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while we contemplate that reception which has been afforded to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Having entered somewhat at large into the account of our original establishment of missions in the West Indies at the close of the history of Antigua, it will be less necessary to be minute in the details which may hereafter be laid before our readers. Antigua was with us the primary scene of action, and the central spot on which we first attempted to plant the gospel. We have seen, in our survey of the establishment of the gospel in that island, a train of providential circumstances which have led to the most important issues, and baffled those calculations which human prudence might have been induced to make. It was from this central place that our missionaries found their way into those islands in which we have already traced the progress of the gospel, and into others which yet remain to be considered ; in most of which, by the success that has accompanied their labors, the Almighty has so plainly acknowledged the work to be his.

It was in one of those voyages, of which a description has been already given, that the Author, on business solely of a missionary nature, reached the island of St. Christopher's ; from which, in company with other ministers employed on the same important errand, on the 19th of January 1787, he went with some recommendatory letters to that of Nevis. We were received with the greatest civility, and even with politeness; but every door seemed to be completely shut against our ministry. In this island the Moravian brethren had established no mission; so that, by viewing the gospel through an improper medium, the inha.. bitants might probably have apprehended, that its operations on the minds of the slaves would tend to lessen that subordination which is inseparably connected with their relative situations in life. Our letters of recommendation were apparently useless as to the object of our visit, as no access to

could be obtained; and we were obliged to return again to the island from which we had embarked, with this uncomfortable reflection, that we had, to all human appearance,

undertaken the most useless and expensive journey in which we had hitherto been engaged.

In this opinion, however, we found soon afterward that we were much deceived. On our departure, it is not improbable that many of the inhabitants began to reflect more seriously upon the object of our visit, and saw reason to

the negroes

abandon the resolution which had been adopted with such precipitation. Of their humanity towards their slaves we have already spoken; this, therefore, might have forcibly operated upon their minds. And in addition to this, they might have calculated upon the effects which had been produced by the preaching of the gospel to the negroes in the islands of St. Christopher's and Antigua.

But, whatever their motives were for the alteration in their conduct, certain it is that a considerable change almost immediately took place. Mr. Hammet, one of our missionaries in St. Christopher's, soon received an invitation from a Mr. Brazier, a gentleman in the island of Nevis, and a member of the assembly, to come over and preach to his negroes. This invitation was soon followed by another from a gentleman nearly allied by the ties of consanguinity to the President of the Council. This gentleman not only invited Mr. Hammet to the island, but even requested him to preach in his house in Charlestown, which, as before observed, is the principal town in Nevis.

These invitations were favorable symptoms of future success, though at this time it was impossible that we could treat them with due attention, without neglecting those other islauds in which not only an opening, but an establishment, had been already made. They, nevertheless, plainly indicated the wishes of many of the inhabitants to have their slaves instructed in the principles and practice of Christianity; so that nothing now remained, but some exertions on our part to introduce the gospel into the island.

Early in the year 1789, the Author being then in the West Indies, we again made two visits to Nevis ; and found, to our great joy, that God had so disposed the hearts of the people, that the slaves were willing to hear the word, and their rulers to permit the gospel to be preached. To two or three gentlemen, particularly the Judge of the Admiralty, we felt ourselves greatly obliged, for the comfortable accommodations which we found, and for that civility and politeness which they so readily manifested on the present, as well as on the former occasion. From this period we may date the introduction of the gospel into the island. At this time we formed a little class of twenty-one catechumens, and provided for their instruction before our departure, by leaving them to the care of Mr. Owens, one of our missionaries, who was appointed to take upon him the charge of the mission throughout the whole colony.

Towards the close of the year 1790, in company with other missionaries, I again visited this island, and was received with the greatest hospitality by many friends; particularly by Mr. Ward, the Judge of the Admiralty, whose kindness I have already had an occasion to mention. During the interim which had elapsed between my former visit and the present time, the gospel had so far gained a footing, that our friends had found means to procure a chapel, in which religious worship was now established. In this chapel, which is in Charlestown, the metropolis of the island, we preached three times on the ensuing Sunday, to congregations which proved, by their attention, that they had been accustomed to hear the things of God.

