To rescue the gospel from those shades which infidelity and the vices of professors have thrown upon it, and to place it in that light which it unquestionably claims, by a faithful narrative of the labours of the CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES in the WEST INDIES, is the principal object of the following work. From the personal observations which the author has been enabled to make on the progress of Christianity in these islands, from taking a retrospective view of the original state of their inhabitants, and forming from thence a comparative estimate with their present condition; from having been honoured with the superintendency of these missions for a series of years; and from holding a regular correspondence with those ministers of Christ, who have left their native country to engage in that blessed work of spreading among the Heathen the unsearchable riches of Christ; he hopes, that without the imputation of vanity, he may be deemed somewhat qualified for that important narrative which he is about to present to the religious world. He is well aware, that while attempting to delineate a series of facts, which will necessarily introduce a train of circumstances in which he has borne an active part, it is not in his power to avoid the speers which critical malevolence may pour upon his page. He may be accused of egotism, and his narrations may seem to partake of a supercilious air; they may appear to the superficial observer as inflated with arrogance and self-sufficiency; and in many cases he may expose himself and his publication to that reproach which the enemies. of religion are ever forward to bestow. But he cannot conceive that these reasons are of sufficient weight to induce him to relinquish his design; nor to bury in oblivion that spread of the Redeemer's kingdom among the swarthy inhabitants of the West. Indies, which will afford the Christian world a living testimony that Jesus hath still power on earth to forgive sins. He conceives that it is acting beneath the dignity of a minister of Jesus Christ, to suppress a relation of facts which will reflect honour on his Lord and Master, because he is afraid of man" whose breath is in his nostrils," and whose only weapons are ridicule and contempt. Regardless therefore of those scoffs to which this work may be exposed; without being solicitous of applause, or anxious to avert disdain; he shall aim, in the religious departments of these pages, to give a faithful account of that work which God has begun, and is still carrying on in the souls of the poor negroes; many of whom have given decisive proofs of the power of divine grace, and are now enabled to " rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." To those pious and benevolent Christians, who by their liberal benefactions have so amply contributed towards the institution of missions, and whose unwearjed liberality continues to support our Missionary Society to the present day, a detail like this which is about to be submitted to their inspection, must afford a new source of genuine gratification. To behold those happy changes which have been wrought in the souls of thousands of their fellow creatures through the efficacy of divine grace, and the instrumentality of that benevolence which they have manifested; to look back on their past munificence, and to view that munificence in immediate connexion with those glorious effects, which, while they behold, they contemplate with pleasure; must be sources of the most consummate delight that the mind of man is capable of receiving, from a review of actions which are past. They must afford a species of pleasure, which a repetition of reflection will continue to heighten, undisturbed by the pangs of remorse, and embittered by no alloy. In reviewing the past, and comparing it with the present state of the negroes and people of colour, who now inhabit and are employed in the West India Islands, we enter a field to which the contemplative mind can set no bounds. The benevolent subscribers will feel with silent exultation, that they have been made, in conjunction with those evangelical ministers who have embarked in the blessed undertaking, the chosen instruments, in the hands of God, of accomplishing the salvation of myriads. When they survey these myriads in former years, sinking under barbarism and ignorance, a prey to every enormity, and utterly destitute of that consolation which the gospel of Jesus Christ alone can bestow; when they find that these inhabitants of the torrid zone, in the midst of adversities and afflictions, and bodily pains of this mortal life, can now look with tranquillity beyond the grave, in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection to eternal happiness and rest, through the merit of that Saviour in whom they have believed, what shall we say ?—it must unclose a fountain of consolation which time cannot encircle, which death cannot quench, and which not even eternity can destroy. It opens a prospect through which the pious mind may wander through interminable distances, and anticipate remotest consequences with pleasure. In this scene, the generous soul will enjoy the blessings which result from the prayers of thousands and tens of thousands, while she beholds those voices attuned to the praises of Jehovah, and those hearts swelling with gratitude too big for utterance, which were before abandoned to work uncleanness with greediness-while she views these hearts now abounding in the peaceable fruits of righteousness, in which, in days that are past, a repetition of crime had apparently stified all remorse. What can equal reflections like those which we have been VOL. 1. D contemplating, arising from actions which issue in endless good? On such occasions, "One self-approving hour whole years outweighs "And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels To contemplate the spread of the everlasting gospel; to see its benign and sacred influences diffused through the barbarous departments of human nature, and illuminating the benighted regions of the globe, must be a scene of the most exquisite delight to the sincere followers of Jesus Christ. To view myriads of our fellow-creatures rescued from vices of the most odious nature, and from ignorance the most consummate; from crimes which it would be even hateful to name, and which almost exceed belief; to survey these, now rejoicing in the God of their salvation, with a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, must be a new source of joy even to angels; and must tend to enhance even the felicities of heaven. A scene more glorious can hardly be realized in the present state of things, than that which lies before us; in which the truths of the gospel are incontestably proved, in those living witnesses who can set to their seal that God is true, and declare from heartfelt experience that Jesus Christ hath power on earth to forgive sins-A scene, in which a general reformation