[SPEAKER_02]: Revived thoughts is a production of Revived Studios.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is Triangle and you're listening to Revived Thoughts.
[SPEAKER_00]: I stand before you today, with a deep and solemn sense of the need to remain calm.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every episode we bring you a different voice from history and a sermon that they delivered.
[SPEAKER_01]: Today we're going back to the early 1800s to listen to a sermon by William Nibbs.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a missionary to Jamaica and he returned to Britain.
[SPEAKER_01]: to settle some issues that he was experiencing there.
[SPEAKER_01]: A little bit of a tease, a little bit of a view of what's coming up.
[SPEAKER_02]: You said, it's me and you, or I opened it with this is Troy and this Joel, but I think we should also mention this is a Joel, one of Joel's children as well, because any time Joel hits the recording button, we'll talk for quite a while before the recording going, everything's quiet, conversation is great.
[SPEAKER_02]: But there seems to be some frequency we've decided in Joel's house, that one hits that recording button.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like another star has to be on.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to have to start adding this is Troy and Joel and one of Joel's children and you're listening to revive thoughts.
[SPEAKER_01]: My, my daughter, yeah, particularly, gets some, some seems to get somewhat irritable whenever.
[SPEAKER_01]: whenever I'm recording.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess depending on the listeners headphones or speaker situation, they may or may not hear my my daughter from time to time being being grabbed.
[SPEAKER_01]: She has a lovely voice.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's doing great.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so don't don't even feel about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Joe, how are you doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing all right.
[SPEAKER_01]: The New Year's trekking on.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you guys do for for New Year's?
[SPEAKER_02]: We watched a few fireworks go off.
[SPEAKER_02]: People here like to shoot off their own, and it's always fun to see how close those fireworks get to hitting a house, and they always do.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's always entertaining.
[SPEAKER_02]: But other than that, we didn't do much.
[SPEAKER_02]: We had to chill.
[SPEAKER_02]: I always enjoy sending a few happy New Year's to people like 12 hours ahead of when they're used to it, but It's got like every new I kids say up.
[SPEAKER_02]: We do we play games and stuff.
[SPEAKER_02]: We uh, but you say happy New Year's and then you're like, okay Well, let's go to bed now like it's done stuff all the day
[SPEAKER_02]: We are, gosh, this is really inside baseball.
[SPEAKER_02]: We decided we're gonna start making a certain meal every new year's called The Garbage Play.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's from New York Rockchester area.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's, it sounds gross.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like, I think a bunch of potatoes, I don't even remember it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Exactly, it was like french fries, potatoes, a burger patty,
[SPEAKER_02]: the bunch of stuff on top of each other and then like spicy salsa, not even spicy salsa, super, super gross sounding.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you see pictures of it, it's also very, very gross looking.
[SPEAKER_02]: But it's so tasty.
[SPEAKER_02]: We had it a couple years ago when we were speaking with people in Maine and we'd pass through and a friend of ours was in New York and said, you've got to try the garbage plate.
[SPEAKER_02]: And at least brought it here.
[SPEAKER_02]: She's made it in Indonesia.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're pretty sure it's the first
[SPEAKER_02]: garbage plate that might have ever been made here because of just how regional that is and how we have not met many people from outstate New York out here.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we decided that that should be a New Year's tradition.
[SPEAKER_02]: You start your year with the garbage plate and it's just going to be a good year from there.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a great great tradition.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I remember anything from our time in the dorm together at college is that you love some of some diced potatoes you would
[SPEAKER_02]: of just potatoes and I was sure it with anybody I was like do you want some potatoes I got cheese and potatoes coming in and he you know What people join me they were like I'll take a bowl of potatoes sure because it's a college dorm.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to turn down the food But it will I You know, I don't or still chop up to potatoes on a regular basis the size of you know I don't I don't okay I still chop up potatoes of course, but I don't serve them in that way anymore, so
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, I'm convinced of potatoes are America's staple.
[SPEAKER_02]: Everybody, every culture has something that they eat a lot of like the, you know, the Dutch really enjoy bread and a level that I did not know was possible, but I've met many and I really like bread and, you know, there's rice, there's, um,
[SPEAKER_02]: tortillas, and there's all these different things that people have, and for Americans, it's potatoes.
[SPEAKER_02]: But the reason we don't notice it is because we eat potatoes in so many different forms that we don't realize that we're always eating potatoes somewhere.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we have french fries, tater tots, hash browns, we have tater chips, we have potato salad, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it is always a potato somewhere as a part of pretty much like every meal.
[SPEAKER_02]: But our bread and rice is potatoes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I understand our dependence on potatoes here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I'm happy about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, I'm just saying.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good and almost every situation.
[SPEAKER_02]: I can't, I'm not upset that I got assigned the potato worlds.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, like the potato culture is not a bad place to be.
[SPEAKER_02]: People are here listening to a volume nib.
[SPEAKER_02]: What?
[SPEAKER_02]: So sorry, everybody.
[SPEAKER_02]: Dylan, I are friends as you can tell.
[SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes we get a little off track.
[SPEAKER_02]: Joel, we have some positive comments from our Patreon.
[SPEAKER_02]: Daniel says, so good, Troy.
[SPEAKER_02]: Especially loved your closing thoughts at the end.
[SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't agree more.
[SPEAKER_02]: So many excellent illustrations and lessons to learn from.
[SPEAKER_02]: And invite an an events.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like this when we don't hide the spiritual side of history and the effects of it whether good or bad He also listened to another episode and said man history is wild.
[SPEAKER_02]: I knew none of this before now Like Joel, I too started off thinking hey this guy sounds pretty cool and then oh no Oh no, no Joel which deep dive was he listening to can you tell based on that comment that that second comment The China one
[SPEAKER_02]: yeah the typing rebellion that is everyone I've ever talked to listen to it their response every time is it didn't sound so bad at first and then oh my gosh what happened it is a fantastic right so if you have not uh listen to the typing rebellions I really highly recommend you do
[SPEAKER_02]: are wild.
[SPEAKER_02]: I also, if you are interested in some good deep dive materials, you want to hear long story formats, tell crazy history stories, but include our faith in those stories and examine how it impacted the world.
[SPEAKER_02]: We just put out the nice Templar deep dive part 2.
[SPEAKER_02]: on our Patreon.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is two hours of night's timpler goodness and we answer a lot of the big questions on the night's timpler.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why are they associated with free mason and what happened to them and all this stuff and were they Christians or not Christians?
[SPEAKER_02]: We try to answer those questions.
[SPEAKER_02]: But you're here right now for William Nib.
[SPEAKER_02]: So let's get you to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, William Nib, he's a new one for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, I was on a wear of him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Troy, were you familiar with the William Nib?
[SPEAKER_02]: No, I, this entire story was brand new to me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, I almost wondered if you knew about him because if I recall correctly, you've visited Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: Was that it, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: It was like, yeah, yeah, I've been to Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was like, maybe you've heard of this guy, but I had never heard of him.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's possible not that I retained as far as information goes, but William name he was born in 1803 and he was twins along with his sister Anna and they grew up in a large family.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had eight siblings altogether.
