nn. 
 
 V/. INDtES. 
 
 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 ON 
 
 "AN EXPOSITION OF THE SYSTEM PUKSUED BY THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES 
 IN JAMAICA; BY MISSIONARIES AND CATECHISTS OF THE LONDON 
 MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN THAT ISLAND.” 
 
 BY THE COMMITTEE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BAPTIST'MISSIONAKY SOCIETY. 
 
 TO WHICH IS APPENDED, 
 
 THE VALEDICTORY LETTER 
 
 OF THE COMMITTEE TO THE CHURCHES LATELY IN CONNEXION WITH THE 
 
 SOCIETY IN JAMAICA. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SOLD AT 
 
 THE SOCIETY’S HOUSE, 6, FEN COURT, FENCHURCH STREETj 
 
 AND BY 
 
 HOULSTON AND STONEMAN, CS, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1843 , 
 
J. HADDON, PRINTER, CASTLE-STREET, FINSBURY. 
 
REMARKS. 
 
 The Committee of the Baptist hlissionary Society feel it their 
 duty to make a few remarks on a pamphlet just published, under 
 the title of An Exposition of the System pursued hy the Baptist 
 Missionaries in Jamaica, by Missionaries and Catechists of the 
 London Missionary' Society in that island. The pamphlet is in 
 continuation of the attack which has been kept up by various 
 parties, through several—it might almost be said through many 
 years, upon the agents and operations of the Society in Jamaica; 
 and in this instance it assumes a form which, in the judgment of 
 the Committee, forbids them to be silent. 
 
 Before proceeding to remark on the matter immediately before 
 them, the Committee wish to observe generally, that, in relation to the 
 interest and welfare of the churches raised in Jamaica by the instru¬ 
 mentality of the Society, they have throughout regarded the hostility 
 directed against them, not only without fear, but ^vitli gratulation. 
 Through however painful a process, its tendency must have been 
 to do them good; ^ not only by bringing to light cases requiring 
 discipline, which might otherwise have continued unknown to the 
 parties most deeply interested in knowing them, but also by 
 making both ministers and people feel under how watchful an eye, 
 not only in heaven but on earth, they are fulfilling their trust’. 
 In this respect the Committee regard the protracted assault made 
 on their beloved brethren in Jamaica as among the greatest benefits 
 which men, whether evil or good, could have conferred upon them ,• 
 and, in looking upwards from men to Him whose “hand ” they are’ 
 they cherish gratitude for so signal a mercy, by which evils' of a 
 grave and vital character—certainly possible, and perhaps incipi¬ 
 ent may be either wholly prevented, or promptly remedied. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 With respect to the parties by whom the assault has been made, 
 tlie Committee recognize as fully and feel as deeply as they, the 
 necessity of genuine piety in the individual, and of faithful disci¬ 
 pline in the churches. Equal to their own—certainly much greater 
 than their OAvn—would the anguish of the Committee be, if they 
 believed that the charges here preferred were well founded; and 
 at no efforts within the limits of possibility would they stop, in 
 order to arrest mischiefs of so fearful a magnitude. Through¬ 
 out this painful history, they have been eager for information, 
 and have been almost incessantly imploring it. They have 
 earnestly requested the production of this, which, having been 
 long hinted at, is only now vouchsafed ; and, rather than not 
 have it at all, they welcome it from the press. Nothing do they 
 wish to be concealed. It is concealment, indeed, and conceal¬ 
 ment alone, which has all along been their annoyance and their 
 difficulty. Frequently have they heard that something has been 
 written to England derogatory to the character of the Society’s 
 missionaries in Jamaica, and they have immediately said, what is 
 it, where are the facts ? For the most part this question has been 
 as vain as though they had been seeking after one of nature’s pro- 
 foundest secrets; and an extract of an injurious letter has often 
 necessitated a mode of inquiry as ingenious and persevering as if its 
 object had been the recovery of a stolen bank note. At other times, 
 parties have refused to tell the Committee what they loudly affirmed 
 they knew, and familiarly told to others. At length, however, here 
 are specific allegations ; and the Committee are glad of it. Now, 
 at all events, and so far, the missionaries and other brethren will 
 have an opportunity of knowing what they are charged with, and 
 of acting accordingly. For themselves, the Committee say frankly, 
 whatever portion of these evils have existed and are past remedy, 
 let the record of them stand as a warning for those who are to come. 
 Whatever portion of them exist now, let a remedy be applied to 
 them with Christian fidelity forthwith. And whatever portion of 
 them may be resolvable into misinformation or misconception, let 
 the Pilissionaries and Catechists of the London Missionary Society 
 rejoice with the Committee in the result of so happy a process, 
 which, doubtless, it would delight them to see effectually applied to 
 the whole. And again these reproving brethren are entreated to 
 conceal from the Committee nothing that they know. 
 
 Having thus expressed their feelings on the general subject, the 
 
Committee proceed to some remarks more specifically on the pam- 
 jihlet before them. 
 
 I. 
 
 In doing so, they feel themselves entitled to submit, in the first 
 instance, a class of observations tending to reduce somewhat— 
 perhaps materially—its apparent criminatory force. 
 
