JAMAICA IN 1815 AND IN 1840. DR. ALDER's interesting contrast of Missionary affairs of 1815 and 1840, revived recollections in my mind of events which, if published in one of our periodicals, might inspire feelings of gratitude to Al. mighty God, for the cessation of persecution and hostilities to divine truth, in one of the most interesting fields of Missionary labour connected with our Society. It may also encourage the friends of Missions to increased diligence and liberality, by showing that their contributions and labours have not been "in vain in the Lord." During a part of the year 1815 there was not a Protestant Missionary, of any Society, licensed to preach in the island of Jamaica; and none were allowed publicly to do so, especially in Kingston, without such a licence. It is true, there was a Moravian; but he, confining his labours to an estate, never sought such a licence; nor was it, in his case, required. After the death of Mr. Burgar, in 1816, I was the only licensed Missionary in the island, at least for some time; and I well remember the trembling anxiety I occasionally felt, lest I too should fall by death, amidst so much appalling disease, and the island be again left altogether in its former state of destitution of those means of grace afforded by Missionary labour. But what has God wrought! There are now about thirty Missionaries of our own denomination, besides a great number of Baptist, London, Scottish, and Moravian Missionaries. "It is the Lord's doing, and is marvellous in our eyes." I think that perhaps most of your readers might be profited, and at this time gratified, by the following narrative of MISSIONARY DIFFICULTIES IN 1815. WE landed at Annotta-Bay, in the island, Nov. 26th, 1814, and proceeded to Job's-Hill, in St. Mary's Mountains, being on our way towards Kingston. Here we spent a few days, by way of seasoning us for the climate; and here, also, I preached my first sermon in Jamaica, in the house of an old free Negress of the name of Capelton, about whom a strange tale was told. It was said, that in her own country she had been put up to fatten for the butcher's knife; which death she escaped, because she would not fatten : hence, this failing, she was, with other slaves, sent to Jamaica. I have thought, however, that she might have been mistaken, and labouring under the usual impression, namely, that the Negroes were enslaved and sold for food; for this is still a prevailing idea, as appears from the most recent information. Be this as it may, she was fat enough when I saw her, and, through a merciful Providence, had obtained her freedom from slavery, and then lived on her own little property, and had sought, and I trust had found, "liberty through the blood of the Lamb." Here we heard that Mr. Davies was dead, and the chapel in Kingston closed, after being open for divine service about three months since the commencement of the persecution. In a few days we proceeded to Kingston, and found Mr. Wiggins an emaciated Missionary, though young; who had been several years on the island, but had never been permitted to exercise his ministry in the city. He had, however, thought it right to make the attempt, and for preaching twice had been imprisoned one month in the common jail. As the Quarter Sessions were just over, I presented a petition to the City Council, for permission to open the chapel; but failed. Before the next Sessions Mr. Burgar arrived, and we each applied; but a party of Magistrates designating themselves Anti-Wesleyans, and who were most determined enemies, took possession of the bench, and we were peremptorily refused permission to qualify, by taking and subscribing the usual oaths. A peti tion, got up by a number of respect able white residents, was presented to the adjourned Court, held the next day; but to no purpose. Shortly after this, Mr. and Mrs. Burgar were removed to MorantBay, where we had a chapel, and a considerable society, and where our people were not so much persecuted. I remained in Kingston, using my best endeavours to obtain religious liberty. We had then a petition drawn up for the free black and coloured people, and signed by about fourteen hundred persons, and presented to the Court of Common Council; but this only increased the rage of our enemies, and was thrown under the table. We then sought advice from the most eminent Lawyers in the island, had interviews with different Magistrates, and strove to prepare the way for my appearance at the next Court of Quarter Sessions. I attended; but to no purpose, as our bitterest