The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-05-20 00:00:00

BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of this society was held on Friday
evening last, at the Baptist Chapel, Dorchester. We
were sorry to see but a limited attendance, especially
&lithe addresses delivered were of no common interest.
Tim rgentiag.was commenced with singing, readies &-
portion of Scripture, and prayer for the Divine blessing.
Rev. Mc Abmium.tri, the -parlor,- occupied the
&Sir, and egpreesed the great pleasure he bad in being
present for the first time at the annual meeting, and 'tit
mime in being &Lie to state that the eentributions on
behalf of the society were on the increase. Last year
Mlktinionnt °elicited was £5; this year £6 &a lid. had
blew gaithered, besides what they had been deprived of
tlfee"mili their missionary box being broken open, when
the sum of about 14& had been extracted. He sincerely
trusted that inereasing effort would be pet torth, sod
that they would heartily join in the good work. so
that year by year the Contributions to the missionary
CrAllite would Increase. Aftet a few further reworks, he
callecron the Rev. W. *croft, missionary to the
Mittto address the meeting.
- v. W. K. RY CROFT said that the work they IMO
engaged in was • great and good work ; they were
endeavouring to carry out the eommand of Jesus Christ.
"Go into sit the wortd, and preach the gospel.* We
should ojamelves be happier as we joined in this work,
and the snore we were impressed with the Christian
dully)); *piloting to apread the knowledge of the gospel,'
solidandanir souls be blessed. We had great cause to :
rejniewthat the Christian Church had for the last seventy
yeses hese imbued with the missionary spirit. They
hat not, indeed, sent missionaries into all lands, but
considering the time the field 100 l heen occupied, and
Min few labourers that were in it. they bad great
cameo fur thankfulness to Almighty God for
thee signal success which had attended thei.
labeitna 'lt seemed as though God had chosen the highly I
fa ted land of ,litritain to be the pioneer in the :
di on of Gospel tenth to the other nations of the 1
raised it up to be 'lig gumdian of the ' e He hadl
trelhz-the *vowed ofnitnieloo of " the faith of Christ.
ancred stand foremost as the defender, of the oppregeed.
Thnler,pi of tuisslonary enterprise to which fie would
unA7 piertictilitly` direct their attention was the
Bahama ,Ishuids, about 3,000 miles from this country,
and.'exteinding from the 'Gulf of Florida to the
Carritwin Bea. These islands were surrounded by Very
dangerous reefs, which often proved fate' to the
mariner. and where many • good ship had been
wreeffeel. They &tared • part of the British
colvAties, and were, 30 years ago, under the baneful
intlntente of slsvery. This accursed system, so din.
hodbarini to God; so injurious, to the slaveliolder, and
so qua to the unhappy victim, was happily abolished,
and to this day, in their priyer meetings and public)
assemblies, the liberated negro with grateful hearts
bleWyd God for his deliverance, and prayed for His
Meng on those who were instruments in his
emancipation. It had been said that the people who
inhaleted these islands were idle, and one individual
(file"Tr,dione) bad stated all they cared for was to eat
puifilkins and then go to sleep. This statement was
utteHy !Lyrae. In that country no young man ever
thought of marrying till he had a comfortable home,
well-Firuished. One of the richest men in the islands,
wheleserever ready to aid in every good work, was for
23 years a slave. If, therefore, they were snob a
hyl dolass, how did he rah* himself in the social
cc lad—not certainly by eating •onipkins, and then
goieg to niece. But the accusation had been most
conasucingly rejlied he, for Her Majesty had
knighted. nouns of the mole influential men on :
these islands, and he knew many in the various
profession' of law, litcesture, and medicine, who were '
fully equal to those of the stone class in this
zonittty. Then, as regarded their religious character,
they Vete certa nly equal to their white brethren in
EngL,nd. Yon could not go into a town its these
is melte on the Sunday, but you would find &linnet all
the inhabitants at • place of worship ; and at a meeting
litathei present, • budding t-n times thesixe they were
now in, would notete more time large cream-h.. 'Then as
regardiejltheirsoedact—they would not let a seigiihonr
continue in • course of sin, they would be continually
speakintivbiktin,prayieg for him, and giving him no rest
till Boned changed Iris wale of life. They were very
eanisdnu their religion, and their liberality for the
causolitChrjit was only limited by their means. The
children were 'brought op in the fear of God. There
were upward•of-3,000 in church membership in eortneirs
tion ' wit* the Hooka deneminatiou, and at *Minh
700 mckiihers joined in celebrating the Lord's Supper.
When he left the islands 400 persons were proposed for
churl\ medibership. At the present tithe they were
endnrinr great hardships through the American war,
and them they bore with Christian resignation and
ineelinpis, . ,Ths chief article, of trade was salt, which
was blikPOrared by the solar process, and then exported
to America.. Their commerce being put a stop to, many
had (Lid of starvation, The reverend gentleman then
proceeded to give an account of their mode of transit,
and of the dangers trials, and hair-breadth enema he
had himself to undergo. The climate was hotter there,
even at Chriatuma, than the hotted day of ',limner
in England. He then gave a description of a mission-
house, to rebuild which he entreated their aid, and
stated, that though the unsaionamea had-been very suc-
cessful in ilium islands, the enemies to the progress of
the Gospel had been very busy, and had done all
they could tit injure their character. Representations
had been made at the colonial office, but atter a careful
investigation of the charges, the accusations signally
failed. He then alluded to the state ef San Domingo,
where Ronan Catholicism prevailed, and drew • dark
picture of the almost . breelthenish- practices carried on
there. The 'people, however, gladly listened to his
preaching, ant, be had to deliver four sermons before
they would allow him any rest, thus showing the
eagerness, qltit which they enihraced the truth. After
hearinak hint, they exclsimed "This man does not
spring ant of the ground." The speaker then gave a
thriliag• account of his travels through the forest
during # storm. and an amusing aketeh of his endeavour
to obtain a titan sLe of which lie iris ti.warted by
the constant :stinging Jibe moaquito and the sandly.
Time Siete of Porta Plata was then described, and the
rev. gentleman contlnied his intereating address by an
tarneeteppeal on behalf of the missionary cause.
_ .

