but, as I have faid, the worship of visible deities prevailed with the people over that of the Supreme Being, to whom the priests only offered incenfe. Phtha must not be separated from that god of the Egyptians which, also, was the creating fpirit: Neith fignifies the difpofer of all things (u). The firft fignified God taken in a general sense; the fecond, more particularly, characterised his wisdom. Neith was worshipped chiefly at Sais, a city of the Delta, where the priests had a famous, college. Plato (x), who had frequented it, thus fpeaks. Sais, the capital of its dif❝trict, is a confiderable city, of which "Amafis was king. Neith, the Minerva "(A3) of the Greeks, is the titular divi nity." The following infcription, engraved in hieroglyphics, was on the door of the temple, and imports the fublime idea they had conceived of Neith (y). I am what is, what was, what shall be; mortal has (u) Jablonski, tom. I. (x) Plato in Timæo. (y) Proclus cites this infcription, in his learned commentary on the Timæus of Plato; Plutarch in his Ifis and Ofiris. never raifed up my tunic (vcil): the fun is the fruit of my womb. This definition only can agree with God; who, felf-existent, has neither beginning nor end, and includes in himfelf the past, prefent, and to come (x). This incomprehenfible fpirit conceals himself from man, who cannot raife up the veil. Thefe words, "the fun is the fruit of my womb," clearly demonftrate Neith and Phtha to be the fame. Manetho, alfo, affirms, in a figurative fenfe, Phtha is the father of the fun. The Phoenicians, who received their religion and knowledge from their Egyptian brethren, alfo acknowledge Minerva, or Neith, for the author of nature (a). The priests of Egypt more particularly adored, in Neith, the divine wifdom which guides the world, and enlightens men, and made her the protector of the arts. The warrior wore on his finger a ring, on which (z) Man may be confidered as the image of God, in certain refpects; including, in himself, the past, present, and to come: the remembrance of what he was, is, and hopes to be, makes him enjoy, at the fame time, these three modes of being. The Creator has, therefore, faid, in Genefis, "Let us make man in our image." (a) Julian. Orat. 4. the the scarabæus was engraved; the reafon of which we learn from Horapollo (b). "The Egyptians pretend the world is composed "of male and female parts, and paint a sca"rab to reprefent Minerva (c)." This ring, worn by foldiers, was a token of the homage they paid the deity whofe emblem they bore, and who difpofed of the fate of battles. Pfammenitus (d), inftructed by Neith, declared kings were under the protection of God, and from him derived their knowledge. Cadmus, the Phoenician, was the first who carried this worship into Greece, and gave the name of Neith (e) to one of the gates of the Grecian Thebes. Egyptian theology was taught here, with which the poets foon mingled their charming allegories. Neith, their Pallas, rofe, armed, from the brain of Jupiter, and was celebrated by them (b) Horapoll. Hieroglyph. lib. 1. [This is a difputed paffage. T.] (c) I before faid the Egyptians, fenfibly to mark the productive power of God, have painted the two fexes, and, as they afcribe both fexes to the scarab, they made that the emblem of Neith. (d) Jablonski, tom I. as the goddess of battles, and of arts. Philofophers, ftill, faw truth through the obfcuring veil; but not fo the people, who worshipped a fabulous deity. "The first woman who wove was an Egyptian. She was feated; wherefore the Egyptians, reprefent Minerva feated (f)." They meant, no doubt, by this attitude, to remind men she had taught them arts, and that from her they derived their knowledge. The Greeks, ever imitating them, engraved, painted, and fculptured, Minerva feated (g). After adoring the power of the Creator in Phtha, and his wifdom in Neith, the Egyptians worshipped his goodness under the name of Cneph, or the greatest good (b). "The "priefts of Egypt called Cneph the Archi"tect of the Universe (i)." Strabo mentions a temple of this deity, in the ifle of Elephantina, which temple ftill fubfifts, as described in Letter XIII. vol. I. The fymbol of this god was a ferpent, according to Eufebius. "The ferpent, within a circle, (f) Euftath. in Iliad. I. (g) Strabo, lib. 13. (b) Jablonski, tom. I. (i) Eufebius de Præp. Evangel. lib. 3. 4 touching touching it at the two oppofite points of its circumference, fignifies the good Genius." A particular fpecies of ferpent was chofen (k). "There are facred ferpents, near Thebes, which are harmless (1), having "two horns on the top of the head; when the ferpent. they die they are buried in the temple of Jupiter." The name of Cneph (m), or good genius, was bestowed on it, as well as the divinity it reprefented, and the people's veneration, perhaps, went no farther than "I one day faw two men, "in Egypt, contefting; one having per"ceived a ferpent, called it Agathodaimon, (Ayatodanov) and ftruggled to get it (n).” The good genius of the Greeks and Romans must not be confounded with that of the Egyptians; the first understanding by this title an intermediate order, between divine and human; the latter, the benificence of him who prefides over heaven and earth, (k) Herod. lib. 2. (1) Thefe ferpents, honoured by the name of Haridi, ftill are famous, as treated by the priests of Achmim. (m) The Phoenicians call the ferpent, Good Genius, for the fame reason the Egyptians name it Cheph. (n) Plut. de Ifide & Ofiride. VOL. II.' 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