Egypt !

Egypt !!

What wondrous pictures are conjured up by that magic word !!          

Scenes of white robed priests moving in solemn procession through columned aisles to the sound of stately music ; of shining warriors massed in dense array upon the burning plain, or charging irreristively into the foeman’s ranks ; of royal peageants where King and Queen bedecked in silks and clothes of gold , embroidered with a mine of gems , pass through the crowned lines of their aclaiming subjects ; scenes of light and life and colour , which cannot fail tomrouse our system , even our awe , such are some of the pictures that rise before us at the very sound of the mystic name…

But ever do our thoughts come back to one supreme topic – the colossal structures always associated with the ideas of Egypt. Be it the pyramids or temples , obelisk or sphinx that is painted in our dreams , we are impressed with a sense of mystery , a wondering awe of the race tat raised them. Who were these people , we ask ourselves , and what meant these mighty buildings wrought in enduring stone ? What was the faith that inspired them to erect such marvelous temples to their Gods ? Something of the secret has been revealed to us within the last century , but much yet remains to be told…

        Associated with the early faiths of all people are various legends that help us to understand how they grew and developed , how they came out of the darkness into the light.  The story of the origin of our own race is rich in such traditions , and the myths of Greece and Rome are common knowledge. But in Egyptian story there is little to tell of the childhood stage of civilization , with a religion removed almost entirely beyond the stage of myth.  The one great legend  connected with their faith is one story of the sufferings of  ‘Isis’ and her search for ‘Osiris’ , her spouse , and again probably allegory rather than myth…

The faith possesed by the Egyptians was a note and sublime as any that the world has known. That it later fell in a confused belief in countless petty Gods was due to priestcraft rather than to any fault in the faith itself. In all about them the Egyptians saw  ’The Hand of God ’– in the rising of the nile and the fertilising soil ; in bird and beast ; in sun and moon ; in sky and earth and sea. But no mere ‘nature -worshippers’ were they. The different aspects of nature which attracted their curiosity and commanded their awe were but the symbols of a ‘Supreme God’ ; who manifested himself in all his works and who demands to be honoured by the gift of the best of their handiwork…

So these people grew and rose to power , and in due time gave way to others. But their works could never die. The faith that inspired their daily life had given birth to these monuments that truly seem ever lasting. And there they remain , a silent witness to these people’s greatness , even when Egypt’s glory has long since passed away…