and silent; all was immovable, all peaceful, and the vast space of the heavens was empty. There was no man, no animal, no shore, no trees; heaven alone existed. The face of the earth was not to be seen; there was only the still expanse of the sea and the heaven above. Divine beings were on the waters like a growing light. Their voice was heard as they meditated and consulted, and when the dawn arose, man appeared. Then the waters were commanded to retire; the earth was established, that she might bear fruit, and that the light of day might shine on heaven and earth.

"For, they said, we shall receive neither glory nor honor from all we have created until there is a human being-a being endowed with reason. Earth' they said, and in a moment the earth was formed. Like a vapor it rose into being, mountains appeared from the waters like lobsters, and the great mountains were made.— Thus was the creation of the earth, when it was fashioned by those who are the Heart of heaven, the Heart of the earth; for thus were they called who first gave fertility to them, heaven and earth being still inert and suspended in the midst of the waters."

Then follows the creation of the brute world, and the disappointment of the gods when they commanded the animals to tell their names, and to honor those who had created them. Then the gods

said to the animals:

"You will be changed, because you cannot speak. We have changed your speech. You shall have your food and your dens in the woods and crags; for our glory is not perfect, and you do not invoke us. There will be beings still that can salute us; we shall make them capable of obeying. Do your task; as to your flesh, it will be broken by the tooth."

Then follows the creation of man. His flesh was made of earthterre glaise. But man was without cohesion or power, inert and aqueous; he could not turn his head, his sight was dim, and though he had the gift of speech, he had no intellect. He was soon consumed again in the water.

And the gods consulted a second time how to create beings that should adore them, and after some magic ceremonies, men were made of wood, and they multiplied. But they had no heart, no intellect, no recollection of their Creator; they did not lift up their heads to their Maker, and they withered away and were swallowed up by the waters.

SACRED BOOK OF THE MEXICANS.

89

Then follows a third creation, man being made of a tree called "tzité," woman of the marrow of a reed called "sibac" They, too, did neither think or speak before him who had made them, and they were likewise swept away by the waters and destroyed. The whole nature-animals, trees, and stones-turned against men to revenge the wrongs they had suffered at their hands, and the only remnant of that early race is to found in small monkeys which still live in the forests.

Three attempts, as we saw, had been made and had failed. We now hear again that before the beginning of dawn, and before the sun and moon had risen, man had been made, and that nourishment was provided for him which was to supply his blood, namely, yellow and white maize. Four men are mentioned as the real ancestors of the human race, or rather of the race of the Quichés. They were neither begotten by the gods, nor born of woman, but their creation was a wonder wrought by the Creator. They could reason and speak, their sight was unlimited, and they knew all things at once. When they had rendered thanks to their Creator for their existence, the gods were frightened, and they breathed a cloud over the eyes of men that they might see a certain distance only, and not be like the gods themselves. Then while the four men were asleep, the gods gave them beautiful wives, and these became the mothers of all tribes, great and small. These tribes, both white and black, lived and spread in the East. They did not yet worship the gods, but only turned their faces up to heaven, hardly knowing what they were meant to do here below. Their features were sweet, so was their language, and their intellect was strong.

A legend which is current among the Thlinkithians, who are one of the four principal races inhabiting Russian America, is as follows: They believe in a general flood or deluge, and that men saved themselves in a large floating building. When the waters fell, the building was wrecked on a rock, and by its own weight burst into two pieces. Hence arose the difference of languages. The Thlinkithians with their language remained on one side; on the other side were all the other races of the earth.

Neither the Esthonian nor the Thlinkithian legend, however, offers any striking points of coincidence with the Mosaic accounts. The analogies, therefore, as well as the discrepancies, between the

ninth chapter of Genesis and the chapter here tranlated from the Quiche MS. require special attention.

BELIEFS OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

Müller says, "the Greenlander believes that when a man dies his soul travels to Torngarsuk, the land where reigns perpetual summer, all sunshine and no night; where there is good water, and birds, and fish, seals, and reindeer without end, that are to be caught without trouble, or are found cooking alive in a huge kettle. But the journey to this land is difficult; the souls have to slide five days or more down a precipice, all stained with the blood of those who have gone down before. And it is especially grievous for the poor souls, when the journey must be made in winter or in tempest, for then a soul may come to harm, or suffer the other death, as they call it.

The native tribes of the lower end of South America believe in two great powers of good and evil, but likewise in a number of inferior deities. These are supposed to have been the creators and ancestors of different families, and hence when an Indian dies his soul goes to live with the deity who presides over his particular family. These deities have each their separate habitations in vast caverns under the earth, and thither the departed repair to enjoy the happiness of being eternally drunk.

