Protestant Progress in Madagascar.
By S.
After the trying times through which evangelical mission work has passed in Madagascar, and after the bitter persecutions from which native Christians there have suffered, it is refreshing to learn that there is greater freedom there now both for the missionary and the convert. The following spoken at the recent London Missionary Society’s anniversary services will give some idea of the changed conditions:— “Then had the churches rest . . . and were edified; and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied;” in some such terms might the peaceful progress of the Malagasy churches of to-day be described. The period of mistrust and suspicion with which those associated with this society were regarded has ended, and the French republic recognizes the loyalty of Protestant native churches, and frankly accepts the labors of British missionaries as contributing to the progress and enlightenment of their new possession. No word of complaint now reaches us. For the relief thus secured we can hardly be too thankful. Looking back over the past year, the event which more than all others strikes the onlooker is the resumption of the charge of the elementary schools in L. M. S. districts. The friendly arrangement made with the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, having served its immediate purpose, was terminated by mutual consent, and each mission is now responsible for the schools in its own districts. The Methodist Times in speaking of the same matter, says:— “One of the prominent figures in France at the present moment, is General Gallieni, the returned governor-general of Madagascar. His pacification of that island has been marked by harsh and repressive measures which it is impossible to overlook. But we are glad to note, on the testimony of Mr. Henry Clarke, the Quaker missionary in Madagascar, that General Gallieni’s tenure of office has established peace, security of life and property, and liberty of worship for all creeds. As soon as the governor-general fully understood that English Protestant missionaries, unlike their Jesuit rivals, were laboring conscientiously for the uplifting of the natives, he promptly put a stop to the open persecution of Protestants, which the malice and false charges of the Jesuits had provoked. In a public speech delivered a few days before his departure from Antananarivo, General Gallieni laid down the principle of full and perfect religious liberty. All this is exceedingly gratifying, and is one more link in the chain of evidence that France, even in her distant colonies, is at last awakening to the true inwardness of the mischievous domination exercised by the ring of Italian Jesuits at the Vatican, whose wicked political ambitions are working evil in every part of the world which is infatuated enough to submit to them.” Other quotations might be given to the same effect; but these are sufficient to show how the Lord is going before His workers and preparing the way for the knowledge of the Gospel to reach the people in the darkened corners of the world.