"You shall have your wish gratified. The high priest of On shall receive orders to open to you (what is closed to all strangers) the sacred and mystic rites of our faith."
"I have alluded to the mysteries of the temple at Tyre," I added. "Initiated thereinto, I was taught that religion had a higher object than human heroes, and that in Astarte is worshipped the daughter of Heaven and Light, who is LIFE, and that Adonis, her son by the Earth, signifies Truth. Thus, from heaven spring Light, Life, and Truth. These three, say the mystic books which I studied, constitute the Trinity of God, who consists and subsists only in this undivided Trinity as a unit; not Light alone, not Life alone, nor Truth alone; but One in Three. That these three are not three deities, just as in geometry the three sides and three angles are not three triangles, but one triangle. That in order to bring this mystery to a level with the minds of men, light was symbolized by the sun, life by Astarte, truth by Adonis. In the temple of Bel-Pheor, in Cœle-Syria, the sun itself is worshipped as light, life, and truth in one; his rays representing light, his heat life, his material disk or body truth."
"This is interesting to me, Sesostris," said Remeses. "It explains to me what I did not before understand, why the Syrians worship the sun. To them it is the majestic symbol of the trinity of deity. But I fear that in Egypt he is worshipped as an idol; for he, doubtless, is worshipped by many, and in many cities are temples to him. But this material worship, which separates the symbol from the truth behind it, was introduced by the Palestinian dynasty, and it is almost the only trace it has left in Egypt of its presence. The worship of Osiris, rightly understood, is the worship of the deity, as revealed in our sacred books. But the mystery of his trinity is unknown to our theology. Have you many temples of the sun in Tyre?"
"One only," was my answer, "but worthy, if I may so say, from its splendor, to stand in your city of 'the Lord of the Sun,' as I must call it."
"Is there not a city of your kingdom called Baal-phegor, in which is a famous sun-temple?"
"You mean Baalbec, the same words, only changed slightly. This city deserves its great fame, so grand are its fanes, so noble its palaces, so imposing the worship of the sun before its altars, so gorgeous the interiors of its temples, so rich the apparel of its priests, so sublime its choral worship. It is in Syrio-Euphrates, and is so shaded by palms that it has the aspect, in approaching it across the desert, of being an oasis filled with temples."