135 
the Shepherds, it does not seem that he would have encoun- 
tered so very different a state of things as writers have gene- 
rally supposed. 
107. The points of confirmatory illustration of Scripture 
have been noticed by M. Chabas and Canon Cook. 
108. The honourable reception of the celebrated train 
depicted at Beni-Hassan tallies well with the favour shown to 
Abram, even were it by a purely Egyptian court. At the 
same time the Berlin papyrus, which refers to the seizure of 
the wife and children of a foreigner for a king of the Xllth 
dynasty, shows the reasonableness of Abram’s dread. Beau- 
tiful colossi of this dynasty have been disinterred by Mariette- 
Bey at San, as well as the very striking memorials of the 
Shepherd kings. But far more important than any material 
illustration is the result of researches in the region of religious 
belief. 
109. It is clear that the basis of faith in Egypt was mono- 
theistic, although the huge Sphinx of Ghizeh appears from an 
inscription at Boulak to be older than the pyramid of Cheops. 
Still, Dr. Birch has shown that this is doubtful.* 
110. The animal-worship of Egypt is dated from Kakau, 
the second king of the Ilnd dynasty ; that is, the Egyptians 
believed that it did not exist before.' 
111. The great investigation which is now on foot with 
regard to the Ritual will, doubtless, be fruitful in results of a 
more exact kind than any hitherto obtained. M. Naville has 
already, I believe, done much work in the collection of texts. 
112. Meanwhile, we may say with confidence, the idea of 
the immortality of the soul and the future destinies of the 
resuscitated body afforded the dominant motives of Egyptian 
religion as brought to bear on the present life. 
113. It seems that the idea of death was altogether alien to 
the minds of the Egyptians ; that they did not even conceive 
of a perfect and absolute death of the body, but set themselves 
piously to cherish a lingering germ of life which was to spring 
up into future perfection. A very interesting memoir has 
been written by M. Pierret on the dogma of the resurrection 
among the Egyptians. 
114. It is to be noted, however, that they did not believe 
in a general and simultaneous resurrection and judgment, but 
private and individual in each man’s separate history; the 
judgment previous to the resurrection, and the resurrection of 
* “ Thothmes III. is represented as the Sphinx adoring the god Ra on the 
apex of the fallen obelisk of Alexandria .” — Note by Dr. Birch. 
