6 Egyptian Gods and Heroes
them to erect such marvellous 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 peoples are various
legends that help us to understand how they grew and
developed, how they came out of darkness into 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 a people's develop-
ment. Far as we can go back in their records, we
always find Egypt in an advanced stage of civilization,
with a religion removed almost entirely beyond the
stage of myth. The one great legend connected with
their faith is the story of the sufferings of Isis and her
search for Osiris, her spouse, and even this is probably
allegory rather than myth.
The faith professed by the Egyptians was as noble
and sublime as any that the world has known. That
it fell later into 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 2f the Nile and the
fertilizing 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 o'r commanded their
awe were but symbols of a Supreme God, who mani-
fested himself in all his works, and who must needs
Foreword 7
be honoured by the gift of the best of their handi-
work.
So this 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 monuments that truly seem everlasting. And
there they remain, a silent witness to a people's greatness,
when Egypt's glory has long since passed away.
F. H. B.
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