I sail about among its lakes, and I advance to the cities thereof, O
  divine Hetep. Behold, my mouth is provided with my [teeth which are
  like] horns; grant me therefore an overflowing supply of the food
  whereon, the 'Doubles' (KAU) and the Spirits (KHU) do live. I have
  passed the judgment which Shu passeth upon him that knoweth him,
  therefore let me go forth to the cities of [Hetep], and let me sail
  about among its lakes, and let me walk about in Sekhet-Hetep. Behold
  R[=a] is in heaven, and behold the god Hetep is the twofold offering
  thereof. I have come forward to the land [of Hetep], I have girded up
  my loins and come forth so that the gifts which are about to be given
  unto me may be given, and I am glad, and I have laid hold upon my
  strength which the god Hetep hath greatly increased for me." "O
  Unen-em-hetep, [Footnote: The name of the first large section of
  Sekhet-Aaru.] I have entered into thee, and my soul followeth after
  me, and my divine food is upon my hands. O Lady of the two lands,
  [Footnote: A lake in the second section of Sekhet-Aaru.] who
  stablishest my word whereby I remember and forget, let me live
  uninjured, and without any injury [being done] unto me. O grant to me,
  O do thou grant to me, joy of heart; make thou me to be at peace, bind
  thou up my sinews and muscles, and make me to receive the air."

  "O Unen-em-hetep, O Lady of the winds, I have entered into thee, and I
  have shewn [Footnote: Literally, "opened."] my head [therein]. R[=a]
  sleepeth, but I am awake, and there is the goddess Hast at the gate of
  heaven by night. Obstacles have been set before me, but I have
  gathered together what R[=a] hath emitted. I am in my city."

  "O Nut-urt, [Footnote: The name of a lake in the first section of
  Sekhet-Aaru.] I have entered into thee and I have reckoned up my
  harvest, and I go forward to Uakh. [Footnote: The name of a lake in
  the second section of Sekhet-Aaru.] I am the Bull enveloped in
  turquoise, the lord of the Field of the Bull, the lord of the divine
  speech of the goddess Septet (Sothis) at her hours. O Uakh, I have
  entered into thee, I have eaten my bread, I have gotten the mastery
  over choice pieces of the flesh of oxen and of feathered fowl, and the
  birds of Shu have been given unto me; I follow after the gods, and the
  divine 'Doubles' (KAU)."

  "O Tohefet, [Footnote: The name of a district in the third section of
  Sekhet-Aaru.] I have entered into thee, I array myself in apparel, and
  I have guarded myself with the _Sa_ garment of R[=a]; now behold, he
  is in heaven, and those who dwell therein follow him, and I also
  follow R[=a] in heaven, O Unen-em-hetep, lord of the two lands, I have
  entered into thee, and I have plunged into the lakes of Tohesert;
  behold me now, for all uncleanness hath departed from me. The Great
  God groweth therein, and behold, I have found [food therein]; I have
  snared feathered fowl and I feed upon, the finest of them."

  "O Qenqentet, [Footnote: The name of a lake in the first section, of
  Sekhet-Aaru.] I have entered into thee, and I have seen, the Osiris
  [my father], and I have gazed upon my mother, and I have made love. I
  have captured the worms and serpents [which are there] and have
  delivered myself. I know the name of the god who is opposite to the
  goddess Tohesert, who hath straight hair and is provided with horns;
  he reapeth, but I both plough and reap."

  "O Hast, [Footnote: The name of a lake in the third section of
  Sekhet-Aaru.] I have entered into thee, and I have driven back those
  who would come to the turquoise [sky]; and I have followed the winds
  of the company of the gods. The Great God hath given my head unto me,
  and he who hath bound on me my head is the Mighty One with the eyes of
  turquoise, that is to say, Ari-en-ab-f (_i.e._, He who doeth as he
  pleaseth)."

  "O Usert, [Footnote: The name of a lake in the third section of
  Sekhet-Aaru.] I have come unto thee at the house where the divine food
  is brought unto me."

  "O Smam, [Footnote: The name of a lake in the third section of
  Sekhet-Aaru.] I have come unto thee. My heart watcheth, and I am
  provided with the white crown. I am led into celestial regions, and I
  make the things of earth to flourish; and there is joy of heart for
  the Bull, and for celestial beings, and for the company of the gods. I
  am the god who is the Bull, the lord of the gods as he goeth forth
  from the turquoise [sky]."

