ecome more popular, or,
at least, more powerful; but that when Quetzalcoatl departed from the
country "in a winged skiff made of serpent skins," it was with a promise
to return to the faithful, which promise was sacredly cherished down to
the time of the Spanish invasion.

The Mexican Mars, Huitzilopotchi, was born of a virgin. His mother, a
devout person, while at her devotions in the temple saw floating before
her a bright colored feather ball, which she seized and placed in her
bosom. She soon became pregnant, her offspring being a god, who like
Minerva appeared full armed with spear and helmet.

Although the exact manner in which the Mexicans sacrificed to their
Deity to atone for the sins of the people differs somewhat from the
modus operandi employed in the Christian vicarious atonement, still the
likeness existing between them is sufficient to indicate the fact of
their common origin and the similar manner of their development.

The Mexicans were wont to select a young and handsome man from their
midst, whom they invested with the dignity of a god. After having
surrounded him with every luxury, and when they had showered upon him
every attention, crowning him with flowers and worshipping him for a
year or more as a Savior, they killed him, offering him as an atonement
or sacrifice, in order that the rest of the people might escape the
vengeance of their great Deity, who, it was claimed, is pleased with
such offerings, and who demands sacrifices of this kind at the hands of
his children. Within blood was contained life, hence the offering of a
bloody victim was but the returning to their god, as a free-will gift
that which he had bestowed, such sacrifice being regarded as the only
acceptable means of grace or reconciliation.

That the offering of a victim to the Jewish God was deemed necessary to
the fulfilment of Christian doctrine is a fact which is clearly shown by
numerous passages in the New Testament. "We are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." "By one offering he
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."(168) "Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many."(169)

168) Hebrews, x., 10, 14.

169) Ibid., ix., 28.

That the Jewish Paschal feasts and the Eucharistic rites of Christians
had their counterpart among the Mexicans is observed in the fact that
shortly after the death of their god, cakes which had been prepared and
blessed by the