sacrifice is frequent, often cruel,--in Mexico even frightful. But it is
easy to trace the original idea that inspired it. It is by no means the
sense of guilt, or the idea that the culprit, terrified by the account
that he must render to the divine justice, can transfer to a victim the
penalty he has himself incurred. It is simply the idea that by offering
the gods the things they like--that is to say, whatever will satisfy and
gratify their senses--it is possible to secure their goodwill, their
protection and their favour, while at the same time disarming their
wrath, if need be, and appeasing their dangerous appetites. It is only
at a later stage that the extreme importance attributed to this rite,
the very essence of the worship rendered to the gods, leads to the
association of mystic and ultimately of moral ideas with the
circumstance of the pain inseparably connected with sacrifice. And when
this stage is reached, men will either refine upon the suffering with
frantic intensity, as they did in Mexico, or, if the sentiment of
humanity has made itself felt in religion, as was the case in Peru and
in the special worship of Quetzalcoatl, they will try to restrain the
number and mitigate the horror of the human sacrifices, while still
inflexibly maintaining the principle they involve.
Again: there is not the smallest trace of an earlier monotheism
preceding the polytheism of either the one or the other nation. On the
other hand, we may trace in both alike three stages of religious faith
superimposed, so to speak, one upon the other. At the bottom of all
still lies the religion that we find to-day amongst peoples that are
strangers to all civilization. It is an incoherent and confused jumble
of nature-worship and of animism or the worship of spirits, but
especially the latter; for the primitive nature-worship has been
developed, enlarged and more or less organized, on a higher level,
whereas animism has remained what it was. The spirits of nature, which
may often be anonymous--spirits of forests, of plants, of rocks, of
waters, of animals, generally with the addition of the spirits of
ancestors--make up a confused and inorganic mass that may assume almost
any form. Fetichism is not the base, as it has been called, but the
consequence and application of this animistic view. It is enough to
secure adoration for any worthless object, natural or artificial, if it
strikes the ignorant imagination forcibly enough to induce the belief
that it is the residence of a spirit. Magic, founded on the pretension
of certain individuals to stand in special relations with the spirits,
equips the priesthood of this lowest stage. But above this, through the
action of the higher minds amongst the people, nature-worship develops
itself into the adoration of the most important, most general and most
imposing phenomena of nature. In the tropical countries, at once warm
and fertile, it is the Sun that reigns supreme, though not without
leaving a very exalted place to other phenomena, such as wind, rain,
vegetation and so on, personified as so many special deities. But in all
this there is no indication of an antecedent and primitive monotheism.
It is quite true that each one of these deities receives in his turn
epithets which seem to attribute omnipotence to him and to make him the
sole creator. But this is the case in all polytheistic systems, whether
in Greece, Persia, and India, or in Mexico and Peru. It only proves that
when man worships, he never limits the homage he renders to the object
of his adoration; but if he is a polytheist, he has no scruple in
attributing the same omnipotence to each of his gods in turn. It is much
the same with the worthy cures in our rural districts, whose sermons
systematically exalt the saint of the day, whoever he may be, to the
chief place in Paradise! And here in Mexico and in Peru, as in Greece
and in India, we observe the ever growing tendency towards
_anthropomorphism_, transforming into men, of enormous strength, stature
and power, those natural phenomena which at the earlier stage were
rather assimilated to animals. Uitzilopochtli still bears the traces of
his ancient nature as a humming-bird, and Tezcatlipoca of the time when
he was no more than a celestial tapir. Their cultus, like their
functions in the order of nature, must be regular and subject to fixed
rules. And thus the priesthood, organized and regulated in its turn,
emerges from the earlier stage of sorcery, and becomes a great
institution to protect and foster the nascent civilization. The third
stage was not actually reached in ancient Mexico and Peru. One can but
divine its beginnings in the mysterious priesthood of Quetzalcoatl, or
trace it in the traditions of the philosopher king of Tezcuco, and the
sceptical Incas of whom Garcilasso and others tell us. In such traits as
these we may discover a certain dissatisfaction with the established
polytheism, striving to raise itself higher in the direction of a
spiritual monotheism. But this tendency is obviously the last term of
the evolution, and in no sense its first.
