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the immutable !| aw of history , as ordained by the divine Author . * The distinctive secular characteristic of the Egyptian is stronglymarked appreciation of Chronology , or Time . f The idea of eternity was , on the other hand , the feature of their religious creed . Whether we pause to reflect upon the exactitude of their chronological records , upon the ponderous and time-defying principles of their architecture , !;

upon the distinctly enunciated belief in an eternal Amenthe , or Hades , and in a final resurrection of the body , we are everywhere met and astounded by the allusions to time and eternity—the A and the £ i , gleaming through all the mazes of their mythology ; and the later legends with which their ancient religion was overlaid , still cannot conceal this absorbing principle from our view . This was the

safeguard I spoke of ; this belief in an hereafter contributed to the establishment of Monotheism , in the same manner that the Jewish system of Monotheism , which itself went forth out of Egypt , exercised an influence eastward and westward in founding Christianity and Islam . Both religions urging to and enjoining kindness and charity one towards another , fulfil the law , and complete the primary object of the events of ancient history . §

Before all other subjects , however , it is necessary for me to indicate briefly the sources of our knowledge respecting Egypt , and to explain why we may justly claim a right to speak authoritatively on all Egyptian subjects . To depict the " hopeless " age of Egypt , the age when Hellenes and Romans wrote , and who knew so little , and ,

* < Thou art near , 0 Lord ; and all thy commandments are truth . Concerning thy testimonies , I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever . "Psalm cxix . 152 . + Herodotus , ii . 82 . Thus the Egyptians had discovered the natural law that similar causes imply similar effects , although they applied it too generally , and to things which , while esteemed sciences , were nothing but monstrosities .

X When my friend Mr . Gliddon , and Mr . A . C . Harris , of Alexandria , went up the Nile , Jin 1839-40 , preparations for taking careful impressions of the features of a specified king , Ramses the Great , with a view to ascertain whether the features corresponded in any way , were made ; and after nearly thirty sculptures of all sizes , from superhuman dimensions down to two-inch , had been assembled from all portions of Egypt , both Upper and Lower , they were found to present all through uniform features with undoubted individuality . It is therefore evident that an

attempt was made to perpetuate a standard portrait of the king , which portrait would probably be taken upon his accession ; and thus we may make certain that the monuments are contemporaneous . That actual likenesses are thus presented , no one will dare to question , if they examine the plates of K-osellini , and read his essay in Monumenti Storici , torn . ii . cap . xviii . : " Iconografia dei Faraoni e dei He Greci d' Egitto , " pp . 460 , sqq . See also the arguments of Dr . Nott and Mr . Gliddon ,

in " Types of Mankind " ( pp . 145—152 ) . That the Egyptians possessed the power of portraying foreign peculiarities , has been demonstrated by Mr . Osborne , in his useful , though not in every case accurate book , Egypt ' s Testimony to the Truth " ( pp . 114—153 ) . Lepsius , in his " Letters from Egypt and Ethiopia , " has some valuable and authoritative remarks on the Sphinx , and its resemblance to a certain king ( pp . 46—48 , Mackenzie ' s translation , second edition ) . Head also

his Chronologic der JEcjypter ( Band I . p . 294 ) . Erom these facts alone do we find that Diodorus was right in saying that registers of the physical and mental capacity of the kings were kept ( J 3 iodorus , i . 44 ) . —Bunsen , "Egypt ' s Place in Universal History , " vol , i . p . 3 , note . % Cf . Aristotelis Eth . Nic . viii . 2 , § 5 .