The Nile boat or, glimpses of the land of Egypt / by . d the duties he had come to fulfil, and falling a sacrifice toTypho, the evil principle, who was at length overcome by hisinfluence, after his leaving the world he rose again to a newlife, and became the judge of mankind in a future state. Thedead also, after having passed their final ordeal and beenabsolved from sin, obtained in his name, which they then took,the blessings of eternal felicity. This very remarkable analogyto the office sustained by our Saviour, may induce some tothink, says Wilkinson, that the Egyptians, being
The Nile boat or, glimpses of the land of Egypt / by . d the duties he had come to fulfil, and falling a sacrifice toTypho, the evil principle, who was at length overcome by hisinfluence, after his leaving the world he rose again to a newlife, and became the judge of mankind in a future state. Thedead also, after having passed their final ordeal and beenabsolved from sin, obtained in his name, which they then took,the blessings of eternal felicity. This very remarkable analogyto the office sustained by our Saviour, may induce some tothink, says Wilkinson, that the Egyptians, being aware of thepromises of his coming, had anticipated the event, and intro-duced that mystery into their religious system. Whether thiswas the case, or whether these ideas rather arose spontaneouslyin the Egyptian mind, must remain uncertain, but the functionsthus ascribed to Osiris may well explain the peculiar and distin-guishing reverence in which his fabled burial-place was held* * See more fully on this subject Wilkinsons Ancient Egyptians, 2ndSeries, vol. OSIRIS, ISIS, AND HORUS. 211 His sepulchre, says Diodorus, is revered by all the prieststhroughout Egypt, and three hundred and sixty cups are filleddaily with milk by priests expressly appointed for this purpose,who, calling on the names of the gods, utter a solemn lamenta-tion, wherefore the island can only be approached by thepriests; and the most solemn oath taken by the inhabitantsof the Thebaid, is to swear by Osiris who lies buried inPhila?. Associated with Osiris was Isis ; she attended upon him asjudge of the dead, in which character she was regarded as thegreatest of the Egyptian goddesses. Osiris, Isis, and their son,Horus, formed the triad worshipped at Philse. Isis was said tobe the protector of her brother, and his royal consort or this quality she answered in the regions of the dead toProserpine, the wife of Pluto, among the Greeks. Isis wasmetaphorically considered to be the earth, or feminine
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