h away the sin that was given to it before the foundation of the
world, so that the child might be born anew."

Among the petitions which are offered to the Deity is the following:
"Impart to us, out of thy great mercy, thy gifts which we are not worthy
to receive through our own merit." In their moral code appear these
maxims: "Keep peace with all; bear injuries with humility; God who
sees, will avenge you." "He who looks too curiously on a woman, commits
adultery with his eyes."(141)

141) Quoted by Prescott from Sahagun. Conquest of Mexico, book i., chap
3.

CHAPTER XIV. CHRISTIANITY A CONTINUATION OF PAGANISM--(Continued).

From the facts recorded in the foregoing pages, we have seen that true
Christianity was but a continuation of that great movement which was
begun in Persia seven or eight centuries before, and whose gathering
strength had been emphasized by the humane doctrines set forth in the
various schools of Greek philosophy.

In the first century of the Christian era may be observed among various
sects, notably the Gnostics, a desire to popularize the teachings of an
ancient race, and to accentuate those principles which had been taught
by Buddha, Pythagoras, the Stoic philosophers, the Roman jurisconsults
and others. In other words the object of the new religion was to
stimulate the altruistic characters which had been developed during
the evolutionary processes, and to strengthen and encourage the almost
forgotten principles of justice and personal liberty upon which
early society was founded, but which through ages of sensuality and
selfishness had been denied expression.

When we remember the tenacity with which the human mind clings to
established beliefs and forms, it is not perhaps singular that in a
comparatively short time these principles were lost sight of, and that
the entire system of corrupt paganism, with Christ as the New Solar
Deity, was reinstated; neither is it remarkable, when we reflect upon
the length of time required to bring about any appreciable change in
human thought and action, that the principles which this Great Teacher
enunciated are at the present time only just beginning to be understood.

To one who carefully studies the history of Christianity by the light
of recently developed truths, the fact will doubtless be discovered
that the fundamental difference existing between Catholic and Protestant
sects is grounded in the old feud arising out of the relative