tihxaxy of t:he t:heolo0ical ^^minavy PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY •(i^^» PURCHASED BY THE HAMILL MISSIONARY FUND BV2848,J3 C37 1884 ^3^Ca.Ue(KevW.,^3S.WU.^ maica ; map, MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. BAI.T.ANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EOINBURGH AND LONDON HON OF THIS MAY 4 1912 THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS^ MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE REV. AVARRAND CARLILE, MISSIONARY AT BROWNSVILLE, BY ONE OF HIS SONS. LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BEKNERS STREET. MDCCCLXXXIV. THIS Xittle IDolume IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO HER WHO WAS THE COMPANION AND STAY OF HER HUSBAND DURING ALL THESE THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS IN JAMAICA, AND WHO PREFERS STILL TO SPEND HER YEARS, IN THE MIDST OF HIS DEVOTED PEOPLE, WORKING FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL BENEFIT. CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I. Birth and family— Religious life in Paisley— His father and his uncle prominent in it — His bi'other, Dr. Carlile of Dviblin — Early religious character — Work among the mill-workers and in the prison— Intellectual life of Paisley — His mar- riage to Miss Irving, sister of Edward Irving — Association with Irving— Mrs. Cai-lile's death— His preparation for the ministry and license .... . . • ' CHAPTER IT. His settlement in Ireland— The town of Carlow— Mission to Roman Catholics — Bishop Doyle— Activity in relieving famine— Visit of " Father " Matthew— His second marriage — Ofifer to go to India — Vision of Christ directing him to go to Jamaica — Letter to the Scottish Missionary Society— Their acceptance of his services — Departure — Parting lines of a friend . . . . . . • ^5 CHAPTER III. Voyage to Jamaica — Sail through the islands and along the north coast of Jamaica— Montego Bay— The sailors attending nightly evening worship— Their address of gratitude — Visit to Hampden — Myal superstitions — Visit to Mount Zion — His testimony to the great success of the missions— His departure for Brownsville — Its position and scenery and climate— Its negro peasantry — Their comfort — Their social condition— First entry on the work . , .23 ^iii CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. The state of Jamaica after the Emancipation — General character and fertility of Jamaica — Former great wealth — Absentee- ism — Decline of estates before Emancipation — Mortgages — Folly of the planters after the Emancipation in driving the negroes off the estates — Low general morality — Letter on the subject — Early missions^First Presbyterian mission — How missions were received by planters — August i, 1838 . 36 CHAPTER V. Beginning of work at BroAvnsville — Mox-al and religious state of the people — The Obeah superstition — All disputes sub- mitted to minister and session — Road-making — Encourage- ment of mutual help — Dangerous attack of fever — Recovery — First sacrament — Marked improvement in the first year — Fire at his cottage — Energy of the people in giving help . . . , , . . . . 50 CHAPTER VI. The building of a church — The getting together of the material — The help of the people — 900 days of gratuitous labour — The putting up of the spire — The industry and sobriety of the negro workmen . . , . , .68 CHAPTER VII. Jamaica missions and self-support — The prospects of self-support — Report of deputies of 1882 — The Baptist missions — How self-supporting so soon — Letter deprecating the for- saking of the missions — The Coolies from India — The African's story of his capture — The Scottish Missionary Society ; transfer of its missionaries to the United Presby- terian Church — Dr. William Brown . , , .76 CHAPTER VIII. Education — Schools at Brownsville — Capacity of negro children — Sunday schools — Montego Bay Academy— Theological education — Mr. Carlile employed to aid it — Study of East- ern languages — Mechanical genius — Making of dials — Church dial as clock — The Theological College at Kingston — Dr. Robb— Coxirse of study . , , ,88 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER IX. Tho visitation of cholera — Dreadful havoc at Port Royal and Kingston, and Lucea — "Liverpool mixture" — Organising the district— Almost all saved within its bounds — Spiritual effect of the visitation — A death-bed repentance . . 94 CHAPTER X. Mournful death of his eldest daughter — Visit to the United States — Perils by the way — Enjoyment of his visit — Prac- tical mathematics — Welcome on his return — The Africans — Their expulsion of an Obeah-man — His strong opposition to free trade in slave-grown sugar — Visit home — Old friends gone — His sister, Mrs. Wilson — His eldest son's marriage — Missionary addresses • . « • .102 CHAPTER XI. The revival in Jamaica in i860 — Its beginning — Its general aspect — Detailed account of it at Brownsville — Violence and excitement — Confession of sin — Many conversions — Special cases — Results — Later estimate of its effects . 113 CHAPTER XII. The rebellion of 1865 — Governor Eyre — The grievances of the negroes — The rebellion dangerous — His sympathy with Governor Eyre in its prompt and vigorous suppression — Mr. Gordon — Letter of Thomas Carlyle in regard to Mr. Carlile ....... 128 CHAPTER XIII. His later years — His studies— His varied pamphlets— Geology — The Great Pyramid — Colenso's calculations — View from his study— Method of study — Fire at the manse— Extra- ordinary preservation — Activity after his eightieth year— Dr. Hamilton MacGill— Arrival of a colleague— Presenta- tion by the congregation on hi.^ eighty-fourth birth-day . 135 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIY. Signs of the approach of the end — Last illness — His last words — Anxiety of the people — Crowding to take a last look of him — Letter from Mr. M'Neill — Notice by the late Dr. Hanna — Notice in Jamaica Witness — Tribiite of Mrs. M'Neill — Funeral sermon of the Rev. Adam Thomson . 148 CHAPTER XY. The present state of Jamaica — Paper of Sir Anthony Musgrave, read at the Colonial Institute in 1 880 — Report of the Royal Commission — Great resources of the island — Its future prosperity, where to be sought — The United Presbyterian Mission — Visit of the deputation — Appointment of Rev. W. Gillies — Progress towards self-support — Last report of Brownsville . . . . , . -159 APPENDICES. A.— The Carliles and Paisley , . . . .173 B. — State and Prospects of Jamaica commercially . . .184 C. — The Missionary Map — List of Stations of the United Pres- byterian Mission — Visit of the Deputation in 1882 to Brownsville — Account by the Rev. Dr. Brown . .187 D. — Description of the Appearance, Productions, Fruits, &c., of Jamaica . . . . . . '193 E. — Government Education — Native Support of Churches . 200 F. — The Effect of Missions on the State of Jamaica . . 202 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. CHAPTER I. BIRTH, FAMILY, AND LIFE IN PAISLEY TO HIS FORTIETH YEAR. Warrand Carlile \Yas the second youngest of a family of thirteen. His father was James Carhle, a thread manufacturer in Paisley. His grandfather, John Carlile, born Carlyle, moved from Annan in Dumfriesshire to Paisley when a young man. He was connected with the well- known family of Dumfriesshire Carlyles, one of the oldest families in the South of Scotland, the head of which, in former days, was Lord Carlyle of Torthorwald. This grandfather was a man of very decided Christian character, the more marked at a time when Moderatism had obtained such a fatal in- ~^ fluence in many parts of Scotland. " He was," 2 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. said one of his sons, in a notice of him, ''liberal in his ideas, and charitable respecting his fellow- Christians of every denomination ; he was from principle greatly attached to the Hanoverian family on account of the Kevolution Settlement ; he served as a volunteer at the Eebellion of 1745 in opposition to the Stuart claims. In his moral conduct he preserved through life a character of strict integrity and truth." " He died as he had lived, full of faith and joy in God, — in the seventy-eighth year of his age." His eldest son, William Carlile, was a man well known in his native town. Paisley, and in the West of Scotland. He was elected an elder at the age of twenty-one, and was then asso- ciated with the ministry of the distinguished Dr. Witherspoon, the author of the well-known " Ecclesiastical Characteristics," in which the Moderates were scathingly exposed, who after- wards became President of Princeton College, United States. William Carlile was always de- cidedly evangelical in his views, and began him- self one of the first Sunday-schools in Scotland, soon after Kaikes had commenced his work in Bristol. For this he is said to have been rebuked by the Presbytery, — then under the control of the Moderates. He was one of the BIRTH AND FAMILY. 3 heads of the Liberal or AVhig party, and was appointed Provost of Paisley, on several different occasions. No man wielded more influence in the West of Scotland. He was a man of sinofu- lar independence of character, always pursuing fearlessly the course which he thought to be right. James Carlile, the father of Warrand Carlile, was the second son of the family. He was also, for a time. Provost of his native town. In his earlier life he neither took so active a part in pub- lic aflairs as his brother, nor was he so decidedly a religious man. *' Always a man of exemplary morals and regular and respectful attention on religious ordinances," it was only after the death of his wife — an event which drove him almost out of his mind — that he became an entirely changed man. He then " determined to make an open profession of his sentiments, and to with- draw from all society that might prove a snare to him." His house became the centre of reli- gious movements in the district. His brother and he took the w^armest interest in the various religious societies which were originated at the close of the century, especially the Bible Society and the London Missionary Society, and often had deputations from these societies staying at 4 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA, their houses. They frequently presided at meet- ings for missionary purposes. They laboured also to bring together the different sections of the Christian community. They themselves were elders of the Established Church of Scot- land, but they were friendly with all the evan- gelical Dissenting Churches. At a time when the minds of religious men were trammelled by narrower views, they gave all the weight of their influence and character to favour the cause of Christian co-operation and concord. Eowland Hill, who stayed with the elder brother when in Paisley, pronounced Paisley " the Paradise of Scotland," and added, " my soul loves Paisley, for there, I believe, Christians love one another." The Christian liberality of the town to missions was remarkable for the period. *' In 1802," "William Carlile wrote, ^' they had sent up upwards of ^ 1 300 from Paisley for the London Missionary Society." From the period of his spiritual chauge, James Carlile devoted " a considerable portion of time every day to the study of the Holy Scriptures," while eugaged in an absorbiug and prosperous business. In the later years of his life, when he had partially retired from business, he gave to this study the goldea hours about mid-day. DIRT 1 1 A^'D FAMILY. 5 His interest in the progress of Christ's kingdom continued to strengthen to the close of his life. He took a very warm interest in the Moravian Missions. " The piety and simplicity evinced in the details of the operations of that Mission, to- gether with its extraordinary success, deeply in- terested him." He died in the full possession of his faculties, at the age of eighty-three years, full of faith, bidding farewell to his numerous grandchildren the day before his death, and giving to each of them a special counsel, adapted to their acje and circumstances. " Indulgent to his children, eight of whom survived him, there was at the same time every effort to win them, not only by his life, but by his attractive teaching and pleasing delineations of Bible character, to a living Christianity." " For many years he met with the younger mem- bers of his family on Saturday mornings, to read and explain a part of the Scripture, which he was at pains to make as attractive to them as possible. His animated delineations of Scripture character were always interesting ; the Proverbs of Solomon he made the means of conveying many important lessons in the common aflfairs of life ; and when he was led to speak of the love and. mercy of God, and of the compassion of 6 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. the Eedeemer, the deep solemDity of his man- Der, and the involuntary tear which frequently started into his eye, made an impression which no language could convey." ** His ideas of the cultivation of the mind were beyond those of his contemporaries, and led him to bestow on his children a very liberal education, which, added to their recollection of his cheerful and intelli- gent manner of conversing with, them, and of his firm yet most affectionate exercise of parental authority, made them ever remember him with feelings of peculiar esteem and veneration." ^ All of his children responded to his efforts ; all of them reflected, not indeed his life, but a higher one. His eldest son, afterwards Dr. Car- lile of Dublin, who was at first trained to busi- ness, and had excellent business prospects in the house of an uncle in London, became, while resident there, seriously impressed, and resolved to give himself to the ministry. His influence at home, as the eldest of the family, during his years of preparation, was excellent, intellectually as well as religiously. He was a man of re- markably vigorous intellect and of great organis- ing power, as shown not only in his congrega- * This is quoted from an obituary notice printed for the family, and written by his son, Dr. Carlile of Dublin. BIRTH AND FAMILY. 7 tional work, but in his vigorous secretaryship of some of the chief relig^ious societies in Dublin, and especially in the work he accomplislied for the National Board of Education. He was Eesideut Commissioner of that Board for eight or nine years at the beginning, and edited the first series of school-books, the publication of which was an era in school literature. He was highly respected in the Irish Presbyterian Church, and his name is mentioned with much honour in Dr. Killen's continuation of Dr. Eeid's history of that Church. A speech of his was one of the chief means of securing, in a time of danger, the spiritual independence of that Church. He was also greatly esteemed by Archbishop Whately and other leading statesmen and Churchmen, including even the Roman Catholic Archbishop Murray. Warrand was born on November 12, 1796, and he was a child of four at the time of his father's remarkable change. He was thus brought up in a home of piety, where from earliest years he heard of much that was going on in the king- dom of Christ through the agency of the societies then recently established, and where he saw from time to time many of the great workers in the mission-field. He was, we believe, one of those 8 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. who had become decided in his religious character from early childhood. He could scarcely tell the time when he was not devoted to God. He w^as spirited and lively in childhood, as afterwards, — being always of a cheerful and happy tem- perament. He attended the Glasgow University for two years in boyhood after completing his school education, and then became engaged in his father's business. He beo^an to be an active Christian worker when scarcely beyond the years of boyhood. He found scope for his activity in Sunday-school work at first, but when he became a man and was associated as a partner with his father, he turned his attention specially to the workers employed. He had classes for them and prayer-meetings with them, both in the mill and in his own house. In this he set a good example to Christian employers, who naturally must have great influence when they take a religious interest in those over whom they are placed. Never was an employer more beloved than Warrancl Carlile. For long years after he had left Paisley many of the surviving mill- workers could scarcely speak of him without tears ; they retained most happy remembrances of his pleasant classes and meetings, and of his warm and genial interest in their welfare, — and LIRTII AND FAMILY. ' 9 sympathy with their sorrows. He conducted prayer-meetings amoDg them, aided by a Chris- tian foreman, and he had a large class, which filled a good-sized school-room, on Sabbath after- noons for young women employed in the mill. He also en2:aQ:ed in other Christian w^ork in the town. He was a member of the town-council, and the treasurer of the town for a time. This gave him access to the prison, which he regularly visited between the morniiio' and afternoon ser- o vices on Sundays, and frequently in the week when there w^ere cases of special interest. He was a means of blessing to not a few of the prisoners, including the two last executed in Scotland, under the old Draconian laws, for the robbery of a house. He was thus engaged in a variety of Christian work for at least twenty years in his native town— from his twentieth to his fortieth year — and his name became pro- verbial in Paisley as an energetic Christian worker. There are a few remaining there who remember him to this day. Paisley was, and is still, a town of much in- telligent activity. It has been the birthplace of not a few men of note, as Professor Wilson (Christopher North), Tannahill the poet. Dr. Candlish, Dr. James Hamilton, Alexander Wilson lo MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. the ornitliologist, Dr James Buchanan, and others. In former times it was the centre of a most prosperous weaving trade. Paisley shawls espe- cially were famous. The weavers made good wages, often read much during their work and were men of great iiitelligence. Afterwards it became also the centre of the thread manufacture in Scotland, by the business ability, first, of Mr. Carlile's father, who was then the leading thread manufacturer in Scotland, — as it continues to be to this day, under the leadership of such enter- prising firms as those of Messrs. Coats & Clark, who have been most generous benefactors to their native town. It became a centre also of much political struggle in the Eadical times about the year 1820. Warrand Carlile was always a friend of the working classes, cordial in his relations with them individually, but he had a hatred of revolutionary principles, and he was a most active member of the volunteer corps raised to resist a Eadical movement which then threatened much danger. This movement at a later stage is strikingly described in the autobiography of Sir Archibald Alison, recently published. He took an active part in the suppression of that move- ment, and used with great pleasure to relate his volunteer experiences. He was never engaged BIRTH AND FAMILY. 1 1 in any conflict tliat led to bloodshed, but tie ^Yas an active and vigorous officer of bis corps. In the year 1820, in his twenty-fourth year, he was married to Ac^nes Irvinof, daus^hter of Gavin Irving of Annan, youngest sister of the afterwards celebrated Edward Irving. Irving was at that time assistant to Dr. Chalmers in Glasgow. With his love of kindred, he sought out the Paisley Carliles, as part of a Dumfries- shire clan. He was especially charmed with the old man, Provost William Carlile, whom he described as a true son of the South of Scotland, — of warmer feeling and temperament than the men of the West. Irving became interested, too, in the family of Warrand Carlile's father, and was greatly taken with the Christian fervour and sim- plicity of character of Warrand himself. He had always to his death a special affection for him. On one occasion he asked him to meet him in Dumfriesshire, at his father's house, that he might show him a little of the country of his ancestors. Warrand Carlile went, but Edward Irving had forgotten the time appointed, and did not arrive till days afterwards. There were at home the father and mother and the youngest sister, then eighteen years of age. Old Mrs. Irving was good-humouredly annoyed at her son 12 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA, seiidino: an utter strano'er, and foro;ettino^ to be there to meet liim — a sort of tiling that very often happened ; for Irving from boyhood was full of kindness and pressing invitations. She, however, welcomed him, and sent her daughter with him to show him the town and neighbour- hood. It was love at first sight ; and when, in a few days, Irving arrived, they were en- gaged. He insisted, however, that the engage- ment should be considered as nothing, as he thought them both too young", and that it was too quickly made ; but a few months afterwards they were married. The marriage was one of much happiness. Mrs. Carlile was in features like her celebrated brother, with also the same dark hair and dark eyes, but of fair complexion, not dark as he. Her appearance attracted attention wherever she went. She was warm- hearted and genial in all her ways, and was greatly beloved by all her husband's family. Her health, how^ever, was not very good, even from her girlhood, and during her married life she was never strong. The winter before her death she was very ill, and was scarcely expected to recover. She became, during that illness, so enraptured with the study of the Prophets, especially, we believe, of Isaiah and Kevelation, BIRTH AND FAMILY. 13 that she felt it almost painful to return from her bright visions to the commonplaces of life around her. Her return, however, was not for long. She had been preparing for a brighter home. In the October of the same year she was called away suddenly, getting only a few hours' notice of the certainty of her immediate death, before tJje event took place. She received the announce- ment with perfect calmness ; gathered her chil- dren round her, and bade them a loving farewell. Just an hour or two before her death, as her hus- band's cousin came into the room, she asked her in the most kindly way how her aged father, Provost William Carlile, who was then dying, had passed the night, — so perfectly calm and collected was she in the prospect of immediate death, and so true to herself in her kindly interest in others. She left four children, one of whom, an infant daughter of a year old, followed her in two days and was buried with her : another dauohter died in the West Indies, and two sons survive — the Kev. James Edward Carlyle, and the writer of this sketch. The marria2:e had lasted for nine years. Warrand Carlile felt after his wife's death that life was quite changed to him. His father's was then a prosperous business, but he deter- T4 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. mined to give up all and to study for the minis- try. Money considerations never weighed with him at any time. He had been at college in his youth for two years. He returned therefore to complete two years more of the literary course, and then four years of theology. At this period he and his family resided with his father. He was always active and fond of walking, and he used to start from Paisley at six in the winter morn- ing, and reach the classes in Glasgow at eight. This he did twice in the week, remaining in Glasgow for the rest of the time. He took a great interest in his studies, especially mathe- matics and Hebrew. In the former and kindred studies he might have attained high honours, but he was opposed to the system of prizes, which he thought created bad feelings, inducing students to work for self-glory rather than interest in the subject, and he would not compete for them. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley. Some of his friends were anxious to get him a church in Scotland, but he was not favourable to this himself, especially as he was opposed to the system of patronage, which was then almost universal in the Church of Scotland. He had also a strong desire for missionary work. ( 15 ) CHAPTER II. LIFE IN IRELAND. Mr. Carlile's brother, of whom we have spoken, the E-ev. James Carlile, was then busily engaged in the national education work in Ireland. War- rand went over on a visit to him soon after being licensed, and he leaned rather to the idea of find- ing missionary work in that country. He was invited to take charge of a Presbyterian congrega- tion at Carlo w, fifty miles south of Dublin, in the heart of a Roman Catholic population. He went there and remained six years, labouring among an attached people, though few in number. But his great object was to get at the Roman Catholics. For this purpose he had a Scripture-reader, a school, and various other agencies. He also preached occasionally in the open air. He found the soil, however, very hard, — and this kind of work did not seem to produce much effect. It seemed as if he had made a mistake in leaving his 1 6 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. Paisley sphere of usefulness as a layman for sucli a linaited work. He was, however, continually active, trying, by some means or other, to do good and to benefit the people. Their poverty, though not so extreme as in the West of Ireland, was often very great. Carlow is a town of about eight thousand inhabitants, beautifully situated on the River Barrow, with an old castle in ruins, on a height near the river. The country round is hilly and very fertile. The Roman Catholic priests had at that time, and we suppose have still, great power over the people. There is a resident Roman Catholic bishop. The well- known Bishop Doyle had died there shortly before this period, and it was reported on good authority that he died in faith a Protestant. None were allowed to approach his death-bed, and the priests diligently denied the rumour. Mr. Carlile, like his brother in Dublin, was tolerant towards the Roman Catholics, though he held the strongest views as to the apostate character of the Church of Rome. He was very active in relieving distress in times of scarcity, and was thus several times brought into frequent con- tact with the priests. With one of these, a well-known priest, '^ Father " Maher, uncle, we believe, of Cardinal Cullen, he had much con- LIFE IN IRELAND. 17 versation on the Komish doctiiues, and lie addressed a series of letters to him, wliich were published, in which he calmly but very clearly exposed many of the chief errors of that Church. On one occasion, in speaking to this priest, he asked him how it was possible for a finite creature like the Virgin Mary to hear all the prayers offered to her at once. The priest indicated that it did not matter much thouo^h a good many of them missed. During one summer of real famine he took all the chief arrangements into his hands at the request of the local committee, got the supplies of food from Liverpool at a cheap rate, put up the boilers for preparing it, arranged the kind of food that was to be cooked, had passages made for the peoj^le to go in and come out, so that they could pass only one at a time, and presided, in turn with the priests and others, at the distribution. Hundreds, or rather thousands, were relieved, and many of them ate eagerly out of their tins, before they left the building, the food provided. He was thus a chief agent in saving the lives of many. While he was in Carlo w the town was visited by the famous ** Father" Matthew. The most marvellous effects were produced, as the people crowded to the large cha2:)el to take the jDledge. 1 8 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. Tliouorh "Father" Matthew himself did not we believe, profess to have miraculous powers, the people were convinced that he had. They brought out numbers of the sick in beds to the streets where he was to pass. Many, as they took the pledge at his hands, threw away the crutches they had used for years, and one large tree in front of the Roman Catholic chapel was covered with sticks and crutches, left behind by the people who had used them. Most had to oret them ao^ain, as soon as the excitement was over. The effect on tlie drinking: customs was marvellous at the time. About two-thirds of the public-houses of the town were shut up or converted into coffee-shops, and scenes of drunkenness in the streets became almost un- known. Never had total abstinence such a triumph as at that time in Ireland. It was reported in after years that the effects were not permanent, that many returned to their old vices, but probably a number were reclaimed for life. Matthew himself was a man of high character, an earnest student of Scripture, which, contrary to the practice of his Church, he recommended all the people to read. He was suspected, and died not in very good odour with the priests, from a suspicion of Protestant tendencies.. LIFE IN IRELAND. 19 lu Carlow Mr. Carlile married his second wife, Miss Elizabeth Teape, a hidy cousiderably younger than himself. She was his most efficient helper in all his future work. He trusted constantly to her aid and suggestions, and but for her he never would have accomplished what he did in Jamaica. She survives him, and remains still by choice among her Jamaica people. Three children of this marriaoe are now livingf, one of them the wife of the Kev. Thomas Dunlop, for- merly of Edinburgh, now of Bootle, well known both as a writer and preacher. Mr. Carlile felt very soon that his life in Carlow was not to be his life-work. He there- fore earnestly sought of God in prayer that He w^ould guide him to some other sphere of labour. The Irish Presbyterian Church, with which he w^as now connected, was then be^^innim? its mission in India, and he was one of those su<]:2:ested for this service. He was desirous to go. It was considered wiser, however, to send younger men. At length his prayer was answ^ered in a very remarkable manner. Thouo-h not in the least of a superstitious order of mind, he had a very real belief in answers to prayer. One night he had a distinct vision, as it seemed to him, of the Lord Jesus Himself pointing him to the island 20 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA . of Jamaica as his place of work. This dream or vision decided the course of his future life. He had no doubt at all that it was a direct guidance from Heaven. The idea of Jamaica had never entered his mind before. He proceeded Avithout delay to act in accordance with this belief. He remembered that the Scottish Missionary Society, in which he had in Paisley taken a deep interest, had missions there. He waited not a siugle day, but wrote off in the forenoou, describiug to the Directors his vision, savino^ that he believed that it was of Christ, and offering himself at once for mission service in Jamaica. They were a little startled at first by such an unusual letter, but having made inquiries and found the esteem in which he was held in his native town, they considered the proposal favourably. At that very time they were in search of a missionary, the last missionary they were ever, as a Society, as it turned out, to send abroad. They wrote in a few days and accepted his offer, and he pre- pared speedily for his journey. His foreign mission life was begun at the age of forty-six, an age when many missionaries are retiring, and it continued in activity for thirty-eight years, till his death at the age of nearly eighty-five. Begun so late, it exceeded much the average LIFE IN IRELAND. 21 length of missionary life of those who have begun in the vigour of youth. But he was always in aspect and energy, as well as physical strength, much younger tlian his years. He left Carlo \v deeply regretted by many in the community, and especially by his own small but attached congregation. A lady of that con- gregation, who is still living, wrote the following parting lines : — To 7nij much-valued Friends, Rev. W. Carlile and Family, on their leaving Carlow for a Missionary Station in Jamaica. Whither haste ye, friends of Jesus 1 Wherefore leave your native land 1 Tempting winds and foaming billows, Wherefore seek a foreign strand ? Is it earth's gay phantoms lure you Thus to part from all you love 1 Riches, pleasures to secure you Thus to distant shores remove ? No ! a nobler motive urges — Jesus beckons from afar : Fear ye not, 'mid storms and surges He will be your guiding star. Bear glad tidings to the heathen Of a blessM Saviour's name ; Glorious grace and free salvation To the distant isles proclaim. 