536 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
cn account of their adherence to the Christian faith. Multi¬ 
plied as, according to all accounts, the causes of suffering 
$ 
and terror seem to have become, no rumour even has been 
heard of any one having apostatized; while many statements 
were given of the steadfastness of the Christians, or, as the 
heathen natives called it, their determined stubbornness or 
obstinacy. 
How far these rumours may have any foundation in truth, 
it is, in the absence of authentic information, impossible to 
say. More direct intelligence will probably, at no distant 
period, place the state of the native Christians beyond uncer¬ 
tainty or doubt. In the mean time, deeply and affectionately 
as every Christian, with whatever section of the church he 
may be united, must sympathize with the faithful disciples 
against whom the fury of the oppressor still continues to 
rage, the evident peril in which they stand will excite 
more intense and lively interest in their behalf, produce 
more holy yearnings of soul over those apparently appointed 
unto death, and impel more urgently to strong cries and 
tears, to more agonizing wrestling in prayer until the arm 
of Omnipotence be made bare, the people be delivered, and 
the name of the Lord be exalted among the heathen. 
In all seasons of extremity, the church has had recourse 
to prayer; that remedy never has failed, and will not fail 
now: and dark and desolate as is the scene which Mada¬ 
gascar presents, there is nothing, even in its most appalling 
features, to justify despondency, but every thing to inspire 
confidence and encourage hope. No strange thing has hap¬ 
pened ; the Church of Christ in every age has been opposed 
by the agents of Satanic enmity and rage, and it has always 
been triumphant. In every country to which the gospe 7 
has been introduced, it has roused the spirit of murderous 
persecution, but it has always proved invincible. Christianity 
