62 Notices respecting New Booh. 



cessor with the other deities on behalf of the deceased. This is 

 accounted for by the profession of the embalmed person, which was 

 that of a sacred scribe, as will presently be explained. 



The hieroglyphical inscriptions on mummy-cases in general, Mr. 

 Osburn informs us, are precatory addresses to different divinities on 

 behalf of the individuals inclosed in them; and as the same mytho- 

 logical blessings would be required for the soul of every deceased 

 person, these inscriptions principally consist of a series of formulae, 

 which are repeated under different combinations, and in forms more 

 or less abbreviated, upon all similar monuments. According to 

 Champollion they are extracts from what is named in hieroglyphics 

 " The Book of Gates concerning the Alanifcstafion to Light," parts of 

 which are to be found on all the papyri deposited in mummy-cases, 

 but the entire transcription of which is more than fifty feet in length. 



"This immense collection of liturgical formularies and prayers was 

 a complete guide-book to the soul after its separation from the body, 

 describing the various regions of the infernal and celestial worlds 

 through which it should pass, the adventures it would meet with, 

 the divinities to be appeased, and the sacrifices and prayers to be 

 offered before it reached the judgment-seat of Osiris in Amente, and 

 finally the regions of everlasting bliss." Accordingly the hieroglyphical 

 inscriptions on the mummy-case here described by Mr. Osburn, 

 are prayers addressed on behalf of the deceased to the different di- 

 vinities whose representations the)' accompany, and the blessings 

 besought are suited to the perilous journey on which, according to 

 the notions of death held by the Egyptians, he had set out, and to 

 the change of nature he had to undergo before he could be admitted 

 into the mansions of eternal happiness. 



The blessing of understanding or intelligence is besought of the 

 goddess Selk, whose symbol is a scorpion, and also of Ptah Socri. 

 The latter, together with an unknown deity, is supplicated for " that 

 participation of the nature of the gods, to which, according to the 

 Egyptian psychology, the departed spirits of just persons were ad- 

 mitted ;" no English word, Mr. Osburn observes, so nearly convey- 

 ing its meaning as regeneration*. The god Soon is asked for "intel- 

 lectual regeneration" . The gods Tore and Benno are besought that 



divine 



• It is with much deference to Mr. Osburn that we venture to state our 

 dissent from his opinion on this subject : but the use of the term regenera- 

 tion, as nearly equivalent, in the English language, to the group of phonetic 

 hieroglyphs expressed by the letters HoRT, tends, we conceive, by intro- 

 ducing an erroneous idea, to confuse our notions on an important dogma 

 of the Egyptian religion, which is in itself sufficiently intricate and difficult 

 clearly to apprehend. 



The primitive signification of the term regeneration, as employed in the 

 New Testament, and ascertained by a conipaiison of the passages in which 

 the subject is mentioned, is simply a new formation cf the spirit of man ef- 

 fected, essentially, by Divine power. According to this signification, or in 

 some sense derived from or agreeable to it, this term is understood by every 

 denomination of Christians who attach to it any definite meaning. It never 

 means a participation in the Divine nature such as it is in itself, but merely 



a con- 



