of Ptah and Khnemu, not because the writer thought these three gods were one, but because Hapi as the great supplier of water to Egypt became, as it were, a creative god like Ptah and Khnemu.  Next we see that it is stated to be impossible to depict him in paintings, or even to imagine what his form may be, for he is unknown and his abode cannot be found, and no place can contain him.  But, as a matter of fact, several pictures and sculptures of H[=a]pi have been preserved, and we know that he is generally depicted in the form of two gods; one has upon his head a papyrus plant, and the other a lotus plant, the former being the Nile-god of the South, and the latter the Nile-god of the North.  Elsewhere he is portrayed in the form of a large man having the breasts of a woman.  It is quite clear, then, that the epithets which we have quoted are applied to him merely as a form of God.  In another hymn, which was a favourite in the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties, H[=a]pi is called “One,” and is said to have created himself; but as he is later on in the text identified with R[=a] the epithets which belong to the Sun-god are applied to him.  The late Dr. H. Brugsch collected [Footnote:  Religion and Mythologie, pp. 96-99.] a number of the epithets which are applied to the gods, from texts of all periods; and from these we may see that the ideas and beliefs of the Egyptians concerning God were almost identical with those of the Hebrews and Muhammadans at later periods.  When classified these epithets read thus:—­

  “God is One and alone, and none other existeth with Him; God is the
  One, the One Who hath made all things.

  “God is a spirit, a hidden spirit, the spirit of spirits, the great
  spirit of the Egyptians, the divine spirit.

“God is from the beginning, and He hath been from the beginning; He hath existed from of old and was when nothing else had being.  He existed when nothing else existed, and what existeth He created after He had come into being.  He is the father of beginnings.

  “God is the eternal One, He is eternal and infinite; and endureth for
  ever and aye; He hath endured for countless ages, and He shall endure
  to all eternity.

  “God is the hidden Being, and no man hath known His form.  No man hath
  been able to seek out His likeness; He is hidden, from gods and men,
  and He is a mystery unto His creatures.

  “No man knoweth how to know Him, His name remaineth hidden; His name
  is a mystery unto His children.  His names are innumerable, they are
  manifold and none knoweth their number.

  “God is truth, and He liveth by truth, and he feedeth thereon.  He is
  the King of truth, He resteth upon truth, He fashioneth truth, and He
  executeth truth throughout all the world.

  “God is life, and through Him only man liveth, He giveth life to man,
  and He breatheth the breath of life into his nostrils.