1993 issue 10 - his story - gods providence, cortez the infamous - counsel of chalcedon
TRANSCRIPT
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8/12/2019 1993 Issue 10 - His Story - Gods Providence, Cortez the Infamous - Counsel of Chalcedon
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CORTEZ THE INF MOUS
None of the old explorers have
exactly had i t easy oflate, but few have
suffered at
the
hands of our
self-apPointed guardians as much as
Hernando Cortez. The bare mention
of His name (it seems) requires a pejo
rative adjective ( the ruthless Cortez ).
To the Sensitive the world over, Cortez
has become the quintessential ugly
European.
f
you have been following these
articles, I hope you are beginning to
question the judgment ofmodemmen
in general and historians in particular.
Whenever I run across a man that is
universally condemned by our con
temporaries, I generally suspect I have
found a fliend. In regard to Cortez, my
suspicions were correct.
In the providence of God, Cortez
was a contemporary of another man
destined for renown, Martin Luther.
Both men would become mightily in
fluential on the Church ofjesus Christ.
AsJohnEidsmoehasobselVed, Cortez
led half the Western Hemisphere out
of paganism into the Roman Catholic
Church, while Luther led half of Eu
rope out of Roman Catholicism into
the Protestant Reformation. Colum-
bus and Cortez, Conquerors jor Chlist,
p. 148. Much of what is found in this
article is amplified in this
fine
volume
and I happilyreferyou
to Dr.
Eidsmoe's
world
Typical of the men of the Middle
Ages,
Cortez was a devout Christian
who viewed the world
as
God's stage.
Though moderns scoff, the reality is
that Cortez viewed himself an ambas
sador of Christ delivering the savages
of this new world from the clutches
of Satan into the anns of the heavenly
Father. His address to his men as they
embarked on their expedition (Febru
ary 10, 1519), is indicative of his views:
We are on a crusade. We are march
ingas
Christians into a land ofinfidels.
We seek
not
only to subdue boundless
tenitolY in the name of our Emperor
Don Carlos, but to win millions of
unsalvaged souls to the True Faith. By
the force and righteousness of our own
Faith, we shall gain crowns for our
selves in the heaven to come. (Ibid.,
p 166)
That these were not mere words
was demonstrated over and over. In
evelY city through which he passed,
Cortes called the priests and caciques'
togetherand,afterJeronimo de Aguilar
had preached them a selmon in their
own tongue, he delivered a no-non
sense, proconsular type of speech. In
the words of Diaz: 'He told them as
best he could, through our interpreter,
that i f they wished to be our brothers
they must throw their idols out of this
temple, forthey were very evil and led
them astray. He said they were not
gods, but abominations which would
bring their souls to hell. (Jon M.
White, Cortez and the Downjall oj the
Aztec
Empire, p. 163) The boldness
and zeal of these addresses are aston
ishing. Their sincerity and compas
sion are apparent for all to see.
Cortez's practice of proclaiming the
gospel was followed
in
the march
through Mexico. Jeronimo de Aguilar
(the Catholic priest who sewed as an
interpreter) records the essence of
Conez's address to the natives of the
town of Tabasco on the Yucatan Pen
insula:
Cortes told them of their blind
ness
and
great vanity in worshipping
many gods
and
making sacrifices
of
human blood to them, and in thinking
that those images, being mute and
soulless, made by the Indians with
their own hands, were capable of do
ing either good or harm. He then told
them ofa sing e God, CreatorofHeaven
and
eanh
andmen, whom the Chris
tians worshipped and served, and
whom all men should worship and
selve. In short, after
he
had explained
the Mysteries to them, and how the
Son
of
God
had
suffered
on
the Cross,
they accepted it and broke up their
idols. Thus it was that with great
reverence, before a large concourse of
Indians, and with many tears on the
part of the Spaniards, a Cross was
erected
in
the temple of Potonchan,
and our
men
first, kneeling, kissed
December, 993 ;. THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ;. 3
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8/12/2019 1993 Issue 10 - His Story - Gods Providence, Cortez the Infamous - Counsel of Chalcedon
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the many
comparable errors
of
evangelicals who refuse to study or
even seriously consider the discern
ing, Reformed scholarship available
today.
But all this notwithstanding, it
ought
to
be plain that to portray
COltez
as a mindless, greedy,
clUel,
tyrannical
demagogue is more than a little amiss.