22 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. What though for a while ye sever From the friends you clearly prize ? Should it bo on earth for ever, You will meet above the skies. Fare ye well, then ; peace be with you, Grace and mercy from on high ; God will still direct and keep you With His ever- watchful eye. Ellen C. -J CHAPTER III. VOYAGE TO AND ARRIVAL IN JAMAICA^ FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Mr. Carlile and liis family sailed from Greenock in the ship Isabella. The time occupied by the passage was fifty days. The ship arrived in the harbour of Montego Bay, one of the most beau- tiful harbours in the island, on the 2d day of January. The voyage through the West Indies in a sailin^: vessel, in which there is time to contemplate the scenes, with the balmy trade- winds gently bearing the vessel onward, while she passes, one after another, the fairy-looking and lovely islands, is one of the most charming that can be made in any part of the world. We wonder that private yachts do not oftener take this course, and that our artists do not attempt to paint some of the magnificent views of the islands as seen from the sea. We have travelled in various parts of the world since, but remember 24 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. nothing grander than the views as we sailed along the south coast of St. Domingo and the north shore of Jamaica. From the foot of one of the loftiest mountains of St. Domingo a bush-fire was burnings on the mountain-side to the heio^ht of probably 2000 or 3000 feet, as the vessel passed, — appearing in the night like a pillar of fire rising up from the sea to the clouds. On the first day of the new year, which was a Sab- bath, the vessel was sailing along the north shore of Jamaica. The mountains were seen in the background, while the sea was dashing over the white coral reefs near the shore, and the graceful cocoa-nut palms rose up everywhere in the foreground. " The country, at a small distance from the shore," says an old book de- scribing the northern coast, *^ rises into hills, wdiich are more remarkable for beauty thau bold- ness, being all of gentle acclivity, and commonly separated from each other by spacious vales and romantic inequalities ; but they are seldom craggy, nor is the transition from hills to valleys oftentimes abrupt, the soil in general being a chalky marl, which produces a close and clean turf, as smooth and even as the finest English lawn, and in colour infinitely brighter. Over this beautiful surface the pimento spreads itself VOYAGE TO JAMAICA. 25 in various comj)artments." *' No part of the West Indies abounds with so many delicious streams. Every valley has its rivulet, and every hill its cascade. As the land rises towards the centre of the island, the eye is attracted by a boundless amphitheatre of wood, the outline of which melts into the distant blue hills." Col- umbus himself was greatly charmed with the beauty of this northern shore of Jamaica, which he considered to surpass anything he had ever seen in Italy, or Spain, or the New World. The sail is a lovely one, and the entry to the harbour of Montego Bay itself is very striking. Here, then, Mr. Carlile landed on the 2d of January. Montego Buy was formerly, in the wealthiest days of slavery, a rich and flourishing town, with six hundred white inhabitants. One hundred and fifty vessels used to clear out of the port annually, half of them large vessels. It is still one of the most active as well as healthy of the Jamaica seaports. During the voyage Mr. Carlile had acquired much influence for good over the sailors. Ou leaving Greenock, he asked the captain whether he would object to any of his men, who might desire to do so, coming: down to the eveninof family prayer in the cabin. The captain put off 26 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. the request for the time, but said that he would be ready to consider it when they had got through the Bay of Biscay. Accordingly he gave the men permission when the ship had reached the lati- tude of Madeira. To the surprise of Mr. Carlile himself, the whole of the mei], except the steers- man and the look-out, availed themselves of the liberty given, and attended regularly every even- ing. The captain himself did not come at first, but he also soon joined the others. This regular attendance continued to the last. The oppor- tunity was made use of, by brief comments, to press on the men personally the invitations of the Gospel. That his labour was not in vain was shown by the following most gratifying address, signed, on his leaving the ship, by twenty-five seamen, including the first and second mate, the carpenters, boatswains, steward, seamen, and apprentices, all the crew except the captain, who was also most cordial and friendly : — " We, the undersigned officers and ship's company of the ship Isabella, bound for Jamaica, cannot think to part with you, sir, without expressing our warmest thanks and gratitude for the kind and condescending interest you have taken in respect to our spiritual wel- fare. We all acknowledsfe it has been of infinite value VOYAGE TO JAMAICA. 27 to eacli of us, the information we have had from you as to the salvation of our never-dying souls. We liope you will accept of this address witli our sincere thanks, and our earnest prayers ever shall he that the Lord may reward and prosper you and your family in your spiritual and temporal affairs by giving you health and strength to go on in His name rejoicing, and may you be the happy instrument of leading many souls unto God, such as shall be saved." Seldom probably has such an address issued from a united ship's crew. The first place visited after his arrival in Jamaica was Hampden, the oldest station of the Scottish Missionary Society. It was founded in 1824 by the Kev. George Blyth, an eminent missionary, who had begun his mission life in Eassia. Mr. Blyth was absent in Scotland, but here Mr. Carlile for the first time saw the crreat effects of the mission work in the crowded neerro cono^reefation and the flourishing^ schools. He was brought immediately into contact with the old African superstitions, to wdiich we shall refer later on, as a number of what are called Myal rites w^ere being performed — not far off. The people in connection wdth these engage in wild frantic dances, somewhat like those of the dervishes, except that women as w^ell as men join in them. By these they suppose that they 28 ' MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. exorcise demons, or undo the mischief effected by the Oboah-men, a kind of sorcerers. Both superstitions are happily disappearing, but at that time they possessed a most powerful in- fluence. The mission at Hampden was in a flourishinor state. From there he went to Mount Zion, the station of the w^ell-known Eev. Hope M. AVaddell, who afterwards was the pioneer of the Old Calabar Mission of the United Presby- trian Church, and who still survives, living in the neighbourhood of Dublin, and active in every good work. From Mr. and Mrs. Waddell he and his family had a most warm-hearted reception. Mr. Carlile thus referred to his visits to these stations in a letter published in the Scottish Missionary Register: — " The more I see the more I am constrained with wonder and adoring gratitude to exclaim, ' What hath God wrought ! ' Here are schools at your mission stations taught as well as those of our native land, attended by great numbers of children whose eyes beam with intelligence, who are as well informed in the Scriptures and also in tlie ordinary branches of education as those of equal age in any country. Here is a large body of elders deeply interested in their work, whose prayers are at once enlightened and fer- vent, and who are perhaps as well qualified for their work as those of the rural parishes of Scotland. Here are large, most attentive, and respectably dressed con- VOYAGE TO JAMAICA. 29 gregations regularly attending their places of worship. Here are excellent churches built, schoolhouses and preaching stations erected, and all external apparatus in full operation which is required to give efficiency and permanency to the good work of advancing the Eedeemer's kingdom. Truly your missionaries have not been idle, and God has wonderfully prospered them in their work of faith and labour of love. My lieart is often filled with inexpressible feelings of gra- titude and praise when I look upon the swarthy coun- tenances of the multitudes who throng the house of prayer, and consider the brutalised condition in which they were a few years ago. Now we see them listening with deep interest and manifest intelligence to the message of salvation — the great body of them possessed of the inestimable treasure of God's Holy Word, turn- ing over its pages to refer to, and marking such pas- sages of Scripture as are introduced into the discourse, Surely as great a change has suddenly taken place on this people as that on the untamable lunatic out of whom our Saviour cast the legion of devils, and who was socn seated at the feet of his Divine Deliverer, ' clothed and in his right mind.' " During his stay witli Mr. Waddell it was decided that Browiisville, a station in Hanover, begun by the Rev. James Watson of Lucea, was to be his charge. A formal invitation was sent to him from thence, with about 200 signatures attached. Brownsville, so named from the Kev. Dr, 30 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. William Brown, son of Dr. John Brown of Haddington, for many years Secretary of the Scottish Missionary Society, is about 1500 feet above the level of the sea. It is in the heart of the mountain country, — a mountain of nearly 3000 feet above the sea-level, or 1500 above its own heio-ht, towerino^ behind it. It has a commanding view of the sea, at a distance of about six miles, with numerous undulating hills between, chiefly covered with bamboos, but in- terspersed here and there with sugar and guinea- grass plantations. The views are very striking in different directions. There is scarcely a spot of level ground to be found in the neighbour- hood. There are deep gullies and steep hill-sides, and wherever it can be seen amidst the thick foliage or bush, there appears a soil of bright red. All around the different hills are dotted the cottages of the negroes on their own free- holds, which they have purchased for themselves, and on which they grow yams, plantains, bread- fruit, oranges, mangoes, sugar-cane, &c., &c., the cocoa-nut palm rising gracefully above the surrounding trees, and yielding also its luscious fruit. Down through the deep gullies there flow the mountain streams, generally shallow and sometimes nearly dried up; but when the rains VOYAGE TO JAMAICA. 31 come, as tlicy do in floods, these little streams become rao-ino- torrents — the rush of water anions: the woods being heard for miles distant like the sound of a great waterfall. In an hour they will rise from the depth of half a foot, or a foot or two feet, to eight, ten, or twelve feet, so that laro'e wao-^fons are known to have been car- ried away by them and the oxen drowned. In these rains the roads themselves become often as rivers. One road near Brownsville is crossed by a stream five or six times, and it is a serious matter to be cauQ-ht between the crossinfys after the river has *' come down," as it is termed. These torrents of rain, — accompanied by most vivid lightniug-flashes, traceable by the eye in zigzag lines of fire from the clouds to the ground, and tremendous thunder-peals echoing through the mountains with terrific grandeur, — fall almost daily for some four or five months in the year, from May to September, coming at a certain hour with almost the regularity of clockwork. In the morning it will be bright but sultry. About twelve a few small clouds are seen ; then speedily the sky becomes black with clouds, as the storm advances, always from east to west on account of the trade- winds. By three or four all is clear again, and the nights are bright and 32 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. beautiful. This is tlie rainy season. In the half-year from November to May there is very seldom rain. The wind is then bracing and pleasant, and a more enjoyable climate could not be imaofined than in these mountain districts, at that season. At all periods of the year there are the constant trade- winds coming in from the sea or slightly north-east in the day, and from the land or slightly south-east at night. The stars are at all seasons bright and beautiful. The line of the sea, some fifty miles distant from the height of Brownsville, is as clear as possible, and the waters are of a deep blue. When the atmosphere is in a peculiar state, preceding great storms or hurricanes, — at intervals, it may be, of many years, — the clouds may be seen as I once saw them, rolling over the loftiest mountains of Cuba, which are at a distance of from two to three degrees, or about a hundred and fifty miles. At night the sheet-lightning is often seen play- ing fantastically in clouds far beyond the sea- line, — probably at least a hundred miles distant. The negroes around Brownsville, as in many other districts, especially mountain districts, are generally the owners of two or three acres of land, on which thev have built their wooden cottages, more or less comfortable according to VOYAGE TO JAMAICA. 33 the industry of their occupants ; — in some cases very comfortable. They grow provisions, that is, yams, plantains, &c., not only for themselves, but for the neighbouring markets. They often work also on the estates, when work can be got. They are, on the whole, a well-to-do, comfortable people, though without much money. They have goats, fowls, l>igs, &c., and very frequently a horse or mule of their own. Their lot is a much easier one than that of the peasantry of this country ; and where religion has an influence, they are active and industrious. Thomas Carlyle misunderstood the position of affairs when he wrote as he did of the negro squatters. They are generally the most active part of the popula- tion. It was through hard industry and saving that they were able at first to acquire their little properties. At the time that Mr. Carlile settled at Brownsville the people had been emancipated only a few years. Few of the grown-up people could read well ; many, however, could read im- perfectly. All but the children had been slaves; and the old slave-drivers were still there, — some of them elders of the Church. A marvellous social as well as religious change had taken place in the few previous years, for whereas c '34 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. marriage had scarcely been known or permitted among the slaves, nearly all were now married, tliough there were many remnants of old sins and abuses. Among this simple people Mr. Carlile settled down to begin his second life-work, little expecting that he w^ould spend so many years in Jamaica. From the first, in his beautiful moun- tain-home, separated from almost all European society, with no white faces in the church except those of his own family, he was deeply interested. The Lord had specially directed him in a mar- vellous manner to a sphere of labour exactly suited to him ; for he enjoyed being a father to the people, their counsellor and friend in all matters, their lawyer, often doctor, road-surveyor and road-repairer, church architect, as well as spiritual guide. There was a freedom in this life which had great attractions to him, while he won his w^ay into the deepest affections of the people. There is something most genial and pleasant in the negro character, when rightly directed — much humour and great warm-hearted- ness. He settled at first in a cottage, where, singularly enough, after having lived away from it for a period of thirty-six years, he spent his last years and breathed his latest breath. The people gave him and his family a most cordial VOYAGE TO JAMAICA. 35 welcome to tlieir mountain-liome, and showed their regard by bringiDg presents continually, especially of fruits. He invited at once those who lived near to household worship, every evening, and taught them to repeat various psalms and paraphrases by going over them as in a school, that they might be able to join intelligently in the Sabbath worship. Evening classes were also opened for grown men, where they were tauorht to read and write. A chano^e was soon apparent among the people. The Eev. James Watson of Lucea had begun and organised the work at Brownsville. The members were persons detached from his own conojre^^ation at Lucea. Everything was admirably arranged, and there had been a zealous catechist at work, but the advantage of a resident missionary was soon apparent, — especially of one who attracted to himself so much the respect and affection of the people. ( 36 ) CHAPTER IV. THE STATE OF JAMAICA IMMEDIATELY BEFORE AND AFTER THE EMANCIPATION. It may be suitable here to refer to the state of Jamaica at the period, immediately before and after emancipation. Jamaica is one of the most beautiful and fertile islands in any part of the world. Its productiveness in many districts is almost fabulous. The magnificent trees which flourish in the great forests of the island give evidence of the depth and richness of the soil. Every spot, in almost all parts of the island, how- ever secluded, is covered with a luxurious growth of trees and underwood, and, near the beds of streams, with gigantic ferns. The lands have to be constantly cleared by fires, so rapid is the growth of weeds and bushes. At certain seasons these fires may be seen nightly in many directions. In many parts oranges and other fruits are to be picked up by the roadside, while mangoes fiilling from the trees literally cover portions of the public STATE OF JAMAICA. 37 roads, at ccrtniii seasons. Horses, cows, pigs, goats &c., feed upon them. There is abundant rain in the rainy season, and there are very seldom periods of drought. There are in the north of tlie island numbers of springs, but the want of water is more felt at times in the south, where it has often to be stored up in tanks. One thing makes life pleasanter than in most tropical countries — there are no poisonous snakes ; black and j^ellow snakes enouo'h, but with no stino^s. There are no adders in the grass. There are scorpions and centipedes, but these are not deadly. The coun- try sparkles in the night with numerous fire- flies, especially at certain seasons ; graceful lizards are to be seen at almost every step, and the lovely humming-birds glide through the air. Everything appears living, and there is a constant loud hum of life heard from sunset to sunrise. We have referred to the scenery ; the coral reefs on the coast ; the magnificent chalk rocks, white as snow, that lie near the shore ; the deej)-blue sea ; the beautiful shells to be picked up on the beach ; the forests, green, except at periods of drought : the ofuinea-grass, which often e^rows luxuriously to a height of five to six feet ; the numerous creeping plants, climbing up the trunks of the giant trees, and hanging down in graceful 38 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. festoons. The fertility of Nature, as seen here, we can scarcely imagine in our northern climate, where everything appears stunted in comparison. Kingsley has vividly described this wondrous fertility in other parts of the West Indies, in his *^ At Last." For a long period Jamaica was the centre and source of great wealth. To be a Jamaica planter implied generally the possession of a large fortune. It is said that when Port Eoyal was destroyed by the hurricane of 1722, it was a place of great wealth and also of much wickedness. It was ruined for the time by an earthquake in 1692, and after having been rebuilt, was destroyed by fire in 1703, and finally swallowed up by the sea in 1722. Many buried treasures are supposed to have been lost beneath the waves which swept over the fated city. The slave trade to Jamaica was carried on with great vigour for more than a century, so that the slave population rapidly increased. Great wealth was amassed from the slave trade, and also through the protection given to colonial produce, which ensured large profits. The slaves were ex- posed to most cruel bondage ; they were treated as beasts of burden, left in total ignorance, and forced by the lash often to work much beyond ST A TE OF J A MA ICA . 39 tlieir strength. The proprietors made money so rapidly that the great majority left tlie islands and became absentees. The manag;ers of estates had every motive to cruelty, for the absent pro- prietors judged by results, and promoted the men who could produce the most gain out of the fewest slaves. The managers were generally men who went out alone, who remained unmarried, and who led very gross lives. Gradually, long before the emancipation, the system of absenteeism and the demoralised state of the English community began to tell largely upon the profits. The Jamaica fiimilies, trying to keep up their position in this country while their profits diminished, had heavily mortgaged their estates. Thus before the emancipation a very large amount of the ** estate " property was mortgaged. A con- siderable proportion — it is said even much the greater part — of the money voted by Parliament for the emancipation of the slaves in Jamaica, went into the hands of mort^'ao-ees. Thus the emancipation produced a much greater change in Jamaica, in the diminution of the value of pro- perty, than in other parts of the West Indies, because, from the great extent of absenteeism caused by the prosperity of earlier days, and the low character of the planters morally, there 40 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. were there the worst conditions for testing it. The planters, who were thus chiefly managers, were exasperated beyond measure at the very idea of emancipation. They determined to ruin the new freemen, and, in their infatuation, became blind to the interests of their employers and themselves. The followino: extract from a well-known source'" gives, we believe, a correct idea of this period : — "The emancipation of the slaves had a great and, for the moment, a disastrous effect upon the state of agriculture in Jamaica. From the passing of the Slaves' Emancipation Act in 1832 till the year 1848, no fewer than 653 sugar and 456 coffee plantations were abandoned and their works entirely broken up. After the emancipation, the blacks, who were formerly provided with lodgings and a piece of ground rent-free, had to pay rent for them, and a good deal of dissatis- faction arose from the manner in which these rents were charged under the new system. In some cases it was estimated not according to the real worth of the premises, but according to the number of persons deriv- iucr subsistence from the land, so that the man with tlie largest family became liable to the heaviest rent. In order the better to command the services of the occupiers, the planters refused at first to give them leases, and stipulated that they might be ejected at even a week's notice. But this plan defeated its own object, both by making the former bondmen inattentive * MCulloch's Geographical Dictionary. London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1S63. STATE OF JAMAICA. 41 to the culture of the grounds held on so precarious a tenure, and by making them extremely anxious to acquire the property of a small piece of land." Ill the report of the Eoyal Commissioners on Jamaica published this year (1884), a statement is made in the same direction, which explains the position of afiliirs since the emancipation. After describing the Jamaica negro as the finest tropical labourer in the world, it refers thus (p. 272) to his position as regards labour on the estates : — "A great majority of this (the black) population does and will always prefer to seek a livelihood by any other means than by working on estates. A large proportion is unwilling to labour from causes now happily dying out, but which ought never to have existed. When the slaves Avere emancipated, the Jamaica planters as a body, with certain wise exceptions, allowed a natural vexation to get the upper hand. Many did their best to realise their own prophec^j that all must he ruined from ivant of labourers. In driving the negroes off the estates they em- bittered the lingering ideas of slavery, and drove many who would have been labourers to other pursuits. In many places, even up to the pre- sent time, no good system of payment has been introduced, and the harsh action of irresponsible 42 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. book-keepers and overseers in ' cutting ' and * stopping ' wages has caused a wide-spread aver- sion to labourinof on estates." Tliat numbers of the estates were ruined after the emancipation there can be no doubt : statistics prove the fact. In 1830, 100,000 hogsheads of sugar were ex- ported ; in 1850, 40,000. Coffee, which rose even to 52,000,000 of lbs. export in one year early in the century, had sunk to between ^ve and six millions in 1851. But, as shown by the Eoyal Commissioners, the planters did much themselves to render the prospects bad, after the emancipa- tion. They tampered with the wages at will. They withheld them on the slightest grounds. They frequently pulled down the houses in the estate villages, thus driving away those who were able to purchase lands elsewhere, that is the most industrious of the people, to waste lands which they could buy cheap. They should have done everything in their power to keep them on the estates and to induce them to labour on them ; but their feelings of hatred and chagrin were so strong as to blind them to the true interests of themselves and their employers. Had there been resident proprietors on the great majority of estates, as there were only on a small number, the effects of the emancipation would have been STATE OF JAMAICA. 43 mucli less severely felt, as in uliiiost all the otber West Indian colonies. As to the moral state of Jamaica before the emancipation and during last century and the early part of this, nothing could have been more deplorable. Marriage was scarcely known in any class of the community. Concubinage and gene- ral licentiousness prevailed. Mr. Carlile thus describes the state of the people in a letter in the Scottish Missionary Register, written a year after he arrived in Jamaica : — " To be able to form a correct idea of the effects of your mission, it is necessary to bear in mind the con- dition of the people before missionaries were settled among them. During the time of slavery, I learn from the best sources of information that the people in this neiGjlibourhood were treated as an inferior order of creation; and perhaps the most charitable construc- tion we can put on the conduct of the slaveholders is to believe that they really supposed that negroes had no immortal souls, and were incapable of forming a correct idea of God or of a world to come. Not only were no efforts made by the clergy of the Established Church to instruct the people either in morality or religion, but when the families of the white people went to a place of worship, the black servants were carefully shut out, as if they had nothing to do with such matters; or if on Sundays, or on some peculiar occasion, the form of family prayer was observed, 44 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. even the negro nurses were excluded, as if their pre- sence would throw a kind of contamination over the ceremony. Of their Maker, their Preserver, their Saviour, the poor people were kept in profound igno- rance, and were, consequently, total strangers to His law, and incapable of being moved by any religious motive. Of the first and great commandment, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and strength, and mind,' they had never heard ; and if they had heard it, they would have been unable to comprehend it. The three first precepts of the Decalogue were to them a perfect blank, — the fourth was only known to be broken, as the Sabbath was with them the busiest day in all the week. The commandment to love and honour their parents was wholly inapplicable to their circumstances, as they scarcely knew them, and were rarely placed under their control. The sixth commandment was most flagrantly transgressed, not only by the frequent per- petration of murder, but by the universal and unre- strained indulQ:ence of hatred, and all the malimant passions of the soul. Marriage was almost unknown among both white and black people ; and the latter, taught by the example of their masters, attached no idea of sin to the grossest acts of licentiousness. Of the eighth and ninth commandments, the ideas of the people appear to have approached much more nearly to those of the ancient Spartans than to the view of those who are enlightened by the Word of God. Stealing and lying were universally practised, and the .cleverest thief who could practise his iniquitous art undiscovered was most highly applauded. The people appear to have thrown their whole genius into this STATE OF JAMAICA. 45 channel, and often discovered the most ingenious expedients to cheat and rob their masters. Indeed, from what I have heard on this subject, I am satisfied that there is no want of talent among them, if it were properly directed. The luxuriance of the weeds in uncultivated regions often proves the capabilities of the soil. " A very few years ago this was a region of Egyptian darkness — a field waste and uncultivated, brincjinGf fortli nothino- but briars and thorns. In all valuable knowledge the people were little superior to the beasts ; in practice, they were the devoted fol- lowers of the father of lies. Almost the only power used to control them, or which could be brought to bear upon them, was that which is used to govern horses, mules, and asses — the fear of the lash. The exalted motives of the enlightened and pious mind had no place within their benighted bosoms ; the hopes, the joys, the fears, and more than all, the love which springs from the knowledge of God, of Christ, and of the world beyond the grave, were alike un- known and unfelt. " Not only had your missionaries to encounter all this mass of ignorance, and error, and wickedness, when they first began to preach the Gospel among the poor negroes, but the book-keepers and managers of the estates were in general armed against tliem, and were their constant enemies. But God, who brings light out of darkness and order out of confusion, and makes the wrath of men to praise Him, converted the hostility of His enemies into the means of advancing His own cause. The slaves observing the enmity shown by their masters to their ministers, and knowing that this 46 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. hatred Was stirred up against the missionaries by their zealous and successful efforts to enlighten and benefit them, began to look upon them as their true and best friends, and crowded around them to receive instruc- tion. New difficulties now pressed upon the mission- aries from the success with which God had crowned their efforts. Churches and schoolhouses required to be built in many places, where the conveyance of materials was attended with almost inexpressible diffi- culties, and the whole superintendence of the building devolved on the missionaries themselves, and that, too, when their calls to visit and instruct the people were multiplying every day. But that God who stood by His faithful servants in ancient times on their deliver- ance from the Babylonish captivity, and enabled them to build their Temple and walls in troublous times, prospered the labours of His servants, and has here furnished an additional proof to those which He has given to His Church in all ages, that faith in His pro- mises and love to the souls of men make all diffi- culties to vanish as vapours before the rising sun. The better I am acquainted with the country, the more am I surprised at the work which has been accom- plished in so short a time. Churches and schoolhouses built, congregations collected and established, many excellent and efficient elders and office-bearers found to assist in the government of the Church, and multi- tudes everywhere able to read for themselves the won- derful works and words of God our Saviour." In another letter written about the same time he says : — STATE OF JAMAICA. 47 " Marriage in this country was almost unknown, and almost every woman who was of age before the emancipation had children to several men. This is the cause of unspeakable mischief, and is not only the source of unceasing strife in families, but also of most violent quarrels between tlie members of different families. It is a cause of unbounded thankfulness that the marriage bond is now so much regarded, and that the people in general are willing to submit themselves to the law of God." The first Christian missions were bes^un in Jamaica by the Moravians about the year 1754. They laboured indefatigably and successfully. The Wesleyans began their mission in 1 789, and the Baptists in 18 13. All of these have prosperous missions to this date. The London Missionary Society has also a mission. A largo number, too, of the negroes and people of colour are connected with the Church of Eno;land or Episcopal Church, which, till recent years, was the Established Church of the country. It was in the year 1824 that the Scottish Missionary Society began its Jamaica mission by sending out to Jamaica the Kev. George Blyth, to w^hom we previously referred. Several others were sent out a few years later — as the Kev. James Watson and the Kev. H. M. Wad- dell — by the same Society. Then the United 48 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. Secession Cliurcli io Scotland sent out several missionaries, establishing new stations, from time to time. The Scottish Missionary Society Avas the first '" Missionary Society in Scothand, and it employed missionaries of difi'erent Scot- tish Churches, some Church of Scotland, some Seceders. The only Church of Scotland mi- nister sent to Jamaica was Mr. Carlile ; the others were all of the United Secession Church, while all the Indian missionaries sent by this Society, including the celebrated Dr. John Wilson, were Church of Scotland men. The Society, after having handed over its missions to diflferent Scottish Churches and done much good work, ceased to exist in 1847. The planters were amazed when they found Christian men and their wives coming out to teach the slaves. Some of them received them in a friendly manner, as instructed in a few cases, by the estate owners at home. The great majority, however, were bitterly opposed. They ridiculed their work, and the missionaries were exposed to much obloquy, and even per- sonal danger. They charged them in some cases with fomenting rebellion, and threatened * Tlie Glasgow Missionary Society was established in the same year, 1796. STATE OF JAMAICA. 