. The history of the devil and the idea of evil; from the earliest times to the present day . chtli still prompted them to stain thealtars of his temples with the blood of human victims. Human sacrifices are frequently mentioned in theBible. Thus the King of Moab, when pressed hard bythe children of Israel, took his eldest son that shouldhave reigned in his stead and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall (2 Kings, iv. 27). He succeededby this terrible expedient in saving the city, for the bib-lical report continues: And there was great indignationagainst Israel; and they [the Israelit
. The history of the devil and the idea of evil; from the earliest times to the present day . chtli still prompted them to stain thealtars of his temples with the blood of human victims. Human sacrifices are frequently mentioned in theBible. Thus the King of Moab, when pressed hard bythe children of Israel, took his eldest son that shouldhave reigned in his stead and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall (2 Kings, iv. 27). He succeededby this terrible expedient in saving the city, for the bib-lical report continues: And there was great indignationagainst Israel; and they [the Israelites] departed fromhim and returned to their own land. The prophets were constantly preaching against thepagan practice of those Israelites who, in imitation of thereligion of their neighbors, sought to sacrifice their sonsand daughters to devils, or let them pass through thefire of IMoloch to devour them; but so near to the reli- * The Religions Cenmonies and Customs of the Several Nations of the JCnowxtWorld. Ill,, p. 129, f See his work, De rebus oteanicis et novo orbe. DEVIL WORSHIP. 11. Demonolatrous Ceremonies of the Old Inhabitants of Haiti. (After Picart.) 12 THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. gioiis conception of the savage was even the purer faithof Israel that Jephtha still believed that God requiredof him to offer his daughter up as a burnt offering.(Judges, xi. 29-40). The most civilised nations on earth still preserve intheir ancient legends traces of having at an early period of their religious develop-ment immolated humanbeings in propitiation ofangry deities. When theglory of Athens was atits climax, Euripides dra-matically represented thetragic fate of Polyxenawho was sacrificed on thetomb of Achilles in orderto pacify the dead herosspirit and thereby ensurethe safe return of theGreek army. Progress in civilisa-tion led to a modificationbut not to a direct aboli-tion of human sacrifices. We find among more advancedsavages, and even at the dawn of a higher civilisation, a
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