{*} [It is evident that an inconsistency such as belongs to all religions, and to human nature in general, affords no sufficient ground for doubting the authenticity of the prayers reported by Sahagun. Similar specimens of prayers used by the Peruvians have been preserved, and, like those of the Aztecs, exhibit, in their recognition of spiritual as distinct from material blessings, a contrast to the forms of petition employed by the wholly uncivilized races of the north. They are in harmony with the purer conceptions of morality which those nations are admitted to have possessed, and which formed the real basis of their civilization.--K.] [113] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 2, Apend.; lib. 3, cap. 9.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 20; lib. 9, cap. 3, 56.--Gomara, Crón., cap. 215, ap. Barcia, tom. ii.--Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 4.--Clavigero says that the high-priest was necessarily a person of rank. (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 37.) I find no authority for this, not even in his oracle, Torquemada, who expressly says, “There is no warrant for the assertion, however probable the fact may be.” (Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap. 5.) It is contradicted by Sahagun, whom I have followed as the highest authority in these matters. Clavigero had no other knowledge of Sahagun’s work than what was filtered through the writings of Torquemada and later authors. [114] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, ubi supra.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap. 25.--Gomara, Crón., ap. Barcia, ubi supra.--Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 14, 17. [115] [So, in the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine deferred his baptism until he felt that his end was approaching.--M.] [116] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 1, cap. 12; lib. 6, cap. 7.--The address of the confessor, on these occasions, contains some things too remarkable to be omitted. “O merciful Lord,” he says, in his prayer, “thou who knowest the secrets of all hearts, let thy forgiveness and favor descend, like the pure waters of heaven, to wash away the stains from the soul. Thou knowest that this poor man _has sinned, not from his own free will_, but from the influence of the sign under which he was born.” After a copious exhortation to the penitent, enjoining a variety of mortifications and minute ceremonies by way of penance, and particularly urging the necessity of instantly procuring _a slave for sacrifice_ to the Deity, the priest concludes with inculcating charity to the poor. “Clothe the naked and feed the hungry, whatever privations it may cost thee; for remember, _their flesh is like thine, and they are men like thee_.” Such is the strange medley of truly Christian benevolence and heathenish abominations which pervades the Aztec litany,--intimating sources widely different.