from their heathen homes in the wilds of Africa: chained and manacled they were placed on board the slaver to endure the horrors of the middle passage to these shores; and here, for two whole centuries, they continued to be oppressed and enslaved, till their sufferings reached the ear of the Lord of Sabaoth, and He bid them go free. But now we must look back upon those centuries of affliction and trial, as a part of that mysterious method by which God has at length made you the people you are, and constituted you the possessors of the rich inheritance you enjoy.

Truly, brethren, the Lord of hosts is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. "The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him; talk ye of all his wondrous works! Remember his marvellous works that He hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth."

4. Our Blessings owing neither to our own might nor merit. But yet, once more, in the review of the past fifty years are we not also most forcibly reminded, that our blessings are owing neither to our own deservings, nor to the might of our own hands?

How solemnly was this lesson enjoined on ancient Israel! "Speak not thou in thine heart, saying, 'For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land,' understand that the Lord giveth thee not this land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people." And so again,

when the Psalmist commemorates the entrance of Israel on their promised inheritance, he sings:"They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy

countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them." All blessing is of Grace!-Brethren, it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy that God hath saved us. This is the fundamental principle of all the bestowments of his grace. And the same principle lies at the basis of all the beneficent arrangements of his providence.

And what of merit or of might can be pleaded by the people of this land for either the personal liberty, or the social rights, or the gospel privileges they enjoy? Did your forefathers come to these shores of their own will? Nay! They were brought here by force, bound hand and foot with fetters of iron. Was it by any efforts of theirs, or even by their prayers, that Christian missionaries came amongst them with the blessings of Christian light, and life, and liberty? Assuredly not! These messengers of mercy came impelled by the force of their Divine commission, and by the constraining power of the grace of God. Was it in any sense by the strength of their own arm that the shackles of this people were broken off? No, brethren, no! "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory!" The abolition of slavery was the work of God.

And is there aught of merit to be pleaded for these, or for any other blessings enjoyed? Merit! in poor, helpless, down-trodden, and oppressed bondsmen and bondswomen. Merit! in poor, ignorant, and debased heathens, trembling under the pitiable charms and incantations of the wretched Obeah man, MERIT! A word that should be blotted out of the Christian man's vocabulary. No, brethren, no! You have neither might nor merit to plead; and ascribing all glory to God, and to his grace, with Moses and Israel you must sing, "Thou in thy mercy hast led forth thy

people, which Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in thy strength, into thy holy habitation."

5. God's cause mightier than its Foes.-In the fifth place, another encouraging lesson of the past is surely this-that sooner or later the cause of God will prove mightier than its foes.

For many years in Jamaica the Baptist missionary was a marked and persecuted man. The teachings of the missionary tended to the mental elevation of the slave. But it was the interest of the slaveholder to keep him down; for he knew that as soon as the slave began to feel himself a man, it was hardly likely he would submit to be treated as a chattel. When by the operation of the Spirit of God the heart of the slave was renewed and sanctified, he could no longer pander to those lusts to which he had been the willing minister. As in the case of Sam Cunningham, the gospel broke the fiddle which had been tuned to the service of the devil.* The pray

* "Sam was a servant in a gentleman's family. He excelled in the use of the violin, of which he was passionately fond, and, as might be expected, his services were in frequent requisition at the merry-makings of the negroes and the balls of the Europeans. In the course of Divine Providence, however, he was led to listen to the word of life, as proclaimed by the despised missionary. It reached his heart; he embraced the gospel, and became a decided Christian. Fearing lest his musical instrument might now prove a snare to him, he broke it. One day his master told him that he would soon be wanted to play his part as usual. Without any attempt at concealment, he replied, 'Fiddle broken, massa.' 'It must be mended, Sam.' Broke all to pieces, massa.' 'Well, we must get a new one, Sam.' 'Me tink dat no good, massa; be soon broke.' The master began to suspect that this destruction of fiddles must have something to do with religion, and therefore added, in an altered tone, and with a lowering countenance, 'I hope you do not go to pray, and go after those mad-headed folks, Sam.' 'To tell de truth, me gone, massa.' He was now threatened with punishment, and told that he should be flogged. With firmness he replied, 'Dat no

ing, converted slave and his missionary teacher, both of them, by their very presence, were a rebuke and a protest against the prevailing forms of wickedness. What wonder, therefore, that the Christian missionary, in those days, should have been the object of hatred and malignity?

Within sixteen years from the landing of John Rowe, the spirit of persecution reached its climax, and the resolution of the enemies of religion was formed to banish the missionaries, and to root out their doctrines from the land. So the champion of the Philistines had once defied the armies of the living God; and so the King of Assyria had once blasphemed the name of the God of Israel Himself. But no sooner do men dare to challenge Omnipotence, than the Almighty asserts his prerogative, and vindicates his cause and attributes. A stone from a sling, hurled by the hand of the youngest son of Jesse, lays Goliath level with the ground; and the breath-the breath of the Angel of Jehovah, in a single night spreads universal destruction through the Assyrian hosts. "Who ever hardened himself against God, and prospered? Who can stand before Him, when once He is angry ? Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!" So it proved to the enemies of religion in Jamaica. No sooner did the crisis of the conflict come, than room was no longer left to doubt which would conquer-right or wrong, light or darkness, Christ or Belial. From that moment the doom of slavery was sealed. Chapels were burned down; but it was only to be rebuilt of larger proportions. Congregations were scattered, but it was good, massa! whip no floggee de word out.' He was informed that he should leave his present easy situation, and be sent to work on the plantation. And he was; but he remained firm."-Burchell's Memoirs, p. 100.

only to be re-gathered in far greater numbers. The blood of martyrs was shed; but it was to prove, as it ever has, the seed of the Church. Missionaries were banished, but it was to return with stronger forces, and with more ardent zeal. And so it must ever be; for “Christ must reign till He hath put all enemies under his feet."

And how encouraging is this in its application to the work still before us! There is land even in Jamaica yet to be possessed. In some parts African superstition is even yet in the ascendant. The work of educating our people is only begun. Reactionary influences have followed the salutary impulses of emancipation. A disposition is seen, ever and anon, to blend with Christianity the absurdities of heathenism; and the Revival, in which, a few years since, we rejoiced with exceeding joy, has in some districts been perverted by the Evil One into practices which substitute animal excitement for religion, and which often run into the wildest extravagances of fanaticism. And just as there remained in Canaan many of the old inhabitants to be thorns in the sides of the Israelites. and as a scourge to chasten them, so many of the social evils of slavery still survive amongst us to afflict and grieve us, and to hinder and oppose our efforts for the moral and spiritual progress of the people. The devil is not dead. And though the characters and the tactics of the warfare are changed, the conflict with evil has still to be maintained. In the present warfare, moreover, there is none of the romance and excitement of the past; and in some respects it is confessedly more arduous and discouraging. Yet, brethren, let us remember that we have the same almighty power on our side-that the war we wage against sin and ignorance, and in favour of truth and righteousness, is a continuance of the very contest