George Washington Flowers Memorial Collection DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ESTABLISHED BY THE FAMILY OF COLONEL FLOWERS BATH: BINNS AND GOODWIN. LONDON : iNISBET AND CO., AND ARTHUR HALL, VIRTUE, AND CO. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/gospelreminiscenOOstro University Lilbraiy THE FLOWERS COLLECTIOfT LABOUES OF JOHN MEYEE In the year 1840, John Meyer arrived, with his no less devoted fellow-labourer and wife, our still surviving sister in the Lord, in Demerara, from Switzerland ; and it was the sultry clime of British Guiana, acting upon his already ardent temperament, which caused a periodical excitement of mind and feeling that often weak- ened his testimony, hindered his usefulness, and preyed upon his spirits ; yet (so marvellous are the ways of God), rendered him a fitter instru ■ ment for maijjf^i^QlJisritOwn power, and IN BRITISH GUIANA. CHAPTER L LABOURS OF JOHN METER displaying the fruits of this dear suffering' brother's ministry more palpably to be " God's husbandry," " God's building." Our departed brother was a man of much intellectual power, with great ability in acqui- ring languages : he was also deeply read in the word of God, upon which he relied as his alone directory of faith and action, as well as the inventory of his riches, hopes, and armour for the present strife ! But what most distinguished him, and reigned triumphantly over his infirmi- ties to the last, was his confident enjoyment of that abounding love which had saved him, a lost sinner, — his implicit faith in the word and promises of our adorable Saviour, — his intense desire for carrying out the testimonies of His love to others, — and his delight in being a successful messenger of peace to poor sinners. During his residence of nearly three years on the banks of Demerara river, and the east coast of the colony, he suiFered much from repeated attacks of fever, but was energetically occupied in the instruction of black children, and preaching the gospel to hundreds. His peculiar power was in proclaiming the love of God to sinners in the gift of His dear Son, with the free and full remission of all sin to every one who believed in the name of Him IN BRITISH GUIANA. whose once shed blood maketh atonement ; and wherever he did thus preach, the hand of the Lord was with him, so that he has left proofs of his ministry wherever he has been thus used. The writer of these pages well remembers being exceedingly refreshed in spirit, when called by him to afternoon conversations with those whom God had just brought out from darkness to light through his ministry, by the evidently deep impressions made upon their hearts through conviction of their own wickedness, and the riches of that grace, which, by the efficacy of Jesus' atoning blood, pardoned and delivered from all. As this is written expressly for the glory of God, not for the exaltation of man, the writer would not keep back the fact, that the Christian brother of whose ardent zeal, simplicity of faith, and sufferings, this memoir speaks, laboured under the pressure of eccentric sensitiveness and nervous irritability, which shortened, through unnecessary sufferings of mind and body, his brief but useful career. Early in the year 1843, John Meyer left a settlement of blacks on the east coast of Deme- rara, — where he had resided five months, and had been already blessed to the salvation of a few souls who received the grace of God, — to reside at T — M — , on the Essequibo coast, for the purpose LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER of teacliiDg a school and preaching the gospel in the neighbourhood. Some time previously, his mind had been much exercised about the benighted state of the scat- tered Indian tribes who inhabit the vast forests and ' savannahs of Guiana. These neglected people had been brought under his notice several times. Once, when residing on the east coast, on recovering from a severe attack of fever, he visited, for change of air, in company with a young brother in the Lord (now labouring among the blacks with much blessing) the inland portion of the Mahaica river, or creek, as it is generally called, at the head of which there are many Indians located. At another time he visited with a devoted Christian brother, — Mr. C — A — , of whom more hereafter, — the highest parts of Demerara river, where, also, are many Indians. Again, he resided a few weeks with a dear Christian minister at a mission to Indians of the English establishment, up the Essequibo river. Hearing, therefore, that Arrawack Indians had settlements on the edge of a lake not far from T — M — , he took the first leisure day to seek out these, his ignorant fellow-sinners, with the desire of laying before them their perishing, guilty state, in common with us all by nature, accompanied by the testimony that IN BRITISH GUIANA. " God has so loved the vv^orld, as to give His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should never perish ! " Being successful in finding several small Indian companies, of whom some knew a little English, particularly the chief and his sister, he prevailed upon the chief, after much conversa- tion, to send his son, who bore the English name Robert, and upon his sister to allow an orphan boy under her charge, named Henry, to attend his school, himself engaging to give them food and raiment. From this time he felt such deep commiseration for these poor Indians, so igno- rant of their true condition, I may say, of either their danger or privileges, as lost sinners — the danger of that wrath revealed against all un- righteousness of men — the privileges of that redemption revealed in Jesus Christ for the lost and guilty, even the forgiveness of sins through His blood, — that, constrained by the love of Christ who had caused him to triumph over his sins, and rejoice in his heavenly inheritance, he purposed in the strength of the Lord to do his utmost to make them acquainted with the grace of God that bringeth salvation. Many of these Indians appearing next Sunday, Meyer proposed, after preaching the gospel in the meeting-room, to give them all special B 2 LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER instruction in the English language, by which he also hoped to acquire the Arrawack tongue. Their numbers increased from Sunday to Sunday, until the attendance amounted to hfty ; and the two boys improved so rapidly, that, before the year ended, Robert could read and write well, Henry not being far behind. In the mean time they generally had about ten Indian children staying with them every week ; of which Meyer assiduously availed himself in acquiring their language, and soon progressed beyond his expectation. Taking from the children 25 words at a time, and retiring to some lonely place, he committed them all to memory. In his visits to the Indians at their habitations near the Lake, he was also unwearied, instructing them, and taking down their words ; and soon had he good hope that some were feeling their sin before God, and had their hearts drawn towards Him" through faith in Him whom He had sent to be the propitiation for our sins, through faith in His blood. Thus far all went on happily, when a circum- stance was suffered to happen which operated, we trust only for a season, in respect to some of their number, in drawing off their hearts from truth to error^ — from the wheat to the chaff, by what Paul declares is not another IN BRITISH GUIANA. gospel. The clergyman of the neighbourhood, who, most unhappily for himself and others, believed that salvation consists in rites and cere- monies, not in the grace of God received by faith in the precious blood of Christ, hearing of John Meyer's visits to the Indians, and their constant attendance on him, went himself to their abodes, bringing with him the highest authority the Indian's natural capacity was able to realize, both ecclesiastical and secular ; decla- ring their great error and folly in attending the instructions of a poor unauthorized man. He bade them mark who ever attended his ministry — none, scarcely, but a few black persons ! He asked them, "By wdiose authority does he preach ? What has he yet done for you ? Has he made you Christians ? Are you baptized yet after all his teaching?" and added, "Now if you come to me, if you learn to repeat wdiat I teach, you shall be baptized and made Christ- ians ; I shall then baptize your children also, and join you to your wives according to law, and you will all be good Christians." Such kinds of persuasion were used, and at length successfully. The word of grace, by our bro- ther Meyer, had not reached their hearts, perhaps through his deficiency of language. Thesfe appeals to their senses were more easily appre- LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER hended : and some, on repeating unintelligently in broken English, the Lord's prayer and the Belief, being admitted to baptism, gradually the whole of them left, and, with their children, became Christians according to the idea of him to whose teaching they had submitted. " But," remarks his surviving fellow-labourer, "he never thought of thesa poor Indians before my dear husband sought them out ; neither did he yearn over their immortal souls, as my husband did, more than for the common necessaries of life ! Oh, those dear boys, Robert and Henry, I can yet see ; the last Sunday one alone came, of whom we had great hopes. God grant I may meet him in heaven, I should know him at the first sight." This was a severe blow to the sensitive mind of John Meyer. He was much cast down and perplexed at this unexpected end to his first labours in the gospel towards the Indians, solely from his concern for the souls of those who were thus abruptly taken away from hear- ing the truth ; fur their everlasting welfare had been as much on his heart as his own ; and while it increased his already great abhorrence of that leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees which had corrupted and leavened the current Christianity, it determined him on immediately IN BRITISH GUIANA. seeking another place among the Indians, where he might preach the grace of God in its Bible purity without interruption. His labours, however, among these Indians thus decoyed from him, had not been in vain. He had acquired some knowledge of, and ability for speaking, the Arrawack language, and believing himself now called to spend the rest of his life among the Indians, he resolved, trusting in the help and blessing of God, to go forth on such a mission, depending on Him alone, and to seek the Indians far in their native forests. Thus purposed in his mind, he set oft, with some changes of raiment, his Bible, and vocabu- lary of Arrawack words, which he had diligently acquired, and carefully arranged in a kind of tin knapsack, constructed under his own orders, strapped over his shoulders, and a few dollars in his pocket, leaving his wife with his two little children under the kind care of a dear brother and sister in the Lord, who resided at T — M — , where she still kept the weekly school. Our brother Meyer now shaped his course for Demerara, at the head of which river he purposed to penetrate the forests in search of Indians, to whom he believed the Lord would enable him to impart the knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and many of >Yliom, though now LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER afar off, he hoped soon to see " made nigh by the blood of Christ," and become "fellow -citizens with the saints and of the household of God." It was not without much prayer and great con- fidence in God that he undertook this journey, believing that He in whom he trusted would show him a wide field for publishing the gospel of peace to sinners, into which He would cause him to enter, and find also an habitation for his wife and children. He was brought on his way by the brethren in George Town, at Peter's Hall, and the Craig, at which several places he called on his way up the river, but it was the faithful brother and servant of Christ, C — A — , he sought as the one to whom he desired more fully to unfold the purpose of his heart, and whose sympathies and prayers he desired to enlist in the service before bim. Our brother C — A — , made acquainted with his purpose, entered into it with all his spirit, and desiring in every way to be his fellow-helper, especially by prayer, accompanied him, with several devoted and faithful negro brethren, three days' journey into the wilderness, where they remained with him many days, then leaving him alone with the Indians, returned to the river, and so to their homes. But I will give the account of this interesting journey in our brother C — A — 's own words. IN BRITISH GUIANA. ■ November 28, 1843. " Our firm conviction was that we were led on by the gracious hand of Him who, having rolled ofi the sin of the world, commanded His servants to preach to every creature 'repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,' offering in His name remission of sins to all who will believe the gospel. At every stage of our way we sought in prayer together to know the mind of the Lord, praying that His will might be followed, and ours completely set aside : and, blessed be His holy name, we had no reason to doubt throughout our fatiguing journey of our being in the path where He could both go before, and be our rereward. "On the evening of the 3rd of November we arrived at Berlin, from the Glasgow, and had a comforting time together with a few believers. Here w^e gathered strength and girded up our loins for what lay before ns. On the 4th we reached Lucky Spot, and met believers again for prayer and comfort in the love of God. On the 5th, the first day, we broke bread with the Chris- tians worshipping there, and proceeding on the 6th reached Urawly Cobra, an Indian settlement on the river side, upwards of 100 miles from George Town. The following days we travelled LABOimS OF JOHN MEYER upwards, passing over the falls, and, having called at several small Indian settlements, reached at last one called Arawa, where we remained, and were hospitably entertained. I should have said that our brother John Meyer preached in the Arrawack language at each place, and Avas understood. On the 8th of November we descended the river to Urawly Cobra again, and spoke much to the Indians there of Christ. We stayed here the 9th to give all time for preparation to make our journey to the savannah. On the 10th, having made ourselves as light as possible, by laying aside all unnecessary furniture, either for our dress or hammock convenience, and feeling we were indeed under the protecting hand of Him in whose service we had set out, our guide, an Arrawack Indian, followed by his wife, led us into the forest. We started at 8 a.m. and walked till 4 p.m., with one short interval of rest. We had then arrived on the edge of a small open savannah, and, having a good supply of water at hand, thoroughly wearied, we hung up our ham- mocks to the trees and rested for the night. On the 11th we set forward at 7 a.m., and at 1 p.m., with blistered feet and well tired bodies, we reached a house in the midst of the burning sands, and rested for the day. On the morning IN BRITISH GUIANA. of the 12th we set off once more, hoping soon to reach the Indian settlement to which we trayelled. This we effected after four hours' painful walk- ing without shoes (for by this time shoes had become intolerable), leaving our brother Meyer about five miles distant, having such a violent head-ache, that he could proceed no further. This was the only ailment he had the whole time I was with him, and it was but of short duration, for, in the goodness of the Lord, we had the pleasure of welcoming him among us early on the following morning, with the black brother who had remained to serve him. " Here then, being all together, we had many opportunities of preaching to these poor brethren, myself in English to those who understood it, Meyer in their native tongue, to whom they paid very great attention. One of them went so far as to tell me, 'They will believe it sir, them all shall believe you.' Our heavenly Father supplied us at this place with fresh meat every day through the Indians^ as they were always successful in hunting during my stay. " The readiness these, in general, a|)athetic beings evinced to hear the gospel on this occasion was remarkable. Fearing to annoy by calling them together too often, we limited our invitations to every second day, but they came c LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER themselves, and entreated us to preach the gospel every day while v^e remained. "Having been now together here for eight days, at the earnest request of Meyer, and both of us concluding it to be of the Lord, I left him with the Indians on the 20th of November, and, with the thi'ee black brethren and sister, set out to return by the way we had come. " Dear Meyer had, when I left him, two dollars, a hammock, a change of clothes, a pair of shoes, pen, ink, and paper, with his Arrawack vocabu- lary much enlarged, with notes for the construc- tion of a grammar in that language, through which he hoped the Lord would enable him to teach these gentiles the riches of Christ. The shoes were of no immediate use, as neither of us could wear them after the second day's journey, from the soreness of our feet. With such pro- vision, through the help of the Lord in whom he trusted, he hoped to find his way to the river Berbice, or, if not, to some of the small rivers or creeks that lie between, which would bring him to the neighbourhood of the Indians he had formerly seen at the head of Mahaica Creek. Having, however, already crossed a small creek which the Indians said flowed into the Berbice, we thought it probable this place might at some future time be reached from thence by water. IN BRITISH GUIANA. "We both thought that if our mission were generally known among the Indians, and their confidence obtained, though we had not yet seen many more than twenty, the Lord might draw to- gether hundreds to hear the gospel of His grace, and oh, what a rich sheaf might be gathered by our Lord from among them at the time of harvest! Surely it must be for good that the Lord allows the spirits of his servants to be so fervent when praying for them. Our dear brother told me that he felt more liberty than he ever enjoyed in his spirit, and better health in body. He said, he would gladly spend his life in serving the Lord among these dear people (if it were His will,) and believed he could endure the climate and fatigue in the service. And who can say that the mission, however insignificant it may appear in contrast with others, is not the opening of a door by the Lord Himself to a people among whom the feet of those who bear the glad tidings never yet trod, the light of the love of Jehovah Jesus never shone? If the Lord open an effectual door, who can shut it ? "After leaving our brother Meyer with the Indians as before stated on the 20th, we, through the mercy of God, arrived safe at Urawly Cobra on the banks of the Demerara, from whence we had started on tlie evening of the ^^nd." LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER While C — A — and his little party of blacks proceeded down the river to the Glasgow estate, and, gathering the church together, gave thanks to God and rehearsed these things in their ears, brother Meyer was kindly conducted from one settlement to another, at each of which he spake to the Indians in their own tongue, '^of the ruin wrought by sin, and redemption through Jesus Christ. At length he reached a village on the banks of the Berbice river, called Kumaka, where many had been collected for a great feast : the feast was over the day before he arrived, and the Indians were taking a day's rest before breaking up their assembly. Meyer, arresting the attention of one principal man, declared " he had come with a message from God, that God loved them, that they were sinners against God exceedingly, but that God had given His Son to die for their sins — that He had now risen again, and opened the kingdom of heaven for all who, con- fessing their sins, believed on HiraandHis atoning blood for pardon." The Indian went round and told them that the white man was come with a message from God, and he repeated Avhat Meyer had said. Upon this they all came to him, offering their hands, then brought up their children and made them offer their little hands to himj then they sat around, and he spoke to IN BRITISH GUIANA. them of Jesus and the resurrection. When he paused in his discourse the Indians at first would speak, till one of them said, ''We must not speak, we must all hear," then they were all attention till he had concluded. Here he re- mained some days, speaking the word to all, and, having expended his money, they freely gave him all he needed for food, and asked him to come and live among them, which he desired to do, feeling very strongly that now God had given him a place of service among those over whom his heart had so long yearned. Accepting the offer of a lad who was proceed- ing in his batteau a short way down the river, he was conveyed to a wood-cutting settlement a few miles below Kumaka, where a white man, with many blacks and a few Indians, resided ; here they were very kind to him. The white man allowed him to preach the gospel on his premises to the neighbours, and afterwards gave him breakfast. Our brother being now desirous of proceeding homewards by way of New Ams- terdam, the town at the entrance of the Berbice river, from whence he might obtain a passage to Demerara in sorae coasting vessel, sought assis- tance in descending the river, and, having no money, looked up to the Lord. The white man showed him that if he took a batteau from thence c 2 LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER the river was so circuitous, that, after paddling many miles he would reach a small settlement only three miles from where he then was ; he advised him therefore to walk these three miles through the forest, and there seek assistance to proceed further down. To this Meyer agreed, and the white man, conducting him to a path which led into the wood, directed him carefully to follow it, and then left him to walk on alone. This the Indians had never done, knowing how very difficult it is for a stranger to keep the forest track. Meyer, with his hammock and pack on his shoulders, walked on, but soon must have left the path and wandered from the right course, indeed, he acknowledged that more than once he came upon his own steps again. It is exceedingly difficult, if once you deviate but a few yards from the faint track in these unfrequented forests, to recover it again, while the lofty trees so obscure the light of the sun that it is im- possible to correct your course by that. He walked with little intermission the whole of that day ; when the sun set he hung up his hammock to the trees, and fell in that to sleep. At morn- ing light he sought direction from the Lord, and pursued his journey, literally not knowing whither he went, without food or water. In the afternoon he came upon two pine-apples wliicli IN BRITISH GUIANA. he ate, as also many berries. As the shades of night closed in around him again, he swung his hammock to the trees, and commending himself to the Lord who bought him, slept till morning. At break of day he cried unto the Lord for help, and besought Him not to let him die in the forest thus, if his death should discourage or stumble others, and cause them to think his humble mission to the Lidians had not been of Him or for His name. He then set forth again; looking to the Lord for guidance, and in the afternoon, to his great joy, lighted upon the banks of a small creek or river, where also he discovered recent traces of people and the re- mains of a fire. Here, then, being very faint, leaves and berries his only food, he determined to remain, as, if he died here, his body was sure of being one day found, and, taking out his writing materials, he wrote down a journal of all that had happened since his brother C— A — left him, giving a full account of himself, with directions to whom all his papers and effects were to be conveyed. Then he hung up his hammock, and thus ended the third day, when, exceedingly happy in the Lord, though hungry and faint in body, Jesus gave His beloved sleep. The whole of the next day he lived principally on leaves, being afraid to search for berries in the wood c 4 LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER lest he should lose his way, and his body lie concealed in the forest ; for he thought it his duty to arrange if possible that his body and papers might be found, for the satisfaction of his wife and brethren. On the morning of the fifth day he was too weak to leave his hammock or to gather leaves ; persuaded that his hour was now come to leave his body, he commended his spirit to Him who had loved him and given Himself for him, who had given unto him eternal life, and would raise his body at the last day ; he felt that he had life in Him who was risen from the dead, that he could not die, but should rest in Him whom he loved and served, yea, that he should find life in thus losing it. While thus reposing his soul by faith in Jesus' bosom, he was startled by the report of a gun near him ; he listened awhile, when he heard a sound of voices on the water ; raising himself in his hammock, he perceived on the creek a canoe full of Indians approaching ; he then, gathering all his remain- ing strength, shouted and waved his hand ; they came to the shore and approached him in his hammock ; he made the signs of hunger, and they brought from their canoe ready cooked fish for him to eat, from the creek also water to refresh his thirst. After awhile, reviving a little, he told them his story, and how he was lost in IN BRITISH GUIANA, the forest when seeking his way by the side of the river Berbice. They told him he had wan- dered far to the Abarry Creek, by the banks of which he then lay (this is the boundary between Demerara and Berbice counties) ; they then took him with all his things to their canoe, and conveyed him safely down the