426 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
ciiap. xv. 
name’s sake. The following exact and verbatim statements 
refer to the severe persecution in the year 1849, and will 
make their own appeal to every heart. They are offered 
without apprehension, as those to whom they refer have 
passed into a world where “ the fury of the oppressor ” and 
the cruelty of the persecutor can never enter. 
“ On the 14th of March, 1849, the officer before whom the 
Christians were examined said, 4 Do you pray to the sun, or 
the moon, or the earth?’ 
“ R-answered, ‘I do not pray to these, for the hand of 
God made them.’ 
“‘Do you pray to the twelve mountains that are sacred?’ 
“ R-. ‘ I do not pray to them, for they are mountains.’ 
“ ‘ Do you pray to the idols that render sacred the kings ? ’ 
“ R-. ‘ I do not pray to them, for the hand of man 
made them.’ 
“‘Do you pray to the ancestors of the sovereigns?’ 
“R-. ‘Kings and rulers are given by God that we 
should serve and obey them, and render them homage. 
Nevertheless they are only men like ourselves: when we pray, 
we pray to God alone.’ 
“ ‘ You make distinct, and observe the Sabbath day.’ 
“ R-. ‘ That is the day of the great God; for in six days 
the Lord made all His works. But God rested on the seventh, 
and He caused it to be holy; and I rest, or keep sacred that 
day.’ 
“ And in similar manner answered all the Christians. And 
when a man, who had kept aloof, saw that one—a woman — 
did not deny God, and remembered that to deny God was 
followed with compunction, he went and spoke as the others 
had done. And when these brethren and sisters were bound, 
the husband of one of them, who had heard their confession, 
came and said to them, ‘ Be not afraid, for it is well if for 