Messrs. Lewis and Clarke give the following account of the belief in a future state entertained by another American tribe, the Mandans:

"Their belief in a future state is connected with this tradition of their origin: The whole nation resided in one large village under ground near a subterraneous lake. A grape-vine extended its roots down to their habitation and gave them a view of the light. Some of the most adventurous climbed up the vine, and were delighted with the sight of the earth, which they found covered with buffalo, and rich with every kind of fruit. Returning with the grapes they had gathered, their countrymen were so pleased with the taste of them that the whole nation resolved to leave their dull residence for the charms of the upper region. Men, women, and children ascended by means of the vine, but when about half the nation had reached the surface of the earth, a corpulent woman who was clambering up the vine, broke it with her weight, and closed upon herself and the rest of the nation the light of the sun. Those who

BELIEF OF NEW HOLLANDERS-ICELANDERS. 91

were left on earth made a village below where we saw the vine villages; and when the Mandans die they expect to return to the original seats of their forefathers, the good reaching the ancient village by means of the lake, which the burden of the sins of the wicked will not enable them to cross."

Catlin's account of the Choctaw belief in a future state is equally curious. They hold that the spirit lives after death, and that it has a great distance to travel towards the west; that it has to cross a dreadful, deep, and rapid stream, over which, from hill. to hill, there lies a long, slippery pine log, with the bark peeled off. Over this the dead have to pass before they reach the delightful hunting-grounds. The good walk on safely, though six people from the other side throw stones at them; but the wicked, trying to dodge the stones, slip off the log and fall thousands of feet into the water which is dashing over the rocks.

BELIEF OF THE NEW HOLLANDERS.

The New Hollanders, according to Mr. Oldfield, believe that all who are good men and have been properly buried, enter heaven after death. Heaven, which is the abode of the two good divinities, is represented as a delightful place, where there is abundance of game and food, never any excess of heat or cold, rain or drought, no malign spirits, no sickness or death; but plenty of rioting, singing, and dancing for evermore. They also believe in an evil spirit who dwells in the nethermost regions, and, strange to say, they represent him with horns and a tail.

OF THE ICELANDERS.

The following traditions in relation to creation are contained in the book Edda, the sacred book of the Icelanders.

"'Twas the morning of time,

When yet naught was,

Nor sand nor sea were there,

Nor cooling streams;

Earth was not formed,

Nor heaven above;

A yawning gap there was,

And grass nowhere."

In the "Edda," man is said to have been created out of an ashtree, and God is portrayed as follows: "Who is first and eldest of

all gods?" He is called " Allfadir," the Father of All, the Great Father-in our tongue. He lives from all ages, and rules over his realm and sways all things, great and small. He made heaven and earth, and the sky, and all that belongs to them; and he made man, and gave him a soul that shall live and never perish, though the body rot to mould, or burn to ashes. All men that are rightminded shall live, and be with him in a place called "Vingolf:" but wicked ones fare to Hell and thence into Niflhell, that is, beneath in the ninth world.

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY NO RESTRAINT.

We have heretofore remarked that all motives to virtue have their only foundation in, and all good works proceed from, the moral faculties that is the conscience, and the instincts originally given. to man; and that the evil-doings of man find their only check or restraint in this reflex of God in man. There is no restraint found in the Christian theology, or elsewhere, not found in every man's conscience while on the other hand, history shows us that Christianity has been the most powerful of all agents in stifling the voice of conscience, and in bringing horrors and calamities upon mankind. The assertion may seem a startling one, but its truth can scarcely be denied by the reader, who follows us through the dismal record of great crimes committed by people supposed to be specially chosen of God and enjoying his immediate supervision, by others taking the Old Testament as their guide, and by others still, whose iniquities and atrocities were perpetrated in the name of Jesus. We propose to glance successively, at the bloody contentions of the early Church; at the crimes and corruptions of the Church during the Middle Ages; at the Crusades; at the persecutions of the Jews by the Christians; at the sacrifice of human life in the so called holy wars waged by Christians for theological opinions alone; at the persecution of the Protestants by the Catholics; at the massacre of St. Bartholomew, under a king, one of whose titles was, the "Most Christian;" at the cruel course of Spain in overrunning and despoiling Mexico and Peru.

Let us commence with the

CONTENTIONS OF THE EARLY CHURCH.

From the Trinitarian controversy which began in the reign of Constantine-about A. D. 323-we may date the introduction of