terial and spiritual world. It may be said of the
Persians, as Tertullian said of the Roman Pagans, "that in their
highest moods and beliefs they were naturally Christian." Among a
Persian sect called the Sufis' there is a belief that nothing exists
absolutely but God; that the human soul is an emanation from His
essence, and will ultimately be restored to Him, and that the supreme
object of life should be a daily approach to the eternal spirit, so as
to form as perfect a union with the divine nature as possible. How
nearly this belief approaches the Christian doctrine, will be easily
seen.

Persian poetry is nearly all in the form of love stories, of which the
"Misfortunes of Mejnoun and Leila" represent the Eastern Romeo and
Juliet, and may have been known to Shakespeare in the writing of his
own drama.

EGYPTIAN.

Egypt shared with ancient Babylon and Assyria in the civilization of
its primitive literature. It is from five of its Pyramids, opened in
1881, that valuable writings have been brought to light that carry us
back one thousand years before the time of Moses.

Their famous "Book of the Dead," of which many copies are found in our
museums of antiquities, is one instance of their older civilization.
These copies of the original, in the form of scrolls, are some of them
over a hundred feet long, and are decorated with elaborate pictures and
ornamentation. The book gives conclusive proof of the teaching of the
Egyptians of a life beyond this. Their belief in the journey of the
soul after death to the Underworld, before it is admitted to the Hall
of Osiris, or the abode of light, is akin to the Catholic doctrine of
Purgatory and Heaven. The Egyptian literature is painted or engraved on
monuments, written on papyrus, and buried in tombs, or under the ruins
of temples, hence, as has been said elsewhere, much of it remained
hidden until nineteenth century research brought it to light. Even at
the present time many inscriptions are still undeciphered.

Geometry originated with the Egyptians, and their knowledge of
hydrostatics and mechanics (shown in the building of the Pyramids), and
of astronomy and medicine, is of remotest antiquity. The Greeks
borrowed largely from them, and then became in turn their teacher. The
Egyptian priests, from the earliest age, must have preserved the annals
of their country; but they were destroyed by Cambyses (500 B.C.), who
burned the temples where they were stored.

In the