542 LIFE OF DA VII) LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



answers for those who put it forth, if they do so in the spirit in which Gib- 

 bon set in array his list of secondary causes, as if to exclude the great First 

 Cause. , 



" In the first place, the Christian^ of Madagascar stood the test of perse- 

 cution to the death, and came out of the ordeal more than a conqueror ; and 

 having asserted its spiritual power under a Queen who was a fanatical perse- 

 cutor, it is the less likely to sink into weakness under a Queen that is acting 

 as the mother of her people, and whose personal example is tender and 

 womanly as well as Christian. 



" But, secondly, there is no proof that any undue interference with the 

 freedom of the Church has been attempted by the Queen in her official or 

 in her private character. She attended large assemblies when the deputation 

 was in the island — as, for example, on the 9th of October last year, when 

 she appeared on the platform at a meeting, where, after a good hour's sing- 

 ing of psalms and hymns, the assemblage of men on the one side and women 

 on the other, amounting in number to fifteen thousand, were addressed by 

 different native ministers. 



"The Church has thus been spreading spontaneously. In the district of 

 Sihanaka, for example, where five years ago an English missionary had gone, 

 but was not able to continue, a church had been formed, and a large place 

 of worship was filled from Sabbath to Sabbath ; the native minister had, as a 

 young man, learned by stealth the proscribed art of reading, by scanning the 

 backs and the contents of letters sent to his master, a military commander. 

 This lad afterwards became a Christian. By his force of character he was 

 promoted to be a judge, and when a church was formed, within the last five 

 years, he was appointed as its pastor. Since that time this church has sent 

 out several teachers to the neighbouring villages, and many of the grown-up 

 people have learned to read. The Word has thus grown mightily and pre- 

 vailed, in a district where it was unknown a few years ago, and where there 

 is a population of forty thousand souls. 



" Thus over Madagascar the word of God is quickly spreading; soon it 

 will be said of the island, as it now can be said of the larger portion of it, 

 that ' the idols are utterly abolished.' There is a growing multitude of devout 

 worshippers. The people are willing to help each other in spiritual things. 

 Workers there are volunteers — some of the best preachers being of this class 

 — men in the civil and military service of the Government; the Government 

 itself keeping clear of the snare of mixing up things civil and sacred. 



"It is calculated that a quarter of a million of people have already been 

 outwardly gathered under the Christian standard. But as Dr. Mullens, who 

 tells the story of Madagascar with thrilling effect, has said, reduce this num- 

 ber as you please, bring down the sixty thousand nominal members to twenty 

 or twenty-five thousand men and women who know Christ — these scattered 



