Letter from the Rev. W. Hill. the good diminished. There was less excitement, and the delusive character of the extravagant emotions which some experienced was shown. It was estimated that after a trial of some months the different religious denominations could point to 25,000 as the hopeful results of the awakening. The time of revival was followed by reaction and a period of great distress. Long drought, wide-spread sickness, scarcity of provisions, and high prices caused terrible depression, yet there were gratifying signs of christian faith, and love for the service of God. Some of the results of missionary labour in Jamaica may be thus summed up. In 1863 the Jamaica Baptist Union consisted of 71 churches, with a membership of 21,718 persons. There were sixteen European and eighteen black and coloured ministers supported by the voluntary contributions of their congregations. A considerable number of day and Sunday schools. A college for the education and training of native ministers and schoolmasters. The cost of the various institutions was borne by the Jamaica churches themselves, and the amount raised in 1863 for home and foreign missionary purposes was nearly £1400. In 1865 occurred the miserable outbreak at Morant Bay to which allusion has already been made. It was felt by all the missionary bodies in the island to be a crisis in the history of Jamaica, for the old slave-holding spirit was revived in its malignant might. The riot, which was dignified with the name of a rebellion, involved in its needlessly cruel suppression, according to the royal commission of inquiry, 439 executions (161 of these after the outbreak was declared crushed), 1000 houses being burned, and 600 persons being whipped. Great wrongs were endured by the negroes prior to this deplorable event, notably through a 203 Aid corrupt house of assembly, and an inefficient established church. The former made a wild attempt to get rid of the missionaries of the free churches, and then surrendered its own powers into the hands of the crown, and the latter was promptly disestablished. Good has come out of the evil. Man's wrath has been made to praise God. The Baptists, who had no place of worship within eighteen miles of the scene of the riot, yet who were wickedly charged with instigating it, were urgently requested by the new governor, Sir H. Stork, to establish a mission at Morant Bay. This they did, and both from Sir Henry and his successor, Sir J. P. Grant, they have received cordial and emphatic testimony to the purity of their motives and the value of their work. from England has latterly been needed for the Jamaica mission, but it is pleasing to add that it has not been bestowed in vain. If we had only to chronicle the destruction of negro slavery, it would be no meagre report we should give, but there are higher results to record. The aim of the missionaries from first to last has been to rescue human beings from spiritual bondage. "It should be remembered," said Knibb, "that slavery first made an attack upon us. We did not attack slavery, though perhaps it was our duty to do so. I defy anyone to prove that a missionary ever uttered a word in the island against slavery. Slavery crossed our path, with its instruments of cruelty and blood. Christianity gazed upon it with meek eyes and sorrowful demeanour; but when slavery presumed to attempt her extinction. she raised her arm, and slavery fell beneath the blow." Thanks be to God for this victory, let us seek by earnest prayer and combined effort the more glorious emancipation not of one race only, but of all the families of man. "He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, And all are slaves beside." LETTER FROM THE REV. W. HILL. To the Members of the Juvenile Missionary Dec. 20th, 1872. MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-I was glad to learn that my letter was in time for your annual meeting, and that you were so pleased to receive it. I was also pleased to hear that you had so good an anniversary, and that you raised more money last year than during any former year. On receiving the annual report I of course turned to the Barton subscription list, and I was delighted to see that the names of my young friends occupied so much space, and that at the end of their names there were such expressive figures! Had I the time I should like to write to each collector separately, from the 66 king" and "queen" downwards. As I have not, you must each regard this letter as sent to you personally, and as you hear it read, you must say "it is for ME.' With one thing I am particularly pleased, and that is, that some of you are giving your hearts to Jesus. This is what you should all do; for I should not like any of you to be like the carpenters who helped Noah to build the ark and yet were not saved themselves. It