OCR Text |
Show FROM MEXICO.<br><br> We are enabled through the kindness of President Preston, to present to our readers this week the following extracts from a letter written by Apostle Moses Thatcher in the City of Mexico, under date of Dec. 12, 1870. We believe that we could offer nothing which would prove more interesting to the Saints; both because of the great esteem in which the writer is held and because of the unusual merit which the communication itself possesses. .<br><br> I will touch a few points, commencing by giving you an extract from my journal of the 4th inst. "Visit to Guadalupe," three miles from the city which is reached either by means of the street cars or on foot. "You pays your money and takes your choice" -- we walked. The cathedral is massive; and in the interior very gorgeous. The silver railings and ornaments alone are said to be worth a million dollars. The nave is magnificently arrayed with altars, statuary and paintings; with chandeliers -- glittering with massive gold circlets, set with sparkling jewels. .<br><br> It is really no wonder that John the Revelator "wondered with admiration," for wherever on earth we find this "Woman" we find her "arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, &c." The "Woman" is ever the predominating figure, and head; ever surrounded with images and figures innumerable. What a sad sight, as one gazes on men kneeling before Images, the preference being generally that of the Virgin Mary! See them make the mark of the "Beast" in their foreheads. Now turn and note women as they come into the cathedral on their knees mopping their dresses in the filth, and bowing and nodding and crossing themselves as they pass different images. Can any one [anyone] say that this is not idolatry in the most degrading form? We look upon the Aztec gods (so-called); and many good Christians turn away in disgust to think of such ignorance. But who shall declare the distinction between ancient and modern idolatry; save in the glitter and tinsel with which the modern gods are bedecked, thereby outshining those ruder ones of stone, pottery and wood? In each case the worship is identical, and the object of Satan the same -- the enslavement and bondage of souls. How he did anciently among Aztecs, and those who preceded them, I know not. But now he seems to have them all "marked." .<br><br> In one corner we find rude daubs representing persons saved from accidental death through the interposition of the "Virgin," whose image always occupies the most conspicuous place. Imagine a large dray loaded with pig skins filled with pulque? (an intoxicant) [unreadable line] "Virgin" interposing to save his life, and you have a specimen picture. Near by [nearby] are piled a number of crutches, no longer needed, the former owners (so it is said, and no sensible person would doubt it) having been cured of their ailments by drinking from a mineral spring dedicated, of course, to the "Virgin." Among the many noticeable images is one representing the Savior as he appeared bruised and bleeding after the scourging; and, another showing him crucified; and then again another -- this one is very fine, representing the - "Virgin Mary." .<br><br> The Catholic Church never means to have the world ignorant of the "Woman." But it will require God to demonstrate that she is the "Mother of Harlots" and to show who the daughters are. He will do it in his own due time. .<br><br> In the chapel, on the hill back of the cathedral, we saw an image meant to show the Savior on the cross, which is the most fearfully hideous thing I have ever seen; showing as it does, the entire form from head to feet streaked in dark lines of blood, with long black hair hanging in clotted mats over the pain racked features. It is said however that there was one formerly used in this cathedral (the one here in the city) which was even worse, for it was so arranged that the eyes were made to roll around as in the expiring agonies of death. This was too much even for this country and people; many women being injured by the horrid sight; and not a few lost their reason. Therefore the thing had to be removed. Historians say that is now lies in a stone house at Guadalupe. .<br><br> Before proceeding with a short description of the Valley of Mexico and what I saw today at the last place named, I will give you a few extracts from the writings of a Catholic Abbe, whom Abbott the historian quotes largely, so that you may understand what ignorance and superstition must be overcome before the light of the Gospel can shine brightly in Mexico. Why! I saw this very day, women going on their knees from this city three miles over the rough, stony road to Guadalupe. And such acts are not only approved but encouraged by the clergy and even the higher officers of the courts. For mind you, if any one of those ignorant Indian women could succeed in reaching the place named where there was a great holiday rejoicing, she would be crowned with thorns, and become the admiration of the wretched idolatrous thousands there; with the Archbishop presiding. A few years ago the annual salary of the dignitary last named was $130,011?. What it now amounts to I cannot say. .<br><br> "Priests who are recognized as fathers of families are by no means rare. The people consider it natural enough, and do not rail at the conduct of their pastors, excepting when they are not contented with one wife." .<br><br> "They make merchandise of the sacraments and make money of every religious ceremony, without thinking that they are guilty of simony." .<br><br> "If Roman justice had its course in Mexico, one half of the Mexican clergy would be excommunicated." I would add, and the other half be rejected of God. .<br><br> "It is in vain to seek good fruit from this worthless tree, which makes Mexican religion a singular assemblage of heartless devotion, shameful ignorance, insane superstition and hideous vice. "In Mexico faith inspires nothing, invents nothing; it does not even imitate. It is a fossil. The idolatrous character of Mexican Catholicism is a fact well known to all travelers. The worship of Saints and Martyrs so absorbs the devotion of the people, that little time is left to think of God." .<br><br> "The church chants and music are atrocious, really infernal. The Indians go to hear mass with their poultry and vegetables, which they are carrying to market. I have had to abandon the cathedral of Mexico, because I could not collect my thoughts there. The gobble of turkeys, the crowing of cocks, the barking of dogs, the mewing of cats, the chirping of birds in their nests in the ceiling, and the flea-bites, rendered meditation impossible to me, unaccustomed to live in such a menagerie." How is that for fulfillment of prophecy." .<br><br> The habitation of every unclean beast." Eh? .<br><br> "One day I was present at an Indian dance, celebrated in honor of the patron saint of the village." (Evidently Guadalupe) "Twenty-four boys and twenty four girls were dancing in the church, in the presence of the priest. An Indian with his face concealed under a mask of an imaginary divinity resembling the devil, with horns and claws, was directing the figures of the dance, which reminded me of that of the red skins." .<br><br> "During holy week I have seen processions of three thousand persons stripped and covered only with sackcloth, so coarse as to show that the individual had not even a shirt. The different phases of the passion of Christ were represented by groups of painted statues, large as life, and by men and women placed upon stages, borne on the shoulders of hundreds of Indians. The bearers bending under the weight of their burden, would go from time to time to refresh themselves at the liquor shops, leaving in the middle of the street the groups representing the passion. Jews and Romans decked with helmets of tin plate, breastplates of pasteboard and breeches embroidered with silver, made a part of the procession. In some cities there are a great many processions. I remember an instance in which I saw the Romans in one procession, intoxicated by the ???, attack the Jews in another procession, who were passing the same street at the same time. The Jews left the cross and the Madonna they were bearing, and gave the Romans such a drubbing that they bore the marks of it many days." "There are cities where they pay a poor Indian to personate Judas, and allow the whole crowd of the faithful to spit in his face during the whole day." .<br><br> Is this not shocking, filthy, horrid? Remember that the extracts are from the writings of neither a stranger nor an apostate, but from those of a devout Catholic Abbe. With him, I too, can bear my testimony, from what I have seen, that modesty of soul is an exotic plant that does not thrive in Mexico. .<br><br> I have baptized twelve persons, all men. Some women will join when we find a suitable place in which to baptize them. |