V. The RITUAL OF THE DIVINE CULT.--This title is commonly given to a work consisting of sixty-six chapters, which were recited daily by the high priest of Amen-Rā, the King of the Gods, in his temple at Thebes, during the performance of a series of ceremonies of a highly important and symbolical character. The text of this Ritual is found cut in hieroglyphs on the walls of the temple of Seti I at Abydos, and written in hieratic upon papyri preserved in the Imperial Museum in Berlin. The work was originally intended to be recited by the king himself daily, but it was soon found that the Lord of Egypt could not spare the time necessary for its recital each day, and he therefore was personified by the high priest of each temple in which the Ritual was performed. The object of the Ritual was to place the king in direct contact with his god Amen-Rā once a day. The king was an incarnation of Amen-Rā, and ruled Egypt as the representative upon earth of the god. He drew his power and wisdom direct from the god, and it was believed that these required renewal daily. To bring about this renewal of the divine spirit in the god's vicegerent upon earth, the king entered the temple in the early morning, and performed ceremonies and recited formulæ that purified both the sanctuary and himself. He then advanced to the shrine, which contained a small gilded wooden figure of the god, inlaid with precious stones and provided with a movable head, arms, and legs, and opened it and knelt down before the figure. He performed further ceremonies of purification, and finally took the figure of the god in his arms and embraced it. During this embrace the divine power of Amen-Rā, which was in the gilded figure at that moment, passed into the body of the king, and the divine power and wisdom, which were in the king as the god's representative, were renewed. The king then closed the doors of the shrine and left the sanctuary for a short time. When he returned he opened the shrine again, and made adoration to the god, and presented a series of offerings that symbolised Truth. After this the king dressed the figure of the god in sacred apparel, and decorated it. Then, having performed further acts of worship before it, he closed the doors of the shrine, sealed them with mud seals, and left the sanctuary. VI. The BOOK "MAY MY NAME FLOURISH."--This was a very popular funerary work in the Roman Period. It is a development of a long prayer that is found in the Pyramid Texts, and was written by the priests and used as a spell to make the name of the deceased flourish eternally in heaven and on the earth. Many copies of it, written on narrow strips of papyrus, are preserved in the British Museum.