was all very well for them to work for Noah in getting the ark ready, but it was very sad and foolish that they did not take refuge in it themselves. Their work did not save them, though it was the means of saving Noah and his family. So it is all very well for you to give, and collect, and work, in order that heathen children may hear of Jesus, but will it not be sad and foolish if you do not flee to Jesus as YOUR refuge? Giving and collecting will not save you, though it may be the means of saving others. Some may think that their good works will save them, but this is a great mistake. Even if you were to become missionaries, preach the gospel to the heathen, and cast out idols, you could not be saved thereby. If you want proof or this read what Jesus says in Matthew vii. 21-23. I am happy to tell you that many of the orphan children at Piplee (as well as at other places) have, by means of the missionaries, been taught the way to heaven, and are trying to walk in it. By their own parents they were, and would have been, taught to worship dumb idols, but now they serve the living God. Not only can many of them read well, but their knowledge of Scripture is very extensive. Scarcely is there a story in the Bible that they are not acquainted with, and many parts, as the Ten Commandments and others, they know well by heart. They could also tell you the number, names, and order, of all the books, both in the Old Testament and New, and many other things. Those of the boys and girls who are members of the church conduct evening worship in turns in their respective orphanages. General worship for both orphanages is conducted every morning at ten o'clock, but the girls who are church members have worship among themselves every morning at day-dawn. They have also other meetings for spiritual conversation and for inquirers. In England it is often a great task for elderly people to pray aloud in the presence of others, but in orphanages there is scarcely a believing boy or girl who would not, without any hesitation, offer prayer in the presence of their companions. Some of them have excellent gifts in prayer, and appear to have been taught by the Holy Spirit not only "how to pray, but what to pray for." There are many others too, who, no sooner were they taught to pray on earth, than they were taken to stand and sing "around the throne of God in heaven." Only a very few years ago they were poor, famine-stricken, diseased, and perishing orphans, were mere living skeletons-and had never heard the name of Jesus. Now they are Children whose sins are all forgiven, Surely then, my dear young friends, these facts will encourage you in sending the gospel to Orissa. Though I shall not be able to hear you, will you now sing, “Around the throne of God in heaven," etc., and oblige FOREIGN LETTERS CUTTACK-W. Bailey, March 25. CONTRIBUTIONS Received on account of the General Baptist Missionary Society, from Communications for the EDITOR of the MISSIONARY OBSERVER should be addressed to the REV. J. C. PIKE, Leicester. Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by T. HILL, Esq., Baker Street, Nottingham, Treasurer; and by the Rev. J. C. PIKE, the Secretary, Leicester, from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books, and Cards may be obtained. THE GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE. JUNE, 1873. 66 BURNLEY. WHEN Our Burnley friends kindly and generously invited the Association to share their hospitality for the current year, an untravelled Southerner was heard asking the question, "Where's Burnley?" whereupon it was immediately suggested that the interrogation was not so conclusive a proof of the insignificance of that thriving, manufacturing Lancashire town, as of the thoroughly" parochial" character of the enquirer's mind. Burnley is not, in any sense, a mean city." It has a population of nearly 50,000 gathered within the town limits, and an equal number inhabit the busy and prosperous villages hard by. It has a government of its own, embodied in a mayor, eight worthy aldermen, and twenty-four vigorous, and we will hope, judicious councillors. Not long since it was dowered with the rights of Parliamentary representation, and has shown its political sagacity and sympathy with progress by returning to the House of Commons R. Shaw, Esq., a thorough Liberal, and a supporter of the resolutions of our trusted leader, Edward Miall. Beautiful, too, if not in itself, yet for its situation, is Burnley on the sides of the north and south, and east and west. It rests on a well-watered and pleasant valley, one side of which flanks the Pennine range, that great backbone of England, which joins the Cheviot Hills on the Scottish border, and stretches from Northumberland to the carboniferous limestone of the middle of Derbyshire. And though the Hambleton Hills on the opposite side are neither bold nor striking, yet no one will mistake the rocky peaks for the sweeping undulations of the south. Northwards of Burnley appears Pendle Hill, 1,870 feet high, an offshoot or spur of the Pennines, and, according to Mr. Hull, the Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland, a unique example of the richness of carboniferous strata: the various seams being upwards of 18,000 feet thick." To the east, Bolesworth Hill, 1,600 feet above the level of the sea, attracts attention; and from Bolesworth right away to Todmorden the crests of the hills are crowned with immense boulders containing hundreds of so-called "rock basins."