enemies had again taken possession of the magisterial bench. Well, we were cast down, but our hopes not wholly destroyed: we wrote to our Committee in London, but they could afford us no help. A petition was drawn up, and numerously signed by the white inhabitants of Kingston, and presented to His Grace the Duke of Manchester, the then Governor-in-Chief; but he declined interfering with the municipal authorities of Kingston. Refuge failed us, and my heart sank within me: our enemies, in every step we took, were triumphant. So dominant were they, that we could not have a few friends with us at family prayer, especially if we sang, met a class, held a prayer-meeting,but, if discovered, we were subject to a heavy fine and imprisonment. Our friends did try to meet their classes as far as they could unobserved. An aged coloured female used to speak to a few people, in a sunken grave in the churchyard, between the hours of service; and sometimes a few friends would meet together for prayer in some house, in which there was a front and back door; that, perchance, an officer entering one, they might flee out at another. The only means we had of doing good to our society was, visiting the sick, and administering the sacrament to them, and a few of their friends who might be got together, and admitted into a sick room; and at the burial of the dead. We felt it hard, that, as Protestants, who could boast of as much loyalty to our Sovereign as any of his subjects, we should be deprived of all our religious privileges in one of His Majesty's principal colonies. The church was crowded out chiefly with our people, and was quite within view of our chapel. The Jews had two large synagogues, which they attended when they pleased. The Popish chapel was within two or three hundred yards, and open nearly every day, and attended chiefly by foreigners, French, Spaniards, Portuguese, &c. These things were hard for a free-born Englishman to bear, in an English colony. The Quarter Sessions drew on again; but our enemies took care to be at their post of opposition, being early enough to take their seats on the bench. Our Leaders began now to despair, and openly to express their belief that they should never again enjoy their religious privileges. Perceiving that our society could not long be held together under such a fiery persecution, and recollecting the words of my Lord and Saviour, "If they persecute you in one city, flee to another," I came to the determination of leaving the island, for some place where I might preach the Gospel. I communicated my intention to a member of the Common Council, a particular friend; but he advised me to make another effort, and had a plan to propose to me, which he thought might succeed but this would require profound secrecy on the part of each of us; nothing was to escape from our lips to our nearest friends, excepting to those who would have to take a part in carrying out the plan. He proposed to speak to two or three Magistrates who were friendly, and in whom he could confide; and there were two more to whom I had access, and in whom I could repose confidence. We were to get these gentlemen privately pledged to be in the Court-House early at the next Sessions, and to take their seats before our enemies arrived. I have still the very note sent me by this gentleman, when he had seen the Magistrates referred to, stating their concurrence. Another part of the plan was this, that I was not to be seen in the neighbourhood of the Court-House that morning, that our enemies might suppose that there was no intention to renew the application; but to be in a certain house until he had our friends fairly seated on the bench, and he would send for me. It was an hour of trembling anxiety for the ark of God, and of much inward prayer. In due time, however, his messenger arrived. I instantly stepped into the CourtHouse, presented my letter to the Clerk of the Peace, to move the Court, and also presented a certificate for the licensing of the chapel, which had never before been regularly enrolled as a place of public worship, took the oaths, and received a certificate of the same, and a separate one for the chapel. Well, the thing had been managed with so much secrecy, that neither friends nor enemies would believe it. The old coloured female, who had met a class in the sunken grave, was in the Mission-house yard when I returned home. I told her; but although she had never doubted me before, she did then. On Sunday, Dec. 3d, the following little ceremony took place in the opening of the chapel-gates : We had in the society a venerable woman, Mrs. M. A. A. Smith, a refugee from the States of America, who, with her husband, had been obliged to fly for their loyalty, at the revolution. She was a white lady. This excellent woman had first invited Dr. Coke to visit Ja maica, and had made one of the first eight members of the society. She was a person of various and extensive reading, and of undaunted courage; and her heroism had been strikingly displayed when she defended the Doctor with her scissors, against a number of young gentlemen who had annoyed and threatened him whilst preaching in Kingston. She had also stood by our cause during all its persecutions, and had been a wise counsellor and a faithful friend. When the hour of service drew nigh, I thought it right that-after the gates of God's house had been closed against his people for so many years, with the exception of the three months already mentioned-I ought to confer the honour of opening them on this "mother in Israel." I therefore lifted the large bar, and she, with a flood of tears, opened the gates of the Lord's house, lifting up her voice in prayer, that they might never more be closed: and, thank God, that petition was granted; for they never have. Such a scene I never before or since witnessed, and shall never see again. It is a remarkable fact, that, at the commencement of this persecution, when her mind was in deep distress from the aspect of affairs, she had had recourse to the word of God, and had opened on that passage, "And ye shall have tribulation ten days." She closed the book, and said, "Good Lord, and shall we have persecution ten years? Strange as it may appear, she reckoned that, up to this time, the persecution had lasted about ten years. Such was the state of the Wesleyan Mission in Jamaica, in 1815, as witnessed by Your humble servant, JOHN SHIPMAN. Cleckheaton, June 8th, 1842. 1. The Sufficiency of Holy Scripture as the Rule of Faith; being a Sermon delivered at the Cathedral Church of St. John, Calcutta, at an Ordination holden on Sunday, May 2d, 1841. By Daniel, Lord Bishop of Calcutta, and Metropolitan of India. 8ro. London. Hatchards. 2. A Letter to the Laity of the Church of England, on the Subject of recent Misrepresentations of Church Principles. By the Rev. Alexander Watson, M. A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; Licentiate of Theology in the University of Durham; Assistant Minister of St. John's, Cheltenham. Svo. pp. 196. London. Rivingtons. 3. Via Media: a Sermon, preached before the University of Oxford, in Christ Church Cathedral, on Sunday, January 23d, 1842. By the Rev. R. W. Jelf, D.D, Canon of Christ Church, and late Fellow of Oriel College. 8vo. pp. 39. London. Rivingtons. 4. Puseyism; or, the Errors of the Times. By the Rev. R. Ferguson, Minister of Brickfield Chapel, Stratford, London. 18mo. pp. 72. London. Snow. 5. A Collection of Papers connected with the Theological Movement of 1833. By the Hon. and Rev. A. P. Perceval, B. C. L., one of Her Majesty's Chaplains. 8vo. pp. 107. London. Rivingtons. 66 6. A Letter to the Churchmen of Leeds, occasioned by the singular Mis-statements of Church Principles, in A new Tract for the Times." By the Rev. G. A. Poole, M.A. 12mo. pp. 8. Leeds. Green. 7. Three Sermons on the Church. Preached in the Parish Church of St. James, Westminster, during Lent, 1842. By Charles James, Lord Bishop of London. Fourth Edition. 8vo. pp. 76. London. Fellowes. 8. The Catechism of Puseyism. A Plain Tract for Plain People. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 16. London. Hatchards and Seeleys. 9. The Sect everywhere spoken against. A Sermon, preached in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, Bordesley, Birmingham, on the Morning of the third Sunday after Easter, 1842. By the Rev. J. Oldknow, M. A, of Christ's College, Cambridge, Minister of the Chapel. 8vo. pp. 23. London. Rivingtons. 10. Two Sermons on Baptismal Regeneration, and on the receiving of the Body and Blood of Christ in the holy Eucharist, preached at St. Chad's Church, Shrewsbury: with a few Words applicable to the present Times. By the Rev. W. Linwood, B.A., M.R.A.S.; Student of C. C., Oxford, Curate of St. Chad's, Shrewsbury, and one of the Masters in Shrewsbury Schools. 11. Vindication of the Teaching and Services of the Church, from an imputed Tendency towards Romanism. A Sermon, preached on the fifth Sunday after Easter, 1841, at Christ-Church, Hoxton. By William Scott, M. A., Perpetual Curate. 12mo. pp. 24. London. Barns. 