted to be substituted for the living mortals. These customs
were, no doubt, what sorcerers and witches imitated at their midnight
feasts in after ages, and which led old women to imagine that, by
making wax images of those whom they intended to injure, and sticking
sharp instruments into them at one time, and at another time exposing
them to a scorching heat before a fire, they would wreak their
vengeance upon the individuals whom the figures represented. We have
it from more than one learned writer, that the cruel and gloomy
worship of Egypt arose from a belief that Typhon was labouring
incessantly to counteract the happiness of mankind. He was considered
to be greedy and voracious, and that it was necessary to glut his
altars with blood in order to appease his anger.

Magic was a science in which the Egyptians excelled. Its attainment
was esteemed the highest exertion of human intellect. Some imagined
that the invention of magic exceeded human invention, and they
pretended that the angel who fell in love with the antediluvian women
taught it, and that the principles thereof were preserved by Ham after
the Deluge, and that he communicated them to his son Mizraim; but
others ascribed the invention to Hermes. Without either admitting or
denying these assertions, we can have no hesitation in stating that
much of our superstition may be traced back to Egyptian religion and
customs, and that the singular belief of the Egyptians was general,
and long anterior to the time Jacob and his sons went down to that
country.

The Egyptian priests, taking advantage of the people's credulity,
taught that the sun, moon, and whole host of heaven were endowed with
intelligence, and exerted an influence over the destinies of men; and
they (the priests) pretended to work miracles, and obtain oracles and
omens. They also laid claim to the power of interpreting dreams.

The Egyptians believed that the souls of men went into other bodies at
death,--such as had been virtuous going into exalted bodies, but the
vicious passing into mean reptiles and other contemptible creatures.
After remaining in a state of punishment for a certain number of
years, they were supposed to pass into more exalted beings. Praise was
not bestowed indiscriminately upon every person who died, however
exalted his position. Characters were given by judges, after inquiry
into the life and cond