49 to sboot tliem. Some of the well-known Bap- tist missionaries, as Mr. Knibb and Mr. Burcbell, who came home to agitate for emancipation, were especially hated and abused. The poor slaves, on the other hand, were rejoiced beyond measure to find white men who were their friends. They listened to them gladly, and many of them in the house of bondae^e became the free men of Christ. Laro-e con f^^re oat ions were O DO formed, long before the emancipation, and mis- sion schools were vigorously conducted in many quarters, after the beginning of the apprentice- ship in 1834. On August i, 1838, a day to be written in letters of p;old on the flaof of England, when she set the example, now fol- lowed by almost all countries, of freeing her slaves, the joy of the negroes was overwhelming. The people knew that they owed emancipation in great part to the sympathy and represen- tations of the missionaries, and they clung to them Avith warmest affection. D ( so ) CHAPTER V. THE BEGINNING OF THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. We have noted the arrival of Mr. Carlile and his family at Brownsville, his cordial reception by the simple-hearted negro population, and his enjoyment of the varied work that lay to his hand. A missionary in such a position is everything to the people. Society around him in his mountain home was in a strange state. Many were living consistent lives, and were members of the church. They had just emerged, however, from a state of great moral degrada- tion ; and prevalent vices do not die out at once from a community. There were districts round, where the people were living in gross licentiousness and almost barbarism. Women especially might often be heard shouting to each other, from hill to hill across the valleys, in violently abusive language. Such, however, was the reverence for the minister that no THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. 51 sooner was he seen approaching, even at a dis- tance than this shouting ceased. There were also still old African superstitions at work in the neighbourhood. The Obeah-man, a kind of negro witch-doctor, was to be found lurking about, exercising great influence over many of the worst characters, and especially over born Africans. These men employ charms of dif- ferent kinds, but often vegetable poisons, — of which there are many of a subtle species well known by tradition, — to injure or kill those whom their friends pay them to destroy. They bury hair, pieces of old bottles, live cocks with their heads kept above the ground, and other spells, near the door of the doomed man or family. On the discovery of these there is a perfect panic, and many get sick and die of mere fright ; but, as I have said, there are more subtle means employed, by the fatal effects of which the superstitious fear is sustained. Then there is another class of people, Myal-men, often in leao^ue with the Obeah-men, thous^h apparently opposing them, who profess by heathen incantations and frantic dances to remove the fatal spell, — singing and dancing round the doomed houses. A story is told of a planter whose fowls were being constantly 52 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. stolen, who at once put a stop to the thefts, by burying one of his cocks for a night, with his head above ground, and then letting him loose. After that the people dreaded to touch any of his fowls. In old times there is little doubt that many unpopular planters were made away with by these Obeah-men. Not a few estates acquired wrongly through these poisonings the reputation of the climate being deadly to Europeans. These superstitions still lingered in the neighbourhood of Brownsville, and caused much trouble ; but after a year or two Mr. Carlile got them effec- tually rooted out, at some risk to himself. A clear case of murder by an Obeah-man, through external poisonous applications, given to a poor woman at the instance of her paramour, who wished to kill her, Mr. Carlile did all in his power to bring to justice ; but the coroner's jury were afraid to act, and gave a doubtful verdict, — such was the terror inspired by these men. The mau, however, fled from the neigh- bourhood ; but the missionary had for some time to keep an eye on his own kitchen, that no chance visitors might intrude to poison his provisions. The people generally looked up to their pastor with great reverence. He and his venerable THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. 53 black session, composed then of four or five old negro elders, were a court of reference in all disputes as to property, &c. Few even of the most careless, and none of the church mem- bers, ever thouo-ht of c^oinoj to a court of law. They brought their disputes before the minister and session, and though they stated their cases with much vehemence, they always accepted the decision. If they were interrupted, confusion and difficulty arose, but if they were allowed each to tell their own story to the end, there was generally little real dijBference between them. Many of these cases concerned little matters, such as the straying of pigs, goats, horses, &c., on their neighbour's property, where they had devoured or damaged the crops. The road-making was entrusted by the vestry of the parish, which is as large as a county in Eugland, to Mr. Carlile. The roads were in a frightful state, cut to pieces by the great torrents that rushed down in the rainy season. Sometimes a complete block would occur, by the falling down of a quantity of loose earth from the hillsides. One road became almost a river, two or three feet deep, for an hour or two after the thunder-plumps of the rainy season, and was so scooped out that nobody who was not acquainted 54 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. with it ever rode over it on horseback, without the horse coming down. These were the main roads to the district, and needed constant atten- tion, and it was no easy task to direct the right use of the small grant for the purpose, in order to keep the passage open for even cart traffic — carriage traffic was out of the question. But Mr. Carlile applied all his skill to the work, and made a wonderful change in a short time in the condition of the roads. , The following incident described by him in a letter published in the Scottish Missionary Register took place two months after his arrival at Brownsville : — " A few days ago two houses which had been recently built by settlers in the neighbourhood were burnt to the ground in a few minutes. I was deeply affected by the exhibition of stronsj iie^vo feeling^ on the occasion. One of the houses was occupied by a couple w^ho had been married only about a year, and who, after much exertion and expense, had succeeded in completing a comfortable cottage for themselves. The other house was built by the husband for his grandmother. The husband was absent when the fire began, and the wife and grand- mother were overwhelmed with agitation and alarm when they witnessed the fearful rapidity with which the flames spread and dashed all their fondest hopes. "When I arrived the work of destruction was nearly over, and the wife was giving full vent to her feelings THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. 55 by bitter weeping and lamentation. The husband, a fine, tall, stout young man, appeared to be much more moved by his wife's tears than by the tremendous havoc the flames, fanned by a strong wind, made of his house and furniture. He clasped her in his arms, and begged, amidst loud convulsive throbs, that she would not weep. I made no attempt to check this burst of fine natural feeling, but took an opportunity of after- wards speaking to him when I observed that he had retired to a place by himself, to give unseen vent to his feelings. He was weeping like a child, but expressed no regret for the loss he had sustained, but dolefully bewailed the hopeless condition of his grandmother. God soon opened the hearts of their relatives to receive them all into their houses ; and, before an hour passed, the houseless families, with the wreck of their little property, had found another abode. On the day follow- ing, being Sabbath, I proposed that we should all endeavour at once to ensure each other aGfainst sudden ruin, and at the same time to manifest those brotherly feelings which should always characterise the members of a Christian church, by assisting to repair the injuries which had been sustained, and suggested that we should have a collection on the following Sabbath for this object. The sum of £7,, 6s. 8d. was collected, besides having the promise of the work of twenty-seven men for a day. This has put them in good spirits, and I hope will go far to make up their loss. I esteem it a matter of highest importance to cherish these feelings of tenderness and affection for each other." Mr. Carlile was attacked three months after his arrival at Brownsville with bilious fever, 56 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. and was in considerable danger. He was quite resigned in the midst of it, — willing to go or to remain as God should see fit, and was in a most happy frame of mind. Medical attendance was not easily obtained. The doctor of the family, living at Lucea, nine miles off, had gone from home for a week. Another doctor was sent for in another direction, and arrived on Sunday morning as the congregation were dispersing, so intoxicated that he could give no attention to the case. A regimental doctor at the Lucea barracks was then applied to and came at once, and watched over him with much kindness. But for him his life mio^ht have been lost. After a month or two he recovered his strength and was asrain at his work, and he never had another illness of importance till that of which he died so many years afterwards. He thus describes his first sacrament, which took place just as he was recovering. The Eev. James Watson of Lucea, to whom he refers in this letter, was the founder of the station at Brownsville, as has been already stated. Mr. Watson had admitted all the communicants. He was an excellent preacher and a most indefatio[able worker. His name will lons^ be remembered in Jamaica in connection with Lucea, THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. 57 and witli Kiugston where be was latterly settled as minister : — "Yesterday we had our first sacrament in tbis place; and at Mr. Watson's particular request I examined every member previous to admission. With the old people, and especially with the old women, we are obliged to conduct our examinations in the simplest possible form, and to be satisfied if we find them acquainted with the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel. You will easily understand this when you know that none of them can read — few could under- stand anything read to them ; and few have any one to read to them, even if they were disposed to listen, and could do it with intelligence. It is with great difficulty they can understand our language when speaking to them on religious subjects, and with still greater difficulty that we can understand them. If I found that they knew who made them, the state in which man was first formed, the introduction of sin, its consequences and their extent, who was the Saviour, whose Son He was. His pre-existence, from whence He came. His birth, what He did during His public ministry. His great work for man's salvation. His sufferings con- nected with it both in soul and body, His resurrection, ascension, what He is doing for us in heaven, His intercession, preparing a place for us, sending the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers. His coming again to judge the world and the general resurrection, and the final destination of saints and sinners, I was satisfied. With regard to the Lord's Supper, I examined them as to the time and object of the institution^ what we are to remember when we receive 58 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. the bread, and what when we receive the wine, for whom the table is spread, for friends, or for all indis- criminately, and then with regard to the character of communicants, and what is expected of them. By the great majority such questions were answered readily and without hesitation ; but with the old people it was often necessary to put our questions in a variety of simple forms, before we could discover that they knew the truth. Very often they gave apparently the most ignorant and stupid answers, when, after putting the subject in some new light, they would show that after all their knowledge was correct. To an old woman I put the question several times, whether our Saviour was a sinner, to which she as often emphatically replied that He was a great sinner. I thought she was sunk in the very depths of ignorance, and purposed immediately to prevent her from coming forward, when it occurred to me that she might not understand aright what a sinner meant, and I asked if she believed that our Saviour was a liar, or a Sabbath- breaker, or a thief ? to which she replied, with great vehemence, that He never did any of these things. Out of nearly tw^o hundred communicants I prevented about a dozen from coming forward. All the others satisfied me that they were acquainted with almost every subject I have specified. "On Sabbath morning groups of people, consisting of men, women, and children, almost all dressed in white, were seen moving by nearly a dozen paths towards the one point of attraction — our place of worship ; and soon after nine it was filled in every corner. By lo o'clock, when the service began, I should think that the congregation was nearly as large without as within, THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. 59 consisting probably of about seven hundred people. Deep attention was manifested by all present while I discoursed to them of the death and sufferincjs of Jesus. At the end of our first service, the whole house was cleared, and the forms arranged for the communion service. With the few strangers who came from dis- tant parts, upwards of two hundred communicants were soon seated at the table. A more attentive or apparently devout body of people I have never seen than when Mr. Watson discoursed to them and pro- ceeded to distribute the elements. All was quietness and perfect decorum. My little daughter Margaret, now three months old, was afterwards baptized, and the services were concluded before 3 o'clock. It was to me a delightful and deeply interesting day, and far exceeded my highest expectations." In a letter written just a year after he had settled at Brownsville, in which he mentions that there were then 105 families in the congregation and 220 communicants on the roll, he describes vividly the state of affairs, and records the marked improvement of the year : — " When we first came the people were exceedingly addicted to quarrelling, and very frequently our little hills re-echoed the shouts of the noisy combatants. These incessant broils and scoldings, especially among the women, were generally to be traced to the awfully debased condition in which they formerly lived. When I mention that I scarcely know a married woman who had not children to other men previous to her marriage, 6o MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. and that almost every married man lias natural cliildren, you will at once see that such a state of society must necessarily give rise to the most bitter and rancorous feelings. This is a putrid and deadly sore, which can- not be healed in the present generation. Faithlessness to the marriage vow, and jealousies arising from it, give rise to domestic broils, which very frequently lead to the cruel treatment of wives by their husbands, and often to their separation for a time. This is one of the greatest evils I have had to encounter since I came here. " All parties, in general, agree to bring such cases to the minister, and it is a fortunate circumstance that they in general abide by his decision. By my inter- ference, eight or ten couples are living in apparent peace with each other, who would probably never otherwise have been reconciled. " Your missionaries would require patience and wisdom almost superhuman to enable them to discharge aright the magisterial duties which are laid upon them by the people, and which, in their present infantile state, they could not disregard. Here we possess an influence little inferior to that of the Catholic priests of Ireland, which might certainly be turned to evil account as well as good. It is to be hoped, that as the people advance in the knowledge of the divine oracles, they will become less dependent on their ministers, and place more con- fidence in the wiser members of the conffreo-ation. " Great as these evils are, and deeply seated in the constitution of society, they are in no inconsiderable degree controlled by the presence of a missionary, and now it is a rare thing to hear those disgraceful disputes which were formerly so common. THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. 6i "Dishonesty and deceit, tlie genuine offspring of a state of slavery, are also said to be common, and I fear with too much truth, although I have had few opportunities of discovering it. For all these and many other evils which spring alike from the universal corruption of the human heart, and from their former degraded condition, the gospel is the only remedy ; and we wait and long for the time when, by the outpouring of the Spirit of God, it will be brought with saving power to the hearts of the people. > • • » • a " To give some idea of the improved state of society, I may mention, that the Christmas holidays were generally in former times looked forward to as a kind of carnival, when free and unbridled rein was given to every sinful lust. It was a time of drinking, dancing, fightinof, and unrestrained licentiousness. These holi- days are now nearly over, and I have not seen one intoxicated person, and scarcely heard the sound of discord. On Christmas eve I was preaching at Dicksonsville, and neither in going nor returning was there any noise to be heard ; the hallowed stillness of the Sabbath reigned all around. A black man who accompanied me, in speaking of the change that has taken place, told me that in old times the whole country would have been resounding with the drum and the shouting of the negroes, and more especially if it happened to be on a Sabbath. At present I preach publicly seven times a week, and on all these occasions, as well as at our family prayers, our meetings have been remarkably well attended. Many of the people appear to have converted this season, which is 62 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. usually given up to riot and wickedness, into a kind of religious festivity. In addition to the attention which the people have generally given to religious duties at this time, they have given me more evidence of personal attachment and gratitude than I ever could have hoped to experience. In proof of this, I may just mention that on last Lord's-day, as two of my horses are at pre- sent from home, and a third is sick, I set out with staff in hand to walk to Dicksonsville. I had not proceeded five minutes on my way till I had the offer of horses from four persons, and the utmost and unfeigned regret expressed by others that their horses were not at hand. In fact I was constrained, contrary to my own inclina- tion, to accept of the loan of one, so freely and pressingly made, in order to relieve the people from the pain which my persisting to walk would have given them. " Presents of various kinds of fruits have been coming to us from all quarters, which would have been all placed to the credit of the Society; but as neither medicines nor medical attendance can be procured in this district, we have felt ourselves called upon to assist in supplying the deficiency by giving freely from our medicine-chest. " It is a year this day since we first set foot on Jamaica, and now I bless my God for having brought us hither, and for all the mercies with which He has surrounded us. All the members of the family have enjoyed as good health as at home, and appear to enjoy as much happiness. Indeed, a more happy family could scarcely be found anywhere. What greatly contributes to this, is the growing interest they take in the noble work in which they are permitted to engage." THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. 63 He describes a fire which took place, by which the cottage he was livino: in had been endan- gercd. The alacrity with which the people came to his aid gave striking proof of their affection. When he wrote he had just entered his new house, which he occupied for so many years afterwards, and there is a reference at the beginnino' to the suffering's of the Free Church ministers, who had shortly before left their manses in Scotland, for whom he had deep admiration and sympathy. The new house was the property of the Kev. James Watson : — " We are now settled in our new house, which Mr. Watson has done all in his power to render comforfcable and commodious. When I remember the circumstances of many of our beloved brethren at home, and the diffi- culties to which they have been subjected, I some- times almost wish myself back again at our little cottage, that by sharing, in some degree, the incon- veniences, I might have a more lively sympathy with them. We were constrained to take possession of our present residence sooner than we intended, and, indeed, before it was prepared for our reception, by an accident which might have proved very serious. " I was sitting writing in this house, which I had con- verted into my study, and I believe was at the moment in the act of writing about a storm at sea, when a sudden 64 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. clamour arose among the workmen around me, and on running to the window I perceived that the kitchen con- nected with the cottage was on fire. This was a small thatched out-house, which was not more than twenty- paces from the cottage. At that time we had had no rain for months, and the thatch was so perfectly dry that a spark was sufficient to set it on fire. We all ran at our utmost speed to assist in extinguishing the flames, or in saving the cottage. During our race I could not help thinking, as one and another easily outstripped me, that notwithstanding all that is said of the slow- ness of the movements of the negroes, if I had been running for my life I would have had a very poor chance of escape. " As our party were nearest the cottage, we were first there. The fire was blazing furiously from the roof of the kitchen, and as the wind was blowing strongly at the time, our attempts to tear off the thatch and pre- vent the fire from spreading were utterly abortive. The great effort was now to save the cottage. For- tunately we had a little water in the house, in which I instantly steeped one or two blankets. We got a young man pushed up to the roof, but he became per- fectly giddy, and rolled down on the top of another young man who was standing below. Fortunately neither was hurt. A ladder had now to be procured. The pressing danger added swiftness and strength to us, and in the course of five minutes I was on the top of the roof. Our water was now done, and none could be found but at a considerable distance. It lay at the bottom of a ravine, as far off and down as steep a descent as from the top of the Calton Hill to the THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. 6$ Canongate.* Most of the people who liad come were running about stupefied and bewildered, and before vessels could be found and water obtained the wliole cottage might have been consumed. Tiie wind blew the flames in an angular direction from the cottafje. While I was sitting on the top of the house shouting out for water at the top of ray voice, I perceived that the thatch of the cottage had caught fire, and now I never doubted but that all was over, and that in five minutes more our frail tenement would be reduced to embers. I was preparing to descend and endeavour to save some of the furniture, when two men, wiser than myself, brought the ladder to the place where the fire had begun. I then threw to them the moist blankets, and by immediately applying these the fire was extinguished and the house preserved. Every one who saw the peri- lous condition of the house was amazed that it was saved. God, after having thus shown us that our life and all we possessed were entirely in His hand, and that we were at any time liable to be removed at a moment's warning, was thus graciously pleased to interpose in our behalf, and to save us from much injury and loss. While I was busy on the top of the house, some of the people, who were rapidly collecting to our assistance, emptied the house of every article of furniture. Open drawers and boxes were lying about in all directions, and everything we had was exposed to the people. While thus tossed about without any one to look after them, I do not think that even the most trifling article was abstracted. On the other hand, the utmost care * The reference is to Edinburgh. The Scottish Missionary Rejister, where these letters appeared, was puLliithjd tliere. E 66 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. was taken to save everything that could be found amongr tlie burning embers of the kitchen. When the fire began Mrs. Carlile snatched up a child in each arm and fled to the school-house. The other members of the family helped to remove the furniture from the house. The lire happened on a Friday, when the people are generally working in their own grounds, and I should think that ten minutes had not elapsed before we were surrounded by a hundred people. When the danger was nearly over, and they had time to recover themselves, they gave us every assistance in their power. We were soon abundantly supplied with water, which was a long time used in drenching tho- roughly the smoking ashe?, to prevent even a spark from beincj blown about. When we were in the midst of the confusion, an excellent elder who was workinsr in his grounds, at a distance not less than from the top of Arthur's Seat to the centre of your city, saw the fire. He instantly plunged into the bush, dashed through the most precipitate and frightful ravines, with the swiftness of a mountain roe, and in ten or fifteen minutes was, to my amazement, in the midst of us, panting for breath. Many others showed a similar zeal and the utmost alacrity in coming to our assist- ance. Nor did they leave till the danger was entirely over. Every article in the kitchen perished, by which our servants sustained a loss of about ^^20 in clothes and money. Our loss amounted only to about ;^6 or £S. We had a collection in our church a Sabbath or two afterwards to assist our servants, who had lost everything, and a few pounds were raised, which helped to cheer them. Besides money, several brought various THE WORK AT BROWNSVILLE. 67 articles of dress and bed-clothes to assist them, so tliat their loss was greatly diminished, while their sympathy and union with each other were strengthened. I could not help feeling at the time that the things wiiich had happened to us had turned out rather to the further- ance of the Gospel, and addressed the congregatiun from that subject on the following Sabbath." ( 68 ) CHAPTER VT. THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH. Mk. Carlile had felt from the time of his arrival the need of a larger church than the schoolroom iu which they worshipped. The congregation also ra[)idly increased. So within a year or two after his settlement in Jamaica he determinedly set to work. He himself devised the plan by which the building formerly used was to be greatly enlarged and given an ecclesiastical appearance. He had much mechanical genius, and he not oi]ly himself planned every part of the build- ing, but directed all the work personally, as the cutting down of the wood, the choosing of the, trees to be cut, the carriage of them along the difficult roads by the ox-waggons, and the saw- ing of the timber. The putting up of the spire without scaflfoldiug, to which he refers, was an extraordinary feat, — the amazement of all build- ers and carpenters in the neighbourhood. I can THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH. 69 vividly recall the scene when, amidst a storm of wind, with no scaffolding, but with ropes almost as numerous and complicated as those of a ship, the high framework of the spire, composed of long beams of solid timber of great weight, rose to its place above the tower, amidst the cheers of the crowds around. There it has stood, firm and strong, defying all storms and even hurri- canes, for nearly forty years ; with its bell, which was made at first for the Royal Exchange of London, sounding the call to worship, through the valleys and up the mountain-sides for many miles around. This spire and bell are associated now with much that is most sacred in the memory of the present generation of inhabitants. He thus describes the work : — " In previous letters I mentioned to you that in the latter end of August we opened a subscription to enlarge our place of worship, which is now much too small for the congregation. The sum subscribed, in- cluding labour and materials, soon amounted to about ;^200. Having already on hand jTio^, wliich I had received from the sale of goods most kindly sent us by our female friends at home, I resolved to commence the work immediately. I soon found that we could not expect much assistance from the neighbouring overseers of estates, and that we must therefore trust almost exclusively to our own resources. In place of ordering timber from a distance, I accompanied a num- 70 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. ber of members of my own congregation to the adjoin- ing woods, and during two montlis we spent almost every day in cutting down, sawing, and squaring timber. This is a most laborious employment under a burning' sun. o '' The great object we had in view of converting our present schoolhouse into a commodious church, and of thus giving permanency to the station, not only bore us up under our fatigues, but even rendered them plea- sant. At length we succeeded in securing many thou- sands of feet of excellent timber in our yard, and received much more assistance from our two nearest overseers than we had expected. "After this most laborious part of our work was over, during which we had been exposed to frequent dangers and were oft in weariness and painfulness, we began to frame the addition we proposed making to our present building. The new part, which goes out in the form of a cross from the back of the house, is 35 feet long by 25 feet wide. In about three months from the time the subscription was commenced, the frame stood finished on brick pillars of about five feet in height. It is strongly built of the best hard wood the island can command. As we require two apart- ments, to be used as vestry-room and for session meet- ings, and also a belfry, I resolved to include them all in one building by erecting a small spire. This, in addition to other advantages, would give the building the aspect of a place of worship, and be at once the means of enlarging the congregation, by attracting many who would not attend our present humble meet- ing-house, and also afford good hope that it would not THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH. 71 afterwards be deserted as a place of worship, but be a house in which not only the present generation, but others yet unborn, might hear the gospel faithfully preached. " The day that the addition to the liouse behind was fully framed, the foundation-stone of our spire was laid by Mr. Watson, assisted by Mr. Jenkins, a neigh- bouring attorney. AVe had a large assemblage of deeply interested spectators present. The framing of this new erection now engaged our attention, and as there was not an individual in the nei^'libourhood who could mve o o any instruction for the erection of such an edifice, the whole superintendence devolved upon myself. As I had never studied the structure of any spire, and was, in general, wholly ignorant of house-building, and had no one to direct me, the undertaking might appear presumptuous and almost hazardous. After consider- ing the matter maturely, and forming a small model, I resolved to go forward, trusting in the assistance and blessincf of that God to whom the house was to be built, and wlio had hitherto so wonderfully assisted us. By the end of four weeks our materials were all pre- pared, and a day was fixed for raising the spire. When I told the carpenters that I intended rearing it without scaffolding, they shook their heads and declared it to be impossible. On the Monday morning after our Sacrament we assembled for worship, and having im- plored the Divine blessing, we proceeded to our work. The day was at first most unfavourable, as it blew strongly ; but as I had already borrowed ropes from the neighbouring estates which could only be kept for a day, this being their busiest season, I resolved to ^2 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. proceed with the work. It may easily be imagined that my mind was not altogether free from anxiety, when I had not one individual with whom I could consult, or who even understood what we were doing. A goodly number of men were present to assist, to whom I was obliged to give the word of command like a sea captain during a gale of wind. Just as I was proceeding to get the ropes fastened and the tackling prepared, I found to my dismay that the rope was less by thirty fathoms than I had supposed, and was too- short for our purpose. I then despatched two messen- gers on horseback to the nearest estates, begging for more rope. One messenger soon returned with the sad tidings that they had not a yard more on the estate; and fearing that a similar message might come from the other, I endeavoured to devise some means of doing the work with what we had, and discovered that by placing the men who held the ropes on the top of the house, I could accomplish my purpose. One part of the spire we converted into a pole, by which we were enabled to raise up another ; and as we had just succeeded in doing this, my second messenger arrived with a small supply of additional rope. As the heaviest piece was now to be lifted, we put this additional rope to assist the other. Just as we had got this frame raised to its most dangerous position one of the ropes broke, but the other saved it. After a short time longer our anxieties were all at an end, and with a grateful heart we soon saw the building complete without injury or accident. The spire is octagonal, is about 60 feet high, constructed of the best and strongest Jamaica wood. The weight of wood in the frame can- THE BUILDING OF A CHURCH. 