39 
the reigns of the Pyramid-builders, or the kings of the 
Vth Dynasty.* 
Another singular feature in the character of Horus Ra was 
the first millennial reign of the deity as a king upon earth in 
that ancient period when men were uncorrupted, and the gods 
resided among them. It was the period of the Horsheshu, 
or the servants of Horus, when all Nature poured forth 
of her abundance to satisfy, not merely the wants but the 
pleasures of mankind ; when the Nile ran with milk, and 
the choicest fruits grew spontaneously on verdant pastures, 
now arid and bare. The length of this elysial reign of 
Horus is not given with any accuracy, but it was said to 
have continued for many centuries, f and to have been 
oidy terminated by the rebellion of Typhon, or Set, the 
uncle of Horus, and the brother of Osiris . % The Egyptian 
believers never quite lost recollection of that blissful period 
of heavenly prosperity, and accordingly fully anticipated a 
time of final restoration, as well as a day of ultimate retribu- 
tion, a time when Horus, who was in the meanwhile dwelling 
with the souls of the redeemed in the Aahla, or fields of peace, 
would hereafter return to earth again, re-establish the reign of 
the gods and the restoration of the world, and, to a greater or 
less extent, realize all the glorions prospects which still excite 
the imaginations, and maintain the faith of the believers in the 
Christian millennium. That such a condition should so generally 
be believed to have once existed is, as Canon Titcomb has well 
observed, in itself an echo of the voice of primitive revelation, 
and a heathen commentary on the words of the apostle of the 
Gentiles, that the “ whole creation groaneth and laboureth 
together until now.”§ 
By these reflections on the reign of Horus Ra I am insensibly 
led on, as it were, to consider the next character of the same 
divinity, or Horus, the avenger of his Father, a character in 
which to the classic writers the son of Osiris was very well 
known, although, with that perverse self-conceit which disfigures 
all the writings of the Greeks and Romans, the classic philoso- 
phers chose to interpolate a large number of foreign theories, 
and to misinterpret the Egyptian legend by overlaying it with 
commentaries obtained from an utterly uncognate cult. 
The title Nets, which can also be rendered “ deliverer” as well 
as “ avenger,” is one of the most mysterious of all the names of 
the God, aud the texts in which it occurs use it in connection 
* Pierret, Diet. Arche. Egyptienne, “ Cartouche.” 
+ A Sothiac cycle, or 1461 years. 
J Naville, Textes relatifs an Mythe d’JIorus. 1870. j Rom. viii. 22. 
