The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1869-10-05 00:00:00

descendants of that race, who, stolen from their homes
in Africa, had lived in the Orel of slovery, praatiaine
the most horrible customs which their forefathers had
Mi.:gilt them, iivit.g • lite of fearful inimoreli.y arid
wretched c trelessnen to all thoughts of a future state.
But of late years great changes bad taken place in the
position of the people, and, at the prurient time, the
church is Jamaica might be maid to be the helpers of
missions in Africa and other parts 2 rather than receiver'
of aid from home. And again, India, that land which
heretofore had been so completely wider the dominion
elit'utlbb'eedentitlUitulaght tonowwobec;hluPe 000 of the strongholds of
foreign missions. Their trust in the gods which they
dtchTtremthhii tam; a getting less every day,
and even the once fearful and murderous Juggernaut
lay sticking in a ditch, with scarce enough devotees to
Let them hope
until the fitful
teltZiethtliairemteiid:oll'aletrt(bne.rilgtit be illumined from
glare awinothmt.heiLmthh.t
Brth.eb,tosi.ipe.l,
might be completely extinguished. To turn to China, that
vast empire with its 316,000,000 inhabitants, they (Bap-
tists) had but one missionary there. Ile trusted that God
would answer their prayers, and send more devout and
earned tr.e• to that thickly populated region. In Africa
their society had done great good. The youth of
o rtain districts had been trught many useful arts. and
had shown themselves adepts in varthns crate. Look•
log to the west, there were the Bahamas. Trinidad, and
Hsyti—Hayti with Its people ever rife for revolution.
Turning again to Jamaica, he said his parish was an
interior one. It was the only one that did not touch
the sea. When be first went there they could the the
slaves on the hills along the coast continually at work.
Drivel] to their labour like brutes be the white men,
their life was a scene of perpetual trisery. And so it
continued until the British nation, with one accord.
made • mighty effort to free thou poor wretches The
first missionary in Jamaica war a poor black man,
George Gibbs by name, who, having won hia liberty.
collected his countrymen nightly after their labour was
done and told them of the truths of the gospel. At
first he met with • fierce opposition from the slave-
masters, who looked upon the dawn of Christianity
among the slaves as the harbinger of • revolution. Spies
were set to watch for all who were caught praying, and
each u were detected were subjected in inany cases to
torture worse than death. One old man told him that
when he was • little boy he picked opt little leaf torn
fronts Bible, and he said," Briokra man see me read-
ing it, and bemuse I would not promise never to read
again, buekra give me • flogging.' In another instance an
old man wan informed by his muter that if he con-
tinued to attend the prayer meetings he would starve
him to death. Th. old slave did so, and his inhuman
muter placed him in a abed andikept him without food
or drink : but the other slaves brought him food, and
enabled him to hold out until his muter maw the error
of his decision, and allowed him to follow the preacher
of the gospel. The speskef then remarked oil the great
desire evinced by the converts in Jamaica tor books,
stating that in the fourteen months before be left be
sold as many as £l2rl worth, comprising copies of the
Banyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Holy War, besides Bibles
and Testaments ineninerable. He also alluded to their
liberality, saying that when be appealed to them for
help for the poor Irish they subscribed 1.7. and on
another occasion when he spoke of the Lancashire
Cotton Famine they came forward end contributed
freely and generously. Ile coecluded by begging
all
Christians to use their utmost endeavours to help the
minion work abroad, where the people were so willing
to help themselves to the utmost of their ability.
A hymn was then sung, and the meeting closed. A
collection was made in aid of the funds of the society,
which amounted to Cl lis. 84i1. On Sunday sermons
were preached by the Hey. J. R. Chamberlain, of
Glasgow, late of Spurgeon'a College, London, when
17s. 4d. was collected.