73 not be less than from four to five tons. Its form is much admired, and it is so constructed that althouc,di there is not one iron bolt in the whole frame, nor more than about a dozen nails, and although it has neither bolt, nor peg, nor nail to bind the spiral part to the pedestal, yet I believe that nothing short of a hurricane would move it. It will, perhaps, surprise you when I mention that the wdiole expense of squaring the timber from the rou<'h state in which it was brought from the woods, framing it, and rearing it, was only about ;^20, and that it stood firm on its base within four weeks of the time when the foundation-stone was laid. To our God be all the praise. " The people have done well. I have received of the original subscription in work, materials, and money, to the value of about ^115. In this is included about nine hundred days of gratuitous labour. When it is known that I have not more than two men in my con- gregation who can earn more than 2s. per day, and that the weekly income of each of my members cannot be 5.S., exclusive of what they gain by their provision grounds, I think it will be acknowledged that they have done well in giving ;^ 1 15 for this object in about four months. My whole expenditure up to the present time, including £ 30 for mules and cart, which can be sold when the work is finished, and almost all the materials which are necessary for completing the build- ing, has been ;^2ii. The great part of the expense that remains will be wages to the carpenters for board- ing and fitting up the house. I have great hopes that this part of the subscription wdiich has yet to be col- lected, with some collections from the brethren here, 74 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. together with the proceeds of some boxes which are to be sent from home, will 'enable ns to complete the work without involving myself or congregation in debt. " The ordinary attendance at church on Sabbath is always good, and I do hope that many of the people are advancing in knowledge and spiritual attain- ments. Our weekly meetings are also pretty well attended. " I am happy to have spent so much time in the midst of my people when engaged at their ordinary employment ; and have been agreeably disappointed both with their intelligence and disposition. Makiug allowance for their great deficiency in education, I con- sider them as acute and intelligent in their own business as mechanics at home. They do not work so steadily ; but they are more willing, and equally fitted for their several kinds of labour. I scarcely heard an angry word among them during all the time I spent in their company. Nothing but good feeling and good humour prevailed. Oh ! how pleasant to be delivered from the demon of intemperance, which haunts and destroys so many of our workmen at home ! " The church is not yet fully seated ; but a very short time and little expense will be required to fit it up completely, to contain about 560 sitters, at 18 inches to each. I should think it would easily, on an emergency, contain 1000 people. Of the £600 expended, about £ 300 came from home ; and we desire to render thanks to our heavenly Father for having opened the hearts of so many to take an interest in the prosperity of the mission, and so cheerfully to help us in our work. Our rilE BUILDING OF A CHURCH. 75 own people have not only contributed about ;^300 in labour, materials, and money, to the undertaking, but have purchased by far the greater part of the goods sent by the ladies ; and this, considering their circum- stances, we think is no despicable effort. ( 76 ) CHAPTER yil. JAMAICA MISSIONS AND SELF-SUPPORT— COOLIE IMMIGRATION — THE AFRICANS— CHANGE OF MISSIONARY CONNECTION. The Mission Boards of different Churches have been much occupied with the subject of self- support in the West Indies. Some of the mis- sionary societies have long thrown off the financial burden of their West Indian Missions altogether. Naturally the Churches in this country desire that their missionary-incomes should be devoted to missionary purposes — that is, to the extension of the Gospel to those still in heathen dark- ness. In Jamaica those connected with the different mission churches have grown up as pro- fessed Christians. It is felt, therefore, that they ought, if possible, to support their own churches. There are two difficulties in the way — ist. The necessity still, at many of the stations, for Euro- pean missionaries who need a higher rate of MISSIONS AND SELF-SUPPORT. yy support than the coDgregations can aflford. 2cl. The uniform character of the congregatious as composed in great part of mere labourers. As to the first difficulty, this is being lessened every day by the training of native pastors, of whicli ^ve shall sj^eak more hereafter. The second difficulty is of more permanent aspect. It is referred to in the admirable report of the deputies to the Jamaica and Trinidad Missions of the United Presbyterian Church, who visited Jamaica in 1882, — since the death of Mr. Carlile. We give the following extract : — *'It must be borne in mind that the wealthy and middle classes, whose contributions do so much to raise the average liberality of our home congregations, are almost entirely unrepresented in the Jamaica church. With only an occasional exception, the membership of the country congregations is composed of small settlers whose settlements do not exceed six acres, and are in the vast majority of cases from half an acre to three acres; and of day labourers, whose wages do not exceed five shillings per week, but who have also small provision grounds, which contribute to the support of their families. Even the four or five town conore^a- tions furnish very few exceptions. It must be remem- bered that our Jamaica mission was in its origin exclusively a mission to the slaves ; and that even since the Emancipation it has been our policy to confine our labours almost entirely to the negro population. We have followed the emancipated slaves to their retreats 78 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. among tlie mountains, and have furnished them with the means of grace in the neighbourhood of the whites where they labour." This represents the position of most of the Jamaica missions, and it creates a serious diffi- culty. Still that difficulty may be surmounted with good management, as time advances and a native ministry is raised up to occupy most of the pulpits. Admirable preparations are being made for this by the United Presbyterians in the Theological Hall, established at Kingston under the care of Professor Eobb, as learned and able a man as any professor in this country, and one of the most accomplished Hebrew scholars of the day, who combines with his great acquire- ments a most ardent devotion of spirit, with w^iich he inspires his students. But if the difficulties of self-support are serious now, they were much more serious some thirty or forty years ago. The question was mooted even then, chiefly on account of the action of the Baptist Missionary Society, which left its stations to support themselves. Their circumstances were special. Several of their missionaries, as Mr. Knibb and Mr. Burchell, had acquired great in- fluence over the negroes, and collected very large congregations, through the strong action that they MISSIONS AND SELF-SUPPORT. 79 took in the Emancipation question. The Baptist churches grew most rapidly, and each European Baptist missionary had four or five congregations under his charge, at distances frequently of many miles from each other. He visited these churches in succession, and left the worship to be con- ducted, except on occasion of such visits, by such native help as he could get. The consequence was that, while these congregations became self-sup- porting collectively, by so many of them being placed under one European — perhaps two, three, or four thousand people — their state was far from satisfactory. The people were still very ignorant and superstitious, and those wdio conducted the services in the absence of the missionary fre- quently did not do so satisfactorily. This arose very much from the position into which the Bap- tists were led by their rapid success in gaining converts, but the result was not fitted to induce others to follow the example. People who re- quired constant and careful supervision were left almost unhelped. The fact that the Baptists had been able to cut off the home support from these missions made some stir among the Missionary Committees. Mr. Carlile felt strongly on this subject. In one of his letters to the Secretary of the Scottish Missionary Society, he thus So MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. wrote. It must be remembered, however, that tliis letter was written many years ago, and that the circumstances are now much altered : — " I regret to learn that erroneous impressions have by some means been extensively diffused among the friends at home respecting the condition of our churches. It appears to be believed by some that the Jamaica churches have already reached maturity, and will soon be independent of all assistance from home. A more erroneous opinion could not well be conceived. It is true that God has done great things for this island, whereof we are glad. He has cleared away many im- pediments to the spread of divine truth. He has over- thrown many of the ancient superstitions of the people, greatly corrected many of their former vile practices, inclined the heart of multitudes to receive the Gospel, provided them with many churches and school-houses. He has in many places removed much of the former ignorance, and taught, by His servants, a considerable number to read the Word of God with intelligence ; and what is better than all, He has in the older con- gregations converted the hearts of many to Himself, and both in the life and death of His people given to your missionaries many delightful evidences of His presence and blessing. The work accomplished in the time is great, and perhaps wonderful ; and if we con- sider that the whole Jewish dispensation, with its temple and all its services, was little more than a scaf- folding raised by God for the purpose of rearing that spiritual edifice, of which all His servants are the living stones, w^e shall not think lightly of the work MISSIONS AND SELF-SUPPORT. 8i ficcomplished in this country, even though chiefly as scaffolding necessary for erecting a glorious spiritual temple, which, we trust, shall yet be reared above the mountains, and to which all the people shall flow. Jamaica is yet in its infancy as a Christian country, and without the sustaining hand of its parent would speedily languish, and in a few years the labour so well expended would almost all be lost. Your churches would then appear but as the broken and dilapidated fragments of temples which had formerly been the glory of the land, and which have been built at no in- considerable cost of life and treasure. Before Jamaica can be left to itself, a much greater portion of the people must be instructed in the common branches of education, and be able to read the Word of God with intelligence. Christians at home have little idea of the difiiculty of conveying a distinct understanding of mere elementary knowledge to the minds of a people buried for many ages in the depth of ignorance, and who have little or no parental instruction at home to assist the work of ministers and teachers. Before the churches here can be left to themselves, the great spiri- tual work of conversion to God must be much farther ailvanced. When the Spirit of God shall descend in rich effusion upon our churches, then we may expect to see them rising with gigantic strides to maturity and strength, and then we would have abundance both of means and of agents raised among ourselves to carry forward the work. But for this we must wait for God's own time, praying without ceasing that in the great- ness of His mercy He may hasten it. " But besides the support of churches already in 82 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. existence, the circumstances of the country require that many more ministers and teachers should be pro- vided for it. Jamaica yet presents a large and most inviting field for missionary exertion. Xo inconsider- able portion of it is still lying in heathen darkness ; and in many districts where Christianity is nominally professed, the people are in no better condition in respect of knowledge or practice than the inhabitants of the darkest Eoman Catholic countries." In another letter Mr. Carlile expressed similar sentiments in, if possible, still stronger lan- guage : — " There are already large promising fields for mis- sionary labour lying waste around us for want of means to cultivate them ; and if, as is expected, a large num- ber of emigrants from Africa and China be introduced to settle among us, the demand for missionaries and teachers will be greatly increased. If great efforts are not made, Jamaica may soon be inundated with the impure and destructive practices of heathenism. If the churches at home begin to throw us upon our resources while we are yet in our infancy, there is great reason to fear that the lives, lahour, aiicl money already expended will he as treasures cast into the deep, of which no trace will he found. But we trust that God will not suffer His cause to languish for want of means, and that He who has the hearts of all men in His hand, will yet open many doors to assist bountifully in building up the spiritual temple here, which has been so auspi- ciously begun, and to a certain extent reared." THE COOLIES AND THE AFRICANS. 83 lie took always a very deep interest in the Africans lauded in Jamaica from cruisers that had rescued them from slave vessels. Of the coolie immigration from India he did not much approve. On these subjects he thus writes : — " You are aware that some thousands of coolies from India have been introduced into this colony, and are dispersed over the island. Some hundreds of them are now settled, or about to be located, within a few miles of this station. Their mode of dress is extremely in- decent, as they cannot be induced to wear almost any covering but a small piece of cloth round their loins. Some of them are Mohammedans, but the greater part are idolaters, and sometimes make great parade of their image-worship. I need not say how extremely dan- gerous it is to our poor negroes, who are just emerging from darkness, and whose minds are generally to a considerable extent under the influence of superstition, to be called upon constantly to mingle with a people so debased in all their habits as the coolies. How often did the chosen people of God fall into gross sin by associating with idolaters ! And can we suppose that the half-enlightened Africans, few of whom can yet read the Scriptures so as to understand them, will be able to resist those temptations, before which many of the wisest and mightiest men upon earth have fallen ? " There was also a number of heathen Africans intro- duced into this island about ten years ago. These I have in part taken under my care, and visit them at one of their own houses once in two weeks. I would 84 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. visit them once each week, but find that their occupa- tions will not permit them to attend. They are scat- tered over the surrounding estates, and many of them at a considerable distance from our place of meeting. "From ten to twenty generally attend, and appear to be interested in the instructions given them. Their knowledge of English is yet very defective, and I require to explain everything to them in the simplest manner. Several of them are learning to read, and two in particular are making more rapid advances in the art of reading than any individuals I have ever met with. " One of them is their head man, and he possesses a considerable decrree of intellisjence. jSTothingj can ex- ceed their delight when, after having spelt out some of their simple lessons, they understand the meaning of what they have read. They declare to me that they have entirely abandoned their heathen dances, where much wickedness was formerly practised. Some of them attend church ; but as they are yet not so far advanced as to be able to understand what is spoken in the pulpit, it is extremely difficult to induce many of them to attend." The folio wing little narrative of a capture in Africa by slavers and rescue on the ocean by a Bri- tish cruiser, he wrote for The Christian Teacher : " An African whom I have had for some time under instruction, gave me the following account of the manner in which he and his companions were seized by the Spaniards, and afterwards rescued by the British. In that part of Africa in which he lived, the people were kept in constant alarm by men-stealers, whom they SLAVE CAPTURES AND RESCUES. 85 feared more than the tigers which haunted the bush around them. To protect themselves, they built their houses close together, and surrounded their settlements with a wall of wooden stakes. But there were seasons, when the inhabitants of the surroundino; villac^^es were accustomed to meet, and to spend days and nights together in dancing and revelry. Their enemies dis- covered this, and resolved to take advantage of the opportunity for securing their prey, " On one of tliese occasions, this African and many of his companions were lying exhausted and almost unable to move from their long debaucheries, when suddenly they were surrounded by a band of cruel slave-dealers, who chained them, and dragged them away to the vessel, which was waiting to receive them. Here they were crushed together in a small cabin, where they were nearly suffocated for want of air. The ship set sail across the wide ocean. AYeek after week they were confined to their frightful dungeon, and every day the dead bodies of some of their number had to be dragged from the midst of the living, and cast into the dark wide sea. Onward they had sailed, and had nearly reached the coast of Brazil, when they were suddenly aroused w4th the sound of a cannon-shot. All became confusion on deck — other sails were raised, and every effort was made to increase their speed. The poor captives below soon learned the cause, for they knew that British ships of war were placed on their coast to rescue those that were enslaved. All were greatly excited with the hope of being set free. Another shot which carried away part of the rigging, told them that their friends were nearer. 85 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. " The slave-ship soon struck sail, and in a very short time they found themselves in the hands of the British, who opened their prison, brought them all on deck, struck off their chains, and sent them to Jamaica, . where the greatest kindness was shown to them, and where they now find themselves the citizens of the freest country in the world, and where the knowledge of a Saviour, which is far more precious than life or liberty, has been conveyed to them. " When John had finished his story, I asked him if he did not see how all this which had happened to him illustrated what I had often told him of the salvation of Jesus Christ. Your enemies watched and found you lying in your sins, and unable to save yourself. This is what Satan, the great enemy of souls, is doing con- tinually, that he may carry you to everlasting misery. He places his chains, which are stronger far than those of brass or iron, around your neck ; he shuts your soul up in a dark prison-house, into which the light of heaven does not come ; he hurries you onward, during the voyage of life, to a place of everlasting misery and slavery. The Saviour follows you in mercy. The glad sound of His salvation is heard. Submit to Him ; He will set you free, bind up your wounds, and give peace and joy to your soul, and will make you a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, where neither death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain shall ever enter." The Scottish Missionary Society, with which Brownsville had been connected, was originated ill 1796, and existed for above half a century. During that period it founded several important THE SCOTTISH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 87 missions, and fostered greatlj the missionary spirit in Scotland. But gradually as the Churches wished to undertake their own missionary work, its position became less important. The Church of Scotland took over its missionaries in India, who afterwards joined the Free Church, and in 1847 the United Presbyterian Church took over its missions in Jamaica — the only missions then left to it. All the missionaries but Mr. Carlile belonged to that Church, but he most cordially concurred in the arrangement, and from that time to his death he continued to be a mission- ary of the United Presbyterian Church. His association with the Scottish Missionary Society had been one of cordiality and pleasure. For its esteemed secretary, Dr. William Brown, he had the greatest respect and affection. Dr. Brown is well known to all students of missions as the author of the most accurate and painstaking " History of Missions," which is a standard book of reference up to the period at which it was written. CHAPTER VIII. EDUCATION. The Presbyterian Chiircli iu Jamaica lias always taken a leading part in education. Day-schools as well as Sunday-scliools were early attached to all the congregations, without exception. At Brownsville there were latterly three day-schools, one in the buildinor enlaro-ed as the church, which was originally intended for a schoolhouse as well, another at Great Valley Estate, some miles distant, beyond a road crossed in several places by a mountain stream, and another at Maryland, over the mountain paths. The negro children exhibit as great capacity in the earlier part of education as European children. Many of them learned to read tolerably in a few months. They were also quick in attaining geographical knowledge, while they w^ere much farther ad- vanced in Scriptural knowledge than the chil- dren iu many schools in this country. This EDUCATIOX. 89 the writer of this memoir can himself attest, as he began the Great Valley School, and taught many of the children there to read, &c. The education given was based on religion. In the schools Mr. Carlile, as all the other missionaries, took, of course, a very deep interest, teaching almost daily, himself, for a time, and superin- tending carefully the work going on. The Sunday-schools in the dry season were attended by almost the whole congregation. They were held after the service, and the old fathers and mothers used to sit in the classes and take their part in answering questions. This was of great importance, as they had been kept ignorant as slaves. Latterly there has been a great change, as the fathers and mothers have now themselves had an education in childhood. The deputies of 1882, referring in their report to the Sabbath classes, say, '' It is not a little touching to see grey-haired men and women, who bear the marks of hard toil and sometimes of hard usage, eagerly learning to repeat simple texts, and answering questions in elementary Scripture truth." Speaking of the day-schools they say, " In all but a few instances the chil- dren are well instructed in Scripture history. The readiness with which they answered any 90 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. question put to them in this department took us Ly surprise. They can also repeat readily and fluently most of the answers to the Shorter Cate- chism. When they were questioned as to the meaning of the words, they were not quite so ready ; but in this particular they probably do not differ much from the children in our schools at home." This intelligent brightness, however, the deputies consider, does not continue so much when they advance to be young men and women. There are now seventy schools connected with the Presbyterian missions, and about 6000 on the rolls. After the rebellion in the time of Governor Eyre and the abolition of the constitution, a great effort was begun on behalf of the education of the people. Grants in aid are now made to above 600 schools. There was not so much progress at first, but latterly there has been a rapid increase of scholars. The Royal Commis- sioners, whose report, referred to before, has very recently appeared, say on this subject : — *' So convinced are we that the moral and mate- rial progress of Jamaica depends on the moral and industrious position of the black people, that we do not hesitate to recommend increased expenditure for the purpose of providing and EDUCATION. 91 maintaining some practically efficient system of education which will raise the negro from his present pitiable state." Mr. Carlile took also much interest in middle- class education, especially in the Montego Bay Academy, long ably managed by a Mr. Millar. The academy trained up men who occupy honour- able and useful positions, and who never could have got the requisite education without it. Ifc helped to train also many of the best teachers of schools. In this academy he took so deep an inte- rest that he resolved to educate a son there rather than to send him home. This son was making excellent progress, wdien he received permanent mental injury from studying in such a climate. Mr. Carlile was also employed by the Presby- tery of Jamaica to aid in giving theological education to candidates for the ministry. He had a great love for Hebrew, and had studied Chaldee and Syriac. The last w^ork of his life was the writing out an elaborate dictionary of these languages on a plan of his own. He was engaged in this work up to his 80th year. He had great fondness for the study of languages, and might have been a distinguished linguist had he possessed a more pow^erful memory. Of mathematics, also, in its different branches, he 92 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. was a constant student. He surveyed all the country round, took tlie height of the different mountains, &c. This was a great pleasure — one might say an amusement — to him. He applied his mathematical knowledo;e also to the makinoj of sun-dials on many different inclines from the perpendicular to the horizontal, and he gave away many that he made. One large perpen- dicular sun-dial he put up on the spire, instead of a clock, and the hours could be seen on it at a considerable distance, the figures being marked in very large letters, cut out by himself. He was always engrossed in some study which kept him from feeling the loneliness of his position, as regarded the outside world of literature. It braced him up, in fact, for his daily work. We may refer again to various works of interest he undertook. Before we pass from the subject of education we may note the present state of the theological college of the United Presbyterian Church in Jamaica under the able charge of Dr. Kobb, of whom we have spoken, assisted by the Eev. John Simpson, one of the oldest and most respected of the missionaries, who laboured first in Jamaica and then in Old Calabar. The depart- ments are — Exegesis Greek New Testament, EDUCATION. 93 Systematic Theology, Clmreli History, Pastoral Theology, Moral Philosophy, and Hebrew. In Hebrew the students are drilled, as very few students in this country. They are trained carefully as preachers, and also for the pastoral duties of the ministry, — taking an active part in special mission work in Kingston. This college is the great hope of the Church in Jamaica. It may probably also equip many missionaries of the negro or mixed race to go forth to Calabar, and other parts of Africa. ( 94 ) CHAPTER IX. THE VISITATION OF CHOLERA. Cholera for the first time visited Jamaica in the year 1850-51, and the visitation was a terrible one. Mr. Carlile wrote in regard to it, before it had reached his own part of the island, on December 9, 1850 : — *' Hitherto it has been confined chiefly to the eastern part of the island, but is steadily advancing towards us, and may be said to have reached us. " Port Eoyal it is said to have desolated ; a large portion of the people (about 400 out of about 1000) are dead, and the rest have deserted it. This town, you are aware, was the capital of the island, famous for the beauty of its houses and for its wealth, and not less notorious for its wickedness. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, nine- tenths of it were in the course of a few minutes buried fifty to sixty feet beneath the sea, while a great part of the island was rent with earth- quakes, which buried multitudes of people and whole estates. THE VISITATION OF CHOLERA. 95 " Port Eoyal was immediately rebuilt, and in ten years was again laid in ashes by fire ; it was renewed a third time, and a tremendous wave (by some internal convulsion of the earth, or furious current) burst over it and laid it desolate. "Daring these repeated judgments, the character of the people remained unchanged ; and a fourth time they built the devoted city, and a fourth time it was converted into a mass of rubbish by the resistless whirl- wind. " The Government, seeing, then, that the place seemed doomed to destruction, removed the public buildings to Kingston, which was converted into the capital, while Port Eoyal was left to languish as a small village. All these changes took place in the course of fifty years. From the middle of the last century it has continued a wretched, filthy village, a nest of all uncleanness, both external and morah A fifth time it has been destroyed ; while the 400 bodies consumed by cholera, and which are little more than half buried, will probably render it for a time to come almost uninhabitable. "Out of a population of 35,000 to 40,000 which Kingston contained, upwards of 5000 are already in their graves. The lower classes and the morally vile have cliielly suffered; some whole streets are nearly deserted. It is a remarkable fact, that, out of a con- gregation of from 400 to 500, only one or two had been cut off. "Spanish Town, out of a population of 5000, had lost 1800. It has visited with awful violence many parishes, and almost depopulated whole estates. The Town of St. Ann's is now entirely or almost deserted. 96 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. ISTot fewer, I should imagine, than 10,000 persons have been swept off from Jamaica in the course of two months." Shortly afterwards it reached with alarming power also his own — the north-west — portion of the island; for he writes, January 7, 1851 : — "Of about 1800 persons that Lucea contained, 117 are buried within the last few days." On 14th January he states — " Greatly more than 200 are already dead ; some whole families have been swept away, and terror and sadness fill the place." And on 24th January he writes — " Upwards of 300 are now dead at Lucea. It appears now to be subsiding." Mr. F. H. Dillon, teacher at Lucea, says, in a letter dated 29th January — " I suppose, by the time the cholera has completed its work of destruction in the country, as well as in the town, one-half of our people will have been swept away. Through Divine mercy I have been wonderfully spared hitherto, though I have been constantly in the thickest of the mortality, ministering in the best way I could to the sick, the dying, and the dead ; having in many instances to assist in coffining the corpses and lifting them into the cart. The scenes that I have been witnessing here for the past five or six weeks have been of the most harrowing description, and can never be obliterated from my mind. It seems, however, to be leaving us now." With his usual energy Mr. Carlile resolved, trust- ing to the Divine blessing, to use every means pos- sible to guard his own district. He had observed THE VISITATION OF CHOLERA. 