* 66 The vale is watered by two rivers, the Brun, which gives name to the Professor Ramsay writing on the glaciers of Yorkshire, etc., says, "That when the great icesheet was retiring westward from the German Ocean up the dales of Yorkshire and Northumberland it left, as it retreated, heaps of débris originally forming irregular mounds often enclosing cupshaped hollows...... In like manner the same has taken place in the wide valley that crosses England eastward from the bend of the river Lune, near Lancaster, by Settle to Skipton, including most of the country between Clitheroe, in Lancashire, and Skipton, and as far south as Pendle Hill and the other hills that border the Lancashire Coal Field on the north. And this is what we find. The great glacier sheets that came down the valley of the Lune from the Cumbrian Mountains and Howgill Fells, and from the high hills of which Ingleborough and Pennygant form prominent features, spread across the whole country to the south, and fairly overflowed the range of Pendle Hill into the region now known as the Lancashire Coal Field. The result was that the whole country was rounded and smoothed into a series of great "sheep-backed" rocks; and as the glacier retired through gradual change of climate, these became covered with mounds of moraine matter." -Physical Geology of Great Britain, 161, 162. VOL. LXXV.-NEW SERIES, No. 42. town, and the Calder. This abundant supply of water determined here, as everywhere else, the early settlement of the population: but it is to its fortunate place at the north-west corner of the Lancashire Coal Field that it owes its exceptionally large growth of inhabitants. The existence of coal creates new wants, develops vast energies, and gives rise to enormous industries. The Burnley basin is exceedingly rich in its carboniferous deposits. It has twenty workable seams of coal, twelve or thirteen of which are above the famous Arley mine, and the rest, including the Gannister's, below. And these advantages are being industriously used. Burnley is a busy town. The coal trade is largely developed. New pits have been sunk recently, and the whole district bristles with activity. Thousands of spindles whiz and whirr in the cotton mills. Brass and iron foundries, woollen manufactories, and machine shops abound. The push and energy of the people, combined with the gifts of nature, proclaim no indistinct prophecy that Burnley will, by and bye, take rank amongst the largest towns of Lancashire. Nor does its history date from yesterday. Attractive to the geologist, it is hardly less so to the antiquarian. Along the nearer ridges from Castor Cliff to Bacup, a distance of about ten miles, the hill crests are studded with the remains of British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish camp fortifications. In 937 the bloody battle of Brunnanburgh was fought here between Athelstan, and Anlaf, King of Northumbria, in which the latter was defeated with great slaughter, and Northumbria was incorporated with the dominions of the victorious Athelstan, who thus became "King of all England." Rough entrenchments, marking the positions taken by the warriors, are still discernible near Burnley Lane chapel, which is built on the verge of the field of battle; and many traces of the gory fight have been dug up at Saxifield, the position most hotly contested between the contending armies. Here, too, and in more peaceful times, and with a more peaceful spirit, came the Bishop Paulinus, the Apostle of the North, carrying the glad tidings of salvation. An ancient and defaced cross, situated in Godley Lane, a field called "Bishop's Field," and a mound said to have been used by him as a pulpit, and named the "Bishop's Leap," witness to his zealous labours and abiding influence. Tradition says great numbers of the Pagans came to his baptism, and confessing their sins were baptized of him in the river Brun; perhaps in a certain natural baptistery, locally called the "Jum Hoil;" which has often been used within the memory of persons now living for immersion, but is now filled up. But a name more familiar than Paulinus the preaching bishop, or Athelstan the conquering king, is met with in Edmund Spenser, the author of the Faery Queen," and for perfectness of poetic conception and beauty of expression, alone of English poets entitled to take rank along with Wordsworth and Tennyson in "the first three." Spenser dwelt at Hurstwood (where we have a chapel), and his house and the "Fairie Clough," or glen, are little changed since Queen Elizabeth's sweet singer dwelt in the one, and found inspiration in the beauty of the other. 