Fair Nature here most lavishly has given
Abundance to this Indian Ocean Isle,
And woods and mountains, hills and valleys green,
All meet the eye with smiling plenty crowned.
Two Malagese with weary, anxious look,
Have left a tedious hundred miles behind,
And sought the stranger landed on their shores,
To ask a favor humbly from his hands;
Do they seek gifts of gold and silver store?
And plead so earnestly for costly gems?
Oh no, not these! the Bible's what they crave,
For though their Country's rich in mineral wealth,
This
Pearl
of greatest price-God's Holy Word,
Has been prohibited their Island home.
But they had heard the Sacred Scriptures read,
And 'some of David's words' they long possessed,
In common with their families and friends,
And cautiously unfolding, they displayed
A few worn pages of the 'Book of Psalms.'
The good man wished this cherished relic his,
And gave them a new volume in return,
Which they received with joy, well known to those
Who've hungered for the bread of life in vain,
Through weary years of persecution's fires.
What Christian heart can contemplate this scene
Without emotion deep! A barberous Queen
Through a long reign, hand blindly tried to crush
The pure religion spreading through her realm;
And cruel death, or slavery, was the fate
Of many faithful followers of the Lamb.
But still the heavenly flame was not put out:
Its Soveriegn Author destined it to live:
His Holy Word was in their souls enshrined-

His
was the work, to
Him
be all the praise.
The wicked Tyrant's fell career has closed,
And
one
succeeds, not to the Truth opposed;
The precious gospel can be heard once more,
On Madagascar's fair and fertile shore.