fhipped the onion and the crocodile (m)? No rational man can entertain an opinion fo unfounded. Could the people called the wife, who cultivated fcience fo fuccessfully, among whom Solon learned thofe laws he gave the Athenians, and Plato the immortality of the foul, adopt a worship so absurd? No, Sir, the philofophers of Egypt never deified animals; nor did they ever, like the Greeks, raife heroes to the rank of gods. Aftronomy and the phænomena of nature were the foundation of religion; they placed an invisible spirit above the ftars, to whom they imputed the wondrous harmony of the univerfe. The vulgar, indeed, whofe feeble fight beheld objects only, often adored the fymbol, inftead of the deity. I will endeavour to elucidate their religious doctrines, which the learned Jablonski has fo well done before me; and, following his footsteps, add citations from the best authors of antiquity; for, in a matter fo important, (m) Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, Ælian, all mention the holy animals of Egypt, but no where call them Gods, holding them, on the contrary, to be living types of the deities to which they were confecrated. we must leave nothing to fancy, conjecture, or chance. One of the most antient of the Egyptian deities was Athor; which, in the Coptic, fignifies Night (n). The priests, by this word, did not mean that privation of light which fucceeds fun-fet; but the darkness of Chaos, before creation; of which, animating it by his breath, God made all creatures. In their opinion, this myfterious night was the origin of things. Damafius (0), speaking of antient Egyptian Theology, fays, "they "held Darkness to be the first principle, "which human reafon might not compre"hend, and which they thrice celebrated "in their facred hymns." Sanchoniathon, embued with this doctrine, fays, " from the "wind Kolpia, and his wife, Bazou, were "mortals created (p)." Kolpia is a Hebrew word, which fignifies the breath of God; and Baaou the void. Thus the Creator's voice called being from non-entity; and this Theology differs little from that of Genefis, which fays, "And the earth was without (n) Jablonki. Pantheon Ægyptiacum. Tom. I. (0) As cited by Cudworth. (p) Jabloniki, tom. I. "form "form and void, and darkness was upon the "face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved (brooded) upon the face of the waters (q)." Simplicius (r) pretends, "that the words, "and God called the light day, and the "darkness night, were taken from Egyptian "fables." But, granting Mofes to have learned this doctrine from the priests of Memphis, having freed it from the abfurdities in which it was enveloped, it is not the lefs divine. This antient people, defcendants of Mifraim, grandfon of Noah, might, like the Ifraelites, have received the light of Revelation from their common father; and, if they have obfcured its pure flame, the leader of the Hebrews has restored its luftre. Orpheus, initiated in the Egyptian myfteries, first brought their religious opinions into Greece, and fung them in harmonious verie. "In the beginning," fays he, "Ether "was created by God, and from his bofom "came Chaos, and dark Night, which fpread over all below Ether." In the dialogue between Jupiter and Night, the poet, affuming his right, perfonifies the lat(9) Genefis, I. 2. 66 (r) Comment. in Ariftotel. Phyfic. lib. 8. ter, ter, and makes the Creator thus speak (s). "Nurfe of the Gods, immortal Night"How muft I wifely proceed in creating the "immortal Gods? How form the Universe into one whole, where each thing fhall fepa rately exift?" Night replies, "Encompass "Creation with the immenfe Ether; place "the Heavens in the centre; and under the "Heavens the earth, furrounded by the sea, "and crowned by the stars." 'The Greeks eagerly received the religion Orpheus fung, glowing with the primitive ideas which the antient Egyptians entertained on the origin of things. Philofophers spread a veil over it, impenetrable to the vulgar; and poets, perfonifying the elements, compofed a fabulous Theogony. Thus enveloped, thus concealed, it was difficult to perceive. truth. The religious opinions of Egypt long were preferved in the temples of Greece. Paufanias, vifiting the country, saw, at Megara, the Oracle of Night; and, in the temple of Diana, at Ephesus, the Sanctuary of Night; where, probably, all that related to Athor was taught. VOL. II. (s) Vide Efchenbach. X This This fymbolical Deity, by which the Egyptians reprefented the paffive principle of things, became, in the language of the Greek philofophers, Venus, or the mother of the world. Orpheus, likewise, taught them this allegory (t). Night, the mother "of Gods and men, I fing. Night, the origin of all created beings, by us named "Venus." The poets purfued this metaphyfical idea, and, wanting a deity that might embellish their fongs, they derived her from the foam of the fea; first in Beauty, and Goddess of Pleasure, fhe animated the world, fhe gave life to all. Ovid celebrates her power in these allegorical verfes (u). Illa quidem totum digniffima temperat orbem: The Egyptian priests, defcribing Night as the Deity from whofe bofom the Eternal had drawn all creatures, knowing the vulgar (t) Jabloniki, tom. I. (u) Ovid. Faft. lib. 4. muft |