 It might be mentioned in the outset, that the pamphlet does not 
 correspond with its announcement. Having been uniformly adver¬ 
 tised as put forth “ by the Missionaries and Catechists of the 
 London IMissionary Society in” Jamaica, the pregnant particle 
 “^the” is omitted in the title page, and it turns out to be signed 
 by only (hirteen persons, out of a body consisting (as nearly as 
 can be ascertained by the last report of the London IMissionary 
 Society) of twenty-one. The Committee, however, will not dwell 
 upon this apparent “effort to give the Exposition an unreal and 
 factitious importance. 
 
 The Committee go on to observe, in the first place, that some of 
 the topics introduced by the Expositors are without any justice 
 made matters of complaint. 
 
 For example, the first accusation is, that the missionaries com¬ 
 plained of have “ employed unscriptural means and unworthy 
 agents in order to gain and hold more adherents than they can 
 adequately teach or govern by proper church officers,” p. 7- Com¬ 
 bined with the imputation on the personal character of the leaders, 
 to which the Committee do not at present refer, here is neither 
 more nor less than an argument in church polity. Did it never 
 strike the thirteen IMissionaries and Catechists of the London 
 IMissionary Society in Jamaica in how singular a position they 
 have thus placed them selves ! Doubtless—to say nothing of their 
 own brethren in British Guiana, by whom the leader and ticket 
 system itself is employed—they hold that filoravians, IMethodists, 
 Presbyterians, and Episcopalians, also adopt “ unscriptural ma¬ 
 chinery but their zeal for New Testament order never led them, 
 the Committee believe, to enter on such a discussion with any of 
 these bodies. Why, then, with the Baptists ? 
 
 The accused missionaries, it seems, have employed leaders and 
 given tickets. This may be unscriptural, or it may not. The 
 Committee have not given, and are not going to give, any o])inioii 
 
6 
 
 upon this point. They have never taken it into consideration. 
 There is nothing, either in the constitution or usages of the Society, 
 or in the case itself, which requires that they should do so. They 
 have gone on the principle (publicly and properly laid down by the 
 London Missionary Society) of not interfering with the internal 
 management of the churches. And there, they conceive, that this 
 matter satisfactorily rests. 
 
 The concluding topic of complaint belongs, in the judgment of 
 the Committee, to the same class. It is as follows :—“ The Baptist 
 missionaries have raised and expended large sums of money, with¬ 
 out making any public report of the same,” p. 13. The Expositors 
 are here probably misled by want of acquaintance with a difference 
 which exists between the methods of the London and the Baptist 
 IVIissionary Societies. The former, it is understood, require that 
 every expense at a missionary station should be paid out of the 
 funds of the Society, and that all monies raised there should be 
 considered as a contribution to its income. Of course, under such 
 a system, it is proper that the receipt and expenditure of all sums 
 should be reported to the Society, and through them to the public. 
 The Baptist Missionary Society, however, have gone from the first 
 on a different principle. They have desired their brethren to en¬ 
 courage the friends at a missionary station to raise what they could 
 towards its expenses, with a view to relieve the Society at home, 
 and to support the cause entirely when they should be able. On this 
 plan, the Committee have always been informed how much was raised 
 by the churches, and how it was expended on their behalf, in order 
 to the regulation of their own grants; the only use which it per¬ 
 tained to them to make of this information, inasmuch as the Com¬ 
 mittee had no control over the expenditure, and the British public 
 no claim to the accounts. No doubt, the missionaries w^ere under 
 obligation to render an account of w’liat they had raised in a manner 
 satisfactory to the donors, but nothing further can -with any reason 
 be required. It has always been satisfactory to the Committee to 
 know that a much larger work has been going on in Jamaica than 
 could possibly have been sustained by the money they ^vere able to 
 supply; and they never sa%v—nor can they now see—any unfaith¬ 
 fulness to their trust in sending a few hundreds a year to aid a 
 church w'hich was raising several thousands, while they had reason 
 to believe that the operations carried on were so extensive as, after 
 every eflfort, to press heavily on their resources. Parsimony on the 
 
7 
 
 part of tlie Committee would luive ill recompensed the noble generosity 
 of Jamaica. Whether the public announcement,of the large sums 
 annually raised in the West mighty or might not, have diminished 
 the collections in England, cannot now be told; but there is no 
 doubt at all that a fear of this somewhat natural result, and not of 
 any outbreak of indignation as against a fraud, was the Avhole 
 amount of Mr. Dyer’s meaning in the phrase (if he ever used it) 
 which is quoted by the Expositors, and to which the Committee 
 will again advert, If we should publish this, it would ruin us.” 
 
 W ith respect to the “ style of profusion ” in which it is alleged 
 •that the Baptist missionaries in Jamaica live, the Committee make 
 two observations. First, This charge is strangely brought against 
 the whole body of Missionaries, when in fact many of them arc well 
 known to be enduring severe privations in the highest spirit of 
 Christian devotedness, and when the number to whom it has the 
 semblance of applicability is very small. Secondly, There is 
 full reason to be satisfied, that nothing of the sort complained of 
 (whether justly or unjustly) has been at the cost of the mission. 
 Some of the churches have for many years supported their own 
 pastors. If they have given them large salaries, neither the Com¬ 
 mittee nor any one else is entitled to complain of it. It is enough 
 to say, that those who have been supported by the Society have not 
 —and cannot have—lived deliciously, except on spiritual food. 
 
