ion. Every one glorifieth his
goodness, his tenderness encircles our hearts, great is his love in
all bosoms.

TO TEHUTI OR PTAH

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 courage of the heart, the vigour of the 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.

TO PTAH-TANEN

O let us give glory to the god who hath raised up the sky and who
causeth his disk to float over the bosom of Nut, who hath made the
gods and men and all their generations, who hath made all lands and
countries and the great sea, in his name of "Let-the-earth-be."

TO AMON-RA

Hail to thee, maker of all beings, lord of law, father of the gods;
maker of men, creator of beasts; lord of grains, making food for the
beast of the field.... The one without a second.... King alone,
single among the gods; of many names, unknown is their number.

There is a beautiful hymn addressed to the Nile, who is also
conceived as the chief deity and the ruler, nourisher, and comforter
of all creatures. From these hymns and others like them, important
conclusions have been drawn as to the nature of the earliest Egyptian
religion; namely, that those who wrote such pieces must have been
acquainted with the one true god and addressed him under these
various names, so that the true origin of Egyptian religion would be
a primitive monotheism.

There are some texts indeed which seem to point even more strongly
than those cited to the conclusion that Egyptian religion started
from the belief in one supreme deity. Mr. Le Page Renouf quotes along
with the passages above, one from a Turin papyrus, in which 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, etc. This being speaks as
follows:--

I am the maker of the heaven and the earth.... 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 am
Chepera in the morning, Ra at noon, Tum in the evening.

M. de la Rouge maintains that Egyptian religion, monotheistic at
first, with a noble belief in the unity of the Supreme God and in His
attributes as the Creator a