THE Church of Scotland has in Jamaica five Churches, four Clergymen, and between fourteen and fifteen hundred communicants, ten Day Schools, eight Sunday Schools with Scholars to the number of 900 and upwards. Its adherents are about 6,000. The General Assembly of the Church which met at Edinburgh in May, 1890, gave its sanction and approval to the formation of a Presbytery the members of which shall be the ordained Ministers of the Church labouring in Jamaica and the island of Grenada, along with a representative Elder from each Kirk Session. The meetings take place bi-annually. There is one Church in Kingston and there are four others situated in the Parishes of Manchester and St. Elizabeth-Medina, Accompong, Retirement and Giddy Hall. The Scotch Church in Kingston was opened for service in the year 1819. It is one of the finest buildings in Jamaica and cost over £12,000 sterling in its erection. It is octagonal in form, and while in an architectural point of view its external appearance is massive and somewhat heavy, its internal arrangements are graceful if not elegant. Its organ is one of the best in the City and it is well lighted. To this Church pertains the honor of being the first to establish a Sunday School in Jamaica. The Services of the Church are as follows: SUNDAY SERVICES. Public Worship: Forenoon at 11 a.m.: Evening at 7 p.m. WEEK-DAY SERVICES. Wednesdays, Public Worship at 7 p.m. Fridays, Sunday School Teachers Class at 7 p.m. (1) Women's Guild, first Monday of each month at 4.30 p.m (2) Dorcas Society Workers, second Tuesday of each month at 4.30 p.m. (4) Zenana Mission Helpers, second Friday of each month at 4.30 p.m. The Lord's Supper is dispensed on the first Sunday in January, Easter Sunday, first Sunday in July and first Sunday in October. There is a Woman's Guild in connection with the congregation with a membership of seventy-four. The meetings of the Guild are monthly and take place in the Church. The general object of the Guild is to unite together all women who are engaged in the service of Christ in connection with the Church, or desire to give help to any practical Christian work in the congregation as well as all who are receiving Christian teaching and looking forward to Christian service. The premises formerly known and occupied as the Collegiate School have been repaired-indeed it might be said replaced by a building which contains two halls -the upper and the lower. The lower is for the Sunday School, while the upper is for Congregational Meetings-for Literary Meetings-and for such Public Meetings as will be sanctioned by the Committee of the Church. The building, which has cost about a thousand pounds, is now known as The Collegiate. The Church of Accompong, which is the Church of the Maroons, is almost within the Town of Accompong, and commands from its site a very fine view. It is designed to accommodate about 300 persons. The Church of Retirement is situated some four miles lower than that of Accompong. This Church, not only in the quiet rapidity of its erection and in the whole of its arrangement, but also in the appearance and the industrious habits of its attendants, is an evidence of the progress that has been made and is still being made by the people in that neighbourhood. As illustrative of what has been done in a short time in this remote locality it may be stated that Mr. Stuart and Mr. Maxwell, the Ministers of the Maroons at Accompong, Retirement and Giddy Hall, have, amid other agencies at work, seven Sunday Schools, thirty-eight Teachers, and an average attendance of seven hundred Scholars. There are also ten Day Schools. The Church of Giddy Hall is about seven miles north of the town of Black River. The ground and the materials and a certain amount of endowment were granted by the late J. S. Cooper; while the work that was necessary for the erection of the building was very cheerfully given by the large congregation that now assembles in the Church. The Church of Medina in Manchester was the gift of the late Mrs. Strachan of Medina. The temporary building is very soon to be superseded by one which from its outward aspect and its interior arrangements will be an ornament to the neighbourhood. This, like all the other Churches in connection with the Church of Scotland in Jamaica, has a flourishing Sunday School and has a congregation that is steadily on the increase. STATIONS OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND IN JAMAICA. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. THERE is a considerable number of the members of this Church in Kingston where they constitute an influential section of the community. Their principal Church is that of Holy Trinity at the junction of Duke Street and Sutton Street. They have besides about 20 Chapels in various parts of the Island which are periodically visited either from Kingston or by Missionaries resident in the country. HOURS OF SERVICE AT TRINITY CHURCH, KINGSTON. Sundays: 6.30, 7.30, 9 a. m., and 3.30 and 7 p. m. Wednesdays and Fridays: 7 p. m. After the 15th October to 15th of March the Evening Services begin at 6.30 p.m. POSTAL ADDRESSES OF THE CLERGY. At the Bishop's House, The Right Rev. Charles Gordon, 26 North Street. Rev. John McCormick. Rev. H. Martyn Parker. IN THE COUNTRY. Rev. Joseph Sidney Woollett, 26 North Street. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. Besides several Elementary Schools in Town and Country there are in Kingston 1--St. George's College, 26 North Street, where a good Classical Education is imparted to the Day Scholars attending it. The Head Master is the Rev. Hudson. 2-The Franciscan Convent, Duke Street, where besides large and most efficient Elementary Schools, there is a Boarding School where from 60 to 70 pupils receive Higher Education, in conjunction with a considerable number of Day Scholars. The Sisters of this Convent have also charge of a first-class Elementary, and also a School for Higher Education in Spanish Town. The Superioress is the Reverend Mother Paula. 3-The Convent of Mary, Camp Road.-In this establishment there are two Industrial Schools and an Orphanage, for which see the article under that heading at page 342. The Sisters of Mary have also charge of a large Elementary School in the East end of the city. The Superioress is the Reverend Mother Winifred. (For historical account of this Church see numbers of the Handbook previous to 1892.) JAMAICA BAPTIST MISSION. Ir was chiefly through Moses Baker's representations, that the English Baptist Missionary Society was led to take up missionary work in Jamaica. The first Missionary sent out was the Rev. John Rowe, who landed at Montego Bay, February 23rd, 1814. He commenced his earnest labours in Trelawny and St. James, but died in little more than two years after his arrival. In 1815 a second Missionary, Rev. Lee Compere, was appointed, whose labours were commenced near Old Harbour, but who afterwards removed to Kingston, and ere long had a Church containing 400 communicants. Mr. Compere was followed by the Rev. James Coultart, who arrived in Kingston, May 9th, 1817. Thus at important centres, north and south, the Mission was started, and in a very short time, so diligent and successful were the Missionaries, the work extended until its influence was felt, and Churches were formed, in almost every part of the island. The Missionary Society were gratified with the progress made, and generously supplied the Mission with men and means as fully as they were able. Of the many Missionaries sent out, the following names will be held in everlasting remembrance: Joshua Tinson, James Mursell Phillippo, Thomas Burchell, William Knibb, Walter Dendy, John Clark, John Edward Henderson, Benjamin Millard, and Edward Hewett. In 1831 the Churches contained neary 11,000 members, repre senting adherents amounting to, at least, 20,000. Many years previous to 1838 were years of struggle for the abolition of slavery; and through all these years the Christian Missionary of every denomination was opposed and persecuted in a greater or less degree. The Baptist Missionary was assumed to be among the most zealous friends of the slaves, and therefore received an unusually large share of the persecution. In December, 1849, this Association contained 45 Churches, with 23 Ministers, 3 of whom were natives of the island. The membership at that time was 18,481, and the number of inquirers 1,511. At the beginning of 1850 the Jamaica Baptist Union, as at present constituted, was formed, which embraces nearly all the Baptist Churches in the island, with the exception of a few small congregations in the eastern parishes styling themselves "Native Baptists." This Union has for its object the promotion of unity of effort in whatever may best serve the cause of Christ in general, and the interest of the Baptist Denomination in particular. The affairs of this Union are managed by a Chairman and a Secretary, annually chosen, and a Committee consisting of Ministers of regularly organized Baptist Churches, who have been proposed by a member of the Board, and elected by three-fourths of the members present in annual session, together with such other persons holding office in connection with the Public Institutions of the Baptist Body as have been similarly elected, and one Delegate appointed by each Church of the Union. In this Union it is fully recognized that every separate Church has, within itself, the power and authority to