 Secondly, the Committee observe that some of the charges are 
 sustained by strangely inconclusive proofs. For example, the 
 second article of complaint relates to the “ frequent admissions of 
 large numbers to the ordinances and fellowship of the church, 
 without due care to ascertain the character of the persons so ad¬ 
 mitted,” p. II. Now, readily allowing that due care” is of the 
 first necessity, and assuming nothing concerning the practice of 
 their brethren, the Committee animadvert on the primary reason 
 from which the Expositors infer that such care has not been em¬ 
 ployed. Will it be believed that a criminal laxity in this respect 
 is directly concluded from the mere numbers baptized ? Yet, after 
 mentioning some cases of numerous baptisms, the Missionafles and 
 Catechists say —“ Before we assert what we know of these baptisms, 
 or adduce a fact in support of what we assert, we ask. Is there not 
 enough in the bare announcement of such baptisms to stagger the 
 faith of the friends of missions.!'” p. 11. And they go on gravely 
 to state, that, supposing it genuine, “ the work of the Baptist 
 
8 
 
 missionaries in Jamaica is seen to exceed by far the work of the 
 apostles on the day of Pentecost.” Yet on that occasion three 
 thousand persons were added to the church in one and the same 
 day, at one and the same place. What would the Missionaries and 
 Catechists have said if this had happened “ at Brown’s Town, in 
 1840,” instead of the (to them) more perplexing fact that Messrs. 
 Clark and Dutton immersed seven hundred and twenty-nine in 
 the course of the year.^” But, if it were so, what then.? We 
 quote from these Missionaries and Catechists themselves the valuable 
 saying,—which is in truth a solvent for the whole mystery—that 
 “ nothing is too hard for the Lord.” Due care may or may not 
 have been taken ; but the argument from mere numbers is absolute 
 unbelief. 
 
 The Committee, in the third place, proceed to the array of instances 
 by which the several heads of complaint are supported. These the 
 Expositors call “ factsthe Committee submit, however, that they 
 are not entitled to bo considered as facts until they are proved. 
 They may be true, or they may not. Exaggeration, misconcep¬ 
 tion, mistake, imagination, prejudice, and even falsehood, may have 
 been at work upon them. At present, therefore, they are not facts, 
 but allegations; plausible allegations, indeed, some of them—some 
 of them are utterly, and even ridiculously, incredible—but not 
 proved allegations, on which sentence can justly be pronounced. 
 The Committee are entitled to insist strongly on this distinction, 
 by virtue of their experience in this very case. In the instances in 
 Avhich they have succeeded in obtaining specific charges, they have, 
 upon inquiry, frequently found them altogether or mainly erroneous; 
 so frequently, that they have increased materially in the courage 
 with which they look such allegations in the face. If those now 
 adduced share any thing like the fate of their precursors, many of 
 them will altogether vanish, and the seeming gravity of the rest 
 be very materially reduced. 
 
 The Committee think, finally, that the process of generalization 
 adopted by the Expositors is not only precipitate, but unwarranted. 
 By virtue of the instances they adduce, they inculpate the whole 
 body of Baptist missionaries and churches in the island, excepting 
 only IMessrs. Kingdon, Whitehorn, and Reid. Now the mission¬ 
 aries thus implicated are 28, and the churches as many, con¬ 
 taining 32,810 members, with 18,000 inquirers. They are dis¬ 
 persed through the island much more widely than (as yet) the sta- 
 
9 
 
 tions of the London JMissionary Society and tliere are among 
 them many local and accidental diversities. The Committee can¬ 
 not help feeling that, even if the truth of all the allegations were 
 granted, conclusions so sweeping as those which are deduced from 
 them would not be justified. How much less when the real cpian- 
 tity of pertinent truth in them shall be ascertained! Besides, it is 
 remarkable how often the name either of the same Avitness or of the 
 same culprit appears, even in these allegations. Thomas Burke is 
 cited over and over again; and the rev. H. C. Taylor, of Old 
 Harbour, is almost constantly under accusation. Now if it be 
 that the one of these parties has been very ignorant, and the other 
 very negligent, and that some besides have been liable to censure, 
 let the individuals bear the blame. Why is their misconduct 
 or folly, supposing it to be such as is represented, to be made a 
 gauge for taking the measure of other men? Would it not have 
 been just as fair to have selected a faithful missionary, a judicious 
 leader, and a few well-informed members, and then to have inferred 
 that the whole baptist body were of a similar character ? 
 
 The Missionaries and Catechists affirm that these single instances 
 are examples of classes, and that they might be multiplied “ to 
 almost any number.” On this the Committee observe, first, that 
 the expositors have obviously brought out the strength of their case; 
 and secondly, that no amount of allegation against certain indivi¬ 
 duals, or even of proved criminality in them, can warrant the con¬ 
 demnation of other persons. There is a radical fallacy in the very 
 nature of the argument. The negligence or precipitancy of one 
 missionary is no evidence at all that the same qualities exist in another. 
 For any thing which could be established by such a kind of proof, 
 he might be one of the most cautious and judicious of men ; and 
 he certainly Avould have good reason to complain of the injustice of 
 being condemned for the fault of another. The same remark may 
 be applied to both leaders and churches. 
 