stream to their own village, where every attention was paid to him by their women to restore his strength, and where he remained all the next day. The following morning the Indians took him through an old canal into the Berbice river, and bringing him to a missionary station about 10 miles from the town of New Amsterdam, left him with the missionary there. Mr. D , of the London Missionary Society, and his wife, received him in the name of a disciple with much Christian love. There he soon recruited his strength and enjoyed Christian fellowship, exchanging his thoughts freely with Mr. D on Christian missions, on Committee management, on ap- pointed salaries, and on the introduction of the arts and sciences as handmaids of the gospel, brother Meyer expressing his desire to be used of God in bringing the Indians to Christ, just as they were, and then the new life they would possess in Him would regulate their future man- ners and ways. LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER This kind Christian brother gave Meyer five dollars, and procured a passage for him to New Amsterdam, from whence he arrived safely in George Town on the night of December I7th, making the 27th day since our brother C. A. left him far in the interior with the Indians, alone. On the morning of December 18th he sailed for T — M — on the Essequibo coast, from whence he had set out six weeks before, and we may well imagine how our Christian friends resident there, with his own wife and children, joyfully received him. Thus had the Lord indeed led him out and brought him back, giving him every earnest and encouragement that He would use him and sustain him as His servant in the gospel to the Indians, if he went forth in faith. I particularly remark the dealings of the Lord with John Meyer after he had, in his destitution at the white man's place, sought unto Him for help. Had he reached his destination, which he might in an hour and a half at most, he might have been a beggar both for food and passage the whole way to Amsterdam. His character and mission unknown and unappreciated, he might have met with insult and neglect ; where- as, having sought unto the Lord, He led him certainly to all appearance out of the way many IN BRITISH GUIANA. miles, to the borders of Demerara, and from the haunts of civilized men ; He allowed him to suffer hunger indeed, but it was " to prove him and make him know, that man does not live hy bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, " and that word did sustain and satisfy him. Just at the moment of need the Lord brought to his assistance those very persons whom Meyer had gone out to serve with the bread of God, and God made them serve him in his dying state with the bread that perisheth, and so cast him upon the love and kindness of the poor Indians themselves, while they, by a kind of instinct given them by God, conducted him at once to a brother Christian and fellow-labourer in the gospel, who, in his turn, had an opportunity of serving his Lord, by ministering to the need of his fellow-servant, and furnishing Meyer with the means of return- ing safely to his family, and all this bringing forth fruit to the glory of God by Jesus Christ. LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER CHAPTER 11. He was, indeed, warmly greeted by the black brethren and sisters who met for worship near T M , and on requesting their prayers and sympathy in the service for which he now desired to be especially devoted, they not only responded with their prayers, but readily came forward with their contributions to assist him in reaching the place of his future labours. It being, however, much laid on the hearts of brethren that C — A — should make one more journey with Meyer up the Beibice river previous to his taking with him his wife and children, they proceeded to New Amsterdam in a passage steamer, taking with them four black brethren and a small batteau wdth provisions. The Lord prospered them all the way ; they were enabled to repay our kind brother, Mr. D , with many thanks for his hospitality and liberal assistance to Meyer in his distress. They preached the gospel in many places, and arrived at Kumaka in safety, where the Indians received them gladly. A few miles below Kumaka, at a place called Lana, a German resides, a Mr. S , a timber cutter, in which calling he often employed Indians as well as black people. This person, immediately on ascertaining the purpose IN BRITISH GUIANA. of their visit to those parts, most kindly offered an unoccupied house for the residence of Meyer and his family, without rent, but this our brother Meyer would in no wise accept, as he desired especially to live with and as the Indians. They therefore sought for, and obtained, a lodging in the Indian village, for which they agreed to pay one dollar per month. The Indians, however, soon proffered their aid in building one expressly for him, which was afterwards accomplished, under his own directions, in the Indian fashion. It was little better than a shed partially enclosed, without flooring ; the bedstead contrived by four short posts driven into the earth, connected by laths, on which their bedding was placed. In such things as these, relative to the necessary care due to himself and family, did our brother especially evince his eccentricity. We may never have understood his peculiar thoughts on this subject^ but he was so tenacious of interfer- ence, so fearful of appearing to depend on others, that the assistance Christians proffered in the way of necessaries, whether for food or shelter, often distressed his mind. He did not seem to perceive the Lord caring for him through others, but thought the unasked services of Christians to be intrusions between the Lord and himself. I would touch most gently on subjects connected D LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER with his peculiarities, and only do so at all for two reasons ; first, to explain why the sufferings and privations of his family were so great, and secondly, to show how the Lord gave grace to his Christian wife so meekly and zealously to give herself to the work as a true helpmate, unflinchingly, uncomplainingly, yea, rejoicingly ! — But chiefly may this narrative set forth the grace of God working so mightily in the devoted zeal of this His own child, who gave himself up so untiringly to the service of the Indians, and certainly did sacrifice his own, his partner's, and his children's health, in prosecuting this one desire of his heart, the leading of these children of the wilderness to the Lamb of God. Meyer, having decided in his mind that Kumaka was the place to which the Lord would have him bring his wife and children, made arrangements with Mr. S that his sloop, which was constantly trading to and fro, should convey himself and family, with the effects and provisions the Lord might provide for them, to Kumaka, upon their arrival in New Amsterdam; and the brethren forthwith returned thither in their batteau, from whence, taking their passage in a trader for Demerara, they all arrived safely, full of hope as to the Lord's blessing on the pro- jected mission. IN BRITISH GUIANA. We should not pass over the grace vouch- safed by our Lord to the dear black brethren who, in this, as in the last excursion of Meyer and C — A — , were their able and helpful com- panions. Before, in assisting to carry their burdens through the savannah : on this occasion, paddling them nearly 300 miles, going and returning, on the River Berbice. Remembering that these men were supporting themselves and families by the labour of their hands, and thus readily gave up their valuable time for the joy of fellowship in the gospel service. In the strength of the Lord, and borne for- ward, I may say, by the prayers and contribu- tions of brethren, John Meyer, his dear partner, and two little girls, set out for New Amsterdam, in Berbice, where Mr. S received them, and in whose house they were detained nearly two weeks, before he left in his sloop for the upper part of the river. I need hardly say that this true evangelist lost no opportunity, while thus detained in New Amsterdam, of preaching Jesus Christ, by which it also pleased God to bring another soul to Himself, who is walking with her Lord to this day. I just remark here that although Mr. S allowed Meyer and his family to lodge, and himself to preach, in his house until the sloop sailed for Lana, yet LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER he never attended the gospel preaching then. They had a passage of eight days to Lana, from whence they were forwarded in a punt, or river barge, to Kumaka, where the Indians readily received them, and, conveying their luggage to the hill-top, placed it all safely in the Indian house which they had hired, John Meyer then commenced his labours among these people in the strength of the Lord alone. Friendless and unknown in the river, without the sanction or countenance of any, he had pitched his tent in the midst of this little settlement of Indians, looking up to Him who had said, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," to prosper his work. The habits of the Indians inhabiting Guiana, are purely patriarchal ; each nation being divided into families, of whom the patriarch, or grandfather is the acknowledged chief. The Carribean nation (a remnant of those who formerly inhabited the West Indian, or Carri- bean Islands), are located immediately on the coast, the Arrawack claiming the district behind them ; the Accaways within these ; while further inland, the Macusies, Warrows, kc, occupy the country. The patriarch of each family among the Arrawacks is generally called, IN BRITISH GUIANA. through their intercourse with the colonists, the Captain. Of all the Indian nations, the Arra- wack is the most docile, and many of them are employed by the colonists in hewing and squaring timber, and are known by English names. All who resided at or near the place, came to them morning and evening for instruction in the gospel. In the evenings he commenced teach- ing them letters, and to read their own languagie, which he had reduced to writing, having in a great measure discovered its grammatical con- struction, and been very assiduous in acquiring from them the distinct pronunciation of their words. Some of them speaking a little English, were a great assistance- The captain and his brothers having, when boys, been a short time under the instruction of a Missionary at New Amsterdam, knew a little of the English lan- guage, and had also become acquainted a little with the letter of the gospel ; but, alas ! they were only puffed up with pride, and less willing to be taught than the others ; feeling themselves as they thought, already enlightened above their fellows : and still blinded by Satan, ignorant of their own and the world's sin, there was to them no light, no sweetness in the gospel grace. Our brother «Tohn Meyer soon desired the extension of his labours, and buying a small D 2 LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER batteau, visited the various settlements upon the river-side. For some distance below Kumaka, as well as for miles further up the river, at short distances from each other, the traveller will light upon small hamlets of two or three houses, a few yards only from the river's brink, inhabi- ted by the members of one family. These places he used frequently to visit, and speak to the people in their own tongue, the gospel of the grace of God. For some time he used regularly every other Sunday, to visit a place six or seven miles below Kumaka, where many black and coloured families lived. There he would preach the gospel, and teach the children ; but when some few of them believed and turned to the Lord, and the call to godly living rebuked and exposed the evil conduct of the majority, Satan stirred up much bitter enmity against the word, and, of course, against him who preached it. It was but a few months after he had taken up his abode at Kumaka, that a chief woman of the Indians there, the widow of the former Captain, was pricked to the heart for her sin, and, finding peace through the blood of Jesus, confessed she had now in Him all that her soul desired ; she was baptized and received into fellowship. The conversion of this dear Indian was the commencement of God's work among IN BRITISH GUIANA. them, and was, also, God's great provision for the succouring of Mrs. Meyer and her children in the sore hardships that soon pressed upon them. Her name was Catherine ; her present (i. e. her second) husband, named Thomas, soon followed her to the feet of Jesus, then her nephew and niece, then a sorcerer, or, in the Indian language, a Pehiman, being blind, was delivered from the power of Satan by the word of God, and, confessing to Jesus as his Lord, who had washed away his sins, was baptized with the others. Not long after, nine others of the tribe who lived at Kumaka, believed and were baptized. Satan, now trembling under the power of Christ in His word, stirred up the spirit of envy and jealousy in the hearts of the Captain and his brother, seeing that with their superior knowledge, as they thought, they were not considered Christians, or allowed in fellow- ship ; and from henceforth they became avowed enemies. In the mean time our brother Meyer contrived to reach, partly in his batteau, partly on foot, the last Arrawack settlement called " Manaka," and while he was there, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, and warning of judgment to come, a young Indian (a Pehiman or sorcerer), who sat in the midst of the company, cried out, '-Kid- LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER wan^ kidwan," which in their language signifies " It is true, it is true I " being equivalent to " I believe, I believe ! " This also proved the power of God to his salvation, and he was soon after baptized. Our brother, continuing his visits to this place, in a few months after nine more were received, seven women and two men, one of the women being of the Accaway nation. These visits of Meyer to Manaka were attended with much toil and risk, being undertaken by him alone, in a very small batteau, the navigation being dangerous, owing to the rapid tides, the numerous stumps of trees, and sometimes, large floating logs, his tiny and frail vessel would have to encounter ; especially as the intense heat ren- dered it necessary he should journey by night. At those times he would paddle seven hours without a rest ; and often, just as sinking into sleep, the paddle would have slipped from his grasp, he would be awakened by the night bird's scream, an alligator's plunge, or a tree falling into the stream, and, thanking God for his pre- servation, cheerfully press on his way. When the tide turned, unable to proceed against the current, he would fasten his canoe to a tree, and wait the returning water ; and, stretched in the bottom of his little barque, seek refreshment from his weariness in sleep. IN BRITISH GUIANA. He remained generally two, sometimes three, weeks, on his visits to Manaka, inhabiting an Indian hut, without chimney or flooring, and living on whatever fare the Indians gave him. Indeed, they had always been ready to share with him whatever they had ; but until they had been converted to God, and then found pleasure for the Lord's sake, in communicating of their carnal things to him who taught them spiritual things, he never received without giving something in return. Their provision was pre- carious, sometimes cassava bread alone, though generally with fish, and at times, when success- ful in hunting, with meat. Wild game abounded in some parts, consisting of Birds, — two species of pheasant, the anaquois, and small maroody, two species of turkey, the parvis, and large maroody ; Beasts,— two kinds of deer, the peccary, or wild hog, the tapir, and water horse, each a species of the hippopotamus, — the lobba, and the acouti ; they also feed on monkeys, and consider the large baboon a dainty. Twelve months of Indian life had nearly passed away, when our sister Meyer was safely delivered of a little boy ; but the exposure ol her sleeping-room to the night air, having neither shutters nor glass for the windows, nor door to close up the entrance, the earth itself LABOURS OF JOHN MEYEK for her chamber floor, caused her so to suffer that her life was despaired of. She became delirious, and, at length, insensible from weak- ness, and was considered irrecoverable. The old Indian sister, Catherine, who, with all the care she could, watched over her, had left the house in distress, never expecting her to wake again, when it pleased the Lord to revive her ; she was alone, and before her memory could recal her present situation, her eyes rested upon a large serpent, suspended from the beam imme- diately over her head ; she screamed faintly, and Catherine rushed to the chamber, and, perceiving the reptile, called the Indians to their assistance, who succeeded in making it retreat to the forest, the fear of injuring Mrs. Meyer in her low state deterring them from despatching it with their guns. The Lord having so far restored her, the Indians administered those remedies and restora- tives which experience had shown to be often efficacious ; on this occasion a decoction from the root of the cotton tree proved most bene- ficial, so that the mother and infant were spared. I have hitherto foreborne to mention many severe trials to which Meyer, his wife, and chil- dren were exposed ; especially on their first year's residence at Kumaka. Though seldom troubled with musquitoes, they were subjected IN BRITISH GUIANA. to a sore plague of very small flies, from which, at some seasons of the year, nothing but a thick smoke can deliver you ; m;^'riads of them occupy- ing your eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, so that it would be impossible to eat, did they not fill the house with smoke by burning damp grass, — the remedy itself being evil enough. These dimin- utive flies prevail at certain seasons in the sandy places, and to such a grievous extent, that it is nearly impossible to walk at all over the sandy plains, though they are generally covered with long grass. I speak from experience, having been driven back nearly blinded by them in an attempt to explore the open country behind the village of Kumaka. The Chigoe fleas are also very numerous there, and all of them, especially the children, suffered much from these little insects burrowing and laying their eggs in the flesh of their feet and toes. Indeed, when our brother C — A — visited them, which he did before the little boy was born, walking across the coun- try from Demerara river, he found them in a deplorable condition with their eyes, which had become so inflamed from the irritation of the little flies, that for some time the children were entirely blind. Thus were their faith and con- stancy soon tried, and they had not only to believe, but suffer for His sake. LABOURS OF JOHN METER Oar dear brother, C — A — 's visit was most opportune, and exceedingly refreshing to them all at this time, though at a great cost of toil and danger to himself in tracking the wilderness from one river to the other without guide or path to follow ; but having some of the Lord's bounty through His children to carry for them, and feeling strongly impelled in spirit to under- take the journey, he, committing himself to the Lord's care, set off with three black brethren, and by the help of a pocket compass, keeping a due east course, from a part of Demerara river he deemed parallel with Kumaka, after four days' severe walking, and resting under trees at noon, — came out on the Berbice within a mile of that village, which they soon reached. They were mutually refreshed with each other's company, and brother C — A — rejoiced much through all their troubles and discomforts, when he sat down before the Lord among the Indians and blacks on the first day of the week, to commem- orate the Saviour's love, and " show forth His death until He come." Truly he felt that the sufferings of the wilderness are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us. Although unable to speak in the Arrawack tongue, the Lord filled his heart and opened his mouth toward the little assembly of believers. IN BRITISH GUIA^'A. and as he rejoiced in his fellowship with those who were partaking of the same loaf, he compared their now happy state with what they were a few months back, and what those then were who still rejected the great salvation, and neglected to wash their robes in the Saviour's blood. All this being interpreted to the Indian brethren, comforted and established their hearts, while Satan, ever watch- ful for evil, and finding our natural hearts so ready for his fiery darts, stirred up such jealousies and envies in some, who till then had regularly attended the word, that they went back ofiended, as though they were despised and the others chosen. After our brother, C — A — , returned from them, which he did, through mercy, in safety, many enemies rose up against John Meyer and his labours. Having discovered that an Indian w^oman, constantly attending his preaching, had recently promised her daughter to a coloured man, who had already one Indian wife and two children, he besought her not to sacrifice her child so ; and that if she valued her own soul, or her daughter's, she would pause, and consider if anything but misery could result from such an union. This so stirred the enmity of the man in question, that he more than once threatened the life of Meyer. Moreover, such evil reports were E LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER spread of him as a deceiver of the Indians, and making them his servants, that the magistrate of the river, giving heed to them, warned Meyer to quit the house he lived in, as none but Indians w^ere the legal occupants of the soil, without a license from the Government. Upon this the sister Catherine took them, with their children, into a house of her own, the best she had ; and, from that time, they abandoned the other. The Indian brethren, alarmed by the magistrate's interference, were seriously meditating a retreat with Meyer into the parts distant from the river ; but while they waited on the Lord in prayer for direction, Meyer visited the magistrate, explain- ing his position, and simple labours with the gospel, among the Indians. The magistrate's heart was now turned ; and, perceiving he had been wronged, henceforth became his protector and friend. Thus did the good Lord defend and protect His servant. After this Satan stirred up very bitter enemies among the unconverted Indians. An Indian brother, named Frederick, having, in his heathen condition, committed his children to the sole care of the Captain and his brother, mentioned above, brother Meyer showed him his responsibility to God concerning these, his children ; that God had given them to his care, and now that the IN BRITISH GUIANA. Lord had brought him to himself, and given him life in Christ, he must seek to lead his children to Jesus also, Frederick felt the truth of all that Meyer said, and became extremely anxious to recover his children from these men. Alas ! one of them, a little girl, was given up to the Captain as his betrothed wife, according to Indian custom. This child, with a younger brother, the enraged Indian indignantly refused to restore, and from that time their hatred and active enmity against Meyer never ceased. Poor Frederick succeeded in recovering his eldest son, John Bart, who left them, and came to his father ; but the little girl and boy the Cap- tain and his brother determined, at all costs, to detain ; when, lo ! before them all the Lord made bare His arm. First, the little girl, then the little boy, sickened, and died. Both faded out of the grasp of these wicked and determined men, and He who hath said, " All souls are mine," asserted His own right, and took both these little ones from the evil to come. The sudden death of these children, at this time, had a manifest effect on the minds of the believers, as also on many others around ; and there is no doubt but that God brought several to own His grace. Especially let us remark His hand in saving the eldest of Frederick's children, LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER who escaped to his father, and survived ; for he is breaking bread with the saints, and walking with God by faith at this day. Thus did the Lord manifest His sympathy with His servant Meyer, and His word spoken by him, and reprove before them all this great sin of the flesh " with- out natural affection." I have mentioned that John Meyer had been in the habit, when at Kumaka, of visiting a place some seven miles further down the river, every other Sunday, keeping also a school there after gospel preaching. In these visits he always carried with him his wife and children. It was a hazardous journey with them all in an open bateau ; and now that an infant was added to their company he procured a larger and a covered boat for their better conveyance. In order to accomplish this, he parted with what is generally considered an almost necessary instrument, — a watch, a gold watch, belonging to his wife. I believe that his peculiar views and feelings con- cerning the possession of anything composed of this precious metal, rendered him always uneasy at her having in her keeping so un-Indian, though so useful, an article. However, it was well indeed tliat for it he procured the comfort and safety of a better boat. Several persons, chiefly blacks, were turned to the Lord at this place, and not- IN BKITISH GUIANA. withstanding the increasing opposition of some, the grace of our Lord Jesus abounded towards many in the neighbourhood, especially among Indians. Wherever John Meyer lighted in his journeys on companies of Indians, whether Arrawacks or Accaways, some believed. He chiefly divided his time between Kumaka and Manaka, at which places he diligently taught the Indians to read their own tongue, composed hymns to Jesus in Arrawack, and commenced translating portions of Scripture into that language. At Kumaka he used a small printing-press a brother had fur- nished him with in Demerara, by which