CHRISTIAN FRIENDS We ask you to turn your attention this Quarter to a Missionary field, new to our Society. We speak of the Island of Madagascar. Wonderful things, in God's providence and grace, have happened in that land, and there is a loud call to us to make the most of the golden opportunity now presented to us. Madagascar is a large island off the south-east coast of Africa, about the size of Great Britain and Ireland together. It is 800 miles long and 300 broad, and contains nearly four millions of people, consisting indeed of three or four different tribes, but all speaking the same language, and called by the one common name of Malagasy. It is a rich and fruitful land. Vast numbers of cattle are reared there, and rice grows readily. The little island of Mauritius, one of our own sugar islands, and where we have an interesting Mission among the Cooly labourers, is about three days sail to the east of it. There is a brisk trade between the two places, and most of the provisions consumed in the Mauritius are supplied from the two sea-ports, Tamatave and Vohimare. It was between forty and fifty years ago that we first became much acquainted with Madagascar. The King of the Middle District of the island was an able and clever man, by name Radama. The English Governor of Mauritius formed a treaty with him to put an end to the slave-trade, and, to recompense him for the loss he thus sustained, made him a yearly payment of firearms and ammunition. With this help, he conquered nearly the whole island, and while we lament the cruelty which he showed in his wars, at the same time his friendliness towards the British produced much good for his people on the whole. He sent native youths to England to be instructed in the arts of civilized life; he encouraged friendly intercourse with foreigners; and, most important of all, he permitted Missionaries from the London Missionary Society to reside at the chief town. They reduced the language of the country to writing, prepared Primers and other Reading Books, and translated the Holy Scriptures into the native tongue. In about ten years' time, from 10,000 to 15,000 of the Malagasy had learnt to read, and many of them to write. A number had been trained as smiths, carpenters, tanners, &c.; and several professed themselves Christians. But in the year 1828 a great change took place. King Radama died, and his widow, Queen Ranavalona, assassimated the rightful heir, seized upon the kingdom, and ruled it with a rod of iron. For seven years, indeed, she allowed the Missionaries to remain, though then she did a in her power to support the ancient idolatry, and discourage the profession of the Gospel. At the end of that time a bitter persecution of the native Christians began; the English teachers were compelled to quit the island; and the infant Church of Madagascar was left, like the burning bush, encompassed with flames, but not consumed. For more than twenty years not a single European Missionary was able to visit them. Every now and then a letter would come to Mauritius, describing the cruelty they were suffering, and beseeching the prayers of their fathers in Christ. More than 100 were put to death; numbers were sold as slaves; they speak of the servitude that some of the nobles had to endure as "more grinding than the hard bondage of the Israelites under Pharaoh ;" and the sacred words were indeed true of those who escaped-"They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." But for all this, the bush was not burnt. We copy a few sentences from one of their letters, to show that the work was of God, and could not be overthrown. "How wonderful," writes a native female, "is the power of God, as seen in the spirit of anxious inquiry in the minds of the people! They come to seek the Lord, in prison with the prisoners, in the hiding-places of the persecuted; whenever and wherever 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. 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. The bonds of the prisoners, and the blood of the martyrs, have aided the growth of God's word in the hearts of men. When any are condernned to be sold as slaves, none will buy them; and when any of those who conceal themselves are seen, men do not accuse them; for the Lord softens the hearts of men. The five who are now in confinement remain each with a guard. They speak the word to all who see them, and even the jailors who watch them have become Christians. This fills the mind of the people with astonishment, and their own hearts tell them that there is a God. Blessed be God, the blood of Jesus redeems us, saves us, purifies us, and cleanses us from all sin. By a great and strong voice has Christ called us, and we have returned to Him." (See Phil. i. 12-14.) 