In the course of this Sunday, we held a love-feast, in which we had an opportunity of learning what progress had been made in experimental Christianity. It is by this chiefly that we can estimate the stability which is likely to accompany the establishment of the gospel; for where divine love so far fills the soul, that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, such converts are willing to follow Jesus through evil and good report. But, on the contrary, though multitudes may assemble for a season, who may at first receive the word with joy,--if divine grace influence not the heart, when the charms of novelty have subsided, they too frequently grow weary in well-doing, and turn their backs upon religion, though they bade fair for the kingdom of God.

But from this quarter, in the island of Nevis, we apparently had then but little to apprehend. We heard their accounts of God's dealings with their souls, with the most pleasing satisfaction; and found that many knew in whom they had believed, and were enabled to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. One young black man particularly, who spoke rather better English than his associates, gave us a pleasing detail of the various circumstances connected with his conviction and conversion. And in this account he described, in a most intelligible manner, how (as he expressed it) he was drawn out of the dark shades, and from the power of satan, into glorious liberty; 80 that not a doubt could remain as to the genuineness of the work of grace upon his soul.

The following day we paid a visit to several of our friends in the country, particularly to Mr. Richard Nesbitt ; who, perhaps, for piety, was not exceeded by any white inhabitant of the West Indies. This Gentleman had met with many misfortunes in life; but he was crucified unto the

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world, and the world to him ; so that adversity had lost its sting, and earthly allurements their charms. Mr. Nesbitt of Nevis, like Mr. Gilbert of Antigua, was not ashamed (although under different circumstances) to assist us in instructing and exhorting the numerous bodies of negroes on the several estates of his near relation Walter Nesbitt, Esq. on one of which he resided. To this last mentioned gentleman also we paid a visit, in company with his pious kins. man, and found concentred in him, those exalted qualifications which constitute the gentleman and the man of honor. On the evening of the same day I both preached and lodged in the house of a Mr. Kane, a planter, and a friend; and on the following morning I took my leave of this promising island and its hospitable inhabitants.

Early in the month of January 1793, I again paid the island of Nevis a transient visit. My stay was short; but it was sufficiently long to strengthen this conviction, that the inhabitants were friendly to the gospel, and that the labors of our missionaries had been made a blessing to many souls. An ingathering had taken place, the gospel was advancing in respectability, and the congregations had increased both in numbers and attention.

Toward the close of the same month, contrary winds conducted us again to its friendly shores; and, as the frowning elements forbade us to depart on that day, we ascended the common acclivity, and distributed ourselves among our friends in the different plantations. At the house of Walter Nesbitt, Esq. it was my lot to reside; and I had the happiness to find in him a sincere friend. Our missionaries were openly received by him, and his negroes were constantly instructed by them. This benevolent gentleman, satisfied with the benefits which his negroes had received from the instructions that had been imparted by the missionaries, had prepared a convenient chapel in which his slaves were regularly collected at stated periods, to hear the words of eternal life. These in the evening were gathered together; a circumstance which afforded me an opportunity of endeavoring to unfold to their understandings some branches of the things of God *.

During my stay on this island, I was informed of an affecting little incident which had occurred not long before, and which probably may be worth relating. The substance is as follows:

Some time sipce, Mr. N. purchased from a Guinea ship a company of

The day following the weather grew more moderate ; we therefore took our leave of Nevis, and departed to Antigua, in which island we opened our conference on the 9th of February. By the returns which were made at this time, it appeared that the great Head of the church had blessed the endeavors which had been made to spread his gospel, in a singular manner. Nearly four hundred, we had reason to believe, that had been formed into a society in Nevis, were seeking after the salvation of their souls. These, through the instrumentality of our missionaries, had been brought from their native darkness to an acquaintance with the gospel; and, instead of seeking death in the error of their ways, they were inquiring their way to Zion with their faces thitherward.

Thus, from those diminutive beginnings which we have transiently surveyed, we saw reason to adore the infinite wisdom of God in directing our steps to the island of Nevis ; and we were constrained to pause, and say, What has God wrought! These early beginnings appeared to our views in a double light; they were rewards for our past exertions, and promises of future success. They taught us to persevere in the path in which we had trodden, and encouraged us to believe that we had obtained, in that department of duty, the approbation of our God.

Nor were these conceptions imaginary and delusive. The progress of subsequent years has justified the conclusions which we then formed, and has taught us that nothing is impossible with God. Every year has added to their numbers ;