It is well-nigh impossible for us
as
20th centUlY Americans to understand
the Medieval mind. Sunounded
as we
are with neo-naturalists and their
half-world view, we cannot imagine
a culture filled with men who saw
God's hand in everything and viewed
His purpose
as
the great end of all
things. Cortez and his men were part
of a different world. Their faith in God
and
His Word was whole-hearted,
sincere, and guileless. Their belief in
the reality of the devil was straightfor
ward and unquestioning. They longed
for heaven and were terrified of hell.
They were devoted
to
the tlUth and
honified by heresy.
They were men who, for
all
their
faults and shortcomings, had grown
up
in a dominantly Christian culture
and to whom the paganism of the
natives of Mexico was a loathsome
astonishment. They saw in the de
pravity of the Aztecs (the human sac
lifice, cannibalism, immorality, per
versity, pornography, homosexnality,
etc., etc.) the very society of Satan.
Their faith made their duty plain.
French historian Jean Descola states,
In the depths of the Indian sanctuaJ:
ies they could see the Prince of Dark
ness standing
in
all his macabre splen
dor. Looking heavenward, they could
MERIC
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First 35 Years
distinguish the silvery figure of Saint
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conllict between the tlUe and
the false,
between good and evil, was manifest
in this double apparition. The prob
lem was simple and their duty was
clear,
When one considers what these
men saw and expelienced and
when
one remembers that they witnessed
their own companions as well as the
natives undergoing unspeakable tor
tures, one is amazed there was
not
more blUtality than that which did
occur. Their clities notwithstanding,
the response of the conquistadores
was often amazingly restrained and
their compassion for their enemies
quite amazing. (The condescending
denunciations from
modem
profes
sors who have never been face to
face
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December, 1993
l' THE
COUNSEL of Chalcedon
*
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8/12/2019 1993 Issue 10 - His Story - Gods Providence, Cortez the Infamous - Counsel of Chalcedon
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with paganism
in
the raw are the
cheapest of cheap shots. But then
again, unfounded prtggishness has al-
ways been
at
a discount behind the
tenured walls
of our
honored institu-
tions of higher learning. )
Their violent acts must be seen
in
the light of the realities they faced. It
was literally a life and death situation
(for them as well as for the benighted
people of Mexico). Ifthey failed, not
only
would
they die, but (and what
wasjustas important
to
these men) the
people who
had
been deceived by the
old Dragon would pertsh. Descola
remarks, the violent acts of the Con-
quistadors. . . . though sometimes
performed 'in the name of' religion,
were never 'under the pretence
of
religion. (Eidsmoe, op. cit., p. 162)
That is
t
say, though they might, at
times, have gone too far, the conquis-
tadors were never insincere. They had
legal warrant (from the Pope) and they
were on a crusade, not t defeat the
Mohamedans but to convert the hea-
then. Their religion was not a pretext
but a banner. (Ibid., p. 163)
To the hypocrttes of our age who
know nothing
but
pretense, this seems
impossible. And the fact that most
scoff
at
this view of he conquistadores
says far more about the bankruptcy of
our times
than it
does about the sins of
those
in
the past.
I
CRAMP1ON CaNT.
ROM
PAGE 12
accomplishment. Thus, the gifts and
graces are to
be
used for His glory.
2) Because
it
is the Spirtt who
empowers every believer
in
Chrtstian
life
and service, personal inadequacies
should not deter or discourage us.
3) Since the gifts are sovereignly
dispensed by
the Spirtt to the church,
possession or lack of a particular gift
should be no cause for prtde or regret.
4) The fact that no one person has
all of the gifts of the Spirtt reveals t us
the need for the unity of the church,
the fellowship of the body, etc., forthe
full spiritual development of the
individual
and the corporate
cOIJlmunity.
5 The fact that we can come to the
Spirtt in prayer encourages us to pray
for His sanctifying work
in
us, both
individually and corporately. Prayer
for guidance, a greater understanding
ofHis inspired Word, the advancement
of His Kingdom, etc., should be a part
of our daily walk with God.
Come gracious Spirit, heavenly dove,
With light and comfort from above;
Be
Thou our guardian, Thou our guide;
O'er every thought and step preside.
The light of truth to us display,
And make us know and choose Thy way;
Plant holy fear in every heart,
That we from God may ne'er depart.
Lead us to holiness, the road
Which we must take to dwell with God;
Lead us to Christ, the living way,
Nor let u from is presence stray.
(Simon Browne)
6
THE COUNSEL of
Chalcedon
December,
993