The Egyptian Ritual Of The Book Of The Dead.

On r . ll occasions Isis j- . nd Nephthys render aid to the deceased . Thofh justifies him , Amibis embalms him , Horns defends him . This book , so sublime and magnificent , and so consolatory in its immense antiquity , currying us upwards to mankind in their youth , fresh from the hands of the Creator , is tho best defined of the ten sacred scrinturos of the disunites .

It commences with a hymn written m the name of Thoth , which was recited upon the descent of the mummy into its last resting-place . It says : — "Ho ! Companions of Souls , made in the house of Osiris , accompany ye tho Soul of the Osiris ( deceased ) with yourselves to the House of Osiris . Let him see as ye see ; let him hear as ye hear ; lot him stand as ye stand : let him sit as ye sit . Ho ! givers of food

and drink to the spirits , souls made in the house of Osiris , give ye food and drink , in due season , to tho Osivis with yourselves . Ho ' . openers of roads ! Ho ! guides of paths to the soul made iu the abode of Osiris ! open yo tho roads , level ye the path to Osiris with A'onrselves . " It requires of tho deceased that he should havo "fed

the hungry , clothed tho naked , buried the dead , ancl loyally served the King . " Five principles were necessary to complete a man—Bit , soul ; Ahk or Khu , intelligence ; Ka , existence ; Khaba , shade ; Kha , body ; Salt , mummy ; the first was represented by a hawk with a human head and arms .

The first deatli of the soul was its birth into the world , imprisoned in tho human form , considered as the egg of the God Seb ( or Saturn ) j the object of the " Book of the Dead , " was to teach the soul hoAV to avoid " the second death in Hades , " and to deliver itself from the various adversaries and lyers in wait , who sought to accuse , destroy , or detain it , on its passage or destiny . A priest of

Ammou-Ka ( the Theban name of Ptah ) says : " I have written 64 books to decapitate the Apophis , cast his soul into the lire , his body into the flames , and his limbs into the eye of Horus . " The principal ideas connected with the earlier part of tho Ritual is tho living after death , ancl the being bora again as tho Sun , which , however , is only symbolical , for tho Book says expressly : " Oh !

workmen ot the Sun , by day and by night , the Osiris lives after he dies , like the sun daily , for as the Sun died aud was born yesterday , so the Osiris is born . " The soul is spoken of as the greatest of created things as the beloved of the divine Heseri , " the meek-hearted , the justifier , " as lie is often styled in the Ritual . The Book says : " Ho ! Soul ,

greatest of things created , let the Osiris ( deceased ) go . ( Having seen he passes from tho gate , he sees his father Osiris , he makes away in the darkness to his lather Osiris , he is his beloved , he has come to see his father Osiris , he has pierced the heart of Set to do the things of his father Osiris , ho has opened all the paths on heaven and earth . ) He is the Son beloved of his Father , he has come

from the mummy a prepared spirit . Ho ! Gods and Goddesses give way . " The Ritual enables the soul to revisit its mummy , and even to metamorphosise and restore itself . Sometimes the soul is described as Son ancl sometimes as brother of the divine Heseri . Aware of the divine nature of his soul , his being , he exclaims : " I know that

I was begotten by Pthah , brought forth by Neith , " who were primal cause of ail that developed into Heseri and Isis . He becomes a god , or us a god , brilliant as the snn , tho gods exclaim : " Hail , coming as Turn , created by the creator of the gods , " and of the sun , they add : "Hail those greater than the gods , rising in the heaven , ruling in

the gate . Hail thou who hast cut in pieces the scorner , and strangled the Apophis , " by which simile mortals wero encouraged to combat against evil . Like Osiris , the deceased is the victim of various diabolical traps ancl persecutions , over Avhich ho triumphs by the gnosis , or knowledge , of celestial and infernal mysteries which ho

possesses . At length the soul of tho Heseri ( deceased ) is conducted into the presence of the divine Father , who is seated with forty-two judges , in the " Hall of the Two Truths , " decorated with the emblems of truth and justice , which were originally one idea , the cubit ancl the ostrich-feather being their emblems , vvhilst as a symbol of their

eternal lite , they bear the ring-handled tan Cross , a difficult emblem , of which the most probable explanation is phallic (?) . The forty-two assistant judges of Osiris were represented by forty-two earthly judges , who gave or refused burial to the mummy accordingly as the life of the deceased had been good or evil , for the Egyptians in mortal life kept ever in view the heavenly . Before the

forty . two immortal judges , in the Halls of Osiris , the soul had to deny forty-two sins . A remarkable part of one chapter is the mystical addresses of the doors , lintels or two door pillars , planks and other component parts of the " Hall of the Two Truths , " which refuse passage to the soul till the aspirant has been examined in their mystic names , the which doubtless refer to secrets of initiation .

