158 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. chap. vi. 



here given of the consistent lives of those who were regarded 

 as Christians and continued to be numbered with the people 

 of Grod. Doubtless there were exceptions, but they were only- 

 exceptions ; and such was the general nature of the evidence 

 given in their favour, and such, we have reason to believe, 

 had been in reality the blameless tenour of their lives. 



At the time of my visit, these people had been seventeen 

 or eighteen years without any foreign teachers, or any ex- 

 perienced counsellor or guide ; and as I heard that at 

 different times there had been considerable numbers, I was 

 led to make inquiries respecting the course they had pursued 

 in reference to such proceedings as would be likely to be 

 engaged in by persons dwelling near or holding social inter- 

 course together. Wliile I heard of nothing to disturb the 

 unselfish affection, the benevolent consideration, and the 

 sacred fellowship which they seem to have shared together, 

 I was as much surprised as delighted to find that their 

 organisation for the purpose of mutual edification and the 

 spiritual benefit of others, had been according to the plain 

 and simple model propounded in the Holy Scriptures. Just as 

 it is there exhibited, so far as their means admitted and their 

 necessities required, it had been by them adopted ; and 

 whatever distinctive form their ecclesiastical polity, if such a 

 term be applicable, may in any future age assume, all that 

 can be said of the Martyr Church of Madagascar in its earlier 

 years is, that it has been built by its own members, guided, 

 we trust, by Grod's Spirit, upon the foundation of the few 

 solid and imperishable principles set forth in the teaching of 

 the New Testament. 



It has been already stated that the government of Mada- 

 gascar had forbidden the performance of any act of Christian 

 worship under the severest penalties. There has consequently 

 been no public worship or other outward religious observance ; 

 but I learned that in reference to those teachins^s which 