of manners can only be considered as an effect resulting from an internal principle of divine grace, influencing the hearts and lives of so many thousands of our swarthy brethren, and leading them into all the "peaceable fruits of righteousness, to the honour and glory of God"—A scene, in which we behold those tongues ascribing salvation to God and the Lamb, which never before pronounced a Saviour's name; in which those, "who, in times past, yielded their members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity, now yield their members servants to righteousness unto holiness." In thus contemplating the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom, the pious mind is elevated above those local distinctions which divide man from man; and aims at the nobler employment of "spreading among the heathen the unsearchable riches of Christ." On this ground, societies have been established, and charities have been instituted; missionaries have been sent out; the gospel has been preached; multitudes have heard; success has crowned endeavour; thousands have been converted to Jesus Christ; and many are now rejoicing in the kingdom of eternal bliss. The tidings of salvation which have been wafted across the vast Atlantic, have been received with the most unexampled affection; and the truths of Christianity which have been embraced and so cordially cherished, have been productive of the most blessed effects. The promises offered to the believer in the holy scriptures, have rendered even the greatest afflictions tolerable; and enabled the unhappy African, amidst all his distresses, to enjoy the liberty of the sons of God; and, with a prospect of future happiness animating his hopes, he now possesses, through faith, a foretaste of those joys which shall be hereafter revealed.. Through these promises he is enabled to consider his temporal afflictions to be but momentary and transient, and not worthy of being compared with that eternal weight of glory which God has reserved in store for all that love and fear him. Thro' the word of God he is enabled to expand his views beyond the confines of his present abode; to look with tranquillity upon the tomb; and to consider death only as a friendly messenger, that shall convey his happy spirit from time into eternity; and let him, more immediately, into the society of angels and of God. It is in those islands that faith may be more immediately perceived as "the evidence of things not seen, and as the substance of things hoped for," than in these parts of the globe, where the temporal blessings of Providence are enjoyed in all their fulness; and in which a reception of the gospel seems to meet with no impediment. But of these things we feel ourselves rather incompetent to decide. Impediments sometimes arise from those causes which seem to promise security; and we not unfrequently meet an obstacle, where we expected to find support. The smiles of mankind are often unfavourable to the progress of genuine Christianity; and its sincerest friends are sometimes fascinated by the sorceries with which they allure. The riches of the world sometimes. prove a snare, and open a door for the indulgence of every guilty passion; while they retard the growth of every grace of the Holy Spirit, and lull the soul fast asleep in the arms of carnal security. Among the negroes in the West Indies apprehensions are not likely to arise from this quarter, because these dangers are almost unknown. But afflictions are interwoven with human life; and no condition is exempt from hazard, These islanders are assailed with temptations seemingly more hostile, and opposed with obstacles apparently more formidable. The providence of God puts on the most terrible aspect; and inducements to arraign the proceedings of infinite Justice, appear in their most prominent forms. The mysterious distributions of his providence, his goodness, and his mercies, appear questionable in the last degree; the miseries of life are conspicuous in a particular form; and few things can seem more problematical than that God, who is infinitely holy and inflexibly just, should superintend the world. Yet in the midst of these obscurities and mysterious proceedings of God, so far has divine grace reconciled them to dispensations which they cannot comprehend, that with humble faith thousands of the poor negroes are enabled to trust God where they cannot trace him, and to walk by faith and not by sight, because they have an eye to the recompence of reward. To submit to dispensations the most painful and afflictive, without murmuring against that hand which administers, or ar raigning that justice which distributes, is perhaps the greatest evidence of divine grace that we can expect from God, on this side an eternal state. Yet such is the condition of the negroes in these islands, and such is the testimony to divine grace which thousands of them afford. They praise God in the furnace of affliction; and shew by their lives and conversation that they have been with Jesus Christ. And those various documents which will be introduced in the course of this work, together with those personal instances which will become visible, as well as those facts to which we shall appeal, will afford perhaps one of the most astonishing scenes, that the annals of Christianity have recorded in modern days. To acknowledge the hand of God in those dispensations which are consonant to our wishes, and which find a mirror in every feeling heart, is a task attended with no great difficulty. But in those cases where a long train of calamitous circumstances, where adversity in her most deformed condition, and where the most hostile appearance that Omnipotence has almost ever assu med here below, conspire to increase the general frown, and to heighten the melancholy gloom-human nature, unequal to the task, must sink beneath the pressure, and acknowledge the im becility of all her efforts. It is in situations so peculiar, that the efficacy of divine grace more especially displays its beams, and shines forth with the most irradiating lustre. It is here, that it puts forth its most salutary influence, "and increases strength in them that have no might." A combination of circumstances, apparently of the most hostile nature according to human calculation, has been rendered. subservient to this mighty work which God has wrought. The moral and civil condition of the subjects, as well as the place chosen for the scene of action, wears an unpromising aspect, and seems to mock our hopes. But all these things are of no avail, when compared with the "working of that mighty power (of God) whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself." In fine, every circumstance proves that "his ways are not as our ways," and "that his thoughts are not as our thoughts; he worketh, and who shall let? none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou ? His way is in the whirlwind, and his paths are a great deep;" he is |