since we prove in the whole course of this work that that cursed deceiver seeks to substitute himself for God in every thing wherein he can liken himself to Him, which God Himself has permitted and overlooked by His own secret counsels and decrees and for reasons which His divine majesty Himself knows. The procession and dance terminated at sun set, at which hour precisely they made an offering of Tomales a kind of bread offering which the Mexicans, like the Jews, presented at their Temple, and which was only lawful for the priests to eat."1

It is probable that Torquemeda, in comparing the songs of the Mexicans in honour of Huitzilopoctli, with those which the children of Israel sung in commemoration of their escape from Egypt, wished the readers of his Indian Monarchy to revert to that omitted chapter in his work, in which he likens the migration of the Mexicans from Aztlan to that of the children of Israel from Egypt: all the circumstances attending which were, it is to be presumed, recorded in the painted roll which was carried in procession, and afterwards laid at the feet of Huitzilopoctli. How much it is to be regretted that not a single Mexican painting of this description has been preserved, which would have thrown so much light on a mysterious page of history, &c."-Antiq. Mex. Vol. vi. p. 145.

The fac simile of the painting of Carerri is thus introduced in the Antiq. of Mexico:" Copia d'una antica dipintura conservata da Don D'Carlo Signenza nella qualle stasegnata e descritta la strada che tennero gli antichi Mexicani quando da monte vennero ad abitare nella lacunna du oggedi si dice di Mexico co geroglyphice significante i nomi de luoghi et altro."

1 Levit. xxiv. 8, 9.

E

50

NAMES AND TITLES OF THE CREATOR.

THE character of the Holy One of Israel, being a manifold unity of moral glory, the distinctive manifestation of which originated those Names and Titles which served to express His Powers, it may be useful as a subject of intellectual contemplation, as well as illustrative of that portion of the subject under review, to trace to their Hebrew1 source, those surprising analogies which are demonstrative of the origin of the Peruvian and Mexican theology.

Tonacateuctli, (Lord of our bodies, or life,) was He who resided in the garden of Tonaquatitlan. Ometecuitli, (Most High) is another title. He is represented crowned as Supreme, and is the Father of Quetzalcoatl. Tezcatlipoca, (God of Heaven) is another title, and is, under this character, assigned the first and last place in the calendar. He is emphatically styled the God of Fire,' and is described as holding forth a mirror, surrounded by thick darkness, or density, on a Mountain, and is said to have the wind as a messenger. Xiuleticeutli, derived from etherial blue, is another title for the God of Heaven, who is also said to be "the God of Ages," (or years); the Eternal YOA and TEO. Huitzilipoctli, and Vitziliputzli, are other titles for the Supreme, as the great and terrible One, who they affirm, time immemorial had, as their Leader and Protector, done marvellous things.

1 See Appendix.

NAMES AND TITLES OF THE CREATOR.

51

Tlalocate utli, (Master of Paradise) is another title; and Quetzalcoatl, whom they believe to have partaken of the Divine and human natures for the purpose of Redeeming whatever had become the prey of transgression and death, through the first introduction of evil, is precisely characterized as the Messiah of Moses and the Prophets. Not only did the Mexicans believe in the incarnation of the Eternal Word, and that Redemption which should be the result of His obedience unto death as the second Adam, but they, like David, contemplated, as a part of future history, His burial and descent into hades; fully entering, as their paintings testify, into the meaning of these words-"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades, nor wilt thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption." Again they testify of His ascent to the Father, and of His receiving gifts, precious and manifold, for His people, of whose redemption from the power of death and the grave, His resurrection was the earnest and pledge. "Thou hast ascended up on high; thou hast led captivity captive; and thou hast received gifts for men-even for the rebellious." Again, they represent the risen LORD (and son) of David, as for a season sitting and waiting at the right hand of Power. "The LORD said unto my lord, sit thou at My right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." "Yehovah hath sworn and wilt not repent: thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec." But what is still more demonstrative of the minuteness of detail in their knowledge of the order of these future events is, that they recognize a time when His foes having been made His footstool, the same y whom David celebrates by His name, Yah, as the Ruler of His redeemed people, is subsequently represented on his

1 Psalm cx. 5.

Throne of Mount Zion, where, in honor of His inauguration, (the LORD) acts at His right hand. It was the opinion of some Spanish writers, that Queltzalcoatl received the title of Huitzilopoctli, from the belief that He ascended into Heaven. They also thought, that because Tonacateuctli is compounded of a word signifying precious, and left hand, that therefore it was at the left hand of Tonacateuctli, that He was seated; but this is drawing inferences from an arbitrary analogy, in contradiction to established national usage; for the right hand of the Incas, and kings of Peru and Mexico was esteemed the place of honor. Baron Humboldt observes, with reference to this circumstance. The right hand of Montezuma, it is to be observed, was the place of honour;' &c. "That it was so amongst the Jews may be inferred from the expression in the Psalm-" On His right hand did stand the queen," &c. Hence it is more probable that Quetzalcoatl was seated on the right hand of Tezcatlipoca, than on the left, as Boturini affirms in the following curious passage of his Idea of a New General History of America, This divinity was called, as well in the first as in the second age, Huitzilopoctli, from their ancestors believing that he was seated on the left hand of Tezcatlipoca, as they now believe in the second age, that He is on that of Quetzalcoatl, and being uncertain on which hand paid more respect to a seeming analogy in the language than to Mexican usages, and so confounded the right hand with the left."-Humboldt in Antiq. Mex.

1 Psalm cx. 5.

53

NAMES AND ATTRIBUTES OF THE CREATOR.

Extracted from Antiquities of Mexico, vol. vi.

66 the

"Xiuletl, in the Mexican language, signifies blue, and hence was a name which the Mexicans gave to Heaven, from which Xiuleticutli is derived, an epithet signifying God of heaven," which they bestowed upon Tezcatlipoca, or Tonacateuctli, who was painted with a crown as LORD of all; as the interpreter of the Codex Tellereano-Remensis affirms in the 107 page of the translation, to whom they assigned the FIRST and LAST place in the Calendar, emphatically styling him the GOD of Fire. Xiuleticutli may bear the other interpretation of the "GOD OF AGES," the "EVERLASTING ONE; which, connected with the Mexican notion of fire being the element more peculiarly sacred to Him, recalls to our recollection the 9th and 10th verses of the 7th chapter of Daniel's description of the vision of the ANCIENT OF DAYS, from "before whom issued a fiery stream, and whose Throne was like the fiery flame.”—p. 392.

66 Daniel says, "I beheld till the thrones were cast down." Daniel's description of his vision resembles in its imagery the passage in the 9th chapter of the 6th book of Sahagun's History of New Spain, in which the newly elected king of Mexico returns thanks to Tezcatlipoca, who was Xiuleticutli the "GOD OF HEAVEN," or "the GOD OF YEARS." The Deity worshipped by the Peruvians under the name of Pachacamac, and of Verachoca, (the former of which sig