passages like these are constantly accompanied by others in which the old polytheistic language is used without hesitation. Some phrases, again, are ambiguous, and if their true sense be a good one, the popular interpretation may be a bad one. No words can more distinctly express the notion of "self-existent Being" than chepera cheper t'esef, words which very frequently occur in Egyptian religious texts. But the word chepera signifies scarabaeus as well as being, and the scarabaeus was in fact an object of worship, as a symbol of divinity. How many Egyptians accepted the words in a sense which we ourselves should admit to be correct? Was there really, as is frequently asserted, an esoteric doctrine known to the scribes and priests alone, as distinct from the popular belief? No evidence has yet been produced in favour of this hypothesis.

Henotheism.

The nature of Henotheism as distinct from Monotheism was explained in last year's Lectures as a phase of religious thought in which the individual gods invoked are not conceived as limited by the power of others. "Each god is to the mind of the suppliant as good as all the gods. He is felt at the time as a real divinity, as supreme and absolute, in spite of the necessary limitations which to our mind a plurality of gods must entail on every single god. All the rest

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disappear from the vision,

and he only who is to fulfil their desires stands in full light before the eyes of the worshippers."1

This phase of religious thought is chiefly presented to us in a large number of hymns, beginning with the earliest days of the eighteenth dynasty. It is certainly much more ancient, but the literature, properly speaking, of the older period is very small. None of the hymns of that time have come down to us.

One of the most interesting hymns to Osiris is engraved on a funereal tablet now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, and was published and translated in 1857 by M. Chabas. The ancient date of it is marked by the hammering out of it of the name Amon, during the period of the sun-disk worshippers. It probably belongs to the time of Tehutimes III.

Osiris is called "Lord of eternity, king of the gods, of many names, of holy transformations, of mysterious . . . He is the substance of the forms in the temples.. world, Atmu, feeder of beings among the gods, beneficent spirit in the abode of spirits. From him the (celestial occan) Nu derives its waters, from him comes the wind, and respirable air is in his nostrils for his satisfaction and the taste of his heart. For him the ground brings forth its abundance; in obedience to

1 Max Müller, "Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as illustrated by the Religions of India," p. 285.

him is the upper heaven and its stars, and he opens the great gates. He is the master of invocations in the southern heavens, and of adorations in the northern heavens; the ever-moving stars are under obedience to him, and so are the stars which set. . . . . He is the excellent master of the gods, fair and beloved by all who see him. . . . . He is the eldest, the first of his brothers, the chief of the gods; he it is who maintains law in the universe, and places the son in the seat of his father... ... . . He has made this world with his hands; its waters, its atmosphere, its vegetation, all its flocks, all its flying things, all its fish, all its reptiles and quadrupeds.... His diadem predominates at the zenith of heaven and accompanies the stars; he is the guide of all the gods. He is beneficent in will and words; he is the praise of the great gods, and the love of the inferior gods.

What follows is textually applied to Horus, but it is to Horus considered as Osiris born again, and as the son of the widowed Isis.

"The gods recognize the universal Lord. . . . . He takes the royalty of the double world; the crown of the south is fixed upon his head. He judges the world according to his will; heaven and earth are in subjection to him; he giveth his commands to men, to the generations present, past and future, to Egyptians and to strangers. The circuit of the solar orb is under his direction; the winds, the waters, the wood of the

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plants and all vegetables. A god of seeds, he giveth all herbs and the abundance of the soil. He affordeth plentifulness, and giveth it to all the earth. All men are in ecstacy, all hearts in sweetness, all bosoms in joy, every one in adoration. Every one glorifieth his goodness; his tenderness encircles our hearts; great is his love in all bosoms."1

An ancient text now in the British Museum is in so mutilated a condition that it is in many places quite illegible. There is one passage in it which refers either to Tehuti or to Ptah. Of this god it is said that "he gave birth to the gods, he made towns and organized provinces. . . . All things proceed from him. The divine word is made for those who love and for those who hate it; it gives life to the righteous, and it gives death to the unjust. To him is due the work of the hands, the walking of the feet, the sight of the eyes, the hearing of the ears, the breathing of the nostrils, the fortitude of heart, the vigour of hand, activity in body and in mouth of all the gods and men and of all living animals, intelligence and speech; whatever is in the heart and whatever is on the tongue."

"Hail to thee, Tehuti," says the tablet of Hor-em

1 The "Records of the Past" give the translation of this hymn, and of some of the others which are here quoted. I have in these Lectures availed myself freely of the existing translations, but have not scrupled to introduce important alterations, for which no one but myself is responsible.

heb in the British Museum, "Lord of Hermopolis, self-existent, without birth, sole God, who regulatest the nether world and givest laws to those who are in the Amenti, and to those who are in the service of Rā."

"Hail to thee," we read in another hymn, "RāTmu-Horus of the double horizon, the one God, living by Maat, who makest all things which are, who createst all that exists of beasts and men proceeding from thine eyes. Lord of heaven, Lord of earth, who makest those who are below and those who are above, Lord of all. King of heaven, Lord of all gods. O supreme King, amid the society of the gods, almighty God, self-existent, two-fold substance, existing from the beginning."

....

In a papyrus at Turin, the following words are put into the mouth of "the almighty God, the self-existent, who made heaven and earth, the waters, the breaths of life, fire, the gods, men, animals, cattle, reptiles, birds, fishes, kings, men and gods" [in accordance with one single thought].. "I am the maker of heaven and of the earth. I raise its mountains and the creatures which are upon it; I make the waters, and the Mehura comes into being. . . . . I am the maker of heaven, and of the mysteries of the two-fold horizon. It is I who have given to all the gods the soul which is within them. When I open my eyes, there is light; when I close them, there is darkness. . . . . I make the hours, and the hours come into existence. I am