The unity of God was the central doctrine in this private system. They
gave to this Supreme Being the very same name by which he was known to the
Hebrews--_Nuk Pu Nuk_, "I am that I am." [Footnote: "It is evident
what a new light this discovery throws on the sublime passage in Exodus
iii. 14; where Moses, whom we may suppose to have been initiated into this
formula, is sent both to his people and to Pharaoh to proclaim the true
God by this very title, and to declare that the God of the highest
Egyptian theology was also the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. The
case is parallel to that of Paul at Athens."--Smith's _Ancient History
of the East_, p. 196, note.] The sacred manuscripts say, "He is the one
living and true God,... who has made all things, and was not himself
made."

The Egyptian divinities of the popular mythology were frequently grouped
in triads. First in importance among these groups was that formed by
Osiris, Isis (his wife and sister), and Horus, their son. The members of
this triad were worshipped throughout Egypt.

The god Set (called Typhon by the Greek writers), the principle of evil,
was the Satan of Egyptian mythology. While the good and beneficent Osiris
was symbolized by the life-giving Nile, the malignant Typhon was
emblemized by the terrors and barrenness of the desert.

[Illustration: MUMMY OF A SACRED BULL. (From a photograph.)]

ANIMAL-WORSHIP.--The Egyptians regarded certain animals as emblems of the
gods, and hence worshipped them. To kill one of these sacred animals was
adjudged the greatest impiety. Persons so unfortunate as to harm one
through accident were sometimes murdered by the infuriated people. The
destruction of a cat in a burning building was lamented more than the loss