IN THE FACE OF DEATH 87 
blood, but who had been washed and sanctified and made new 
creatures in Christ Jesus. 
“When the night of toil was passed, and ee blessed day 
of gospel light had opened, then commenced in good ear- 
nest the struggle between the powers of light and the pow- 
ers of darkness, which ended in the total subversion of one 
and the triumph of the other; and during the struggle some 
of the adherents to Christianity fell victims to the rage and 
malice of their heathen adversaries... . 
“In many a family the husband was an idolater and the 
wife a Christian, or the reverse; the parents addicted to the 
gods of their ancestors, and the child a disciple of Jesus 
Christ; and many a wife was beaten by her husband, and 
many a child driven from the parental roof, solely on ac- 
count of their attachment to the new religion. The idolaters 
proceeded to the greatest acts of violence and horrid murder. 
“More than once individuals were selected to be offered 
in sacrifice to the gods, only because they were Christians. 
Mr. Davies, in his journey round Tahiti in 1816, met the 
murderer of the young man who was offered in sacrifice by 
the people of Taiarapt to insure success in their last attack 
upon the people of Atehuru and Paparra, and whose tragical 
death, he justly considered, ought to be recorded, because 
it is hoped it was ‘the last human sacrifice offered in Tahiti,’ 
and because the victim was selected ‘on account of his attach- 
ment to Christianity.’ 
“Tt would have been deeply interesting to have had some 
particular information relative to these early Polynesian 
martyrs. Of them, however, in common with innumerable 
multitudes who compose the ‘noble army of martyrs,’ there 
remains neither name nor memorial upon earth; but their 
record is on high, and no single name will be missing “in that 
day when I make up My jewels,’ ‘saith the Lord of hosts.’ 
“The following are the only cases about which we have 
particulars, and in one of them, the more striking and inter- 
esting of the two, we are left in ignorance of the young man’s 
name. 
