AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE

Evening Star, Issue 19588, 21 June 1927, Page 11

AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE

SYDNEY’S LATEST WONDER

The latest wonder of modern Sydney is a little bit of ancient Egypt, in an atmosphere diffusing, in gorgeous and bizarre coloring, ail the glamor aud mystery of gods aud mummies of _ the days of the great Osiris am! the deities who clustered round him. Ono conics upon this in a prosaio street, and in a building whoso facade or structure gives no indication of the amazing room within it. The New South Wales Chapter of tho Scottish Royal Arch Freemasonry is responsible for it; Onc of the massive lodge rooms in tho big building which it has just erected is a striking replica, in faithful detail, of an ancient Egyptian temple. This wonder room tells tho story, in brilliant coloring, and in striking vignettes from tho Papyrus of Ani, written about 1450 8.c., of the days when Egypt was governed by a dynasty of gods, one of whom was Osiris. It is the story, in quaint and beautiful form,, of one of the oldest epochs of ancient Egypt. The wonderful frieze, which, m low relief coloring, graces tho walls, consists of scenes selected from the ‘Book of the Dead,’ which seems to prove that, from the time of tho Middle Kingdom at least, and most probably from a far earlier, prc-dynastic age, tho Egyptians believed that tho future of a man’s soul depended upon the manner of his Hie on earth. Osiris, the contra) figure in-the scene, offered immortality and eternal felicity to all, without distinction of status or sox, provided that each individuah.provcd morally worthy of his saving mercy.- Here, in this Egyptian temple, one sees enunciated, in arresting vignettes, an ancient Egyptian doctrine which is, or ought to be, the'fundamental principle of _ religion to-day. .Over the dais is a frieze representing tho great scene of judgment before Osiris, and, in pictorial symbols, tho .'fundamental elements of the ancient Egyptian faith—belief in tho continued existence of tho soul after death, and the doctrine of reward for those who, through the divine newer, shall rise to life eternal._ This Egyptian temple, right in the heart of Sydney, is a masterpiece of unique designing and modelling.