Caribs had altogether failed. This was owing to the French priests at Martinico. The French missionaries have rendered themselves liable to the heavy accusation of sacrificing the interests of Christianity to the political views of their country. Of this their conduct in Canada affords scandalous proofs; and on the present occasion they acted in the same manner. They persuaded the Caribs, who went to Martinico on one of their trading visits, that the Methodists were spies, whom the king of England had sent to explore their land; and as soon as they had finished their errand, they would retire, and an army would be sent to conquer the country. The Caribs had regarded Baxter as their father, till they were deceived by this villainous artifice. They then behaved so sullenly towards him, that he thought it adviseable to hasten with his wife out of their power.-When Mrs. Baxter took leave of these poor savages, to whose instruction she had vainly devoted herself, she wept bitterly, and prayed that they might have another call, and might not reject it as they had done this. But among the other casts upon the island the preachers were well received. The negroes, who, in Barbadoes, were remarkably indifferent to religious instruction, here were exceedingly desirous of it; and even the Catholic families showed favour to the missionaries, and sent for Baxter to baptize their children. The prospect was still more favourable at Grenada. Mr. Dent had recently been presented to the living of St. George's in that island; and the governor, General Matthews, requested Dr. Coke to send missionaries there, saying it was his wish that the negroes should be fully instructed, and there would be work enough for their preachers and for the clergy of the island too.

The Methodists were increasing in Antigua; but here a symptom appeared of that enthusiasm of which it is so difficult for Methodism to clear itself, sanctioned as it has been by Wesley. At the baptism of some adults, one of them was so overcome by her feelings that she fell into a swoon; and Dr. Coke, instead of regarding this as a disorder, and impressing

upon his disciples the duty of controlling their emotions, spoke of it as a memorable thing, and with evident satisfaction related that, as she lay entranced with an enraptured countenance, all she said for some time was, Heaven! Heaven! Come! Come! It requires more charity and more discrimination than the majority of men possess, not to suspect either the sincerity or the sanity of persons who aim at producing effects like this by their ministry, or exult in them when they are produced. Not deterred by his former ill success at St. Eustatius, Coke, with the perseverance that characterized him in all his undertakings, made a third visit there, and waited upon the new governor, who had recently arrived from Holland. The Dutchman, he says, received him with very great rudeness indeed; but he ought to have considered it as an act of courtesy that he was not immediately sent off the island. The Methodists there were in the habit of regularly holding their class-meetings; and notwithstanding the edict, there were no fewer than eight exhorters among them. One of these persons called upon the Doctor, requested him to correspond with them, and promised, in the name of his fellows, punctually to obey all the directions which should be given them concerning the management of the society. He told him also that many of the free blacks, of both sexes, intended going to St. Kitt's to receive the sacrament, at Christmas, from one of the missionaries. Here Dr. Coke met with another instance, which, if he had been capable of learning that lesson, might have taught him how dangerous it is to excite an enthusiastic spirit of religion. The person, who, on his former visits, had entertained him with true hospitality, was in the very depth of despair. "The only reason he gave for his deplorable situation was, that the Lord had very powerfully called him, time after time, to preach, and he had as often resisted the call, till at last he entirely lost a sense of the favour of God. He seemed to have no hope left. We endeavoured," the Doctor adds, "to raise his drooping head, but all in vain." If this case were known to the persons in

office, as in all likelihood it must have been, it would satisfy them that they had done wisely in proscribing a system which produced effects like this. The person in question conceived himself to be in a state of reprobation, because he had not broken the laws of the place wherein he lived.