 In the judgment of the Committee, the considerations now ad¬ 
 duced materially diminish the apparent criminatory force of the 
 pamphlet before them. With respect to the accusations to Avhich 
 they haA'^e not adverted—those, namely, affecting the character of 
 the leaders, the admission to church-fellowship, and the exercise of 
 church-discipline—these, together with the examples detailed in 
 support of them, are as a Avhole matters of inquiry; and, al- 
 
10 
 
 though some of the charges might be disposed of on the instant,* 
 the Committee Avill not at present notice them further. They have 
 directed a copy of the pamphlet to be sent to every one of the 
 Baptist missionaries in Jamaica, and they cannot doubt that every clue 
 it affords will be pursued for searching and salutary investigation. 
 They would be very happy if the Expositors themselves would 
 
 * As a sample of this class, the Committee just mention the following:— 
 
 1. “ One of the rev. J. M. Philippo’s schoolmasters told Mr. George Strieker, 
 schoolmaster at Porus, that j\Ir. P. kept a written list of the questions which he 
 puts to the candidates for baptism, and that the leaders are all taught these ques¬ 
 tions,” Exposition, p. 20. To this Mr. Philippo replies ;—“It is not true, nor has 
 it the shadow of truth.” 
 
 2. “ William Burke, of Cool Spring, who was one of the persons baptized by 
 Moses Hall, says, ‘ that all the persons in his class were required to pay three-pence 
 per week to the support of the class-house, and a shilling per month for the support 
 of Moses Hall,’ ” Exposition, p. 22. The latter charge is positively denied by several 
 persons who have been members of the class from its commencement. 
 
 3. “ J. Daughtrey, esq., the government Inspector-general of prisons, has given 
 his important testimony on this point as follows:—‘ I once had the credulity to 
 believe there was in the churches of Jamaica as great a proportion of Christians as in 
 those of Great Britain, But I now see my great mistake. Of the prisoners in the dis¬ 
 trict prison at Kingston, three-fourths have been connected with religious societies,”’ 
 Exposition, p. 23, This “ important testimony,” it will be observed, is absolutely 
 general, and affects all religious communities alike. The point remains. “ Dis¬ 
 tinguishing them, he adds:—‘There are very few from the Moravians ; not one 
 from the Congregationalists ; more from the Wesleyans ; but the great majority are 
 Baptists,’ ” ibid. The answer to this is, that, within the district of Kingston, the 
 Baptists are by far the largest body of religious professors ; and that, for any thing 
 which appears to the contrary, there may be fewer per cent, of that body in 
 Kingston district prison than of any other. 
 
 4. The following is from Thomas Burke:—“ William Hall, from Marshall’s Pen, 
 first tell us to pray. He put our knee on the ground, then take our hand, and 
 raise us before the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, This is the way he 
 set us off.” The following sample is given of “ the hymns and prayers which Hall 
 taught them to use :”— 
 
 “ John a Baptize.—Do my Lord. 
 
 Me pray for my sin.—Do my Lord, 
 
 Me pray for my soul.—Do my Lord. 
 
 Remember your duty.—Do my Lord. 
 
 Sinner dead he must.—Do my Lord. 
 
 Me pray for keep me out of de fire.—Do my Lord.”— Exposition, p. 15. 
 
 The Committee must here call specifically for dates. They are assured that these 
 proceedings of William Hall took place more than twenty years ago, when there were 
 but two or three Baptist missionaries on the island, the nearest of these being sixty 
 miles distant from him, and all of them, of course, utterly unconnected with him. 
 
11 
 
 kindly place a copy of it in the hands of every member of the 
 churches who can read it, for the promotion of a similar purpose. 
 They need scarcely express their confidence, that, if any of the 
 parties implicated should apply for further facilities of inquiry, the 
 thirteen Missionaries and Catechists of the London Missionary 
 Society will not follow the example of an accuser of a different 
 denomination (the rev. Geo. Blyth) in refusing to afford them. 
 
 II. 
 
 From matters affecting the Baptist missionaries and churches in 
 Jamaica, the Committee will now turn to those which directly im¬ 
 plicate themselves. 
 
 The Missionaries and Catechists aver that the publication of this 
 pamphlethas been forced upon” them. By what means ? By 
 an indisposition to listen to complaints, they reply, partly among 
 the missionaries themselves, and partly among “their friends in 
 England ”—meaning (it appears) the Committee. Leaving the 
 missionaries to speak on their own behalf, if they think it necessary, 
 the Committee answer distinctly for themselves, that the charge is 
 utterly without foundation, and that they are sure no proofs of it 
 can be adduced. That they have been unwilling to have the cha¬ 
 racter of their brethren whispered away in private coteries, or 
 destroyed by letters clandestinely circulated ; that they have refused 
 to abandon their confidence in their missionaries merely on the pro¬ 
 nunciation of sweeping censures, and unsubstantiated imputations ; 
 and that they have challenged names, places, and dates, for every 
 accusation, and traced many of them to the confusion of their 
 originators—all this is true: and who are the parties that will 
 blame them for it ? But that they have on any occasion displayed 
 an indisposition to listen to complaints is an utter misrepresentation. 
 They have, perhaps, been much nearer to an error on the other side. 
 
 But, were it otherwise, what cause have the writers of this pam¬ 
 phlet to complain ? When did the Committee hear from them ? 
 Neither from the thirteen Missionaries and Catechists in a body, nor 
 from any one of them as an individual, has a letter on this subject, 
 ever reached their table. They have heard, indeed, of injurious 
 letters industriously but secretly circulated, the writers of which 
 they could not ascertain, and copies or extracts of which they could 
 not procure ; but these, of course, were not the complaints to which 
 
12 
 
 the Committee were unwilling to listen. Were any of these Mis¬ 
 sionaries and Catechists the writers of those letters ? 
 
