Among the ancient Peruvians morality obtained a religious sanction through the divinity ascribed to their rulers. “They considered every mere order of the king to be a divine decree,” says Garcilasso de la Vega; “how much more would they venerate the special laws instituted for the common good. They said that the sun had ordered these laws to be made, and had revealed them to his child the Ynca; and hence a man who broke them was held to be guilty of sacrilege.”5 According to the beliefs of the higher classes the Incas were after death transported to the mansion of the Sun, their father, where they still lived together as his family. The nobles would either follow them there or would live beneath the earth under the sceptre of Supay, the god of the dead. There was no idea of positive suffering inflicted on the wicked under his direction, but the subterranean abode was gloomy and dismal. Exceptional considerations of birth, rank, or valour in war determined the passage of chosen souls to heaven, where their lot would be far happier than that of the souls who remained in the regions below. The common people, on the other hand, thought of the future life as a continuation, pure and simple, of the present existence.6

The great gods of ancient Egypt were mostly conceived as friendly beings.7 Amon Râ, “the king of the gods,” was, in his character of the sun god, the creator, preserver, and supporter of all living things. He it is who makes pasture for the herds and fruit trees for men, on his account the Nile comes and mankind lives. He is verily of kindly heart: “when men call to him he delivers the fearful from the insolent.” He is “the vizier of the poor, who takes no bribes,” and who does not corrupt witnesses; and to him officials pray for promotion.8 Thoth, the moon god, was also the god of all wisdom and learning, who gave men “speech and writing,” who discovered the written characters, and by his arithmetic enabled gods and men to keep account of their possessions.9 Osiris ruled over the whole of Egypt as king, and instructed its inhabitants in all that was good—in agriculture as well as in the true religion—and gave them laws.10 After a long and blessed reign, however, he fell a prey to the machinations of his brother Set, and, having been slain, was constrained to descend into the Underworld, where he evermore lived and reigned as judge and king of the dead. But the wicked god Set was also an object of worship; for he was strong and mighty, a terror to gods and men, and kings were anxious to secure his favour.11 We have noticed above that certain Egyptian gods were believed to be guardians of truth;12 and closely connected with this function was their love of justice. Thoth, who was called to witness by him who wished to give assurance of his honesty and good faith,13 was styled “the judge in heaven”;14 while his wife Maā, or Maat, was the goddess of both truth and justice, and her priests were the supreme judges.15 But it seems that the Egyptian gods after all chiefly took notice of such acts as concerned their own wellbeing. This is true even of Osiris, “the great god, the lord of justice,”16 in whose presence the judgment of the dead was given which decided upon their admission into his kingdom. In thousands upon thousands of funerary inscriptions we read words like these:—“May a royal offering be given to Osiris, that he may grant all manner of good things, food and drink to the soul of the deceased.”17 And whilst the living paid him his dues in sacrifices repeated from year to year at regular intervals, the dead were not allowed to receive directly the sepulchral meals or offerings of kindred on feast-days, but all that was addressed to them must first pass through the hands of the god.18 In the “Negative Confession,” which the worshippers of Osiris taught to their dead, great importance was attached to religious offences, such as to snare the birds of the gods, to catch the fish in their lakes, to injure the herds in the temple domains, to diminish the food in the temples, to revile the god. At the same time the list of offences which excluded the dead from Osiris’ kingdom contained very many of a social character—murder, oppression, stealing, robbing minors, fraud, lying, slander, reviling, adultery.19 But the meaning of this seems to have been not so much that the god was animated by a righteous desire to punish the wicked and reward the good, as, rather, that he did not like to have any rascals among his vassals. As to the fate of the non-justified dead very little is said, and the punishment devised for them seems to have been a comparatively modern invention.20 Nay, the virtuous dead themselves depended for their welfare upon their knowledge of magic words and formulas, upon amulets laid in their tombs, and upon the offerings made to them by their kindred. Ignorant souls, or those ill prepared for the struggle, were overcome by hunger and thirst, were attacked by demons and poisonous animals in traversing the regions of the Underworld, and, when in Osiris’ kingdom, had to work and till the land and earn their own living if the offerings ceased.21 The Book of the Dead is itself essentially a collection of spells intended to secure to the dead victory over evil demons and protection from the gods; and the “Negative Confession” is a later addition, which shows that originally the conduct of earthly life was not considered at all.22 So also in the book of Am Dûat the whole doctrine of a future life is based upon a belief in the power of magic, with the single exception that nobody can look forward to possessing fields in Dûat who in life has been an enemy of the god Râ.23

