ed to him; in
accordance with that claim, the first-born males of the beasts are duly
sacrificed; and it is only by special permission that the claim to the
first-born of men is waived, and it is enacted that they may be redeemed
(Exod. xiii. 12-15). Is it possible to avoid the conclusion that
immolation of their first-born sons would have been incumbent on the
worshippers of Jahveh, had they not been thus specially excused? Can any
other conclusion be drawn from the history of Abraham and Isaac?
Does Abraham exhibit any indication of surprise when he receives the
astounding order to sacrifice his son? Is there the slightest evidence
that there was anything in his intimate and personal acquaintance with
the character of the Deity, who had eaten the meat and drunk the milk
which Abraham set before him under the oaks of Mamre, to lead him to
hesitate--even to wait twelve or fourteen hours for a repetition of
the command? Not a whit. We are told that "Abraham rose early in the
morning" and led his only child to the slaughter, as if it were the
most ordinary business imaginable. Whether the story has any historical
foundation or not, it is valuable as showing that the writer of it
conceived Jahveh as a deity whose requirement of such a sacrifice need
excite neither astonishment nor suspicion of mistake on the part of his
devotee. Hence, when the incessant human sacrifices in Israel,
during the age of the kings, are put down to the influence of foreign
idolatries, we may fairly inquire whether editorial Bowdlerising has not
prevailed over historical truth.

An attempt to compare the ethical standards of two nations, one of which
has a written code, while the other has not, is beset with difficulties.
With all that is strange and, in many cases, repulsive to us in the
social arrangements and opinions respecting moral obligation among
the Tongans, as they are placed before us, with perfect candour, in
Mariner's account, there is much that indicates a strong ethical
sense. They showed great kindliness to one another, and faithfulness in
standing by their comrades in war. No people could have better observed
either the third or the fifth commandment; for they had a particular
horror of blasphemy, and their respectful tenderness towards their
parents and, indeed, towards old people in general, was remarkable.

It cannot be said that the eighth commandment was generally observed,
especially where Europeans were concerned; neverth