New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-01-06


Lrows the dwelling Of the psyc!hopomp Anuois'
tho uor,nes Of Egyptian mythology. he Is lai'n-
,o with the seven halls In the house OF osir's
ord ,b4 twice seven dwelling places IN ha''u.
And when be looked forth Il was upon 'a'u
srbiect ~ inundations Xix. Egypt 'tsS'' i
Roll, Of the Dead audes 20 basin al'et "''''
tanks and pools. Sometimes the basins a.e .
gable. at other times they are caheu "e'''
tho underworld has its eccen'rc',e' we
there is basin of natron, a pool OF "'e' ''"" "
flame and furnaces in whcn the eu''''
either tested or destroyed. In one place '"e'e "
al, -, fire Some souls must pass
,nrorgh Are and struggle in the devourlng name
rrho houss ~ fame and the blazing abode winch
may well be deemed the same, are '"e"'''''
several times but without details Inc "''"'''''
loads In the question whether IT Is MOI "e'c ''''
tho author Of the Book Of Enoch oo'alneu '"'
i1oas which he set forth In his heavenly ''"'''o
all q, crystal tapped in flame. ana mat o'"o' ~
greater palace whIct was butt or ho'"'"o w.
fire and It's floor was fire ana apo'e -
Iirhtnlngs and the pa.h 81 the STARS anu '' $780,
,sa alec was aan,ing fire. In general the merry
aspect Of the Egyptian Hades seehs =,
n,to the vagares Of medieval Chrlstiah"y !"
rorn. minute points the Christian aheso'' VI
tourney into the other world was ioresh"'o"
- u.,, almost startling The Egyptian SOUL
,o, 90 Valley Of Darkness to pass thro"ei' ~
- ,,.oro cafes Of hell which fought aSa''S' "
I'm, couId not prevail. The fear OF ne" 49,,
,ho, 10 n the second death In the he'"e' o''''
~ an ever-prescnt thought with the oSP"""'
!, ,Yas a neril 10 the righteous man. o"'"s " w
magical environment In which ne eN's''u anu -
was certainty. perhaps welcome ce''''"'' w.
the wicked The point i that the ''e'
-. hoo, worked out at all For the whole %
,,,s p,ol, NJ the DcaI was devoted to the e:cape
~ thc righteous soul from all the dangers 'n''
baset IT, and Il has little space for the miset'eS oi
those who do not escape To later specuia''o''
tha, is specula,ion 81 the whole Christan era
and son,e CENTURIES anterior To II. these miserles
were the absorbing theme. thus the ided oi "'e
second death became portenious ana was "orheu
OUT with a nerccness that makes one shuduer.
For example In the Book ~ Adam. held sacreu
by the so-calci Christians ~ 81. John. the Souls
in hell were represented as crying out with 'oun
voice TO the second Death. but tho second Dca'"
was deaf TO their prayers. And Dante expressed
exactly the same though, when he wrote
che la seconda mOrte ciaseun grda.
There seems also vague forecast Of an op:h-
a., hold nv swsdcnborg and by others after
him I, The sentence e the cxi.i chapter. The
duratio, Of heaven Is his duration In the eX-
Ton, ~ The limits ~ he. ven in his BODY ana IN
hi. .h,re. But the most striking parallels are
,u.o between The fancies Of Egypi ana tho;e Oh
tho vorsemen As the heroes Of Nahalia were
slain daliv. go the dead Egyptian was supposed
r. say Il begin .!fe again after death TX" '"e
sun every day" Again In the famous 'haP'e'
aoout entering the Han II ia" Two lIu'hH' "''''
the new osiris has defended ms ''"uuc' 81"
.artn and has replied ID every question: ''e w.
-, "a, ,,,cd. Tn. d.raaced was interro-
rated" This is Proof of hi. merit for II ne IA"
hcer guilty the judges would have dIFI''n "'
fact and would not hay taken ~" U'uo'' !"
.uaufrr about h.s deeds. he would nave "''"
condemned by their Silence ana "i"r ono WIZ
WAS not ln,crr1gatod me gate Is ab.aze' ITS IN
closure Is made - Twins ura"us mat IT, ~
would bc c-a6rcd ln a prison "Ai'h. N"' 'n'
,ehci cavern 80 %aasirand. "a the h'"i'
writers said. was MADE OF selpents waite" 49,
,..,h.~ rre heads = all these scrpents turned
int, the cave n.Iug II with streams oil poison 81"
which periurers nsurdcrers and adul'er'rs were
forced TO suffer endless torment'
Tnes. .3incldencrs are doubtless accidental
p.t the, suggest thc.p-oblem whether in tradi-
ton or otherwise the Book Of the Dead
which vas already antique and incom-
,-.hons,h,e before the time ~ Abraham
.,uid have Influenced the mysticism " the
Western nations after the Egyptian religion
l,.elf had dlsapDearcd. II = worth mentioning
mat aside from this book the devotional !iter"-
t,ro ~ Egypt was overwhelmingly funeral The
nonk of the Dead Seems . have furnished
model as whole Tor other important COM
puations and IN It's parts. for new fragments
contrived a. 'magica. defence against me
pori!s - the grave and # the neither "or'u
But II must also be remembered that Inc DOCK
itself was not forgotten even In extremely 'a'e
periods OF Egyptian culture. when II coulh no
longer be read with tho heart and win the
undermining II remained. century after cen-
fury the custom to put with the dead a phpEtus
copy more or less complete. OF the collection
The number ~ these that have been recovered
T. practically endless The variations In the text
more than exceed the ininity of me manu-
scrtpts But 90 much has been accomplished that
the papyri have been separated into Two classes.
one az those classes belongs to the Salic and
later dynasties. II ~ far more ample than the
other class. and contains the chapters in
series according 10 tho order which became
canonlca and permanent To this class belongs
the Turin papyrus which forms the basis Of the
prosent translation. and to which belongs by
right exclusively the somewhat misleading title
~ the Book Of tn. Dead. the chapter designa-
tions of which following the enumeration OF Lsp-
sus arc generally used In citation. The othcr
class " papyri which may b" called Ihebanc.
belongs - the time OF the beginning of the So
called New Kingdom the capital OF which was
Thcbes The texts Of this class show great vafia-
tons They contain thu material that was after
ward embodied In the Saite copies. hut without
any arrangement. Each copyist WAS law unto
himself to tho order II chapters and para
graphs There were few among the old texts.
however. which revealed a gradual approach to
tho canon.cal system 81 the completed work.
This indicates that the canon. Ike the collection
Itself. was thing attained unconscious.y. and.
as the Egyptians would have said by divine