[SPEAKER_01]: His upbringing was humble and his father was a tailor who seemed to be plagued with
[SPEAKER_01]: drinking and when he was eight years old, sorry when he was seven years old, his father was declared bankrupt.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the family was not in the best financial setup situation there.
[SPEAKER_01]: When Nibbs was 12 years old, he began an apprenticeship as a printer, like a printmaker.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you'd be printing out books and pamphlets in such,
[SPEAKER_01]: learning to trade that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: His mother was strong in her face.
[SPEAKER_01]: She taught at a local church run school.
[SPEAKER_01]: William himself was probably better known for his marble game.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a big marble s flair rather than rather than an academic, you know, prodigy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Try to do with play marbles when you are a kid.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, not really.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I always thought marbles were really fun to like pick up.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I like a great marble.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think who doesn't, but I don't I can't ever think of like sitting around playing with marbles, but What about you, Joel?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was 200 years ago, maybe that was just a lot more fun back when I'm saying that I kind of get it like I kind of wish I could go back and time and I feel like I'd be a marbles kid.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, like I think you would be.
[SPEAKER_02]: I could see us talking at some seminary at, you know, both of us having gotten there at the old age of 15 and you talking about your great Marvel games as a kid, you know, I could see that happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the printing business that he worked at was owned by a man named Mr. Fuller and it was actually the son of Andrew.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fuller, Andrew Fuller, one of the key founding members of the Baptist Missionary Society.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the same organization that sent out William Carey and many other missionaries all around the world This is a little bit later to that startup, so the the printing press was run by Andrew Fuller's son, but they printed missionaries supplies there, so
[SPEAKER_01]: Nibbs had the unique kind of exposure to missionary pamphlets and books that were being printed and sent out and circulated there and so he was able to become familiar with the ideas and teachings of Andrew Fuller.
[SPEAKER_01]: in 1816 William and his family began to attend the same church that Andrew Fuller had preached in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Andrew Fuller himself had actually passed away the year before that, but the church was now run and led by a man named Dr. John Ryland, who was one of the other founding members of the Baptist missionary society.
[SPEAKER_01]: So again, one of those fundamental startup people that we look back on and think.
[SPEAKER_02]: In 1822, while attending this church and Sunday school with Andrew Fuller's son, Ned became a Baptist, so I didn't catch what he was before, but now he is a Baptist.
[SPEAKER_02]: His older brother Thomas had also gone down the same road with him, and William had always looked up to his older brother.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was a couple years older than him, and just he thought he was a coolest, and his older brother decided to become a missionary, and felt called to go to Jamaica, and after a little time, his brother got married, and off to Jamaica he went.
[SPEAKER_02]: However, tragically, he was only there for about 14 months before he died of a tropical fever.
[SPEAKER_02]: And at the same time that he was getting the message back, Nib was getting the message back that his older brother had died of his tropical fever in Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: He also then found out that one of his close friends that had also gone to Jamaica died of another fever as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: This would be enough for I think many of us to question going to Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: William had not shown a lot of like, you know, he'd be shown a lot of interest in missionary stuff.
[SPEAKER_02]: but see, hearing what had happened, he started to beg the society, send me, I'll go on my brother's stead like I gotta go.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he had kind of not been chosen because he, you know, he'd only been serious about his faith for a little over a year and he seemed like the less competent of the brothers, I don't know how he put it.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he was the marbles brother.
[SPEAKER_02]: He wasn't the guy you thought was going to, you know, change everything.
[SPEAKER_02]: But he was he was passionate and he was very sincere.
[SPEAKER_02]: Send me.
[SPEAKER_02]: He got married before he left very common in the very early days of missions where hey, this guy wants to go Hey, this girl wants to go.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, you two should should go marry each other and then you can go out And that's what happened to him to him and they marry she spoke Welsh his family They kind of got to meet each other and liked him liked her a lot and sent off to Jamaica He goes and eventually by the way her nephew would also become a missionary It looks like to Jamaica too.
[SPEAKER_02]: So quite a connected family there
[SPEAKER_02]: As far as I can tell, they liked each other, but honestly, it never, it was not a focal point of any of the stories his marriage with Mary, but there was no negative, so it was nothing I found that scene to say it was bad.
[SPEAKER_02]: As soon as he got to Jamaica, he could see one of the biggest roadblocks to bringing people to Jesus, it was very clear slavery.
[SPEAKER_02]: The slavery of Jamaicans was terrible.
[SPEAKER_02]: The British Empire had it as a colony.
[SPEAKER_02]: and they had plantations everywhere, and the missionaries survived on the goodwill of the plantation owners.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were okay with the missionaries coming and sharing the gospel.
[SPEAKER_02]: They gave them the buildings they could build their churches on.
[SPEAKER_02]: They owned all the land so you couldn't really be there without their approval.
[SPEAKER_02]: They gave you the place you stayed at.
[SPEAKER_02]: You were there basically on their charity and you were not only allowed but encouraged to share the gospel with
[SPEAKER_02]: like a abolition.
[SPEAKER_02]: You could not say slavery was wrong.
[SPEAKER_02]: You could not start to share these ideas with the enslaved people of Jamaica because that's just not with the plantation owners are interested in you doing.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's going to ruin everything all their business will go down the drain if you do that.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so in a lot of ways these missionaries kind of seem like they were in a hostage situation.
[SPEAKER_02]: You came to share the gospel, but one of the number one stumbling blocks between you and reaching these people is the sense of slavery, and you can't say anything about it because your entire livelihood and ability to be there to share the gospel is dependent on you keeping your mouth shut.
[SPEAKER_02]: But Nib was willing to call out the problems of the day.
[SPEAKER_02]: One example was there was a man who was a slave went to the same church as Nib and he started a prayer meeting at his home.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nib, he gets accused by the plantation owners of like starting an activist movement in his house.
[SPEAKER_02]: And Nib goes forward to the courts.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's like, I know it was a prayer meeting.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just prayer.
[SPEAKER_02]: You guys have this wrong.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no sin or law against prayer, but the slave owners tried and convicted them anyway.
[SPEAKER_02]: They gave him 20 lashes beating this poor guy.
[SPEAKER_02]: And nib was upset, so nib walked around with a sign.
[SPEAKER_02]: Next to this guy, while he worked, that basically said like he was beaten for praying, and then he wrote letters back to England and across the different colonies and places like that, just saying like, hey, we need to get attention to this poor guy, and he actually got this guy pardoned, and he was able to convince people to send money back out to buy his freedom because it was so messed up.
[SPEAKER_02]: So even though nib,
[SPEAKER_02]: But it is here, he's trying to kind of change things and recognize that these people are not being treated the way they're supposed to and this will be an important part of his story.
[SPEAKER_01]: So after he served overseas nibbs, returned home to address various aspects of the missionary society.
[SPEAKER_01]: He would give these speeches and these speeches were pretty bold, I mean he'd call out specific
[SPEAKER_01]: advocating for the end of slavery, there's excerpts here where he says, I call upon children by the cries of the infants, I self-law, that the maclos field is states in Westmoreland.
[SPEAKER_01]: I call upon parents by the bloodstriped back of Catherine Williams, who, with heroism, England has seldom known, chose a dungeon rather than to surrender her honor.
