my dear."

IV.

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.

HOPE," said George, "that we are to hear of more martyrdoms this evening."

"That sounds a strange and cruel wish,

"I do not mean that I would have really wished more of the poor Malagasy Christians to be put to death, but if there were more, I should like you to tell us of them. I do not know if it is quite right, but I always like to hear of such things. They seem to make me feel such

a reality in religion."

"That feeling," said Mr. Campbell, "may help to make you understand how in every age the blood of martyrs has been the seed of the church,' and the truth for which they willingly laid down their lives, has often prevailed the more through the very efforts of its enemies to suppress it."

66

But," said Anne, "it is so different for us, in our comfortable homes, to read or hear of these sufferings,

compared with what it would be to see them, and to feel that the same might soon come to ourselves. Oh, papa, I am afraid I never could be a martyr. I should have been tempted to deny the Lord. I really feel unhappy sometimes in thinking about this."

"Do not think about it, at least not so as to make yourself unhappy. If you give your heart in earnest to the Saviour now, and seek by his grace to bear in a right spirit whatever lesser trials he may send, and to fulfil every duty, whatever self-denial it may cost, you may safely trust that should more severe trials of faith and patience come, he will give you more strength along with them. Peculiar grace and help is needed in days of persecution, and has never been denied to those who sought it from above."

"Even before the persecution," said Mrs. Campbell, "the happy deaths of some of the first converts in Madagascar made a deep impression on their heathen brethren. These poor people had a terrible dread of death and the grave, and could not bear to mention the subject. One of the missionaries gives an interesting account of the peaceful departure of a poor slave, after a few days' illness, saying with his last breath, 'Jesus is calling me, I do not fear? And he adds, 'These simple words presented as strong a contrast as human language can admit to the common feeling of the people. Those who have seen the strongest men in Madagascar die, know how,

when stretched on a death-bed, they will exclaim in the anguish of despair, while the big tears trickle down their cheeks, "I die! I die! O father, O mother, I die!" And hence, universally, the natives shun all reference to death, as a subject the most repugnant to their feelings. How inestimable then, is that gospel which could enable a poor Malagese to look death in the face, and to repeat, again and again, 'I do not fear; Jesus is taking me; I do not fear!'

"But now, George, I will tell you of more martyrdoms. We hear of five martyrs in 1842, and of two of them the writer simply says, 'They were cut into small pieces, and afterwards burnt.' Meanwhile the missionaries at a distance were trying every means to give them assistance, or find a refuge for the converts, but all in vain. However, in 1846 much hope was excited by the unexpected good news that the queen's only son had become a Christian."

"You did not tell us that she had a son."

"He was born after her usurpation of the kingdom. Of course he was quite young at the time I now speak of, but it was a wonderful encouragement to the Christians when he openly joined with them, and used all his influence with his mother in their favour. She was greatly attached to him, and even in this matter willing to indulge him. Her prime minister remonstrated: 'Madam, your son is a Christian; he prays with the Christians, and

encourages them in their new doctrines.'

The reply

was: 'He is my son, my only son; he must do as he pleases.' The lives of twenty-one who were taken prisoners about this time were spared at the young prince's intercession, though they were subjected to severe punishments. Here is part of an interesting letter, from a female convert, in 1847 —

....

"How wonderful is the power of God, as seen in the spirit of anxious inquiry produced in the minds of the people. They come to seek the Lord, in the prison with the prisoners, in the hiding places of the persecuted, in the mountains and in the caves of the rocks, wherever and whenever they can meet with any calling on the name of the Lord, thither they resort. What is still more marvellous, even some of the queen's family are thus minded. . . . . Tell all the churches in your country that we are famishing and hungering for the bread of life. Contrive in some way to send us Bibles, for we are as an hundred hungry ones to one plate of food. The books we formerly had have for the most part been burnt. The persecution has not prevented the spreading of God's word, but rather has caused it to spread far and wide. The bonds of the prisoners, and the blood of the martyrs, have aided the growth of God's word in the hearts of men.'

"Another letter says: 'The prince comes with us into the woods on Sunday, to pray, and sing, and read the

Bible; and he often takes home some of us with him to explain to him the word of truth.'”

"And did the young prince at last reconcile his mother to Christianity?"

"Whatever his own influence might have been, it was counteracted by that of her wicked, cruel ministers.

So

in 1849 a new severe persecution commenced. Two private houses, where the Christians were known to assemble for worship, were ordered to be destroyed, a number of persons were arrested, and a terrible message publicly proclaimed: 'If any new religion or mode of worship, especially this religion of yours, be introduced and practised in my country, I forbid it; it shall never be done. . . . . If any one shall wait until he is accused, he shall be punished without mercy.'

"On the 28th February, a great assembly was held, and eighteen prisoners were brought forward and sentenced to death."

"Eighteen, at once!"

"Yes, and instead of being speared, which I suppose their enemies thought too merciful a death, four of them were burnt alive, and fourteen hurled down a precipice, and afterwards burnt. I must read the account to you, as given afterwards by the eye witnesses to Mr. Ellis. Here is what is said of their examination :

:

"The officer said, Do you pray to the sun, or the moon, or the earth?'