But to return to CNEPH, the deity to whom these winged temples are dedicate. It became the chief and more famous name. Whence _Porphyry_ in _Eusebius_’s _pr. ev._ III. 11. calls this _Cneph_ the creator, _Plutarch, de Is. & Os._ testifies, “the inhabitants in _Thebais_, or the remotest part of _Egypt_, worshipped only the eternal God _Cneph_, and paid nothing toward the charge of idolatrous worship in the other parts of that kingdom.” Thus we see, those countries farthest separated from the busy part of the world, such as _Thebais_ and _Britain_, retain’d the pure and ancient religion: which bishop _Cumberland_ too asserts, _Sanchon._ p. 15. of _Thebais_, before _Abraham_’s time. _Strabo_ says, “there was a temple of _Cnuphis_ (as he writes it) at _Syene_, the farther part of _Thebais_:” which must be understood of one of our winged temples originally, tho’ probably afterwards built upon, cover’d, and become idolatrous. “Hence the _Ethiopians_, neighbours to those of _Thebais_, living still in the upper regions of _Egypt_,” says _Strabo_, “worship two gods, the one the immortal creator, the other mortal, who has no name, nor is easily to be apprehended.” Here we find they have a notion of the supreme and his son. Their opposite neighbours across the _red sea_, worshipped only two gods, τον Διον καὶ τον Διονυσον, _Jovem & Jovem Nysæum_, God, and the God of _Nysa_. This is what is meant by the two principles of _Pythagoras_, mention’d by _Plutarch de plac. philos._ unity and indefinite duality, the sacred _Dyas_ of _Plato_. Whence _Diodorus_ in his I. writes, “that the _Egyptians_ declar’d there were two first eternal Gods.” These they express’d by the names of _unity_ and _duality_. I do not believe that they found this out by their own understanding and reasoning, but had it from patriarchal tradition. And then their own reasoning would confirm it. For it is altogether agreeable to reason, arguing from the fecundity of the first cause. The _Greeks_ turned _Cneph_ into their _Neptune_, the sovereign of the waters, from what the _hebrew_ legislator writes in the beginning of his _cosmogony_; “and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The word _Neptune_ comes from _Cneph_ and דניא _Dunia_, _orbis_, _circulus_, the _winged circle_. And this probably will give us some light into the reason, why we find our winged temple of _Barrow_ upon the banks of that noble æstuary, the _Humber_. I wonder’d indeed how it should come about, that the Druids should so studiously place this work under the verge of the high land, and upon the brink of the salt marsh; so that every high tide washes or overflows the skirts of it, whilst the freshwater brook runs close under it. At this time it must have presented them with the agreeable picture of the sacred hieroglyphic, hovering over both fresh and salt-water.