[SPEAKER_01]: I call upon Christians by the last rated back of William Blacks of King Valley whose wounds were still unhealed months after his flogging.
[SPEAKER_01]: I call upon you all by the sympathies of Jesus and as he's giving his speech there's this account of a senior member at society kind of tugging on his sleeve kind of urging him to stop but nibbs kind of refused and would press on.
[SPEAKER_01]: he and his speech quote, whatever the consequences I will speak.
[SPEAKER_01]: At the risk of my connection to the society, and of all I hold dear, I will declare this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, open the eyes of the Christians in England to see the evils of slavery and to banish it from the earth, and quote.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this got a huge response, a favorable response.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the rooms would erupt in applause.
[SPEAKER_01]: And by the end of the evening, you know, that senior member that was kind of telling him to tone it down a bit, approached him and pledged his help in spreading the message and they actually teamed up and became quite, quite a duo.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, it seems like, you know, the spirit would work through his pleas and his presentations and even people that were a little bit uncomfortable by it would come around to championing his movement of abolition.
[SPEAKER_02]: yeah it really seemed to be like these people were all in the same page that slavery was evil William Wilberforce and John Newton had already laid the groundwork decades before and Britain to be against slavery they just felt like we don't want to rock the boat you know in look right there is this question that anyone who's ever had to
[SPEAKER_02]: share the gospel with somebody you know when is it okay to say hey what you're doing wrong and when is it like hey I don't want to lose that relationship and not be able to share the gospel with them same with society same with every missionaries had to figure out what are the things I can call out in the culture and that it's actually blocking the way for the gospel to go and what are the things that I just need to live with because I'm sharing the gospel and that's more important right now and
[SPEAKER_02]: In the issue of Jamaica, the missionary Baptist Society was treating the slavery thing like it's, we have to share the gospel of them.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're going to go to hell if they don't hear it.
[SPEAKER_02]: We just have to tolerate this and nib starts to really be the guy who gets them to see it the other way.
[SPEAKER_02]: And see, no, the reason we can't bring them the gospel is because we're tolerating the slavery.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have to get rid of it, remove that first, and then the people will be open to hearing about the gospel.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, not everyone loved him.
[SPEAKER_02]: As we already talked about the plantation owners do not like him.
[SPEAKER_02]: And this gets worse after what is called the Baptist War.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you were thinking the Baptist War, that's a fight over a potluck or something, it's actually not, it's a pretty serious one that was in Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was also called the Christmas Revolt.
[SPEAKER_02]: Again, both cool sounding names, but they're not actually such nice things.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I had the church that nib went to.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was, I want to be incredibly clear.
[SPEAKER_02]: I researches, I think I actually have told my wife at least, she needs to do a Mars missionaries on William Nib.
[SPEAKER_02]: He deserves a double feature on their revive studios.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think she will.
[SPEAKER_02]: So she'll kind of get the details a little bit better.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the week to week episodes, I can't always get everything as perfectly detailed as I would, like at least gets a little bit more time on her shows.
[SPEAKER_02]: So she can kind of really dig in there and get it all 100% correct.
[SPEAKER_02]: But it seemed like Nib knew the guy who will cause this problem.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I think they knew each other.
[SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't tell how much.
[SPEAKER_02]: And by the way, nib, he went overseas to be a teacher.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was just a teaching missionary type.
[SPEAKER_02]: He wasn't, you know, he wasn't some great church planter.
[SPEAKER_02]: He will become one.
[SPEAKER_02]: He wasn't planning to leave, you know, abolition and Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: He will end up doing this.
[SPEAKER_02]: But he was originally just a teacher teaching people reading writing and the Bible and stuff like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So this guy is a deacon at the same church that nib is coming to, and he's an enslaved Jamaican named Samuel Sharpe, and he leads a revolt.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, he wasn't originally supposed to be a revolt.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was supposed to be a protest.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were supposed to be told all the slaves after Christmas.
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't show back up for work.
[SPEAKER_02]: uh... that's why it's called a christmas revolt and until they agree to pay us and give us a little bit better time off and he wasn't asking for i think it's demands were extremely reasonable uh... he's saying they asked for half pay so whatever you're paying other people just give us half that we just need some money and we need better time off we just haven't had enough time off it's been very hard i mean can you imagine
[SPEAKER_02]: picking sugar cane in Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was complaining about the heat before.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think it's any colder in Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: I can't imagine how hard and back-breaking that is asking to get paid something and to get some time off.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's very reasonable that what they, I mean obviously, it's horrible that this was even, this was even something.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, this got out of hand quickly.
[SPEAKER_02]: And what happened here?
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not sure.
[SPEAKER_02]: Did the slave owners try to force them back on the plantations?
[SPEAKER_02]: Or did some of the different groups of slaves that were our belling get out of control either way, but within a day or two, some places are starting to a couple of the mansions start to burn.
[SPEAKER_02]: the governor sends soldiers to call the riot.
[SPEAKER_02]: The slaves have guns and they fire back on the soldiers.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so it ends up being about a week before this whole thing is rounded up and it will be weeks before all of the like everybody is officially captured.
[SPEAKER_02]: And actually some of them will never be recaptured.
[SPEAKER_02]: Many, many slaves ran away and were never seen again.
[SPEAKER_02]: They didn't come back out of hiding until after.
[SPEAKER_02]: slavery ended.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so this isn't that being a big deal.
[SPEAKER_02]: It had about 2 to 300 liters, 500 people, I think will be executed.
[SPEAKER_02]: It could be, these numbers could be off.
[SPEAKER_02]: It could be 300 executed, whatever it is.
[SPEAKER_02]: But it's 30 to 60,000 people were thought to have taken effect in this.
[SPEAKER_02]: So this is a big deal for the island of Jamaica at the time.
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously.
[SPEAKER_02]: and nib new this guy will go into the same church there part of this and so and nib actually found out this protest or revolt was happening two days before it happened and how to control it got it in all that stuff um and now once they were done putting down the riot they started to do a bunch of other stuff as well that gets nib and trouble and it is it is a very messy situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: So just clarify Troy Sharpe, the one who helped kind of start the rebellion, he was digging in the church and also a slave at the same time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that correct?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so he was, he was us, yeah, and that was actually pretty common in Jamaica to have especially in the Baptist churches.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were pretty famous for bringing up these people so they could be a part of everything else.
[SPEAKER_01]: So after the Rebellion, Charlotte apparently was given no choice but to return to life as a slave and he refused and said he would rather die in the gallows than spend another day in bondage.
[SPEAKER_01]: And at this point, plantation owners, they trusted Nolan, especially Nibbs,
[SPEAKER_01]: And although Nibbs opposed violence and even allowed church to be used as barracks to suppress the rebellion, he remained an outspoken, uncompromising voice against slavery.
[SPEAKER_01]: So both during and after the uprising, Nibbs is kind of...
[SPEAKER_01]: stuck in this weird position of wanting to stop violence but also again uncompromisingly against this slavery and for abolition abolition.
[SPEAKER_01]: As a result, Nibs was arrested and he did narrowly make it out on bail.
