158 THE CHURCH AND ITS CEREMONIES. 



their memories sometimes need jogging more than once to convince them that a soul awaits the 

 indispensable safe-guiding passport to eternity ; and when at last one does go, the stay of the 

 holy father is sometimes so short that I have more than once doubted whether his fingers had 

 not been used to expedite the passage of the wafer down the sick man's throat. This is more 

 especially notable on the day called " Quasimodo," when high dignitaries of the church'visit 

 the sick in carriages driven and served by gentlemen of the city ; bands of music, troops of 

 cavalry, and a motley crowd attending them with rockets and fire-works of various descriptions. , 

 Nor is the administration of this sacrament in church attended with solemnity, or accompanied 

 by a word of spiritual counsel. The communicant comes to the altar-railing of a side chapel 

 where a priest attends with a box of consecrated wafers. Kneeling in a vacant spot, he receives 

 one in his mouth from the fingers of the priest, and at once departs to make room for another 

 communicant. At the same time, mass is being said before the principal altar, and people 

 come and go from all parts of the church without intermission. If it be the veritable body of 

 Christ they are dispensing, a belief they perseveringly endeavor to force on others by humbling 

 them before it on all occasions, it is undoubtedly treated with little reverence even by them- 

 selves. But the success and influence of their teachings are constantly exhibited, some even 

 among persons of the better class being unable to control sentiments of indignation whenever 

 there is an imagined disrespect shown to their observances. 



For a long while I was a tolerably regular attendant on Sunday mornings at the cathedral ; 

 not from faith in the doctrines there practised, as will have been perceived, but from habit, and 

 the devout feelings the music of its choir never failed to arouse. No doubt it was proper that I 

 should outwardly conform to the ceremonies of the church ; but as it was not possible to com- 

 prehend them, or to know the proper times at which to kneel or cross myself, I remained seated 

 behind a high-backed bench that almost entirely concealed me from the congregation. My 

 deportment was of course most grave and respectful ; and when the congregation began beating 

 their breasts at the elevation of the host, my head was invariably bowed beneath the front bench. 

 After attending without molestation through more than a year, one morning an old gentleman, 

 immediately in front, felt bound to speak in behalf of the offended dignity of his church. I was 

 seated, as usual, with my head bowed low, more than ordinarily saddened by the plaintive 

 anthem, when he turned full toward me, demanding in a most violent tone, as he shook his 

 clenched fist, "How dare you sit there whilst we kneel?" Of course every one near me looked 

 surprised, not less than myself; yet it was neither the time nor place for reply, and I could but 

 endeavor to smile blandly on the asthmatic worshipper. Thinking that he might desire to 

 read me a lecture after mass on church behavior, and being nothing averse to offer in return 

 one on courtesy to strangers, I moved to the farther end of the bench, in order that proximity 

 as he passed out should prevent forgetfulness of my existence; but he could not afford to waste 

 more breath on a heretic, and was content to express his indignation and pity by looks. 



It is impossible for bigotry and intolerance to exist apart, or for them to exist at all where 

 the mind is highly cultivated. None know this better than the potentates of the Apostolic 

 Roman Catholic church, whose policy it has ever been to present themselves as instructors, not 

 as they would have you infer for the purpose of breaking down these barriers, but the more 

 certainly to obtain control of education, for the purpose of instilling tenets that will inevitably 

 perpetuate their sway, and to bound the extent of knowledge, for the same great end. This 

 being understood, their hostility to Protestant modes of instruction is not to be wondered at. 

 They would yet have us all believe the earth remains motionless in space, as mental pro- 

 gress undoubtedly would do, did they universally control mankind. And thus in Chile, wher- 

 ever there are half a dozen men, women, or children brought together in a school, the hospital, 

 or the almshouse, some one of the clergy secures an office as chaplain over them. 



Pius IV sent the first bishop to Santiago in 1563, twenty-two years after the foundation of the 

 city. In 1574 another was despatched to Concepcion : and the jurisdiction of the first was limited 

 between the desert of Atacama and the river Maule ; that of the latter to extend to all the 