 The Expositors state, however, that, as to the courtesy of private 
 communication with the Committee, what was not done by them¬ 
 selves had been done by others. The Committee distinctly deny 
 this assertion. Three of their own agents, indeed, Messrs. King- 
 don, Whitehorn, and Reid, have thought proper to discontinue the use 
 both of leaders and of tickets, and, in doing so, have communicated 
 their reasons for the change ; but the Committee have never re¬ 
 ceived, even from them, any such statements as were adapted to 
 bring the condition of the churches at large under their conside¬ 
 ration, until those letters in the Jamaica newspapers which con¬ 
 stitute a very recent part of the controversy. With this exception, 
 not a single person of any denomination has ever spontaneously 
 presented a complaint to them, either with or without evidence to 
 support it. That such complaints have been brought before them 
 is true; but in all cases the Committee had previously heard of 
 their utterance in other circles, and had solicited—in some cases 
 they were obliged to importune—the complainants to communicate 
 with them. 
 
 The Comn’Httee, however, it is alleged, have done wrong in 
 not “promoting the formation of a court of inquiry” for inves¬ 
 tigating these complaints. On this somewhat singular charge 
 the Committee have to say, that the formation of such a court has 
 never been proposed to them from any quarter. All that they have 
 heard or seen on this subject has consisted in occasional brief and 
 discourteous, and sometimes taunting, references in the course of 
 correspondence, to a court which would speedily be constituted 
 Avithout their consent, and before which they and their missionaries 
 were, with equally little ceremony, to be dragged. How the said 
 court was to be constituted, or by what power its proceedings were 
 to be enforced, they never heard. That the Committee have not 
 promoted the formation of any such court of inquiry is certainly 
 true. They have conceived that they were themselves, and after 
 themselves their constituents, the proper court (if the expression 
 must be used) before which their missionaries should be tried. Is 
 there any missionary society in existence which would have “pro¬ 
 moted the formation ” of any other ? Or is there any body of 
 missionaries anti catechists, except these thirteen, who would 
 have gravtdy proposed it ? 
 
13 
 
 III. 
 
 Having tliiis spoken of themselves, the Committee feel it their 
 duty to say a few words in conclusion concerning the parties whose 
 names are affixed to this pamphlet. 
 
 The Expositors are naturally desirous to receive credit for good 
 motives, and they declare themselves to have been actuated by a 
 pure concern for the interests of righteousness and the character 
 of Christian missions.” The Committee make no pretensions to 
 judge them in this respect. It is, at the same time, a consideration 
 not altogether without weight, that the main stress and eagerness of 
 this controversy has lain with some of the agents of a Missionary 
 Society, which has been brought into more extensive contact than 
 any other with the Baptist IMissionary operations. That the feel¬ 
 ings in such a state of things too natural, even to the best of men, 
 have to some extent operated in this case, appears on the face of the 
 Exposition itself. Tlfe very first sentence of it says, “serious differ¬ 
 ences have arisen between us and the great majority of Baptist mis¬ 
 sionaries.” In the next page it is expressly stated that the public con¬ 
 troversy in Jamaica both originated in denominational resentment, and 
 was perpetuated by it. The words are :—“ The publication by the 
 Baptist missionaries of gross misrepresentations* affecting us and 
 our stations, in their own newspaper (the Baptist Herald), first in¬ 
 duced us to use a similar publication. * « * The treatment 
 
 which our remonstrance met with drew us on to make the general 
 charges through the same medium. * * * But for the course 
 
 which the Baptist missionaries took with our first letter, * » * 
 
 it is probable the controversy would not have been proceeded with 
 
 * The document here referred to consisted in a tabular statement of the number 
 of missionaries and members in Jamaica connected with the several missionary 
 societies, together with the amount expended by each, in the following form :— 
 
 
 Missionaries. 
 
 Members. 
 
 Inquirers.! 
 
 Received from 
 this country. 
 
 AVesley an Missionary Society 
 
 30 
 
 22,884 
 
 4,303 
 
 £8,986 
 
 London Missionary Society 
 
 11 
 
 172 
 
 
 6,476 
 
 Church hlissionary Society 
 
 7 
 
 271 
 
 4,954 
 
 6,938 
 
 Baptist Missionary Society 
 
 19 
 
 24,777 
 
 15,007 
 
 6,870 
 
 'i bis table was drawn up in England (without any view, however, to publica¬ 
 tion) fi'om the latest reports of the several societies, and has been found, by stibse- 
 
14 
 
 here^ and would have been but little beard of beyond the limits of 
 Jamaica/’ p. 6. Without turning aside to vindicate their brethren 
 in this point, the Committee observe here, that, on their own 
 showing, the Missionaries and Catechists of the London Missionary 
 Society have been moved by an impulse not absolutely identical 
 with “ a concern for the interests of righteousness.” 
 
 Passing over other indications which they might notice of a 
 similar kind, the Committee cannot but place upon record a declar¬ 
 ation made by the rev. W. G. Barrett, on behalf of himself and his 
 brethren, in his Reply to their circular of January last. It is as 
 follows :—“ Had we been allowed to do good as we had opportunity, 
 and not been impeded by the proselyting labours and plans of your 
 agents, and permitted to retain undisturbed possession of such 
 spheres of labour as were opened for us by a favouring providence, 
 this exposure would have been prevented.”— Barrett's Reply, p. 8. 
 Hahemus reum conjitentcm. 
 
