VIII THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY 353 



the statement that the inscriptions of the twelfth 

 dynasty abound in injunctions of a high ethical 

 character. " To feed the hungry, give drink to the 

 thirsty, clothe the naked, bury the dead, loyally 

 serve the king, formed the first duty of a pious 

 man and faithful subject." * The people for whom 

 these inscriptions embodied their ideal of praise- 

 worthiness assuredly had no imperfect conception 

 of either justice or mercy. But there is a document 

 which gives still better evidence of the moral 

 standard of the Egyptians. It is the " Book of 

 the Dead," a sort of " Guide to Spiritland," the 

 whole, or a part, of which was buried with the 

 mummy of every well-to-do Egyptian, while ex- 

 tracts from it are found in innumerable inscrip- 

 tions. Portions of this work are of extreme 

 antiquity, evidence of their existence occurring as 

 far back as the fifth and sixth dynasties ; while the 

 125th chapter, which constitutes a sort of book by 

 itself, and is known as the " Book of Redemption 

 in the Hall of the two Truths," is frequently in- 

 scribed upon coffins and other monuments of the 

 nineteenth dynasty (that under which, there is some 

 reason to believe, the Israelites were oppressed 

 and the Exodus took place), and it occurs, more 

 than once, in the famous tombs of the kings of 

 this and the preceding dynasty at Thebes. 2 This 



1 Bunsen, Egypt's Place, vol. v. p. 129, note. 

 * See Birch, in Egypt' a Place, vol. v. ; and Bmgsch, History 

 of Egypt. 



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