[SPEAKER_01]: mobs repeatedly gathered at his home and threatened to tar in feather him, and many baptous missionaries that are in the area, they fled and went back home out of fear, that nibs he chose to stay, didn't want to leave his home.
[SPEAKER_01]: He heard about this plot to assassinate him, and it was kind of uncovered through some friends of his, and he spent, I don't know how long but it seems like sometime living on a boat off the shore.
[SPEAKER_01]: until it was safe to return to the coast.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't fleeing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't going away.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was just getting to kind of a safer spot, which I thought was an interesting safe house, a floating boat on the sea.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where you and your family are going to live until you can determine it's safe.
[SPEAKER_01]: When they finally came back, Jamaican believers urged Nibbs to return to Britain to speak out against slavery and to help bring it to an end, he agreed traveling throughout the country and delivering powerful messages, kind of like the speech that we quoted earlier.
[SPEAKER_01]: So many historians credit this rebellion and the exposure of the brutal conditions as a key factor of ending slavery in the British Empire.
[SPEAKER_01]: In 1833 slavery itself would be outlawed, not just the slave trade, which had already been banned in 1807, but again 1833 is when the abolition would take full effect in the outlawing of slavery.
[SPEAKER_02]: he goes back to Britain to race support because the churches a lot of the Baptist churches have been burnt down by the plantation owners that were upset with these different Baptists because they kind of saw this as caused by all of this stuff that happened was caused by them.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so he goes back, they raised support to get some churches rebuilt across Jamaica, and apparently rumors started to circulate that all these missionaries are just living the nice life down Jamaica, they're just building themselves nice houses, they didn't actually use the money to build churches, they, you know, they're just they're just using it on themselves and honestly,
[SPEAKER_02]: Before I knew William Knib's story, I had edited the sermon and I really liked the sermon because of that part right there.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is, you know, something that people still look used missionaries up today.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've had and known this happened.
[SPEAKER_02]: where people will say, oh, you know, you just people who are living overseas, you're using it as an excuse to live well off of other people's money and you know what I am sure that throughout church history that has been true I'm sad we live in a fallen world and there's no doubt to me that some people have probably taken money to do that kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: but it is definitely not true in very many cases.
[SPEAKER_02]: Many people give up a whole lot to live overseas and share the gospel.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so seeing 200 years ago, a world-famous abolitionist and preacher in missionary dealing with the same problem that I think a lot of missionary still have to deal with today was just something I appreciate.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, wow, it's amazing how little things have changed and how much is going on.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he leaves Jamaica very unwillingly.
[SPEAKER_02]: He seems like kind of put off like I have to go back to Britain and deal with this, but I don't want to have rather be here And when anyone you see why in a minute why he was wanting to be there?
[SPEAKER_02]: He had to set the matter straight and he gives the speech that you're going to listen to in just a moment very powerful to the missionary Baptist Society being like, we've been accused of this, let me explain to you how this is very wrong.
[SPEAKER_02]: Dearing this time Jamaica had also begun to have a huge revival and I think that's why he didn't want to leave, tens of thousands of people all over Jamaica are hearing the gospel and coming to Christ across the island.
[SPEAKER_02]: It really seems like,
[SPEAKER_02]: Once slavery was gone, Jamaicans were open to the Baptist message that, you know, that seemed to them help bring them out of their bonds.
[SPEAKER_02]: So the perfect time for an anti-missionary slander to kind of go out there and interrupt this powerful revival that was happening.
[SPEAKER_02]: It honestly, William, I'm really encouraging at least to do an episode for Infirmars missionaries too much to put into a revive thought script.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he helped plant churches all over the island.
[SPEAKER_02]: He helped build schools and get the education going over there.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just a lot of really cool stuff.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he, also, and right after the slavery got ended, they put in place in the apprenticeship program, whether they didn't pay people, it basically was slavery again, and he had to fight for another couple years to end it, and when it ended, he buried a coffin with the shackles of a chain of slavery, basically threw him in there, and he said, now today is the day that slavery is truly ended in Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: He did like, just cool stuff like that all the time.
[SPEAKER_02]: William Nib seems like an incredibly important cool guy.
[SPEAKER_02]: Three years after giving the speech about to listen to it, the old age of 42, he sadly caught yellow fever and he passed on Really incredible how many things he did not bad for the guy that they thought wasn't up for the job back when he was very much younger
[SPEAKER_00]: I stand before you today, with the deep and solemn sense of the need to remain calm.
[SPEAKER_00]: Something I'm not usually known for.
[SPEAKER_00]: I truly regret that, in the course of my remarks, some may feel that I am, at least indirectly placing blame on fellow missionaries, who might always want to love as brothers in Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, this esteemed gathering will be my witness, and the ministers of Jesus Christ assembled here will attest that throughout my time in England, even though I have spoken out strongly against oppression and have longed and continue to yearn for human liberty, I have never spoken a single word against another missionary.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I cannot defend my own reputation, and that of my beloved colleagues without casting doubt on other missionaries, I will choose to leave both then and myself to bear the full weight of the accusations made against us until the day comes when we stand before our common master to receive our reward.
[SPEAKER_00]: the accusations that have been leveled against the Baptist missionaries in Jamaica and have been widely circulated, not just in the island's newspapers, which I know have been extensively sent to this country, touched on several matters.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will do my best to address these accusations because it is my duty to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: To those who have welcomed me in the past, to those who supported us during times of persecution and distress, and to those who are willing to overlook the fiery language that youthful enthusiasm can sometimes bring, especially when discussing civil and religious liberty.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I stand here, representing my beloved fellow missionaries, I ask that you listen patiently and consider these matters seriously.
[SPEAKER_00]: Standing here as the representative of every missionary in Jamaica, who is part of our association, I must leave this meeting with either your condemnation or your approval.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will not be content with merely pretending to have Christian character if it is accompanied with irresponsibility, which has no place in the character of any Christian.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I cannot demonstrate to you that considering all circumstances and the nature of the population to whom we were sent through your generosity, if I cannot show you that we have been careful in admitting members and have implored our brethren on the ground to correct us if we were wrong, then I am willing to be condemned permanently.
[SPEAKER_00]: My appearance before you today is the result of thoughtful consideration and sincere prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: While it would have been personally fulfilling to stay with the beloved people in my care, and to continue enjoying the domestic happiness that I had been blessed with for the past 17 years, I knew I had a duty to be here.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would also have been wonderful to travel across the ocean with a woman whose affection and partnership on my deepest joys.
[SPEAKER_00]: But she said, no, this is a time for sacrifice.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have no money to offer, but I will give you up for a while.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you were willing to listen, I will gladly continue speaking.
[SPEAKER_00]: For my energy is as strong as ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that in my coming comments on the church's discipline, it will not be misunderstood as claiming that everything is perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have never said that, and it would be foolish to do so.
[SPEAKER_00]: What I maintain is this.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are unaware of anything harmful, and if we were, we would correct it.
[SPEAKER_00]: What I assert, and hope we will earn your full and definitive support in this matter,
[SPEAKER_00]: is that as pastors, we have done everything that Christian kindness, balance with truth, requires of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have those who are called inquireers, and we have those who are called members.