The history of the temple in Mexico and Peru suggests similar
reflections. Its point of departure is the altar, and not the tomb,--the
altar on which, as on a sacred table, the flesh destined for their food
was placed before the gods. Little by little, as the developed and
organized nature-worship substitutes gods of imposing might and
greatness for the contemptible deities of the period when nature-worship
and animism were confounded together, these altars assumed huge and at
last gigantic proportions; and in Mexico, except in the case of
Quetzalcoatl, there the development stopped, save that a little chapel,
destined to serve as the abode of the national gods, was reared on the
summit. Peru passes through the same phases, but goes further. There the
surmounting chapel grows, assumes vast dimensions, and ends by embracing
the altar itself, of which at first it was but an adjunct.
The two religions alike exhibit an initial penetration of religion by
the moral idea. They are at bottom two theocracies, the laws and
institutions of which rest upon the gods themselves, though the
theocratic form is far more prominent in Peru than in Mexico. They share
the advantages of a theocracy for a nascent civilization, and its
disadvantages for one that has already reached a certain development.
It was the theocratic and sacerdotal conception that maintained and
enforced the religious butchery of which you have heard in Mexico, and
which transformed Peru into one enormous convent, where no one had any
will or any initiative of his own. For the same reason, asceticism, the
principle that confuses, through an illusion we can easily understand,
the moral act itself with the suffering that accompanies it, shows
itself in both religions, but especially in that of Mexico; and convents
that startle us by their resemblance to those of Buddhism and
Christianity rise in either realm. But this mutual interpenetration of
the religious and moral ideas is still quite rudimentary. The prevailing
tone of the religion is given by the self-seeking and purely calculating
principle, aiming no doubt at a certain mystic satisfaction (for at
every stage of religion this moving principle has been most powerful and
fruitful), but likewise seeking material advantages without any scruple
as to the means; and those monstrous forms of transubstantiation which
the Mexican thought he was bringing about when he ate of the same human
flesh which he offered to his gods, are typical of the period in which
religion pursued its purpose of union with the deity, regardless of the
protests of the moral sense and of humanity.
It was reserved for the higher religions, and especially for that of
which our Bible is the monument, to realize the intimate alliance of the
religious and moral sentiments,--that priceless alliance, without which
morals remain for the most part almost barren, and religion falls into
monstrous aberrations. That the roots of religion pierce to the very
cradles of humanity, may now be taken as demonstrated. Its principle is
found in the necessity we feel of surmounting the uncertainties and the
limitations of destiny, by attaching ourselves individually to the
loftier Spirit revealed by nature outside us and within; and this
principle has always remained the same; nor am I one of those who hold
that we must now renounce it in the name of philosophy and science. For
neither philosophy nor science can make us other than the poor creatures
we are, with an unquenchable thirst for blessedness and life, yet
constantly broken, crushed at every moment, by the very elements on the
bosom of which we are forced to live. Philosophy and science may guide
religion, may reveal its true object in ever-growing purity, may cleanse
it from the pollutions in which ignorance and sin still plunge it, but
they cannot replace and they cannot destroy it. There is a Dutch
proverb, the profundity of which it would be difficult to exaggerate,
"De natuur gaat boven de leer"--_Nature is too strong for doctrine._ The
evolutions of philosophy may seem to make the heavens void, and inspire
man with the idea that all is over with the poetic or terrific visions
that rocked the cradle of his infancy. But stay! Nature, human nature,
is still there; and under the impulse of the indestructible thirst for
religion, human nature renews her efforts, looks deeper and looks
higher, and finds her God once more.
Jerusalem renait plus brillante et plus belle.
