feeding its inhabitants, and providing their food. There was no starving person in it, and I made the widow to be as though she possessed a husband.”

Of another great personage it is said that, in administering justice, "he made no distinction between a stranger and those known to him. He was the father of the weak, the support of him who had no mother. Feared by the ill-doer, he protected the poor; he was the avenger of those whom a more powerful one had deprived of property. He was the husband of the widow, the refuge of the orphan.'

It is said of another that he was "the protector of the humble, a palm of abundance to the destitute, food to the hungry and the poor, largeness of hand to the weak;" and another passage implies that his wisdom was at the service of those who were ignorant.

The tablet of Beka, now at Turin, thus describes the deceased:

"I was just and true without malice, placing God in my heart, and quick in discerning his will. I have come to the city of those who dwell in eternity. I have done good upon earth; I have done no wrong; I have done no crime; I have approved of nothing base or evil, but have taken pleasure in speaking the truth. There is no lowly person whom I have oppressed; I have done no injury to men who honored their gods. The sincerity and goodness which were in the heart of my father and my mother

my love (paid back) to them. My mouth has always been opened to utter true things, not to foment quarrels. I have repeated what I have heard just as it was told to me."

Great stress is always laid in these inscriptions upon the strictest form of veracity, as, for instance, "I have not altered a story in the telling of it." The works of charity are commonly spoken of in terms which are principally derived from the Book of the Dead:

"Doing that which is right and hating that which is wrong, I was bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, a refuge to him that was in want; that which I did to him, the great God hath done to me.”

"I was one that did that which was pleasing to his father and his mother; the joy of his brethren, the friend of his companions, noble-hearted to all those of his city. I gave bread to the hungry; I received (travelers?) on the road; my doors were open to those who came from without, and I gave them wherewith to refresh themselves. And God hath inclined his countenance to me for what I have done; he hath given me old age upon earth, in long and pleasant duration, with many children at my feet."

God's reward for well-doing is again mentioned in the inscription now at Miramar in honor of a lady who had been charitable to persons of her own sex, whether girls, wives, or widows:

"My heart inclined me to the right when I was yet a child, not yet instructed as to the right and good. And what my heart dictated I failed not to perform. And God rewarded me for this, rejoicing me with the happiness which he has granted me for walking after his way."

We are acquainted with several collections of precepts and maxims on the conduct of life. The most venerable of them is the work of Ptahhotep, which dates from the age of the pyramids, and yet appeals to the authority of the ancients. It is undoubtedly, as M. Chabas called it, "The most ancient book of the world." The manuscript at Paris, which contains it, was written centuries before the Hebrew lawgiver was born. These books are very similar in character and tone to the Book of Proverbs in our Bible. They inculcate the study of wisdom, the duty to parents and superiors, respect for property, the advantages of charitableness, peaceableness, and content; of liberality, humility, chastity, and sobriety; of truthfulness and justice; and they show the wickedness and folly of disobedience, strife, arrogance, and pride; of slothfulness, intemperance, unchastity, and other

vices.

The maxims of Ptahhotep speak of "God forbidding" and "God commanding":

"If any one beareth himself proudly he will be humbled by God, who maketh his strength." "If thou art a

wise man bring up thy son in the love of God." “Happy is the man who eateth his own bread. Possess what thou hast in the joy of thy heart. What thou hast not, obtain it by work. It is profitable for a man to eat his own bread; God grants this to whoever honors him." "Pray humbly with a loving heart, all the words of which are uttered in secret."

Another section is upon maternal affection. It describes the self-sacrifice of an affectionate mother from the earliest moments of the child's existence, and continues as follows:-

"Thou wast put to school, and whilst thou wast being taught letters she came punctually to thy master, bringing thee the bread and the drink of her house. Thou art now come to man's estate; thou art married and hast a house; but never do thou forget the painful labor which thy mother endured, nor all the salutary care which she has taken of thee. Take heed lest she have cause to complain of thee; for fear that she should raise her hands to God and he should listen to her prayer."

The religion of Zoroaster must be considered as highly moral in its influence, insisting on purity of thought, word, and action; on courage to opposé wrong and evil. It lays its chief stress on the truth-cycle of goodness, on the manly virtues. Herodotus said of the ancient Persians: "Lying is regarded as the most discreditable thing by them; next to that the incurring of debt, and chiefly for this reason, that the debtor must often tell lies."

§ 10. Influence of Religion on Morality.

We may now ask what is the influence exercised by the religions of mankind on the development of human morality.

Some attempt to produce good conduct, and to repress evil, by the hope of future reward, and the fear of future punishment. This was done very fully, as we have seen, in the Egyptian religion, which gave every Egyptian a full and detailed account of his resurrection, transmigrations, and future judgment before Osiris. Brahmanism and Buddhism are equally minute in their accounts of rewards and punishments hereafter, by the passage of the soul through innumerable heavens and hells, and transmigration through many bodies of animals, plants, and men.

How far such descriptions avail to prevent evil and encourage good is quite uncertain. A far-off and only half-believed retribution affects the imagination feebly. It is a curious and very noticeable fact that the religion of Moses teaches no such doctrine of future retribution. It appears nowhere in the Old Testament. A few texts may be strained to indicate something of the sort, but there is no plain, strong statement of a future judgment or moral retribution. Moses was acquainted with the whole Egyptian mythology on this subject, and must have deliberately refused to make use of this