[SPEAKER_00]: To each of these individuals, we personally issue a ticket.
[SPEAKER_00]: These tickets are similar to the ones you have received today to attend this meeting.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if the respected secretary would kindly collect the ones presented here today, it would save me a few pounds, as they would work just as well as new ones.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not deny that it is possible some missionaries may have distributed them without being careful.
[SPEAKER_00]: What I do deny is that such an instance has ever been clearly brought before me.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is also possible that at the early stages of our mission, some individuals may have placed undue confidence in these tickets.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, I have not witnessed such a case in the church under my care, nor have I heard of one.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may remember that I wrote to all my fellow missionaries regarding this matter, and I received responses from every one of them, stating that for several years they have not encountered
[SPEAKER_00]: They all acknowledge that during the early stages of the mission, there may have been instances of this kind, and they actively worked to address and correct it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I trust you agree that it is not necessary to dismantle an entire system simply because it contains some flaws.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother Day, for example, said, in the course of four years, I've only come across one instance where someone placed a superstitious importance on the tickets.
[SPEAKER_00]: Many people put the wrong kind of reverence or superstitious ideas on the Lord's Supper.
[SPEAKER_00]: Does that mean we should stop observing it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Take, for example, Mr. Merrick, a young man who was once a Sunday school student in my class.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was the first person of African descent to whom I gave a Bible, and now, as a person of color, he is the pastor of a Christian church.
[SPEAKER_00]: With the support of his kind father and another missionary, he has helped build chapels worth 4,000 sterling.
[SPEAKER_00]: This individual has stated that he knows of no such misuse of the tickets.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moreover, all my fellow missionaries have confirmed the same general truth that I have presented to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Allow me to address another question in passing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have there been instances in Jamaica where individuals sought to leave the Baptist Church and were refused admission into other churches due to their unfitness for church fellowship.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Dexter writes, regarding the tickets, never.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Birchow writes, our accusers are constantly inviting and encouraging our members to leave us and join them, and they are always eager to accept our excluded members.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother Day writes, I cannot recall a single instance where one of our members seeking to leave us was refused entry into a church of another denomination.
[SPEAKER_00]: In one or two cases, people have left our congregation to join another denomination, citing that the Baptists make it too difficult to get to heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I must return to the matter of the tickets.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have one here with me, and let me be clear.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is no formal system behind it.
[SPEAKER_00]: As far as I know, my fellow missionaries also have no such system.
[SPEAKER_00]: After having worked alongside them for 17 years and discussing these matters at our stations, I've observed their practices.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's an example of one such ticket, belonging to Edward Barrett.
[SPEAKER_00]: We do not distribute these tickets unless individuals request them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Many people claim to be Baptists, though they have no real connection with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Without using some system like the one we put in place, we have no way of distinguishing who among the inquirers are truly connected to us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some have said that these tickets are viewed superficiously, but after investigating the matter thoroughly, I've even had church members ask me, do you think we are that stupid?
[SPEAKER_00]: Wouldn't she assume that if a piece of paper had any superstitious influence on an unlettered mind, those familiar with such things would steer clear of it?
[SPEAKER_00]: But the reality is quite different.
[SPEAKER_00]: Regarding the admission of new members to our churches, I have previously stated, and it's been published that I have never received anyone into the Christian Church whom I felt I should reject.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have honestly prayed for God's guidance, and I've witnessed people leaving my door in tears, heartbroken, because I wouldn't accept them.
[SPEAKER_00]: A significant portion of the examination process for female members falls to our wives, and it's important to understand why.
[SPEAKER_00]: Given Jamaica's history and social conditions, it's appropriate for women to be involved
[SPEAKER_00]: These women are wives, though often unnoticed and unpraised do remarkable work.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their discretion is essential, and I believe their contributions are approved by Jesus and admired by angels.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we are criticized for trusting our wives' judgment in matters of scriptural knowledge when emitting female members, then we will continue to be wrong, as we won't change this practice.
[SPEAKER_00]: After these examinations, I personally meet with the candidates in a group, and I can share how long those I've admitted over the past year have been waiting for baptism, faithfully attending church the entire time.
[SPEAKER_00]: For instance, six have been waiting for nine years, ten for eight years, eighty for seven
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what more could we do?
[SPEAKER_00]: I ask my fellow ministers who are more experienced than I am, what would they do differently?
[SPEAKER_00]: If they had a better system for admitting members, we will gladly adopt it.
[SPEAKER_00]: If not, we'll stick with our current method.
[SPEAKER_00]: After this address is given before the entire congregation, I don't care who is present.
[SPEAKER_00]: I read the name of each individual publicly, along with where they live.
[SPEAKER_00]: I explain that I am satisfied with their confession of faith, but also urge any member who knows of anything wrong in their conduct to come forward and tell me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remind them that if they know something and don't speak up, their responsibility rests on their own shoulders, not mine.
[SPEAKER_00]: At that point, I feel I've done everything I can because I am not the one who can search hearts, only God can.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has commanded me to baptize those who profess belief, and that is what I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: We then wait for two weeks, and if nothing is brought up during that time, although sometimes a disputor issue might arise, if nothing comes up, I proceed with the baptism.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every individual is expelled publicly, and it's important to note that we are the only denomination that documents and publishes our actions.
[SPEAKER_00]: You won't find such transparency in the records of other missionaries' societies, a table of exclusions and restorations is rare.
[SPEAKER_00]: When someone repents, they are forgiven, but they stand before the church to be publicly rebuked and warned not to repeat their offense.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you do that here?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you rebuke those that sin before all so that others may fear?
[SPEAKER_00]: Are we right in following this painful but necessary process?
[SPEAKER_00]: From the time the London Missionaries Society began its work and Jamaica until 1840.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have admitted 18,691 members into the Church of Christ this way.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have had to exclude 1,934 individuals because it's best to be completely transparent.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we have restored 1,631 of those members after they have repented, as I described.
[SPEAKER_00]: Though the number of those restored doesn't equal the number of those excluded.
[SPEAKER_00]: Since there's a period of time, they must remain apart during their exclusion and restoration.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are only 303 people who were ever excluded and never restored.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 1835, we had 13,966 members.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now we have 27,677.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had 10,000 inquirers.
[SPEAKER_00]: By 1840, that number has grown to 18,984.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand that some of these numbers might surprise you.
[SPEAKER_00]: All I can say is, come and see for yourselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will open our hearts, our homes, and our churches to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can judge for yourselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: When the accusations about the character of our people were first made to known to an assembly of 400 deacons and leaders, not a single harsh word was spoken, even though they were accused of every sin that disgraces humanity and drags it down to the dust.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are all well aware of the conditions we encountered when we arrived in Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard the accusations that our people couldn't read,
[SPEAKER_00]: but I ask, who was supposed to teach them to read when a law threatens punishment if a black person was caught with a book.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when missionaries face imprisonment, just for teaching them how to read the word of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: It went so far that when a respected landowner in England asked me to preach on his estate in Jamaica, his attorney strictly forbade me from teaching any of the workers even a single letter from the Bible.