he printed hymns, portions of Scripture, and voca- bularies of Arrawack words and sentences, with the conjugations of verbs, as he learnt them from the mouths of the natives. Sometimes he visited the town of New Amsterdam, to procure neces- saries. When there he seemed burning with the desire of saving souls. He preached in the mar- ket-place in the day, in a house in the evening, and distributed large numbers of gospel tracts. He was very simple concerning the world, his mind being chiefly occupied with the love of God, the blessings of salvation, the hope of glory, and it was his earnest desire to carry out literally in liis walk and conversation all the words and e2 LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. His often failure, through mental infirmities, caused him continual distress and humiliation ; and with many groans, and tears, and prayers, did he " press on to the mark of his high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Shortly after he had procured the covered boat, the calumnies of enemies were such that he re- solved his wife and family should always accom- pany him on his visits to Manaka ; and hence came much trouble and suffering to the wife and children. Manaka lay two days' journey higher up the river, and between three and four miles from the water side. The creek, by which this Indian settlement was connected with the river, being impervious, through the luxuriant growth of trees and rank grass, they could only reach it on foot, carrying their baggage with them ; while the path, leading through a swamp, was often up to their middle in water ; so that sometimes after being two nights out in the boat, they had to con- clude their journey — mother, and infant boy, with two little girls, by wading a considerable way through mud and water to their humble abode. This consisted of a conical shaped hut, with a small arched entrance. A partition across the centre, with an open door-way, formed an inner sleeping apartment, in the wall of which was a IN BRITISH GUIANA. small aperture for a window. On tlie floor of the first apartment the fire was lighted, and the simple meal cooked. Here they generally remained for three weeks at a time, living on fish and cassava bread ; and from hence did our brother Meyer make many important excursions, carrying forth the Bread of Heaven in the preached gospel to distant settlements of Indians. I shall here relate two instances of the Lord's care over this family on these journeys. It was a dark and gloomy night when the boat, thus freighted; stopped at high water, and was, as they thought, safely moored to the trees on the river's brink. Meyer and the Indians had landed to hang their hammocks beneath a shelter hastily contrived with palm leaves, while the mother, with her babe, and two little girls, remained in the boat to sleep. Having put her children to rest, the mother, wearied with her journey, com- mending herself to the Lord's protection, laid her down, but could not sleep. Finding the Indians' fishing gear at hand, the fish being abundant near the boat, she tried the fishing for an hour without success, and again sought sleep in vain ; she then sat up, and looking at the boat, perceived it falling over on its side, and that the stump of a tree, which ihe water had covered when the tide was high, Avas, now that the water had much LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER fallen, protruded beneath the cover of the boat, and was on the point of oversetting her, with the children, into the river. She cried for help, and the Indians were but just in time to save their lives. Notwithstanding this, again were the mother and the children's lives jeopardized ; while Meyer and the Indian crew, wearied with their lengthened exertions, having tied the boat to the shore, hung up their hammocks to the trees and slept, leaving the mother and children in the boat. They were all in sound sleep, when, the river s bank being steep, and the tide falling, the boat fell over to the deep side, and had not one of the children, falling from the seat into the boat, by its cries awakened the mother, who called the Indians to the rescue, they had all been drowned. But, as the mother says, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about His people, and these repeated deliverances increased her confidence in Him, rather than awakened her fears at danger. I will here, for the encouragement of all in the Lord's service, and with gratitude for His pre- serving mercies to this His servant, introduce a few circumstances of danger and deliverance, as related by Mrs. Meyer, and which occurred during her residence of four years and a half among these Indians, and thus let her speak for herself. IN BRITISH GUIANA. Deliverances from Poisonous Snakes. " Arriving late one evening at Manaka, carry- ing my luggage to tlie sleeping-room, v/hile passing round my little bedstead, which was fixed in the earth, 1 touched with my foot on something that made a noise. Being too busy to notice it, I returned again for more things, when, passing the same spot, I pushed my foot upon the same thing, which gave out a sound terrible to my ears, knowing it to be the deadly warning of the rattle -snake. T could hardly speak, and looked to the Lord my help. My husband, who was in the outer apartment, called to the Indians to drive it away. I motioned silence, and with confidence in my Lord Jesus, taking a light, walked forward, and placed it on the ground, when it shone full on a large rattle-snake, coiled round the foot of the bedstead, and which the Lord, though I had twice pushed it with my foot, restrained from striking me with its deadly venom. An Lndian then brought his gun, and shot it at the place. " Another time, on arriving there, we found a hole in the earth underneath our bed, where the snakes dwelt, and went up and down, and which we were afraid to disturb. After two or three days they left the house ; but can you imagine LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER my feelings, and temptations to fear, when obliged to step out of my bed at night in the dark to attend the dear children sleeping in their ham- mocks in the next apartment ? Yet the conscious- ness of God's keeping us, in whose blessed service we were engaged, and who had kept us in so many dangers, strengthened my heart, so that I could go boldly forward trusting in Him, as well as not loving our lives unto death, if it were His will. " At this same place (Manaka), there w^as a small creek, where I used to bathe the children, and wash our clothes. I was there one evening washing, with the children around me. As I hung a cloth on a small tree, a large and deadly snake* erected his head close to my hand. I called to the children to go behind me, and retreated slowly, with my face to the irritated reptile. As I receded from him he moved slowly away. " When at Kumaka, in our first house, with the baby in my arms, hearing a noise in the thatch over my head, I quickly stepped out of the door, when a large snake dropped at my feet, and fled without hurting me. In the same house a poisonous snake, of the same kind, met me at * The Abarrie. This kind is very formidable, noted for its fierceness, and, when disturbed, immediately assails you. IN BRITISH GUIANA. the entrance of my bed-room, and, turning round, left me unharmed, after touching my foot.. An- other time I was taking pork out of a barrel, when a snake, of the same venomous species, climbing up, put his head with my hand into the barrel, and retreated without harm. Again, at Kumaka, in the act of opening a shutter of leaves in my bed-room, I put my hand upon a poisonous snake, not seeing it ; he went out upon the ground, and following him, I struck him with a shovel, fastening him to the earth." DeLIYERANCES FROil TiGERS. " One evening, at Manaka, I went with Clara an Indian girl, and the children, to wash in a creek about ten minutes' walk from the huts. While in the act of washing my children, I felt an unaccountable horror come over my spirit, as though I was in danger, and could not escape. So strong was the feeling, that, without being able to assign any reason, I hurried away with the children as they were ; and scarcely had we reached the house, when we heard the tiger's cry and howl at the very spot. "After this, at the same place (Manaka), we were all aroused in the night by the cries of men, women, and children. We heard shouting, as of LABOUKS Of JOHN MEYER some wild animal being chased, and the report of a gun, with the Yoices of men, made us rejoice to think the Indians had killed a tapir, or some forest game. In the morning we were called to see a large tiger, which J ohn, one of the brethren from Kumaka, had shot, after it had killed a dog and a fowl, and was in the act of taking from a hammock a child, with whom a woman was sleeping. The shaking of the hammock awoke her, and seeing the tiger, she cried out in terror, which aroused all the men ; he was shot by J ohn before he could escape. Our three children were sleeping in their hammocks in the outer room, with no door to secure the entrance, and the beast, prowling for his prey, might as easily have come in there ; but no, surrounded with dangers, and all kinds of hurtful insects, we were never harmed, except through the sufferings and trials that came from the position we had purposely taken, of dwelling as the Indians, to gain their full confidence, and win their souls for Jesus by the word. " Many more signal deliverances I could relate to show the perfect power of God, and that He can keep alive anywhere. Oh ! what a blessed God we have, who hears and answers prayer, whom we know as our Father in our Saviour Jesus, and have the Holy Spirit from the Father IN BRITISH GUIANA. and the Son dwelling in us. Is not this, though poor in this world, to be rich for ever ? " Thus much from our sister in the Lord, Mrs. Meyer, who being now delivered from the pecu- liar trials of this mission of grace to the Indians, is still sustained and comforted by her gracious Shepherd in the wilderness, waiting our Lord's return, and doing His will. CHAPTER IIL I HAVE before mentioned a visit of love paid them by C— — A , journeying across the wild country which lay between the rivers Demerara and Berbice. Since then our brother Meyer had been to see us in Demerara, coming over by water ; and several brethren had also been over to him in the same way, carrying provisions and contributions with them. I would now speak of another overland journey that our dear brother C A undertook, and successfully accom- plished afterwards, when John Meyer and his family were in great need, a circumstance totally unknown to us. Their provision spent, no LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER money to procure food from the town, or from their neighbours on the river, the Indians absent on a hunting excursion, with literally nothing but a little cocoa left, they were rejoiced, just as the sun was setting, to perceive brother C A , with three black brethren, making their way to their habitation after a journey of three days. C A was the bearer of des- patches and greetings from us all, with the bounty of the Lord, £5 sterling, in dollars, from our well-known Christian friend and brother, Geo. Miiller, of Bristol, But the bearer of this bounty, with his company, was weary and hungry, having nothing left of his provision by the way but a little sugar, to which Meyer added the last of his cocoa ; and of this they were in the act of partaking, with thankfulness, as all they could procure, when the Lord, who knew of their need, and the coming of their hungry friends, had, two hours before, given the Christian Indians, for a prey, a fine tapir, half of which they now most opportunely arrived with, and which, in a short time, afforded them, with some cassava bread the Indians also procured with the money brought, a delicious supper, and afterwards, by salting and drying, with food for several days : the flesh of the tapir being as tender and good as the best beef. Thus had the Lord arranged that the IN BRITISH GUIANA. bounty He had given His servant Geo. Miiller, in England, for John Meyer, in British Gruiana, should arrive, through C A — — 's willing service, just at the right time ; while He, whose are all the beasts of the forest, enabled Meyer, and his Indian brethren, to furnish the bearers of this His grace with wholesome and nutritious food during their stay. I need hardly add, how great was the joy of the Indians in thus being able to give sach a supply to their friends in this time of need. One interesting fact I must here relate. An Indian woman at Kumaka, who, soon after the conversion of Catherine, having professed belief in Jesus, and been baptized, had for sometime withdrawn herself, from feelings of jealousy, and otherwise acted as though she was not one of the true sheep. At length, she fell sick nigh unto death. As she had shown much enmity towards him, our brother Meyer visited her in love, speaking to her of the precious Saviour, His sufferings for poor sinners, and cleansing blood. She seemed glad to hear of that blessed name she had so neglected to honour, and her heart to soften. He went to her a second time, but she was insensible, and soon after died. In one of her houses Meyer perceived two Indians, whose countenances were familiar to his memory ; a LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER man and his wife, the latter nearly blind. As they seemed to recognize him, and desire to hear him, he called them to his home, and then discovered they were of those Indians with whom brother C A had left him on their first journey. They said they never could forget the words he spoke to them all during the eight days he was among them. They had felt it all true ; i. e., their great wickedness, as also the love of God in giving up His Son to die for sinners. That they believed with all their hearts on Jesus Christ ; and had been long hoping to see him again. That, at last, hearing he was preaching Jesus to the Arrawacks, in Berbice river, he and his wife had travelled together seeking him, but that coming to the Indian woman who had just died, she had warned them never to go near him, for he was a false teacher, and would lead them wrong. That they were astonished and delighted when he came in so unexpectedly, and told the dying woman the very same sweet words he had spoken to them at their own place. Upon this, Meyer, with two Indian brethren, paid them all a visit at the same place, when this man, his wife, and some others, were baptized; and we find from his notes, that he penetrated in one of his excursions as far back as Arawa, above the falls in Demerara river, which place he had at IN BRITISH GUIANA. the first visited with brother C A and there baptized tv70 who believed in the Lord Jesus. The Lord only knows the full extent or fruit of his labours, since he used to tarry but a few days at each place in his visits, just long enough to state clearly to them the great truth of our fall and ruin in Adam, with the full and free redemption there is in Christ Jesus, through His blood : to declare the certainty of coming and eternal judgment, with the present gift of eternal life to all who believe on the Son of God : to beseech them at once, and as they were, to be reconciled to God, now waiting to be gracious ; who was not now imputing sin to man, but beseeching all to be reconciled through faith in Him, who, though " He knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteous- ness of God in Him." Indeed, the simple faith of John Meyer, in pro- secuting his mission journeys, rendered him so improvident as to human resources, that, had not our gracious God felt his reliance on Him, and responded to his confidence, he had perished many times. He used to go forth in journeys of three weeks together, moving from village to village, living on what the Indians gave him. It happened once, that in several of the places at which he called, the Indians were from home ; F 2 LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER SO that he again went three days, living on fruits of the forest, chiefly pine-apples ; and many times did his wife, and those at Kumaha, almost despair of seeing him home again. These often journeys over the burning plains, with fastings and weariness, made rapid inroads on his constitution, and considerably increased his mental malady, so that, on his return to his family, fits of melancholy irritability broke in upon the joy of those days, which should have been days of repose among the little company of Christian brethren at Kumaka, who, joined by other Christians from various parts of the river, every first day of the week broke bread together, passing round the cup of thanksgiving, thus having fellowship in the once-offered body, and once- shed blood, of the adorable Saviour. At these times, when he was absent especially, they always poured out their prayers for this servant of the Lord, who had been the messenger of such good tidings to them in preaching peace by Jesus Christ. In the latter time of John Meyer's brief but laborious mission to these Indians, a circumstance occurred which drew into great prominence the grace that was given him, and proved bis intense love for his Lord's sheep, while, at the same IN BRITISH GUIANA. time, it seriously impaired his constitution, and hastened the close of his labours. An interesting memoir, already published, of a mission to the Indians in the Essequibo and Pomeroon rivers, gives a detailed account of an evil white man, who practised upon Indian credulity in the river Massarooni, inducing numbers from all parts, but chiefly Accaways, to attend his prophecies con- cerning one who should come from heaven to fertilize, miraculously, and convert into a para- dise, a large portion of the Indian country, inviting all who desired permanent happiness to resort immediately thither. This foolish story spread far among the Indians, and received credence where the true gospel was unheeded. It reached the Accaway country at the head of Demerara river, and the Accaway families, giving heed to it, were all occupied in reaping their cassava, and making bread for their long journey, which they were about to prosecute in pursuit of terrestrial happiness. It happened at this time that Meyer, with his family and eight Christian Indians, had just arrived at Manaka, to visit the brethren there, when he heard that an Indian brother, with his wife, an Accaway, also a sister in the Lord, who had gone to visit her parents in the Demerara, were drawn into LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER the movement among the Accaway tribe, fully thinking that this expected One was no other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Our brother Meyer, grieved to the heart at the thought of these two Christians being so deceived with the rest of the Accaways, sent at once to Kumaka for sister Catherine's husband, Thomas, a faithful brother, and an Accaway Indian, to accompany him immediately to the head of Demerara river, in order, if possible, to deliver this brother and sister from the delusion; and, by preaching the truth as it is Jesus, unde- ceive the others. It was a long foot journey for the white man, already worn with frequent fevers and hard living, but his love of souls was great, his faith in God was strong, and he must set out. Meyer's money then amounted to only one dollar and three-quarters. The dollar he took, the remainder he left with his wdfe, and then set out with the Indians, leaving our sister Meyer, with a dumb Indian lad, Clara the little Indian girl, and three little children, to await his return at Manaka. Thus were these few weak ones left among the Indians located there, in a dwell- ing without a door even to close against the wild beasts at night. But Mrs. Meyer feared not ; she cast her burdens, both that of her travelling husband and helpless children, on Him who was IN BRITISH GUIANA. mighty, and who cared for her. The dumb Indian boy was fisherman for the party ; and Mrs. Meyer bought cassava bread from the neighbours with the little money she had. The supply of fish was abundant, the Lord sent plenty to the dumb boy's hook ; but at last the money was spent. The last piece had just been paid for cassava bread, when they rose from morning prayers, and they had only enough for that day. They had finished with gratitude their last meal, when one of the children who had gone out exclaimed, " Mamma, come, see, Harriet with a quake full of cassava bread!" This was true ; Harriet, an Indian sister from Kamaka, had just arrived with two Indian brethren, having been sent ofi" express by sister Catherine with a bag of twenty-five dollars, sent by the Lord, through brother George Miiller, of Bristol, and a large Indian basket of cassava bread added by herself. This money having arrived in Demerara, per Packet, from our dear Christian brother, Geo. Miiller, it was pressed upon our hearts to send it off with the least possible delay. Brother C A being extremely ill at the time, the Lord stirred up some trusty black brethren, with one Indian, to be the bearers of this bounty for Christ's sake. I will, however, give here an LABOURS OF JOHN METER extract from our brother C A -'s letter to brother and sister Meyer, sent with this money, which will show how the Lord was providing for them through the love of many hearts : — Grace and peace be multiplied unto you, and all with you who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. You have been much on our hearts of late dear brother and sister. Much prayer has been offered up for you, and the prosperity of the work of the Lord among the Indians, mingled with thanksgivings for those already gathered through the preaching of the cross. Moreover, the Lord had put it into the heart of our dear brother T y, and others, to send supplies, judging that you must be in need, and just as the Lord was disposing the brethren to liberality here, brother S g received from dear brother Miiller, of Bristol, twenty-five dollars expressly for you, which all thought should, if possible, be sent immediately to you, overland, if the Lord should dispose some bre- thren cheerfully, and in faith, to undertake the journey. Right glad should I have been to be the bearer, if the Lord had allowed, but He has laid me low at present, and I am very weak in body. Brother S g has it much on his heart to visit you by the way of the sea and river, and IN BRITISH GUIANA. this you may expect he will do, if the Lord per- mit, when certain articles of food and clothing, which brethren have it in their hearts to send, are ready ; but if you think of any things you much need, or that would be more acceptable, pray name them through the brethren who are the bearers of this — Frederick, Anky, an Indian named Micaiah, and William." Our sister scarcely knew how to thank the Lord for this fresh instance of His care, and minute arrangement of His mercies. The money leaving England, and reaching Demerara just as their supposed great need was laid upon the brethren's hearts there, — the hastening of the supply by brethren at once made willing for the arduous service, — their reaching Kumaka in safety, after three days' journey, — and the Lidian sister, Catherine, despatching the Indians so promptly, with the needed supply of cassava bread in addition ! Surely " the hairs of our head are all numbered " we are of more value than many sparrows ;" and the Christian, in the path of willing service and depending faith, can never be forgotten by God ! Mrs. Meyer now felt extremely anxious that Meyer should benefit by this timely help, as she felt assured he was suffering under heavy afiiic- tions from peculiar misgivings and impressions LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER on her mind never before experienced. Three weeks and more had elapsed since he left them ; and at length he arrived at Manaka suffering intensely, and almost blind from inflammation in his eyes. He had succeeded in reaching the head of Demerara river, and found as reported. The Accaways, having reaped all their fields of cassava, did not plant again, as is their custom ; but, having baked their bread, were all on the eve of departure, with their full quakes of food for the long journey, full of hope ere long to reach the promised happy land. Meyer, with the aid of Thomas, as interpreter, set before these poor deluded Accaways, God's wa?