  "O divine nome of wheat and barley, I have come unto thee, I have come
  forward to thee, and I have taken up that which followeth me, namely,
  the best of the libations of the company of the gods. I have tied my
  boat in the celestial lakes, I have lifted up the post at which to
  anchor, I have recited the prescribed words with my voice, and I have
  ascribed praises unto the gods who dwell in Sekhet-hetep."

Other joys, however, than those described above, await the man who has
passed satisfactorily through the judgment and has made his way into the
realm of the gods. For, in answer to a long petition in the Papyrus of
Ani, which has been given above (see p. 33 f.), the god R[=a] promises
to the deceased the following: "Thou shalt come forth into heaven, thou
shalt pass over the sky, thou shalt be joined unto the starry deities.
Praises shall be offered unto thee in thy boat, thou shalt be hymned in
the [=A]tet boat, thou shalt behold R[=a] within his shrine, thou shalt
set together with his Disk day by day, thou shalt see the ANT [Footnote
1: The name of a mythological fish which swam at the bow of the boat of
R[=a].] fish when it springeth into being in the waters of turquoise,
and thou shalt see the ABTU [Footnote: The name of a mythological fish
which swam at the bow of the boat of R[=a].] fish in his hour. It shall
come to pass that the Evil One shall fall when he layeth a snare to
destroy thee, and the joints of his neck and of his back shall be hacked
asunder. R[=a] [saileth] with a fair wind, and the Sektet boat draweth
on and cometh into port. The mariners of R[=a] rejoice, and the heart
of Nebt-[=a]nkh (_i.e._, Isis) is glad, for the enemy of R[=a] hath
fallen to the ground. Thou shalt behold Horus on the standing-place of
the pilot of the boat, and Thoth and Ma[=a]t shall stand one upon each
side of him. All the gods shall rejoice when they behold R[=a] coming
in peace to make the hearts of the shining ones to live, and Osiris Ani,
triumphant, the scribe of the divine offspring of the lords of Thebes,
shall be along with them."

But, not content with sailing in the boat of R[=a] daily as one of many
beatified beings, the deceased hoped to transform each of his limbs into
a god, and when this was effected to become R[=a] himself. Thus in
Chapter XLII. of the Book of the Dead [Footnote: See _The Chapters of
Coming Forth by Day_, p. 93.] the deceased says--

  "My hair is the hair of Nu.

  "My face is the face of the Disk.

  "My eyes are the eyes of Hathor.

  "My ears are the ears of Ap-uat.

  "My nose is the nose of Khenti-Khas.

  "My lips are the lips of Anpu.

  "My teeth are the teeth of Serqet.

  "My neck is the neck of the divine goddess Isis.

  "My hands are the hands of Ba-neb-Tattu.

  "My fore-arms are the fore-arms of Neith, the Lady of Saпs.

  "My backbone is the backbone of Suti.

  "My phallus is the phallus of Osiris.

  "My reins are the reins of the Lords of Kher-[=a]ba.

  "My chest is the chest of the Mighty one of terror.

  "My belly and back are the belly and back of Sekhet.

  "My buttocks are the buttocks of the Eye of Horus.

  "My hips and legs are the hips and legs of Nut.

  "My feet are the feet of Ptah.

  "My fingers and my leg-bones are the fingers and leg-bones of the
  Living Gods." [Footnote: The idea of the deification of the human
  members was current already in the VIth dynasty. See _Recueil de
  Travaux_, tom. viii, pp. 87, 88.]

And immediately after this the deceased says:

  "There is no member of my body which is not the member of a god. The
  god Thoth shieldeth my body altogether, and I am R[=a] day by day."

Thus we see by what means the Egyptians believed that mortal man could
be raised from the dead, and attain unto life everlasting. The
resurrection was the object with which every prayer was said and every
ceremony performed, and every text, and every amulet, and every formula,
of each and every period, was intended to enable the mortal to put on
immortality and to live eternally in a transformed glorified body. If
this fact be borne in mind many apparent difficulties will disappear
before the readers in this perusal of Egyptian texts, and the religion
of the Egyptians will be seen to possess a consistence of aim and a
steadiness of principle which, to some, it at first appears to lack.




THE END.

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