naught be against me in the presence of the Great God, the Lord of Amentet.” [Footnote:  Chapters of Coming Forth by Day, p. 78.] From these passages we are right in assuming that before the end of the IVth dynasty the idea of being “weighed in the balance” was already evolved; that the religious schools of Egypt had assigned to a god the duty of watching the balance when cases were being tried; that this weighing in the balance took place in the presence of the beings called Shenit, who were believed to control the acts and deeds of men; that it was thought that evidence unfavourable to the deceased might be produced by his foes at the judgment; that the weighing took place in the presence of the Great God, the Lord of Amentet; and that the heart of the deceased might fail him either physically or morally.  The deceased addresses his heart, calling it is “mother,” and next identifies it with his ka or double, coupling the mention of the ka with the name of the god Khnemu:  these facts are exceedingly important, for they prove that the deceased considered his heart to be the source of his life and being, and the mention of the god Khnemu takes the date of the composition back to a period coaeval with the beginnings of religious thought in Egypt.  It was the god Khnemu who assisted Thoth in performing the commands of God at the creation, and one very interesting sculpture at Philae shows Khnemu in the act of fashioning man upon a potter’s wheel.  The deceased, in mentioning Khnemu’s name, seems to invoke his aid in the judgment as fashioner of man and as the being who is in some respects responsible for the manner of his life upon earth.

In Chapter 30A there is no mention made of the “guardian of the balance,” and the deceased says, “May naught stand up to oppose me in judgment in the presence of the lords of things!” The “lords of things” may be either the “lords of creation,” i.e., the great cosmic gods, or the “lords of the affairs [of the hall of judgment],” i.e., of the trial.  In this chapter the deceased addresses not Khnemu, but “the gods who dwell in the divine clouds, and who are exalted by reason of their sceptres,” that is to say, the four gods of the cardinal points, called Mestha, H[=a]pi Tuamutef, and Qebhsennuf, who also presided over the chief internal organs of the human body.  Here, again, it seems as if the deceased was anxious to make these gods in some way responsible for the deeds done by him in his life, inasmuch as they presided, over the organs that were the prime movers of his actions.  In any case, he considers them in, the light of intercessors, for he beseeches them to “speak fair words unto R[=a]” on his behalf, and to make him to prosper before the goddess Nehebka.  In this case, the favour of R[=a], the Sun-god, the visible emblem of the almighty and eternal God, is sought for, and also that of the serpent goddess, whose attributes are not yet accurately defined, but who has much to do with the destinies of the dead.  No mention whatever is made of the Lord of Amentet—­Osiris.