The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-20

Osiris by dethroning the usurping Set
The suferings of the great king who hai
given Egypt art, science and law mad
| his memory all the more sacred. He i
first reverenced. and then it is short
easy step TO tworship. Isis, his devotee
! wife, becomes the name for wisdom anc
| faithfulness, and is symbolized by tbs
dog star.
| This sketches the process OF the ides
Of divinity as Unjust have developed IL
! kings have been found. II is a natura
| and simple process. which explains itseli
| and upsets at single blow the numerou:
| theories which have been set down as ths
Science of religion" or the development
Of religious concepts"
FACTS MADE TO FIT THEORIES.
Volumes have been written upon this
subject. evolved from the inner conscious
ness OF the writer's. often regardless OF
facts. Many Of these works have been
branded as more fanciful than the myths
which they attempted TO explain. but
nothing could so condemn their fancies as
the discovery Of the old stone sarco-
phagi of the gods-hard facts, too hard 10
be denied.
The priori savants, who draw their theo-
ries as the spider spins his web from
their own inwardness, will be rather tan
gled up in this web by N Amelineau's dis
covery- It is rather difficult 70 reconcile
the tomb of kinkg with the theory that
there never was such being. and that
the personalities, Osiris. Isis, Set and Eo-
US, are nothing bgut the personifcations
OF the forces Of nature. They forgogt that
v1e great cemeteries. the metropolis at
Abydos, for example, had as their cen
trail idea the burial OF a great god hiking,
and could not see that there must have
been some great facts behind the myths
not merely the facts Of sun, star and riv-
er. but the more concentrate fact OF a
human king.
MASSIVE EVIDENCES.
II we could go TO Luxor and see the
massive ruins of the temple. If we could
dig beneath the sands Of Abydos and see
the hundreds and thousands of tombs Of
great men aond small clustered around
convinced that these kings were once up
on the earth.
The broad effect Of NJ Amelineau's dis
covery will be revision and rewriting
Of the history Of ancient Egypt. especially
OF its earliest section. There will be a
still greater result in making the schol-
ars Of the world NOR tolerant and open
minded toward the most ancient legendsf
Instead Of looking for the false in them,
theyp will search for the true; instead of
trying to tear them TO pieces. they will
try TO substantiate as much as possible
The influence Of this change in methods
will appear in the study Of the mythology
of all nations. and especially in counec-
ton with the Bible.
OLD TESTAMENT RECORDS.
II has been a favorite idea with some
late students of the Old Testament to sug-
gest that such men as Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob and the twelve sons of the last
patriarch were purely mythical, devised
by the fancy Of the people many senturies
after the date at which they were stated
TO have lived. But research in Babylonla
and Arabia. especially during the past few
years, tends in the opposite direction, The
very name Abraham has been found in
Assyrian inscriptions, showing that such
namew as current at that time The
names Of the kings mentioned in Genesis
xiv. have been found on the monuments
Of clay tablets, all tending to establish
much OF the truth Of Biblical statements. |
NJ Tmelineau has startled the world by |
he mere announcement Of his discovery |
The particulars and subsequent develop |
nents viii be awaited with interest by |
every man who would like TO know what |
happened in the world ten thousand years /
ago what men and women lived and ruled !
hen. and what they did.