sacrifices to the unseen God, as a sign that all they had belonged
to Him, and that they had forfeited their own souls by sin, and were
therefore ready to give up the most precious things they had--their
cattle, as a sign that they owed all to that very God whom they had
offended. But are not human creatures much more precious than
cattle? Will it not be a much greater sign of repentance and
willingness to give up all to God if we offer Him the best things
which we have--human creatures? If we kill and sacrifice to Him our
most beautiful and innocent things--little children--noble young
men--beautiful young girls?'

My friends, these are very strange and shocking thoughts, but they
have been in the hearts and minds of all nations. The heathens do
such things now. Our own forefathers used to do such things once;
they were tempted to worship the sun and the moon, and the rivers,
and the thunder, and to look with superstitious terror at the bears,
and the wolves, and the snakes, round them, and to kill their young
children and maidens, and offer them up as sacrifices to the dark
powers of this world, which they thought were ready to swallow them
up. And God is my witness, my friends, when one goes through some
parts of England now, and sees the mine-children and factory-
children, and all the sin and misery, and the people wearying
themselves in the fire for very vanity, we seem not to be so very
far from the same dark superstition now, though we may call it by a
different name. England has been sacrificing her sons and her
daughters to the devil of covetousness of late years, just as much
as our forefathers offered theirs to the devil of selfish and
cowardly superstition.

But see, now, how this covenant which God made with Noah was