CHAP. XIV. AN ANIMAL THE GOD OF THE ADYTUM. 97 



worship of the golden calf, ti representation of tlie 

 Mnevis of HeHopolis, was a proof how their minds 

 had become imbued with the superstitions they had 

 beheld in Egypt, which the " mixed multitude had 

 practised there : " and it frequently happened that 

 the Egyptians were more attached to such emblems 

 than to the Gods themselves. This was the natural 

 result of idolatrous feelings, which have in all times 

 forgotten the Deity in a blind respect paid to tlie 

 type that chanced to represent him. 



*' In Egyptian temples," says Clemens*, "the 

 porticos, vestibules, and groves, are constructed 

 with great splendour ; the halls are adorned with 

 numerous columns ; the walls are perfectly splendid 

 with rare stones, and brilliancy of colour ; the 

 sanctuary t shines with gold, silver, and amber, and 

 with a variety of glittering stones from India, or 

 Ethiopia, and the adytum is hung with curtains 

 of gold tissue. If you enter the circuit of the holy 

 place, and hastening to behold what is most worthy 

 of your search, you seek the statue of the Deity, 

 one of the priests who perform the rites there 

 steps forward to introduce you to the object of his 

 worship, looking upwards with a grave and reve- 

 rent face, as he chants the Peean hymn in his native 

 tongue. But no sooner does he draw aside a por- 

 tion of the veil, as if to show a God, than you 

 find ample reason for smiling at the mysterious 

 Deity. For the God you sought is not there ; but 

 a cat, or a crocodile, or a native serpent, or some 



* Clem. Alex. Pjedagop:. iii. c. 2. 



■j- The body of the temple, or iedes, whither the profane did not pene- 

 trate, the adytum being the most holy part of the asdes. 

 VOL. II. — Second Series. H 