[SPEAKER_00]: these are plain facts and I speak plainly.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've been criticized for not teaching people to read, so you deserve to know why.
[SPEAKER_00]: You also know the widespread sexual immorality that once plagued Jamaica, it was so rampant that at the start of our mission, after much searching, I could find only one
[SPEAKER_00]: But when we discovered a loophole in the law, I must confess I was the one who noticed it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We acted on it immediately.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, a church of England clergyman couldn't marry in an enslaved person without the owner's consent, or he'd face a fine of 50 pounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this restriction only applied to the church of England.
[SPEAKER_00]: The lawmakers never imagined we dared to conduct marriages ourselves as baptists.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, starting in 1835, we got to work.
[SPEAKER_00]: From then until 1840, the Baptist Missionaries alone performed 7,860 marriages, all of which have since been recognized as legal by the House of Assembly.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll recall that one of the key questions I asked my fellow missionaries was about the current situation of the newly freed black population.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to find out if the dire predictions made by plantation owners had come true.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether the emancipated people had become a burden on the church as was once feared.
[SPEAKER_00]: The question asked was, are any members of your church receiving public assistance?
[SPEAKER_00]: Before answering, it's important to note that there are certain diseases in Jamaica, like leprosy, with a law requires those afflicted to be isolated in specific facilities.
[SPEAKER_00]: Occasionally, this impacts Christians.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, aside from five or six such cases, I can confidently say, based on the information I've received, that within the Western Union, which covers a large area, there is not a single former slave, now a member of a Baptist church who was receiving parish aid.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year, we spent 600 pounds on helping the poor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those truly in need.
[SPEAKER_00]: But thankfully, these cases are relatively rare.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's remarkable is the growing sense of dignity and independence among the formerly enslaved people, which not only makes them reject state support for the church, but also renders themselves, self-reliant, needing no assistance from the parish.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's worth mentioning that during slavery, every free woman was required to have her children
[SPEAKER_00]: if she didn't, she couldn't get a certificate of her child's freedom, which meant her child, based on the color of their skin could be sold into slavery.
[SPEAKER_00]: If laws are being passed that violate basic human rights and essentially endorse the kidnapping of human beings, can you really be surprised that in the early days of our mission, we allowed our members to claim of civil rights, even though it was wrapped in a form of religious ceremony.
[SPEAKER_00]: Since the abolition of slavery, I haven't heard of a single instance of this kind continuing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying it never happens, but if it does, we hope for forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also been talk that Baptist missionaries are too afraid to make their finances public because doing so would supposedly ruin the mission.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll make mine public, and I don't care who knows what I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I returned in 1835, I received 4,860 pounds from the Baptist Missionaries Society and the British government, the latter being compensation for the destruction of our chapels.
[SPEAKER_00]: In that same period, I've received 17,755 pounds from the churches in Falmouth and its sister churches in refuge in Waldinzia, mostly from the people of Jamaica
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I imagine some might ask, and what did you do with all that money?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I didn't pocket it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't bought any sugar plantations, and I don't have any investments.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do have the support of the people whenever we need resources.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me explain what that money went toward.
[SPEAKER_00]: The costs of furnishing it, adding lights, and the monument totaled another 500 pounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: The monument, which commemorates the abolition of slavery, costs 120 Guinness.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a beautiful white marble piece above the pulpit.
[SPEAKER_00]: If it's wrong to put up such a thing, then yes, we've done wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fence around the property costs 450 pounds, ringing the total to 9,050 pounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: We built a school room in Falmouth and fence the yard for 1,140 pounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: We also purchased a mission house for 1,286 pounds and furnished it for another 411 pounds and 6 shillings.
[SPEAKER_00]: Additionally, we created a library for the Minister, which cost £200.
[SPEAKER_00]: It contains works by authors like How, Watts, and Henry, whose writings, ministers hold dear and often refer to.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how the money was spent in everything went directly to the mission and its community.
[SPEAKER_00]: We also use the funds to build a chapel at Refuge, which cost £1,510.
[SPEAKER_00]: Later, we expanded it in added a skull room, which caused an additional 740 pounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 1839, I had to endure an unjust lawsuit, falsely accused of receiving stolen checks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even though the chief justice stated that no one had ever brought a clearer case to
[SPEAKER_00]: Defending myself in that lawsuit cost me over 500 pounds, but the church, showing incredible generosity, told me, pastor, this one on cost you a single penny.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will cover it all.
[SPEAKER_00]: While I accepted a hundred pound donation from supporters at home, though not from the society, the church is offered covered the rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to make it clear that when I was in England, I didn't receive any money from the committee unless I was traveling for them, and even now I don't take a penny.
[SPEAKER_00]: If anyone doubts these accounts, feel free to review them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Things have changed so much that, with great pleasure, I can say the opposition we once faced has completely faded.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, those who once sought to harm me now give me whatever I need.
[SPEAKER_00]: and they do so willingly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't it a shame that while the world has found peace, the church sometimes stirs up conflict?
[SPEAKER_00]: The House of Assembly has been so impressed by the work of the missionaries that they passed a law without any requests for us, exempting missionaries of all denominations from public and parochial taxes.
[SPEAKER_00]: If any of my fellow ministers want to see for themselves, they can read the latest address
[SPEAKER_00]: It was printed just last week, and in an amazing turn of events, they've even referred to the freedom of the formerly enslaved as that glorious act of emancipation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some might say, you must have driven these people into poverty, leaving them barely above starvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I tell you, if the working class people in my homeland were half as well off as they are here in Jamaica, I'd be relieved.
[SPEAKER_00]: I truly feel for those struggling back home, and I reject the idea that their current state is an acceptable standard for happiness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's put this claim to the test.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were warnings that by establishing free villages we would ruin the country.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the reality, the plantain owners themselves have come to thank me and, admitting, Mr. nib, you were right after all.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the civil questions posed to my fellow workers was, how many people in your church and congregation have bought land?
[SPEAKER_00]: And how much have they paid for it?
[SPEAKER_00]: How many have built or are building homes on their land?
[SPEAKER_00]: And what are the costs?
[SPEAKER_00]: We took the time to thoroughly investigate and hear other results.
[SPEAKER_00]: in the western Union alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is just one area, with more reports coming soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Since that monumental act that recognizes our humanity, 3,700 of the once oppressed, marginalized, and downtrodden baptists have purchased land, which grants them the right to vote.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've paid for this land out of their own pockets.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're wondering how we know, we went as far as verifying their titles, because we believe it's worth a few hours of our time, even if it means losing a little sleep.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've collectively spent 33,000-13 pounds on these purchases, and this doesn't even include Mr. Birchels account.
[SPEAKER_00]: What have they done with this land?
[SPEAKER_00]: A total of 1,683 of them have built charming little homes.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are sacred spaces where the foot of a tyrant will never again tread, and by God's grace, poverty, with all its harsh realities, will not take root there.
[SPEAKER_00]: The cost of these homes amounts to 48,127 pounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: So while we've invested 80,000 pounds in building houses of worship,
[SPEAKER_00]: The people who contributed 60,000 pounds to that cause have also spent 81,240 pounds building their own free homes.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I bring this to a close, I hope that what I've shared today will fully justify my stance, even for those who may not be among us and provide clarity regarding my intentions.