12. Puseyism not a Popish Bane, but a Catholic Antidote. By Presbyter Anglo-Catholicus. 8vo. pp. 24. London. Rivingtons. 13. The Moderation of the Church of England: a Sermon, by W. F. Hook, D.D., Vicar of Leeds, &c. 12mo. pp. 24. London. Rivingtons. 14. A Letter to certain Lay-Members of the Church of England, who have memorialized His Grace the Primate on the Subject of Tracts for the Times." By no Tract Writer. 8vo. pp. 20 London. Rivingtons. "The 15. A Letter to the Rev. C. P. Golightly, occasioned by his Communication to the Standard Newspaper, charging certain Members of the University of Oxford with dishonestly making Use of their Positions within the Pale of the Established Church, in order to propagate Popery. By William Palmer, M. A., Fellow and Tutor of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, and Deacon in the Church of England. 8vo. pp. 16. Oxford. 16. Three Letters to the Rev. W. Palmer, Fellow and Tutor of Magdalene College, Oxford. By F. D. Maurice, A. M., Chaplain of Guy's Hospital, and Professor of English Literature at King's College, London. 8vo. pp. 91. London. Rivingtons and Darton. 17. A Letter to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, on some Circumstances connected with the present Crisis in the English Church. By the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D., &c., &c. With an Appendix to the Third 18. A Letter to the Right Rev. John Bird, Lord Bishop of Chester: with Remarks on his late Charge, more especially as it relates to the Doctrine of Justification; with a Reference to the state of Things in the University of Oxford. By the Hon. and Rev. A. P. Perceval, B. C. L., &c., &c. 8vo. pp. 31. London. Rivingtons. 19. The Case as it is: or, a Reply to the Letter of Dr. Pusey to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury; including a compendious Statement of the Doctrines and Views of the Tractators, as expressed by themselves. By W. Goode, M. A., Rector of St. Antholin, London. 8vo. pp. 80. London. Hatchards. 20. The present Crisis of the Church; or, the recent Episcopal Charges, vindicated. A Letter to the Lord Bishop of Durham, in Reply to that of Dr. Pusey to the Archbishop of Canterbury. By the Rev. J. Davies, B.D., Rector of Gateshead, &c. 8vo. pp. 40. London. Hatchards. 21. Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocess of Oxford. By Richard Bagot, D. D., Bishop of Oxford, at his fourth Visitation, May, 1842. 8vo. pp. 36. Oxford. Parker. Also published in "The Record" Newspaper, May 26th, and the Supplement to the "Times," June 6th. IN transcribing these titles, we have been reminded of a remark made many years since by a distinguished reviewer, while engaged in the same way, "That the batch of pamphlets satisfactorily proved one thing at least ; namely, that the question was not yet at rest." And some of those now before us prove very little beside. But we give them a record here, as supplying evidence of the universal interest which the Tractarian controversy excites. The list might have been considerably enlarged; but it now includes persons of almost every station, in almost all parts of the country, and of very different orders of mind. We are not sure that we should not also have inserted the publications of Bishop Doane, of New-Jersey, Bishop Meade, of Virginia, Mr. Boardman, the Presbyterian, and Mr. Livingston, the soi-disant Quaker of New-York, as showing, that it is exciting a similar interest among all classes in America, and literally shakes the world from the Ganges to the Mississippi; but our chief business is with our own coun try. A detailed notice of these various productions would be trifling; but in passing, we may remark, that those who wish to possess a permanent record of the rise of this most remarkable excitement, drawn up with care, and in a manly style, and accompanied with much valuable illustrative matter, must have recourse to No. 5. The Catechism, No. 8, is a clear and forcible statement of the abominations of the system, much in the same style with an article inserted in our March Number. It would be greatly improved, however, by leaving out the extracts from low newspapers, and by inserting detailed references to the passages quoted. Nos. 3 and 13, are chiefly remarkable for their straightforward, uncompromising assertion of what the authors believe to be the principles and objects of the established Church, which may be shortly summed up in one memorable sentence : "She would catholicise Protestants, she would reform Catholics!" No. 15 has brought its author a most unenviable notoriety, as dealing damna |