332 S YMBOLIC A CTIONS. 



feelings have rejoiced in the words, "When my foot slipped, 

 Thy mercy, Lord, held me up." 



And while the paths in Madagascar are difficult enough 

 in the day, they become positively dangerous by night. As 

 we stumble into a deep hole, or our feet come in sharp 

 contact with a rough stone, we find new meaning in the 

 words, "Make straight paths for your feet," "Take up the 

 stumbling-block out of the way of My people," " Thou shalt 

 walk, and thy foot shall not stumble." And should we chance 

 to be overtaken by darkness after the brief tropical twilight, 

 how we recall the prayer, "Lighten my darkness, Lord," 

 and welcome the approach of a friendly torch or lantern, 

 and are reminded of the text, " Thy word is a lamp unto 

 my feet, and a light unto my path." 



In such circumstances as these a large class of words in 

 the Bible have a freshness and reality which they never 

 acquire in our own country. 



Symbolic Ads and Figurative Language. — When reading 

 the Bible we frequently meet with examples of the use of 

 symbolic acts to impress some important truth upon the 

 witnesses of such actions. The prophets of the Old Dispen- 

 sation frequently received Divine commands to use such 

 teaching; thus, Ezekiel taught by eating a roll (iii. 1-3), by 

 the mimic siege of a tile upon which Jerusalem was por- 

 trayed (iv.), by the use of a chain (vii. 23), of a boiling pot 

 (xxiv. 1-4), by the uniting of two sticks (xxxvii. 15-17), 

 and by many other symbolic actions ; and false prophets also 

 did the like, one of them making horns of iron to give vain 

 confidence to an ungodly king (see 1 Kings xxii. 1 1). 



In Malagasy history there are some interesting examples 

 of a similar employment of symbolic actions, especially before 

 the general use of writing had made written letters common. 

 Towards the close of the last century the King of Imenna, 

 the central province of Madagascar, had reduced under his 

 authority a great part of the interior of the island, and, con- 

 fident in his own power, sent a messenger to the principal 

 chief of the southern central province, Betsileo, telling him 

 that he was " his son " (a common Malagasy expression, 

 implying that one person is subordinate to another), and 