[SPEAKER_00]: This morning, in prayer, I resolved not to speak unnecessarily about others, I was asked to lead worship at the home where I was staying, and I chose a hymn that beautifully captures my heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: When free from envy, scorn, and strife, all our wishes all above.
[SPEAKER_00]: Each can a brother's fangling's hide, and show a brother's love.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am fully aware of my own many shortcomings, and I trust in God's mercy through the blood of the Lamb.
[SPEAKER_00]: In defending my brethren who are as dear to me as life itself, and in presenting to you a simple, honest account of the beloved people under my care, I hope I have not unintentionally harmed anyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I have, I deeply regret it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The men I speak of are good men.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe they are mistaken in some things.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when they have endured as many trials as I have, when personal sorrow has weighed them down as it has me, when they've experienced the loss of a loved one, just as that life was blossoming, or when they've been imprisoned in face scorn at the bar of justice, then they will understand the importance of compassion toward every missionary who serves.
[SPEAKER_00]: A missionary whose character is his most precious asset.
[SPEAKER_00]: Strip that away, and he is left vulnerable.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wealth cannot sustain him, and talent only makes his fall more visible.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as long as his character remains untarnished, he can stand firm against any fallen earth and every demon in hell.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I speak with passion and I am aware of my own weaknesses, but I have spent years in the crucible of slavery.
[SPEAKER_00]: And though the cold winds greeted me when I arrived on your shores, the fire in my heart remains.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I was forced to dock in Havana and witness the horror of an island where slavery still thrives.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I know that tyranny continues to revel in the suffering of millions, and because I realized that if I had failed to clear my brethren of these accusations, a devastating blow would have been dealt to the anti-slavery movement, one that would ripple across America.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I seem consumed by the gravity of this issue, it is because I understand the well-being of millions of human beings depends, in part, on the decisions we make today.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is why I have momentarily left the quiet of Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_00]: But once this mission is accomplished, if I am spared, I hope to stand in the capital of America and continue to fight for the rights of the enslaved.
[SPEAKER_00]: Seventeen years I've labored in the islands of the West Indies, once defined by the cruel chains of slavery.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now shining with the freedom that has been hard won.
[SPEAKER_00]: This period spans one-third of the Jubilee that we celebrate today.
[SPEAKER_00]: By the grace of God, I stand before you in the full strength of my being, having been preserved from the scorching heat of the sun and the cold of the night.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether sitting with the humble members of my church and their small homes, or preaching to large congregations, I've had the privilege of proclaiming the boundless riches of Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for this, I say you have a rich reward, and I, too, feel abundantly blessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I owe a debt of gratitude to this society.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I was just a young man untrained by your institutions and untalked in your halls of learning, you counted me worthy to be sent on this mission of mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today I look forward to seeing others from among you rise up and take on this same calling.
[SPEAKER_00]: In Jamaica, we have seen firsthand the transformative power of Christianity.
[SPEAKER_00]: It stands against the false claim that religion is hostile to human rights.
[SPEAKER_00]: Christianity's highest aim is to lead humanity not only to earthly honor but to eternal glory in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is our duty to guide humanity along that path, to ease their journey toward that blessed destination.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those who claim that Christianity is an odds with happiness in this world are misled.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, there are grand systems of power and wealth upheld by the approval of the mighty.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are individuals who dress in garments that symbolize what they believe is a succession of apostolic authority.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are even those who use their influence to silence the poor and keep them in a state of object subservience, but this is not the way of true Christianity.
[SPEAKER_00]: In her vast and liberating form, Christianity has witnessed the suffering of 300,000 enslaved souls in Jamaica, and has shattered their chains.
[SPEAKER_00]: She has returned, and through her mysterious yet inherent power has softened the hearts of former task masters.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, aside from a few isolated cases, you will not encounter the oppression, tyranny, or cruelty that once defined life in those beautiful islands.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I first arrived in Jamaica 17 years ago, in the parish of Falmouth,
[SPEAKER_00]: There was but one chapel, belonging to the established church, and it could barely hold 500 people.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I first arrived at Jamaica, there was just one school, run by a man living in sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we have five churches that can each hold 2,000 people.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have three Wesleyan Chapples that can seat 3,000, two Presbyterian Chapples that can hold between 1,500 and 2,000, and one independent chapel, though I am not certain of its capacity.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as for the Baptist churches, there are now six, and together they can seat 7,500 people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Upon my return to Jamaica, as my esteemed friend, Mr. Goeney can confirm.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first letter I received was a warm greeting, offering blessings upon my return.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remarkably, it was from a man who had once set fire to one of our chapels and destroyed another.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps now you're thinking, the work is done, but I assure you, it is far from over.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure how you view our efforts, but we see ourselves merely as pioneers in this mission.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that without vigilance, many forms of error can easily creep in.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the apostle Paul could not prevent error from infiltrating the church at Corinth, how could William nib prevent it at Falmouth?
[SPEAKER_00]: If the apostle Peter could not stop it, should we expect brother birchl to do so?
[SPEAKER_00]: But just like Paul and Peter sought to root out falsehood, so too do we strive to expel error as quickly as the devil plants it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know this might sound personal, but it comes directly from the situation we're discussing.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I presented a report to the members of my church, and I explained the title deeds of the chapples.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those chapples that are fully paid off and placed in the hands of trustees, the congregation realize something.
[SPEAKER_00]: They realize that the house I live in, the bed I sleep on, and even the furniture I use aren't mine.
[SPEAKER_00]: They belong entirely to the church.
[SPEAKER_00]: The church members asked me, pastor, have you made any arrangements for home for your wife?
[SPEAKER_00]: I responded, no.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think I'd take your money without your permission to buy a house for my wife?
[SPEAKER_00]: replied.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you haven't secured one yet, it's time you do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go and build a house there.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll pay for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I took them at their word.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got to work immediately.
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of our beloved members, Edward Barrett, who many have wrongly spoken against, but is truly a man of God encouraged me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Barrett has been instrumental in leading about 600 souls to Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: He told me, you'd better start building soon, Pastor, because you never know when your time will come.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can't bear the thought of your wife having to leave this place, let her stay here.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I built the house, and it cost £1,000 sterling.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once it was done, I assigned the house entirely to Mrs. Knib and our children, choosing not to hold any property myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: That house is where my wife now lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope the next newsletter will include a story about this incredible display of generosity from the church.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me give you another example.
[SPEAKER_00]: I recently visited our dear brother Abbott, after he recovered from a serious illness.
[SPEAKER_00]: While caring for him, another beloved sister who had come to Jamaica with us tragically lost her life to the climate.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I left the sick room, weak and still recovering, a group of deacons came to meet with a large bag of money.
[SPEAKER_00]: They said, pastor, we know you've had a lot of expenses during this difficult time.
[SPEAKER_00]: The doctor's bills must be high.
[SPEAKER_00]: We were worried that if you carried the burden of these costs on your mind, it might slow down your recovery.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we took up a collection, and here it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is just one more example of the remarkable generosity of these people.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of my fellow missionaries, Mr. Dalewell, passed away not long after arriving on the island.