66 Church and chapel buildings are so numerous in Burnley that at present it may be considered to have worship accommodation nearly, if not quite, equal to its need. The "living" of the parish church is not despicable on any account, it is worth between £3,000 and £4,000 per annum, and in the possession (and why should it not be, since it is a business speculation?) of the son of the patron. The Methodists of various classes, our allies in preaching a broad and free salvation, muster in great force. The Independents, our kith and kin in a bracing, stimulating, and character-develop ing church government, are well-placed, strong and progressive. The Particular Baptists, to whom we belong in our spiritual and New Testament views of church ordinances, have a good name and are well equipped for service. The church in Yorkshire Street was originated in 1828, and in its early years had the advantage of the ministry of the Rev. David Griffiths, a man of singular power and wide intelligence, a fine scholar, and an able minister of Jesus Christ. The story of General Baptists at Burnley is full of interest. In 1777, Dan Taylor, of Wadsworth, Yorkshire, went along with his friends to the village of Worsthorn, and laid the foundations for a Christian church. Richard Folds was their first teacher; but removing to Burnley he began preaching in private houses, and his work was so blessed of God that on March 29, 1785, twenty persons were formed into a branch community of the Wadsworth church. Richard Folds was ordained pastor of the church at Burnley, Mr. Dan Taylor, then minister at Halifax, giving the charge, and Mr. John Taylor, of Queenshead, preaching the sermon to the church. In 1787 a piece of land was bought and a small chapel erected costing £300. Various journeys were taken to different parts of the denomination to collect for the reduction of the debt, so that in 1790, the amount was reduced to between £70 and £80. During this year a case of cruel persecution occurred which vividly illustrates the spirit of those times. A young woman became deeply interested in the means of grace, and because she would attend the chapel was so persecuted by her father that she was obliged to leave her home. The person at whose house she lodged was served with a writ. Many efforts were made to effect a reconciliation with her father, but with no good result. The case was taken to the summer assizes at Lancaster, where it was settled by a rule of court, without a trial, for her to return to her father's house, and have full liberty to attend divine service every Lord's-day at such place as she should choose while she remained under age and unmarried. The litigation cost one brother over £70. For some time the church was without a regular minister, acceptable and useful lay brethren occupying the pulpit. In the old church book the names Laycock and Whittaker often occur, and tradition says, that the former was so interested in the good work that he sold his best cow in order to assist in paying off the debt on the first chapel. During the ministry of the Rev. G. Dean, in the year 1811, the Sunday school was commenced, through the instrumentality of Mr. Kay; Edmund Grundy, Esq., of Bury, making a present of as many books as were necessary. William Kay was engaged as writing teacher at a salary of sixpence per Sunday. This was the second Sunday school in the town, the other being in connection with St. Peter's church. In 1815 James Crossley was solicited to teach the children and others to sing, and was to be paid partly from the school collection and partly by the friends. Three years afterwards Mr. Astin became the minister; he was very useful and highly esteemed, and continued his ministry for nineteen years. He was succeeded by the Rev. T. Gill, during whose ministry the church increased in numbers, and the old chapel was raised and improved at considerable outlay. In 1851, Mr. Robertshaw, of Shore, became the pastor. After about four years of very useful labour he was somewhat suddenly called to his reward, and the tablet in the chapel testifies to the respect in which he was held. Soon after the settlement of Mr. O. Hargreaves, a new and more commodious chapel was built and opened in the year 1861, which undertaking was greatly blessed. After a very useful pastorate of about twelve years, |