370 
properties were assigned, is simply the first character of the 
above word Anch, 
AWW\ ^ 
The Tau is, I believe, 
the represetation of a lady’s ear-ring, and most certainly has 
as little to do with any Christian mysteries as the celebrated 
mother and child so frequently represented in ante- Christian 
days, for explanation of which we must recur to Babylonian 
legends. 
Contrast between the Idolatry of Egypt and the Truth given 
through Moses. 
Apart from Shemite influence, it seems to me that the Egyp- 
tians must be admitted to have been wholly given to idolatry, 
and that of a very gross description. To prove this would be a 
very superfluous task, but it may not be unnecessary to remark 
that the worship of Osiris, of Isis, and of Ilorus partook entirely 
of the same character. 
As far as can be ascertained, there can be little doubt that 
these were really human personages, and their worship, at the 
best and from the earliest period, was the worship of man. 
The specially Egyptian character of the traditions forbids the 
supposition that they belonged to any era before the arrival of 
Mizraim in Egypt. 
On the other hand, it is evident that the priests preserved 
most important features of a primitive religion of mankind. 
The doctrines of a future life of rewards and punishments after 
death, and specially of the resurrection of the just, strike me as 
peculiarly important, and throw light upon the Bible in regard 
to some peculiar passages, as well as generally in reference to 
the belief of the chosen people. 
It would, indeed, be strange if it could be supposed that 
Moses,* and all who followed after him, had a less definite and 
fixed belief on these subjects than the nation to which they had 
so long been in captivity, or their neighbours on the East, of 
whose views we have recently received so much information 
from the researches of our Assyriologist savans. 
But, instead of the religion of the Hebrews being akin to 
that of the Egyptians, it presented, in every respect, the most 
marked contrast. The revelation of Jehovah was that of the 
living God, who had come down to deliver them from Egypt, 
who walked with them through the Wilderness in the pillar of 
cloud and of fire, who condescended to fill the tabernacle with 
* Clement of Alexandria tells that “they communicated their mysteries 
to no one, reserving these for the heir to the throne, or to those amongst them- 
selves who excelled in virtue or wisdom.” (Pierrot, Die., sub voce Initiation.) 