[SPEAKER_00]: The members of the church had never even met him, but when I told them about his death and asked if they would take up a collection at the next communion service as a gesture of Christian love for his grieving widow, they didn't hesitate.
[SPEAKER_00]: When the offering plates were passed around, they raised nearly 25 pounds sterling, which we sent to her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, should people like this be defamed?
[SPEAKER_00]: Should they be criticized if they have some minor faults or make a mistake here and there?
[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't basic human decency compel us to rise up in their defense?
[SPEAKER_00]: Still, we hold back our indignation and say, Father, forgive them.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't know what they're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: All we ask is for you to extend your empathy towards us.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have small groups, and we plan to keep them going.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've done the math, and I can confidently say, we have 600 dedicated men and women who lead our small group meetings.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are the people who have built our prayer houses, provided benches for them, and who every Monday night holds 60 prayer meetings across the island to ask for God's blessing on the messages preached the day before.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm aware that some missionaries have suggested that by giving the people more responsibility were undermining our own authority.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I say, let them have it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not afraid of losing status among them.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, I've told them the moment you find a black man who was ready to take this pulpit and I hope that happens before my brown hair turns gray.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will gladly step aside and listen to him preach the insertable riches of Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: But our mission work won't be fully realized until we take another crucial step, building a proper schoolhouse, a theological institution.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you'll help us in making this happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to support the missionaries you've already sent, and I'm asking for five more.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I also want you to have the honor of being part of this new theological institution.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's name it after someone venerable, like Foller or Carrie.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm asking, and I believe I have the right to ask, that you use part of your Jubilee fun to make this institution a reality.
[SPEAKER_00]: I must bring my remarks to a close, though not because I'm tired.
[SPEAKER_00]: These discussions energized me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would gladly continue speaking about this cause.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, as deeply as I felt about defending our integrity, because civil liberty is at stake, I also see in the signs of the times a brighter day on the horizon.
[SPEAKER_00]: A day when all nations will enjoy both civil and religious freedom.
[SPEAKER_00]: In this spirit, with all that is sacred in heaven and just on earth, I urge you to never think you can be too harsh into announcing anything that stands in the way of abolishing
[SPEAKER_00]: We've asked reason, and reason has answered, let's slavery perish.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've asked intelligence, and in his echoed, let the monster die.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've asked civilization, and the reply has been, it's lived too long.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've asked Christianity, and the answer has come, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've asked God Himself, and His Word has declared, I have made from one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: Slavery is doomed by reason, intelligence, civilization, and the very Word of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet somehow, it still finds refuge within parts of the Christian Church.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now is the time to wake up, sons and daughters of Britain.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have been the cradle of civil and religious liberty for the world, with your voice, which has the power to impact America, millions of enslaved souls will rise up and bless the land that gave birth to the pilgrims.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is on our side.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every divine attribute aligns with eternal justice.
[SPEAKER_00]: The mercy holds back the full force of justice for now.
[SPEAKER_00]: They will come a time when even mercy can no longer plead for the oppressors.
[SPEAKER_00]: millions have already perished in America.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let this stir your compassion and move you to prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: You hold the power to relieve their suffering.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you choose to act, but if you don't, the curse of their oppression will rest on you.
[SPEAKER_00]: With every force of heaven in earth behind us, and the signs of the times urging us toward ultimate victory, I implore you to prepare for America's
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether you join the work or not, the time is not far off when God, by His own hand, in mighty power, will send forth His messengers of mercy to that land, and you will hear the songs of freedom sung by the formerly enslaved, as they rise from the oppression and call England blessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: My heart is in Jamaica, even as my affections burn brightly here, every Sunday feels incomplete to me if I cannot preach to those who have been so wrongly slendered.
[SPEAKER_00]: But soon I will return to them, and when I bring, as I believe I will, your approval of our conduct, my fellow missionaries will not boast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead we will gather at the mercy seat and bless God who has protected us in the day of battle.
[SPEAKER_00]: strengthened and renewed.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will set our sights on other islands in the west and bring them as trophies to the feet of our Redeemer.
[SPEAKER_02]: As you can see, we left in this episode many details, things about churches, buildings, Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: But any may have thought, I don't know what that was all about, but for me, it was just a very beautiful encapsulation of what great missionaries do and what they had to go through.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've met people all over the world, kind of going through stuff like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was really cool to see, again, 200 years later, so many of the same conversations have been happening for so long.
[SPEAKER_02]: I just loved his story.
[SPEAKER_02]: I loved his willingness to boldly go back and go after the people slandering him and not attacking him by name or anything, but just to lay out his case for why they were wrong and it just it was encouraging to hear all the things that we're going on in Jamaica to see it come to Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: There was an official response from the missionary Baptist Society and I'm going to read it for you here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's how they responded when they got to give their name, you know, put their words to his speech afterwards.
[SPEAKER_02]: This meaning expresses its heartfelt gratitude to God for His protection over our beloved missionaries who have returned to their homeland on this occasion.
[SPEAKER_02]: We welcome them at the deepest affection and take this opportunity to reaffirm our unwavering competence and the Christian character and faithfulness of our missionaries in Jamaica.
[SPEAKER_02]: We offer them our continued sympathy instead of that support as they faced in trials and ongoing challenges.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, he gives the speech he went back from Jamaica to Britain to clear things up in the missionary society.
[SPEAKER_02]: Totally listened, absolutely were on his side and they fully supported him and those last couple years were spent just
[SPEAKER_02]: working through the revival and focusing on making Jamaica better and focusing on getting the word of God that more people, he didn't have to worry about that kind of stuff anymore.
[SPEAKER_02]: 150 years later, Jamaica gave a special honor, a special kind of metal of a word.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've never given it to a white person before this moment, but they gave it to the very first person that was a white that they gave it to was William Knib and they gave it to him with like, I mean, he wasn't there.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's dead.
[SPEAKER_02]: Always, but they honored him with a statue.
[SPEAKER_02]: All the things that he had done even hundreds of years later, it still was having an impact on Jamaica that was positive and really showing what a person living for Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: really willing to stand up to the evil of their day and not worry about even what their fellow Christian brothers and sisters might think, but willing to stand up for Christ and stand up for something good, can leave an impact that lasts centuries into the future.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for listening to today's episode of Revived Thoughts.
[SPEAKER_01]: Today's sermon was narrated by Nick Garland, big thanks to Nick, as always, for coming on and helping read a Revive Thoughts episode, helping to get another old and forgotten sermon out to new listeners' ears.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, Nick, we always appreciate when he does a server for us.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's done very many.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you enjoyed this sermon, enjoy the story of William Knib.
[SPEAKER_02]: We would love for you to share it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Tell other people about it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Tell people about this amazing man.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe you knew all about him.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe you did not.
[SPEAKER_02]: I did not know all about him before this episode.
[SPEAKER_02]: I find his story very encouraging.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think in an age where we're always having to ask the question, what should I stand for?
[SPEAKER_02]: People's stories like William Knib can help give us a courage to stand for that.
[SPEAKER_02]: The things that are right no matter what.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is Troy and Joel, and this is Revive Thoughts.