66 Still the Queen was determined, if she could, to destroy the Christian faith out of the land. She seems to have been kept back for some years by tenderness for her only son, for he, as well as her favourite nephew, had learnt to pray with the Christians." "He must do," she said, "what he pleases." But after a while she began her pitiless persecutions again, and it was not till long afterwards that the whole story of the sufferings and faithfulness of these Malagasy converts was made known to the church at large. We cannot refrain from giving you the account of the deaths of some of these martyrs in the touching words of their own friends. The narra- tive was supplied to the Rev. W. Ellis, a valued and devoted Missionary of the London Missionary Society, by a native eyewitness who knew and loved the sufferers. Let us magnify the exceeding mighty grace of God, which carried them in triumph through the fiery trial. "They overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." "Before light," writes this Native Christian, on the appointed day, the people assembled at Analakely. Then they took the eighteen brethren that chose God, and to inherit eternal life, and they bound their hands and feet, and tied each of them to a pole, wrapped in mats, and placed them with the other prisoners. Then the sentences were read: some being adjudged to suffer fines and confiscation; some were consigned to slavery; some to prison and chains; some to flogging, and eighteen to death; four to be burned, and fourteen to be thrown 66 from the precipice, and their bodies burned to ashes. "When the sentences were all pronounced, the four who were sentenced to be burned requested that they might be put to death first, and then burned; but their request was not granted. So, when the officers had departed, they took those eighteen brethren away. The fourteen they tied by the hands and feet to long poles, which were borne on men's shoulders; and those brethren prayed, and spoke to the people as they were being carried along; and some who beheld them said that their faces were like the faces of angels. And when they came to the top of the rock they threw them down, and their bodies were afterwards dragged to be burned in the fire made for those who were burned alive. "And as they took the four who were to be burned alive to the place of execution, these Christians sang the 90th hymn, beginning, 'When our hearts are troubled,' each verse ending with, "Then remember us.' Thus they sang on the road. And when they came to Faravohitra, there they burned them, fixed between split bars. And there was a rainbow in the heavens at the time, close to the place of burning. And while burning, they sang the hymnThere is a blessed land, Making most happy: Never shall the rest depart, Nor cause of trouble come." "That was the hymn they sang while they were in the fire; and they prayed, saying, Lord, receive our spirits. Thy 6 love to us has ordained this for us. And lay not this sin to their charge.' Thus they prayed as long as they had any life. Then they died; but softly, gently. Indeed, gently was the going forth of their life; and astonished were all the people." But this dark time of trial was to have an end. A little more than a year ago the cruel Queen died, and her son, King Radama II., ascended the throne. The heathen party conspired to take away his life, but their plot was discovered and overthrown. There was universal rejoicing among the Christians. Those that were concealed came forth from their hiding places. "All the people," writes one of them, "were astonished when they saw us, that we were alive, and not yet buried, or eaten by the dogs; and there were many of the people desiring to see us, for they considered us as dead." Of old time, the cruelty of the wicked Jezebel could not root out the worship of the true God, and when Elijah thought that he only remained, the Lord said to him, "Yet have I left seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him." (See 1 Kings xix.). And so now, 7000 Christians were found in Madagascar, and this, 25 years after the last English Missionary had been driven away. And why, Christian friends, do we bring before you this work, and ask your prayers for the people of Madagascar? It is true that we are able to rejoice in the Lord's blessing on the labours of other Missionaries besides our own. It is true that this case is a remarkable case, and that "the Mission in Madagascar has been God's Own MISSION." It is true that we see here the living power of the word of God, even with no human teacher to enforce it. But our own fields of labour are so wide, that we cannot find room to speak of others in this little Quarterly Paper. And we now tell you of this wonderful work, because we have been invited to come and take our share in reaping the harvest that promises to be so plenteous. You remember how, after a long and weary night of toil, Jesus entered into Simon's ship, and brought to the fishermen that great multitude of fishes, far more than their net would hold. What did they do? "They beckoned unto their partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them. And so it is now. We have been encouraged to come and help. The good Bishop of Mauritius was requested to present to King Radama II., in our Queen's name, and with the Queen's own signature in it, a copy of those Holy Scriptures which had proved so quick and powerful in his country. The day after so doing, the Bishop had a private interview with the King, and received a most cordial invitation to do any thing that he could in any part of Madagascar for diffusing the knowledge of Christianity. "The day after that," he adds, "I visited, in company with Mr. Ellis, the four spots where martyrs had suffered; and on one occasion I addressed between 1000 and 1300 Christians in one of four chapels in which public worship was being held at that time. On each of the eleven days that I was at Antananarivo I saw Mr. Ellis, and had many grave and important conversations with him; the main result of which was, his statement of readiness to undertake Antananarivo and the central provinces, and his expression of a very earnest desire that we should occupy, as