Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/306

262 coca plant, blended with saliva, on the palm of the hand, and allowing it to glide by the thumb and fore- finger. All their skill consisted in observing the manner in which this liquor flowed; and the issue was decided by the form it assumed. They regarded themselves as the sovereign disposers of the awards of Nature, and presumed that they were able to distribute good and evil, pains and disasters, health and fortune.

To such absurd extravagancies the idea of the Divinity, when disfigured and corrupted, is sure to lead. Man, proud of his own intelligence, seeks the truth, but finds it not. He pursues the idle flights of his fancy, embraces shadows, and is the slave of his caprices. God alone comprehends His works, and derides the vain efforts of men. From the eminence on which His august throne is established, he contemplates their idle imaginations; and knows both the false ideas which mortals form of their Creator, and the futile opinions they erect into dogmas by which they are involved in endless disputes. He alone can kindle that celestial light, in a manner extinguished, by the aid of which man presumes that he can acquire the genuine and true notion of the Supreme Being. He alone can display Himself, and bestow on His creatures the intelligence they need, immersed as they are in darkness and error.

To accomplish this aim. His immense wisdom prepared the fittest means. It discovered to Europe this valuable part of the globe, and transferred its dominion, by the right of conquest, to Spain. Instantly the sonorous voice of her apostolic ministers was heard on every side, and the law of Christianity was promulgated. The clash of arms counteracted the first pressions: