The
friar then explained, as clearly as he could, the mysterious
doctrine of the Trinity, and, ascending high in his account,
began with the creation of man, thence passed to his fall, to his
subsequent redemption by Jesus Christ, to the crucifixion, and
the ascension, when the Saviour left the Apostle Peter as his
Vicegerent upon earth. This power had been transmitted to the
successors of the Apostle, good and wise men, who, under the
title of Popes, held authority over all powers and potentates on
earth. One of the last of these Popes had commissioned the
Spanish emperor, the most mighty monarch in the world, to conquer
and convert the natives in this western hemisphere; and his
general, Francisco Pizarro, had now come to execute this
important mission. The friar concluded with beseeching the
Peruvian monarch to receive him kindly; to abjure the errors of
his own faith, and embrace that of the Christians now proffered
to him, the only one by which he could hope for salvation; and,
furthermore, to acknowledge himself a tributary of the Emperor
Charles the Fifth, who, in that even, would aid and protect him
as his loyal vassal. *16
[Footnote 16: Montesinos says that Valverde read to the Inca the
regular formula used by the Spaniards in their Conquests.
(Annales, Ms., ano 1533.) But that address, though absurd enough,
did not comprehend the whole range of theology ascribed to the
chaplain on this occasion. Yet it is not impossible.
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