February 27, 1849. BUT the sight which most deeply penetrated many hearts, and stirred their inmost feelings, was that of the true, steadfast confessors who had refused to bow down and worship the idols of Ranavalomanjaka. Outwardly there was everything to repel, or to awaken pity. Each Christian man and woman was fastened with cords to two poles, their bodies wrapped in torn and soiled pieces of matting, in token of their degradation, their mouths filled with rag to prevent their speaking of the Saviour; yet these eighteen, the noble, the civilian, the slave—all equal now, children of God going to glory—formed, as they were borne along—the young and faithful Ranivò walking alone at the end of the illustrious line—the grandest procession which the sun of Madagascar had ever shone upon.
When the pile was kindled, and the flames were rising, they prayed and praised the Lord. Among the utterances then heard by those around them were these—”Lord Jesus, receive our spirits—lay not this sin to their charge;” and, as if visions of the future triumphs of the Lord were given to their departing spirits, one was heard to exclaim, “His name, His praise, shall endure for ever and ever.”
Once, if not more than once, the falling rain extinguished the fire, which was rekindled; and to one of the sufferers the pains of maternity were added to those of the flames. While their spirits were thus enduring and praying, a large and triple rainbow, the sign of God’s promise and faithfulness, was stretched across the heavens, one end seeming to rest upon the spot when the martyrs’ spirits were departing. Some of the spectators, to whom the phenomenon appeared supernatural, fled in terror; but one, who faithfully remained to the end, records of the Christians—”They prayed as long as they had any life. Then they died; but softly, gently. Indeed, gentle was the going forth of their life, and astonished were all the people around that beheld the burning of them there.”
The transactions on the plain of judgment were ended. Liberty and life at the price of apostacy had been offered, and by some few, occasionally associated with the Christians, it had been accepted; but by the great body of the accused, amounting to between two and three thousand, it had been deliberately declined. Sentence against the followers of Christ had been pronounced. And, as in general the punishment immediately follows the passing of the sentence, nothing now remained but its infliction. The criminals of highest rank, in whose veins the blood of kings was supposed to flow, had already been sent away to die. In the same order and manner in which they had been brought to receive judgment, the remaining fourteen confessors were now taken along the public roads, through the agitated and deeply affected crowds in the city, to Ampamarinana, the Tarpeian rock of Madagascar. Here, on the top of a lofty precipice, at the edge of the western crest of the mountain on which the city is built, the matting wrapped round their bodies was removed, but their arms remained pinioned, and their ankles were bound with cords. Thus bound, they were taken one by one to the edge of the precipice, and either pushed, or laid down and rolled, or kicked over the downward curving edge, whence they fell fifty or sixty feet, when, striking a projecting ledge, they bounded off and fell amongst jagged and broken fragments of granite lying at the base of the precipice, one hundred and fifty feet below the edge from which they had been hurled. Life was generally extinct. One distinguished Christian, when the matting in which he was wrapped had been removed, is said to have asked permission to stand and view once more the scene before him. His request was granted, and, after looking at each familiar object, he remained silent a few minutes, as if in prayer; then, forced over the precipice, he was heard singing a Christian hymn as his body descended, to be crushed and broken in death.—Ellis’s Martyr Church of Madagascar.