DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6359#0139
phiLjE. 123
whenever he relates any thing concerning this deity, excuses
himself from uttering his name. His principal office as an
Egyptian deity was to judge the dead, and to rule over that
kingdom where the souls of good men were admitted to eternal
felicity. Seated on his throne, accompanied by Isis and Ne-
phys, with the four genii of Amenti, who stand on a lotus
growing from the waters in the centre of the divine abode, he
receives an account of the actions of the deceased,' which are
Weighed in the scales of truth. But it is in his mysterious
character, as the manifestation of the Divinity on earth, as an
^personation of his goodness, that his peculiar sanctity ap-
pears to have consisted. He appeared on earth to benefit
mankind, and after having performed the duties he had come
t0 fulfil, and falling a sacrifice to Typho, the evil principle,
was at length overcome by his influence, after his leaving
,ne world he rose again to a new life, and became the judge
of mankind in a future state. The dead also, after having
Passed their final ordeal and been absolved from sin, obtained
ln his name, which they then took, the blessings of eternal
felicity. This very remarkable analogy to the office sustained
^y °m- Saviour, may induce some to think,' says Wilkinson,
, mat the Egyptians, being aware of the promises of his com-
Xtl& had anticipated the event, and introduced that mystery
ltlto their religious system.' Whether this was the case, or
^hether these ideas rather arose spontaneously in the Egyp-
tlan mind, must remain uncertain, but the functions thus as-
cribed to Osiris may well explain the peculiar and distin-
^mshing reverence in which his fabled burial-place was held.*
ls sepulchre, says Diodorus, is revered by all the priests
r°ughout Egypt, and three hundred and sixty cups are filled
' ee more fully on t\lis suuject Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, 2d Series, vol. 1.
whenever he relates any thing concerning this deity, excuses
himself from uttering his name. His principal office as an
Egyptian deity was to judge the dead, and to rule over that
kingdom where the souls of good men were admitted to eternal
felicity. Seated on his throne, accompanied by Isis and Ne-
phys, with the four genii of Amenti, who stand on a lotus
growing from the waters in the centre of the divine abode, he
receives an account of the actions of the deceased,' which are
Weighed in the scales of truth. But it is in his mysterious
character, as the manifestation of the Divinity on earth, as an
^personation of his goodness, that his peculiar sanctity ap-
pears to have consisted. He appeared on earth to benefit
mankind, and after having performed the duties he had come
t0 fulfil, and falling a sacrifice to Typho, the evil principle,
was at length overcome by his influence, after his leaving
,ne world he rose again to a new life, and became the judge
of mankind in a future state. The dead also, after having
Passed their final ordeal and been absolved from sin, obtained
ln his name, which they then took, the blessings of eternal
felicity. This very remarkable analogy to the office sustained
^y °m- Saviour, may induce some to think,' says Wilkinson,
, mat the Egyptians, being aware of the promises of his com-
Xtl& had anticipated the event, and introduced that mystery
ltlto their religious system.' Whether this was the case, or
^hether these ideas rather arose spontaneously in the Egyp-
tlan mind, must remain uncertain, but the functions thus as-
cribed to Osiris may well explain the peculiar and distin-
^mshing reverence in which his fabled burial-place was held.*
ls sepulchre, says Diodorus, is revered by all the priests
r°ughout Egypt, and three hundred and sixty cups are filled
' ee more fully on t\lis suuject Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, 2d Series, vol. 1.