97 a notice in the papers of a remedy which Lad been used with great effect in Liverpool. It was as follows : " Equal parts of spirits of tur- pentine, spirits of camphor, and laudanum, with a sixth part of the quantity of any of these ingredients of oil of peppermint." This mixture was said to be effectual in curino: all stngres of the disease, prior to collapse. The energetic and systematic method in which he acted, saved, there is no doubt, numbers of lives. He divided the whole country for a radius of five or six miles round Brownsville into districts, leavinor supplies of the '^ Liverpool mixture," as he called it, at a certain house, which he made known, and warning the people to apply for it on the first symptoms of the disease. He writes on the 5 th February 1 8 5 1 in regard to this : — " Cholera is now in the midst of us. Within the last ten days, about ten of our neighbours, some of them close beside us, have been under the pure Asiatic disease ; while a great many others, among whom are three of my own family, have been under premonitory symptoms, and obliged to take the medicine. Hitherto God has very wonderfully preserved us. Every case has been overcome by the Liverpool mixture, which, if taken in time, is almost a speciGc. I have the whole district so organised -that no one requires to go any distance to obtain it, and the people are generally G ^8 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. fully alive to the necessity of immediately applying for it. " Hundreds of people in this district are now alive and well, who, in all human probability, would have been in their graves but for this medicine, to which God has in marvellous mercy directed us." Thus the lives of the people were saved. While the island was devastated in all parts, and many round Brownsville had the premoni- tory symptoms, very few died in this district. It was an oasis in the desert. The people had, however, been thoroughly aroused and alarmed ; and the spiritual effect is thus described : — " The attention given to divine things is at present much greater than I have seen it since I came to the island. I preach almost every day, and in general to audiences which no private house could hold. To- day I preached to some hundreds of deeply attentive hearers at Great Yalley. Our teacher there tells me that many of the people come night and morning to him to hear the Scriptures and engage in family wor- ship. Formerly the people in that place were very cold. My class of candidates for the sacrament is increasing daily. Many of those who have been living in concubinage are now coming forward to be married. The church is crowded on Sabbath to excess. On last Sabbath there must have been upwards of a thousand persons present. I cannot but hope that God is converting this awful scourge which has come among us into a blessing. He appears to be making THE VISITATION OF CHOLERA. 99 it the means of awakening many from the sleep of sin, and perhaps by it He may answer our constant prayers that they may receive all heavenly and spiri- tual blessings in Christ Jesus. The fields appear to be whitening to the harvest ; and let the churches at home aid us with their constant prayers, that the Spirit may descend upon us in copious showers and blessings. When I see the people crowding round me on all days of the week, and sitting to listen with so much attention, I cannot but think of the multi- tudes who often followed the Divine Saviour, and of the tender compassion He showed to them in healing and comforting them, and feeding them. Oh may He heal the spiritual diseases of the people, impart to them true spiritual joy, and feed them with the bread of life ! "My communion here should have been on last Sabbath, but as the day was cold and rainy, and I was afraid of bringing the people to an infected dis- trict, I did not allow the bell to be rung. A large congregation, which completely filled the church, how- ever, attended, and after giving them a short address, I dismissed them. Several circumstances lead me to hope that God is about to convert this affliction into a blessing. Not only are all our meetings well attended, but a considerable number of those living in concubinage are getting married. It is somewhat singular that, of two parties whom I called upon last Sabbath, three individuals have been seized with cholera ; but they are all recovering, and I trust will soon be well. I have now upwards of sixty upon my list of candidates, including some Africans, who are under instruction for baptism." loo MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. In another letter he describes the following death-bed repentance, in connection with this visitation : — " An aged woman, who lived in the house of one of my members, was soon attacked, and after a few hours of sickness, was numbered with the dead. The man who was head of the house was desired instantly to leave it (as we have uniformly found it to be attended with imminent peril to continue to live in one of these small huts in which a death has occurred). He. dis- regarded the warning, and deeply had he to regret his obstinacy. The four persons who slept there on that night all fell by the hand of the destroyer in a very short time. He was the last of them, and having seen the havoc death had made, and perhaps blaming him- self for the sad catastrophe, he became paralysed, and was soon death-struck. When I saw him, he was sitting on a stone at the door of one of our old and poor members. The scene was truly affecting. Here he, the last remnant of his family, sat, while the hand of death was upon him, resisting all solicitations of the old man and his friends to enter the dwelling, fearing that, by his death, they too would soon be forced to seek for another refuge. The old man, with genuine kindness and sympathy, was entreating him to enter. It was not, however, till I insisted upon it, that he would take advantage of his friend's generous invita- tion. So soon as he entered the house, and laid him- self down on a mat near the door, utterly forgetful of all around, he poured out, in an audible voice, the humble and fervent prayer of a contrite and broken heart. Tlie disease appeared to yield to the medicine, THE VISITATION OF CHOLERA. loi and if it had not been for the load which oppressed liis spirit, he would probably have recovered. He lingered for several days, seeming to place his whole confidence in the Divine Saviour, and showincr the most chastened and childlike disposition, and at length fell gently asleep, and I have good hopes is now with his Saviour." ( 102 ) CHAPTEE X. DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER— VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES— WELCOME ON HIS RETURN— THE AFRI- CANS AND THE OBEAH SUPERSTITION — FREE TRADE IN SUGAR— VISIT TO THIS COUNTRY. A VERY sad event occurred in the autumn of 1853, wliich cast heavy gloom over the mountain home. His ekiest daughter, Mary, the daughter of his first wife, left the Brownsville manse, early in August, with her husband, Mr. Dickson, who has long been a minister in the Presbyterian Church in the United States. She took with her three of her children — leaving two others behind. The vessel in which they sailed put into the port of Cienfuegos in the south of Cuba, and remained there for some days, taking in cargo. On the night they left the close and feverish harbour she was seized with fever, and lingered for three days, when she died, and was buried in the deep. She was a person of strong affections and singularly attractive character, VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 103 beloved by all who knew her; active also in every good work. It was a terrible blow to her father when he heard of her death, so soon after she had left his home in perfect health. Her infant child, being dependent on her care, followed her speedily. Two went to America, where they have been ever since, and two others remained with their grandfather in Jamaica, and are now in this country. This sad event, and the state of his wife's health, induced him to take a voyage to the United States, in the next year, 1854. The only vessels then sailingr from Jamaica to the United States were small coasters. There is now, we believe, a good line of steamers. The schooner in w^hicli he sailed was, as many of these coasters, in very bad order. For a good part of the voyage the pumps had to be kept going, day and night, to save her from swamping. The passengers, as well as the sailors, had to exert themselves at the pumps, and Mr. Garble worked as hard as any one and kept up the spirits of others. In the United States he saw his daughter's husband and family, met old friends, and delighted in exploring the country. He was much struck with its religious life and activity, also pleased with the cordiality of the 104 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. ministers. He was present in a crowded churcH in Pliiladelpliia, when lie had a message from the minister asking him to come np and take the service. He had recognised him as an old friend whom he knew in Scotland. While in America, he preached frequently, and endea- voured to interest those whom he addressed in missions. He published there a little treatise on mathematics, "A Short Introduction to Prac- tical Mathematics, being a Course of Geometry and Plane Trigonometry." The object was to lessen the toil of gaining an acquaintance with the principles of mathematics and practical geometry. The same object has since been suc- cessfully followed, in the works of several distin- guished mathematicians. He returned greatly refreshed and invigorated by the change, and his wife was much improved in health. He had a most cordial welcome from his people, as shown in the following extract : — " Great was the joy exhibited by the members of the church, and, indeed, by the whole neighbourhood, when our arrival became known. They gave every evidence of true and sjenuine affection. In the midst of this tumult of feeling, it was most interesting to observe that, from a sense of propriety and reverence for the sacred services of the sanctuary, no one approached to salute us as we entered the church ^on Sabbath, but WELCOME ON HIS RETURN. 105 all quietly took tlieir seats. When I entered the pul- pit, I found the church filled with an audience sitting in reverential silence. A few verses of the I45tli Psalm furnished us with a text which enabled us to give expression to our feelings of thankfulness for all God's providential dealings. In the afternoon we gave them some account of our journeyings, endeavouring to improve to their spiritual benefit many incidents which had occurred. At the close of the service, the display of attachment w\as more than I could have anticipated. Almost the whole congregation (with the exception of those who had already welcomed our arrival) pressed forward to shake hands with us, and to express their joy at seeing us again in safety. I -was happy to find that the church had been fully supplied during my absence, and that the attendance was generally good. In the expectation of my early return, the session had postponed the August mis- sionary collection till September, but made it before I came." He always took a deep interest in the Africans, to whom he had a special mission, under a native agent, a Mr. Gordon, and he was much gratified, on his return, by hearing how they had driven away an Obeah man, — thus showing that Chris- tianity was conquering their superstitions. *' An occurrence took place in my absence which may show that the time is coming when Ethiopia shall stretch forth its hands to God. The native Africans here seem to be rapidly rising above their country's io6 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. superstitioDS, and show no little earnestness in their desires to become attached to the Christian Church. " When our teacher Gordon first went among them, one of their number was much addicted to Obeah prac- tices. These are a remnant of their former heathenish idolatries, and form their only religion until led to em- brace the Gospel. No sooner had Gordon begun his labours, than they with one consent banished the Obeah man from their settlement. It would appear, however, that at his new station, which was at some consider- able distance, he continued to follow his wicked practices. Some weeks ago, a Creole offered him about ^^5 sterling, according to his own account, if he would kill two of his neighbours, named Taylor and Wilson. This will give you some idea of the employment of these pre- tended sorcerers, and only confirms what I formerly believed of them. Taylor was himself an Obeah man, and has long been a pest to the neighbourhood. If it had been any one else, his life would have been in great jeopardy ; but the Obeah man told Taylor of the con- spiracy against him. On this, a great quarrel arose, and Gordon, fearing that some of his class were secretly encouraoinsf the Obeah man in his deeds of darkness, immediately told them, that as the work of Christ and the work of the devil could never go on together, if they retained their heathenish customs he would not come near them. This deeply grieved them, and called forth such a spirit as that evinced by the Corinthians, to whom the Apostle says, " what carefulness it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what vehement desire, yea what zeal, yea what revenge ! In all things ye THE AFRICANS AND THE OBEAII-MAN. 107 have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter." The Africans resolved to put an end to the practices of the Obeah man, and a party of five men went to seize him and banish him from the place. On entering his house, they found him engaged with two small wooden idols, which he instantly endeavoured to conceal from them. As nothing would induce him to give them up, they handled him very roughly, bound him with cords, and brought him as a prisoner to their settlement. The idols were given to Gordon, and are now in his possession. There is every reason to believe that arsenic was in one of them, but we shall probably ascertain this by a legal investigation of all circumstances. The feelings of the Africans were roused to the utmost against the Obeah man, and Gordon was afraid they might even have killed him, if he had not interfered to prevent violence. The people are diligently attending on Gordon's instructions, and are making good progress. One of them has been married ; and several others are preparing to follow. I do trust that a good work has betmn amouGj them." Mr. Carlile was strongly opposed to the policy of the Home Government in admitting slave -orrown siiQ-ar on the same terms as that o o grown by freemen. Tiie British AVest Indies were beginning to recover a little, after much depression, w^hen the Government of Lord John Russell carried free trade in su2far. This he con- sidered to be most unjust, after all the sacrifices made to free our own slaves. It was, he felt, io8 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. reviving tlie slave trade, giving new life to it, and, at tlie same time, ruining our own colonies. Seeing the ruin witli his own eyes, — valuable pro- perties sunk to nothing, not worth one per cent., in some cases, of their former value, — he became most indignant, and did not conceal his opinions, as indeed he never did. He wrote in the Jamaica papers a good many letters on the subject. An extract from one of these will suffice to show the strong views which he entertained, and the grounds of these views : — " When the people of Great Britain gave their con- sent to those measures \yhich removed all shackles from trade, and reduced to its lowest price every article of commerce, they had no deliberate intention of ruin- ing lawful commerce, by giving the plunderer or receiver of stolen goods the full benefit of their villany. When they permitted the barriers which protected the sugar trade to be swept away, it was not done with the inten- tion of granting a monopoly of one of the largest branches of commerce as a premium to theft, cruelty, oppression, and murder. Nor was it their intention to transfer the trade of suQ;ar from our colonies, where it was conducted with justice and mercy, to those countries where it is upheld and prosecuted by a system of demoniacal atrocities. If the slave-holder has obtained a mighty impetus to his trade, and is now triumphing in its increase; if the lash of the driver is already wielded with redoubled energy to force from the friend- less and toil-worn slave an additional supply to meet FREE TRADE IN SUGAR. 109 the increased demand ; if the British phanter sees him- self on the vercjeof ruin from beinej called to encounter a most unjust and unequal competition with those to whom crime has yielded most unnatural and dishonest advantages ; if the newly bought captive, whom Britain had generously numbered with her children and elevated to the rank of a free-born subject, is now drooping his head and grieving that the parent which adopted him has so soon deserted him, and left him to pine in poverty and misery, — none of all these consequences were con- templated when the trade w^as thrown open to the trafficker in human flesh." Sir Anthony Musgravc, K.C.M.G., then Gover- nor of Jamaica, says in a paper ^ which w^e shall refer to more fully afterwards, read on 20th April 1880 before the Eoyal Colonial Institute, on a subject akin to this : — " After the removal of all protection a severe struggle had to be maintained against the competition of slave- grown produce, to say nothing of the sugar-growing countries like the Mauritius, or the large quantities of beetroot suc^ar which have all been brous^ht into the market since the abolition of slavery. More recently still they have been subjected to the yet more unfair rivalry of refined sugar protected by a bounty on export from the Continent, a rivalry of which it is scarcely too much to say that it is dishonest on the part of tlie British consumer to avail himself of it for the purpose of obtaining cheap sugar. The cheapness is analogous ^ Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xi. 1879-80, P- 239- no MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. to that which may be secured by buying stolen goods. The principle involved in this question is outside the limits of Free Trade, and, indeed, is in direct conflict with the fundamental axioms to which the Free Traders profess their adherence as articles of faith. The bounty which enables the foreign exporter to undersell British produce in English markets is extracted by foreign Governments from the pockets of the general foreign tax-payer for the benefit of the subsidised in- dustry. We know this to be contrary to the very simplest grounds of the principles which we proclaim ; but we are not above availing ourselves of the iniquity for our benefit; because they are cheap, we won't decline to buy the stolen goods ; although, if the system is pursued, the honest British producer, who gets no pro- tection at the expense of others, must in many parts of the world be put to sore straits, and perhaps be ruined : and then wdll come the retribution." lu the year 1858 Mr. Carlile visited England after an absence of sixteen years. He rejoiced again to meet old friends, but found great and sad changes. Two brothers and two sisters had gone to their rest, in these years of his absence, and three only of the large family of his father were now left, including himself. His only remaining brother, Alexander, a man of literary ability, who had written many poems in '* Black- wood's Mngazine " in its best days, was then very feeble. His sister Mrs. Wilson and him- VISIT TO THIS COUNTRY. Ill self, the two youngest, were still in full vigour, and great was liis pleasure in meeting with her. She was the widow of the Rev. Josias Wilson, well known as a most successful minis- ter of the Irish Presbyterian Church in Belfast, and afterwards of tlie English Presbyterian Church in Isliugton, London. Mrs. Wilson, a person of great energy, had been a true help-meet to her husband, and she continued active in every good work after she became a widow. She took a deep interest in her brother's Jamaica mission, and the ladies of IslinQ-ton were accustomed to send him boxes of work, which were a great help to him in many of his under- takings. We may note that this sending out of boxes from Islington was continued by Mrs. Jackson, well known to Islington Presbyterians as a true and devoted friend of missions, long after Mrs. Wilson had gone to New Zealand, where she died in 1875. It w^as a great joy to Mr. Carlile to meet many other relatives — his own sons, — also the family of his late brother in London, William Carlile, known as a successful merchant and earnest promoter of many Christian works, — long a director of the London Missionary Society ; also his brother- in-law in Ghisgow, Mr. Nathaniel Stevenson, 112 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. whose name was so familiar, as now that of his son, Mr. James Stevenson, to all Free Churchmen and to many others. With them he spent much of the time of the visit. He had scarcely arrived in this country when he was summoned to the marriage of his eldest son. It may be noted that the eldest son of this marriage, Mr. Carlile's grandson, Mr. Eobert "Warrand Carlyle, has been for several years in the Civil Service in India, having stood fourth in his year in the long list of candidates, and is now, at twenty-four years of age, placed over a dis- trict in Bengal, with, we believe, about half a million inhabitants. During this visit he had frequent opportunities of pleading the cause of the Jamaica mission in the churches in Scotland. He was also present at a meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in Liverpool, and spoke there on the same subject. He returned early in the following year with fresh energy to his work. ( n3 ) CHAPTER XT. THE REVIVAL IN JAMAICA AND AT BROWNSVILLE. At the time of Mr. Carlile's visit to Britain there was great interest in the revival of religion. The revival in Ireland, which produced so much good fruit afterwards, was then begin ning. For nothing did he long more earnestly than for a revival in Jamaica. The people had been brought out of heathenism, but they needed greatly the influence of a new baptism of the Spirit. He had not long to wait — after his return. The beginning of this revival was thus referred to by the Rev. James Watson of King- ston, in a letter dated 6th November i860 :-^ "You will hear glad tidings by this packet of the commencement of a revival among the clmrclies in the western and southern parts of the island. It has begun among the Moravian churches in Manchester, and is rapidly extending among all denominations. . . . The leading features of this revival are strong convictions H 114 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. of sin accompanied with open avowal and confession. People are struck down, and remain for hours, or even days, in deepest distress." Mr. Carlile wrote the following long and in- teresting account of it on the 19th November. He gave a graphic picture of the whole effect of the work on the deeply emotional and excitable negro mind. It may be noted that though he encouraged the revival by every means, and re- joiced in it as a real work of the Spirit of God, he tried to allay excessive excitement, which had led in many other parts of Jamaica to the most extraordinary scenes. He even put down ex- travagances — calmly but firmly. In many of the less evangelised parts of Jamaica the revival movement went to seed, leaving few permanent fruits — sometimes even doing harm ; but wher- ever it was directed with judgment and the people were intelligently taught, it left behind results of great importance which continue to this day. This account appeared in the United Preshy- terian Missionary Record of January 1861 : — " I scarely know how to begin in telling you of the marvellous work which God has wrougjht here within the last fortnight. I think I formely mentioned that we have for a considerable time (probably about a year and a half) been holding regular meetings every morn- THE Rr.VIVAL OF jS6o. 115 ing to pray for the outpouring of tlie Spirit of God, which we had been led to expect from what we see He has been doing in many Churches in America and Europe. A Baptist congregation about six miles from this met with mine every month to pray for tliis Divine blessing, and to communicate intelligence re- specting the advancement of this mighty work of God ; and while we did not know of its nearer approach to us than within five thousand miles, we had fixed our meet- ing here for the 2d of November. Before the appointed day of meeting, we were rejoiced to hear that it had begun to manifest itself in Jamaica about fifty miles from us. Day by day reports were reaching us of its nearer approach, and a few days before the appointed time of meeting it had reached the Baptist congregation at Gurneysmount, with which our congregation held union meetings. I requested Mr. Sibley, the minister, to bring some of the converts with liim to Brownsville ; and happening to meet a gentleman who was a leading member of a Wesleyan congregation where the work was going on, I requested him also to send some of the converts from his church to meet with us at Browns- ville on 2d November. When the day arrived, the whole neighbourhood was astir, waiting for the expected meetinG^. The church was filled before the stran^jers arrived, and, to our astonishment, an immense assem- blage of people were advancing towards us from different quarters, singing revival hymns. " There must have been thousands of people in and around the church when all had arrived. It is im- possible to describe the noise and excitement that pre- vailed as the different parties arrived. To attempt to Ii6 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. quell it would liave been like an attempt to curb the winds of heaven. Multitudes were falling on every side, uttering the most piercing screams. A gentleman pre- sent said he counted thirteen prostrated in one corner of the church at one time. The sword of the Spirit had penetrated a multitude of souls, convinced them of sin, and forced them to cry for mercy. No sooner did one fall than he was immediately surrounded by a group of converts who had been a short time ago in similar circumstances. They appeared at once to understand their feelings ; and when they were in the midst of their anguish, their attendants would often pray that God would flog them or whip them. I was amazed at this, and could not well understand it. They, however, knew that until they got a proper view of the awful nature of sin, and were led to confess all their sins to God, and to turn from them with abhorrence, there could be no lasting peace. " If they continued long in a state of mental agony, or were struck dow^n a second time, it was almost always concluded that there was some hidden sin which they were unwilling to abandon. Sometimes their attendants would say, pointing to the breast of the sufferer, There is malice there, or there is uncleanness ; and often they would acknowledge the truth of it, and cry for forgive- ness. Many of them declared that sin was like a fire within them ; and some felt themselves sinking down- ward and downward into the bottomless pit of hell. Often their shrieks were terrific. Many of them said they saw strange visions, and confessed afterwards that they never knew that sin was so dreadful. One man, in describing his feelings, said it was as if a lamp had THE REVIVAL OF iS6o. 117 "been turned in towards his heart, which enabled hhn to see all its abominations. Often, as soon as they were struck down, they would call for some individuals witli whom they were living in malice, and immediately declare their earnest desire to be reconciled ; for, until this was done, they could obtain no peace. Others confessed the impurity of their lives ; and many of them cast away the ornaments for which they had been tempted to commit sin, and afterwards burned gay and costly dresses. Many understood, for the hrst time in their lives, the meaning of these words in Malachi iii. 2, ' Who may abide the day of His coming ? and who shall stand when He appeareth ? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap : and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,' &c. These words formed the subject of my discourse on the first Sabbath after the visitation. "Most earnestly did they often pray that God would break their hard and stony hearts, and give them hearts of flesh. Sometimes, after enduring for a time bitter anguish of heart, they would fall into a kind of trance, and awake from it under a deep sense of the presence of the Saviour. They generally began then to pour out their soul to God in earnest supplication for the for- giveness of their sins. By and by their countenances brightened up, beaming with inexpressible happiness. They leaped to their feet, and began to sing with all their might, * Happy, happy, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.' No sooner did they obtain peace than they began to entreat others to turn to Jesus. They put their hands upon them, and with in- expressible tenderness and earnestness they call to them. ii8 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. ' Come now ; Jesus calls you, He wants you ; come/ &c. This appeal is often irresistible. The person appealed to is petrified and cannot move. The tear starts to his eye, and in a few minutes he too is pros- trated. Nothing is more remarkable than this spirit of irrepressible earnestness to bring sinners to Jesus immediately after they themselves have come. " Conversions do not in general take place from the public preaching of the Gospel, but rather from the incessant entreaties of the young converts. The labours of the ministers are absolutely necessary to build them up in the faith, but the beginning of the work is generally the fruit of the labours of those who have just started into newness of life. The church, then ris- ing into life, can find no rest but in missionary exertion. They begin to pray for the places around, and watch the first opportunity to visit them. The work here was only two days old when a message came from a Wesleyan church that the work had begun there, and requesting us to visit them. I immediately offered to go, and asked if any would accompany me. I suppose not fewer than fifty at once said they would go likewise. " The sun was down on the Sabbath evening when we started to travel over an exceedingly rough and pre- cipitous road, singing some of the beautiful choruses, with which all had already become familiar. When we arrived, just such a scene of indescribable confusion was presented as had been witnessed at Brownsville two days before. A multitude of prostrations occurred, and the screams of those smitten, and the singing of groups on every side to awaken them out of their trance, made it impossible for a time to command attention to the rilE REVIVAL OF i860. 