But let not this conclusion, confirmed as it seems to me by the whole
history of religion, prevent our boldly declaring how much that is
small, puerile, often even immoral and deplorable, there is in the
religious past of humanity. It is no otherwise with art, with
legislation, with science herself, with all that constitutes the
privilege, the power, the joy of our race. It is just the knowledge of
these aberrations which should serve to keep us from falling back into
the errors and false principles of which they were the consequence. And
in this respect the study of the religions of ancient Mexico and Peru is
profoundly instructive. It teaches us that there is a principle,
bordering closely upon that of religion itself, which must serve as the
torch to guide the religious idea in its development--not to supplant
it, but to direct it to the true path. It is the principle of humanity.
The truer a religion is, the more absolute the homage it will render to
the principle of humanity, and the more will he who lives by its light
feel himself impelled to goodness, loving and loved, trustful and free.
The last word of religious history is, that there exists an affinity, a
mysterious relationship, between our spirit and the Spirit of the
universe; that this nobility of human nature embraces in itself all the
promises, all the hopes, all the latent perfections, all the infinite
ideals of the future; that, in spite of all appearances to the contrary,
the Supreme Will is good to each one of the beings which it summons and
draws to itself; and that man, in spite of his errors, his failures,
his corruptions, his miseries, was never wrong in following the sacred
instinct that raised him slowly from the mire, was always right in
renewing his efforts, so constant, so toilsome--often, too, so woful--to
mount the rounds
De cette echelle d'or qui va se perdre en Dieu.
* * * * *
And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, it only remains for me to bid you
farewell, while giving you my warmest thanks for the perseverance, the
encouragement and the sympathy, with which you have supported me. The
reception you have given me has touched me deeply, and my stay in 1884
in your imposing and splendid capital will always remain amongst the
most prized and the pleasantest recollections of my life. You have been
good enough to pardon my linguistic infirmity. You have spared from your
business or pleasure the time needed to listen to a stranger, who has
come to speak to you of matters having no direct utility, and of purely
historical and theoretical interest. This is far more to your honour
than to mine. I thank you, but at the same time I congratulate you; for
it is a trait in the nobleness in our human nature to be able thus to
snatch ourselves from the vulgar pre-occupations of life, to contemplate
the truth on those serene heights where it reveals itself to all who
seek it with an upright heart. Cease not to love these noble studies,
which touch upon all that is most exalted and most precious in us! If we
search history for light in politics and the higher interests of our
fatherlands, and learn thereby to understand, to appreciate, to love
them more, let us turn to history no less for light on the path which we
must tread in that order of sublime realities, necessities and
aspirations, in which the soul of each one of us becomes a temple and a
sanctuary, lying open to the Eternal Spirit that fills the universe.
* * * * *
And now to the Eternal, the Invisible, to Him whose name we can but
stammer, whose infinite perfections we can but feel after, be rendered
all our homage and our hearts!
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The second, third and fourth despatches (the first is lost) from
_Fernando Cortes_ to Charles V., written in 1520, 1522 and 1524
respectively. Original editions as follows: "Carta de relacio_n_
e_m_biada a su S. majestad del e_m_p_er_ador n_ues_tro senor ... por el
capita_n_ general de la nueva spana: Llamado ferna_n_do cortes," &c.:
Seville, 1522. "Carta tercera de relacio_n_: embiada por Ferna_n_do
cortes," &c.: Seville, 1523. "La quarta relacion q_ue_ Ferna_n_do cortes
gouernador y capitan general ... embio al muy alto ... rey de Espana,"
&c.: Toledo, 1525. Recent edition, with notes, &c.: "Cartas y Relaciones
de Hernan Cortes al Emperador Carlos V. colegidas e ilustradas por Don
Pascual de Gayangos," &c.: Paris, 1866. English translation: "The
Despatches of Hernando Cortes," &c., translated by George Folsom: New
York and London, 1843.--_Francisco Lopez de Gomara_ (Cortes' chaplain):
"Hispania Victrix. Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las
Indias co_n_ todo el descubrimiento, y cosas notables que han acaescido
dende que se ganaron hasta el ano de 1551. Con la conquista de Mexico y
dela nueva Espana:" Modina del Campo, 1553. Also printed in Vol. XXII.