/ of salvation, even His own Son Jesus Christ, and exhorted them to receive remission of their sins now, through faith in His blood, that they might wait for Him from heaven, when He should come to receive all His believers to His glory, changing their vile bodies, and making them like His glorious body, so that where He was there should they be also ! Showing them that the great Lord Jesus, — who was truly coming again in glory to receive the believers, and punish with everlasting destruction those who would not now obey His Gospel, — had expressly for- bidden any of His disciples to follow a voice saying, " Lo ! here, or Lo ! there " He is in IN BRITISH GUIANA. the wilderness, or in the chamber." That " the Lord would come Himself with a shout, the voice of the arch-angel, and the trump of God!" That this word they had heard was not true, but of the devil, to deceive them. Upon this, the aged people, and a few others, were convinced, and remained ; but many, in their self-will, persisted. In this journey our brother Meyer suffered much from the want of food. Those who had wood-cutting establishments were unwilling even to sell anything to him, because he was holding up the light, and their deeds were evil ; but, especially, because he spoke much against the evil of giving the Indians rum, in payment for Avork, instead of money ; which most evil habit is not only defrauding them of the due price of their labour, but demoralizing and ruining them body and soul, being also expressly against the colonial laws. Bitter, indeed, was the enmity stirred against this servant of the Lord in the hearts of those who hated the truth, which he was the less able to bear as his mind and constitution gave way ; yet it caused him more intensely to appreciate the blessing of truth, and the value of souls. His eyes having recovered soon after his return, he visited the town to procure necessaries for G LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER the family; and while there, his zeal for the salvation of souls caused him to preach in the market every day, and in the evenings to many assembled at the sister's house, mentioned as having been brought to the Lord through his former testimony, in Mr. S 's house, on his first arrival in New Amsterdam, with his family. Hearing that a convict lay in the gaol awaiting execution for murder, Meyer obtained permission to see him twice. These interviews proving very unsatisfactory, the hopeless condition of the man, through unbelief, weighed heavily on his mind; and he returned to Kumaka much de- pressed in spirits. About this time, the writer of this Memoir, in company with his much-esteemed brother in Christ, Mr. C A , left Demerara in a small schooner for New Amsterdam, in order to visit Kumaka, and carry to brother Meyer, and family, the liberality of many Christians in Demerara and Essequibo. We took with us in the vessel a tent-boat, four brethren volunteers as a crew, and a load of provisions, with the con- tributions for Meyer. The reader may, perhaps, pardon here the intrusion of a little history of this journey, by which I became an eye-witness of some of our brother Meyer's life and labours among these interesting people. m BRITISH GUIAKA. We set sail from George Town early in the morningj and did not reach New Amsterdam until the second morning after, being two nights out, and remaining on the schooner's deck the whole time, being the last night completely washed over with salt water from the heavy rollers, which prevail on that coast, and which made clean breaches over the vessel. Having little or no rest during our short voyage, we did not move onwards that day ; but landing safely in our boat, were most kindly received in the house of our before-mentioned sister in Christ (ourselves, crew, cargo, and all), where we remained that night. Our arrival being known to the neighbours, a number of persons attended in the evening, to whom I was enabled to preach the riches of God's grace in His dear Son. At daylight we loaded our boat, and prepared for our voyage up the river, hoping, by strenuous rowing, to reach Kumaka in time for worship with the Church on the first day of the week, our party being increased by two Indian brethren left here for us by our brother Meyer, who was expecting our visit. Commending ourselves to the Lord, we embarked ; the wind proving fair, our sails well spread to the breeze, the well- freighted little barque bounding forward on the bosom of the broad river, soon left the LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER town, its shipping, and busy inhabitants, far behind. There is something very refreshing to the Christian's soul in the certainty that you are going forth on the Lord's service, with the Lord's own sanction and fellowship ; especially when you find yourself cheered with the mutual faith of those who, in the same spirit, are associated with you in service, and sitting with you at the feet of Him, who is to us now what the won- drous ladder was to Jacob in the wilderness, the communication of all God's grace and promise to his weary soul ; the revelation at once of present and future blessings. The companionship of such an one as the brother with whom I was then associated made the journey happy and profitable. With the exception of one very heavy squall of wind and rain, in which we were obliged to lower all sail, and totally lost sight of the river banks, we had a most favourable day's run, and reached, ere the tide turned to ebb, the hospitable dwelling of a settler and his family. He v/as of Dutch ex- traction, and received us kindly ; adding to our stock for supper some fresh milk from his cows, as also giving fresh fish to carry with us, which himself and children had been most successful in taking in their nets that evening. It was also IN BRITISH GUIANA. comforting to hear brother C A speak to him of the love of God in His unspeakable gift ; of the remission of sins, and the gift of righteousness ; of the end of this grace in a new creation where God would tabernacle with His holy perfect creatures, and death and tears would be unknown ; as it is written, " The tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people ; and God Himself shall be with them as their God !" Our kind host listened with much attention to the word, and his heart seemed to respond. He was by birth and education of the Dutch Eeformed Church ; and seemed to be acquainted with the word of God. His family retiring to rest before the flood made, we remained in the gallery of his dwelling, unable to sleep for the musquitoes, until the crew sum- moned us to the boat, the stream now flowing upwards. A row of six hours brought day- light and the ebb tide, obliging us to land, and tie the boat. The shore aflbrded us a rising dry ground, the cool shade of spreading forest trees, smaller ones from which to suspend our ham- mocks, and dry fuel for our fire ; and, to crown all our comforts, there were no musquitoes. Sanc- tifying our little bivouac with the word of God and prayer, we hung up our hammocks, and G 2 LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER obtained refreshing sleep for a few hours, so that before the returning flood warned us to proceed, we had slept, breakfasted, and bathed ; then launching once more into the still, broad, and deep river, we were carried swiftly upwards bj our oars and the favouring tide. The sun had set, and the night closed in upon us before the flowing waters, having reached the permitted height, turned back again to reach their ocean bed ; when, turning also our boat's head to the shore, our weary rowers gladly sought repose. Here a misunderstanding be- tween ourselves and the Indian brethren amused us not a little. Fearing rain might fall in the night, we had inquired of them if any deserted house or shed were at hand, and both replied in the afiirmative. Having now landed under their direction, while they were bringing up our hammocks, &c., from the boat, with lighted candles we were searching all around for the expected house. At length, John, the Indian, pointed out the place he meant in the deep forest gloom, but not all the light our candles produced could discover a house where the Indian pointed as our resting place. Soon, however, John explained it to be an Indian halting-place, from its high and dry situation, with trees convenient for our hammocks to hang up. This discovery of IN BRITISH GUIANA. our mistake amused, but in nowise disappointed us, as the night continued fine. In a very short time a cheerful fire was raised, and refreshing ourselves with delicious tea, our hammock beds were soon made, and we sank to rest under the green canopy of lofty spreading boughs, through which you might perceive each glittering star as it shone so calmly in the vault of heaven. With the dawn of day we launched again. It was the first day of the week ; and, by the distance we had yet to run, all hope of reaching Kumaka in time for worship was given up. We passed that day many settlements of blacks and coloured people, where the river's bauk was open, with grass land, and many cattle feeding. The river Berbice is deeper and broader than the Demerara, is very peculiar from its winding course, and differs from the latter in flowing through so many open savannahs, and having such magnificent groups of palm-trees on its banks. A little before noon, the turning waters told our rowers it was time to rest ; and, accord- ingly, we landed at the foot of a pleasant wooded hilL Here, having secured our boat, we grouped ourselves in a shady place ; and, spreading a cloth on the ground, laid out our bread and wine, and passed a happy two hours in worship and praise, reading, and exhortation, and par- LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER took together of the same loaf, drinking also of the same cup, in remembrance of Him who was guiding us through the wilderness to His pro- mised glory. Our little church in the forest glade, consisting of two white men, three blacks, one mulatto, and two Indians, told us that there was with us " neither Greek nor Jew, circum- cision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free ; but that Christ was all and in us all." Late in the afternoon we once more launched upon the water, and reached, soon after eight o'clock, the foot of the steep hill, on the brow of which the Indian village of Kumaka stands. There we were kindly welcomed by the Indian brethren and sisters in the Lord, but found our brother Meyer in low spirits, having suffered much from his exertions in his late journey to town. We brought them a good stock of bis- cuits, flour, sugar, tea, &c. The Indians came to Meyer's house for evening prayers, and he spoke to them with great earnestness from the word, in their own language. We had prayer and com- munion together in the Lord, and concerning His work there, before retiring to rest, but could not help observing how shattered brother Meyer seemed in his health and nerves from his labours and hardships. Mrs. Meyer also, and the three children, were suffering in health ; the little boy IN BRITISH GUIANA. had been very ill. Indeed, their manner of life rendered it impossible they should thrive in their bodies ; their frequent journeys and nights out in the boat, exposure to the sun and rain, the huts they lived in, so pervious to the wind and wea- ther. We could not, however, hope for any change in these things, and could only cast them afresh on Him who had hitherto spared them, and certainly blessed the testimonies to His grace, and greatly owned the self-denying labours of Plis child and servant, John Meyer. Our stay was short, but sufficient to see the order of these Christians, and their value for the word, in their attendance at the hours for worship and expounding the word from the Scriptures of truth, growing thereby in grace, and the know- ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the upper side of the hill where this village stood, might be seen the huts of the Captain and his brother, who still retained their enmity to the truth, and those who loved it. Behind Kumaka grows a forest about a quarter of a mile in depth, from which you then emerge upon a fine undulating, open grass country, interspersed with groups of palm- trees, and snow-white hillocks of sand, over which a horseman might urge his steed with- out a check, even until he reached the deep and lofty forests that continuously skirt the river LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER Demerara. It is across this open country that our brother C — — - A with the others, as soon as they could clear the forest ground, guided by a compass, and the eye of their Lord in heaven, have tracked their way to pay their kindly visits to the village of Kumaka. Having endeavoured to soothe and cheer the spirits of our brother Meyer, and joined our prayers and tears with sisters Meyer and Cathe- rine for his permanent recovery, we took our leave, at early dawn, of this dear company gathered from the forests to our Lord, and turned ourselves to reach, by the falling tides, the es- tuary of this mighty river, w^hich we had, with very much toil, so recently left. Nothing of note occurred on our return. The first night we slept again in our hammocks beneath the forest trees ; part of the next was spent with our friend the Dutchman, who received us hospitably again, part of it in a tremendous thunder-storm and rain, which thoroughly wet our brethren at the oars ; after which, the tide turning, we anchored off the shore till daylight, getting no rest from the musquitoes, and so completely uncomfortable, that, as day dawned, we rowed against the tide to a village of black settlers, in one of whose houses, being kindly received, we partook of refreshments we had with us, and imparted to IN BRITISH GUIANA. our host, and some neighbours who came in, such as we had of the savour and knowledge of Christ in His gospel of grace. For this they seemed very grateful, and the tide now favouring, they set us forward from their water-side with thanks and good wishes, from whence we reached that afternoon. New Amsterdam, and engaging our passage in a vessel sailing for Demerara the next morning, passed another night under the roof of our Christian friend, preaching the gospel once more to a full room the evening of our arrival. The next morning we embarked, and in twelve hours reached the harbour, and landed in George Town, from whence we had set out. I have here, however, to state that Mr. S the German, mentioned in a former part of this memoir as a near neighbour of Meyer, was in town, unwell. Hearing of this, I called upon him, and found him much prejudiced against our dear brother, from the evil reports constantly circulated about him. I spoke seriously to him on the truth of God's own word. I told him that John Meyer was a servant of Jesus Christ, and of the truth. I besought him to enquire at his mouth for the gospel of God's grcce, and hoped he would soon feel the need of such a helper. That hour came. Not very long after he was taken very ill, and sent for Mej er. He, in his LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER ready love, visited him with the testimony of grace ; Mr. S received the love of Christ, and is walking in it to this day. But herein must we perceive the wisdom and the grace of God. Our brother Meyer was drawing near to the close of his labours, and Mr. S was preparing of God to be a helper and friend to the little Indian flock, when bereft of the Evan- gelist who had been used to call them from dark- ness to light. The more our brother Meyer suffered from mental infirmities, and his body was worn by fevers, the more did the love of souls increase in his heart, with desire that the Lord's name might be magnified among men. A short time before his death he visited town. Previous to setting out, he had been most of a day in the water with the Indians, repairing some damage done to his boat. When in town he was very earnest in preaching and speaking to all whose attention he could arrest, of the judgment coming on sin, and the present redemption out of all through the blood of Jesus. He seemed to groan over the unbelief of men, and mourn deeply the pressure of the darkness with which the god of this world envelopes the minds of those who believe not. He returned from towm very ill with fever, and on the day after his return died in the arms of IN BRITISH GUIANA. his beloved wife, who was thus left a widow, with her three children, and the prospect of soon giving birth to another, in the midst of this little group of Christian Indians. I need hardly say the mourning for him was very great among them, and those around, who were united with them in the blessings of God's free salvation. Our faithful brother in the Lord, Mr. S , with many of the black and coloured population, attended at his funeraL According to the Indian fashion, his grave was dug in the floor of the dwelling, and there, in his simple coffin, was laid the body of the Lord's well-used servant, John Meyer ; who, in the midst of many infirmities, never turned away his trust or hope from Jesus Christ, who had loved him, and given Himself for him ; who, though often cast down, was not destroyed, and by whom the Lord has made His voice heard in another language, and called out from another Gentile family some people for His name. Christian reader, we will not dwell on the infirmities or eccentricities of a departed brother in the holy faith, but upon the grace of God that was given him, the power of Clirist working in and by him. He certainly was " crucified to the world, and the world to him." In his ministry of the Gospel he certainly " believed, and there- H LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER fore spake." He sought the Indians for Christ, and was spent in his labours to bring them, through Christ, to God. Yea, it was to God his ministry brought them, and with God he left them. His death distressed them, bereaved them of an able teacher of the New Covenant, but it did not move them from their faith, or disturb their worship. His ministry especially [taught them to lean only on Christ, to meet in the power of His name and Spirit. They were, as Chris- tians, one spirit with the Lord, and the Com- forter, the Holy Ghost, was with them, to guide them into all truth, help their infirmities, and bring to their remembrance the words of Jesus. Thus, never having been brought round a minis- try, but round Jesus ; never having been led to suppose their privileges as saints, or power for worship, depended on the presence or sanction of any man, the company continued assembling them- selves together on the first day of the week, to break bread, and on other evenings to pray and praise. They poured out their hearts in suppli- cation and thanksgiving to Him in whose name they met, and continued to realise the promise that where any meet in His name He would be in their midst. IN BRITISH GUIANA. CHAPTER IV. No sooner had the melancholy tidings of our brother Meyer's removal from his labours of love reached us, than C A , the faithful helper in his mission, and sympathizer in the welfare of the Indians, set off for Kumaka, by the way of the sea and river, taking with him a small bateau and three brethren, and remained some time with them, to the consolation of the mourn- ing widow and her little ones, as well as the com- forting and strengthening of the Indian brethren, and others, consorting with them. Mr. S felt deeply the loss they had all sustained, espe- cially having but just learned the value of that dear Saviour, and the word of His grace, which Meyer had so zealously taught. Accustomed to make the Indians understand enough for all his worldly purposes, in a kind of broken Dutch dia- lect, he was unable to assist them in the Arrawack tongue, either in reading the Scriptures, or in their hymns, or joining them intelligently in prayer, at least, only in a very small degree. Our brother C ■ A , also, being unable to speak or teach in the Arrawack, the Indian brethren were now left to feed upon Christ as they had learned Him, and felt the real presence of the Holy Ghost in stirring up their minds to LABOURS OF JOHN BIEYER remembrance, and enabling them mutually to comfort and build up one another in their holy faith. Our sister Meyer, ri vetted, as it were, by the dearest associations and remembrances, to the little Church at Kumaka, could not as yet make up her mind to leave them ; and, being near her confinement, brother C — - — A — — left her, and her little ones, under the care of her heavenly Father, in the sisterly charge of Catherine and the females there. Our brother C- — — A — - — , being now very desirous of establishing, if possible, a nearer and easier route of communication with the Demerara river, and for that purpose taking with him several Indian brethren in his bateau, entered a creek or arm of this river, called Wairooney, which flowed into the Berbice a little below Lana (Mr. S 's place), and having pene- trated far, by paddling up most of the day, found its course so very circuitous, that tliey deemed it advisable to pursue the reet of the journey by land ; securing, therefore, the bateau, with its cargo, to the shore, and taking only those things they were able to carry, they walked on in a westerly direction, and reaching at night some deserted Indian houses, there they halted and slept. Going forward in the morning, they had to cross, by a fallen tree, the very creek they had IN BRITISH GUIANA. abandoned the afternoon before. This day they unexpectedly fell in with a family of Arrawacks, unknown to the Kumaka Indians, but who, to their astonishment, declared that they believed on Jesus Christ, whom they designated as the Son of God, who came into the world to die for sinners, all men being sinners, but that God had loved the world, and given His only Son to die, that whosoever believed on Him might have eternal life ; " and we," said they, " believe on Jesus Christ as well as you" ! In answer to the interrogatory, "How came you by the know- ledge of that name ?" they said, "A white man came to us, and spoke of these things to us in our own language ; but stayed only two days, leaving us with the promise of soon visiting us again." Then understood they that it must have been the evangelist John Meyer who had come to them, and spoken these words unto them. These Indians, being then on a journey, I do not think they have been seen or heard of since ; but this instance will serve to show how far the Lord may have used our deceased brother as a witness for Jesus among these men of the wilderness. Two days more of heavy walking through a recently-burned forest brought them to the banks of the river Demerara, down which they procured a passage to P H , where the Indian H 2 LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER brethren remained with us more than two weeks, and quite endeared themselves to the church there by their humble and holy deportment. After which time, our brother C- A- , and his crew of black brethren, returned with them. Retracing the burned forest, they found their bateau, with its contents, quite safe. In- deed, the Indians never disturb or purloin from each other's canoes, or huts, if they light upon them deserted ; a sort of mutual compact seems to be observed among them, and to be kept inviolate. Thus are they enabled to leave their few possessions as safely in the open wilderness as within the bars of a strong-hold» About this time, our sister Meyer, with those at Kumaka, were daily expecting the return of C A and his party ; and, from a scarcity of provisions, such as fish, or game, of any sort, were in much perplexity. The brethren were out every day, but without success in procuring more than barely satisfied themselves and families. So much did they feel this, that they had special prayer that the Lord would provide for their expected travellers. When the Indians were at P H , I had presented John, a faithful young Christian Indian (the man who shot the tiger, as mentioned by our sister Meyer, in a former chapter), with a new gun and ammuni- IN BRITISH GUIANA. tion ; thus had they two or three with them on their return. Soon after they had taken to their bateau, and were swiftly descending the Wairooney creek, the Indians observed the recent track of a tapir from the water side. Two of them instantly landed in pursuit ; while C A , in ihe bateau, with the others, floated gently onwards. They soon heard by their shouts the game was roused; and, watching, saw a large tapir take the water, under which he dived, to walk across the bottom of the creek. C A , having seized a loaded gun which lay near him in the bateau, marked the tapir as he raised his snout and head above water to gain the opposite bank, when aiming behind his shoulder as he was in the act of cleaving the stream, he shot the animal through the heart with a ball, to the delight of the Indians, who, securing and dissecting the carcase, managed to convey the whole of it to Kuraaka, where they arrived, to the great joy of their expecting friends, that night. The meat thus obtained plentifully supplied them all, and caused the thanksgiving of many, who saw the Lord's hand in it ; who, though He seemed to withhold His aid from those who were so eagerly seeking it, gave it unsought to those very brethren for whose sakes they were desiring it. LABOURS OF JOHN METER Just as our brother, C A- — , was depart- ing from Lana, on his return to Demerara, he received the pleasing intelligence that, in the Lord's goodness, our sister Meyer had safely given birth to a little girl ; and, about a month after, she plainly saw it to be the path of duty to relinquish her Indian life, and, with her children, seek refreshment, and, if the Lord might grant it, repose, and better health, with her Christian brethren at Demerara. Her affections and feel- ings of deep interest in the welfare of the Indians were so strong, it was not without a hard strug- gle that she left Kumaka, believing it, on many accounts, to be her path of duty now. The Lord had taken from her head His servant, whose most faithful helpmate in the work she had proved herself in many trials, and her work there seemed over. Eighteen months after her removal, during which time the Indians visited her in Demerara several times, she followed the writer of these memoirs to England, where she still resides, with her children, putting her trust in God. It remains now merely to show that the work of God, by His servant Meyer, standeth firm in the wilderness, through Him on whom it is all built ; and that like the Eunuch, though their Philip is caught away from them, they can go on IN BRITISH GUIANA. tlieir way rejoicing. That they still hold the Head, from whom the whole body is nourished, may be seen from the following facts. There are life and power in them to resist evil, and walk together in the truth. They have of themselves put away from among them evil persons, and this with the hope and prayer for their repent- ance and recovery. Their first acts of discipline were upon Indians, but one was upon a Mulatto, an intelligent, well-educated man. Having a comfortable residence, and many neighbours, he had invited the Indians from Kumaka to come in a body and spend the first day of the week with him, for a testimony to those, his neighbours. They having consented to this, were on their way down to his place on Saturday evening, in their bateau, when they observed him passing on the river in a boat, with many people, noisy and intoxicated. Upon this they immediately returned, and reporting what they had seen to Mr. S , spent the first day, and broke bread together, at Lana. It is pleasing indeed to know that long since the person in question has been deeply humbled and penitent, and was then cheerfully received back into communion by his Indian brethren. Two of the sisters (Indians) had hired themselves out to