The religion of the Chaldeans was a religion of dread. Everywhere they felt themselves surrounded by hostile demons; feared above all were the seven evil spirits, who were everywhere and yet invisible, who slipped through bolts and doorposts and sockets, and who had power even to bewitch the gods.24 In their incessant warfare against these fiends men were assisted by the more propitious among the deities: by Marduk, the “merciful” god, the god of the youthful sun of spring and early morning;25 by Ea, the “good” god, the god of the waters of the deep and the source of wisdom;26 by Gibil-Nusku, the lord of fire, who put to flight the demons of night when the fire was kindled on the household hearth, and who in the flame carried to the other gods the sacrifices offered them;27 as also by the tutelary deities of each individual, household, and city.28 The gods were on the whole favourably disposed towards man. But they helped only those who piously observed the prescribed rites, who recited the conventional prayers and offered them sacrifices; on such persons they bestowed a happy old age and a numerous posterity. On the other hand, he who did not fear his god would be cut down like a reed; and by neglecting the slightest ceremonial detail the king excited the anger of the deities against himself and his subjects.29 During the whole of their lives the Chaldeans were haunted by the dread of offending their gods, and they continually implored pardon for their sins.30 But the sinner became conscious of his guilt only as a conclusion drawn from the fact that he was suffering from some misfortune, which he interpreted as a punishment sent by an offended god. It mattered little what had called forth the wrath of the god or whether the deity was acting in accordance with just ideas;31 and in none of the penitential psalms known to us is there any indication that the notion of sin comprised offences against fellow men. It is true that in the incantation series ‘Shurpu’ not only offences against gods and ceremonial transgressions, but a large number of wrongs of a social character, are included in the list of possible causes of the suffering which the incantation is intended to remove. On behalf of the afflicted individual the exorciser asks:—“Has he sinned against a god, Is his guilt against a goddess, Is it a wrongful deed against his master, Hatred towards his elder brother, Has he despised father or mother, Insulted his elder sister, Has he given too little,32 Has he withheld too much, For ‘no’ said ‘yes,’ For ‘yes’ said ‘no’?… Has he fixed a false boundary, Not fixed a just boundary, Has he removed a boundary, a limit, or a territory, Has he possessed himself of his neighbour’s house, Has he approached his neighbour’s wife, Has he shed the blood of his neighbour, Robbed his neighbour’s dress?” and so forth.33 But I fail to see any legitimate ground for the conclusion which Schrader and Zimmern have drawn from these passages, to wit, that the gods were believed to be angry with persons guilty of any of the offences enumerated.34 It seems to me quite obvious that the evils which were hypothetically associated with injuries inflicted upon fellow men were ascribed, not to the avenging activity of a god, but to the curses of the injured party. The gods are expressly invoked to relieve the unhappy individual from the curses under which he is suffering, whether he has been cursed by his father, mother, elder brother, elder sister, friend, master, king, or god, or has approached an accursed person, or slept in such a person’s bed, or sat on his chair, or eaten from his dish or drunk from his cup.35 In these incantations there is no plea for forgiveness; the possible causes for the suffering are enumerated simply because the mention of the real cause is supposed to go a long way towards expelling the evil.36 Some of the gods, however, are invoked as judges. This is frequently the case with Shamash, the sun god, “the supreme judge of heaven and earth,” who, seated on a throne in the chamber of judgment, receives the supplications of men.37 Of the moon god Sin it is said in a hymn dedicated to him that his “word produces truth and justice, so that men speak the truth.”38 And the lord of fire is addressed as a judge, who burns the evildoers and annihilates the bad,39 and is exhorted by the conjurer to help him to his right;40 but this probably means little more than the invocation, “Eat my enemies, destroy those who have done harm to me.”41 Of a moral retribution after death there is no trace in the Chaldean religion. Those who have obtained the goodwill of the gods receive their reward in this world, by a life of happiness and of good health, but the moment that death ensues the control of the gods comes to an end. All mankind, kings and subjects, virtuous and wicked, go to Aralû, the gloomy subterranean realm presided over by Allatu and her consort Nergal, where the dead are doomed to everlasting sojourn or imprisonment in a state of joyless inactivity. A kind of judgment is spoken of, but nothing indicates that it is based on moral considerations.42 According to the Gilgamesh epic, however, the fortunes awaiting those who die are not all alike. Those who fall in battle seem to enjoy special privileges, provided that they are properly buried and there is someone to make them comfortable in their last hour and to look after them when dead. But he whose corpse remains in the field has no rest in the earth, and he whose spirit is not cared for by any one is consumed by gnawing hunger.43