 The Committee have made this remark, not with any view to 
 censure the missionaries and catechists, whose infirmity herein is 
 far too natural and too common not to be easily venial; but simply 
 because it facilitates a correct estimate of the evils alleged, to know 
 that, but for the occasion created by such collateral pressure, even 
 men so jealous for the interests of righteousness as these, would 
 not have deemed it their duty to disclose them. 
 
 The Committee next animadvert on what they are constrained 
 to regard as a want of candour and fairness on the part of the 
 Expositors. They will illustrate their meaning by an example. It 
 is certainly reasonable in a controversy of this sort, that, a charge 
 having been made and an explanation given, the charge should not 
 be reiterated without some notice of the explanation. Now, before 
 the preparation of the circular issued by the Committee in January 
 last, IMr. Williams had been complained of for having baptized 
 126 persons before he had been six weeks in Jamaica; and in 
 that circular (to which the Exposition is professedly a reply) 
 explanation is given that these parties “ had been for years* 
 
 quent examination, to represent with perfect accuracy the accounts contained in 
 them. The only pretext which the agents of the London Missionary Society in 
 Jamaica had for calling it a “ misrepresentation ” was, that it neither recorded their 
 actual (unreported) numbers in that island, nor intimated what portion of the sum 
 expended had been raised among themselves. For neither of these defects, how. 
 ever, were the missionaries responsible. 
 
 * Nearly three years. 
 
15 
 
 in communication witli Mr. Philippo, and were only awaiting the 
 arrival of a Baptist missionary to be formed into a church/’— 
 Circular, p. 7. Notwithstanding this explanation, and without 
 taliing the least notice of it, the Expositors repeat the charge, thus: 
 
 The rev. Mr. Williams, before he had been on the island six 
 weeks, and in a neighbourhood where no Baptist missionary had 
 preceded him, immersed 126 persons,” p. 11. Things of this sort 
 tend to class the thirteen Missionaries and Catechists of the London 
 Missionary Society in Jamaica among adversaries, rather than reprov¬ 
 ers, of their brethren, and among adversaries who are determined 
 that, whether there be mistake or not, there shall be no correction. 
 The Committee know it is a maxim of polemical warfare, that 
 iteration may effect the same end as proof ; but they could not 
 have expected to find this weapon in professedly friendly hands. 
 
 The Committee remark finally, on the use made by the Exposi¬ 
 tors of the language cited by them from an alleged letter of the 
 late Secretary to the Society, the rev. John Dyer, in relation to the 
 monies raised in Jamaica :—If we should publish this, it would 
 ruin us.” This extract, it is strange to say, is adduced by the 
 Missionaries and Catechists as a proof that Mr. Dyer knew the 
 Jamaica brethren had acted fraudulently in pecuniary affairs, and 
 that the Christian public would be filled with “ resentment, if the 
 whole truth were declared to them,” p. 14. The Committee will 
 not dishonour the memory of their beloved and revered coadjutor 
 and friend, by saying a single word in the supererogatory work of his 
 vindication ; they ask only what must be the temper, or where can be 
 the understandings, of men who can use an argument, the whole force 
 of which lies in the gratuitous assumption that a Christian professor 
 and a Christian minister, a man whose character for integrity was to 
 the last as unblemished as the driven snow, and who was, for up¬ 
 wards of twenty years, a most honoured secretary of one of the most 
 honoured societies of the age—that such a man was secretly pursuing 
 a course of conscious knavery, the disclosure of which would inflame 
 with resentment the whole Christian world } 
 
 In having thus spoken, the Committee trust they have neither 
 exceeded nor fallen short of their duty. They have only to add 
 that the churches raised by the instrumentality of the Baptist 
 Missionary Society in Jamaica are no longer in organic union with 
 it. With an admirable zeal and generosity, they have thrown 
 
16 
 
 themselves on their own resources. In relation to all their affairs, 
 they are now as independent as any churches in this or any other 
 country. To themselves must any further observations be addres¬ 
 sed which their fellow Christians of any denomination may desire 
 to submit to their notice. The Committee have taken leave of 
 them in a letter of solemn and affectionate counsel which is before 
 the world, and to their own Master they stand or fall. 
 
 In closing their present observations, the Committee commend 
 alike all churches and all missionary societies, and all missionaries 
 and catechists to the kindness of that merciful God of whose for¬ 
 giveness, as well as blessing, all his servants stand so continually in 
 need. 
 
LETTER, 
 
 
 THE COMMITTEE OP THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY TO THE CHURCHES 
 
 OF CHRIST IN JAMAICA, RAISED BY THE LABOURS OP THAT SOCIETY. 
 
 Dearly beloved Brethren,— 
 
 Often as you have engaged our affectionate and anxious thoughts, 
 we know not that we have ever felt concerning you, either more 
 ardent gratitude or more deep solicitude, than at the present mo¬ 
 ment. Through the goodness of God, and his copious blessing on 
 the labours of thirty years, you have been conducted through mani¬ 
 fold afflictions, to a state of prosperity and peace which cannot he 
 viewed without grateful admiration of divine mercy ; and at length 
 you have made known to us yoiir resolution to sustain, without 
 further aid from us, the entire expenses of the work of God 
 amongst and around you. 
 