119 preaching of tlie Gospel. Confused though the assembly appeared to an onlooker, yet, in forcing our way through the diflerent groups, it was soon evident that the con- fusion was only a})parent, and that each was engaged in his own department of labour. After a time the atten- tion of the assembly generally was fixed on the preacher, and, excepting from the interruptions occasioned by some falling and others awakening them from their trance, the service was conducted with quietness and decorum. ]\Iany powerful addresses were made during the night by the newly-awakened converts, and a num- ber of souls have been turned from darkness to licrht, and from the power of Satan to God. From that re- vived church the Gospel is now sounding to the regions beyond. We were sent for during the night, and returned to Brownsville by break of day, where the crowd was still assembled and the work of conversion going on. " The work had not yet reached Lucea ; and many and fervent prayers by the members of our church for that town were addressed to a throne of grace. Nor did they ascend in vain. Towards the end of the week an invitation arrived to attend a revival prayer-meeting. I asked if any w^ould accompany me, and a large num- ber offered. We were followed with the earnest sup- plications of those left behind. Our company was in- creased by little bands who joined us by the way ; and by the time we reached the town, we were probably attended by hundreds. " Daylight w^as disappearing and the prayer-meeting was about to close. Few could find entrance into the church, and loud sinking commenced outside of the I20 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. Baptist cliapel, where they were assembled. A number of prostrations had taken place, and many were singing over those that were smitten. It may appear strange that many were struck down before they entered the church, or had an opportunity of hearing the sermon. Some asked, Wliere could it be found in the Scriptures that the Holy Spirit came by singing ? The question was natural, but it was not known that a multitude of preachers were outside, filled with the Spirit, and call- ing upon sinners to flee to Jesus; so that conversion came in the usual way. A converted soul speaking from the heart, the messac^e came to the heart of the hearer. All the ministers were soon led to see that the work was not of man, but of God. It happened to them as it did to the disciples when Peter w^as im- jirisoned. At the very time they were assembled to pray for him, he came to the door ; but for a time they could not believe that their prayers were answered. I believe not many hours had passed before all felt and acknowledged that it was the mighty power of God. " Lucea has been shaken to its foundations, and we trust it will terminate in a glorious change. From Lucea already the word has been sounded to Green- island, and many have been prostrated there. Still much work required to be done in our own neighbour- hood. Many of the Africans who have been years under instruction (by two elders of our church in succession, to whom small salaries were allowed), now aroused, desired to be married and baptized. A day was fixed to go to visit and examine them. A con- siderable party went with me. The whole settlement was astir and received us joyfully. Two were struck THE REVIVAL OF iS6o. 121 down and many were under serious impressions. I baptized yesterday fifty-one Africans, of whom twelve were adults. The marriage proclamations, including many Africans, were thirty-three — all the parties having been previously living in concubinage. This movement has already added ninety-seven to my roll of candidates, besides eleven Africans for baptism. The Africans came to our evening meeting, and they, with many of the congregation, continued all night in prayer, sing- ing hymns, and listening to addresses by different speakers. Such a fortnight I have never before seen, and never expected to see. Yesterday the church was crowded to suffocation, and many left outside. The collection was three times the usual amount. " During the first week we were in the church night and day, and could only snatch short intervals of repose. The whole family, including children, slept at the church. DuriuG^ last week the intense excitement which existed at first had in great part subsided, and our mornincj and eveninsj services were conducted with perfect quietness and decorum. I preach at every meeting, and the people appear to listen with profound attention, not only to my discourses, but to the stirring prayers and addresses of the new converts. They are in- deed seasons of reviving to all of us. The most intelligent portion of the congregation, and those whose prayers are most spiritual and impressive, were not prostrated. Generally, those who were stricken down had been living in ignorance and open sin. Yet God made these prostrations, like the miracles of our Saviour and His Apostles, the means of awakening the whole community, and spreading universal consternation : so that they 122 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. have mightily advanced the work of conversion and reformation. " Our mountains and valleys are now resounding wdth songs of praise to the Divine Saviour, who has commenced His reign in many a heart. Love, kindness, peace at present abound, and the sound of quarrelling has ceased. Now the labour of teaching adults to read and understand the Scriptures more perfectly has com- menced, and our house is open at all hours to such as wish to improve themselves in Divine knowledge. Miss Teape * has given herself, with her usual enthusiasm, to the work, and it was with no small difficulty, for a time, we could get her induced to take rest night or day, or even to take her necessary food. Her visit to Scot- land will now be postponed, as nothing could induce her to abandon her present employment. " Many of our teachers have given admirable assist- ance in this great revival movement. " The change has come so suddenly upon us, that we are almost like men that dream ; and although we anticipate a cooling down of the present fervour, and the reappearance of some of the old sins when the pre- vailing alarm has ceased to afiect the minds of the unconverted, yet we feel perfectly assured that a work is begun whose blessed influence will be felt through- out eternity." This account is, we think, worth preserving in general revival literature, bearing, as it does, * Miss Teape was a sister of Mrs. Carlile, very active in all good v^orks, who gave Mr. and Mrs. Carlile much assistance for many years at Brownsville. THE REVIVAL OF iS6o. 123 specially on spiritual influence, as witnessed amonfij the neoro race. The following are two special cases described by Mr. Garble in another letter : — "One strong man, while the minister was address- ing the meeting, was observed to be much agitated. His breast was heavingj and his whole frame tremblin^:. Presently he fell off his seat flat on his face, confessing his sins, especially malice which he was harbouring in his heart against a man who cheated him out of his money. When his mind was relieved, he forgave the man with all his heart, and said tliat the man might keep the money and whatever he had purchased from him too." The second is as follows : — " Whilst prayer was being offered at one of our meetings, an individual was struck down at the f;ir end of the cliurch. Her wailings were distinctly heard, yet the assembly were not disturbed. Oh ! how bitterly did she lament and confess her sins, one after the other, for some time. Afterwards she found peace in lier Saviour, and one of the first things she said was, * The angels in heaven are rejoicing around the throne over one sinner that repenteth.' " On the 2 1st of May, a few months later, Mr. Garble writes : — " I rejoice to say that the revival movement con- tinues among us with its blessed influence. We hear of no one of whose conversion we entertained sancruine o ^24 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. expectations having returned to the world. After hav- ing admitted 120 communicants, I have still upwards of 100 candidates. Our Sabbath services are still crowded. Our morning and evening services every week-day con- tinue to be well attended." On 2ist January of the next year, a year after the revival, he writes : — " The congregation (membership) has increased from 3C0 to 542 and the income from ;^ 140 to ^250. I am happy to be able to report favourably of the conduct of the members who have been added to the church. Two only, who gave good promise of being an orna- ment to the church, of the 248 members added, have fallen into open sin, and in the case of one of these her conduct since has afforded striking evidence of the great change which the revival has produced. On Sabbath the church is always well fUled, and often full to overflowincy, and the most marked attention is given to the preaching of the Divine Word. Gene- rally there has been perfect order and frequently considerable excitement. Our week-evening meetings, if the weather is at all favourable, are generally as well attended as ever, averaging from 100 to 200. Often the prayers of members are stirring and excel- lent. Loud vociferous contentions, which were in for- mer times so common and painful, have now entirely ceased." We may conclude our reference to this move- ment by a few extracts from a letter written. THE REVIVAL OF iS6o. 125 two years later, in February 1863, for lite Work of the Christian Church: — " Before the revival, the number of persons enrolled as members of my church were 300, and the number of candidates for membersliip only 6 or 7. A con- siderable proportion of our new membership consists of young unmarried men and women, and very few have fallen from their profession, and many of our most active and hopeful members now belong to this class. Our candidates now range about 50, and the membership is 560. During the violent agitation which existed in the minds of the people at the revival, the greater part of those who were living in concubinage, even among the recently-imported Afri- cans, became married; and since that time ^ve have heard of very few in this district that have resumed their old filthy manner of living, so that society here is greatly purified of those who corrupted it. The people were generally living under the uncontrolled influence of all their evil passions before this mighty movement took place, and loud and violent quarrels were constantly occurring. Since that time, noisy quarrelling has in great part ceased, and we live in peace and quietude. This is an unspeakable blessing. The young people are now much more disposed to attend religious meetings than formerly, and a class of 40 or 50 can easily be collected every afternoon. In consequence of this, they are rapidly advancing in Scripture knowledge and in general intelligence. In this respect the change is quite remarkable. " Formeily I had no one excepting the teachers who could properly convey any religious instruction to the 126 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. people. Now there are two of the revival converts who are constantly employed in this work, and who are beloved and respected by the people ; while there are many, both male and female, whose minds are filled with Divine truth, and who are ready at all times to converse with the people on the subject. " The revival commenced a new era in the history of the congregation. I now feel myself to be always addressing a people whose minds are peculiarly alive to the importance of Divine truth, and who are daily becoming more intelligent. As the church here could scarcely contain more than the communicants, it be- came necessary either greatly to enlarge it or to form a new station. We have resorted to this latter mode of securing accommodation for the people; and a teacher who has been with me about sixteen years, who is well educated, and is even considerably ad- vanced in his divinity studies, now preaches in his school-room. " Many of those who were greatly agitated and pro- strated at the revival have become cold and apathetic ; and it is to be feared that not a few have returned, as the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Perhaps many who take a surface view would say that the whole work has disappeared, and that all things are in much the same state they were before the revival came. I rejoice, however, in knowing by ex- perience that they would be mistaken. "I fear, however, that in some places, where the people were meeting, night after night, without a mini- ster or any enlightened person to guide them, fearful evils have arisen. Many of the people in such districts THE REVIVAL OE iS6o. 127 are steeped in superstition, and appear to imagine that all their words and actions, even the most vile, are dictated by the Spirit. Here I speak from report, and not from personal knowledge, and therefore forbear saying more upon the subject." ( I2S ) CPIAPTER XII. THE REBELLION OF i86s— GOVERNOR EYRE. AVe pass now briefly to a subject on wbich tbere has been considerable difference of opinion. Mr. Carlile was a man who never tried to conceal his opinions, however much they might differ from those of men he loved and respected. He took a different view in regard to the action of Governor Eyre from that of many of the mis- sionaries of his own and other Churches, and he freely gave expression to that view. It was favourable to the action of Grovernor Eyre, who, he considered, had saved the country, by his prompt and decided action, from wide-spread re- bellion and a vast amount of bloodshed and un- settlement. He was always an ardent friend of the negroes, but he thought tbat they had been inflamed by radical agitators, and to all such agitators he had a great aversion, from the time of his early life in Paisley, when he enrolled as THE REBELLION OF iS6j. 129 a volunteer against them. He knew that the negroes had real grievances, and he was most anxious to remove them, — but in a constitutional and proper way. We give an extract from a letter written to the Weekli/ Review after the rebellion, which shows his deep symj^athy with the people as regarded their real grievances, and which states these clearly : — " The great body of the planters have no moral power to resist the temptation of defrauding the people of their wages, and a great part of our magistrates being planters, they have ample means of oppressing the labourer. One of our judges wrote to me some time ago to ask if I thought the people had any reason to complain of being denied justice. To be able to give him a satisfactory answer, I thought my best plan was to call a meeting of the most sensible men of the con- gregation, and to endeavour to ascertain from them if tiie people had any causes of complaint. (This was long before the revolt.) I soon discovered from them that they had not a few. They stated their opinions, however, in the most peaceable spirit, being fully aware of the trying circumstances in which the planters were placed. Their w^ages were often withheld for the most trilling excuses, and when they went to state their grievances to the planting magistrates, they all ap- peared combined against them, and they could obtain no redress. Then, if they themselves w^ere robbed, they could not get a hearing at a court of justice without first paying nine shillings, and this only fur I 130 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. the purpose of punishing the criminal ; for they never expected compensation. "What was worse than all, while the labourer was struggling hard against poverty, the planters got a law passed which deprived them of privileges wliich they had possessed ever since tlie negro was landed on the island. It never was deemed any offence for any man to pluck the wild fruits with which tlie island abounds, which were growing in open pastures or near the road, and many of the w*orking people partly subsisted on the mangoes, oranges, &c., which grow everywhere. By a recent Act, the plucking of such wild fruit was made punishable as an act of theft; and if any labourer was working in the cane-field, if he took a small piece of cane to satisfy his hunger, that was also construed into an act of theft ; and at this present moment many hundreds are suffering imprisonment for acts that no man ever accounted a crime, and to which all classes thought they had a prescribed right. These circum- stances have fiiven rise to a o^reat amount of discon- tent ; and what renders it worse, when the planter or his agent apprehends a man for taking a few mangoes or a small bit of cane, and gets him sent to the peni- tentiary for twenty or thirty days for a theft, the market value of which would not amount to one penny, many dishonest men take advantage of these circumstances to withhold all the wages they owed them. While these things are rankling in the minds of the people, the Governor and most of the public journals ignore these grievances, and are continually sounding in the ears of the people that they have no cause to com- plain, and that their own indolence is the cause of THE REBELLION OF iSdj. 131 all tlieir misfortunes. It appears that the Home Government only listens to the planters' account of matters, and will make no inquiry into the causes of the people's disaffection. I look upon it as a cir- cumstance deeply to be deplored, that when the people were looking with confidence for sympathy and assist- ance from Her Majesty, an address was put into her mouth, which, if she had known the true circumstances of the people, she never would have permitted. " It was truly distressing to hear from one who was truly to be viewed as the mother of her people a re- monstrance which sounded in my ears very like the reply of Eehoboam to the exhortations of the ten tribes ; — this, with the Governor's earnestness in circulatingr the address over the country, made things a great deal worse than they were before." But still he felt that the attempted rebellion proceeded from bad sources, was most perilous for the future of the negroes themselves, might, if not at once checked, spread as wildfire through the country, and lead to horrible scenes of massacre of the upper aud middle classes. Mr. Gordon, whom he knew well, and wdiose hospi- tality in former years — not recently — he had accepted, he regarded for years before these events happened as having become almost in- sane in his counsels to the people. He considered that he was acting as a firebrand. In the suppression of the rebellion there were acts com- 132 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. initted by individual officers under the influence of the old hatred of the negroes which he strongly reprobated, but the general policy of prompt and severe suppression he warmly approved. No measures less stringent in their general charac- ter could, he thought, have stopped the progress of the rebellion, which would have rained the country. He sympathised with Governor Eyre, and thought that he w^as very badly treated by the Government afterwards. A private letter on this subject, of which the following is a portion, was forwarded by a nephew to Thomas Carlyle : — Quotation from a Letter from Be v. Warrcind Carlile. "LucEA, Jamaica, <^th February 1867. " I fear that the treatment given to Governor Eyre will yet prove the cause of destroying the lives of thousands of innocent persons. Whatever be the nature of a revolt, few Governors will now have sufficient courage instantly to suppress it. Eyre thought he was serving his Queen and country, and all sensible men that I have ever heard of in Jamaica thought the same, when the inhuman massacre was perpetrated ; and never till the opinions of those who were far from the scene of action were circulated was any different opinion ever expressed. By and by, it will be found that Eyre and those who so promptly came forward to assist were the best friends of their rilE REBELLION OF iS6s. 133 country, and deserving of their highest thanks. I love the bhacks, and am willing to do all I can for tliem, and I highly respect Eyre and his coadjutors, believing that they only discharged sacred duties which the Supreme Judge laid upon them, and were the best friends both of the blacks and whites. " In cases of that kind it is impossible to justify every act of every individual, and I would never attempt it, while I confess that the measures generally adopted for the suppression of the revolt and the punishment of the wicked were only such as were called for." This letter drew forth from Thomas Carlyle a cordial response. Carlyle had visited him in Paisley with Edward Irving, while his first wife, Irving's sister, w^as still living, and w^as most favourably impressed w^ith him, — always speak- in ir of him to the writer of this memoir w^ith much regard. The letter is as follows : — Letter from TJwmas Carlyle to Ethuard Carlile, Esq. "Chelsea, 12th June 1867. " Dear Sir, — Here is the letter you were so obliging as enclose to me yesterday. I was agreeably surprised to find at the end of it the signature of ' Warrand Carlile/ an estimable friend of my youth, whom I have not seen for five-and-forty years, but have never ceased to remember with respect and affection. " I knew him always for a man of candour, clear sense, ^34 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. and perfect veracity of word and of mind. He even, from the midst of his Negro environment, gives beauti- ful proof of these fine qualities, and speaks an opinion which is wholly my own, gathered from a very different point of vision. I only wish some Colonial Secretary with the heart of a man in him, and not of a coward and political pettifogger, could be made to read that testimony, and understand thoroughly from what kind of source it came ! " If you write to Mr. Carlile, please send him my best remembrances and affectionate good wishes. To your- self I return my thanks, and am (though without time to express it further), sincerely yours and his, " T. Carlyle." ( 135 ) CIIAPTEll xiir. ins LA TER YEARS. Mr. Carlile again visited his native countiy in 1863. He was in full vigour, and gave various addresses on missions and spent much pleasant time with his relatives and friends. He returned at the close of the year, and continued to live on in Jamaica afterwards, without a break, till his death in 1881. These years had not any very striking incident. Everything in his work con- tinued to prosper, and he was reaping the harvest which he had sown. He lived happily in the midst of a devoted people, strengthening con- tinually the religious life which had taken such a hold of the district, and had made it one of the brightest spots in the island of Jamaica. We have referred to his fondness for studies of different kinds. He had almost continually something on hand in which he was absorbed, and when he took up any subject, it engrossed his 136 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. whole attention till be finished it. In his island home there was no great access to current litera- ture, so that he engaged himself often with the study of some language or with practical mathematics. But he frequently got special books of interest, to which for a time he devoted his whole thoughts. He was always very fond of the study of geology, and wrote a series of letters to the Christian Times of London, con- taining many suggestions for reconciling the Mosaic account of creation with the ascertained facts of geological science. At an earlier period he wrote a pamphlet on the ^' Vestiges of Creation," refuting, as he believed, many of its aro^uments. He took immense interest in Dr. Piazzi Smith's book on the Great Pyramid, and made a number of calculations himself in regard to it, which he published in a little pamphlet. He took up Colenso's book, and he proved heyond all question^ by simple calculations, that Colenso's insuperable clifiiculties as to the in- crease of the Israelitish population in Egypt were groundless. He showed to demonstration that the increase stated was quite possible. This pamphlet exposed unanswerably by hard figures the fallacies of Colenso, which so many persons, ignorant of figures or not troubling about them, Ills LATER YEARS. 137 have taken for granted. It was impossible that his publications 0!i these subjects should have a large circulation, unknown as he was to publishers, but some of them were very able. Thus he kept himself constantly engaged with some question of importance, or, when other things failed, with different languages. His study had a bow- window with a magnificent view of the blue waters of the Carribean Sea, and with a noble landscape of hill and dale in the foreground. The climate suited him exactly. He used to sit with closed windows, — never feelino- it too hot. Of course the mountain air is very different from that of the plains, and there is scarcely ever the stagnation of air which makes heat intolerable. He generally sat in his study at a sloping desk with a high stool, as he felt thus more active for work. It was in harmony with his old business habits in Paisley. Our readers will remember an account of a fire in his temporary cottage in 1844 and the kind- ness shown by the people. Such fires are very frequent in wooden houses with kitchens attached, and in 1867 ^^^ manse was saved only by the zeal and alacrity of the people. No better proof could be given of their hearty devotion to him than 138 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. in tlie following description of the extinction of the fire : — " For some time we have had little ram in this neioh- bourhood, and the land is in general burned up with the drought. About this season, before the rain com- mences, the people generally clear their grounds to pre- pare for a future crop by burning the bush. This is often attended with considerable danger. About ten days ago the dwelling-house was very providentially saved from the flames. "For some weeks past I have been urging the people to bring home the shingles which were lying ready for completing the covering of the church. Con- trary to their usual practice, they delayed week after week, until I thouGjht I would have been oblisfed to hire labourers for the purpose. Before doing this, I made a final request, and fixed a day for them to com- plete their assigned work. On the appointed day I was not a little surprised to find two or three times more than the expected number, as if to show that they were ashamed of their past delay. Having brought in the shingles, they came to the manse to partake of a small repast promised them. Just as they had finished, and before leaving^, there was a sudden and an alarminoj call for help, as a large fire, driven by a strong wind, was rapidly spreading, and threatening the destruction of several houses. At once thirty or forty persons (a larger number than we had seen here for many months) ran to assist in arresting the progress of the devouring flames. Water was at some distance, and with difiicultv to be found ; but by the numbers and promptitude of Ills LATER YEARS. 139 the people, one house, already on fire, was saved, and dan^jer averted from others. Still the fire was ra^inir and spreading, and all tlie people waited to watch its progress and to lend their assistance whenever danger appeared. They had waited for an hour or two till all danger was thought to be over, when a sudden cry was heard that the manse was on fire : and on turnincj round, I was aniazed to see the flames issuim^ from tlie roof. All instantly ran to the rescue ; and before I could ascend the steep hill on which the house stands, several persons were already on the roof, tearing up the burn- ing shingle, and using all means in their power to ex- tinguish the spreading flames. The first object that met my eye on reaching the top of the hill was Mrs. Carlile, supported by two persons hurrying her from the scene of danger. There at first she was all alone, trying to pick up some valuables from the burning dwelling. Crowds were rushini:; into the house, and brinoincr out with all speed any article of furniture they could lay their hands upon. Tables, chairs, sofa, &c., &c., were in an incredibly short time laid down in an inextricable confusion before the door. All the pictures were torn from the walls, and all the books in the house piled together; and nothing but racing of the people, con- fusion, and alarm were visible in everything and every- bodv. I could soon see that the dan!]^er was all but over, and rather enjoyed the scene of bustle and turmoil which I found myself in the midst. The wind, which a short time before was very high, suddenly lulled, and by the numbers and alacrity of the people the house was saved. All saw and acknowledired that it was the hand of God that saved us. If the people had come I40 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. when I requested them, or if they had not come in more than usual numbers, and if they had not come in the very time they did, this house would probably have been a ruin, and ourselves outcasts. ' that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men ! ' When the fire was fully extinguished everything was soon restored to its place ; and we were amazed to find that nothing was lost, and scarcely any injury done to the furniture. The exceeding kindness and attention of the people were a great source of comfort to us ; not only did they replace all the furniture, but many of tliem came on the following morning and cleaned out all the house. By applying about 500 shingles which were lying ready the damage was fully repaired in a day or two. " To-day the church is fully covered with the new shingles. The number provided by the people has been about io,coo." Even ill his later years, indeed up to the last, Le continued full of activity. After his eightieth year he was accustomed to take long rides and diligently to visit the sick. The roads were often difficult, and even dangerous, but he was not to be daunted. Sometimes along a narrow path on a mountain-side the horse or mule had to cautiously pick its steps, while steep, almost pre- cipitous, slopes on the one side extended far down into the dark gulleys. He used often to hold meetings in those scattered districts accessible Ills LATER YEARS. 141 only by the mountain paths. A year or two before his death he had rather a severe fall from his horse, which he felt for a time, but generally he met with scarcely any accidents, — and with no other of importance. It was a great comfort to him in his later years that the Eev. Dr. Hamilton JMacGill, an old friend of the family and a warmly attached friend of his own, was Secretary of the Mission Board of the United Presbyterian Church. Dr. MacGill visited Jamaica in 1871, when Mr. Carlile was seventy-four, and the visit was a great delight to him. Dr. MacGill always took a deep interest in him and his work, and acted with the greatest delicacy and consideration as to any arrangements he might desire. He frequently sounded him as to any wish to retire from his work, ojBfering from the committee to provide for him a proper allow- ance, either at home or in Jamaica. But he pre- ferred greatly the idea of continuing active to the last, and dying among his own people. lie was within a few months of eighty when the Foreign Mission Committee, pressed by the sug- gestions of friends and by their knowledge of his age, passed a resolution granting him the aid of a native evangelist, as a tentative measure. The resolution was forwarded by Dr. MacGill in 142 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. the following letter, whicli showed his kindly feel- ing. Dr. Mac Gill was son-in-law of Mrs. Heugh, widow of the well-known Dr. Heugh of Glasgow. She lived, we believe, to be nearly a hundred : — " My Dear Mr. Carlile, — I have at least three of your recent letters to answer, in each of which you speak of your health cheerfully. In one of these, however, you plainly indicate, what you had not done before, that you were ready to accept of some assistance in your labours. If you had distinctly asked a colleague, we should have been bound to seek for one without delay. If, indeed, you had asked to retire from all active work from this time, we should have been bound to acquiesce, and to provide you with a retiring allow- ance. We have taken an intermediate course, and have named two of our most competent evangelists, one or other of whom I hope it will be arranged to give you as an assistant, to give such help in preaching and visiting as may be fouud necessary. As a very old friend (think of me as on the same bench in the Moral Philosophy with you in 1831 !) I would advise you to take this help. I suppose you do not think of coming to this country (we should be glad to see you), and your desire seems to be to work on so long as the Master gives you strength. Well, it is w^onderful that you have been able to work so long and to recover the minute remembrance of the Hebrew Psalter. "I am glad to tell you that your old friend Mrs. Heugh, to whom you often refer, remembers with a sharpness and accuracy resembling your own, and that she has forgotten nothing regarding you or your father's Ills LATER YEARS. 143 family. She is sixteen years older than you are. Kindest regards to dear Mrs. Carlile. Ever affection- ately yours, Hamilton M. MacGill." "5 Queen Street, Edinburgh, lyih June 1876. " The Foreign Mission Committee met here to-day. " Inter alia, " The Secretary stated that in various letters he had recently received from the Eev. Warrand Carlile of Brownsville, he was led to the conclusion, in harmony with that of Mr. Carlile's friends, that he ouMit now to be offered assistance in his superintendence of the congregation, inasmuch as he was completing his seventy-ninth year. It was therefore agreed that, as a tentative measure, since Mr. Carlile desires, so long as he is able, to retain the charge of the station, to provide him with the aid of a native evangelist, to occupy the pulpit at Brownsville as occasion requires and to relieve him of as much visiting as possible, and that with this end in view the Secretary be in- structed to correspond with Mr. Carlile and his Pres- bytery, and also with Mr. John Pusey or Mr. John M'Donald, or, if necessary, with both these evangelists, and with their ministers respectively, in order to secure the consent of all parties in providing Mr. Carlile with this assistance, and also to facilitate the appointment of a substitute for the evangelist who may be removed to Brownsville. " Extracted from the minutes. "Hamilton M. MacGill." 144 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. This proposal did not come to anything, on account of Mr. Carlile's reluctance to have help, when he thought the matter over more seriously. He felt still at eighty years of age that he could do the work himself. Three years later the com- mittee sent a junior missionary, the Eev. George M'Neill, who arrived on the day that Mr. Caiiile was eighty-three. Mr. Carlile had thus continued to carry on the work alone till that period of life, and was even then scarcely willing to accept help ; but Mr. M'Neill acted towards him the part of a son, and was a great comfort to him in his later days, exhibiting much delicacy and kindness in all his relations with him. He also had great enjoyment then and for many years previously, in the devoted affection of the Eev. Adam Thomson of Montego Bay, a fellow- townsman. Nothing could exceed Mr. Thom- son's attention and consideration. After Mr. M'Neill's arrival, he continued to take an active part in the work, though his memory especially had greatly failed. On the day that he reached the age of eighty-four a presentation was made to him. It is thus described in the columns of the Jamaica Witness : — " A large and very interesting congregational meeting was held at Brownsville on the 12th November, for the HIS LATER YEARS. 