CHILDREN OF THIS PEACEFUL ISLE!
CHILDREN of this peaceful Isle,
Guarded by Jehovah's sword,
Ye who dwell beneath his smile,
Prize the treasure of his Word.

From that source of heav'nly light
God's omniscient wisdom beams,
To illume the sinner's night,

And reprove

him for his sins.

By its rays the path of life

To each contrite soul is clear;
By it we may conquer strife;
By it bid farewell to fear.

As the ark which Noah built,

So the WORD doth bring the soul
O'er the waves of sin and guilt,
'Till it gain the heav'nly goal.
Children, then, your voices raise
To the God of grace above;
Sing in cheerful notes his praise,
Sing his wisdom and his love.

And of wealth which God imparts
Freely unto others give;

Warm the heathen's callous hearts,
Light the shades in which they live!

Children, with increasing zeal,

Read and love the sacred page:
Low at Mercy's footstool kneel,

And in holy works engage.

Then your hearts will overflow,

And your souls with joy expand, Knowing that you've heal'd the wo Which oppress'd the HEATHEN Land.

W. V. G.

HUMAN SACRIFICE TO ORO, TAHITIAN WAR-GOD.

THE

JUVENILE MISSIONARY MAGAZINE.

OCTOBER, 1845.

HUMAN SACRIFICES. THE TAHITIAN WAR-GOD, ORO.

THE cruel and dreadful practice of offering people in sacrifice has been observed in most nations. In the Bible we read of this custom among the wicked Canaanites, and it was one reason why God commanded the Israelites to go and destroy them: "Their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods." (Deut. xii. 31). And even those Israelites themselves afterwards did the same thing, though God had charged them not to learn to do as the Canaanites had done, (Deut. xii. 29, 30), for we read in Psalm cvi. 37, 38, "They sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan."

The Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who descended from the Canaanitish nations, sacrificed their children to Moloch, an idol-god, the Saturn of the Roman divinities. An early historian relates, that, at Carthage, formerly a famous city near to Egypt, the people thought, that, as their city was besieged, it was in consequence of the anger of this Saturn, because, instead of sacriVOL. II.-NO. 17.

L 2

ficing the best of their own children, they had only sacrificed the children of the poor whom they had bought for the purpose; and hence, to rectify their mistake, they hastened to choose two hundred of their noblest children, that is, of the best families among them, and publicly sacrificed them!

A similar practice prevailed among the Druids in Germany, France, and Britain; but there were no Sunday-schools, nor Infant-schools, nor Missionary Magazines then.

Before our Missionaries went to the South Sea Islands, many of the people there were in the habit of offering human victims to their idolgods; and, besides that, the New Zealanders and the Marquesans and the Feejeeans, and some others, were cannibals -eaters of human flesh; and there are some that remain so to the present day!

When Captain Cook was at Tahiti, in September, 1777, he witnessed a human sacrifice to Oro, the idol-god of war. He saw the victim and the various offerings being made ready, and protested against the murder, as represented in our Frontispiece for this month.

Oro, the great national idol of Tahiti, Eimeo, Raiatea, and some other islands, is spoken of as the son of Taaroa, and Taaroa is said to have arisen out of chaos, or darkness. This, however, is all darkness, all uncertainty, confusion, and obscurity. The idols of Tahiti were generally shapeless pieces of wood, from one to four feet long, covered with cinet of cocoa-nut fibres, orna