The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Sheet 123

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

that she was determined to remain true to the
religion of her fathers, and she declared that every
professing Christian would be treated as a criminal.
Praying, attending Christian worship, observing
Christian ordinances and customs, and associating
with Christians she denounced as crimes which she
would severely punish. All who had committed one
or more of these “crimes” were to report within
a week to the proper authorities. All who did not
report within the week were to be put to death.

The queen’s order spread great alarm throughout
her kingdom, for there were only few families,
especially near the capital, who had no members
guilty of one or more of the specified offenses. But
while some denied their faith, most of the Chris-
tians were steadfast and boldly confessed their faith
when they appeared before the judges.

Popular sentiment did not allow the queen to go
to extreme lengths at first, so she simply reduced
the offenders in rank or else imposed a fine upon
them. In doing this, however, she warned them that
a repetition would bring down upon them the death
penalty. All Christians were ordered to give up all
books in their possession. This was.a very hard
blow, for they dearly loved their Bibles. The Chris-
tians hid their Testaments and Bibles under the
roofs of their houses and buried them under the
floors. Thus many copies of the sacred writings
were saved from destruction.

Days of Darkness.

With great reluctance all but two of the mis-
sionaries left the island. These two were soon told
that they must also leave. It is reported that a poor
man in very bad health, who had been confined to
his house by illness for five months, on hearing that
his beloved teachers were about to leave and judging
that this would be his last chance to get a Bible,
walked to the missionary’s place of living, a dis-
tance of sixty miles. When a copy of the sacred
Book was handed to him after he had made the long
and painful journey, he pressed it to his breast and
cried, “This is the Word of eternal life, and I will
take as much care of it as of my own life.” When
the authorities heard of what he had done, he was
compelled to flee to the forests to escape death.

The departure of the last two missionaries
severed all communications of the island with the
rest of the world. What all happened during the
long years of cruel persecution is to a great extent
a sealed book, the bloody pages of which will not be

-revealed until eternity. But some facts have come
down to us from the lips of surviving Christians.

121

Bold Confessors.

The prohibition of Christian worship did not
prevent the Malagasy Christians from gathering for
divine worship. The first victim of the bloody per-
secutions that now began was a woman of noble
rank who had offered her house to her fellow-Chris-
tians as a place of worship. When the queen heard
that a few Christians gathered at the home of this
Christian woman, she flew into a great rage and
cried in her fury, “Is it possible that any one will
dare to defy me? Go and put that woman to death
at once!” This order, however, the queen later
changed to a fine for the sake of the lady’s family.
But she was warned that a repetition of the offense
would mean certain death.

This faithful confessor removed from the capital,
for safety’s sake, to a place called Ambatonakanga.
But soon rumors reached the capital that meetings
were being held in her home, and ten of the accused
were immediately arrested. Efforts made to compel
Rafarafavy — such was the brave woman’s name —
to divulge the names of others who had attended
the meetings were futile. But Rasalama, one of the
accused already in prison, was in some way entrapped
to mention the names of seven persons not previ-
ously impeached, and these were at once cast into
prison with the other ten.

Two weeks later Rafarafavy was arrested in her
own house and put in chains. The queen’s orders
were that.she should be executed the next morning
at an early hour. But a fierce fire broke out during
the night and threw the whole city into confusion;
this caused her execution to be delayed for the time
being, and later it was changed to lifelong slavery.

(To be concluded.) F.J.L.

A China Letter.

Through the kindness of Pastor F. C. Streufert

we are able to let our readers read a most interesting
letter from Hankow, China: —

Dear FRIENDS: —

It has been many months since I have had the
pleasure of a visit with you by mail. But the Lord’s
wireless is always in working order, and I do not feel
so far away from you as all the nuniber of miles
would indicate. In the past year we have had many
blessings to be thankful for, not the least among
them the prayers of you faithful ones in the home-
land. Our trials in China are mostly the same as
those of the workers in the Lord’s vineyard at home,