ETHICS AND ESCHATOLOGY The ethical element is of fundamental importance in determin ing the quality of a religion : it is a powerful factor in elevating the object of worship, the religious relation, and the religious life. At the pre-deistic stage the sacred is interpenetrated with magical beliefs, and ethical principles have their lowly precursor in the sanctity of tribal custom. When through the growth of social culture the moral virtues are recognized as values, they are made to qualify the character of the gods.
(I) Ethics.
The process may not be easy when the deity has a pronounced natural basis, but still it does occur, as in the case of the Vedic Varuna and the Babylonian Shamash. On the other hand, the Persian Ahura Mazda became a definitely ethical god who de mands pure living and right thinking. At a later date Mithra was revered as the god of truth and loyalty. The Greek Zeus ac quired moral functions, and Aix?), or Justice, was proclaimed to be his daughter. The feeling for the moral element in religion appears in the saying of Euripides : "If the gods do aught that is shameful, they are no gods." A profound appreciation of the moral values is seen in the Hebrew prophets who passionately declared that Jahveh is a righteous God who demands right eousness in his people. And when men cherish the conviction that the divine Power is righteous, the efficacy of sacrifice is made to depend on moral conditions.
Through the interpenetration of ethics with religion the sphere of the sacred is enlarged, and the moral life becomes an aspect of the religious vocation. Moral laws rank as divine commands, and ethical duty as a religious obligation. On the other hand, when the notion of divine personality is weak or lacking, ethics inevi tably assume a worldly or a negative character. Chinese religious ethics, for instance, founds on the idea of Tao or world-order, and man's duty is to reflect this order in his life. The ethical ideal is one of conformity, propriety and measure. A like utilitarianism is present in the Roman pietas, the knowledge of the jus divinum which enables a man to keep on profitable terms with the divine powers. The negative conception of ethics is strongly marked in Buddhism, which, in its original form, had no deity. The ideal of the Arahat is merely an ascetic discipline by which the do minion of desire and sense may be extinguished and Nirvana at tained. In strong contrast is Christian ethics which rests on an ethical monotheism. Here the ideal is positive, the development of man's ethical life as a member of the Kingdom of God.
The problem of eschatology is the ultimate destiny of man and the world. It is a problem which lies in the background of the religious consciousness, though eschatological motives may powerfully affect the working of religion. Thus eschatology looms large in the old Egyptian, the Christian and the Islamic religions, but it plays a feeble part in the Babylonian, the old Hebrew and the early Greek religions. There is no side of religion where the
survival of old ideas is more apparent, or where the presence of inconsistent elements is more conspicuous. This is intelligible; for eschatological ideas do not lend themselves to verification in religious experience, and they offer an ample field for religious imagination.
Primitive eschatological ideas gather round the fate of the dead, and are unleavened by ethical elements. Two factors pro mote the growth of eschatology in higher religions, a quickened moral consciousness and the sense of the value of the individual. If ethical ideas, however, be cast in a utilitarian mould, the eschatological interest may be slender; and even though they are of a higher order, as in Hebrew Prophetic religion, the merging of the individual in the people as the religious unit has the same result. Post-Exilic Judaism gained a new sense of the value of the individual, and felt the need of retribution, and this led to decided eschatological developments. In Buddhism, where ethics are negative and personality an obstruction rather than a value, eschatological doctrine is nebulous in the extreme.
Of the ethical ideas which promote eschatology the most prominent is that of justice, for it directly suggests the notion of future rewards and punishments. Justice, it is felt, is only im perfectly done on earth. The Osiris-Religion of Egypt figured the soul of the dead man ushered into the judgment-hall of Osiris, where his deeds were weighed in a balance. Those who pass the test go to serve Osiris in the fields of Earu. In the Avesta, Shraoshi, the guide of souls, is said to lead the just over the heavenly bridge to the gate of paradise. Orphism taught that the initiated were rewarded by a happy life in the Elysian Fields, while the wicked were cast into Tartarus. In the Persian, Chris tian, and Islamic religions, along with the judgment of the indi vidual there is conjoined the idea of a world-judgment and the final separation of the good from the wicked.