work for a white man, and, according to the evil custom prevail- LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER ing, were persuaded to take part payment in rum, and had become intoxicated. As they worked and lived apart from the others on this occasion, the church could not have known of their evil, but their own consciences condemning them before the Lord, they confessed to their sin with deep contrition, before the whole church, refusing to sit at communion until restored by the sympathy and entreaties of their brethren, who showed them what they had learnt, that "if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive, and cleanse from all unright- eousness." Within the last year they have moved from Kumaka, as also several from Manaka with them, and planted new fields, and erected huts, on the banks of the Wairooney. They have had many trials since, of different kinds ; some have fallen away, and more than twelve have slept in Jesus since the Lord took His servant, John Meyer. But, perhaps, it will be most satisfac- tory here to insert the last letter received from our brother, C A , who, in his perse- vering zeal and love to the Indians, has visited them many times since ; sometimes with much sorrow, but, as the reader will perceive by the following letter, at length with joy and hope. As this last visit was paid to them expressly in response to an invitation sent over by the Indian IX BRITISH GriAXA. Catherine, and 'Mr. S . I think it will be better first to insert copies of their letters. The bearers were two Indian brethren, who came hy way of the river and sea, bringing letters from Mr. S and Catherine. Copt of Catheeixe's Letter. Dear Brother, I send von these few lines by the hand of our brother John, hoping that, by the blessing of the Lord, they may find you all in good health. I had it in my mind to send or write to you before this, but after removing from Kumaka^ and the weather favourable for planting provi- sions, we had no time to send any of the brothers away. If you can come at once with brother John, we shall all be so glad to see you in the Lord's name ; if you cannot come at present, pray write and say when you can be in Berbice town, and we will send a boat to wait upon you. I send four quakes of yams, one for yourself, one for brother T , one for brother J C , one for brother H C . I always feel anx- ious to hear from you with the love I hold for the Lord. Xo more to say, but remain "Your sister in Christ, Catherine." LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER Copy OF Mr. S 's Letter. " Dear Brother, " Sister Catherine, I understand, is sending John to you, and I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without writing you a few lines to say that, in the Lord's goodness, we are all healthy and well, with the hope that the Lord is thus blessing you, I had hoped we should have been blessed with a visit from you ere this, because when you left for Demerara it was with the intention of soon returning. I assure you I long for you, and always in my humble prayers ask, if it may please the Lord, to grant you to us. Sister Catherine asked me for my small punt, which I have lent her, but were I sure of your coming, I should have sent my corial, and if you can state the time, I will send it to meet you in town. We have, through the Lord's blessing, met in His name every first day of the week since your departure ; but with a sorrowful heart I say it, I do not feel that grace which I wish and hope, and pray to the blessed Lord for, in order to be empowered for speaking the words of the Holy Spirit, so as to produce on the hearers fruit for the Lord. Surely I need much grace from the Lord for this, but the Lord will give it in His time. From our Manaka brethren I have IN BRITISH GUIANA. heard that Mabaka's wife, Lenky, with her child, has gone to rest in the Lord. Brother John is married to sister Cecilia, and John, the elder, to Caroline {alias, to give the Indian names, Quipas to Kalma). Now receive my love in the Spirit, and greet the brethren in Demerara, from your brother in Christ, "J S On the receipt of these letters arose a difficulty, the expense needed for the journey. Brother C A 's means being quite low, he laid the letters before the Lord, and felt it good to see brother B at the Craig, who was glad at his coming, since he had just received aid from brother Geo. Miiller, and gave him ten dollars. Thus enabled for the journey, he soon set out on his visit, and, on his return from the Indians, penned the following cheering account, with which we will close this record. " My beloved Sister in the Lord, " I took down the enclosed letter for you from our sister Catherine in Arrawack, and afterw^ards translated it into English. Little comment is needed on this simple language of her heart ; it will speak volumes to you, who know its author, but it may be gratifying to you this I LABOURS OF JOHN METER further testimony, that she grows in grace, and I am persuaded also the others are growing spiritually, the Lord be praised. I spent a happy time among them. We were mutually refreshed, , comforted, and strengthened, and I felt more liberty than on any previous occasion. I dwelt almost exclusively among them, and much enjoyed our every evening meeting. I felt great freedom in applying truth to their consciences, and earnestly exhorting them to give their hearts more unreservedly to the Lord. Two more families have come from Manaka to reside with them in their new place, viz., Bona- parte, his wife, and children, and Curtis and his family. Bonaparte desired baptism, but we all thought it better to test his sincerity awhile, by delaying to gratify his wish. Many strangers from the Indians came to hear in the evening. Part of Romans viii. being read and explained, some of them said, 'It is true, we live here a little only to groan away our lives ; there is nothing better for us than to believe God's word, and look for that good place where there is no groaning and dying.' The Lord grant they may turn to Him ! I have, in a former letter, repre- sented this little church of Indians as a field in the midst of the forest, cleared of its native growth, and planted with exotics, which, after IX BRITISH GUIAXA. the planter has reaped his crop, is destined to be abandoned and lost again, and covered with its native weeds, as though it had never been. But this, my last visit, has given rise to the hope that the Lord might continue the cultivation, perhaps, up to the time of His Second Advent (as the time is short), and get a succession of crops, and open more fields. I need not say what my hope is grounded upon, when, in addition to that related above, I now state that John Bart, the son of Frederick, has been to the joy of all, but especially of Catherine, added to the number of believers, and received by us into communion, after much prayer and examination. Thomas, Catherine, Tobias, and Quipas, at my request, questioned him, as also myself ; and we all came to the conclusion that he ought to be received. When I suggested his waiting yet a little time before he was baptized, the youth told Catherine he should not object if we all thought it right; but he felt that by thus openly confessing to Christ at once, he should have more strength from Him to battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil, than if still neglecting the sign of what he firmly believed the Lord to have done for him. Accordingly, the last Saturday I was with them, we all went down to the creek side, and John Bart was baptized, to the joy of all. The fol- LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER lowing day he broke bread with us at Lana, and it gave joy in the Lord among all the saints then assembled, Indians, white, coloured, and black. We have good hopes of Bonaparte and others ; and also that other Indians will come from the savannahs, and cast in their lot among them. Indeed, I repeat it, my last visit, although we did not go up to Manaka, has quite revived my spirit as to these dear souls. Some of ray leisure hours spent among them were devoted to the rendering of Arrawack hymns into English, partly for my own profit as to communion with them in singing, and partly that I might be able to apply the truths they contain to their consciences. I am now making a fair copy of dear brother Meyer's dictionary and grammar. I have spoken to J B about going up to Matara (their new settlement), knowing that his presence and ministry would be acceptable to them ; but in doing it I avoided giving him an arm of flesh to lean upon. He might teach them English ; and being, as I believe, a happy Christian, might lead them on, and assist them much in building them up in our most holy faith. We shall be able to locate him on brother S 's land, which lies near Matara. This latter brother's trials and temptations in his calling still continue, and are IN BRITISH GUIAXA. great hindrances to him. The last Sunday I sjDent there he appeared much humbled and happy ; he spoke from Scripture in Creole Dutch, and prayed in English. I purpose, if spared, to sketch out a map of the river, and mark the places I am acquainted with. I conclude, in much Christian love, " Your unworthy brother, C A — — . Copy of Catherine's Letter, in Arrawack. "Danshishia wabo dahukito Adaiahoeli oloko, "Hehei kidohani ephirito Koushishi Adaiahoeli. Mainbunato Kanshihi Adaiahoeli. daluwamuni dai akonshiha Adaiahoeli. Dai akonshiha abassabu. Tomaqua Lishikin dai akuiabu ikidoadabu oloko fa rocha maibonoato. Kidohani dahukito dai ikoro kai ikashiabu. Adaiahoeli aburuatiniu wauhutshiki fa aiuruka- hoe Lanshihi oloko. Dai auhubada Adaiahoeli obora kassakabu kassakoda halikebe daloa. Dai ulushi Adaiahoeli oloko kiadoma dai ikoro adicha toho holoro. Ephirito kanshihirino. Usuru- tahoe nam a qaa muni. Namaqua atshilikitshii aiurudato no ephirito kanshihi namaqua kanshihi Adaiahoeli. Kidohan dahukito dai adinama ba- hukito Adaiahoeli oloko. " Kargie. LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER "P.S. Ababadia, wai ashiga Adaiahoeli umuni na aba, watshilikitshi Adaialioeli ashiga hoeshia wamuni Yan Bart oloko. Loei kalida kali wama abali koro Sunday." In plain English : — " My much beloved Sister in the Lord, " Oh, yes, truly, the Lord's love is great. The Lord has not ceased to love ; to my heart I love the Lord, but I want more love yet. He will give me everything I ask belie vingly and unceasingly. Truly, my sister, I do not forget you. The Lord hath forgiven us ; we shall obtain salvation in His love. I wait before the Lord, day and night, with a happy heart. I am full in the Lord, because I look not to the world. Great love to the children, and a kiss to each of them. To all brothers and sisters in the Lord great love, even to all who love the Lord. Truly my sister, I stand your sister in the Lord. " Catherine. " P.S. One word ; we give the Lord thanks : one of our brothers in the flesh God hath given us in Christ, John Bart. He broke bread with us last Sunday." Now, beloved brethren in Christ, what shall we say to these things — these simple facts ? IN BRITISH GUIANA. Shall we not say, " What hath God wrought ! " We have not written for the glory of man. The weaker the agency to produce such results, the more manifest the power and wisdom of Him who wielded it, and made it so mighty to pull down the strongholds of Satan, and bring so many depraved hearts to the captivity of Christ ! Mighty through God ! Let us admire, first, the power put forth upon the agent, to constitute him, naturally evil, naturally walking according to the course of this world, and the power of darkness, a fellow -worker with God in delivering others from sin and death ! That he should forsake all to follow Christ ! Count it such blessing to wear out his life in leading poor heathens to the Lamb of God ! To labour in a field unnoticed and almost unknown ! just trusting on Him whose word of life he held forth to the Indians, and who he knew would not forsake His own I We have traced him through his brief days of labour in the wilderness, his journeyings, his fastings, his watchings, his conflicts, till he left his earthly tabernacle in an Indian hut, where they buried it. Hallelujah! and now what are the results of all this labour ? Nearly fifty souls from another tribe of the earth's families, where LABOURS OF JOHN METER His name was never known before, gatLered, with many others, into the Church of the First- born ! Many of their spirits gone to Him, while others are left to bear fruit, and give God salt from the forests of Guiana ! Before the white man penetrated their savan- nahs, the great name of Jesus was unknown there. The only great one among these poor sinners was Abaddon, the destroyer, whom they propitiated and feared. By what weapons has this handful been delivered from the darkness and control of the evil one ? By the word of God ! " Of His own will hath God begotten them again by the word of truth"! The same weapon hath worked mightily without reference to age or colour, intellect or education, bringing them to the same mind, the same blessed hope. Reader, before John Meyer appeared in these parts all was darkness, all evil, at that river head. The sound of the axe, the hunter's cry, the boatman's song, the drunken revel, the voice of him that shouted for the mastery, or the cry of the sufferer, might mingle in the forest echoes, and, borne upon the breeze, alternately break the silence almost reigning there ; but never was there heard the voice of prayer, or hymn of praise uttered in the name of Jesus, as now, IN BRITISH GUIANA. since the tongue of him, whose body sleeps so silently beneath the sandy floor of the Indian hut, proclaimed, in Arrawack and English, "Redemption by the blood of Jesus, Salvation in His name !" Now, dear reader, should the careless traveller be floating on that mighty river, ?o far from the ocean, on the first day of the week, the hymn of adoration and praise for redeeming love might rouse him from his dreams of sorrow or pleasure, and tell him, as he entered the humble room that held the worshippers, and cast his eye over the motley group assembled there (the educated German, the African savage, the wild American Indian, the once licentious Creole of Guiana, mingled in a common worship, saved with a common salvation, washed and sanctified by one blood), that truly God is no respecter of persons ; that to Jesus all the pro- phets truly witness, "Whosoever believeth on Him shall receive the remission of sins;'' that " the word of God is not bound ;" but that God does still by the foolishness of preaching, in any language, save them who believe. Think, then, and pray for the little flock thus rescued from perdition in this wilderness, and pray ye the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers to this yet unreaped field ; for God K LABOURS OF JOHN MEYER, ETC. has opened the door of faith to these Indians, granted to many repentance unto life ; and now invites His children to care for his sheep who dwell in the forests of Guiana, by his servant John Meyer. BATH : PRINTED BY BINNS AND GOODWIN. OLD NAEQUOIS, THE NEGEO DEIVEE. We know, from the word of God, that His eternal purpose, in the fulness of times, to gather together in one all things in Christ, shall be fulfilled, and that then all whom His grace and power have been gathering up in Christ, through the successive ages of the world, shall be brought forth to His praise and glory, by whose incarna- tion, death, and resurrection, that which was lost is found, that which sin had destroyed, is brought up into life and immortality. We know, also, there is no new thing under the sun ; that which hath been shall happen again : the principles that have moved the actions of men, under various circumstances, are the A 3 OLD NARQUOIS, same ; there is no real improvement in fallen nature : " the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, " are still, as ever, the springs of human action, human sorrow, and human degradation. It is, however, always most interesting and instructive to the Christian's soul to mark, when contemplating the history of by- gone ages, as set forth in the Scriptures of truth, the steady onward working of the glorious God, in His purposes of love, in the midst of all the activity of human passions ; making even the sins of men, and malice of devils, subservient to the glories of His grace. Indeed, it is only in the fullest understanding and conviction of this, that the Christian can walk intelligently and happily through the pre- sent scene, " a fellow-worker with God" ! The Scriptures testify fully that there is no range of human ambition, power, or tyranny, no sphere of cruel and oppressive cupidity, in the heart of which God cannot, does not, often work out His gracious planS; and turn it to the account of the glory of His grace. Yea, there is no platform of human action too vile or debasing for God to make the very occa- sion of displaying His wisdom, long-suffering, or saving power ; and the wonder is, to mark, as THE NEGRO DRIVER. God permits the tide of our evil nature to flow on, as men are carrying out the base desires of their own hearts, how He can mingle His ends and purposes with their actions, and make them the unconscious agents of His all-gracious will. Thus G-od is acting still, and the rapid changes, so marking the present moral and political atmosphere, are all working on to the certain fulfilment of that which He hath determined to be done ! Such thoughts as these, with a simple desire to set forth the goodness and power of God, have induced the writer to publish the following narrative of facts, which took place under his own observation during a residence of many years in the West Indies. There is, perhaps, nothing in modern history more illustrative of the above than the occasion God has taken, from the transportation of eight hundred thousand Africans to the islands and settlements of the West, to have preached to them that blessed Gospel, which they never would have heard in their own country, and by which not only thousands have become children of God through faith, but many have already returned to their own, or forefathers' native land, publishing the Gospel of peace. OLD NARQUOIS, Thus lohere the cruelty and covetousness of man transported them, there the grace of God has met them. Among many special actings of His grace, I may select the following, showing how widely and powerfully God has often worked ; and, no doubt, is now working, toward the salvation of souls, in a manner, and by agents unknown to, and unconnected with, the public labours of Chris- tians. The Lord had so far blessed the efforts of Christians and philanthropists, that (the name of slave modified to apprentice, and the time of daily labour abridged), the certain prospect of entire emancipation in a few years was placed before the Negro, — when myself, and a beloved fellow-labourer in the Gospel, were seeking, by access to the blacks in each plantation, to reach the ears and hearts of the aged and infirm, who had hitherto been totally shut out from hearing the joyful sound. Out of sixteen large plantations in the district, only one, at this time, presented an impenetrable barrier to our entrance, through the determined opposition of the manager, whose implacable and tyrannical nature seemed to burn seven times hotter from the knowledge that the restraint of law was now thrown over THE NEGRO DRIVER. his violent disposition, and the prospect was held out to the victims of his cruelty of entire deliver- ance from his thrall. So successfully clever and wily was he in eluding the grasp of law, that, though continually inflicting illegal, and, of course, cruel punish- ments, the sufferers dared not complain to the authorities, dreading the vengeance of his arm. Often would he compel the women to complete their daily task of weeding and moulding canes, (say one hundred rows of a rood in length), with their hands, having previously deprived them of their hoes and cutlasses ; and I knew of a man and his wife suffering solitary confinement for three years, without any means of redress, or the power of making their condition known. It was, therefore, his determined policy to keep such as ourselves at a distance from these people ; and I shall not easily forget the tone of defiance with which he refused the last request my brother and self made to him for admittance to teach the infirm and aged persons on the estate. Hopeless as to removing him from his purpose by any entreaties of ours, we agreed to lay this case of the poor before Him, who would hear and who could help ; and made an arrangement to meet together once every day, and beseech the Lord for admission to those people, until He granted OLD NARQUOIS, it ; remembering the promise that if any two agreed together to ask anything in Christ's name, it should be done for them. Nor did the Lord leave us long to wait, long to cry unto Him. It w^as, I think, on the third morning after we commenced our prayer to God, that a woman, no longer able to endure his cruelty, laid her case before the magistrate, who, summoning the cruel man to his bar, and, fully convicting, imposed upon him a heavy fine, with a public rebuke. A few hours after, the manager's friend v/aited on the magistrate demanding satisfaction in a duel ; which written challenge being carried at once to the governor, his Excellency sent the following peremptory notice to the representatives of the property, " That if the manager in question was in charge of that estate at eight o'clock on the follow- ing morning, he would proclaim it outlawed, with- draw from it all government protection, and give it up to the will and power of the Negroes." 1 need not say, that by eight o'clock that night the cruel manager was discharged; and, in a few days, the man who succeeded him, being of a more humane disposition, by the instructions of his employer, not only admitted us to the plantation, but in every way encouraged our frequent visits to the hospital, and residences of the blacks. On THE NEGRO DRIVER. our second visit after this change, the manager invited us to see an aged man, who he feared would never recover, and in whom he said all the people appeared much interested : and we followed him to the sick man's cottage. The Negro-yard, as it was called, consisted of three long ranges or rows of building, framed of the hard wood of the country, with projecting roofs, and thatched with the leaf of the troolie palm, numbers of which tree grow in the swamps that abound on the river's bank. It was capable of holding more than three hundred persons ; and to the remotest end of one of these ranges did the manager himself conduct us, amid the happy greetings of those who had returned from work, and who manifested, by the joy of their coun- tenances, and their ejaculations of Hoio d'ye, massa ? " " God bless you, massa" " Come for teach we poor neger, massa Hi! see wlia God do for a' wee aready,'' how much they appreciated the change of management, and rejoiced in beholding their very taskmaster cheerfully conducting to the sick-bed of their fellow-sufferer those who, though humble, were yet true messengers of the Gospel of peace ! On entering a lowly chamber, remarkable for its cleanliness, on a small bed a feeble old man OLD NARQUOIS, was laid, whose woolly hair, white as the purest snow, contrasted with his dark thin features, as much as his poor suffering body and manifest lack of comforts did with his peaceful smile and voice of praise and thankfulness. I need hardly say how much we were delighted and surprised to find in this aged black an enlightened brother in Christ. One who felt no sting in death, no hardship in suffering, because his heart had but one string to harp on ; one feeling that swallowed up all others. He was a pardoned sinner — a child of God ! and the grace of God had gone down so deep ! gone down below his fathomless guilt and wickedness, to fetch him up So high ; to blessings so great ; hopes so glorious ! God had saved him by the blood of J esus ! It must be premised here, that no missionary, or known teacher, had ever visited this part of the country ; and that hitherto I had apparently been working on no man's foundation. This dear man had never been able to come where either my brother or self was bearing testimony ; and we were now opening, as it were, a sealed up place, on which we thought the light of the Gospel had never shone. How, then, were we amazed, as well as rejoiced, to find a soul lit up with the beams of the Saviour's love j an expe- THE NEGRO DRIVER. rienced pilgrim, strong in faith, giving glory to God, and saying in principle, "I Lave fought the fight, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crovrn of righteousness." Yet so it was. Hoiv it was, remained for us to hear from the lips of the pilgrim himself, who, in answer to our request, in deep humility, and a clear, though feeble voice, declared plainly how he had heard, and how believed ! Reader, sit down with us, and listen to the old man's tale. It was, indeed, with the deepest interest that my dear brother (long since departed to be with Christ), my self, and the manager, sat listening to the narrator, as, in his own broken English dialect, mingled with praise and thanksgiving, and humiliating remarks on his own evil nature, but no harsh one on the conduct of his persecu- tors, he gave forth in substance that which follows. Many years had rolled past since he, with others, had been transported by the agents of their proprietors, from a slave ship, just arrived in the port, to a plantation full thirty miles further up the river than that on which they were at present located. And well might we say of the slave colonies of those days, a horror of darkness brooded over them, without one ray of light to B OLD NARQUOIS, illamine the gloomy picture. The slaves had, indeed, been removed from one portion of the earth, where Satan holds the human race in the darkest bondage of superstitious fear, and awe of his evil power, to dwell in another place, where, under the false name of Christianitj, he still held sway, with scarcely less dark, though perhaps more felt and perceptible, bondage, as