 We rejoice in the step you have thus taken. We are happy 
 that, in point of resources, you are able to undertake so serious a 
 responsibility; and W'e are still more happy that God has given you 
 the fidelity and zeal to assume it. We are not altogether unac¬ 
 quainted with the difficulties amidst which you stand, and we highly 
 esteem the devotedness to the cause of God which you have herein 
 manifested. May God accept your consecration, and smile upon 
 your toils ! 
 
 Do not imagine for a moment, beloved brethren, that your sepa¬ 
 ration from us as a society, will be accompanied by any alienation 
 of our hearts from you. You are still as dear to us as ever, as 
 
18 
 
 joint partakers with us of the grace of God; and, while we arc 
 expending on regions yet destitute of the gospel (and partly on 
 your father land) the resources which your zeal has set at liberty, 
 we shall most unfeignedly rejoice in at once beholding your pros¬ 
 perity, and receiving your co-operation. It is, in truth, as an 
 expression of our sincere and ardent love to you, that we present to 
 you this parting address; and we are sure that you Avill receive 
 kindly the words of serious and affectionate counsel which it will 
 contain. 
 
 You are quite aware that representations have been made, both 
 to the world at large through the press, and to us in a direct man¬ 
 ner, unfavourable to your Christian character, both as individuals 
 and as churches. We have been told that cases of gross supersti¬ 
 tion abound among you—that you consider yourselves as purchasing 
 your inquirers’ or members’ tickets—that you carry them about with 
 you M’ith a superstitious reverence, and mean to have them buried 
 with you, as a passport to heaven—that you rest in church-member¬ 
 ship, and in the forms of religion, without having any experimental 
 knowledge of Jesus—that, under the cloak of religious profession, 
 you indulge unbridled tempers, and allow yourselves in vicious 
 practices—and that you glory only in being baptists, Avithout caring 
 to be Christians. So far have these representations been carried by 
 some parties, that it has been said nine out of ten among you have 
 no real religion. Accusations have been specifically directed against 
 the deacons and leaders in the churches; and of these officers it has 
 been publicly asserted, that the great majority are ungodly men, 
 and that they commonly employ the influence of their office at once 
 to indulge and to screen their vices. 
 
 Knowing the pious and devoted character of the brethren Avhom 
 we had sent to labour among you—“men who had hazarded their 
 lives” for the diffusion of the gospel in Jamaica—we never be¬ 
 lieved—we could not believe—these accusations. Promptly and 
 earnestly, indeed, did we feel ourselves bound to make inquiry 
 into them, and we have been rejoiced on all occasions to find that 
 they cannot be substantiated. The unsolicited testimony of men 
 of unimpeachable judgment and impartiality—we refer to the 
 published works of Messrs. Gurney, Sturge, and Candler; the 
 well-attested results of your OAvn church discipline, as apparent in 
 the annual returns of the Association; and the maxim of divine 
 authority, that a tree is to be known by its fruits, have concurred 
 
19 
 
 mtli our specific inquiries to satisfy us of the general falsehood of 
 the charges which have been brought against you. But you must 
 permit us to say, that we should have been overwhelmed with afflic¬ 
 tion if they had been true. We, in common with yourselves, are 
 baptists; but we know that, in Christ Jesus, nothing availeth but 
 a new creature, and faith which worketh by love. We attach value 
 to nothing short of an experimental knowledge of our sin and ruin, 
 and a sincere reception of Christ Jesus the Lord, leading to a holy 
 walk and conversation. And if it had been so that your seeming 
 religion consisted of superstitious notions, and comported with 
 unholy practices, our very hearts would have been broken. Such 
 religion would have yielded neither benefit to you, nor reward to 
 us; and we could not have held up our heads before either God or 
 man. We confess and declare before you, that we attach quite as 
 much importance to the genuineness of individual piety, and to the 
 purity of church discipline, as any of those who have brought 
 accusations against you; and our only consolation under these ac¬ 
 cusations is that they are not true. In this consolatory belief we 
 most earnestly hope your future course will sustain us. Let the 
 intensity with which the notice of the Christian w'orld has been 
 called to this subject convince you of the extreme importance at¬ 
 tached to it by all who fear the Lord ; and lead you to examine, 
 each for himself, whether, in his particular case, there may or may 
 not be some foundation for blame. In this way you may turn even 
 unfounded reproaches to profit, and derive important advantages 
 from those who may not have spoken in love. 
 
 No considerate person will expect to find the churches of Christ 
 altogether free from imperfections and inconsistency ; and we have 
 not been concerned to maintain any such position in reference to 
 you. It is not so with the churches in this country, nor was it so 
 with those of the apostolic age. All that can be required is, on 
 the one hand, as careful a discrimination as Christian Avisdom can 
 make among those Avho seek admission to the church ; and, on the 
 other, a faithful use of scriptural discipline in cases of delinquency. 
 These things we hope and believe have been appreciated and prac¬ 
 tised among you. It is of unspeakable importance that they should 
 continue to be so. 
 
