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36 : 'I have set my seal; let no other king whatever enter therein.' Then he stood, and they prostrated themselves before his majesty."

The conception of the unity of the Godhead did not prevent the Egyptians from thinking of God as very near to them. He is their Father, and they "sons beloved of their Father." He is the "Giver of life;" "Toucher of the hearts, Searcher of the inward parts, is his name." "Every one glorifies thy goodness, mild is thy love towards us; thy tenderness surrounds our hearts; great is thy love in all the souls of men." One lamentation cries "Let not thy face be turned away from us; the joy of our hearts is to contemplate thee. Chase all anguish from our hearts." "He wipes tears from off all faces." "Hail to thee, Ra, Lord of all truth whose shrine is hidden; Lord of the gods: who listeneth to the poor in his distress: gentle of heart when we cry to thee. Deliverer of the timid man from the violent; judging the poor, the poor and the oppressed. Lord of mercy most loving: at whose coming men live; at whose goodness gods and men rejoice. Sovereign of life, health, and strength." "Speak nothing offensive of the great Creator, if the words are spoken in secret: the heart of man is no secret to him that made it. … He is present with thee though thou be alone."

As we might expect from so lofty a conception of God, their hearts broke forth into joyous hymns of praise: —

II. Such was the idea of God and his relation to man held by the ancient Egyptians; and, as we might expect, it drew forth in them "lovely and pleasant lives."

The three cardinal requirements of Egyptian piety were love to God, love to virtue, love to man. "I was a wise man upon earth," says an ancient Egyptian, "and I ever loved God." On one of the tombs at Thebes a king sums up his life: "I lived in truth, I fed my soul with justice. What I did to men was done in peace; and how I loved God, God and my heart well know." The Rosetta stone records of Ptolemy Epiphanes: "He was pious towards the gods, he ameliorated the life of man, he was full of generous piety, he showed forth with all his might his sentiments of humanity. He distributed justice to all like God himself." Thus was the modern king a worthy successor of the ancient.

Love of truth and justice was a distinguishing characteristic of the Egyptians. God is invoked: "Rock of Truth is thy name." In an inscription at Sistrum a king addresses Hathor, goddess of truth: "I offer to thee the truth, 0 goddess! for truth is thy work, and thou thyself art the truth." Thoth is the god who "manifests truth and goodness." The high priest in every town, who was also the chief magistrate, wore round his neck a jewelled jewel, which bore on one side the image of Truth, and on the other sometimes the image of Justice sometimes of Light. When the accused was acquitted the judge held out the image for him to kiss. The image of Justice is represented with the eyes closed and without hands, to signify that the judge should never receive any bribe with his hands to "blind his eyes withal." So also, in the scene of the final judgment, Osiris wears round his neck the jewelled Justice and Truth, the heavenly pattern of the earthly copy, for justice and truth are eternal in the heavens. This jewel was adopted apparently by the Jewish high priest after the flight from Egypt. No English translation has been offered for the strange words Urim and Thummim, but the LXX. translated them "Truth and Light." Truthfulness was an essential part of the Egyptian moral code; and when, after death, the soul enters the Hall of the Two Truths, or Perfect Justice, it repeats the words learned upon earth: "0 thou great God, Lord of truth! I have known thee. I