existing over those nominally allied to Him, who came a light to lighten the darkness, and as the destroyer of Satan's power. Alas ! for these poor victims of human cupi- dity ; they heard that their masters were Christians ; but the only advantage manifested in that name was, I fear, with few exceptions, their superior power to do evil ; while the only development of religious faith was to be found in the revelry and excesses of the Christmas and Easter holidays, called by the slaves " Big and Little Christmas ;" at which times there was a general relaxation of discipline, an interchange of gifts, and mutual sympathy in the carnal joys of revelry between master and slave ; with a recognition of each other as fellow-creatures of the same original stock, and, alas ! equally merged in the moral ruin of the Fall. I may here add, it was always customary to allow and even encourage among the blacks, when work was over, the celebration THE NEGRO DRIVER. of their African dances, the frequency of which, at nights, constituted their only amusement and relaxation from their hopeless bondage, and, to them, the fruitless toil of their lives : so that I have heard a Negro set forth the history of their days in the following laconic, yet comprehensive, sentence, "It was nothing else but workee, workee ; floggee, floggee ; dancee, dancee." The narrator of this tale was then a young man in his strength, and one who, by his address and cunning, as well as readiness and ability to carry out the views of his employers, was raised to the office of head Negro-driver to the gang. An odious employment this, in which lay the widest scope for the exercise of every malignant and licentious passion existent in man, the tempta- tions to which were great by the unlimited power given them, on the condition of extracting from the slaves the greatest proportion of work. Narquois, by his own account, profited more than many of his equals in this sad office. None dared resist his will ; all were ready to court his favour ; and he became, like all others in his situation, notorious for his licentious excesses, hardness of heart, and tyrannical cruelty. The whole gang were thus walking in wickedness, and he the vilest of all. But that gracious God, B 2 OLD NARQUOIS, who, from His mercy-seat, is still looking down with long-suffering grace on the sinful children of men, as He marked the cruel transportation of these poor blacks across the ocean to feed the avarice of their more powerful and intelligent fellow-creatureS; had also marked out his vessels of mercy, whom He would in Christ call to His glory. Time rolled on, bringing with its course of human events a change big with promise to the slaves in this province of the West — the capture of the colony, by the fleet and arms of England, the result of which was, in the course of a few years, the slow but certain introduction of Grospel light to the country. Though much resisted at first, yet did it most surely penetrate and en- lighten many souls where it was first proclaimed ; and, slowly spreading itself along the coasts, found its lodging and its course of progress, in the hearts of the poor slaves. But alas ! how were the three hundred souls on this plantation, so far removed from the port and coasts, to hear the joyful sound ? We may imagine the jealousy with which the progress of the G-ospel was watched, and so it was with these people. All intercourse with the town, and other places, was cut off from their location, except by THE NEGRO DRIVER. water, and that was rigidly restricted to the punts, or river barges, used in the transportation of stores and sugar from and to the shipping off the town. All sides of this plantation were bounded by deep dark forests and swamps ; and the only way we could conceive by which the Gospel message could reach these banished ones would have been by the slaves employed in this river navigation. But these had no idle time in town ; discharging their sugars, reloading with stores, working under the eyes of the estates' agents, they were quickly despatched back to their river location as ignorant as they had left it. How, then, did the Lord work to accomplish His purpose of love ? It happeiied that the government — I mean the government of England — were about to extend and repair their works connected with the fort and military barracks. They possessed many slaves, chiefly mechanics, carpenters, and timber squarers, some of whom were located on govern- ment forest lands, but the greater part in town. In order, therefore, to carry out the building designs of government, a gang of carpenters and wood-cutters were sent up the river to hew and square timber. It happened that the place selected for this B 3 OLD NARQUOIS, was some government land, nearly opposite that isolated estate ; and thither were these govern- ment slaves carried, and housed, for a time, in temporary huts. Now it also happened that among these men was a carpenter, named Jack, who had heard and believed the Gospel when in town. He could not read, but had learned many portions of the Bible ; had profited not a little in the exercise of godliness ; and, through prayer and close attendance on the word, had grown in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The order to remove so far from the sound of the Gospel, and the communion he was enabled occasionally to have with other Christians and the Missionary, was a melancholy one to him ; and it was with a heavy heart he embarked with his fellows on this, to him, temporary banishment. He had not, however, been long at his new abode before he became acquainted with the slaves of this lonely sugar estate. Sometimes accompanying the overseer on a visit there to purchase sugar and provisions, and sometimes visiting them at night by means of his own canoe ; and when Jack perceived the ignorance and sin in which they were all lying, how totally they were deprived hitherto of the blessing that THE NEGRO DRIVER. had reached so many already, and hiroself in particuhar, his heart burned within him to help them also to the Gospel of the grace of God. But the danger of such an attempt was great. Nothing could cause greater alarm, or more cer- tainly bring down vengeance on its perpetrator, than collecting a congregation for preaching the Gospel, or setting up as a teacher, at such a time as that. Yet the fear of man could not overcome in this Christian slave the love he had for his fellow-sinners, and his burning desire of lifting up among them the Saviour's name, that believing they might live. Obliged to use the greatest secresy, he at length succeeded in obtaining leave from some families to come over in the dead of night, and instruct them in the truth of redemption by Jesus Christ. Although the utmost caution was used to keep the matter secret, the number of those who desired to hear increased so fast that it could not be hid ; and very soon the spies of Narquois, who was always keeping an argus eye over them all, especially to prevent secret and nightly meetings, gave him intelligence concerning the visits of Jack. Determined, however, to have ocular demonstra- tion, and arrest Jack in the very act, he appeared to take little or no notice of the information. OLD NARQUOIS, secretly purposing, by stealing softly to the place of meeting, from some stealthy corner to become a witness of all that was said or done. It was at the dead of night, when the hum of voices in the Negro-yard had ceased, their foofoo supper ended, " ebery nancy tory done,'^ that you might have seen dark forms steal forth quietly from different houses in the range, and direct their silent way to where in one Negro hut might still be seen the glimmering light of a small oil lamp. Scarcely had the last form disappeared within, when the listener might have heard a slight plash now and again in the smooth surface of the river, with a rippling sound of a canoe making its almost noiseless way through the waters ; then the rustling of leaves and branches as it forced through them to the shore ; then a tall form might be seen rising from the stream, and, walking swiftly, glide within the hut, where many a heart was waiting to hear some more of the wondrous love of God, of human guilt, the Saviour's sulFerings, and the sinner's pardon. There, in a dark recess, commanding a window of the hut, sat the wily Narquois, watching, as a tiger, his unsuspecting prey. And what did he see and hear ? THE NEGRO DRIVER. He saw Jack seated in the midst of a listening group, reasoning, in his own simple words, on "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come." He heard of God's goodness and power in the creation of all things ; of man's creation in the image of God himself ; of Eve ; of Eden's happy garden, when all was good : sorrow, pain, and death unknown. He heard of the warning and command concerning the tree of knowledge ; of Satan's subtlety in deceiving Eve ; of Adam's disobedience, by whom " sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so that death passed upon all men, since in Adam all had sinned." He heard Jack declare that all flesh lay in enmity to God, the whole world in darkness. Jack spake of the evil, the selfishness, cruelty, and deceit, so marked among them all. He told them of the filthiness of their own conversation and ways. Then he told them of God, who was good : God, who was love : and of the promise God gave as He cursed Satan for the evil he had brought on man ; that " the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." " This," Jack declared, " God has fulfilled in the Virgin Mary's Son. God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, to redeem and bring back sinners to himself. He, who was God, was made flesh, OLD NARQUOIS, came in fashion as a man, and dwelt down here. He, found in condition as a man, fulfilled the will of God, worked righteousness, and became a sweet savour unto God on our behalf by per- fecting obedience on the cross ; where, being nailed, he bore our sins in his own body, was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and by dying there made a full and perfect atonement for all sin. He was buried," continued Jack, " but the third day God raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory ; and now, at God's right hand, He has become the eternal salvation of every poor sinner who ever with a true heart believed on Him. God," said Jack, "has commanded the good tidings of a free pardon, and the gift of life, to be preached to all sinners in the name and through the blood of Jesus Christ. But," said he, "God will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has raised from the dead, who will come back to be glorified in His saints, and admired in them that believe, when He will take vengeance on all those who obey not the Gospel. Now," said Jack, "if you remain and die in your sins, you will all have to meet judgment and eternal punishment from God one day ; but if you feel them heavy now, if you would tremble now, THE NEGRO DRIVER. should God, the great God, begin to judge you, come at once with all your hearts to Jesus. Con- fess your sins to Him who is now in heaven, but who once as a man bore the judgment of sin upon the cross when He died, and all shall be forgiven. Yes, forgiven ! Believe now on Him who died upon the croES, and you shall receive pardon and a new heart. Yes, Jesus will become your life, will give you His own heart, His own mind. You shall be able in Jesus to love God and hate your sin, which God will remember no more. Do not, therefore, go on in your sins any longer ; look to Jesus, and wash away your sin, calling on the name of the Lord ; for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin ; and God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Thus spake the black evangelist to his fellows, and God gave the increase ; for many trembled and fell down confessing their sins, and many believed to the saving of their souls ; and many there were from full hearts uttering in broken sobs, " TankeCy Massa Jesus, tarikee Massa Jesus, for taking punish for me, poor sinner ; for bleed and die for me. Oh I makee dis heart clean, Massa Jesus, so may I lib to dee," OLD NARQUOIS, But behold one pushing through the little throng ; one whom they all hoped had been fast asleep ; one, the very sight of whom now was a check upon their godly feelings, and well nigh froze up the fountains of their deep contrition. Behold the driver Narquois 1 But he was smit- ten through ; the arrow of conviction had been driven to his heart, and the voice of mercy in the blood of Jesus had brought him to his Saviour's feet. He knelt in the midst, and confessed his sins ; again and again he made Jack repeat the story of the cross, the burial of Christ, His resur- rection on the third day, His ascension into heaven, the command to preach the Gospel to every creature. But time w^as flowing on, day- light was approaching, w^ork and toil were return- ing with the rising sun. With various feelings and degrees of apprehension, the congregation stole away to their respective resting places. Jack retrea'Jng to his canoe, again the sullen plash might be heard dying away in the distance on the river ; the glimmering lamp of the preaching hut could be seen no more ; and silence profound reigned over three hundred human beings reposing from their toils, till the loud crack of Narquois' whip echoing back from the surrounding forests, should arouse them to resume their labours. THE NEGRO DEIYEK. From tliis time Narquois was another man. Roused as from a dream, liglit shone in upon his heart, discovering to his conscience all the sin and guilt of his life. He could no longer continue heaping up judgment on his soul for the last day. The still small voice of Gospel grace vas draw- ing his soul and the souls of many others to God. He continued to attend tlie preachings of Jack ; he assisted in keeping the knowledge of them from the white people. Xarquois believed in Christ for the remission of his sins, and grew in grace and knowledge ; while the cross of Christ was the book in which he studied the great truths of redemption. He had no Bible ; he could not read ; but in the cross upon which the Son of God suffered in the flesh and died, he read in plain characters the dreadful nature of his sins, and the judgment they deserved. There also he could read the value God had put upon his own poor soul; yea, the immensity of the love of God, for Jesus died for him as ungodly! There also, he plainly saw his sins were done away, that God had laid on Jesus his iniquity, his offences ; and this, in connection with the Lord's resurrec- tion, was his complete justification. God had raised up Jesus from the dead ; he believed it in his heart. He also saw in the cross of Christ the OLD NAEQUOIS, end and crucifixion of his own flesh. His " old man was crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth he might not serve sin." He had died with Christ, he must live with Christ, and v/alk in newness of life by faith in the work of God, who raised up Christ from the dead. The more Narquois real- ized the place of blessing into which the blood and cross of Christ had brought him, the more he felt the fellowship of the Spirit, the bowel.'^ and mercies of Christ, and felt it quite impossi- ble to exercise any longer before God or man the oflice he held on that plantation. Called up with the morning light to rouse the labourers with the sound of his dreadful whip ; to drive them out to their work ; then to lead out those who were marked for punishment the even- ing before for some neglect of duty, or not finish- ing their daily tasks, and seeing them forcibly stretched out upon the ground by their wrists and ancles, with their faces earthwards ; to stand over them with the cruel whip, and as with every lash the mangled wretch in his agony filled the forest with his cries, Narquois, with unrelenting nerve and arm, must still complete the cruel four and twenty, if not more, stripes. This, his morn- ing work ; then, as the evening came, Narquois' THE NEGRO DRIVER. stern duty was rigidly to report those who, through weakness or neglect, had left unfinished their appointed task. If men, he marked them for the morning's lash ; if women, committed them, without food or rest, to the hand and foot stocks for the night. Could he who had found mercy thus exercise cruelty ? 'No. He could for his master toil ; he could suffer, work till he was wear}', but he could not sin for his master, or have fellowship with these works of darkness any more. He knew what wrath his refusal to remain in of&ce might bring upon him, yet he would trust in God, he would be faithful. He was so ; he told the manager he desired to be put in the field as a labourer, and begged him to place another trusty man in his room. The manager, astonished at such a request, knowing how they all loved power, could not believe him to be in earnest ; but when he heard his reasons, which were candidly given, "his conscience would not allow him ; he believed in Jesus Christ ; he was a Christian ; he could not flog or hurt his fellow-men," all the natural enmity of the heart against God was stirred up in the manager's breast, mingled with a sense of the reflection Narquois' conscience cast upon his own conduct, C 2 OLD NARQUOIS, " He was a Christian ; lie could not therefore flog and hurt his fellow-men ! " The sudden discovery that the Gospel had, by some unknown agent, reached the Negroes on the plantation, determined the manager, by every means in his power, to crush it at once, and make Narquois the victim ; but God made him a martyr or witness to the power of His grace. He first by threats endeavoured to terrify him to submission, and make him continue in office, but in vain. Nar- quois would work in the field, would toil, would drudge, but he would flog no more, torture no more. Then did the white man soon put another in his office ; and Narquois (who, by this time having manifested before all his change of heart, openly confessed his faith in Christ, and turned from his iniquitous ways, was beloved by most of the gang,) was led out before them all for punishment. Stretched out with his face on the ground, his arms and legs drawn tight to stakes driven into the earth, lay this believer in Jesus, lifting up his heart to God ; and as he felt himself lying in the very plight and place where he had so often bound his fellow-sinners, he bowed his heart to the stroke, humbled at the thought, yet felt he had a comfort THE NEGRO DRIVER. his former victims had not. They might have suffered from their own contumacy, and certainly from man's cupidity or passion only; while he suffered for the faith of Jesus. Now did the ma- nager, by menaces and promises, endeavour to elicit from him and others the secret of the Gos- pel's mysterious entrance among them, but in vain. Though many besides Narquois had become faithful and changed persons, and many more were acquainted with the nightly preachings of Jack, yet none w^ere found to betray the secret. At length, the manager, having threatened all with like punishment who dared hold preach- ing meetings, or resist his will, proceeded in his cruel punishment of ISTarquois with the cart whip. He suffered without a murmur, for God was the strength of his heart, but he would not resume his office. As soon as his wounds allowed him to move, Narquois was led out every morning and chained to a stake in the field, where the gang were working, till the evening. "When his fiesh was healed he was again lashed as before, and still every day was passed chained in the field with, the working gang. Then the cruel fiogging again, then chained as before till he was healed, and so on for many, many times. At c 3 OLD NARQUOIS, length God answered his prayers and those of the other Christians, who witnessed his terrible sufferings and unflinching faith. The manager, finding his resolution fixed and insurmountable — the torture fruitless ; marking his meek and quiet spirit ; perceiving also the reformed orderly characters of those Negroes who, like Narquois, had received the Gospel, his heart relented ; he released the prisoner : but his constitution was entirely broken by suffering, and the manager, ashamed somewhat of his harsh conduct, appointed him as gardener to his pro- vision ground, with only light work. By this time, the government work being finished. Jack had returned to town. Narquois, much respected by all, used to meet with the believers on Sun- days and week evenings. They could not read, but they could pray, and tell one another of the love of God, and stir up one another's hope, keeping themselves in the grace of Jesus, and praying in the Holy Ghost. Some time after, the proprietors purchasing land some thirty miles nearer the town, the whole gang were removed to cultivate the estate where we now visited him. As soon as these Christians could manage to visit the town, they all applied to a Missionary, and were baptized ; for though THE NEGRO DRIVER. Jack had faithfully fulfilled the work of an evan- gelist, which was by the Holy Ghost's power, he knev,^ not that, as Philip did, so might he also, have baptized those v/ho wdth all their hearts believed on Jesus Christ. Since that time Jack had only once visited them, being then detained a whole night by the tide, on another journey up the river for timber ; and happy indeed were they all once more to welcome him among them, and once more at a night meeting to hear him speak of the love of God, and precious blood of Jesus, and join their prayers and praises to his. Jack had long been called to rest when the old man told this Gospel tale, as also many who had been saved through his preaching ; "But," said the old man, as he concluded his most interesting narrative, " God has kept me to dis day in lie own hand, and by He oicn grace, to talk of He love, and praise He holy name^ It may w^ell be imagined how pleasingly astonished we were at hearing this story. The manager himself was much affected by it. We had thus unexpectedly, as it were, stumbled upon a little nest of God's children, who had hitherto been sealed up from our knowledge, and whom w^e gladly received into Christian fellowship Nar- quois recovered, and survived a few years, OLD NAEQUOIS, adorning the doctrine of our God and Saviour, till he fell asleep in Jesus, looking for a glorious resurrection. Some aged persons, who were brought with him to the knowledge of Christ by the preaching of Jack, survive to this day ; but the reader may be glad to know that very many on this plantation were afterwards con- verted, and though now removed to other places, are walking in the faith and hope of the Gospel. Reader, many startling changes have taken place upon the earth since I sat and listened to the old Christian^ Narquois. Many blessings and many troubles have passed over the West Indies ; many souls have been added to the Lord, with much increase of sin and blasphemy since then ; many changes too have passed over my own lot : many bitter cups have I had to taste, and many blessings have been shed over my path bj the hand of God since then ; but never have I been able to forget the joy I felt when listening to the tale of the old black man. How is displaj^ed the hand of God in all this ! How manifest the power of the simple word ! How beautifully illustrated the truth, "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." " The weakness of God is stronger than men ; the foolishness of God is wiser than THE NEGRO DRIVER. men. Base things of the world, and things which are despised, yea, things that are not, hath God chosen to bring to nought things that are ; that no flesh should glory in His presence." Oh ! reader, are you " born again by the Y/'ord of God, which liveth and abideth for ever ? " If so, " as a new born babe, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. ' But if you have not yet tasted that the Lord is gracious, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Let us also thank God that such things as old Narquois inflicted and suffered in his youth are almost forgotten in the British West Indies now ; that in those parts white and black can walk together under the protection of the same laws, without any jealousies, in friendship and peace ; while, in numerous instances, they are bound together in true Christian brotherhood as heirs together of the grace of life. Let us give God the glory. Amen. HYMN. See mercy, mercy, from on high, Descend to rebels doomed to die ; 'Tis mercy free, which knows no bound ; How sweet, how blessed is the sound ! Soon as the reign of sin began, The light of mercy dawned on man. When God announced the early news, " The woman's seed thy head shall bruise." Brightly it beamed on men forlorn When Christ, the holy child was boi-n ; And brighter still in splendour shone, When Jesus, djang, cried^ " 'Tis done ! " The v/ork complete when He arose, Bursting the snares of all His foes. When captive led captivity. And took for us His seat on high. Till we around Him then shall throng, This mercy shall be still our song ; And every scheme shall God confound Of all who strive its course to bound. BATH : PRINTED BY BINNS AKD GOODWIN. THE COJFDEMNED NEaEO. The torrent of public opinion in Britain, swelled to overwhelming force by the tributary streams of Christian charity, philanthropic energy and enthusiasm of British freemen, had with resistless force burst the iron bonds of slavery in the West Indies. The imperial legislature had passed a law constituting the slaves apprentices to their present masters for six consecutive years, limiting their gratuitous labour to seven hours and a half on each week day, for which they were to be supplied with house-room, liberal allowance of food, &c. &c., while at the close of the six years' apprenticeship, they were to go out free as English peasants. The government had accompanied this legal B 3 THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, emancipation with a grant of £20,000,000 to be distributed among the owners of the slaves, as compensation for their loss. The day appointed for carrying this new law into effect was close at hand. The first of August, 1834, was to dawn upon the heads of Freemen who