came, and the poor man went out to try to get work. He saw his young master, who asked him why he was not at work; and when he told him why, he said that he need not take any notice of what had passed, and asked him where he had learnt to keep the Sabbath? The poor man gave him a tract about the Sabbath. He read it, and got good from it. After this, the young man, his father, and mother turned to God. So we see that good may be done to others by our keeping God's day holy.

A person in New York found out, for twenty-five years, that all the merchants there who opened their shops on Sundays, failed, instead of getting richer.

Who is likely to gain any thing by breaking the holy day? Is not this the way to have the curse of God upon his business? But suppose a man gained ever so much money by working on the Sabbath, it would not be worth his while to do so; for what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Matt. xvi. 26.) The children of Israel picked up food for two days the day before the Sabbath, that they might not have to get any on that day. (Exodus xvi. 22-30.) Let us learn from this to cook the Sunday's dinner, and do all that we can, on Saturday, so that we and our servants may not have to work on Sunday, or to keep away from God's house. When God has said, "In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, and thy servant, and thy cattle," is it not plain that it is wrong to buy or sell meat, bread, beer, or other things, or to bake bread and dinners, to clean carriages, to take coaches, travellers, horses, and gigs into inns, or to let out horses on the Sabbath? Is it not plain that if travellers come to inns on Saturday, to stay till Monday, they ought to give as little trouble as they can, take a cold dinner on the Sunday, and have their meals at such times as may not hinder the servants from going to church both times of the day? Let us give our servants as little to do as we can. Thus the dinner can be cooked on Saturday; knives, shoes, plates, houses, &c., can be cleaned, and fires laid ready for kindling.

Oh! my friends, if you value your own souls, and the souls of your servants, let me beg you to think of these things. Do not break God's plain command, which it is for your own good to keep. Since Christ so loved us, as to die for our sins, surely we ought to love him much, and try to do his will. He says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments;" and one of these commandments is, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." "That servant who knew his Lord's will, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes." (Luke xii. 47.) What would a dying man, who has broken the Lord's Day, give, if he might have those misspent hours again? What would lost souls tell us about these things, if they could come back to this world? Would they tell us to throw them away, and to be unthankful to God for his great goodness in giving us one day in seven to spend for the good of our souls?

Some will say, perhaps, "But how many do these things?" That, alas, is but too true. But if others do wrong, and run the risk of losing their souls for ever, that is no reason why we should. The Bible, and not what others do, must be our rule. Let us do our duty, by the help of God's Holy Spirit, whether other people do or not. Let us beg others to keep the Sabbath, and not to turn their backs upon God. He has shown that he hates Sabbath-breaking; (Neh. xiii. 15-22. Num. xv. 32-36. Jer. xvii. 21-27.) and he has promised to bless those who keep this day holy, not doing their own ways, nor finding their own pleasure, nor speaking their own words. (Is. lviii. 13, 14. Is. lvi. 2, 4-7.)

"In holy duties let the day

In holy pleasures pass away;

How sweet a Sabbath thus to spend,
In hopes of one that ne'er shall end!"

MARTYRS IN MADAGASCAR.

Our readers will no doubt recollect the interesting account given in one of the numbers of the Friendly Visitor for 1838, of the martyrdom of Rafaravary, in the Island of Madagascar, and of the persecution and dispersion of the native Church in that Island, and the necessity the missionaries were under of leaving the Island. Early in the summer of last year, the Rev. David Johns, of the London Missionary Society, proceeded thither from the Mauritius, in order to ascertain the circumstances of the native Christians, and to afford them such encouragement and aid as might be practicable. The Directors have circulated the following intelligence.

During the time Mr. Johns remained at Iamatane, which was until the end of August, he had the mournful satisfaction of meeting with some of the native Christians from the capital; these stated, that, in addition to the particulars of the sufferings of the first martyr Rafaravary, already given, she was cruelly flogged for several successive days before she was put to death; and that she met her death with a degree of firmness and composure, which led even the heathen executioners repeatedly to declare, "there is some charm in the religion of the white people, which takes away the fear of death." Speaking of the native Christians who afterward suffered, Mr. Johns, in a letter dated the 6th August states. "As soon as the storm was over, the Christians gradually began to assemble in the night, in the house of Rafaralahy, situated in a village a mile and a half to the north of the capital. Here they met once or twice a-week. But another storm was now approaching. Satan put it in the heart of one who had once made a profession of Christianity, to come into their society to spy their proceedings, he then hastened to the head officer, and told him all he had seen. Rafaralahy was immediately seized and put in irons, and every thing was done to extort the names of his companions from him; but he remained inflexible, saying, "Here am I, let the Queen do what she pleases with me: I have done it, but I will not accuse my friends." After being in irons for two or three days, he was taken to the place of execution, where he was speared to death. The calmness and tranquillity with which he met death, made a deep impression on the minds of the executioners. When they came to the door of the house where he was bound, they took off the irons, and told him to go along with them, he rose immediately, and went with them;

