Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/130

104 After a hasty, though somewhat ceremonious greeting from the bishop, he turned to whisper to his attendants; and then allowed his gaze to wander to the model of the Nacimiento, as before. Presently, those representations appeared to excite him to conversation, and addressing me, alternately with the priests beside him, he proceeded as follows:—

"What a glorious thing, Señor, is our Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic faith! Let heretics and enemies exclaim against it as they will, yet what a saving effect has it not had on this favoured country! Human sacrifices have been abolished; horrible atrocities have been prevented; immorality in high places has been checked; and a system of degrading superstition has been suppressed! In place of offering bleeding human hearts to senseless, misshapen idols, in cannibal temples, the people are directed to the worship of the one God: the truth of our Holy Church has been unfolded as a banner, and the adoration of Christ and the Blessed Virgin has superseded that of wooden monsters and hideous reptiles!"

On my endeavouring to elicit some account of the practices connected with the worship of