CHAP. XII. GROUNDWORK OF THE RELIGION. 209 



excessive vanity in many statements put forth in 

 their early history, tliey did not permit the adven- 

 tures of the Gods to form part of the actions of men, 

 in order to account for ordinary occurrences, or to 

 ennoble the pedigree of simple individuals. The 

 same remark applies to the history of the Egyp- 

 tians ; and, however they may have clothed the 

 m.ysteries of their religion in allegorical fable, they 

 neither derived their origin from Deities, nor de- 

 graded the nature of the Divinity by bringing it 

 down to the level of mankind. But if liistorical 

 fable did not form part of the belief of the Egyp- 

 tians, and if their religious system was distinct from 

 the records of past events, allegory and moral 

 fable were admitted without reserve, and physical 

 emblems were used as the representatives of ab- 

 stract notions. Indeed, though the main feature 

 of their religion was metaphysical speculation, we 

 find that physical objects entered into the system; 

 and it is probable that tlie worship of external ob- 

 jects, as the Sun and other heavenly bodies, formed 

 at an early period a principal part of their religious 

 worship. 



The two main principles on which the religion 

 of Egypt was based, appear to be, the existence of 

 an omnipotent Being, whose various attributes being 

 deified, formed a series of Divinities, each wor- 

 shipped under its own peculiar form, and supposed 

 to possess its particular office ; and the deification 

 of the Sun and Moon, from which it might appear 

 that a sort of Saba^an worship had once formed 

 part of the Egyptian creed. 



VOL. I. — Second Series. P 