of the "Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles:" Madrid, 1852 (to the
pagination of which references in future notes will be made). There is
an old English translation of Part II. of this work, entitled, "The
Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the Weast India, now called new
Spayne, Atchieved by the worthy Prince Hernando Cortes, Marques of the
Valley of Huaxacac, most delectable to Reade: Translated out of the
Spanishe tongue by T. N. [Thomas Nicholas], Anno 1578:" London.--_Bernal
Diaz_: "Historia Verdadera de la Nueva Espana escrita por el Capitan
Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Uno de sus Conquistadores. Sacada a luz por el
P. M. Fr. Alonso Remon," &c.: Madrid, 1632. English translation: "The
Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, written by
Himself," &c.: translated by John Ingram Lockhart, F.R.A.S. 2 vols.:
London, 1844. There is also a good French translation: "Histoire
Veridique de la conquete ... par le Capitaine Bernal Diaz del Castillo,"
&c., by Dr. Jourdanet. Second edition: Paris, 1877.--_Las Casas._
Numerous works collected by Llorente: "Collecion de las obras del
Venerable Obispo de Chiapa, Don Bartolome de las Casas, Defensor de la
Libertad de los Americanos." 2 vols.: Paris, 1822. Also translated into
French, with some additional matter, by the same Llorente, and published
in the same year at Paris. His "Historia de las Crueldades de los
Espanoles," &c., was translated into English in 1655 by J. Phillips,
under the title of "The Tears of the Indians," &c., and dedicated to
Oliver Cromwell. [N.B. Translations in full or epitomized of several of
the above works, together with others, may be found in Vols. III. and
IV. of "Purchas his Pilgimes," &c.: London, 1625-26.]--_Sahagun's_
history of New Spain, a work of the utmost importance for the religious
history of Mexico, remained unpublished till the present century, and
appeared almost simultaneously in Mexico and London: "Historia General
de las Cosas de Nueva Espana ... escribio el R. P. Fr. Bernardino de
Sahagun ... uno de los primeros predicadores del santo evangelio en
aquellas regiones," &c. 3 vols.: Mexico, 1829-30. The same work appeared
in Vols. V. and VII. of Lord Kingsborough's collection. Vid. infr. A
French translation by Jourdanet appeared in 1880.--_Acosta_: "Historia
Natural y Moral de las Indias ... compuesta por el Padre Joseph de
Acosta Religioso de la Campania de Jesus," &c.: Seville, 1590. English
translation: "The Naturall and Morall Historie of the East and West
Indies," &c.: translated by E. G.: London, 1604. E[dward] G[rimstone]'s
translation was edited, with notes, for the Hakluyt Society, by Clements
R. Markham, in 1880.--_Torquemada_: "Los veynte y un libros Rituales y
Monarchia Yndiana ... Compuesto por Fray Ivan de Torquemada," &c. 3
vols.: Seville, 1615. Printed again at Madrid in 1723.--_Herrera_
(official historiographer of Philip II.): "Historia General de los
Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas i Tierra Firme del mar Oceano,"
&c., by Antonio de Herrera; to which is prefixed, "Descripcion de las
Indias Ocidentales," &c., by the same. 4 vols.: Madrid, 1601. English
translation in epitome by Capt. John Stevens, "The General History of
the vast Continent and Islands of America," &c. 6 vols.: London,
1725-26.
The following native writers may also be consulted. _Ixlilxochitl_
(Fernando de Alva): "Historia Chichimeca" and "Relaciones," in Lord
Kingsborough's "Mexican Antiquities," Vol. IX. (vid. infr.). French
translations in Vols. VIII. XII. and XIII. of H. Ternaux-Compans'
collection: "Voyages, Relations et Memoires originaux pour servir a
l'histoire de la Decouverte de l'Amerique:" Paris, 1837-41.--_Camargo_:
"Histoire de la Republique de Tlaxcallan, par Domingo Munoz Camargo,
Indien, natif de cette ville," translated from the Spanish MS. in Vols.