speaking to them all the way of Jesus Christ, and how happy he felt at the thought of shortly seeing him who had loved him and died for him. On arriving at the place of execution, he requested them to allow him a few moments to commit his soul to the Saviour: this being granted, he offered a most fervent prayer for his country and for his persecuted brethren, and commended his soul to his Saviour. He then rose from his knees, and the executioners were preparing to throw him on the ground; but he said, there was no need for that; he was ready to die. He laid himself down, and was immediately put to death. His friends were allowed to bury the body in the grave of their ancestors. He was about 25 years

of age, and of a respectable family.

The number of those who are in slavery and bonds is reported to be great. The Queen proposed to put every one of them to death: to use her own expression" to destroy completely all the roots, that no sprouts might spring up hereafter:" but some of the officers advised her not to do so, as that was not the way to do it. "For,” said they, "it is the nature of the religion of the white people, the more you kill, the more people will receive it."

It is said that, as yet, the history of this persecution is unstained by the record of a single instance of apostacy: God has so upheld the faith and patience of his servants in the hour of trial, and so sustained them by the consolations of the sacred volume, that they have looked at terrors without dismay, and have emulated the examples of the confessors and martyrs of primitive ages.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO TRACT DISTRIBUTORS.

A French soldier had deserted from Algiers, and joined the enemy. Being soon after taken in an Arabian camp, he was condemned to death. A Christian friend hastened to the prison; but all he could obtain permission to do, was to leave a tract (Lady Jane Grey), with the promise that it should be delivered to him; the next day the visit at the prison-gate was repeated, and another tract (Poor Joseph) introduced for the same purpose. Not willing to leave anything untried, this Christian friend went once more to the prison-door; but it was too late! The sentence had been, as is customary in such cases, executed very speedily; and the deserter's soul was already in eternity. The disappointment of

not having seen the prisoner, who had excited so much Christian sympathy, was surely most mortifying to our friend; but what was his gratification, on being told by the prison-keeper, that the two tracts had not only been diligently read by the criminal, but that they had been made his companions to the place of execution, and exhibited by him to all the spectators! Does not this fact afford strong grounds for hoping that these little evangelical messengers had been, through divine grace, made useful to this sinner's soul? The prison-keeper assured our friend, that the two tracts had been read with interest in his family, previously to their being given to the prisoner.

Mr. Dwight, one of the American missions at Constantinople, visited Nicomedia, about sixty miles south of that city, in May, and says, "I found a truly wonderful work of the Lord going on among the Armenians, and carried on wholly by native instruments. I saw five persons who are thoroughly enlightened, and who seem to possess the spirit of the Gospel; they told me that at present there are sixteen of them, who form a little fraternity of enlightened Christians, meeting together daily for studying the Scriptures, and planning for the good of their countrymen. I had some most deeply interesting communications with them; and I could not but wonder and stand amazed at what the grace of God has done for them."

And now let me tell you how this good work of the Lord began in Nicomedia. They do not themselves know that it has any connection with missionary effort; at least, most of them do not; and yet we can trace it directly, from its beginning, to the instrumentality of one of our missionaries. About six or seven years ago,

Mr. Goodall went to Broosa, passing through Nicomedia. While there, he visited the Armenian church, had some conversation with one of the priests, and left some books, and then passed on his way. Another priest, who did not see Mr. Goodall, afterwards came into possession of one of the tracts, viz., The Dairyman's Daughter, in Armeno-Turkish, printed at our press in Malta; and the reading of that tract was the means, undoubtedly, of first opening his mind, and leading him to search for the truth, which he appears now truly to have found. So far as we know, this was the beginning of the good work at Nicomedia.-Missionary Register.