Page:The Great Secret.djvu/253

Rh columns and massive portals covered with paintings.

On this landing-place two forms waited for them, one a white-robed priest with shaven head, and the other, a venerable figure, tall and straight, with flowing beard and hair, both snowy and long. The priest wore sandals, but this majestic figure was barefooted and bareheaded, with a loose, light robe of linen. One glance at his lofty brow, grave eyes and noble features showed Philip in whose presence he stood.

"Apollonius Tyaneus," he said, bending before the sage, who advanced to meet them, and held out both hands over their heads in a benediction.

"All hail! son and daughter. I was asked to meet you here and be your guide for a time."

The sage paused for a moment to allow them to recover the awe which his presence caused them, and then he continued in a quiet voice,—

"You now see ancient Thebes as it was in the earlier dynasties, down to the reign of Amenophis the Fourth, who named himself Khu-u-atus, who, with the aid of my friend here, his high priest, brought back to its original simplicity the ancient faith, after its true significance and purity had been clouded by gross superstition for ages. It is the same faith which comforts the Christians and other sects at present in the world. The faith of the reasoning Brahmin, Buddhist, Persian and so-called pagan. The belief and knowledge of an eternal life and an everlasting and almighty Source, who gives but does not destroy."

Amenophis had the true revelation and became a reformer, suffering as all reformers do from bigotry and priestcraft. He learnt that the God of creation was not the God of burnt offerings and death, but