result of a profound and holy policy. Your modern nations owe their
greatness to Egypt--Egypt her greatness to her priests. Rapt in
themselves, coveting a sway over the nobler part of man, his soul and
his belief, those ancient ministers of God were inspired with the
grandest thought that ever exalted mortals. From the revolutions of the
stars, from the seasons of the earth, from the round and unvarying
circle of human destinies, they devised an august allegory; they made it
gross and palpable to the vulgar by the signs of gods and goddesses, and
that which in reality was Government they named Religion. Isis is a
fable--start not!--that for which Isis is a type is a reality, an
immortal being; Isis is nothing. Nature, which she represents, is the
mother of all things--dark, ancient, inscrutable, save to the gifted
few. "None among mortals hath ever lifted up my veil," so saith the
Isis that you adore; but to the wise that veil hath been removed, and we
have stood face to face with the solemn loveliness of Nature. The
priests then were the benefactors, the civilizers of mankind; true, they
were also cheats, impostors if you will. But think you, young man, that
if they had not deceived their kind they could have served them? The
ignorant and servile vulgar must be blinded to attain to their proper
good; they would not believe a maxim--they revere an oracle. The
Emperor of Rome sways the vast and various tribes of earth, and
harmonizes the conflicting and disunited elements; thence come peace,
order, law, the blessings of life. Think you it is the man, the emperor,
that thus sways?--no, it is the pomp, the awe, the majesty that surround
him--these are his impostures, his delusions; our oracles and our
divinations, our rites and our ceremonies, are the means of our
sovereignty and the engines of our power. They are the same means to
the same end, the welfare and harmony of mankind. You listen to me rapt
and intent--the light begins to dawn upon you.'