and it was the organ or instrument of their
love or liberality to mankind. Each element
was under the guidance of some being peculiar
to it. The earth, the water, the fire,
the air, the sun, the moon, and the stars,
had each their respective divinity; and to
serve these several gods with sacrifices, to be
brave and intrepid themselves, and to do
no wrong to others, were the moral obligations
inculcated upon mortals b)' this religion.
To these duties was added the
belief in a future state, where cruel tortures
were reserved for those who despised
the three fundamental precepts of morality,
and joys without number for the religious,
just, and valiant. This appears to have been
the state of religion among the Scandinavians,
till towards the period of the fall of the
Roman empire, when, in consequence of the
arrival of Odin in the north; it began to
lose much of its original purity. The people
became weary of its simplicity, and associated
to the supreme God many of those
genii or inferior divinities, who had always
been subservient to him; and even the
supreme being himself, whom they called
by the name of Odin, they divested of a
portion of his omnipotence, and looked upon
him as little more than the god of war, in
which character he is called in the Edda,
“ the terrible and severe god, the father of
slaughter, the god that carrieth desolation
and fire, the active and roaring deity, he
who giveth victory, and reviveth courage
in the conflict; who nameth those that are
to be slain.” Such as were most brave in
battle, and as died fighting, were received
by him in his palace Valhala: thus, when
Regner Lodbrog* was at the point of death,
far from uttering complaints, he burst out
into an exclamation of rapture; “ We are
cut to pieces with swords: but this fills me
with joy, when I think of the feast that is
preparing for me in Odin’s palace. Quickly,
quickly seated in the splendid habitation of
the gods, we shall drink beer-j' out of the
skulls of our enemies. A brave man fears
not to die. I shall utter no timorous words
as I enter the hall of Odin”. Next to Odin,
Freya, his wife, was considered the principal
* See translations from the Icelandic, entitled
Five Pieces of Runic Poetry, p. 27.
t Odin alone drank wine.