circulation of any papal bulls in America without
his consent, and required every priest and monk
who proposed to go to the New World to obtain the
royal license. No church, monastery, or hospital
could be erected except in accordance with the
king's ordinances. ¹ One - ninth of the tithes was
covered into the royal treasury, ² and an even more
important part of the king's revenue was derived
from the sale of bulls of the Crusade or indul-
gences, the purchase of which was practically uni-
versal. ³

The work of conversion in Mexico followed upon
the heels of conquest, indefatigable friars devoting
every moment to preaching, baptizing, and learning
the native languages. The old religion withstood
the assault as little as the old state: the destruction
of the temples and the idols by the conquerors, the
death of many of the old ruling caste and of the
Aztec priesthood relaxed its bonds, and the masses
were relieved from the dreadful burden of the
earlier faith. ⁴ In the Old World the progress from
actual to vicarious sacrifice for sin had been slow and
painful through the ages; in the New it was accom-
plished within a single generation. The old re-

-303-