Baxter was, after a while, assisted by an English woman, who, having an annuity charged upon an estate in the island, had found it necessary to reside there. She opened her house for prayers every day, and set apart one evening every week for reading the Scriptures, to all who would hear. These meetings were much frequented; "for the English," says this lady," can scarcely conceive the hunger and thirst expressed by a poor negro, when he has learned that the soul is immortal, and is under the operation of awakening influences." Further assistance arrived in a manner remarkable enough to deserve relation. An old man and his wife at Waterford, being past their labour, were supported by two of their sons. They were Methodists; the children had been religiously brought up, and in their old age the parents found the benefit of having trained them in the way they should go. At the close of the American war, America was represented to the two sons as a land flowing with milk and honey, and they were advised to emigrate. Go they would not, without the consent of their parents; and the old people entreated them to wait a little, till they should be in the grave: the youths, however, unwilling to wait, and incapable of forsaking their parents, proposed that they should go together, and succeeded in persuading them. Having no means of paying for their passage, the poor lads indented themselves to the captain of a ship, who was collecting white slaves for the Virginia market; and as the old people could be of no use as bond-servants, the boys were bound for a double term on their account. How the parents, incapable as they were of supporting themselves, were to be supported in a strange land, when their children were in bondage, was a question which never occurred to any one of the family. A married son and his wife came on board to take leave, and they were persuaded by their relations and by the crimping skipper to join the party upon the same terms. No sooner had they sailed than they were made to feel the bitterness of their condition slaves they had made themselves, and like slaves they were treated by the white slavemonger who had entrapped them. Happily for them, after a miserable voyage, the ship was driven to the West-Indies, and put into Antigua like a floating wreck, almost by miracle. The old Irishman, hearing that there were Methodists on the island, inquired for the preaching-house, and Methodism proved more advantageous to him than free-masonry would have done. It procured him real and active friends, who ransomed the whole family. Good situations were procured for the three sons: the old man acted under Baxter; being well acquainted with the routine of the society, he was of great use; and by the year 1786 the persons under their spiritual care amounted to nearly two thousand, chiefly. negroes.

:

In that year Dr. Coke embarked upon his second voyage to America. The season was stormy, and the captain being one of those persons who have a great deal of superstition without the slightest piety, conceived that the continuance of bad weather was brought on by the praying and preaching of the Doctor and his companions. One day, therefore, in the force of the tempest, while these passengers were fervently praying for the preservation of the ship and of the lives of all on board, the skipper paraded the deck in great agi

tation, muttering to himself, but so as to be distinctly heard, "We have a Jonah on board! We have a Jonah on board!" till, having worked himself almost into a state of madness, he burst into Coke's cabin, seized his books and writings, and tossed them into the sea; and griping the Doctor himself, who was a man of diminutive stature, swore that if ever he made another prayer on board that ship he would throw him overboard, after his papers. At length the vessel, after imminent danger, succeeded in reaching Antigua. It was on Christmas day. Dr. Coke went in search of Mr. Baxter, and met him on the way to officiate at the chapel. To the latter this event was as joyful as it was unexpected: the former performed the service for him, and administered the sacrament. He was delighted with the appearance of the congregation, one of the cleanest, he said, that he had ever seen. The negresses were dressed in white linen gowns, petticoats, handkerchiefs, and caps; and their whole dress, which was beautifully clean, appeared the whiter from the contrast of their skins.

Dr. Coke's arrival occasioned a considerable stir in the capital of this little island. He preached twice a day, and curiosity brought such numbers to hear him, that in the evenings the poor negroes, who by their savings had built the chapel, could find no room in it. The good effect of Methodism upon the slaves had been so apparent, that it was no longer necessary, as it formerly had been, to enforce military law during the holydays which were allowed them at Christmas. They were made better servants, as they were instructed in their moral and religious duties. Methodism, therefore, was in high favour there, and Dr. Coke was informed, that if five hundred a year would detain him in Antigua, it should be forthcoming. "God be praised," he says, "five hundred thousand a year would be to me a feather, when opposed to my usefulness in the church of Christ." He and his companions were hospitably entertained, and treated, he says, rather like princes than subjects; and the company of merchants invited them to a dinner which was given to Prince William Henry.