This heavenly residence or city is described in various chapters as composed of seven halls , seven staircases , fifteen gates with a guard at each , whose mystic name it is necessary to know , twenty . one gates , fourteen abodes , unci ten karr or chambers . There is mention of the " Places of the spirits in the Isles of the West , " in one of which ; t place of " ' Sew birth" is situated , and there are various pits or

pools , fatal to the reprobate or unjustilietl . A chapter preserve's ( he soul from tho seven mortal sins which lie in wait at the balance ready to destroy the heart of the sonl of the deceased . The soul is described as going iu as a hawk , and coming out us the plueuix ; having passed through the reads of darkness he comes forth with joy , exclaiming : "J come forth with j-. isu ' li-. vition ngainsc mv

enemies ; I have reached the heaven , 1 h . , \ v passed through . the earth , J have crossed the earth at the footsteps of the spirits a living chief . " The renovated soul eats , chinks , and performs all tin functions of life , as if still amongst living mortals , but ( lie corrupiioi . is " wiiieii out of his heart , " by the fourteen trials which delivered

him from the evil getii . " There is not a limb of him not us a god . ' ' He is triumphantly crowned as a faithful soldier of the gods , who thus address him : "Thy Father Turn has bound thee with this good crown of justification , with that living frontlet ; beloved of the gods thou livest for ever . "

The Egyptian Ritual Of The Book Of The Dead.

Baron Bunscn thus comments upon the teachings of this , the most ancient book iu the world , aud his views are entirely consonant wiih the Ritual : — Tho perfected soul is called the " Son of God , " Osiris ; man , after having parsed through the judgment of the lower world , becomes united with the Father . Ositis worship is the psvehieal element , as

that in which the cosmic element attains to complete consciousness . Osiris is not deified man , but man justified in Osiris . What appears to be historical in the myth is , on tho contrary , undisguisedly symbolical ; Osiris is the God of the human soul , not merely of nature . Osiris is tho human God , tho God-man ; tho man-soul . According to this highest system , the other Gods are merely

personifications of power iu matter , or matter in which tho powers are manifested . Osiris is tho mind—that is , the god of whom wo become conscious through time ; the personal god , father of the human race , living for tho human race . Osiris , as man , is symbolised both in the cosmogonical and the astral circles , for all nature is the symbol of the human mind ; being also represented as Phallic , ho

symbolises in himself as man the creative power of nature in conjunction with Isis . In other words , all the religion of the other circles is in Osiris , but Osiris is not in them . The human soul only becomes properly self-conscious by means of conscience and reason , of will , of action , and of a destiny connected with its own deeds . This is the sphere of the good ancl tho true . Osiris is the judge of

the soul , or the god of the world of spirits . Such is the dogma of Theseri , the petrified religion of a branch of the ancestral family from whom wo ourselves descend . The Abrahainic branch of the Semites , being born at a later period , inherited an alphabetical character , and fought strenuously against

the personification of God ' s attributes ; and they were right , for every branch of the human famil y which followed a system , originating representatively in hieroglyphics , havo lapsed into idolatry with a natural tendency in the uneducated mind to adore the emblem as enshrining tho substance , and of this we see examples even in branches of the Christian Church . Religions are for the

many , truth for the iew ; truth , is developed in man , but borne down and obscured by the evils of our material nature and appetites . Wo see that all mankind and their reli gious faith derive from a single source , and that all havo had tho same blood , nature and knowledge of a creative God under different names : is it possible then

to identify the risen Saviour Christ Jesus—who , as God , put on the human form—with the "Meek-hearted , the jnstitior , " of tho Egyptian and other nations ? Logically wo are led to the affirmative conclusion , but each brother must form his own faith . It is an interesting inquiry , comprising all science and all knowledge , and uniting all the human family spiritually , as Masonry unites them morally .

Reviews.

REVIEWS .

All Books intended lor Review should be addressed to the Editor of The Freemason's Chronicle , 67 Barbican , E . C , — : o : — Dedication Memorial of the New Masonic Temple , Philadelphia , September 2 Qth , 29 th , 30 th 1873 . Compiled by tho Library

Committee of the R . W . Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , Free and Accepted Masons . Philadel phia : Published for tho Library Committee of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , by Claxton Remsen and Hatt ' elfingcr . 1875 .

Tins is a splendid volume , in every respect worthy of the very interesting event in American Masonry—tho dedication , in September 1873 , of the new Masonic Temple , Philadelphia—which it is meant to commemorate . No expense has been spared in its preparation . The utmost pains have been taken in order to secure that the narrative

should be as complete iu all its details as possible , while the archives of the Craft have been searched in order to give as accurate ancl as full a sketch of the History of Freemasonry in tho United States as could be compiled . The volume is handsomely , nay , even elaborately bound , the matter well printed , aud on excellent paper , while the

illustrations—tho chief of which aro photographs—are sufficient in number , aud admirabl y taken . The publication of this memorial was duly sanctioned by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , and the Library Committee , with whom tho business rested , certainly deserve the hearty thanks of the Fraternity for the successful

accomplishment of their task . Wo havo seen few handsomer or more interesting volumes , few worthier of an honoured place in a Mason ' s library or drawing room . Tho greater part of tho contents is devoted to the history of the new Masonic Hall , its foundation , and consecration . First wo are

told how , owing to the increase of the Order , Grand Lodge resolved on establishing new and larger quarters for ( he Craft . Then follows an account of the ceremony of laying the corner stone by R . W . Grand Master Yaux , iu lh'b'S , and then the several ceremonials observed at the consecration of Grand Lodge , Grand Chapter , and

the Asylum of the Grand Commaudery of Pennsylvania , with the banquets that , followed in each case . Statistics of the cost aro ilso furnished , and from these it apneara that a sum of over a

million and a half dollars was expended on tho purchase of the site , the construction , and the furnishing of the edifice . Of this amount nearly thirteen hundred thousand dollars wero spent in building , while tho site and furniture cost , iu round numbers , 158 , 000 dollars