had slept on the eve before as Slaves. All was excitement, the hearts of many beat high. Those who had never before been able to call their hours, their labours, their children, their bodies, their own, w^ere told, " To-morrow you are free ! ! " The government had wisely proclaimed that the first day of freedom should be spent as a religious festival, and services and preachings held at least twice in every place of religious worship throughout the colony, and thus these places were made the centres of assemblage for all classes and colours during that auspicious day. Brightly the sun rose up in the heavens that morning. Clear and blue was the tropical sky that day, save where there came floating on the fresh East wind, the soft white clouds that indicate the dry season. Soon was the solitude or the public roads invaded by the several plantations pouring forth their contributions of cheerful-hearted labourers in their holiday suits. The women in their dresses and turbans man's victim, god's chosen. of white rivalling the purest snow, the men chiefly in white also, interspersed with the youth, who, according to their power, mingled their gay and fashionable clothing with the more sober and humble garb of the poorer or more humble- minded men. These filling the public ways, moved on from every direction to the appointed place for meeting and preaching of the word. The writer of these pages can scarcely describe the mingled feelings of his soul that morning. He had then lived eight years among the slaves. He had groaned with their groans, and mingled his sighs with theirs ; he had marked the demoralizing effect of the system upon master and slave ; yet, notwithstanding the difficulty of access to the negroes in some of their locations among their families, as well as the great duplicity of their character, consequent on the condition of slavery, the word of grace had melted many a heart and called out many souls to Christ. The love of God to the sinmr, the gospel to the poor, the call from earth to heaven, from darkness here to light in God, from hopelessness here to the hope of glory there, and all so free, so fresh from the heart of the everlasting God, the God of all, of bond and free, signed and sealed in the gift and blood of His dear Son, was B 5 THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, a message, or, as they would say, " a story good for poor slave ! " It told upon their sad condition, it revealed to them a Friend! one who really loved ; one who would pardon, heal, and bless ! while it fully explained the just cause of human misery, human sin! human guilt! and in which they were as deep as their masters. Thus had many hundreds in that one district alone been brought savingly to Jesus' feet, and placed in Christ, above all human circumstances ; so that really no act of human legislature could make theyn more free or give them higher privileges, for they were the Lord's freemen, co-heirs of Christ himself ! Hitherto the privations and humility of their earthly condition had enhanced their sense of gospel blessings, but now the felt elevation of their human circumstances would tend to neutra- lize the hitherto very peculiar contrast between their natural birth as slaves of men, and new birth as children of God by faith, and lower tlie estimation of their heavenly place and heavenly hopes in Christ. There is nothing more trying to the Christian's soul than human prosperity, worldly elevation ; and so were the Christian slaves tried in this their change of condition. The word taken for testimony that morning was, " If the Son therefore shall make you free, man's god's chosek. ye shall be free indeed." (John viii. 36.) But alas ! the tide of carnal exultation that day was so strong, that not only was it difficult to com- mand serious attention at all from the worldly portion of hearers to the testiaiony concerning sin and free redemption, but very few even of the true hearted Christians were able, in that mixed and excited multitude, to rejoice in the truth, or realize as tbey ought the liberty where- Avith " Christ hod made them Free.'" It w^as however a wise and successful act of the govern- ment thus commencing this new era wath a general acknowledgment of God's great mercies to men, and leading the people to look higher than earth for the author and source of the new and promising circumstances inio which they were now brought ! Moreover it was particularly gratifying to mark the unmixed cheerfulness of all, both white and black ; master, and slave becoming free; all seemed to sympathize in the joys of that day, and the circumstances that brought them togethei'. To all this excitement and rejoicing, was to succeed the propounding and practical explana- tion of the Freedom that was really proclaimed to these now called " apprenticed labourers." And here came the bitter disappointment ! They THE CONDEMNED NEGEO ; OR, were not yet free ; they were bound to render each to his master the assiduous labour of seven hours and a half per day, exclusive of meal-times, and their amount of work would not be very much diminished if very rigidly exacted. Still, however, their masters were obliged to provide them house-room and provision grounds, with divers other allowances, and thus, considering the certainty of going out free in six years, much had been achieved for them, and by good counsels and explanations where there were wise and moderate masters, work proceeded quietly on the plantations ; but where the employers became exacting and litigious, much punishment and harsh usage was the result, so that it is well known that there was more general punishment, more irritation among all parties, and more lasting strife and animosity gendered between white and black during the four years of appren- ticeship (it was shortened to four years by the colonies themselves on this very account), than in ail slavery before. However, attention was soon called to a more serious difference than mere disputes as to the amount of daily labour legally required. The slaves on the largest plantations in a distant part of the colony refusing to believe the apprentice- ship was law at all, declared that they were free. man's victim, god's chosen. Thej conld not, they said, believe that King William would send out and bind them appren- tices to the planting of canes and boiling of sugar, who had been toiling at it to perfection all their lives. The magistrates whose duty it Avas to read and explain the law to them were all planters, and thus they thought themselves imposed upon, and deprived of their legal rights ; Avith that thought they refused to Vv-ork, until satisfied the law read to them was authentic, or, as they said, " till they save it was King William laiv!" Their example being followed by the whole coast, the suspension of labour became general^ and the blacks repairing in groups from the several plantations to a large piece of open ground attached to a parish church, it soon became a general place of bivouac for men, women, and children. A panic had been more or less pervading the hearts of the planters ever since the Eman- cipation Act had passed into law, and the least coalition among the Blacks, or anything bordering on systematic resistance, increased it seven-fold. The Militia were called to arms, and despatches sent to the Governor, entreating the immediate proclamation of martial law, and assistance of the king's troops. THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, It is clear, however, that nothing of the kind was needed, the people were far from meditating revolt, or harm to any. They thought they had reason to doubt the persons officially employed to explain and enforce the law ; they were, more- over, grievously disappointed, and determined on passively refusing to work until the Governor himself came and assured them it was law. The Governor, who Vv^as actively taking every pains to calm the minds of all, and explain to the satisfaction of the apprentices the reality and nature of the new law, refused their request for the proclamation of martial law ; but promised, as soon as possible, to visit the refractory coast with an armed force, and, explaining the law, command them all to their duties. And now the circumstances took place which led eventually to those sad proceedings, which brought into such notice the subject of these pages, and have induced the writer to select him as an instance in which the gracious purposes of God in plucking a brand from the burning, and bringing back a soul from ruin to His glory, were fully developed, and triumphantly carried out in the very arena where Satan was also successfully working, through the basest and most cruel passions of sinful men, the death and des- truction, as he thought, of their poor fellow-sinner. man's victim, god's chosen. The magistrates were naturally, and it may be said, properly jealous of their disputed authority, which was then only in lawful exercise, and determined, if possible, to reduce these men to submission before the Governor arrived. The militia, with loaded arms and bayonets fixed, were drawn up before the unarmed multitude. They were in vain commanded to disperse to their respective estates, and resume their work ; they calmly but determinedly refused. The militia presented their fire-locks, they unflinch- ingly awaited the discharge, while the minister or clergyman of the district, fearing the militia would fire, rushed as a suppliant between them and the Blacks, imploring them not to shed blood. The people remained silent and nonresisting, but disobedient to all orders, and expressed a determination to await the Governor's expected arrival. They had now been several days in this position, and it was reported the Governor would be down in the steamer the afternoon of the next day. It seems the Negroes were ex- tremely anxious to increase their numbers, and, to prevent any from deserting their bivouac, that emissaries were busily searching for those who might be hidden or remaining on the estates, and a young man, named D , a house servant, THE CONDEMNED NEGKO ; OR, who had kept away from the whole affiiir until then, being found asleep in his hammock that night, was persuaded to get up and join them. It was reported, and I think came out in evidence, that an ill-conditioned, ill-charactered white man, who mingled with the Negroes, advised them in the morninsf to rear a flac^ in honour of the Governor's approach. Now, according to the law of rebellion, an assembly to be so convicted, must be found in arms, or with banner or banners ; at least, on this occasion, since there were no arms displayed, nor even a stick carried by any, a banner waving was the turning point on their trial, that construed all their acts into open rebellion. Ignorant of this law, and knowing it was the general wish to obey the Governor, the pro- position was unanimously adopted, and D became the most active in arranging and planting this fatal banner, as he really was most forward in his desire to honour the Governor, and see an end put to this most harassing disturbance. Under his direction a hole was dug, a tree was cut down, stripped of its branches, and reduced to a pole : a large piece of blue cloth being attached to the upper end, the other was planted in the ground, and the flag waving aloft was saluted by the cheers of the whole company ; man's victim, god's chosen. while the treacherous suggestor of the deed, watching their proceediDgs, exulted in his success and raarked all down as a sure means of gratifying his malignant feelings. Soon after noon, the smoke of the expected steamer was seen afar, swiftly approaching ; as she neared the shore the whole multitude agreed to give the Governor a most raspectful reception, and opened in two lines, that, he passing between them, thej might bow in honour to his person. On landing, his Excellency drew up the troops that accompanied him over against them all. He then read aloud, and explained the New Law, and, calling for a list of those who had appeared foremost in re- sisting the magistrates' orders, had them all arrested and ironed ; then, dispersing the rest to their respective plantations to fulfil their legal tasks on pain of punishment, and, taking the prisoners on board the steamer, returned forth- with to town. Among the prisoners, who were, I think, eighteen in number, was poor D who had been arrested as chief in the rebellion, on account of his forwardness in the matter of rearing the flag, and they were all fully com- mitted for trial, on a charge of rebellious resistance to the laws and Government. There can scarcely be a case on record, where c THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, a man so very, I will not say innocent, but simple, concerning the charge preferred against him, was brought up for trial on so grave an account. D- had been reared up almost entirely in the house of white people, a domestic of good honest character, civil and obliging. Some time previous to these events he had been evidently under religious impressions, had em- braced the privilege lately granted the slaves, of lawfully marrying the mother of his two little children, become an attendant at a Sunday School, and in every way evinced a sincere disposition to do and to be what was right. Such was the special character of a young Negro, who, by an extraordinary concatenation of the events of less than two days, was singled out as a victim to appease justice, and terrify malcon- tents, by suffering death upon the gallows as a hardened rebel, who had threatened the com- munity with insurrection, the country with fire and sword. That such a thing could happen in a civilized community, or be suffered by an all-gracious God, might startle the superficial observer ; but, on a closer survey and more intimate acquaintance with what really took place upon D — ■ — 's soul, through all this appa- rently sad and heart-rending calamity, we shall discover that the great God was working here in man's victim, god's chosen. grace, and causing even the subtlety and malice of man to be His agents in preparing this poor sinner for receiving His gospel, which alone could make him rightly know himself, and, instead of seeking, as he hitherto had done, to establish his own righteousness, causing him to submit to the righteousness of God : man was seeking his destruction to subserve his own ends ; God was seeking D 's salvation and eternal happiness, for His own glory. And man's victim here was God's chosen vessel ! It is neither my place nor desire to review the acts or decisions of the world's tribunals. " The powers that be, are ordained of God." The true Christian Submits to and reverences the power for the Lord's sake ; but they are also ordained of God for good, and God will ultimately make all men in power render up to Him a strict account of the use they have made of this delegated talent, and judge them for the abuse of that allowed only for good. Indeed, all men who find not cleansing and shelter in the blood and name of Christ, must be judged according to their own works. Alas ! what must be then the judgment awarded ! It is only for the glory of God and that others may learn more of His wondrous ways in grace, that I desire to bring these things into c3 THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, notice at all, and shall only just say, that when D and the others were brought before the court as insurgents and rebels, I am persuaded they were wronged ; and when D stood in the dock and heard the very man who suggested the rearing of the flag, come boldly forward, to prove his eagerness to accomplish it, and that it was raised in defiance, instead of in honour, to the Governor, he for the first time, perceived the baseness of his betrayer. But when he saw the judge rise and assume the black cap of condemnation, and solemnly sentence him, as a leader of rebellion, to be hanged by the neck till he was dead, while his less guilty accomplices were sentenced to be flogged under his gallows, and then transported for many years across the seas, the poor young man could scarcely believe his own senses, or realize the truth of this, to him indeed, awfully appalling scene. That he who had not joined the recusants till the last day, and then by compulsion, and whose heart then had but one wish, that their minds might be settled, and all the agitation cease by the arrival of the Governor, should be sentenced to death as a leader of rebels, was more than his mind could bear ; and he was led away overcome by aston- ishment and anguish, to await his execution in one of the condemned cells. man's victim, god's chosen. Many an honest heart was grieved and indig- nant at the result of this trial ; for myself, I felt an irresistible impulse to go and lay before this young victim, the abundant and free mercies of God ; and since his way in life here seemed closed up all round by the hardness of his fellow-men, to set at once before him, that door to heaven and glory, which God has opened freely in the person of His dear Son, for "whosoever will" to enter in ; and to show him that although those to whom he had done no harm, were barring against him the gates of mercy, He against whom he had multiplied transgressions, and from whom he had withheld hitherto, in the enmity of his heart, the homage and obedience due, had opened wide for such as he, the arms of everlasting mercy, in the once shed blood of Jesus Christ. I had no difficulty in obtaining access to the condemned man in the prison, but must confess that on entering the cell, as the heavy door was closed and locked behind me, and my eyes rested on the poor victim of man's timid policy, I shrunk instinctively from his inquiring gaze, which seemed to say, " Who are you now ? have white men no pity, no bowels and mercies ? " and I felt ashamed of my fairer skin." However, a few words convinced him that I c 5 THE CONDEMNED NEGRO; OR, came as his fellow -creature, in deep sympathy with his present condition, as deeply wronged by his accuser, and unjustly condemned, though perhaps, through a thorough misapprehension of the whole case, and a mistaken judgment con- cerning the necessity of so harsh a measure ; but I begged him to consider that if no little bird can fall and die without the knowledge of God, neither could this have happened to him without God's permission. I besought him not to allow his conscious innocence of the crime for which he had been condemned, to betray him into the thought that he was not a very guilty man before God. I told him that our days were allotted by God, though we know not their appointed number ; but that now he must almost to a certainty, be led to death in three weeks. That he might have been suddenly drowned, or cut off by a fever, or a thousand other ways. It was death that was now approaching, but sin was the sting of death, and to remove that sting and lift up ruined man to life and immortality, God gave His own Son as " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." I besought him not to waste his precious moments in fruitless complaints, but calmly listen to the blessed Gospel, and hear what God said in the Bible, to us all ; for man man's victim, god's chosen. could only kill the body, but God could and would cast into hell the man who turned a deaf ear to His Word, and refused to believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God, ",Have you," I continued, " ever been convinced in your conscience of your ruined sinful state as born of parents cast out of Eden, carnal, sold unto sin ; utterly unclean, incapable of pleasing God, or blotting out one of your innumerable sins ? each of which would sink a soul to perdi- tion. Or have you been thinking you might make yourself a better man by a better life, by religious observances, and persisting in outAvard attempts at reformation ? if the latter, God has convinced you it will not do ; your soul will be required of you very soon, you will not return to your duties or your family any more, nor leave this cell except to death ; will you then confess your guilty, your helpless state, and submit to the righteousness of God ?" D listened attentively, he felt the truth, the awful truth ; he seemed as if his heart melted, and his conscience told him that God's judgment of us all was true of him, he was also one guilty before God. I then read, and sought to press upon him Kom. iii. 10 — 28 ; also Rom. ix. 30—33 ; x. 10—17. And then solemnly commending him to the grace of God for THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, salvation, in earnest prayer, I left him to his solitude. It is quite evident, that until then D had never been awakened to perceive or feel his condition before God as a fallen man. He felt he was an ignorant man, therefore a faulty man ; a poor slave that knew no better ; but now God's word had come to him, he would try to do His will. It is a common thought and expression with them "ilfe no know better^ me poor black, massa teach me better, me sa do um, massa teach me God ivord, meself sa do um good I " And are they the only persons who thus erro- neously judge of their own condition ? Are there not thousands who with Bibles in their hands, do not discover that "in the flesh we cannot please God ; " that " the carnal mind is enmity against God." That the greater the light in which God places the natural man, the more his love of darkness becomes manifest. The more his privileges from God enable him to know His will, the more man's natural depra- vity is displayed against it. " This truly is the condemnation, light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." The evil and ruin of our nature, is most fully proved in the Jewish man's victim, god's chosen. nation, and it is declared of man when placed in the greatest nearness to the truth and glory of God, which he is capable of bearing, " Ye stiff- necked and uncircumcized in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye ; which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? and they have slain those who showed before the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers ; who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. ' A day had passed before I again visited D . He was glad to see me ; had suffered much anguish of mind many ways. His great temptation was the apparent hardness of his fate, about to be cut of just as life became apparently of some value to him — as its prospects were brightening, and the deep gloom of slavery clear- ing away. His wife and two little children, with their prospects, were more worth living for ! Then, what had he done for this ? Nothing but honour the white man, and hoist a flag for the Governor! "i/^," said he, "7 ivas going dead from God's sick, I icoidd humble in God's hand ; hut dis no God at all, dis white man tory — white man hill him for nothing!'