WINGED FIGURE, ISIS OR NEPHTHYS.] The _Lamentations of Isis_ was one of the most revered of the sacred writings:—‘My heart is full of bitterness for thee,’ she cries; ‘how long will it be ere I see thee whom to behold is bliss! Come to her that loveth thee—none hath loved thee more than I.... Heaven and earth are mourning after thee. O mighty one, our lord,[2] speak, and dispel the anguish of our souls! To behold thy face is life, and the joy of our spirits is to gaze on thee!’ Nevertheless in bodily form Osiris appeared not on earth again; but Isis ceased not from her search until she had found the remains, all torn and mangled as they were by the malice of Set. ‘She made light with her feathers,’ says the old hymn, ‘and wind with her wings; at his burial she poured forth her prayers.’ ‘She gave birth to a child; secretly and alone she nursed the infant—no man knows where that was done. ‘Now has the arm of that child become strong within the ancient dwelling of Seb.’[3] The child of Isis, the beautiful and radiant Horus, was the avenger of Osiris; he cast down the terrible Set, and destroyed his power; then, on appearing resplendent from his triumph, he was hailed with acclamation by gods and men, and reigned over the land, Osiris, new-born—the Morning Sun which, having conquered night and darkness, ascends the sky and rules from heaven; the Sun of to-day, which, if another, is yet the same as that which sank down yesterday into the bosom of the night. [Illustration: Isis suckling Horus.—From a statuette in the British Museum.] The reign of Horus was welcomed with rapture and with song. ‘He receives the title of his father and rules the world; he governs both the men of Egypt and the northern barbarians. Every one glorifies his goodness; mild is his love towards us; his tenderness embraceth every heart; great is his love in all our bosoms. His foe falls under his fury; the end of the evil-doer is at hand. The son of Isis, the avenger of his father, appears. The worlds are at rest; evil flies, and earth brings forth abundantly, and is at peace beneath her lord.’ But Osiris was not dead. In the unseen world he lived anew, and there he ruled in righteousness, as Horus ruled on earth. Osiris, the divine being who had died, was judge of the dead. Before him each departed spirit must appear in the judgment-hall of Truth. There the heart is weighed and the life is judged unerringly. He who passes that ordeal becomes himself Osiris, and is henceforth called by his name. The new Osiris lives again, and passes victoriously through every peril, until he is at length admitted amongst the bright and blessed spirits who accompany Ra for ever, and who ‘live, as he liveth, in Truth.’