Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/115

 SOCIAL CONTROL 101

A third species of sanction appears with belief in a super- natural life. In two vast unseen worlds, Heaven and Hell, is led an unending life, and the lot of each man through this infinite existence is determined by his doings in this brief earthly span of life. Though the connection of the two lives is close, it is not necessity but the will of a judge that binds them together. Hence the idea of a judgment day when the soul appears before the judge, its record is read, its deeds and thoughts are weighed and its doom is spoken. This analogue to law procedure is found in the religion of Egypt, of Greece, in Calvinism and in Islam. Of the possibilities of such a belief, Lecky writes : "The doctrine of a future life was far too vague among the Pagans to exercise any powerful general influence and among the philosophers who clung to it most ardently, it was regarded solely in the light of a consolation. Christianity made it a deterrent influence of the strongest kind. In addition to the doctrines of eternal suffering, and the lost condition of the human race, the notion of a minute personal retribution must be regarded as profoundly original." 1 "Experience has abun- dantly shown that men who are wholly insensible to the beauty and dignity of virtue, can be convulsed by the fear of judgment, can be even awakened to such a genuine remorse for sin as to reverse the current of their dispositions, detach them from their most inveterate habits and renew the whole tenor of their lives." 2

When there are bonds of love binding the living to the dead, the doctrine of another world yields yet another stimulus. When loved ones dead are thought of as looking back upon this life with their former interest and concern, a powerful motive is given to do only that which will please them. The efficacy of this belief in fostering family piety and strengthening family bonds can hardly be overestimated. It is the ally of society, however, only in one great instance. For hundreds of thou- sands of young Americans the chief stimulus to self-denial comes not from hope of heavenly reward, but from the convic-

ry of European Morals, Vol. 1 1 . Ibid., p. 4.