commodate a large
congregation at an act of worship. The temple was the public place of
the community, its point of meeting (for the Egyptian town has no
market-place), and its fortress when attacked (for the town is not
fortified). But while the courts of the temple were open to the
people, there was a holy place which only the priests might enter,
where the sacred ark, the symbol of the god, remained, and where
sacrifices were offered. The images about the temple were not placed
there to be worshipped, but were votive offerings meant to provide
the god with a body which he might enter when he chose. The obelisk
is such a symbol or incorporation of the sun. On certain days the
sacred objects and animals were taken in procession through the
temple grounds, or made voyages on the lake belonging to the temple,
or were even taken through the nome among the fields and dwellings of
their people; and on these occasions representations took place
symbolising the principal events in the history of the god. It was
thus that the private individual came to know the god; it was a great
festival and an occasion of the utmost joy when the divine protectors
and benefactors of the nome, who generally remained in their splendid
retirement, came forth to mingle for a brief space with the faithful
community. The worship of the gods was in Egypt, as in every nation
of the ancient world, a matter of state, not of individual concern.
It is the chief branch of the public service; the state is under the
direct rule of the gods; never was there a more absolute theocracy.
The king is a child of the god,--a conception often treated in the
most material way,--and being thus of more than human race, becomes
himself the object of worship, and even offers sacrifice to himself.
It is one of the king's chief cares to provide a stately dwelling for
the god; the king himself offers sacrifice on the most important
occasions. The god in his sacred ark goes with his people when they
are at war and fights along with them, so that every war is a holy
war. The priests are public officials, and often exercise immense
influence. The king institutes them into their functions; they are
exempt, as we may read in Genesis, from public burdens; every
function involving learning or art is in their hands. Framed in such
institutions religion is not likely to have any free growth; the time
is far distant here when men will form voluntary associations of
their own for spi