145 purpose of commemorating the aged minister's eighty- fourth birthday, and the anniversary of tlie younger minister's arrival to take part with Mr. Carlile in the oversight of tlie congregation. The coincidence of both events occurring on tlie same day made the meeting one of more than common interest to tlie people. The attendance was large, and the feeling manifested showed how Mr. Carlile's thirty-eight years of labour had not been in vain. One of the teachers, who is also an elder, read the following address to the aged minister : — " To the Reverend Warrand Carlile. " Dear Pastor, — We, the office-bearers, members, and adherents of the Brownsville consrreg:ation, con- gratulate you on this your eighty-fourth birthday. Nearly thirty-eight of these years have been usefully and successfully spent in traversing our mountains and dells, on roads which were almost impassable, bear- ing the glad tidings of salvation to the perishing, in- structing the ignorant, and relieving the wants of many. We remember the ardent zeal and energy with which you accompanied the men to the forests in quest of timber for the erection of this church, imitating the zeal of one of the prophets in former days, which ex- ample we hope will be emulated by those who are to be leaders of the people. We will not forget your inde- fatigable and persevering efforts in providing men and means for relieving those who had been attacked by that appalling epidemic — cholera, not only here, but in places far distant. You have established schools in the districts around, frum which many have arisen to 146 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. become teachers, and are now communicating know- ledge to others, manifesting the success of your gospel ministry amongst us. You have gathered a large con- gregation. For your earnest desire and unwearied efforts to bring us to the Saviour, we will ever cherish f^rateful recollections, and endeavour to walk in the good way you have taught us. We highly appreciate your labours, and give thanks to the Great Head of the Church for what has been done here through your instrumentality. " We pray that God will continue to bless you and your beloved wife and children. " In the name of the congregation, I now present to you this birthday gift, as a small token of our united love and gratitude. — We remain, beloved Pastor, yours in the Lord. "Signed in name of the congregation by all the elders." The gift presented to the venerable pastor was an elegant dressing-gown. The address was responded to in a very touching manner by the aged man of God. As he pointed far back to other years, and forward to an eternal reunion with his people, many hearts were deeply moved. Mr. M'Neill expressed his gratitude to God for bringing him into contact with one whose life and purpose of heart were alike lofty and pure. He considered it the great- est honour to follow one who had so consistently walked with God, lived for the people and sought their highest good. Several of the elders and members made quaint and thrillin"^ speeches, in which there was no lack of HIS LATER YEARS. 147 oratorical power. The deep affection and gratitude which filled their hearts found a ready response from the entire audience. Many touching reminiscences were brought forward re^rardincj the buildimr of tlieir present place of worship, and the picturesque spire which still rears its stately head above the foliage of the large and beautiful trees with which it is surrounded Praise and thanksgiving filled up the greater part of a very happy day. At the close the c^ift was exhibited to the f^reat delight of tlie audience. .( H8 ) CHAPTEE XIV. THE END. About five months after this, or in April 1881, Mr. Carlile began very rapidly to fail. Though still physically active, he became bewildered, imagining himself back in the scenes of the past, in his old home in Paisley, surrounded by those who had long since departed. At length, in Auo;ust, he was seized with fever, and after a few days he rested in Christ, at the age of eighty-four years and nine months. His wife, who had been his companion and stay during all these years in Jamaica, w^atched over him tenderly to the last. Durinoc the illness the neo;roes surrounded the cottage where he lay, full of anxiety, as of children for a loving father. His last conscious words, spoken in a solemn tone and with clasped hands, were, "Blessed be God, blessed be God, for that peace which the world cannot take THE EKD. 149 away." His countenance after deatli was peace- ful and serapliic, and multitudes of the people all around came with tears in their eyes to have a last look at their dear pastor, who had watched over many of them from childhood upwards, and over all of them for more than a o;eneration. He was laid to rest, after a solemn service in the crowded church, close to the manse where he spent so many years. Here, on the hill-side, under the deep shadow of a mango-tree, a stone with a short inscription marks his last resting- place. The followino; is from a letter of Mr. M'Neill to the compiler of this sketch, in which he describes the end : — "BUOWNSVILLE, LUCEA, P.O., Jamaica, September 5, 1881. " My dear Sir, — It is my sorrowful duty to iiifonu you of the death of your venerable and beloved father. He fell asleep on Thursday, 25th ult., at half-past 9 o'clock P.M. He continued in the state of health described to you by Mrs. Carlile, only he was calm and his mind soothed, and frequently he enjoyed a con- versation. He loved to talk of the past, of the dear old days in his father's house in Paisley. He longed to see all his children. The Word of God was precious unto him, and with intense delight he talked of heaven. It was quite evident there was a desire to depart and I50 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. be with Christ. Some months ago I remember him saying to me that he would soon die, and he added, 'I am not afraid, as I have the glorious hope of being with Christ.' I have observed the infirmities of age pressing heavily upon him, yet he had such a healthy constitu- tion, and would, hero-like, hold out to the last. " On Friday, 19th ult., he had a sharp attack of fever, and felt very weak. The fever abated a little, but the intense heat remained in the body. He walked about the house, and on Sabbath morning he walked to our house. On Monday he was twice at our house. On Tuesday he attempted it, but scarcely felt able, and returned home. I saw with much concern that he was gradually sinking. A state of coma set in. The doctor was very kind, and told how little help his advice could bring. How tenderly and lovingly he was watched by his dear wife and the kind faithful nurse, Mrs. Kenny, during those last days of unconsciousness ! All that loving hearts could devise and hands could do, was done for God's dear servant. A halo of glory was round that death-bed. The poor black people, young and old, would come softly and steal a look, a last look, of their dear old minister. The hours sped slowly yet quickly on, and at last he sweetly passed away to his rest and reward. ' Precious in the sisiht of the Lord is the death of His saints.' You will be comforted to know that everything for the burial was done in a quiet, loving way. You are aware how a hot climate necessi- tates speedy burial. On the following day, Friday, we buried him. First, we had short service in the house with dear Mrs. Carlile. Then we carried the coffin to the church. There was a large congregation. The grave is near the house, the most secure spot of ground we THE END. 151 could find. Gathered at the grave, we sang the hymn, the last words of which were very appropriate : — * Asleep in Jesus ! far from thee , Thy kindred and their graves may be ; But thine is still a blessed sleep, From which none ever wakes to weep.' " ' Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.' Dear Mrs. Carlile has been wonderfully sustained. I was afraid that after her long time of patient watching, the reaction might prove serious. Her ministry of love was unspeakably beautiful. And now she must feel lonely, but I am sure can say, ' Thy will be done.' I cannot tell you how much I miss your father's presence, he received me with such a hearty welcome, and so en- couraged me in my work. I needed no more company. He had such a happy way of making everything bright about him. He commanded my deep reverence and love. I pray I may be enabled to follow him as he followed Christ. Yet none need regret. A noble life is left behind with its clear testimony to the truth. " I trust you are well, and praying that God may abundantly bless you, — With kindest regards, in which Mrs. M'!N"eill joins, believe me, yours very sincerely, "George M'Xeill." The following tribute to his memory appeared in the United Presbyterian Missionary Record of November 1881, from the well-known Dr. Hanna, son-in-law and biographer of Chalmers, who has himself since gone to his rest : — " Very early and grateful remembrances carry me back to the bright and prosperous home of Mr. War- 152 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. rand Caiiile at Paisley. Nothing but the deepest reli- gious convictions could have induced him to leave that home, and throw up the large business prospects that birth and famil}^ connections opened up to him there, to undertake the duties of a missionary in the foreign field. And nothing but a spirit of singular fidelity and duty could have enabled him to adhere for so long a time with such tenacity of purpose to that limited, remote, and outwardly unattractive sphere of labour that he chose, in which there was so little to draw the eye of the Churches to him or to his work. It is for this that I so deeply revere his memory, and count him amoncf the crreatest of our missionaries ; that he so quietly, unnoticedly gave a lifetime's devoted service to that small community of negroes to which he be- came so singularly attached." The following notice of him appeared in the Jamaica Witness: — " Death of the Rev. Warrand Carlile. " It is our melancholy task to record the death of the venerable Warrand Carlile, senior minister of the Pres- byterian Church at Brownsville, Hanover, on Thursday evening, 25th ultimo, in the 85 th year of his age. ' Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.' " No more devoted, self-denying, and indefatigable Christian missionary than Mr. Carlile was ever landed on our shores. He now rests from his labours, and his works do follow him. He was, indeed, no ordinary man. Distinguished alike by his superior mental en- dowments, by his persevering researches and erudite THE END. 153 attainmeuts iu several branches of learning, and by tlie Christian graces and virtues with which he was adorned, his protracted life was chiefly spent, under tlie prompt- ings of a Howard-like philanthropy, in efforts to pro- mote the temporal and eternal welfare of his fellcw- men — first in his native country (Scotland) ; subse- quently in Ireland ; and latterly in Jamaica, where lie has been diligently and earnestly engaged, in season and out of season, in his Master's service, for the long period of thirty-eight years. He arrived with his family at Montego Bay on the 2d of January 1843, ^^^^ imme- diately thereafter entered on the discharge of his duties at Brownsville. If the inhabitants of the district in which his lot was providentially cast be not a God- fearing, law-abiding, industrious, and well-to-do people, the fault assuredly was not his. " The late lamented Mr. Carlile was born in Paisley, and the family of which he was a member was one of the leadino: and most eminent Christian families of that town. He prosecuted his advanced literary and theological studies in the University of Glasgow. From early manhood he took an enthusiastic and active inte- rest in the religious and benevolent institutions for which Paisley was then famed; and, after a term of years, he relinquished his connection with his father's business — that of a thread manufacturer — in order that he might consecrate himself w^iolly, all his time and talents, to the work of the gospel ministry. In that work he felt a su[treme and unabated delight till the end of his career ; and having been faithful unto death, lie has doubtless now received the promised crown of life. 154 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. ' Servant of God, well clone ! • Rest from tliy loved employ ; The battle fought, the victory won, Enter tliy Master's joy ! ' Soldier of Christ, well done ! Praise be thy new employ ; And while eternal ages run, Rest in thy Saviour's joy.' " lu all the domestic and social relations of life our departed father and friend was invariably and remark- ably conscientious and upright, warm-hearted and gene- rous, and his deportment, both in private and in public, was uniformly that of a Christian gentleman, the highest style and title of a human being. * By the grace of God he was what he was.' He has left behind him a fragrant memory, which those who knew him cannot cease to cherish, and a bright example which they will do well to imitate. ' Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright ; for the end of that man is peace.' * They that be wise shall shine as the bright- ness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.' " Mrs. McNeill, the wife of his successor, has written thus about him : — " Our beloved aged pastor has fallen asleep. Lofty and noble was his pure, true life. Never tired, never complaining — though abundant and laborious was his work. Like Enoch, he walked with God, and is not. Acknowledged as a power amongst his brethren, as a king and a father by his people. For them he gave his THE END. 155 life and his fortune, nor ever craved more of this poor earth save a lonely spot to rest, until the ' trumpet's voice' shall call him, and those whom he gathered, into the fold of the Chief Sheplierd. Yet that grave in the solitude is sacred. The birds sin^ in the rnanf^jo- tree which shades his resting-place their sweetest songs ; the honey-laden bee makes its own music there ; and thither turns the step of toil and grief, that it may hear again in memory that loved voice which healed and soothed and cheered in days gone by. We shall not see his like again. "We cannot hope to see, in one short life, another such as he. A halo of sweet memories clusters round his walk, his work, his life — his brave, true life, so resolute, inflexible, and calm. Goodness and mercy were his daily song. Eternity can only develop and prolong these notes of gladness, love, and praise. A noble Christian soldier's life was his on earth, and death to him brought only loftier birth. He built on the foundation — gold and precious stones. His talents — all were used ; and at his dear Redeemer's feet he laid his trophies down. Much of his work went on before * to judgment,' and much still circles round, the eddies ever touching the eternal shore, as one by one the souls he gained for Christ leave this fair island of the sea, and passing through the door of death, find him where death can never come. One cannot say he died ; he only fell asleep, when he resigned his charge to, one his prayers had drawn from Britain's shore, to clasp his fallen mantle and live out his life. A few years more — then other hands will take it up from him to whom the grand old man so lovingly and trustfully made over his cherished work of winning souls as gems to sparkle in his Saviour's many crowns. A noble 156 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. heritage of many prayers is theirs who claimed him as the husband and the father. A benediction of soft music and sweet peace will crown their daily walk. He knew I admired both Thomas Carlyle and Edward Irving in many ways, and used to tell me often about a ride the three had taken with one horse in their youthful days. Carlyle speaks of it in ' Eemi- niscences : ' * ' Warrand Carlile, hearing I had to go by Muirkirk in Ayrshire, and Irving to return to Glasgow, suggested a convoy of me by Irving and himself, furthered by a fine riding-horse of Warrand's, on the ride-and-tie principle. ... I never rode and tied (especially with three) before or since, but recollect we had no difficulty with it.' ' Thou shalt lend, and not borrow,' was the life-Ions^ blessincj restinc^ on our noble Warrand Carlile's head. To me, that ride will ever be a living picture. Thomas Carlyle, the after- sage of world-wide fame, and Edward Irving — the sublime, ethereal, generous-hearted Irving — with War- rand Carlile. They each have passed away; the mighty hammerer of herculean thought cut out his granite stones, and placed them in mosaic beauty,, and cleared the lives of great men from chaotic rubbish. Yet was he but a poor, lone, childless man. Through life he seemed to grope in a dark cavern, where neither sun nor stars for many days appeared. Many have tried to comprehend Irving; few, if any, ever suc- ceeded. His organism w^as unique and ethereal; his large, generous heart, and yearning love for the Unseen, were rare and exquisite. Warrand Carlile and he have met again, where they, like Daniel, shall each rest and * "Reminiscences," by Thomas Carlyle, vol. i. p. 176. THE END. 157 stand in their lot at the end of the days. We, tlie mourning flock of Warrand Carlile, know his prayers shall be assuredly answered in our midst in God's good time. The radiant face flashes back on us, as it shone when he would authoritatively say, ' It is as good as done, when God has said it.' " In his funeral sermon, the Eev. Adam Thom- son, of Montego Bay, Jamaica, of whom we have spoken as a most devoted friend for many years, thus describes him, after giving an interesting sketch of his career : — '' He was a man of warm sympathies, genuine affec- tion, and great generosity and kindness, in whom the poor and needy, the injured and oppressed, ever found a friend, ready to help and defend them to the utmost of his ability. This was especially and notably the case in times of emergency, such as, in the dreadful visitations of cholera and small-pox, when the efforts which he put forth, both by night and by day, in behalf of suffering humanity and to arrest the ravages of pes- tilential disease, were at once herculean and heroic. " He w^as habitually characterised by a remarkable composure and serenity of mind. Under trials and disappointments (some of them of a more private and others of a more public kind) which would have disquieted and depressed other men, he uniformly maintained and displayed an unruffled and tranquil deportment. The secret w^as, * He had made the Lord his refu(:je, tlie Most Hicrh his habitation.' Such texts 158 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA.' as these were often on his lips, and were assuredly the stay and solace of his life : ' God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.' ' Trust ye in the Lord for ever : for in the Lord Jehovah is everlast- ing strength.' In response to this confiding spirit, as well as in recompense of it, the promise of a faithful and covenant-keeping God was fully verified in his experience, ' Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.' " ( '59 ) CHAPTER XV. THE PRESENT STATE OF JAMAICA-THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSION— BROWNSVILLE, We mav close tbis bock with a brief notice — ist, Of the present state of Jamaica ; and 2d, Of the United Presbyterian Mission. Sir Anthony Musgrave, K.C.M.G., late Gover- nor of Jamaica, read a very valuable paper at the Royal Colonial Institute, on April 20, 1880,^ in which he gave a very difierent view of the present state of Jamaica from that given by many others. The reading of the paper was fol- lowed by an important discussion. *' The mass of the people," he said, " so far from deserving the evil reputation which has been indiscrimi- nately aj^plied to them, will compare in many respects not unfavourably with the peasantry of other countries. And it is inconsistent with facts to suppose that the population are dependent * Referred to before. See page 109. i6o MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. for their present wellbeing on the future pros- perity in the cultivation of the sugar estates ; the truth being that this industry does not afford decent employment to more than about five per cent, of the total population of the colony." The total population he estimated at about 570,000, and the estate labourers or adults of both sexes and all ages at 22,800. He says further, "I do not hesitate to express my wonder that they have moved so far forward on the path of material Avellbeing and moral progress as they may be seen to have moved on the whole." *' There is also great material progress." In 1870-71 the import duties yielded ^193, 2 26, and the excise ^75,254. In 1877-78, the same duties yielded ^245,075 and ^^92,888 respec- ' tively. The value of books imported in 1866-67 was ;^624, and in 1876-77 was ;^9628. The houses are also greatly improving. From 1868-69 to 1876-77, the total number of houses paying the specific tax of six shillings increased from 4 1 , 1 08 to 5 1 ,0 1 o, while that of the two lowest classes were reduced from 13,621 to 12,398. Sir Anthony gave descriptions of those native houses from various clergymen, showing how roomy, and comfortable, and respectable they are : *' The negro population cannot fairly be written THE PRESENT STATE OF JAMAICA. i6i down as hopeless savages while they contrive to house themselves upon the whole a good deal bet- ter than some of their European fellow-subjects." Further : " The negro population are themselves cultivators of the cane and producers of raw sugar to no small extent, although the processes they employ are as yet crude and wasteful, and the produce, so far as I know, entirely consumed among the lower classes. It will surprise a great many, I think, to learn that there are nearly 6000 small sugar-mills in different parts of the island, crushing the produce of small holdings." The exports and imports, he notes, giving the figures, have rapidly increased during the last few years. New sources of industry — and this is very important — are arising. The coffee produce is increasing. The growth and exportation of logwood is becoming greater every year. Cocoa- nuts have become an item in the list of merchan- dise. Then there are, of much importance pro- bably for the future, the cinchona plantations in the Blue Mountain range, introduced by Sir John Grant, which will increase greatly the supply of quinine, and be a source of considerable profit. The cultiv^ationof tobacco is also becom- ino; much more extensive, and Jamaica cio;ars begin to compete with those of Havana ; and her. L i62 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. fruit trade, which had no existence cas a foreign trade before 1869, is rapidly increasing. A trade in cattle is likely to be hereafter produc- tive on account of the splendid pastures of guinea-grass for the rearing of cattle. The schools assisted were 286 in 1868, and 617 in 1878 — I first-class in the former year, 54 in the latter ; 6 second-class in the former, 1 76 in the latter ; and registered children in the former, 19,764; and in the latter 51,488; average attendance, 12,216 in the former, and 29,679 in the latter. This statement shows clearly that Jamaica is in a healthy position, that its prospects are improving, and that under wise guidance it is likely to be again a prosperous colony with a happy and industrious peasantry. The recent report of the Koyal Commissioners, to which we have referred several times previ- ously, also represents things in a very different light in some respects from that in which they have been generally regarded. The Times, in summarising this report, says : — " If the Jamaica negro gives only a part of his labour to the planting interest, some very good reasons can be given for his not doing more. The character and capacities of the negro depend much, as in other races, on his circumstances and surroundings, and general statements as to racial character only mislead adminis- THE PRESENT STATE OF JAMAICA. 163 trators and perpetuate dangerous prejudices. The Commissioners admit that the negro works admirably at the heavy labour required in making railway cuttings and embankments in Jamaica, and that he is enterprising enough to seek such kind of labour abroad. In the works connected with the Panama Canal he is the most esteemed and reliable of the races employed in that undertaking. In a recent report of the cliief en^jineer of that w^ork, it is said that nem-o labourers were jealous of the powerful machinery that excavated the deep earth-cuttings, and volunteered to do the work for the same cost as the machinery, and as quickly. The engineer, wishing to encourage such excel- lent labourers, consented to this unprecedented demand, and the negro actually succeeded, outdistancing the machinery. The Jamaica negro is a prominent work- man among these splendid navvies. It is well known among yachtsmen and sailors frequenting the West Indies that the West India negro is a bold, reliable, obedient, and enduring seaman, — qualities never to be found among a naturally indolent people. All present and past experience of the West Indies and the United States point to the negro as the finest tropical hxbourer in the world ; and if he refuses to work for our planters in some of our islands, depend upon it there are reasons of sufficient weight for his conduct. It would be better for those mainly interested to seek out and remedy existing defects in the present relations between capital and labour, instead of avoiding the whole question by the introduction of another race — a method somewhat costly and full of future danger." 1 64 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. The Commissioners make a significant state- ment in paragraph 272 : — "A great majority of the black population does and will always prefer to seek a livelihood by any other means than by working on estates. A large propor- tion is unwilling to labour, from causes now happily dying out, but which ought never to have existed. When the slaves were emancipated, the Jamaica planters, as a body, with certain wise exceptions, allowed a natural vexation to get the upper hand. Many did their best to realise their own prophecy that all must be ruined from want of labourers. In driving the negroes off the estates, they embittered the lingering traditions of slavery, and drove many who would have become labourers to other pursuits. In many places, even tip to the jprescnt time, no good system of payment has been introduced, and the harsh action of irresponsible book-keepers and overseers in ' cutting ' and ' stopping ' wages has caused a wide- spread aversion to labouring on estates." On this subject Sir Anthony Musgrave says in the paper we have quoted from above : — " The policy of the landed proprietors in that day was to drive the emancipated labourers away from the properties on which they had previously dwelt. In all other places the importance is recognised of having labour resident, near to the place that it is to be applied. Strange and almost incredible as it may seem now, viewed in the light of common sense, it was, however, the fact that the proprietors and their agents THE PRESENT STATE OF JAMAICA. 165 at that time conipellud the former slaves to seek for habitations, or at least shelter, miles away from the places where their work was required. They were not permitted to remain on the estates. It was not wonderful that the labourers did not fancy having to walk great distances to and from their work every day, and gradually sought and found occupations for themselv^es nearer to their homes. The present genera- tion of planters are not responsible for the folly of their predecessors, but, as too frequently happens, the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. The planters cannot get labour enough now, because their predecessors carefully taught the peasantry to do witliout the sucjar estates." Mr. Stephen Bourne, an old Jamaica resident, said also in the discussion on the paper : — "I myself saw over and over again cottages in the land unroofed, and the cocoa-nut trees cut down, in order that the labourers might find it necessary to leave their homes or accept the wages that were ofTered by their former owmers." The WTiter of this book Avas only a boy when he resided in Jamaica, but he remembers well the impressions that were then made. The planters, who unfortunately were generally mere managers, not owners, in most instances men of not high moral character, had an inveterate prejudice against the negroes, and actually drove them off the estates. They pulled down many of their 1 66 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. Louses in the estate villages, and on all kinds of dishonourable pretexts cut down their honestly won wages or deprived them of them alto- gether. The consequence was that the most industrious soon laid up a little money, bought their own little properties, and became inde- pendent. These squatters were, as a rule, the best of the people, those who had worked and were able to buy land. The planters thus helped to ruin the estates. Laws were also passed of an absurd kind for such a country, making it theft to take fruit growing on the roadside, &c., fruit that was always common property from time immemorial, and that feeds pigs, horses, cows, &c. — it is so abundant. By such petty vexations they sent the people away from the properties. Jamaica is a very fertile country. The Com- missioners say : — " It is seen that thirty days' labour in the year on an acre of good soil in Jamaica will, in addition to providing a family with necessary food for the year, yield a surplus saleable in the market of from £io to £^0. 108,000 acres of this land are occupied by 47,000 prosperous negro peasant-proprietors." We have been impressed from the time of our residence in Jamaica, and this impression is con- THE PRESENT STATE OF JAMAICA. 167 firmed by most statements of fact now, that tlie future prosperity of Jamaica lies greatly in the encouragement of the squatters to produce things wanted for the European market. The large- estate system is almost hopeless. The introduc- tion of coolies is a very questionable benefit. The country possesses enormous resources, and there are well-to-do industrious labourers enouoh among the negroes, proved by the facts we have quoted. Surely then some means can be devised by which the settlers on their own small pro- perties may be encouraged to grow products for the European market — may thus have an outlet for their industry, in which case they would no doubt extend greatly their properties, and become the centre of a new era of prosperity. A middle class springs up naturally. A fertile country like this, with a people proved to be willing to work, as the Koyal Commissioners state, ouo-ht not to be in a bad state. A little in^e- nuity or enterprise might surely devise methods for securing its progress on new lines. If the United States had owned Jamaica, it would, we believe, have attracted many enterprising monied an-ents to devise new industries, and the island would probably now have been flourishing. The United Presbyterian Mission has thirty- 1 68 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. seven * principal stations. The regular attend- ance at tbe different churches is calculated at from 12,000 to 13,000. The membership of the con- gregations at the close of 1882 was 7937, an increase of 420 in the year. The Sabbath-school teachers were at the same date 566, and the scholars 5955, an advance of fifty-four teachers and 545 scholars in the year. The day-school teachers were seventy, and the children attending school 6054, an increase of twelve teachers and 1254 scholars in the year. The amount received for school fees had advanced in the same period from ^430 to ^607. The contributions from the Jamaica congregations for all purposes, which in 1 88 1 amounted to ^4898, reached ^5841, an increase of £943, in 1882. Everything in the state of the mission indicates future blessing and prosperity. It is certainly one of the most efficient missions in Jamaica. The negroes under its influence are noted for their character and intelligence. In 1882 the Mission Board sent out an ao;ent to oro-anise the work, on the strong; recommendation of the deputies to whose visit we have referred. It was fortunate enouo;h to be able to select for the purpose the Eev. William Gillies, formerly one * For names of stations, see Appendix C, p. i88. THE PRESENT STATE OE JAMAICA. 169 ■of the missionaries in Jamaica for nearly eleven years, and well known latterly in Scotland as the active and able secretary of the Religious Tract and Book Society. There is the hope that at no distant day the Jamaica Presbyterian Church will be in the position of a self-sustaining church, — but special care is needed to bring about this change in such a method as in no way to endanger the permanency of the work already accomplished. Several other missions have been greatly injured by the attempt to force them too rapidly to depend on their own resources, but in this case, under Mr. Gillies' supervision, every precaution will be taken. "Several important steps,'' it is said in the last report, "have been taken by the local Synod in the way of progress. The native cate- chists or evangelists are now to be supported by the Jamaica Synod's Home Mission Fund, and are no longer to form any charge on the funds of the Board, while arrangements are being made for orojanisino; the Auo-mentation Fund (viz., for ministerial support on the system of the United Presbyterian Church in Scotland) which the Jamaica Synod resolved last year (1882) to institute." The Synod has also been considering the necessity of making some vigorous effort to supply the people with a jiealthful Christian I/O MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. literature. With tins object in view it is pro- posed to estaLlisli a system of colportage, and a Committee of Synod (Jamaica) are at present eno-ao-ed in considerino: the matter in its various details. Such colportage would be a great bless- ing to Jamaica, and Mr. Gillies' ample experi- ence in Scotland and England would give every advantage for establishing it efficiently. The last report of Brownsville by the Kev. George M'Neill is encouraging. A number of the young men had begun house-to-house prayer meetings. *' They overtake several every Sabbath morning, and in this way reach most of the dis- trict. Very sweet are the hymns, whose music mino;les with the mountain breeze here and there. A Wednesday evening meeting was attended by 300 in the dry season." Most of those who attend have no clothes fit to appear in daylight. It is like a new congregation. Tliere were 344 scholars at three day-schools. We may in con- clusion mention one thing that lay very much to Mr. Carlile's heart, and which the Mission Board are anxious to see carried out. It is the buildino; of a new church at Pondside, some miles from Brownsville. The numbers are too great for the Brownsville church, and the people in that neiohbourhood have to cross several TJIE PRESENT STATE OF JAMAICA. 