Invita

Here Dr. Coke held what he calls an Infant Conference. tions for the preachers came from St. Vincents; and recommendatory letters were given them to the islands of St. Eustatius and St. Kitts. All is of God," said Coke; "I have no doubt, but it would be an open resistance to the clear providences of the Almighty, to remove any one of the missionaries at present from this country." Of the three who had embarked with him from England for America, it was determined that one should remain in Antigua ; and Baxter gave up the place which he held under government, and which was worth 400l. a year currency, that he might devote his whole strength and time to the spiritual service of his fellow creatures. His wife, though a Creole, well born, and delicately brought up, readily consented to this sacrifice, and cheerfully submitted to her part of the discomforts and privations inseparable from an itinerant life; for even among the islands itinerancy was considered as an essential part of the Methodist economy. Leaving, therefore, Mr Warrener in Antigua, Coke departed, with Baxter and the other two brothers, to reconnoitre the neighbouring islands. They were hos

pitably entertained at Dominica, at St. Vincents, Nevis, and St. Kitts; and though the commanding officer would not give permission for preaching in the barracks at St. Vincents, where some religious soldiers would soon have formed a society, Dr. Coke thought the general prospect so encouraging that he said the will of God, in respect to the appointment of a Missionary there, was as clear as if it had been written with a sunbeam. Mr. Clarke accordingly was stationed there, and Mr. Hammet at St. Kitts.

When they arrived at St. Eustatius, they found that a slave, by name Harry, who had been a member of the Methodist Society in America, had taken to exhorting in that island, and had been silenced by the governor, because the slaves were so affected at hearing him, that " many fell down as if they were dead, and some remained in a state of stupor during several hours.' Sixteen persons had been thrown into these fits in one night. This was a case in which the governor's interference was perfectly justifiable and right. The day after this event, Coke and his companions landed, and waited upon the persons in authority. They soon found that the degree of freedom which is every where enjoyed under the British government, is not to be found in the dominions of any other European power. They were ordered to prepare their confession of faith and credentials, and to present them to the court, and to be private in their devotions, till the court had considered whether their religion should be tolerated or not. The council were satisfied with the confession, and Dr. Coke was desired to preach before them. But it was evident that the government would not permit the establishment of an English mission upon that island, though the inhabitants were exceedingly desirous of it. Dr. Coke, during a fortnight's stay, did what he could towards forming such as were willing into classes, instructing them in the forms of Methodism, and was laden with presents of sea-stores and other refreshments, when he embarked from thence to pursue his voyage to America.

and

So fair a beginning was thus made, that from that time it became as regular a part of business for the Conference to provide for the West-Indies, as for any part of Great Britain in which societies had been raised. In the autumn of 1788, the indefatigable Coke (who may properly be called the Xavier of Methodism) sailed a third time for the western world, taking with him three missionaries intended for the Columbian Islands. They were embarked in that unfortynate ship, the Hankey, which has been accused of importing, in a subsequent voyage, the yellow fever from Bulama to the West-Indies, as if that pestilence were not the growth of those countries. Every thing was favourable now, and the missionaries succeeded so well in conciliating the good will of the crew, that when they took leave of them at Barbadoes, many of the men were in tears, and the sailors bade them farewell with three hearty cheers as the boat dropped astern. Coke with his companions landed at Bridgetown, as adventurously as ever knight-errant set foot upon an island with his squire and his dwarf. None of the party supposed that they had a single acquaintance in Barbadoes. There were, however, some soldiers there, who had been quartered at Kinsale in Ireland, where Mr. Pearce, one of the missionaries, had preached; he was pre

sently recognised by a sergeant, who embraced him without ceremony and it appeared that this sergeant and some of his comrades had kept up the forms of Methodism, and were in the habit of exhorting the people, in a warehouse which a friendly merchant had lent them for that purpose. Before Dr. Coke could wait upon this merchant, he received an invitation to breakfast with him he proved to have been one of his hearers in America, where four of his negroes had been baptized by the Doctor. The missionaries were immediately received into his house; they were encouraged by the governor, and by the merchants and planters to whom they were introduced. Pearce was left upon the island; and Coke, having placed every thing in as favourable a train as could be wished, proceeded to St. Vincent's, whither the other two missionaries had preceded him, and where he was joined by Baxter. One of the party was stationed there to assist the former preacher; and Baxter and his wife willingly consented to take up their abode among the Caribs, and endeavour at the same time to civilize and to convert them.