far as we could, the coast, the whole of whichnorth, east, south, and west-is open and unoccupied by any Protestant Missionaries." And so we have undertaken to send two Missionaries to Madagascar. Although it contains seven thousand Christians, there are four millions of souls there. May that Saviour, who multiplied the seven loaves so that they fed the four thousand, multiply the numbers of His servants in that great island, till Madagascar becomes the England of Africa, and the light of the glorious Gospel shines from thence on the many benighted tribes of that vast continent! Our Mission will take the sea coast, with Mauritius for its starting-point. Mr. Ellis and his companions will be inland at Antananarivo, the chief town. Mountains and forests, and many days' journey, will separate us; but we shall be one in heart, and our Master the same. And it is that Master who saith "Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest; and he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together."-John iv. 35, 36. Lo, the hills for harvest whiten, All along each distant shore; Sea-ward far the islands brighten : Light of nations! lead us o'er : : When we seek them Subscribers and Collectors of one Penny a week are entitled to a copy of this Paper free. CHRISTIAN FRIENDS THERE is perhaps no Mission more important than that established at Peshawar. It stands just at the north-west corner of the British empire in India. It may be called the door to Asia. The great countries in the middle of Asia are at present quite shut up against the Christian Missionary. Persia, Cabul, Bokhara, and the lands round about them, are under Mohammedan rule, and the people are almost all of them fierce and bigoted Mohammedans. Our hopes of carrying the Gospel to them depend chiefly on the "entering in" to them, which we may find by way of Peshawar. Peshawar itself is quite a highway of nations. The crowd in the streets is a mixed multitude. The people of the neighbourhood in handsome turbans and large white or coloured frocks; travelling merchants in sheepskin cloaks; Persians and Afghans in brown woollen tunics or flowing mantles, and caps of black sheep-skin or coloured silk; Sikhs in their tight-fitting raiment; mountaineers in various wild rough dresses; Hindus in white cotton garments and blue cloth cloaks over them, to keep them warm in the hill-country-such are some of the people whom our Missionaries meet there, and as these travellers go far away into the interior, where the living messenger of the Cross cannot follow them, they often carry back with them the tidings of what they have heard preached in the streets, or some Persian tract, which tells them of the true Prophet and Saviour of the world. This is bread cast upon the waters, which will be found after many days. The Missionaries also employ themselves, from time to time, in distributing, as our engraving represents, to the necessities of the poor and needy outside the gate of the city. This gives them frequent opportunities of preaching the Gospel. They have also a most important school there, where bearded men sit side by side with scholars half their age, and while they learn something of the English language, learn, too, something of that blessed religion which has made England what it is; and learn besides to cherish friendly feelings towards their teachers, and lose the proud and bitter prejudices which they have been taught to indulge towards all Christians. The Mission has not been established long enough for us to see as yet much fruit. The sower is now going forth bearing precious seed, and much patience is needed before the harvest be ripe; but we know that the harvest will come. It will come because God hath said it. But we feel doubly encouraged when we recollect how the Mission was commenced. About nine or ten years ago, just after Peshawar had become a British possession, the Chief Commissioner, surrounded by many of the English Officers, Judges, and Collectors of the district, proposed, at a public meeting, that there should be no delay in beginning a Mission there. True, the people were wild, bigoted, unruly, dangerous. "But," said the Commissioner, "He who has brought us here with His own right hand, will shield and bless us, if, in simple reliance upon Him, we try to do His will." And so they sent more than 10007. to the Church Missionary Society, begging that there might be no delay in sending Missionaries to Peshawar. The noble words which we have just mentioned proved most true. At the time of the terrible mutiny in India, when all seemed to depend on the wild, unruly people of Peshawar and its neighbourhood keeping quiet, peace and order reigned among them. They remained faithful to the British rule, and the same great man who invited Missionaries to the country was able to describe the wonderful peace that it enjoyed. "I have no sort of doubt," said he, "that we have been honoured because we honoured God in establishing the Mission." Our Missionaries, too, have been preserved from outward violence. On one occasion, indeed, a man made a stab with his knife at one of them, while he was preaching in the open air. But his arm was seized by the bystanders, and the Missionary's life was providentially saved, and there seems to be no peril to be feared from the people. They respect our Missionaries as men of peace, and they see that their rulers respect them. But though it has pleased God to give us so many tokens of encourage |