^ But then he thought what I had told him, that God permitted THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, all this the same as he permitted sickness ; " God^^ said he, '"^ no wake sick^ sin bring sick, sin bring dead; but God give life, eternal life, in His dear Son. God so love He give His dear Son to dead upon cross for a' ive sin ! He rise from dead again to be life for d ive ! God^s So7i no sick. He hang upon tree for nothing, but for ice ivickedness ; He take punish for we. He take punish for me, D . S^pose me no come to dis, s'pose me do well in dis world, me free in dis world, me m,ake plenty money, me live long in dis world, me wife me children live long, me love dis ivorld — me no see de truth, me no feel me sin, me no know me born of de flesh from Adam a child of wrath as others, me no tink of God word, me live blind ivithout Christ, me sick at last, me go dead at last in all me sin ; dat better dan dis 2 No, never ! But s'pose me noiv go to Jesus, me call upon He, me believe in He name, me believe i)i de blood dat clean from all sin, me have Christ dere in m-e heart. He give me de living luater. He make me one child of God, He wash me in He oion blood, His Father me Father, He gone to make place for me, dat where he be, dere me so* be for ever ; den me go dead white man go hill me body, oneself go to Christ, what dat^ dat bad! never! dat good! very good! 0 Lord, me very bad sinner, but me believe, me SIJLX'S YIGTBI, god's CHOSEN. believe. D . believe! Oh! Lord, icash me sin away ! " Thus did I find God in His grace working on his soul by His word ; the truth gained power orer his mind, the great truth of redemption ! Free redemption through the once shed blood. Darkness in the hand of its ruler, Satan, vainly tried to enslave his soul : truth, shining in, was setting him free, he was bursting his bonds, his chains were fast giving way before the light and love of God ; and as his blighted worldly hopes and fading prospects here were losing their hold upon his mind, he was lifted up from a wretched clinging of heart to that which was torn from him — and delivered from the gnawing worm of regret, or ruin of despair, by the Day- Star that now arose upon his soul in the truth of the glorious gospel ; which, founded on the boundless love of God himself, and manifested in the full atonement made for sin in the blood of Christ, allured upward and onward his novr believing soul, to the enjoyment of the life and immor- tality so given and secured to him, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This time I paid him a long visit, and strove to keejD his mind entirely upon the wonders and hopes of redemption. How highly favoured we were to be the subjects of such amazing grace ; how THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OE, sweet to know that our very guilt and perfect misery in being so very helpless and thoroughly subject to sin in our nature, were the occasions of this free grace, since nothing else could meet our case but this lifting up of the Son of God as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, "that whosoever believed should not perish but have everlasting life. " I then read to him, and strove to press upon his heart, the precious words of our own Lord, as recorded by John in the 6th chapter, from the 27th, to the 63rd verse inclusive ; and with earnest prayer that God would make these w^ords to him living words, "s^Dirit and life," and that his thoughts might be kept from recoiling upon the apparent misery of his lot as human sense alone would judge of it, from the real blessing and hopeful- ness of his condition as revealed to faith in the " word of grace," again T left him in the loving hands of Him who is still untiringly going out seeking the sheep that iJe has lost. On leaving the cell, the governor of the prison, a mild, kind-hearted man of much sound judgment, declared how much he was interested in D ; what a gentle, simple-hearted man he was, and how sure he had become that his prosecutors had quite mistaken their man when he was had up for rebellion ; "he was no rebel," man's victim, god's chosen. lie added, " from this time I shall take off his irons, if he will promise to do no mischief." I fully acquiesced in these his sentiments of D and left the prison well pleased with the frank- ness and kind-heartedness of the white jailor towards the black man ! On my return home 1 could but fall down before God to thank Him for His manifest work in D 's heart ; and while I knew, what God began He would carry on to perfection, I felt also compelled to cry out to the Lord for temporal mercy, and say, O Lord, let D live ? " The Lord did let him live, and live for ever, but did not suffer him to linger long in this world. The next time I visited D , he was loose from his irons, and advancing, he embraced me, saying, " J/^ satisfy noiv, me quite satisfy^ God is love ! Me, massa, Jesus blood ivash all me sin away ; me quite ready for go to Jesus I better dan stay here dis world — dis ivorld no good ! Jesus good I Oh, massa, me tankee you for bring all dis good tory for me. D blind, D dead in sin ; now me see, now me live, noio me kiioiv de true God and Jesus He been send. Oh, Massa, me tankee you, tankee you too muchr The reader may conceive my feelings on this THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, confession, my thankfulness to God for this wondrous work, and thus causing the angels in heaven to rejoice over another sheep found, another prodigal restored. The more I ques- tioned him, the more confident I became that he was in Christ — in the Son, and in the Father ; and reading Romans viii. to him, was enabled to establish and strengthen him in the love of God from this sweet and comprehensive word, closing as it does with such assurances. Such responses to the questions, " What shall we say then, to these things ? If God be for us, who can be against us ? " After prayer, finding him in sweet peace and composure, I requested him to state simply and honestly, as before God, how he came to be among these men assembled in disobedience to the new law ? He "readily answered, and gave me in substance what I have related above. Nothing was further from his mind than joining in any resistance to the laws of the white men ; and his hoisting of the flag was really only to show his respect for the Governor, while his eagerness to erect it was from the very desire of proving that all of them w^ere loyal and prepared to obey the laws of the King and Government. I then endeavoured to show him how happy it ought to make him that he was man's victim, god's chosen. suffering innocently as to himself, and then what a nice exercise it would be for his heart, now in grace, to forgive and pray for those who had helped to bring about his condemnation, especi- ally that wicked w^hite man who had brought fals.e witness against him. He said " 3Ie no have ayiyting in me heart 'gainst he, me pray God make him knoiv Jesus Christ; ezeryting work for good to D ; noiv he find Jesus, he satisfy ; me wish love every man. God for judge we, not loe for judge one another T I then left him, and when his door was closed, the jailor said, " Sir, I have been induced to listen to the confessions of D , as he related to you, how he came among the refractory people, and why he hoisted the flag. He told the same to me, the same to the chaplain ; I am sure he is an innocent ni -'And must he suffer then ? " said I, " cam. jt we supplicate for his pardon?" " You can," he replied, " and the chaplain can, and will ; but the judge has insisted on the sentence being carried out, and I much fear the excitement in the country is so great, the Governor will yield, and order his execution." " We can but try," I said, " and I certainly shall state my convictions of his inno- cence, and that the flag was the expression of a very contrary sentiment to that of rebellion. D 3 THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OH, The Lord can turn the hearts of men ; His will be done. Nevertheless, D 's condemnation hy man has already wrought as a means to his justification from all sin before God." Before I again visited D I had drawn up and forwarded through the Government Secre- tary a petition to his Excellency — in which I briefly related the history and confessions of D , his simplicity of mind, his orderly character before this unhappy circumstance, the way he was drawn into it, his present quiet submission to the sentence ; that if he died, the meekest man in the whole colony died ; that though legally his actions might be condemned, they were morally innocent, and that perhaps woe awaited the country if this boon of freedom was ushered in defiled with the blood of a fellow-creature. These were my convictions at the time, and are my sentiments still, whatever might have been the judgment of others on so momentous a question as the life of a fellow- man. But as to D himself, all was arranged for him in love, and he was already numbered among those of whom it is written, "All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are Christ's ; and Christ is God's. man's yictbi, god's chosen. On visiting D again, after much conver- sation on the word of grace, on the goodness and faithfulness of God, on the manner of entering in I had unto him when I first visited him, how he had turned from all his sorrows and regrets, to trust in the living and true God, and wait for Him who had delivered him from ihe wrath to come, even Jesus Christ ; I ven- tured to say that I had sent a petition in his favour to the Governor, that the chaplain had done the same, but that as things were, I much feared it would be in vain, and bid him not count upon it, nor allow such thoughts to draw off his heart from his hopes in Christ. He replied, Meself in God's hand; if me tand here me tand with Christ; if me go die, me go to Christ.'" His heart was certainly standing fast, trusting in the Lord. The Spirit witnessed with his spirit that he was God's child, God's heir, "joint heir with Christ." He could now say, "Jesus had given him rest, the truth had made him free." " Yes me got de true free — me free from hell, me free from sin, me free from death, me got better dan King William free, me got Gods free through Jesus Christ.'' He had now asked to see his wife and children, and they had been sent for. I then prayed with him and for him, that God would look upon his D 5 THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, case, and do what was best for his real happiness, and God's own glorj, in the matter of his pardon bj man ; we left the matter entirely in His gracious hand, only that whatever was the result of the petition, D might have strength for his day — grace to live, and grace to die. I left him calm and happy. Soon after my return home, I received his Excellency's answer to my petition to this effect ; — " That however much he was disposed to mercy, in this and every case, he could not interfere in such a one as this ; the law had found him guilty, the law must take its course, and the day of his execu- tion was fixed." I must confess, this came heavily upon my heart. God had given me this soul ; I had, as it were, begotten him in his bonds, and was now receiving him as one of Christ's little ones ; yet he was the worlds felon, to be hung on the tree. Well, God knew it, and God loved him ; God had called him to glory ; there was no sting in death for him. So would I school myself to humble acquiescence to the will of God. When next I entered the prison, the humane jailor, with a heavy heart, and faltering tongue, told me " D must suffer, and has been told the day fixed, and no hope of respite." As the cell door opened, I perceived D sitting with man's victim, god's chosen. much composure on Lis little seat : he rose to meet me saying, Dear massa., de Guhhernor say me must die, but God say, believe in Jesus and you sa never die! I believe in Jesus, and Jesus say, ' / de resurrection, I de life ! ' Dont fraid for me, massa, dorit cry for me, me come in dis place dead in me sin, me go out alive to live for ever'' The reader will readily perceive it is no light work for the human heart to be used of the Lord in such a labour as this. Inasmuch as you have felt it sweet and blessed to be the messenger of glad tidirgs to the depth of human misery, and to find the word is not vain ; to see the heart lit up with the light of life, strengthening and glowing under the gracious ministry ; just so much is the wrench felt when the object of your fostering care is torn from your sight, and the reach of your assistance If this is trying in the case of lingering illness, when life is flitting on a dying bed, how much more when the object of your love and interest, with whom your soul has had deep sympathy, with whom you have read, and praj^ed, and praised, is torn from you to die a felon's death, when not a felon truly. The writer must confess such ^i\as the character of his trial under this melancholy, yet triumphant, circumstance. THE CONDEMNED NEGSO ; OE, Again I sought tlie prison the day before the execution; his wife and children were with him. Waiting the end of her visit, I found very much sympathy with D among those who had seen him, especially in the governor of the prison, the physician, and others his friends, who had known him before this sad event. The signal given, his door w^as unlocked, and as it opened D was embracing his children for the last time — then bid his wife a long fare- well. Vary well do I remember his last words to her, Go home now, and trust in God, and mind dem children ; don't cry for me, me happy now — to-morrow , luhen tchite man open de door and take me out for Mil me, God sa make me live, 1 sa go to Jesus ! " T seemed to detect somewhat of petu- lance in this, and as she walked away I entered the cell, the door closed behind me. D looked at me awhile, then clasping me in his arms rolled with me on the floor in an agon}^, then letting me go, he sat up, and said, ^^Massci, me feel, me feel " — then after a pause, he added, Massa, me better noiv, better now; massa tell 7ne about Jesus arid the love of God, and pray for poor D his faith may strong."" I then read these scriptures, Phil i. 20 — 23, 2 Cor. V. 1 — 9, showing him also from 1 Cor. XV. the resurrection hope in Christ — Christ is ilAx's TICTI3I, god's CHOSEX. risen : we must rise at His coming, when shall he hrought to pass the saying that is written in Isa. XXV. 8, Death is swallowed up in victorv/' with the apostle's exultation at the prospect, 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy victory ? the sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law ; but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." And praying to the God of all grace " to be with and help this His poor weak child in his last extremity, that he might be able to roll himself over to Jesus for strength, and rest his soul there, I retired, promising to see him "early in the morning. Gloomy and sad preparations had been going on the evening betbre this last niuriiing dawned upon D "s mortal sight. The high gallows had been erected in a public place in the town, and arrangements made tbr scourging the otlier convicts beneath the scatibld upon which he vras to meet his doom in the hesh. I met him, how- ever. Wearing a calm and smiling face, as he greeted me with " Massa. .rte long for see you ; me have good niyitt. tankce God ; once r-ie Jiave f rouble, hut de Hoh/ Ghost c .mfort rat icitli Jtsus, Stephen soul go to Jesus : nie no like Stephen, but rae wash in same blood rue spirit yrnj.st go to He, Jlassa you go with me to de last ? — massa THE CONDEMNED NEGRO ; OR, ?ne wish you io go." " No D — - — ," I replied, I cannot go with you, God is with you — you must lean on Jesus, then, the Holy Ghost says, you lean on God. You must not look at death ; you must not let your mind go out upon the manner of your death, or the multitude, or the trying circumstances around ; you must, in the help of the Holy Ghost, keep your heart up with Jesus, and think how gloriously happy you will be with Him — you must long to go when you think of His love. What an exchange to give up your body and be with Him ! how far better." I then prayed, after which he said, ^'31assa, me happy nota, me too happy, because me feel Jesus sweet to me soul ; massa, tivelb cUcloch D sa go to Jesus ; but, massa, me wish you could tand with me io de last. ' " My dear brother in Christ," I replied, '"'my work and service to you for Jesus is now closed ; lean on the Saviour's bosom, and pray for me and others who are left behind in the temptations of this world. I have been used of God in leading you to Jesus, where you have found rest to your soul. Your salvation is of God. On your way to execution, should you think of me, remember me as your way -post pointing you to Jesus and His cross, and let your latest thoughts of me reflect upon your heart these words, ' Look still to Jesus.' " ZvIAn's TICTI3I. god's CHOSEN. Upon this, the officicds of the prison came, and I turned from this beloved fellow -heir of promise, to see his face no more till the day of Christ. With mingled, or I mav rather sar with alternate, feelings of the deepest sorrow and triumphant joy, slowly I returned home, where T met a brother in the Lord who could unite his tears and joys with mine ; and whatever might have been our thoughts on the ultimate expe- diency of the stern policy that thus displayed the extreme and awful power of the legal sword, we both agreed that in the present case '•' Maa's Victim was God's Chosen To the praise and glory of His grace." D suffered and slept in Jesns, the other convicts suffered their sentences also as far as what was inflicted under the gallows that day ; but arriving in England, on their way to foreign transportation, they were all pardoned and sent back to their several plantations, there to be received to the same work and with the same respect and favour which they had held previous to the sad and afflicting circumstance whicii we have here detailed. Had D 's execution been referred to the pleasure and will of the British crown, he might have been living in the flesh to this day. But D — — departed to be with Christ, which is far better. HYMN. We go to meet the Saviour, His glorious face to see ; What manner of behaviour, Doth with this hope agree ? To thee, the King of glory, We'll raise the happy song, And make thy love's bright story The theme of every tongue. This caused thine incarnation. This brought thee from on high. Thy thirst for our salvation. This made thee come to die; O love beyond all measure, Wherewith thou didst embrace The victims of the pressure. Of sin and its disgrace. Not sinful man's endeavour. Nor any mortal's care, Could draw thy sov'reign favour To sinners in despair ; Uncalled thou cam'st with gladness, Us from the fall to raise. And change our grief and sadness To songs of joy and praise. BATH : PRINTED BY BINN3 AND GOODWIN, SOME OF THE WORKS PUBLISHED BY BINNS AND GOODWIN, BATH; AND SOLD BY WHITTAKER AND CO., LONDON. SECOND EDITION - The Morning of Life : A Memoir of Miss A — n, who was educated for a ISTiui ; with, many interesting particulars and Original Letters of Dr. DOYLE, late Roman CathoUc Bishop of Carlow. By her Friend M. M. C. M. Witli Portrait. Small 8vo., cloth, price 3s. M. ; morocco extra, Is, 6c?. "This Memoir contains many hii(hly instructive as well as inter- esting facts. Its value is empliatically its truth." — Protestant JVitness. "The young' lady, whose memoir we have in this eleg'ant little work, was the ward of the celebrated Romanist prelate. Dr. Doyle, one of the ablest, perhaps, also, one of the best of his order. The notices of the life and death of this eminent person, interwoven with the biography, are curious and most interesting. It was thought, and not without reason, that Dr. Doyle died a Protes- tant ; but his deathbed was guarded by priests, and few of his dyinir expressions have been recorded." — Ed'mburgh Evening Post. "This is an extraordinary narrative; that is, there are some very extraordinary things told in it. We have been deeply interested in the two sisters; in their conversion from Romanism, not simply to Protestantism, but to a living spirit- ual faith in Christ ; in their steadfastness under the severe ordeal to which they were subjected by Dr. Doyle, who was their guardian, and in the subsequent events of their brief history. The power of Divine grace was strongly exem- plified in them both, and formed in them a character, which, for pure, unselfish, elevated, evangelical piety, is seldom equalled.'' — Evangelical Christendom. Poioery: its Alliance loith Paganism. Translated from the French by SENECA W. WINTER, Esq., of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Small 8yo., cloth, with EngTaved Frontispiece, price 2s. Qd. "This work obtained a great celebrity in France, and has, under the blessing of God, been instrumental in doing much good.'* — Translator's Preface. Some 6/ the (Forks Published by Binns a.nd Goodwin, Bath ; And Sold by Whittaker and Co., London. THIRD EDITION. Ellen Seymour ; or, the Bud mid the Flower. By MRS. SHEPHERD (formerly Anne Houlditch). With Frontispiece and Vignette. Small 8vo., elegant cloth, price 4s. M. ; morocco, 8s. &d. "It speaks a clear discernment of Gospel truths." — Church of England Magazine. A well written tale. There is mucli truth beautifully brous^ht forward in the course of this book. It would be a suitable work for Reading- Soc\et\es.."— Christian Ladies' Magazine. "Tliemain design of this work seems to be to exhibit and re- commend the real doctrines of Scriptural Christianity, as opposed to the specious errors of Tractarianism. . . . That design is carried out with considerable ability. . , In common with other works issuing- from the press of Messrs. Binns and Goodwin, of Bath, the liook is beautifully printed, and illustrated by an orna- mental Title-page, and a frontispiece of more than ordinary merit. *"Eli.en Seymour, or, the Bud and the Flower' will doubtless find numerous readers; nor need one among them lay it down, without having reaped some advantage from its perusal." — jSnglishwoman 's Magazine. "Needs no recommendation to ensure for it a cordial welcome among those who are alive to the signs and claims of the times."— Protestant IForld. UNIFORM WITH ELLEN SEYMOUR, Rachel Cohen; the Usurer's Daughter. By MRS. KEMP. With Engraved Frontispiece and Vignette. SmaU Svo., elegant cloth, price 4s. 6cZ. ; morocco, 8s. Qd. "The principal object of its author is to bring before the mind the restoration and future glorious destinies of God's ancient people the Jews.-"^ — Englishwoman's Magazine. " This is an interesting and attractive tale, written with taste, and under the influence of a sacred interest in the future restoration of the Je-vs. The whole is leavened with a spirit of earnest piety." — Edinburgh Christian Mag. Out Little Study ; or, Conversations on the Connection between the Law of Matter, the Law of Instinct, and the Law of Mind. Small 8vo., elegant cloth, price 3s. M. 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Essays and Tracts on Various Portions of Scripture. By GEORGE WALKER. Small 8vo. Price Is. Qd. Contents : — 1. Job's Testimony to the Resurrection. 2. Typical Import of the Ordinances of the Day of Atonement. 3. On 1 John v. 6 — 11. 4. Prophecies of Balaam. 5. Prophetical Blessings of Jacob and Moses. The above Essays were orij^inally contributed to Dk. Kttto's Journal of Sacred Literature, and The Quarterly Jouriial oj Prophecy. They are now, with tlie kind permission of the Editors, collected with a view to more general circulation. ■{?NIFORM WITH THE " LABOUBS OF JOHN MEYER." SECOND EDITION. Old NojTquois, the Negro Driver. The Condemned Negro. BY LEONARD STRONG. Price Qd. each, or, bound together, price Is. "The love of God to the sinner, the gospel to the poor, the call from darkness here to light in God, from hopelessness here, to the hope of glory there, and all so free, so fresh from the heart of the everlastinif God of bond and free, signed and sealed in the gift and blood of His dear Son, was a message, or as they would say, ' A story good for poor slave.^ " THIRD EDITION. The Taught of the Father; or, The Grace of God, in its elevating and enlightening Power. Illustrated in the Conversion of J. R., lost in a Snow-storm at the Cape of Good Hope, October, ■ 1847. By the Author of "Fragments and Crumbs." ISmo., enamelled Cover, price 6cZ. "In a day when men, rejecting the power and teaching of God the Huly Ghost, are looking to human talent, or energy, or autho- rity, it may be of service to the Church of God to bring forward one more case, where one of naturally defective understanding found peace and joy in believing, being made a subject of that Divine teaching, which, whilst it enlightened, elevated, and re- newed, also transformed his sonl into the image of his Saviour God ; whom, not having seen he loved, and in whom he now sweetly sleeps till the day of His re-appearing." Preface. Some of the Works Bublished JyBiNNS and Goodwin, Bath • And Sold by Whittakeb md Co., London. TWELFTH THOUSAND. (HANDSOME PRESENT.) A Survey of tlie Holy Land: its Geo- graphy, History, and Destiny. Designed to elucidate the Imagery and Oriental Allusions of Scripture, and demonstrate the fulfilment of Prophecy. By J. T. BANNISTER, Author of ' ' Chart of the Holy Land, " "Incidents of Jewish History," fee. With an Intro- duction by the Rev. Dr. Marsh, of Leamington. With new tinted Frontispiece and Vignette; con- taining 600 pages, demy 8vo., beautiful ornamental scarlet cloth, gUt edges, price 14s., illustrated with Maps, Plans, and superior Engravings. " I heartily wish it a circulation proportionate to its capability of affording useful and delightful information." — James Montgomery, Esq. "It is copious in matter, without verbosity. There is, too, a pers'arling tone of piety running- through the whole that not only recommends it to the attention, but is calculated highly to promote its usefulness. The work is illustrated by maps and other graphic explanatives, it is handsomely printed, and issued in a peculiarly beautiful style of binding." — tVorcester Herald. FOURTH EDITION. In an elegant Cover, and adapted for circulation by Post. The First Resurrection and Ra/pture oj the Saints. 32mo., price 2d. or Is. lOcZ. per dozen. "Brief but excellent. The latter part contains some pages that may be useful in the way of answering common errors and common objections.' — Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. SECOND EDITION. TJie Psalms ojiTanged in Daily Portions, for reading through twice in the course of the year ; with Short Suggestions for applying them to Personal Devotion. By the Rev. A. R. C. DALLAS, M.A., Rector of Wonston, Author of "Cottager's Guide to the New Testament," &c. In a neat pocket volume, cloth, price 2s. Tn this' Edition, hy n novel arrangement, the authorizedllarginal Readings are introduced in the tea-t. "This precious volume is »hke elegant and pocltetable. It is quite a treasure, and requires only to be seen, to be desired and purchased. It will constitute a meet present, and prove a very valu- able token of Christian aflfection."' — British Banner. Some of the JVorks Eublished by Binns and Goodwin, Bath ; And Sold by Whittaker and Co., London. The Religious World: or, These Last Perilous Times. 12ino., cloth, price 5s. This work is peculiarly adapted to the present state of religious profession. "Proneness to backsliding- is the sad character of fallen man; and it has been painfully exemplified in England as well as in Israel. At various periods, with few exceptions, we seem to have become almost wholly secular, and worldly, and unbelieving; and the predominance of this secularity and unbelief, even still, is the grand danger of the Church." — Bickersteth on the Promised Glory of the Church of Christ. " True notices of the prevailing perils of the day." — Prospect. The two following are Selections in which the Coming of the Lord is celebrated as the great hope of the Church. Psalms and Hymns, selected and revised for Public Worship, with several original. By the Rev. JAMES KELLY, M. A., Minister of St. Peter's Episcopal Chapel, Queen Square, St. James's Park. Royal 32cno., cloth, price Is. M. "These Hymns embody very fully, and in great variety, the two great points on which rest the faith and hope of tlie Church, and whicli form the theme of her song...' the sufferings of Christ and the glory that is to follow.' The spiritual tone breathing itself throughout them is all that it ought to be." — Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. Hymns for tlie Worship of Christians. Compiled in Clonmel, in 1848. 32mo., cloth, price Is. "A collection of three hundred an fourteen hymns, eulled with judgment, and especially adapted for corporate worship. — Prospect. Apples of Gold in Pictiires of Silver ; Being 365 exceeding great and precious promises for the year, gathered out of the Word Divine ; together with a text for eveiy Lord's day in the year, having especial reference to the ministry of the Word. To which is added, a plan for reading the Scriptures through once a year. By J. A. WALLINGER. Royal 32mo., cloth, price Is. M. TO THE CLERGY, AUTHORS, ETC. 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This feature in their business arrangements enhances their claims on public support." i Date Due • — — — rorm 335. 45M 8-37. CALL NUMBER Vol ^ 7 > Date (for periodical) 5729 Copy No. 3923& 328955 Uxiiversity Libra*^