MASSACRE OF ABERAHAMA. 127 
An immolation, equally affecting, was related to 
me by Mr. Nott. A fine, intelligent young man, 
on becoming a disciple of Christ, and a public 
worshipper of Jehovah, was ridiculed by his family; 
this proving ineffectual, flattering promises were 
made of temporal advantages, if he would again 
unite with those who had been his former asso- 
eiates in idol worship; these he also declined. 
He then was threatened with all their weight of 
vengeance ; and, still remaining firm to his deter- 
mination, he was banished from his father’s house, 
and forced to leave the neighbourhood. Not satis- 
fied with this, that rage and malignant hatred of 
Christianity, which is gendered by ignorance and 
idolatry, and cherished by satanic infatuation, 
pursued him still. A heathen ceremony was at 
hand, for which a human victim was required, and 
this young man was selected by his persecutors, 
because he professed to be a worshipper of the 
true God. A more acceptable sacrifice they thought 
they could not offer, as the revenge they should 
thereby wreak upon him, would not only gratify 
their own insatiate malice, but be so acceptable to 
the gods whom he had rejected, as certainly to 
render them propitious. Itis probable they also 
expected, by this summary vengeance, to deter 
others from following his example. On the even- 
ing of the day preceding that on which the cere- 
mony was to take place, the young man, as his 
custom was, had retired to the brow of a hill that 
overlooked the valley where he dwelt; and there, 
seated beneath the embowering shade of an ele- 
gant clump of trees, was absorbed in meditation, 
previous to offering up his evening supplications 
to his God. While thus engaged, his seclusion 
was invaded, and his solitude disturbed, by the 
