172 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII. 



This substitution of an emblem, as an animal, or 

 any other object, for the Deity, was not the only 

 corruption which took place in the religion of the 

 Egyptians : many of the deities themselves were 

 mere emblematic representations of attributes of the 

 one and sole God : for the priests who were initiated 

 into, and who understood the mysteries of, their 

 religion, believed in one Deity alone ; and, in per- 

 forming their adorations to any particular member 

 of their Pantheon, addressed themselves directly to 

 the sole ruler of the universe, through that par- 

 ticular form. 



Each form (whether called Pthah, Amun, or any 

 other of the figures representing various characters 

 of the Deity) was one of his attributes ; in the same 

 manner as our expressions " the Creator,*' " the 

 Omniscient," "the Almighty," or any other title, 

 indicate one and the same Being ; and hence arose 

 the distinction between the great Gods, and tliose 

 of an inferior grade, which were physical objects, as 

 the Sun and Moon ; or abstract notions of various 

 kinds, as "valour," "strength," "intellectual gifts," 

 and the like, personified under different forms ; 

 and it is evident that no one, who understood the 

 principles on which the groundwork of the Egyptian 

 Pantheon was based, could suppose that the God of 

 valour, of strength, or of intellect, had ever lived 

 on earth ; and we may readily conceive how the 

 Egyptian priests derided the absurd notions of the 

 Greeks, who gave a real existence to abstract ideas, 

 and claimed a lineal descent from '^strength,'* or 

 any deified attribute of the Divinity. 



