In Jamaica by William Ambrose Spicer

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 3, 1903

In Jamaica

By William Ambrose Spicer

THE hearts of believers in the West Indies respond to the call of the hour for a general forward movement and a quick work in the earth. It truly is of God that now in all the world a people is to be made ready to enter the land of promise; and the Holy Spirit is manifestly working to make the people willing in this the day of his power.

I notice that the fire destroyed my report of week of prayer experiences in Buffalo and Mt. Vernon Academy. At the former place Brother and Sister B. E. Connerly were sent forth with the prayers of the people to their work in Porto Rico. This brought home to all, in a very practical way, the fact that the call now sounding means a definite work in the uttermost parts of the earth. Old believers, whose memories keep alive the blessed experiences of early days, cheered all our hearts by their testimony that the call now sounding on every side for world-wide service has the ring of the message in the old days when the little flock expected soon to go to heaven, and the hope of seeing Jesus in a little time was a power in the daily life.

Again, at Mt. Vernon Academy the convicting power of the Holy Spirit brought the immanence of the end before our hearts. Here it was not so much the testimony of aged believers who have long waited for the consolation of Israel that was the inspiring factor; it was rather the spectacle and the testimony of scores of consecrated youth, prepared and preparing for service, ready to push the battle into the uttermost parts of the earth. All things are truly ready for a decisive work, and the hour has struck for the final witness to be borne.

And now, from Jamaica, I am glad to send the word that God's Spirit sounds the same call to consecration and service among our brethren in this part, who have had less of privileges and light, it may be, than American believers, but in whose hearts beats the same love for this glorious message. A world-wide advance is called for, and everywhere God is leading his forces on.

In company with Brother J. A. Strickland and family, of Virginia, I landed in Port Antonio, January 5. Already a general meeting for the district was in progress. Two days, pressed full of services, brought blessings to the believers, and showed plainly enough that they appreciate the truth that has done so much for them. About one hundred were in attendance, representatives coming in from companies in the district. Four church buildings are in process of construction in this part, I believe. The people are mostly small cultivators, whose little plats of land hang upon the mountain sides.

I stopped with Brother W. J. Tanner, who has oversight of the work in the Portland district, as this part of Jamaica is called. The district is more malarial and wet than most parts of Jamaica, but Brother and Sister Tanner have been kept fairly well, and they are of good courage in the work. It is apparent that the message is building up a substantial and loyal people in Jamaica, poor in this world's goods, but growing rich and richer in faith. I shall long remember the hearty singing in Port Antonio. It does one good to hear the old songs in a strange land; and here, amid the palms and the banana plants, you may hear all the favorites of the churches in the home land. The language of the prayer and the social meeting makes one to know at once that here the truth has made believers one with all who rejoice in the “blessed hope” in all the earth.

Meeting Brother F. I. Richardson, superintendent of the Jamaican work, at a railway station near the east central portion of the islands, we together visited two companies in the mountains, at Glengaffe and Above Rocks, reaching the first place by horse. Here is a little church building in process of erection, out upon the spur of the mountain. Their Sabbath-school was well conducted, and all the company of thirty or forty present were an animated part of it. The truth has had to win its way in this section against considerable prejudice, but the faithful lives and witness of believers are doing the work. It is encouraging to find how large a proportion of the scattered companies has been raised up without ministerial labor, as in this place.

Sabbath evening we walked to Above Rocks, three or four miles farther on, and Sunday dedicated a little, white-walled church, perched high upon the rocks. It is but a tiny building, although fifty people were packed into it at the dedication.

After the dedication we walked sixteen miles over the mountains to Kingston, getting an interesting view of the valleys dotted with the little cottages of the cultivators. Looking down into these valleys, one may oversee five hundred or a thousand allotments, where the peasantry are digging their very modest living from among the rocks, in yams and sweet potatoes, or picking it from banana, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, or other plants and shrubs. Sixteen miles over the mountain roads was sufficient for even the unencumbered walker; but the people of these districts, very generally the women, I am told, must often walk the way with a load of produce upon the head, to find a market.

Everywhere in Jamaica one finds the cry of hard times. The main industries of the island have declined. Now the fruit trade with America is the main hope on the northern shore, at least, and perhaps generally. The grower gets from eighteen to thirty cents for a large full bunch of bananas at the docks, and I was told in one great orange district that growers had been getting twenty-five cents a barrel for oranges.

Jamaica is a beautiful island. The introduction of most of the tropical fruits of India gives it very much the appearance of that land. Port Antonio, from the sea, looks very like an East Indian town, with rows of coconut palms skirting the sandy shore, and leaning out over the beach. The Jamaicans, however, have brought in the aid of sanitary science to sweep pestilence from their towns. Diseases that once wrought havoc are held in check. The cool nights and refreshing breezes generally blowing, and the comparatively even temperature prevailing, make Jamaica a pleasant and not unhealthful land. Workers who spend years here, however, miss the tonic of the cold northern winters that puts energy and iron into the blood. The strength of our work in the tropics will depend largely upon the development of true and loyal workers, inured by birth to the tropical climate. And the Lord is giving us the material for training.

In Kingston I found Brother and Sister Eastman and their family. Sister Eastman's health has long been frail, so critical, in fact, that she has been unable to make the voyage to the States. She has longed to lie down to rest among her friends at home, if her work be done, but with courageous faith and trust she awaits God's will. It is a battle, truly, this work of carrying a message of life to all peoples. Some must lay down the life in the battle's front; but onward the standard is to be swiftly borne, and it will not be long till the work is done. O, that means everything to those who struggle amid perplexities and afflictions, pushing our frontiers ever outward!

I must write again concerning general meetings in the western part of the island, and the meeting and organization of the conference in Kingston.

W. A. SPICER.

Port of Spain, Trinidad.