XCVIII. and XCIX. of the "Nouvelles Annales des Voyages," &c.: Paris,
1843.--_Pomar (J. B. de)_: "Relacion de las Antiquedades de los Indios."
Pomar was a descendant of the royal house of Tezcuco, and his memoirs
were made use of in MS. by Torquemada.
Amongst later authorities may be mentioned (in addition to Prescott's
well-known work, and those cited in the following notes): _W.
Robertson_: "History of America."--_Alx. von Humboldt_: "Vues des
Cordillieres et Monuments des peuples de l'Amerique:" Paris, 1810;
forming the "Atlas Pittoresque" of Part III. of "Voyage de Humboldt et
Bonpland."--_Francesco Saverio Clavigero_: "Storia antica del Messico,"
&c. 4 vols.: Cesena, 1780-81. English translation by Charles Cullen:
"The History of Mexico," &c. 2 vols.: London, 1787.--_Th. Waitz_:
"Anthropologie der Naturvoelker," Vol. IV.: Leipzig, 1864.--_Brasseur de
Bourbourg_: "Histoire des Nations civilisees du Mexique et de
L'Amerique-centrale," &c. 4 vols: Paris, 1857-59.--_Mueller (Joh.
George)_, Professor at Bale: "Geschichte der Amerikanischen
Urreligionen." Second edition: Basel, 1867.--To these should be added
the narratives and works of M. _D. Charnay_, still in the course of
publication.
References will be given to the originals, but in such a form, wherever
possible, as to serve equally well for the English and French
translations. Where, as is not unfrequently the case, the chapters or
sections of the translations do not correspond to the originals, a note
of the vol. and page of the former will generally be added.
[2] The original collection is in seven magnificent folio volumes.
"Antiquities of Mexico: comprising Facsimiles of Ancient Mexican
Paintings and Hieroglyphics ... together with The Monuments of New
Spain, by M. Dupaix ... the whole illustrated by many valuable inedited
Manuscripts by Augustine Aglio:" London, 1830. Two supplementary
volumes, on the title-page of which Lord Kingsborough's own name
appears, were added in 1848, and a tenth volume was projected, but only
a small portion of it (appended to Vol. IX.) was printed.
[3] Five volumes: New York, 1875-76.
[4] See _Bancroft_, Vol. II. pp. 311, 312.
[5] See _Sahagun_, Tom. I. p. 201, Appendix to Lib. ii. (Vol. II. p.
174, in Jourdanet's translation).
[6] The story is given by _Bancroft_, Vol. III. p. 471, on the authority
of _Lopez Medel_.
[7] See _Torquemada_, Lib. viii. cap. xx. at the end. On the Mexican
temples in general, see _Mueller_, pp. 644-646.
[8] On the great temple of Mexico and its annexes, see _Waitz_, IV. 148
sqq., where the scattered data of Sahagun, Acosta, Gomara, Bernal Diaz,
Ixtlilxochitl, Clavigero, &c., are drawn together. See also _Bancroft_,
II. 577-587, III. 430 sq.
[9] Op. cit. cap. xcii.
[10] Compare the German "Schlangenberg" and the old French "Guivremont."
[11] See the legend in _Clavigero_, Lib. vi. Sec. 6.
[12] See _Mueller_, pp. 602 sqq., and _Sahagun_, Tom. I. pp. 1, 237,
sqq., Lib. i. cap. i., and Lib. iii. cap. i., &c.
[13] See _Clavigero_, Lib. vi. Sec. 2. _Acosta_, pp. 324 sqq., Lib. v. cap.
ix. (pp. 353 sq. in E. G.'s translation); _Sahagun_, Tom. I. pp. 2 sq.,
241 sq., Lib. i. cap. iii., Lib. iii. cap. ii. See also
_Ternaux-Compans_, Vol. XII. p. 18.
