Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 140.pdf/48

Rh world is at rest, evil flies away, there is peace and plenty upon the earth, justice is established, and iniquity purged away.

The national hymn of Egypt was the Maneros, which was the passionate cry of Isis to Osiris.

The soul on entering the realms of the dead addresses the Divine Being: "0 thou Hidden One! Hidden where thou hast the praises of all in Hades (Amenti), who livest in power, covered with a precious veil — in purity!" Then he prays for admission. Choirs of glorified spirits support the prayer. The priest on earth speaks in his turn, and implores the divine mercy. Then Osiris encourages the deceased to speak to his Father, and enter fearlessly into Amenti. Nevertheless, before the soul can enter, he must be purified, "cleansed from all stain of evil which is in his heart." Then and then only may he pass through the darkness, and be manifested into light," and hear the voice of welcome: "Come, come in peace." But the Egyptians felt that no man could become pure enough to enter into the presence of the All-Pure, and therefore they described the soul as putting on Osiris. Under the shelter of that divine vesture the "deceased was protected by the mystery of the Name from the ills which afflicted the dead." The soul then enters, and is amazed at the glory of God which he now sees for the first time. He chants a hymn of praise, and passes on his way.

Space will not permit me to follow the soul on its passage. The Turin papyrus has been translated by Dr. Birch in Bunsen's Egypt." "One chapter is entitled: "Of Escaping out of the Folds of the Great Serpent," and tells how the deceased defies, and in the strength of Osiris escapes, the Evil One. A curious series of chapters follows, describing the "Reconstruction of the Deceased," or the new and glorified body which is given him. Several chapters relate to the "Protection of the Soul." By virtue of repeating one of these the soul "goes forth as the day. His soul is not detained in corruption (Karneker)," a passage which is equivalent to the Hebrew verse: "Thou wilt not abandon my soul in Sheol, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption." A parallel passage occurs in a later chapter (155), "Hail, O Father Osiris! Thou dost not corrupt, thou dost not turn to worms. Thou dost not decay. … I am! I am! I grow! I grow! I wake in peace. I am not corrupted."

One of the most interesting chapters (125) is entitled: "Going into the Hall of the Two Truths, and Separating a Person from his Sins when he has been made to see the Faces of the Gods." Several copies of this chapter are exhibited on the stairs leading from the lower to the upper Egyptian rooms of the British Museum. The vignettes explain the chapter. At the entrance to that Hall of Justice the deceased is received by the god of truth. He finds himself in the presence of forty-two assessors, or avenging deities, corresponding to the forty-two commandments. Before each of these he kneels in turn, and confesses: "I have not committed murder, theft, falsehood," etc. Then he pronounces the formula of the final judgment: "I have fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, sheltered the outcast, and been a father to the fatherless." He is then placed in one scale of a balance; in the other scale is placed the eyeless and handless image of Justice. This is the supreme moment in the soul's existence. In the Turin papyrus the scene is painted with a minuteness of detail suited to its importance: the guardian angel watches the scale which holds the soul; Horus watches the weight. Anubis, guardian of the dead, watches the image of Justice; while Thoth, stile in hand, records the result on a tablet.

The soul is then conducted by Thoth bearing the tablet into an inner chamber, where Osiris is seated. Osiris pronounces judgment; and according as the soul which has been weighed in the balance is found true or found wanting, it passes to the realms of bliss or to the regions of purifying fires.

In this trial scene the deities are sometimes depicted interceding as mediators, and offering sacrifices on behalf of the soul. There is a tablet in the British Museum in which the deceased is shown in the act of placing the gods themselves on the altar as his sin-offering, and pleading their merits.

Joyfully does the "Book of Respirations," or " Book of the Breath of Life,"