Kings and gods of Egypt

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 Excerpt: ...judged according to their deeds and their names inscribed in the Book of Life in the next world, if they are to enjoy a second life there.3 Christianity has preserved side by side the two forms of judgment; individual, at the death of each man; the final, or last judgment, at the end of the world. This twofold theme was treated by the artists who decorated our cathedrals, and by the author-monks, who wrote thereon many an edifying treatise. "Psychostasy generally forms 'Revelation, vi, 5. Cf. Maury, Revue archiologique, 1844, p. 300. Revelation, xx, 13-15. » A. Moret, In Ike Time of the Pharaohs, p. 211. a subject which is treated apart and is frequently represented on the capitals of the pillars in our churches."... The same scenes are seen in the miniature paintings in manuscripts from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth."' Sometimes the psychostasy is but one episode in the great scene of the Last Judgment or of the Resurrection; it is then God Himself or the Archangel Michael who holds the scales. But in the Lives of the Saints, the weighing of the soul is not generally associated with the Last Judgment. Like the Egyptians and the Greek disciples of Plato, the Christians of the Middle Ages believed that the test of the divine balance would be applied to each man individually as soon as he had drawn his last breath. The word of the Bible, "Thou hast been weighed in the balance and found wanting," was read not in the spirit but in the letter, as is proved by many a story in the Golden Legend. As recently as the eighteenth century, a preacher spoke of the individual judgment as of a case coming before the tribunal of God; the accused, assailed by demons, defended by the Virgin and the Saints, was undergoing trial for many ...