sterious, "hidden divinity." On reading the texts of the
famous "Book of the Dead" it has frequently occurred to me that the
negative confession and judgment of the soul of the departed may
originally signify the actual confession and judgment of an applicant for
initiation into the secrets of the priesthood and the astronomical and
theological knowledge they so rigidly guarded from the ignorant multitude.
The highest knowledge and most profound secret they could impart was
doubtlessly the acknowledgment and perception of the existence of a
supreme power which governed the universe on a certain plan, which the
rulers of the land of Egypt endeavored to apply to its organization and
government in order to make it a celestial kingdom upon earth.

The rigidly-adhered-to policy of the ruling caste was, however, the
shrouding and concealment of their store of knowledge from the uninitiated
and the gradual admission of select individuals to the inner chambers of
secrecy. The following texts show that even the true name of the supreme
divinity was wrapped in impenetrable mystery, but the assumption that we
are dealing with a pole-star god seems to enable us to penetrate the
obscurity of the formulae employed by the scribes to veil the true meaning
of the texts.

Beginning with the hymn published by Mr. Wallis Budge, in his useful
handbook, "The Nile,"(110) we find Amen-Ra addressed as "King, _One_ among
the gods, _myriad are his names, how many are they, is not known_ ... the
lord of Law, _whose shrine is hidden, ... whose name is hidden from his
children in his name Amen_."... In the legend of Ra and Isis (XXth
dynasty) he is designated as "the god divine, the creator of himself, the
creator of heaven, earth, breath of life, fire, gods, men, beasts, cattle,
reptiles, fowl of the air, fish, king of men and gods, _in form one_, to
whom periods are as years, _many of names, not known are they, not know
them the gods_."(111)

The mysterious supreme god is further spoken of in the hymn as ... "the
lord of the uraeus crown, exalted of the plumes; the serpent Mehen, and the
two uraei are the (ornaments) of his face...." Mention is likewise made of
his lordship over the Sekti boat (which sailed from the place of rising in
the East) and the Atet boat (which sailed to the place of setting in the
West); he is also addressed as the "god Khepera in his boat." In many
passages he is apparently identified with the sun, "the eye of Horus," b