III. SECTS AND SKEPTICS IN EGYPT.
Ancient Egypt was characterized by a considerable amount of intellectual mind, and no inconsiderable proficiency in the arts and sciences. And hence, as would naturally be expected, a considerable portion of her people, in the course of time, broke from the trammels of the popular religious faith, and became infidel to all the systems and sects in the nation; while those of a secondary order of intellect abandoned some dogmas, modified others, and started new sects. This gave offense to the parental religious order, which resulted in one or two cases in a serious quarrel, though not with the bloody and deadly results which have marked the religious quarrels among the sects and followers of "the Prince of peace," which have been so sanguine, cruel, and bloody, as to leave eighteen million human beings on the battle-field, or consumed by fire, or consigned to a watery grave. Religious wars among the heathen have not been half so fiendish or fatal as those waged by the disciples of the cross. The number of sects in Egypt is not known, but they were numerous.