exercise all ecclesiastical discipline, rule and government and to put in execution all the laws of Christ necessary to its own edification. According to this Constitution each Church forms an independent congregation, and the Union exercises only such controlling influence as may be agreed upon at its annual meetings, and to which the Churches respectively give consent. Without, therefore, the exercise of ecclesiastical authority it is, nevertheless, a salutary and potential influence for the furtherance of its objects. The published report of the Jamaica Baptist Union for 1891, shews that there are 170 Churches connected with it, in which Churches there are 34,961 members and 5,459 inquirers. The Chapel accommodation provided is sufficient for 55,000 per sons. There are many very commodious and substantial places of worship belonging to the Baptists in the island, such as at East Queen Street, Kingston, Spanish Town, Porus, Sav.-la-Mar, Lucea, Montego Bay, Mount Carey, Bethel Town, Falmouth, St. Ann's Bay, Brown's Town, Jericho, and many others. In 1891 the Churches contributed £2,861 8s. Od. for building purposes. The congregations support their own Pastors without extraneous aid. There are several important Denominational Institutions connected with the Baptist Body in Jamaica. 1. Calabar College, for the education of Ministers and Schoolmasters. (Detailed information concerning this Institution may be found in another part of the Handbook.) 2. The Jamaica Baptist Missionary Society.-This Society was founded, on its present basis, in 1855, and its objects are thus set forth: To provide for the spiritual destitution of various parts of the island-to support the Calabar Institution -to assist Day and Sunday Schools-to send the Gospel to Africa, Central America and the islands by which we are surrounded, and to aid Churches in the Jamaica Baptist Union in their building operations. The annual income averages about £2,500, and there are at present 8 Foreign and 8 Home Missionaries, supported in whole or in part by the Society. The Foreign Missionaries are labouring in Haiti, Cuba, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the Cayman Islands. The two Missionaries in Honduras (Spanish and British) are wholly supported by funds raised in their spheres of labour. 3. The Sunday School Society. This Society fulfils a very useful purpose. It exists to encourage and stimulate the Churches in their Sunday School efforts. The last annual report of the Society shews that there are 2,518 Teachers and 28,617 Scholars in the Sunday Schools. 4. Day School Society.—This Society has for its chief object the assistance of new Day Schools, under certain conditions, with a view to their coming up to the standard required to entitle them to a grant-in-aid from the Government. The Schools thus aided in 1891 were 17, having 1,194 Scholars. The Society also publishes statis tics of the general educational work of the denomination. There were in 1891, inclusive of the above, 215 Schools, with 16,791 children enrolled, and 11,483 in average attendance. The grant-in-aid received from the Government amounted to £4,851 4s. 3d., and the fees paid by the pupils were £1,976 10s. 6d. In the year 1865, before the Government scheme was inaugurated, there were 50 Schools in operation, with 2,451 Scholars on the books, and 1,459 in average attendance. 5. The Total Abstinence Association, the object of which is to spread total abstinence principles in the Churches and throughout the island. The following are the recognized Baptist Ministers with their postal addresses : THE Presbyterian Church of Jamaica is connected with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland; its history in this Island dates from 1823. For particulars of its rise and progress reference may be made to issues of the Handbook previous to 1892. The Synod of the Church meets annually in Kingston or in one of the principal towns on the Northside of the island. It is presided over by a "Moderator" who is annually elected by the members of Synod. The Moderator for the year 1892-93 is the Rev. Geo. McNeil, Shooter's Hill P.0. The Clerk of Synod is the Rev. W. Y. Turner, M.D., Castleton. There are 5 Presbyteries, 30 ordained Ministers, 53 congregations, 20 Catechists, 10,500 members, 65 Sabbath Schools and 83 Week Day Schools. Students are trained for the Ministry of the Church by the Revds. Geo. B. Alexander, M.A., and Robert Johnston, B.D., at Ebenezer, in the Parish of Manchester. The course of study is four years. The Mother Church in Scotland sends out new men from time to time to strengthen the ranks of the Ministry. The following list shows the Churches and Ministers in Jamaica, and in Grand Cayman : |