[14] On Quetzalcoatl, see _Mueller_, pp. 577-590; _Bancroft_, Vol. III.
pp. 239-287; _Torquemada_, Lib. vi. cap. xxiv., Lib. iii. cap. vii.;
_Clavigero_, Lib. vi. Sec. 4; _Ixtlilxochitl_ in _Ternaux-Compans_, Vol.
XII. pp. 5-8 (further, pp. 9-27 of the same volume on the Toltecs);
_Prescott_, Bk. i. chap, iii., Bk. iv. chap, v., and elsewhere;
_Sahagun_, Tom. I. pp. 3-4, 245-6, 255-259, Lib. i, cap. v., Lib. iii.
cap p. iv. xii.-xiv.
[15] See _Clavigero_, Lib. iv. Sec.Sec. 4, 15, Lib. vii. Sec. 42; _Humboldt_, pp.
319-20, cf. p. 95; _Prescott_, Bk. i. chap. i. and elsewhere;
_Bancroft_, Vol. V. pp. 427-429; _Mueller_, pp. 526 sq.
[16] _Clavigero_, Lib. vi. Sec.Sec. 5, 15, 34; _Sahagun_, Tom. I. pp. 16-19,
Lib. i. cap. xiii.; _Bancroft_, Vol. III. p. 385.
[17] See _Sahagun_, Tom. I. pp. 10-16, Lib. i. cap. xii.
[18] See _Boturini_, "Idea de una nueva historia general de la America
Septentrional," &c.: Madrid, 1746, pp. 63-65.
[19] _Bancroft_, Vol. III. pp. 403-417; _Sahagun_, Tom. I. pp. 22-25,
29-33, Lib. i. capp. xv. xvi. xix.
[20] _Bancroft_, Vol. III. pp. 396-402; _Clavigero_, Lib. vi. Sec.Sec. 1, 5.
[21] _Sahagun_, Tom. I. p. 86 (cf. p. 88), Lib. ii. cap. xx.
[22] _Sahagun_, Tom. I. p. 50, Lib. ii. cap. i.
[23] Compare the detailed description of the festivals of the ancient
religion of Mexico in _Bancroft_, Vol. II. pp. 302-341, Vol. III. pp.
297-300, 330-348, 354-362, 385-396.
[24] Amongst all the indigenous races of North America, prolonged
fasting is regarded as the means _par excellence_ of securing
supernatural inspiration. The Red-skin to become a sorcerer or to secure
a revelation from his _totem_, or the Eskimo to become _Angekok_, will
endure the most appalling fasts.
[25] _Torquemada_, Lib. vi. cap. xxxviii.; cf. _Sahagun_, Tom. I. p.
174, Lib. ii. cap. xxiv.
[26] _Sahagun_, Tom. I. pp. 35--39, Lib. i. cap. xxi.
[27] _Sahagun_, Tom. I. pp. 11-16, Tom. II. pp. 57-64, Lib. i. cap.
xii., Lib. vi. cap. vii.
[28] Elements were not wanting for the formation of a dualistic system
analogous to Mazdeism. The _Tzitzimitles_ nearly corresponded to the
Iranian _Devas_. They were a kind of demon servants of Mictlan, who
delighted in springing upon men to devour them, and the protection of
the celestial gods was needed to escape from their attacks. _Sahagun_,
Tom. II. p. 67, Lib. vi. cap. viii. (in the middle of a prayer to
Tlaloc). Cf. also Tom. II. pp. 14 sqq., Lib. v. capp. xi.-xiii.
[29] On the Mexican priesthood, see _Bancroft_, Vol. II. pp. 200-207,
Vol. III. pp. 430-441; _Clavigero_, Lib. vi. Sec.Sec. 13--17; cf. Lib. iv. Sec.
4; _Humboldt_, pp. 98, 194, 290; _Prescott_, Bk. i. chap. iii.;
_Torquemada_, Lib. ix. capp. i.-xxxiv.
[30] _Camargo_ (in Nouv. An. d. Voy. xcix.), pp. 134-5.