Volltext Seite (XML)
G VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. CHAP. I. his seventeenth year. In 1846, after much conference with some of the Christians, this youthful prince was induced to renounce the superstitions of his country. He soon afterwards declared himself a Christian, and was baptized; and, whatever may be the extent to which he is himself the subject of reli gious influence, he has ever since proved a generous, kind, and faithful friend to the Christians. Through his influence, and that of others, Eamonja, a prince of the highest rank, being the son of the queen’s sister, was induced to study the Bible, and ultimately to declare his conviction of its truth. This prince publicly identified himself with the Christians, and has ever since, through all their fearful vicissitudes of peril and sorrow, proved himself one of their most efficient and faithful friends, as well as the honourable and consistent exemplar of their principles; sometimes pleading with the queen on their behalf, and setting forth—not always without something like success—the excellency and the value of the Holy Scriptures. The sympathy of her son with the Christians, and his adop tion of their faith, is said to have been exceedingly offensive to the queen, who has regarded him as being the victim of the incantations or witchcraft of the Christians. This feeling, heightened perhaps by unfavourable representations from the political rivals of the prince, her son, may have hastened the violent persecution which occurred in the year 1849. In this fearful season of extreme trial, more than 2000 persons were implicated, many were subjected to heavy punishments, and eighteen individuals, including some of high rank and station, were put to death. It was indeed a time of the most severe sifting which the persecuted Church in Madagascar had yet been called to pass through; and numbers, as might be ex- pected, during such a season, deserted from their ranks. On the other hand, scarcely had the fierceness of their persecu tors begun to subside, before others who had witnessed the un-