and prophane : concealed for a time in aweful fecrecy : the want of his prefence pa- 
theti cal ly deplored. The ardent folemnity wherewith he is fought for; the accla- 
mation of joy at finding him again, and confequent difcovery of the al- 
moft of itfelf dcvelopes the fecret which the perfonification had involved 
All this moreover, is no dubious echo of the clopded glory of Osiris’s dawning 
•reign : his appearing as the Light of the World, a univerfal benefa&or. The hu- 
miliation and indignities which he fuffe red from a degenerated race of men ; the 
dread and darknels which his retirement into unknown regions ol the univerle occa- 
sioned. The lamentations for his abfence, fo awefully folcmnized in Egypt, and at 
Elusis : and the eager fearch of woe, wherein they wearied themfelves on their fa* 
cred rites to find him. 
The marvellous tale of difeoveringhim in an Arc , of admirable workmanfhip : 
his being cloathed with authority and power, through the Halleluiahs of the Sanc- 
tuary ! and uttering holy oracles, which impart a divine, a heavenly life to man : 
while he receives more then mortal praife, by the offices of homage prelcribed in 
honour of his name: all his refolveable into principles and inferences exceedingly 
divine. Through the fubftantial veil of metaphor, wherewith this myflerious perfo- 
fonage is invefted, there is indubitably difclofed, the mod fublime allufion to the 
Manifestations of the Supreme Being in the World ; and hence we mult una- 
voidably infer, that the whole train of Symbolical ceremonies, which celebrated the 
various fate and influence of the Holy Oracles, arofe from the native attributes 
of a Personification of the Word of God ! 
« By the bold imagery of oriental defeription, the Light of Truth obtained a 
« local habitation and a name.” 
The myftical Body of Divinity, lodged in ap Arc, preferved in the Adyta of 
the Temples, was only on folemn occafions, communicated to a chofen few, was 
therefore often mifreprefented in the world; yet the knowledge of it, difficult to at- 
tain, was ardently afpired after ; for it was declared full of confolation to the human 
mind, when found. 
When the duly initiated joined, in’ ** Weeping for Tammuz, * or mourned for the 
abfence of Osiris, the Light of Life; perhaps it was in aweful piety to folemnize 
the dark and hopelefseftateofbeing without God in the World : and the facred 
fongofjoy, when the glory of that light is reftored ! was the lofty hymn of adoration; 
wherewith the SanHuary fhould refound, when the virtual fenfe of an univerfal 
Guardian, whofe providential goodnefs regulates all things, is with heartfelt grati- 
tude acknowledged. 
Thefe are but feme fcattered fragments of a great defign, which may in time be 
farther unfolded to view. 
* Ezekiel viii. 14. 
