Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity
by Samuel Sharpe, London J.R. Smith
1863

Excerpt from Preface:

The study of error is often only a little less important than the study of truth. The history of the human mind in its progress from ignorance towards knowledge, should tell us the mistakes into which it has sometimes wandered, as well as its steps in the right path. We turn indeed with more pleasure to review the sources from which the world has gained any of its valuable truths, in the hope of there finding some further knowledge which may be equally valuable; while for our errors, so long as we are unwilling to acknowledge them to be errors, we too often shut our eyes, and refuse to be shewn their origin. The Emperor Marcus Antoninus, in his philosophical work, mentions the several tutors and friends from whom he gained his good habits, and those views of life which he chiefly valued; but though we must suppose that he was aware of some failings in his character, he does not tell us to which of his companions he owed them. And so it is with the benefits of civilization, arts, and religion ;and also with the evils of superstition. Modern Europe readily acknowledges how many benefits it received fromE ome, from Greece, and from Judea, but has been willing to forget how much of its superstition came fromE
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)