But the most popular deity was Osiris.  His image is found standing on the oldest monument, a form of Ra, the light of the lower world, and king and judge of Hades.  His worship was universal throughout Egypt, but his chief temples were at Abydos and Philae.  He was regarded as mild, beneficent, and good.  In opposition to him were Set, malignant and evil, and Bes, the god of death.  Isis, the wife and sister of Osiris, was a sort of sun goddess, representing the productive power of Nature.  Khons was the moon god.  Maut, the consort of Ammon, represented Nature.  Sati, the wife of Kneph, bore a resemblance to Juno.  Nut was the goddess of the firmament; Ma was the goddess of truth; Horus was the mediator between creation and destruction.

But in spite of the multiplicity of deities, the Egyptian worship centred in some form upon heat or fire, generally the sun, the most powerful and brilliant of the forces of Nature.  Among all the ancient pagan nations the sun, the moon, and the planets, under different names, whether impersonated or not, were the principal objects of worship for the people.  To these temples were erected, statues raised, and sacrifices made.

No ancient nation was more devout, or more constant to the service of its gods, than were the Egyptians; and hence, being superstitious, they were pre-eminently under the control of priests, as the people were in India.  We see, chiefly in India and Egypt, the power of caste,—­tyrannical, exclusive, and pretentious,—­and powerful in proportion to the belief in a future state.  Take away the belief in future existence and future rewards and punishments, and there is not much religion left.  There may be philosophy and morality, but not religion, which is based on the fear and love of God, and the destiny of the soul after death.  Saint Augustine, in his “City of God,” his greatest work, ridicules all gods who are not able to save the soul, and all religions where future existence is not recognized as the most important thing which can occupy the mind of man.

We cannot then utterly despise the religion of Egypt, in spite of the absurdities mingled with it,—­the multiplicity of gods and the doctrine of metempsychosis,—­since it included a distinct recognition of a future state of rewards and punishments “according to the deeds done in the body.”  On this belief rested the power of the priests, who were supposed to intercede with the deities, and who alone were appointed to offer to them sacrifices, in order to gain their favor or deprecate their wrath.  The idea of death and judgment was ever present to the thoughts of the Egyptians, from the highest to the lowest, and must have modified their conduct, stimulating them to virtue, and restraining them from vice; for virtue and vice are not revelations,—­they are instincts implanted in the soul.  No ancient teacher enjoined the duties based on an immutable morality with more force than Confucius, Buddha, and Epictetus.  Who in any land or age has ignored the duties of filial obedience, respect to rulers, kindness to the miserable, protection to the weak, honesty, benevolence, sincerity, and truthfulness?  With the discharge of these duties, written on the heart, have been associated the favor of the gods, and happiness in the future world, whatever errors may have crept into theological dogmas and speculations.