In a still higher degree than the Chaldean religion Zoroastrianism represents an incessant struggle against evil spirits. Here everything in heaven and on earth is engaged in the conflict; it is a war between two mighty sovereigns, Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, and their respective forces.44 Whatever works for the good of man comes from and strives for Ahura Mazda, whatever works for the harm of man comes from and strives for Angra Mainyu. There can be no doubt that the powers of goodness will absolutely triumph in the end; but though Angra Mainyu and his band have been defeated, the battle is still raging. Ahura Mazda, being the originator of everything good in the world, is also the founder of the order of the universe, “the creator of the righteous order.”45 In the Vendîdâd he is asked about the rules of life, and he is pleased to answer;46 M. Darmesteter observes that the Avesta and the Pentateuch are the only two religious books known in which legislation descends from the heavens to the earth in a series of conversations between the lawgiver and his god.47 The sacred law of Zoroastrianism enjoins charity48 and industry,49 it condemns the murder of a believer,50 abortion,51 theft,52 non-payment of debts,53 and, with special emphasis, falsehood and breach of faith,54 and unnatural intercourse.55 But the “good thoughts, words, and deeds” most urgently insisted upon are orthodoxy, prayer, and sacrifice; whilst the greatest sins are apostasy, transgressions of the rules of ceremonial cleanliness, and offences against sacred beings. It is less criminal to kill a man than to serve bad food to a shepherd’s dog; for the manslayer gets off with ninety stripes, whereas the bad master will receive two hundred.56 And the killing of a water dog is punished with ten thousand stripes.57 Offenders will be liable to penalties not only here below, but in the next world as well, where Ahura Mazda, “the discerning arbiter,”58 establishes “evil for the evil, and happy blessings for the good.”59 The views accepted in regard to the future life, whilst incomplete in the Gathas, are expanded in the Younger Avesta, and fully given in the Pahlavi books.60 The man who has lived for Ahura Mazda will have a seat near him in heaven, and there he remains undecaying and immortal, unalarmed and undistressed, full of glory and delight; whereas the wicked soul will be tormented in the darkness of hell, “the dwelling of the demons.”61 The good deeds of the virtuous and the bad deeds of the wicked, in the form of maidens, come to meet them on their roads to paradise or hell.62 But the fate of the dead is not merely influenced by their conduct towards their fellow men while alive. It is said that “he who wishes to seize the heavenly reward, will seize it by giving gifts to him who holds up the Law.”63 And the soul of him who recites the prayer Ahuna Vairya in the manner prescribed crosses over the bridge which separates this world from the next, and reaches the highest paradise.64

In Vedic religion we likewise meet with a conflict between gods and demons, but the struggle is too unequal to result in anything like the Zoroastrian dualism.65 Various misfortunes are attributed to the ill-will of evil spirits, but their power is comparatively slight, and the greater demons, like Vṛtra, are represented as defeated or destroyed by the gods.66 On the other hand there is among the great gods themselves one who has a distinctly malevolent character, namely Rudra, a god of storm,67 “terrible like a wild beast”;68 but though the hymns addressed to him chiefly express fear of his dreadful shafts and deprecations of his wrath, he is also sometimes supplicated to confer blessings upon man and beast.69 With this exception the great gods are all beneficent beings,70 though of course liable to punish those who offend them. Varuna has established heaven and earth,71 has made the celestial bodies to shine72 and the rivers to flow.73 He rules over nature by laws which are fixed and immutable, and which must be followed by the gods themselves.74 He sees and knows everything, because he is the infinite light and the sun is his eye;75 and in connection with Mithra he is said to dispel and punish falsehood.76 Varuna has even been represented as “the supreme moral ruler,” but it seems to me that scholars have generally credited him with a somewhat more comprehensive sense of justice than the hymns imply.77 Every hymn to Varuna contains a prayer for forgiveness, but there is no indication that the sins which excite his wrath include ordinary moral wrongdoing. That sin and moral guilt are not identical conceptions in the Rig-Veda is fairly obvious from the fact that forgiveness of sin is also sought from Indra,78 whose favour is only won by those who contribute to his wellbeing or who destroy persons neglectful of his worship.79 The Vedic religion is pre-emiently ritualistic. The pious man par préférence is he who makes the soma flow in abundance and whose hands are always full of butter, the reprobate man is he who is penurious towards the gods;80 and just like the other gods, Varuna visits with disease those who neglect him,81 and is appeased by sacrifices and prayers.82 After death the souls of those who have practised rigorous penance,83 of those who have risked their lives in battle,84 and above all of those who have bestowed liberal sacrificial gifts,85 go with the smoke arising from the funeral pile to the heavenly world, where the Fathers dwell with Yama—the first man who died86—and Varuna, the two kings who reign in bliss.87 There they enjoy an endless felicity among the gods, clothed in glorious bodies and drinking the celestial soma, which renders them immortal.88 Yet there are different degrees of happiness in this heavenly mansion. The performance of rites in honour of the manes causes the souls to ascend from a lower to a higher state; indeed, if no such offerings are made they do not go to heaven at all.89 Another source of happiness for the dead is their own pious conduct during their lifetime; for in the abode of bliss they are united with what they have sacrificed and given, especially reaping the reward of their gifts to priests.90 Unworthy souls, on the other hand, are kept out of this abode by Yama’s dogs, which guard the road to his kingdom.91 As to the destiny in store for those who are not admitted to heaven, the hymns have little to tell. Zimmer and others erroneously argue that a race who believe in future rewards for the good must logically believe in future punishments for the wicked.92 So far as I can see, all the traces of such a belief which are to be found in the Vedic literature are requests made to gods, or simply curses, to the effect that evil-doers may be thrown into deep and dismal pits under the earth.93 They do not imply that gods of their own accord punish wicked people after death.