60 
live there, it carries thee to the place thou knowest where.”* 
The deceased approaches, but at the moment of his doing so 
a most remarkable scene takes place, for every part of the sacred 
boat — oar, rudder, anchor, prow, mast, ribs, seat — becomes 
instinct with life, and, with a sudden and loud voice, refuses to 
let the deceased step into the vessel till he can tell each part of 
the mystic ship its secret name, as the pledge of his having 
received his divine knowledge by inspiration, and not by mere 
study of the sacred books alone. The wind, the river, and the 
banks of the stream all take their part in this singular colloquy, 
and exclaim, “ Tell me my name ” ; and woe befall the Osirian 
if he have forgotten the proper reply to any one of the interlocu- 
tors, twenty-three in all. Strong in the sacred wisdom imparted 
to him by the gods, and invincible in his assumed character of 
Horus, he is able to reply with satisfaction to all and every one 
of the questions put to him, and to enter into the boat with 
safety and with joy. Before doing so, however, he stands for 
the last time on the shores of the infernal purgatory, and 
invokes the celestial beings, “ lords of truth,” in a psalm as 
beautiful as it is ancient, and beseeches them to give him grace 
to partake of the heavenly food in Aahlu,t and to grant him 
power to perform all the new duties which devolve upon him till 
the great adjudication before Osiris, when soul and body, a 
physical, as distinct from a spiritual body hitherto enjoyed, shall 
await the decision of the deeds done upon earth, whether they 
be good or whether they be evil. 
Having quitted the boat of the river of Hades, the 
deceased is met by the god Anubis,j; who conducts him in 
safety through the devious windings of an intricate laby- 
rinth, and leaves him at the threshold of the judgment- 
hall of Osiris, the hall of the Two Truths. The title of 
the chapter in which this scene is described is in itself im- 
portant ; it is called “ The Book of going to the Hall of the 
Two Truths, and of separating a Person from his Sins when he 
has been made to see the Faces of the Gods.”§ Well may the 
sight which the deceased has then to witness arouse the strongest 
emotions of terror in his heart, and drive him more than ever to 
seek for mercy in the investing character of Horus the Deliverer. 
High on a nine-stepped throne || in the centre of the awful hall, 
under a lofty canopy crested with mystic snakes, the double 
* Cap. xeix., “ The Chapter of Leading the Boat in or out of Hades.” 
f A district in the Egyptian paradise. 
X Caps, cxiii. to exxi. § Cap. exxv. 
|| The throne of Osiris had nine steps, nine being the great plural to 
indicate that all mankind would have to bo judged by him. 
