of that portion of it in which the sun rises.] therefore in every place every heart swelleth with joy at thy rising for ever.  The regions of the North and South come to thee with homage, and send forth, acclamations at thy rising in the horizon of heaven; thou illuminest the two lands with rays of turquoise light.  Hail, R[=a], thou who art R[=a]-Harmachis, thou divine man-child, heir of eternity, self-begotten and self-born, king of the earth, prince of the underworld, governor of the regions of Aukert (i.e. the underworld)!  Thou didst come forth, from the water, thou hast sprung from the god Nu, who cherisheth thee and ordereth thy members.  Hail, god of life, thou lord of love, all men live when thou shinest; thou art crowned king of the gods.  The goddess Nut doeth homage unto thee, and the goddess Ma[=a]t embraceth thee at all times.  Those who are in thy following sing unto thee with joy and bow down their foreheads to the earth when they meet thee, thou lord of heaven, thou lord of earth, thou king of Right and Truth, thou lord of eternity, thou prince of everlastingness, thou sovereign of all the gods, thou god of life, thou creator of eternity, thou maker of heaven, wherein thou art firmly established.  The company of the gods rejoice at thy rising, the earth is glad when it beholdeth thy rays; the peoples that have been long dead come forth with cries of joy to see thy beauties every day.  Thou goest forth each day over heaven and earth, and art made strong each day by thy mother Nut.  Thou passest through the heights of heaven, thy heart swelleth with joy; the abyss of the sky is content thereat.  The Serpent-fiend hath fallen, his arms are hewn off, and the knife hath cut asunder his joints, R[=a] liveth in Ma[=a]t the beautiful.  The Sektet boat draweth on and cometh into port; the South and the North, the West and the East, turn, to praise thee, O thou primeval substance of the earth who didst come into being of thine own accord, Isis and Nephthys salute thee, they sing unto thee songs of joy at thy rising in the boat, they protect thee with their hands.  The souls of the East follow thee, the souls of the West praise thee.  Thou art the ruler of all the gods, and thou hast joy of heart within thy shrine; for the Serpent-fiend Nak hath been condemned to the fire, and thy heart shall be joyful for ever.”

From the considerations set forth in the preceding pages, and from the extracts from religious texts of various periods, and from the hymns quoted, the reader may himself judge the views which the ancient Egyptian held concerning God Almighty and his visible type and symbol R[=a], the Sun-god.  Egyptologists differ in their interpretations of certain passages, but agree as to general facts.  In dealing with the facts it cannot be too clearly understood that the religious ideas of the prehistoric Egyptian were very different from those of the cultured priest of Memphis in the IInd dynasty, or those of the worshippers