yr The -VI). Watt.. of Beth, ti;er-t-ildressed the
meetin . and touched upon the various &his of mid-
sicnar enterprise the Baptist society was engaged in.
He particularly alluded to Jsniaica, where shout a year
ago a issical of religion took place, and 25,000 were
led to ceasider the importance of religion, and 3,000
incorpotat, d with the church. The Baptist society had
collected woo. for missionary purposes, the largest
sum ifbey had ever raised in one .)ear, exsept the
Jubilest tear. He 'Particularly alluded to the hill
countrg4 Bengal in India, where the people were
anximply tliciious to hear the Gospel, and where *
greet andaglorione work was being carried on by the
Baptist Nesionery Society ; and concluded Lis remarks
by entreating his hearers to commence a systematic
symetu of giving of their substance, ss God bad prom
perel them, for this great and good work.
The meeting was concluded by singing the hymn
commencing "From ml that dwell below the sky," &a
The amount collected by missionary boxes, and after
sermons mad public meeting, was £1 lss. 8„1„

Vi'ElfitOOTH.—Tb. Tina of Thursday says :
A prospectus has bes,iom4 of the Channel bland'
Hotel Company, with a capital of I'Bo,ooo, in
shares og £l5. each. The object is to erect hotels
and boardinthousee in tbe island, the absence of
which on any good plan is at present the greate4
drawback to the comfort of visitors; and for the
first experiment • site has been secured on the island
of Jersey, 'consisting a several acres of attractive
ground. • .

-
YROMLNItY Bait..—The ball which took place
at the Burden Hotel on Tuesday nidlit, under the
patronage or Cl. the Right lien. Lord Rivers, and
the offices% of the Q,0.D.Y.C., was a very brilliant
affair. Upwards of two hundred of the officers and
the elite of the towm and eeiglibeurhmid were
present.. The room was tastefully decorated, and
the Buß4r, table' was laid out in first rate style
with t 'choicest dainties of the seasen. Pancmg 1
commeaired about 10 o'clock, to Mr. Stagg's excel-
lent qmplrille band, untwisting of 16 members, and Sal
kept up,with great spirit-ttll four o'clock on Werthee-
day miming. Among the company present were
CoL the Right Hon. Lord Rivets., Lady Rivers
the Ilies..Misses Pitt; Lieut.-Cut. Lord Dighy, Laily
Digliy, and Miss Digby ; Licut.•Cd. Lord Ashley,
R.V. ;
,Lord Alfred Kerr, I_N. ; Sir Ivor B. Guest,
Bart. ; S. Meade, Eeq., and Mrs. Meade; F. G.
Mogg, Esq., Capt. Elliot, R.N., COL Cox, R.
0. H. Saaffield, Esq., Mira Cranford, Miss Bower,
Miss Nevill, Capt. ‘Viudbain, Capt. Bower, Capt.
and Mrs. USlmbr.n. Clad,R. Hs'l,ina,RN.. iteot
TuiTnell, Limit. Nares, 8.. N., Hon. Mr.
Sianthope, Hon. Mr. Fitsclarence, Capt. Gould,
Lieut. - Wilinett, Lieut. Medlycott, R.N.,
Col. Liuncesten, Capt. Slaryatt, Capt. Vandeleur,
Lieut. Scott. Major Stewart,Major and Mrs. Wood,
Cti,taln,- King, Captain Vaughan, Captain
and Miss Fester, Major and Mrs. Frampton, Major
Geslin, Capt.-Barrington Brawl', CApt. Blair, -Lieut.
Fete,, it:N.. Mrs. Brymer, Dr. and Mrs. Wailer,
R.N., Mrs. Sutherland, Mrs. Windham, Mr. and
Mies Ytaing.
,Mrs. and Miss Smatliehl, Miss Clara
Kettle. 111„iiiit, Freeman, H. Farquharson, Esq., and
Mrs. and* ire% FargallareOn, Cot. and Mass Eld, Mrs.
Prankerdi Jones, Mies Mortimer, Mies Blenner-
hassett, Mr. Hitnbto,Mrs. and Miss Kingsmill, Mr.,
Mrs., an 4 Miss Hind, Miss Duke, Mrs. and Miss
Husseh-Mibre Austin, Miss Allen, Act., dtc.