171 times a nioiuitain-stream which becomes claiio;er- ous in the rainy season. Service is now con- ducted in a schoolhouse, but the congregation need urgently a church of their own. The church at Brownsville will also itself soon require to be in great part renewed. Aid for these o])jects would be of great benefit to the work for which Mr. Carlile lived and in which he died. The influence of the Gospel in Jamaica has been most Avonderful, considering the degraded position in which it found the people morally and intellectually. No country was more utterly sunk in wickedness and ignorance, half a century ngo. Let us hope and pray that soon every part of the lovely island may be filled with Christian life, and that it may be a centre of light to the neighbouring dark islands, Cuba and St. Domingo, as w^ell as to Africa, from whence its people came. APPENDIX. A. THE CAELILES AND PAISLEY. John Carlile, the grandfather of Warrand Carlile, whose name was originally spelt Carlyle, went to Paisley, from Annan in Dumfriesshire, about the years 1720 to 1730. He belonged to the Carlyle family or clan from which the late Thomas Carlyle w^as de- scended, and also Dr. Alexander Carlyle of Inveresk, the well-known ally of the Moderates, whose auto- biography appeared twenty-three years ago. An inte- resting sketch of his closing days, written by one of his sons, Thomas Carlile, shows him to have been a man of devoted piety. He died in 1773. Some twenty-one years ago " an autobiography," or rather a kind of journal, which had been left by William Carlile, the eldest son, to whom reference has been made at tlie beginning of this book, w^as printed for private circula- tion, the introduction being partly written by Warrand Carlile, wdio was at the time at home on leave of absence. This introduction, and also a few brief ex- tracts from the journal, which w^e append, are of inte- 174 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. rest in connection with the political and religious progress of Paisley : — *' Few private individuals have, by the strength of their character and the earnestness of their convictions, exer- cised greater influence in the community where they lived than William Carlile, the author of the following interest- ing autobiography. We have had of late the lives of some of the Moderate clergy of last century, or the beginning of this, obtruded somewhat painfully on the attention of the Christian public. It may not be without its use to con- trast with these the principles, sentiments, and evangelical piety of a contemporary who may be regarded as an honourable type of our old, intelligent, pious Scottish magistracy. " Characterised by sagacity, integrity, guileless simpli- city of character, disinterestedness, boldness, and ready eloquence, Mr. Carlile rose in early life to the chief magis- tracy of Paislej', his native town. He was also chosen by the session over which the celebrated Dr. Witlierspoon presided to be an elder of the Church of Scotland at the age of twenty-one years. " By his enlightened interest and untiring zeal for the spiritual benefit of the members of the church, as well as of all classes of his townsmen, and of the world generally, he continued to an advanced age to adorn the sacred office to which he had been so early called. " During the stirring times of the French Eevolution he was in the vigour of his manhood and mental energy, and entered with great ardour into all the political questions which then agitated society. As he never feared to give full and free expression to Liberal sentiments, which by many were then little understood, he necessarily exposed himself to the dislike of a strong and influential party, while, on the other hand, he won the enthusiastic support of the friends of Liberal opinion-. Tlie name of Bailie APPEXDIX. 175 Carlile was at tliat time better known, perhaps, tlirougli the \Yest of Scothand as a staunch supporter of popular rights than that of almost any other individual. For a time, as his journal notes, he retired from the Town Coun- cil ; but afterwards, when these troublous times were gone, and the storm settled into a calm, he was among the first who, with the almost unanimous approbation of his townsmen, was chosen to preside over them under the new title, in Paisley, of provost. " This private journal of his life was not discovered till more than a quarter of a century after the death of its author, and it is about half a century since it was first begun, and since many of the events occurred in which he took a very prominent part. Now that, after such an in- terval, his conduct can be calmly and impartially surveyed, it surely says not a little for his sagacity and the soundness of his views, that the opinions he so fearlessly maintained, and for which he suffered so much obloquy and petty persecution, are those which are now almost unanimously held by all classes of politicians ; while his private diary, with its humble and penitential confessions to Him who alone knows the secrets of the heart, reveals the purity and sacredness of the motives which actuated him. " While no opposition could intimidate him from boldly upholding what he believed to be right, those who knew him best could testify that he ever cherished the spirit of forgiveness to all who treated him even as an enemy. "If, during part of his life, he was known as a political leader, he was for a much longer period chiefly prominent as the advocate and promoter of union among all classes of evangelical Christians. At a time when the minds of religious men were often trammelled by narrower views than now prevail, he exercised great influence in intro- ducing that spirit of Christian co-operation among ministers and elders of all denominations which has long and hon- ourably characterised the religious public of Paisley, and 176 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. of which Rowland Hill, Dr. Morrison of China, Andrew- Fuller, and other English Christians have testified with warmth. It is interesting to find that in Paisley the same love of Christian union still flourishes. '' While in his native towm thus ready to promote every good work, his Avarm Christian sympathies extended to all Bible and missionary institutions. Missionaries and other agents of societies labouring for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom, ever found with him and his brother, Provost James Carlile, an open door and a warm Chris- tian welcome. Those who visited Paisley during their lives on errands of Christian beneficence, will recall them both as having much of the warm and brotherly spirit of 'Gains, mine host.' Thus, during a period considerably exceeding sixty years from his first religious impressions, Provost William Carlile pursued, with unswerving con- sistency, his Christian course, marked above most of his fellows by his public spirit, attachment to liberty, catholic zeal for Christianity and for the spread of the gospel, an ornament to the eldership, a leal-hearted patriot, and a noble Christian philanthropist. " This autobiography terminates a considerable time before his death. During his last illness he was confined for about three months to the house. His views of him- self were still of the same humble and deeply abased character of which we have the record in this journal. At times he complained indeed that his mind was clouded and darkened — an experience sometimes the lot of God's most devoted servants, and in his case to be partly attri- buted, perhaps, to his complaint — disease of the heart. But whatever his want of bright and comfortable feelings, his simple faith and reliance on the Redeemer was never for a moment impaired. Much of his time was devoted to prayer ; and it was a source to him of great support and consolation to enjoy the sympathy and prayers of the many ministers and elders of all denominations who APPHNDIX. 177 visited liim during his closing days. Pie breathed his last on the 20th October 1829, at the venerable age of 84 years. ' Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth : yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and their works do follow them.' " The following extract from the journal brings lis back to the ^r 'at political strucfiiles at the be^innin^"- of the century : — *' Having engaged myself in the busy scenes of life, with a mind considerably improved by extensive reading, and, at same time, in some degree under the influence of Chris- tian principles, was convinced it was duty to promote the good of mankind, as far as opportunity was nfforded or ability given. This duty, I conceived, embraced both civil and religious liberty ; that it was by lawful exertions that this duty was to be exercised ; that it was in those stations or situations of life in which a Christian was placed that he was to act for God's glory and the good of society ; that if the prospects of usefulness were removed, then it became a duty to give up connection with that society. This being the situation in which I was i)lace(l, by the breaking out of the war in consequence of the French Revolution, and for the purpose of reinstating the House of Bourbon on the throne of France, I hinted my wishes to be left out of the nomination as a member of the Town Council for the year commencing, which was done accordingly. Thus relieved from connection with the cor- poration as a councillor, I more openly and decidedly gave my opinion concerning the war, both as to its origin and object; and when the two famous bills were brouglit into Parliament — one by Mr. Pitt into the House of Commons, and one by Lord Granville into the House of Peers — whereby, in my apprehension, the rights of the people in Great Britain, secured to them by Magna Charta, and the Bill of Eights, claimed by the voice of the nation at the 178 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. Revolution of 1688, were suspended, preventing the people from meeting to petition the Legislature unless certain regulations contained in this new Act were complied with, and certain alterations were proposed by the Bill presented to the House of Peers on the ancient law of treason — I determined, after consulting a few friends privately, to call a meeting of respectable inhabitants, who met accordingly to the number of about forty, at which meeting we resolved to petition both Houses of Parliament against the passing of these Acts. Our petitions were signed by above three thousand inhabitants, the greater number being heads of families, which included a majority of the town, against this strong measure of Ministers. At our meeting a faint opposition was made to the petitions by three young men, officers in a volunteer corps, possessed of rather more zeal than knowledge. These young men sent a report of our procedure to the editor of the Glasgow Courier, blending truth and falsehood in such a manner as was intended to bring the gentlemen who attended the meeting into con- tempt. This, however, proved abortive ; and the answer given to that ungentlemanly and illiberal attack was well received by the public, and turned the tables against the libellers, whose names we procured from the editor of the Courier. This triumph produced those private exertions of baneful influence which are fed or produced by that base and diabolical disposition of malice. Every exertion in their power was made by the friends of despotism or tyranny or prerogative to ruin the individuals selected as the active agents in supporting or forwarding petitions to the Legis- lature to preserve the Bill of Rights inviolate. In order to effect this purpose, the public credit of some of the gentlemen was attempted to be undermined, and the Paisley Bank refused to discount their bills or drafts on London. Immediately a resolution was taken to demand gold for such of their notes as came in their way, which was done with such effect that the partners became alarmed, APPENDIX. 179 ami sent a kind of apology for their conduct, wliicli being deemed insufficient, further demands were made, and aj)- pearances of a general run on the bank beginning to take effect, the writer considered it proper to give up any fur- tlier demands to prevent that inconvenience to tlie public that must have resulted from the suspension of bank pay- ments, convinced that the end in view was gained, and that this banking company was now satisfied that they de- pended as much on public favour as those in trade on them, and that it would be a long time before they attempted such another revenge on those they considered their poli- tical foes. On these grounds further demands were dis- countenanced. From this time recourse was had to private slander to whisper away the writer's character and those who had gone along with him in petitioning the Legisla- ture. We were accused of being disloyal subjects because we disapproved of the origin and continuance of the war. We were called democrats because we avowed ourselves to be the friends of constitutional liberty. We were deemed enemies to our country because we wished that other nations might enjoy civil and religious liberty in an equal or superior degree to ourselves. I do not think it neces- sary to record the events that have occurred during this awful and long-protracted war. If we attend to the leail- ings of Providence as Supremo Disposer of all events, in making the wrath of man to praise Him, we perceive astonishing events brought about in direct opposition to the intentions of the rulers of the nations. We find that a deadly wound hath been inflicted on the Papal liierarchy, and that, notwithstanding that active exertions are making to heal this wound, we have strong reasons for believing that the true Church of Christ is now delivered from her long captivity in the wilderness, and will ultimately triumph over her implacable foes. We perceive, likewise, that the attempt to substitute deism or infidelity in the place of a corrupt, apostate Church, hath been completely foiled." i8o MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. Writing later, in 1819, he says : — "^ " At this time great distress hath fallen on the commer- cial and manufacturing interests. Numhers of merchants and manufacturers, both at home and abroad, have been reduced to a state of bankruptcy, and multitudes of the operatives are out of employ. Great exertions are making for bringing about what is called a radical reform in Par- liament by means of universal suffrage and annual parlia- ments. That reform to a certain degree might be beneficial, is the opinion of probably a majority of the wise and the good in Great Britain, by checking that overwhelming influence which the King's ministers have in all measures proposed by the Cabinet, even of such measures which are disapproved of by the general voice of the people ; but if annual parliaments and universal suffrage were to be enacted, the whole system of government, as established at the Eevolution, would be unhinged, and a republic or a military despotism substituted in its place. But this pro- posal will never be acceded to by the supporters of our present system, unless brought about by compulsory mea- sures. The present aspect of affairs, both at home and abroad, is very unpleasant and threatening in their appear- ance ; but who can tell what will be the result ? It is high ground for confidence and rejoicing that the Lord reigneth, and that all these things will ultimately issue in the good of His Church and people ; that He will fulfil His ancient promises concerning the extent and glory of the Redeemer's kino'dom, — the conversion of the Jews, the fulness of the Gentiles, the utter destruction of the anti-Christian system, and the spread of the pure system of truth contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Of the catholic spirit of the town of Paisley, espe- cially through the interest taken in the London Mis- sionary Society, he speaks in the following extract. APPENDIX. iSi This catholicity Loth ho and his brotlier earnestly pro- moted on evangelical principles. Their only sister, it may be mentioned, was the second wife of the Eev. Dr. Ferrier, well known as an eminent minister in Paisley of the United Secession Church : — "I have now hiimhl}^ to express my gratitude to God for leading me to form a conneciion with the ministers of religion in the place, and other good men, in forming tlie Paisley branch of the London Missionary Society. Having accorded in sentiment with my worthy friend and pastor, Dr. John Snodgrass, application was made not only to the Christian pastors in the town connected with the Estab- lishment, but likewise to the ministers of the Antiburgher, Burgher, lielief, and Gaelic congregations, all of which, with part of their people, united themselves with us in this association, for the most nol)le. Christian, and important ])urpose of teaching the heathen the doctrines and precei)t3 of the Gospel, as revealed in the Scriptures of truth. This coalition, founded on that great and fundamental basis of all true religion, viz., love to God and our fellow-men, by the blessing of God gave a stimulus to the mind by excit- ing to private and social prayer for the coming of Christ's kingdom. Our regular meetings were held on the first Monday evening of each month. The means employed for effecting the great purpose of our meeting were prayer, and taking proper steps to enlighten our fellow-Christians in the importance of the object in view by addresses from the pulpits, by subscriptions and collections to enable the parent society at London to send out missionaries properly qualified to instruct the heathen in the principles of Chris- tianity, and in offering salvation, pardon, and peace to such as should believe and obey the truth as it is revealed in the Gospel, and offered to the guilty through the atonement and mediation of Jesus Christ the Son of God. At this 1 82 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. period, being 1802, we liad sent to Mr. Hardcastle, for the London Society, upwards of ^1300 sterling." The following passage, written in his seventy-eighth year, is of interest as revealing his inner life in the midst of outward activities and excitements : — " I accepted the office of elder at the age of twenty-one, and was thus by outward profession a Christian ; and although I have reason to mourn over backslidings and multiplied transgressions, what reason have I to thank my Heavenly Father that the salvation by Jesus Christ was still the foundation of my hope, and that I was not left to hardness of heart and seared ness of conscience ! From the time I accepted the office of an elder, during the incum- bency of Dr. Witherspoon and Dr. Mure, which is now near fifty-seven years, I have acted as a public man in Paisley. What my general conduct hath been during that long period will be variously estimated by individuals after my death. I have at times been popular, at other times unpopular. If I may be allowed to judge of my own motives, I must say th?,t I am not conscious of being actuated by selfish motives in my public conduct ; at same time have reason to believe that on some occasions I may have acted improperly, both in the performance of ecclesi- astical and civil duties as a magistrate or as an elder. My errors, my imperfections, and my sins are great, and mul- tiplied far above my calculations. I stand in need of that pardon and mercy which the gospel hath revealed to sin- ners of mankind, and which I desire to accept of, as offered fully and freely without money and without price ; and now, in my old age, I feel inclined to set up my Ebenezer, and to say, Hitherto hath the Lord helped me." His deep humility of spirit and Christian earnest- ness appear in the following passage, written in his eighty-second year : — APPENDIX. I S3 "Pride, 11 mv arrant able selfishness, worldly aml)ition, covetousness, uncliaritableness, hatred, envy, a spirit of revenge and unbelief — these, accompanied with frequent backsliding?, misiniprovement of time and precious oppor- tunities, the neglect or mismanagement of the duties of prayer or the reading of God's Word, the neglect of social duties as a son, a parent, an elder in the church, or a magistrate — all these, with other nameless iniquities, pre- sent to the mind an awful catalogue of aggravated guilt, for which no legitimate defence can be made. At times my mind hath been filled with awful fears and terrors ; but I bless the Lord these times have not been of long continuance. Oh, what an unworthy creature have I been ! How wonderful that the sovereign grace and mercy of Jehovah should be displayed in the application of the great salvation to such a guilty sinner ! This is a lofty theme. AVho can fully express the high display of love, manifested through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to such as were enemies in their minds, and by wicked works alienated from God, and condemned by His holy law to the awful penalty of eternal death ? This theme will employ the redeemed of the Lord in aspirations of praise and thanksgiving to the one-three God through the ages of eternity. Oh, may I be permitted to join that glorious and redeemed compan}'-, and sing hallelujah unto Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. To God the Father, who gave His only beloved Son to accomplish the great work of redemption, and to God the Holy Ghost, who, by His divine influence, created anew the corrupt heart, and thus produced the new birth, and carried on the spiritual and divine life in the soul, and so prepared them for glory; to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one living and true God, be glory, honour, power, and praise, now and for ever. Amen and amen." A handsome memorial window has been erected in 1 84 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA, the fine old Abbey Church of Paisley to the two brothers, William and James Carlile, by two grand- sons of the latter, James William Carlile, Esq. of Pons- bourne Park, Herts, and James Stevenson, Esq. of GlasGfow and Larf]js. B. STATE AND PEOSPECTS OF JAMAICA COMMERCIALLY. A VERY important paper was read at the meeting of the Eoyal Colonial Institute, on the 12th of June 1883,^ V Mr. D. Morris, M.A., E.G.S., Director of Public Gardens, Gordon Town, Jamaica, who was " sent to Jamaica, by recommendation of Sir J. Hooker, of Ivew Gardens, at the request of Sir Anthony Mus- grave, who had applied for a competent scientific man." We cull a few of the m.ore important facts bearing on the prospects of the future. The area of Jamaica is 4193 square miles; population in 1881, 580,804; exports in 1881, ;^i, 549,058; imports, same year, ^1,321,962; revenue, ^544,436; public debt, ;^920,92 5. As to different articles of commerce, the export trade in cocoa-nuts, in 1880, was over six million nuts, of the value of ;^ 20, 5 00. The fruit trade of Jamaica is rapidly growing, being taken up by both European and negro settlers. Nearly the whole of the fruit is shipped to the United States, to the ports of * See " Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute," vol. xiv. 1882-83, p. 265, &c. APPENDIX. 1R5 New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Some of it, however, is being diverted to New Orleans, which is within only three days of Jamaica. Tn 1873 the export value of fruit shipped from Jamaica was only ;^ 87 50 ; in 1882 it was ;^ 138,359. As to tea, Mr. Morris said, " I have some five acres of tea under my care," which indicate that the climate of Jamaica is admirably suit'jd to the growth of the plant. The cinchona cultivation is making great progress. The Government is doing everything to foster it, and many proprietors are taking it up. " These cinchona plantations in Jamaica," said ^Ir. Morris, " will probably remain for many years tlie only successful cinchona plantations in the New World. No cinchona can be grown in any portion of the United States territory, which is entirely outside the tropics. In all the other West Indian islands there is no suit- able land, as far as I am aware, possessing the requisite elevation, soil, and climate for the cultivation of cin- chona." It grows better than even in Ceylon. This is likely to become a most important industry. It is de- veloping rapidly. Sir Anthony Musgrave took part in the discussion after the reading of the valuable paper of Mr. Morris. He again, as in 1880, gave an encouraging view. " I know," he said, " it is commonly supposed that Jamaica is in a state of great decadence, and that the negro popu- lation has refused to labour, and altogether that it is going downhill as fast as it can. Now there are some facts from which you may draw your own conclusions, but which seem to me to be totally inconsistent with such conclusions. During the last year, 1882, Jamaica sent away the largest crop of sugar and rum made 1 86 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. during the past forty years. At the same time it has exported fruit, which is a new trade, to the value of ;^ 1 38,000. . . . Coffee is holding its own in the world's markets, as w^ell as in extent of cultivation, and some of the Jamaica coffee is the finest in the world. The cultivation of chocolate-cocoa is beinp; extended larsjelv. ... At the same time, cinchona cultivation has been, undertaken by a great number of private individuals, and promises to be a great and lucrative industry in time to come." As to the labour question, he stated facts of importance. " The railway contractors are at work upon extensions in two directions in Jamaica, and the pay is not higher than in other employments, and yet the contractors find no difficulty. I was in those works three days before I left Jamaica, not more than six weeks or two months aojo, and the contractor assured me that he had five thousand persons employed on the works, and that he had only had one dispute before the magistrate with respect to any one of them, and that he could get as many more labourers if he required them. At the same time, within the last eighteen months or two years, nearly nine thousand labourers have gone away to work on the Panama Canal. ... I desire to call attention to the fact that the true difficulty to be dealt with by any administration is not so much to find the labour for any industry as it is to find the industries for the labour." Mr. Campbell, the railway contractor, " had assured him that he had never, in either India or Ceylon, or in his earlier days, when engaged on railways in Scotland, known better labourers, or men who gave less trouble." Mr. E. C. Haldane, a Ceylon planter, who lately paid a visit to Jamaica,, said APPENDIX. 187 at the same meeting tliat he had been much struck Avith what he saw there. " I have travelled a good deal in the world, and seen other countries besides Jamaica and Ceylon, and I think that in no British colony is there the same opening for a man with a small capital — say ;^iooo to ^6000 — provided he is steady and energetic, that there is in Jamaica." Mr. Morris, in his reply, defended the statements made as to tlie abundance of labour at moderate rates. These facts are of great importance, coming as they do from the most influential sources of information. There can be no doubt that Jamaica may become soon an important centre of industry and commercial pros- perity. It is now improving every year. C. THE MISSIONAEY MAP— VISIT OF THE DEPU- TIES IN 1882 TO BR0^Y]S:SV1LLE— ACCOUNT BY THE KEY. DR. BEOWN OF PAISLEY. Through the kindness of the Foreign Mission Board of the United Presbyterian Church we are enabled to publish a map prepared for them, — with all the Presby- terian stations marked. To make this more intelli- gible, and also for the information of our readers, we append a list of the stations, with the dates, so far as mentioned, of the establishment of each station, and its population. i88 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. When Population "> stations. Established, of District. Northern Presbytery. Hampden . . . . . 1824 1800 Goodwill {Out Station) 800 Somerton 1878 1000 Bellevue . 1836 9CO Reid's FrieudsFiip . 1873 2500 Falmouth ... 2975 Mount Zion 1828 Montego Bay . 1S4I 5500 Mount Horeb . . 2000 Mount Herraou ... 3000 Southern Presbytery. New Broughtou 1837 5000 Grovetoivn {Out Station) 1000 Alligator Pond {Oat Station) 1000 Ebenezer .... 1871 ... Mount Olivet .... . 3000 Bryce Church 1872 350 Victoria Town 1848 600 Eastern Presbytery. Kingston 1848 40,000 West End {Out Station) 1876 ... living's Caymanas {Out Station) 4000 Port Maria .... 1827 2000 Hampstead .... 1876 700 Lauriston .... 1879 500 Carronhall .... 1834 1900 Seafield ...... 1875 600 Goshen . 1837 2000 Jeffrey's Town {Out Station) Rosehill ..... . 800 Salem . 600 Camherwell {Out Station) 700 Eliot 184I 300 Chesterfield .... 1848 400 Brandonhill .... 1881 500 Cedar Valley .... 1S63 1000 Mount Carmel . 1S75 500 Lirjlit of the Valley {Out Station) i876 200 Chapelton .... 1S78 2000 Beckford Kraal . . 1200 APPENDIX. I^ Stations. EstaUislied. ropulation ol Dihlrict. Westeun Phesbytery. Lucea 1S27 5000 Kiverside .... 1S61 60i Friendship .... 1S38 5000 Luana {Out Station) Stirling ..... 1S35 2500 Little London (Out Station) . 2500 Brownsville .... 1840 2500 Pondside {Out Station) Maryland {Out Station) .. . Negril 1842 3000 Greenislaud .... 4000 These statistics we obtain from the Eeport of the Deputies from the Mission Board who visited Jamaica and Trinidad in 1882. We quote from the same Eeport the following as to the property at Brownsville : — " The church stands on a commandiug position, and has a picturesque look, but the look is the best of it. It is wooden, old, decayed, overcrowded, recently repaired, and destined soon to be unserviceable. A new church is required, and if it were still practicable, we think that the Carlile Memorial Church might be placed here. The manse is on a grand site, and has one of the most magnifi- cent prospects in the island. It is chaste, comfortable, and in good repair. The school is in good order." One of the deputies, the Rev. Dr. Brown of Pai^sley, gave a graphic sketch of their tour in successive num- bers of the United Fresbyterian Missionary Eccord of last year. The following reference to the visit to Brownsville is in the April (1883) number, on page 84. Describing the journey from Lucea, he says : — *' We passed through the town, which was just awaken- ing, and then for some miles along the shore, on the high road to Montego Bay, before we struck into the mountain I90 MISSION LIFE IN JAMAICA. path. There we had to fall into Indian jfile as we climbed the steep ascent, skirting Great Valley, red with many coloured trees, and overlooked by picturesque heights, some of them of fantastic shape. Gradually a splendid sea view opened up to us, and we began again to rejoice in the bracing air and mountain breezes which had been to us only a regretful memory since the day we bade fare- well to Manchester. Mrs. M'Neill had given us strict orders not to straggle, but to keep well together as we drew near Brownsville ; and from her manifest anxiety when any of the party shot ahead, we gathered that there was something special in waiting for us. There were indi- cations, too, that our progress was watched. When pass- ing the shoulder of a hill, we came in sight of the spire of Brownsville church, on the other side of a valley which we had yet to round, the bell rang out a kindly greeting. " As we approached our journey's end, the road bore the marks of recent mending, and we learned that friends in the congregation had williugly turned out thus literally to prepare our way. As we climbed the final slope which leads to church and school, we could hear the sound of music, and presently we saw the children ranged in order, with their teacher at their head, singing as a song of wel- come, ' Hold the fort, for I am coming.' We stood in front of them till they had finished their song, and followed it with a ringing cheer ; then having given them a sen- tence of thanks, we turned up the further slope leading to the manse, which we reached in a merry canter. Mrs. Carlile, who had come over from her little cottage on a knoll close by, received us on the piazza, and led us in to a breakfast to which, thanks to the mountain air, we had brought splendid appetites. " There was, however, no time to linger over it, as the school children were Avaiting to be examined, and the con- gregation was already assembling in the church. We found the school exceptionally well taught by its admirable ATPEXDIX. 191 te.iclier, Mr. Webster, who has, however, drawn togetlier more children than he is able easily to manage sinsrle- handed. Mr. M'Neill's application for an assistant-master seemed to us most reasonable. As in coming to Browns- ville we had once more risen above the recrionof suiirar into the, in all respects, more healthful districts, where the people cultivate their own little freeholds, we found an overcrowded and enthusiastic meetinS of the bible. By Mrs. Simpson, Author of " Steps through the Stream," kc. Square 16mo, cloth elegant, Is. CHRISTIAN VISITORS' HAND-BOOK. By the Rev. Charles Neil, M. A. Small crown 8vo, cloth, 23. 6d. THE LORD'S PURSEBEARERS. By Hesba Stretton, Author of "Jessica's First Prayer." Crown 8vo, cloth, Is. 6d. DECIMA'S PROMISE. By Agnes Giberne. Crown 8vo, cloth, illustrated, 3s. 6d. EXPELLED : The Story of a Young Gentleman. By Bernard Heldmann. Crown 8vo, cloth, illustrated, 5s. DORRINCOURT : A Tale for Boys. By the Same. Crown Svo, cloth, illustrated, 5s. BOXALL SCHOOL. By the Same. Crown Svo, cloth, illustrated, Ss. 6d. HOW THEY DID. By Grace Stebbing. Crown Svo, cloth, illustrated, 5s. REX AND REGINA. By Mrs. Marshall. 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