By this time the alloy of Methodism had shown itself in the islands. Dr. Coke commanded respect there by his manners, his education, and his station in life. The missionaries who followed him had none of these advantages; their poverty and their peculiarities provoked contempt in those who had no respect for their zeal, and who perceived all that was offensive in their conduct, and all that was indiscreet, but were insensible of the good which these instruments were producing. Indispensable as religion is to the well-being of every society, its salutary influences are more especially required in countries where the system of slavery is established. If the planters understood their own interest, they would see that the missionaries might be made their best friends; that by their means the evils of slavery might be mitigated; and that, in proportion as the slave was made a religious being, he became resigned to his lot and contented. But one sure effect of that abominable system is, that it demoralizes the masters as much as it brutalizes the slaves. Men whose lives are evil, willingly disbelieve the Gospel if they can; and, with the greater part of mankind, belief and disbelief depend upon volition far more than is generally understood. But if they cannot succeed in this, they naturally hate those who preach zealously against their habitual vices. Among the causes, therefore, which soon made the Methodists unpopular in all or most of the Columbian islands, the first place must be assigned to that hateful licentiousness, which prevails wherever slavery exists: something is to be allowed to a contempt for the preachers; something to the objectionable practices of Methodism, and to a just dislike of what was offensive in its language; and perhaps not a little to the meritorious zeal which the society had shown in England

in favour of the abolition of the Slave Trade, when that great question was first agitated with such ardent benevolence on one side, and such fierce repugnance on the other.

While Dr. Coke was in Antigua, Baxter was assaulted at the door of his chapel by some drunken persons of the higher order, who threatened to murder him. His wife and the negroes believed them to be in earnest; the cry which they raised was mistaken for a cry of fire, and the whole town was presently in an uproar. Baxter was informed by the magistrates that the offenders should be punished as they deserved, if he would lodge an information against them. But it was thought best to acknowledge a grateful sense of their protection, and to decline the prosecution. Shortly afterwards, the chapel at St. Vincent's was broken open by night, not by robbers, but by mischievous and probably drunken persons, who did what mischief they could, and, carrying away the Bible, suspended it from the gallows; a flagitious act, which caused the magistrates to offer a large reward for discovering the perpetrators. This growing ill-will was more openly displayed at Jamaica, where a missionary had been appointed, and a chapel erected in Kingston. The preacher's life had been frequently endangered here by an outrageous rabble; and a person who was considered to be the chief of the Methodists narrowly escaped being stoned to death, and was once obliged to disguise himself in regimentals. Attempts were made to pull down the chapel; and when some of the rioters were prosecuted, they were acquitted, Coke says, against the clearest evidence. The most abominable reports were raised against Hammet, the preacher; and as for Dr. Coke, he, they said, had been tried in England for horse-stealing, and had fled the country in order to escape from justice.

Such was the temper of the Jamaica people, when the Doctor, with another missionary in his company, landed at Montego Bay, in the beginning of 1791. A recommendatory letter to a gentleman in the

neighbourhood procured them an excellent dinner, but no help in their main design; and they walked the streets," peeping and inquiring for a place wherein to preach, in vain ;" to preach out of doors in that climate while the sun is up, is almost impracticable; and at evening, the only time when the slaves can attend, the heavy dews render it imprudent and dangerous. Dining, however, at an ordinary the next day, and stating his sorrow that he' was prevented from preaching for want of a place, one of the company advised him to apply for a large room, which had originally been the church, served now for assemblies, and was frequently used as a theatre. Here he preached every evening during a short stay, and though a few bucks clapped and' encored him, he was on the whole well satisfied with the attention of the congregation,* and the respect with which he was treated. But at Spanish Town and at Kingston he was grossly insulted by a set of profligate young men: their conduct roused in him an emotion which he had never felt in the same degree before, and which, he says, he believed was a spark of the proper spirit of martyrdom; and, addressing himself to these rioters in terms of just reproof, he told them that he was willing-yea. desirous to suffer martyrdom, if the kingdom of Christ might be promoted thereby. The effect which he says this produced, was undoubtedly assisted by his station in life, which enabled him to appear upon equal terms with the proudest of his assailants. On another occasion, when he had ended his sermon, he told these persons that he and his brethren were determined to proceed, and to apply to the legal authorities for justice, if such insults and out

"On the Sunday morning," says Dr. Coke, (Journal, page 130)," "we went to church; but a little rain falling, the congregation consisted only of half a dozen or thereabouts at the exact time of beginning; on! which the minister walked out: if he had condescended to have waited ten minutes longer, we should have been, I believe, about twenty. The Sunday before, also, there had been no service. In some of the parishes of this island there is no church, nor any divine service performed, except the burial of the dead and christenings and weddings in private" houses, though the livings are very lucrative. But I will write no more on this subject, lest I should grow indignant."