“If you enter a temple,” says Clement of Alexandria, “a priest advances with a solemn air, singing a hymn in the Egyptian language; he raises the veil a little to let you see the god; and what then do you see? A cat, a crocodile, a snake, or some other noxious animal. The god of the Egyptian appears. It is but a wild beast, wallowing on a purple carpet!” This language describes the worship of ancient Egypt as we learn from the sculptures on the monuments, as well as it characterizes the worship at the beginning of the Christian era. To exhibit in some symbol their ideas of their gods was the very essence of Egyptian religion. This brought about the grossest of superstitious worship. To set forth in symbol the attributes, qualities and nature of their gods, the priests chose to use animals. The bull, cow, ram, cat, ape, crocodile, hippopotamus, hawk, ibis, scarabæus, were all emblems of the gods. Often the head of one of these animals was joined to the body of a man in the sculpture. But let it be remembered, that _the Egyptians never worshiped images or idols. They worshiped living representations of the gods and not lifeless images of stone or metal._ Their sculptures were never made for worship. They chose animals which corresponded as nearly as possible to their ideas of the gods. Each of these sacred creatures was carefully tended, fed, washed, dressed, nursed when sick, and petted during its whole life. After death its body was embalmed. Certain cities were set apart for certain animals, and apartments of the temples were consecrated to their use. Priests were appointed to attend them. Not every animal of every kind was worshiped, only a few of each sacred kind were considered as sacred. A few of the whole number were supported at the expense of the state, and were attended by great personages. Certain animals were worshiped in parts of Egypt and detested in other parts. Thus the hippopotamus was worshiped in Papæmis alone; while the Thebans worshiped the crocodile; in other places they were hunted to death. [Illustration: SCARABÆUS.] Popularly these animals were regarded as gods, and were really worshiped. By the priests they were regarded simply as the representatives of the gods. If a man killed certain of the sacred animals, by the laws of Egypt he must die; if, however, in regard to some of them, the killing was accidental, then he might escape by paying a heavy fine. A Roman soldier once killed a sacred cat, accidentally. In spite of the fear of Rome and the interference of the King of Egypt, the enraged mob instantly killed the soldier. The story is told, that King Cambyses, when he invaded Egypt, caught a number of sacred animals, and placed them before his army. The Egyptians offered them no resistance, but fled away, afraid to fight lest they should injure the sacred animals.