reat force among these young men and maidens
of Mexico, that they will serve the devil with so great rigor
and austerity, which many of us do not in the service of the
most high God, the which is a great shame and
confusion."[404:5]

The religious orders of the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians are described
at length in Lord Kingsborough's "Mexican Antiquities," and by most
every writer on ancient Mexico. Differing in minor details, the grand
features of self-consecration are everywhere the same, whether we look
to the saintly Rishis of ancient India, to the wearers of the yellow
robe in China or Ceylon, to the Essenes among the Jews, to the devotees
of Vitziliputzli in pagan Mexico, or to the monks and nuns of Christian
times in Africa, in Asia, and in Europe. Throughout the various creeds
of these distant lands there runs the same unconquerable impulse,
producing the same remarkable effects.

The "_Sacred Heart_," was a great mystery with the ancients.

_Horus_, the Egyptian virgin-born Saviour, was represented carrying the
sacred heart outside on his breast. _Vishnu_, the Mediator and Preserver
of the Hindoos, was also represented in that manner. So was it with
_Bel_ of Babylon.[405:1] In like manner, Christ Jesus, the Christian
Saviour, is represented at the present day.

The amulets or charms which the Roman Christians wear, to drive away
diseases, and to protect them from harm, are other relics of paganism.
The ancient pagans wore these charms for the same purpose. The name of
their favorite god was generally inscribed upon them, and we learn by a
quotation from Chrysostom that the Christians at Antioch used to bind
brass coins of Alexander the Great about their heads, to keep off or
drive away diseases.[405:2] The Christians also used amulets with the
name or monogram of the god _Serapis_ engraved thereon, which show that
it made no difference whether the god was their own or that of another.
Even the charm which is worn by the Christians at the present day, has
none other than the monogram of _Bacchus_ engraved thereon, _i. e._, I.
H. S.[405:3]

The ancient Roman children carried around their necks a small ornament
in the form of a heart, called _Bulla_. This was imitated by the early
Christians. Upon their ancient monuments in the Vatican, the heart is
very common, and it may be seen in numbers of old pictures. After some
time it was succeeded by the _Agnus Dei_, which, like the ancient