Continuing his circuit, Dr. Coke formed a society at Dominica, and finding all prosperous at Antigua and St. Kitts, visited St. Eustatius. Here he found that the aspects were different. The black Harry, after the Doctor's departure from his former visit, interpreting the governor's prohibition according to the letter rather than the spirit, abstained indeed from preaching to his fellow slaves, but ventured to pray with them. For this offence he was publicly whipped and imprisoned, and then banished from the island. And an edict was issued, declaring, that if any white person should be found praying with others who were not of his family, he should be fined fifty pieces of eight for the first offence, a hundred for the second, and for the third offence he should be whipped, his goods confiscated, and himself banished the island. A free man of colour was to receive thirty-nine stripes for the first offence, and for the second to be flogged and banished; and a slave was to be flogged every time he was found offending." "This, I think," says Dr. Coke, "is the first instance, known among mankind, of a persecution openly avowed against religion itself. The persecutions among the heathens were supported under the pretence that the Christians brought in strange gods; those among the Roman Catholics were under the pretext of the Protestants introducing heresies into the church; but this is openly and avowedly against prayer, the great key to every blessing." Notwithstanding this edict, and the rigour with which it was enforced, so strong was the desire of the poor people on this island for religious instruction and religious sympathy, that Dr. Coke found above two hundred and fifty persons there classed as Methodists, and baptized a hundred and forty of them. He remained there only one night; but the sloop which he had hired to carry him and his companions to St. Kitts, having received much damage. by striking against a ship, they were obliged to return; and Coke, who interpreted this accident as a plain declaration of Providence, whereby he was called on to bear a public testimony for Christ, immediately hired a large room for a month. Whatever danger might be incurred would fall upon himself, he thought, by this proceeding; whereas his friends would have been amenable to the laws if he had

preached in their houses. The next day, therefore, he boldly performed service, and gave notice that he intended to officiate again on the morrow. But Dutch governors are not persons who will suffer their authority to be set at nought with impunity; and on the ensuing morning the Doctor received a message from the governor, requiring him, and two of his companions, who were specified by name, to engage that they would not, publicly or privately, by day or by night, preach either to whites or blacks, during their stay in that island, on pain of prosecution, arbitrary punishment, and banishment. We withdrew to consult," says he;" and after considering that we were favoured by Providence with an open door in other islands, for as many missionaries as we could spare, and that God was carrying on his blessed work even in this island by means of secret class-meetings; and that Divine Providence may in future redress these grievances by a change of the governor, or by the interference of the superior powers in Holland in some other way, we gave for answer, that we would obey the government; and, having nothing more at present to do in that place of tyranny, oppression, and wrong, we returned to St. Kitts, blessing God for a British constitution and a British government.'

There was in Dr. Coke's company a third missionary, by name Brazier, whom the governor had not heard of, and who therefore was not included in the mandate. He thought himself perfectly justified in leaving this missionary upon the island. There were times in which such an experiment might have cost the contraband preacher his life; and if the governor had been as eager to persecute as Coke supposed him to be, Brazier would certainly not have got off with a whole skin. The truth seems to be, that the governor's interference had in the first instance been necessary. Harry's preaching was of that kind which ought not to be tolerated, because it threw his hearers into fits. If Dr. Coke, on his first landing, had distinctly expressed his disapprobation of such excesses, things might possibly have taken a different turn. But he had learned to regard them as the outward signs and manifestations of inward grace; and the governor, seeing that the black preacher was acknowledged by him as a fellow labourer, regarded him and his companions as troublesome fanatics, and treated them accordingly. And when he discovered that Brazier had been clandestinely left behind, he behaved with more temper than might have been expected, in merely ordering him to leave the island. A man in power, who retained something of the religious part of the old Dutch character, removed the banished missionary to the little island of Saba, a dependency upon St. Eustatius, containing about three thousand inhabitants, of whom one third were whites. There was a respectable church there ; but the people had been seventeen years without a minister. They received Brazier with the greatest joy, and governor, council, and people entreated him to take up his abode among them, offering him the church, the parsonage, and a sufficient maintenance. Coke went there, and was delighted with the kindness and simplicity of the people. He informed them what the economy of the Methodists was, and particularly explained to them what he called the "grand and indispensable custom of changing their ministers." They were