 Among the allegations made to your disadvantage, one has been, 
 that the system pursued in some of the churches (known as tlie 
 leader and ticket system) directly, and even necessarily, tends to 
 
20 
 
 make the churches superstitious and corrupt. We have never in¬ 
 terfered with the internal arrangements of any church connected 
 with the Society; it has been our rule not to do so, and we are not 
 now about to depart from the rule. Nevertheless, we commend 
 this charge to your serious consideration. When a practice does 
 not rest upon direct scriptural command, it is always to be carefully 
 watched, lest, however well intended or really useful, it may pro¬ 
 duce, although not necessary, yet accidental evil. In this respect, 
 dear brethren, we entreat you to have an open and discerning eye. 
 If either inquirers’ or members’ tickets beget superstition or false 
 confidence, even though the instances be few, consider whether 
 some way may not be found of securing the good without the evil. 
 Or if the habit of paying subscriptions when tickets are given, be 
 liable to abuse, so that either the party receiving a ticket may 
 think he is buying it, or the party giving a ticket may use it to 
 enforce subscription, try and think of some better mode. We do 
 not for a moment believe that you wish to foster these or any other 
 evils, and we are willing to make great allowance for the unspeak¬ 
 able difficulties amidst which your modes of action have grown up ; 
 but as no human expedient is of perfect wisdom, so it is proper for 
 us always to be on our guard against mischief, and ready to supply 
 a remedy. Tenacity of current usages is not at all to be com¬ 
 mended in such matters. 
 
 From these remarks, which have reference to the churches sepa¬ 
 rately, we now pass on to some which bear on them in their relation 
 one to another. While remaining in connexion with the Society, 
 each church was in a measure insulated from its companions, work¬ 
 ing in its own sphere, and looking for help towards England. One 
 of the principal difficulties in the way of assuming your independ¬ 
 ence has doubtless been the feeble condition of some of your num¬ 
 ber. You have, of course, found it necessary in this respect to 
 adopt a new system, and to commence a plan by which the stronger 
 churches shall help the weak. Some of you have, for a considerable 
 period, not only met all your own expenses, but contributed largely 
 to Christian and benevolent objects beyond the limits of the island. 
 It will now be highly important for such churches to make their 
 resources available for the assistance of their sister churches, and to 
 direct their liberality towards strengthening those whose early efforts 
 much exceed the contributions they can raise. ^Ye trust that the 
 union of the churches in association may be conducive to this end. 
 
21 
 
 and that a spirit of wide and universal co-operation will greatly 
 facilitate the progress of -the gospel over the entire surface of the 
 island, the evangelization of which may be considered as in so great 
 a degree confided to your care. 
 
 We remind you further of the peculiar and most interesting posi¬ 
 tion in which divine providence has placed you in relation to your 
 kindred and your parent land. Not reluctantly or faintly have we 
 responded to the call which issued from the midst of you immediately 
 on the attainment of your freedom, that efforts should be made by 
 the Society for Africa ; and we know that some parts of the West 
 Indies demand help scarcely less urgently. Has not God, by his 
 eminent mercy towards you, been preparing you to bless your coun¬ 
 try and your kindred ? And not by your contributions alone. 
 You possess especial personal adaptation for the preaching of the 
 gospel, not only in Africa itself, but to persons every where of Afri¬ 
 can descent. But you have yet much to learn before you can be 
 fully qualified to teach. With how much industry should you be 
 acquiring knowledge, and especially an ample knowledge of that 
 holy book which makes us wise to salvation ! Above all should 
 those dear brethren who may be selected to enjoy the advantages 
 of the Theological Institution, now happily founded at Rio Bueno, 
 cherish large desires after improvement. We trust that they will 
 do so; and that they will be content with nothing less than be¬ 
 coming, as men of God, perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good 
 word and work. 
 
 We cannot close this epistle without expressing our affection in 
 a direct manner towards our beloved brethren, the pastors, who 
 have taken the oversight of you in the Lord. We give thanks to 
 God that he has enabled them to sustain so well, some of them in a 
 great fight of afflictions, the responsibility they assumed. Well 
 have they justified our confidence, and deserved your love ; nor will 
 you, we are persuaded, fail of esteeming them very highly in love 
 for their work’s sake. They, at the same time, will seriously bear 
 in mind, that mainly (under God) upon them will depend the future 
 prosperity and increase of the churches; and they will allow us to 
 express our earnest hope that, in the room of a common relation to 
 the Society, which has hitherto cemented them, they will become 
 eminent for that unity of spirit with each other, which is a more 
 perfect, and now more necessary bond. Our mouth as well as our 
 heart is open to them; and we say to them, with affectionate solem- 
 
22 
 
 nity, with a slight modification of the words of the apostle,—“ If 
 there be, therefore, any consolation in Chxist, if any comfort of love, 
 if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye 
 our joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one 
 accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain 
 glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than 
 themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every 
 man also on the things of others.” 
 
 What shall we say more ? Brethren, our hearts’ desire and 
 prayer to God for you is, that you may be saved. IMay he gra¬ 
 ciously count you worthy of this calling, and fufil in you all the 
 good pleasure of his goodness, even the work of faith with power ! 
 Wherefore, dearly beloved and longed for, our joy and crown, so 
 stand fast in the Lord, dearly beloved. And, with those who are 
 coming from the east and the west, from the north and the south, 
 ' to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of 
 God, may it be our happiness to meet you, in the presence of Him 
 who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood ! 
 Amen, and Amen. 
 
 Signed on behalf of the Committee, 
 
 London, November 4t/i, 1842. 
 
 JOSEPH ANGUS, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 J, lladilun. Printer, Caatle Street, Finsbury. 
 

 
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