John Ryland, Jr., Bristol, to John Sutcliff, Olney, postmarked 13 August 1813.

My dear Bror Sutcliff

         I hear that by some oversight Mr Hall was not pd for his Journey to London, and was somewhat disturbed about it, as he had not taken with him money enough to take him back, had he not recd 2 Guineas for preaching at Mr Dore’s. This was a pity, I cannot think how it came to pass, as the Expence of his Journey ought certainly to have been defray’d out of the Collection.

         We had an agreeable annual Meeting. Bror Coles gave an excellt Address to the Studts.  That thou mayst know how to behave thyself in the house of God wch is his Church.

         Bror Roberts has exerted himself wonderfully, he got near 600£ lately in Bristol, for our Building, and expects to get a good deal more—much of it from people of no Religion.

         I lately recd a Letter from poor Moses Baker, he wishes we cd send a Missionary to Martha Brae or that Neighbourhood, and I wish so too, if we cd find a Man on whom we might depend. But I will copy his letter, which is dated

Hamstead   April 16. 1813

Revd & dear Friend

         I embrace this opportunity of sending you these few lines, hoping they may meet you and your whole Society, in a perfect state of good health, and prospering in the work of the Lord. I have been long wishing for an Opportunity and praying to hear from you. I have just now recd a message from Mr Stephen Cooke in Kingstown, who recd a letter from Lady Gray of Portsmouth in England directing him to deliver to me the sum of 5£ sterling from the honorable Lady Gray for the help and support of my poor, distressed Family. Mr Cooke obliged me to give him three receipts for the same. I have also written to her Ladyship & the whole Society has joined me in prayer love & thanksgiving for the kind offering from her Ladyship to us poor Creatures. There was a Gentleman who was a friend to the Gospel, who saw the State and condition of my poor distressed family, & went over to Portsmouth, & informed the honble Lady who took it immediately into Consideration; which I now beg that your Congregation will take it into Consideration.

On another page Ryland writes, “Moses Baker’s Letter continued”

From Decr 20. 1811      I have recd liberty to stand up and open the Gospel on the Estate of Mr Samuel Vaughn, called Flamstead. Mr V. applied to the General Assembly for a License for me to preach the Gospel, and it was granted on these terms, that I should enter on no estate except his own, i.e. Flamstead and Crooked Spring. But, as the Lord wd have it one Gentleman gave his People Liberty to come and hear me. Mr Vaugh’n said Now Mr Baker I will give you liberty to preach on Vaugh’ns field, but now you are not allow’d to preach, nor teach, nor marry, nor B[apti]ze nor suffer any other people to come to your Meetings, except Mr Vernon’s and my own. They obliged Mr Vaugh’n to agree wth them, to hold the Licence in his own hands and bring me undr there [sic] rules. When Mr V. read these regulations to me, I answered, Now, Sir, as you are desirous for the Gospel, let us put God before us in all we think, say or do. Notwithstanding these charges I remembered that this thing was not done in a corner. So contrary to these rules I gave out to all my poor brethren thro’ the regions round about us, that I intended if it was the Lord’s Will to stand up once more in the Cause of my blessed Lord C. Js; and gave them to understand that it wd b. on the first day of Jany—I begg’d the favor of Mr V. for a horse & servt to send to Martha Brae for Sister Baker to come home to help me in the Gospel. On the appointed day we went to the Meeting-house, & after waiting some time, I stood up, and we raised a hymn, the meeting was crouded wth strange brethren, not belonging to the place. All that I cd do was to try according to the scriptures to find out the state and condition that they now stand in. On the next Lord’s Day they came from every estate where they had heard from me, so that the Meeting house cd not hold Mr Vaughns people for the strangers. The Meeting house is close to the King’s road, about a stone’s throw from Mr Vaughns house   Mr V. and some other Gentlemen seeing this congregatn he was angry, knowing they were not all his own and said to me Mr Baker, you must ordr this people away. I answered him, Sir, I am not to leave the word of God, but if these Gentlemen do not chuse that their servts shd hear the word of God, let them send their Bookkeepers to order them away. From that there was a complaint from every Estate where I had brethren. Most of the Masters of these Estates are Magistrates. Mr Vaugh’n went down to Montego Bay, & they told him they were determin’d to put an end to my preaching, as they found that I was not abiding by the articles of agreemt. They told Mr V. that they had entered upon Articles of Agreement and were determined to call their slaves from every Estate, & to persuade them that whatever MrBaker had taught them was of no manner of Consequence, but now, said they, we will call for the parson of the English Church, and you all shall have liberty to change from that name by which Mr Baker Bd you; you may chuse your names after the first Gentlemen and Ladies in the Country. You are to chuse the White People for your Godfathers & Godmothers, you shall have time to go to the Protestant Church, and the time shall be appointed,+ what days he shd meet at the differt Estates. They enqd of some of my Brethren what did Mr Baker charge for Baptizing you. They answered, Master not a shilling. The protestant Minr told them, I shall only charge you a dollar for yourself and a dollar for your Child, this was agreed upon between their Masters & themselves. Many of my poor brethn came to me by night to know what they shd do in this matter. I told them as to christening of you, it can do you no harm, therefore tell your Masters that you will be very happy to please them, but we are poor and some of us have got childn and the times are hard. The Minr began with them and christen’d on the different Estates. This too tedious to add here the heavy trials and persecutions I now labor under but I glory in them, and trust it is the Lord’s Will.

         But I am growing very dark & my sight fails me. A Testamt with a large print, one of Dr Watts’s Hymn books with a large print and a pair of glasses to suit my eyes, (I am near 70) wd be very serviceable; and then wth the help of the Lord I might be able to finish the course & to keep the faith. The Reason that they are so severe agt me in the part where I am, our poor dear Brethren in Kingston are pulling & hauling one another who shall be the greatest among them.  Our poor dear Bror Swigle is departed this life.

I think I will write so that you may cut off all that concerns Baker, witht any one’s seeing other things that I may mention here—Miss Matthews a member of our little Ch. is just marry’d to the Revd Berry of Warminster, she has a considerable fortune, was a niece of Mrs Chandlers, who had lent our Building 100 [£], which Miss M. gave up, just before her Marriage. Old Mr Ransford, who is very feeble and not likely to continue long has given up his 200£ also—And Mrs Pasco 100.—If you shd come to Welsh’s Ordn at Newberry I hope you will come thro to Bristol. We shd be very glad to see you. I have not heard anything of Bror Fuller since he has been in Scotland. I have been exceedingly languid and weary almost ever since I saw you, I suppose thro some what of a low fever—They requested me to print my Sermn at Lyme, wch I have done, and will send you a Copy the first Opportunity, “On the Necessity of the Trumpet’s giving a certain Sound.” We unite in cordl Love to yourself    Mrs Sutcliff and all friends 

                                                                                 I am   yrs affectly

                                                                                                    John Ryland

Trowt seems a very good man

+so these Episcopalians turn Anabaptists, to get away the Baptist Membs of Baker’s Ch. [Ryland’s note]

Text: Eng. MS. 383, fol. 1773d, John Rylands University Library of Manchester. On the back Sutcliff notes that he received the letter on 14 August 1813. This letter is mentioned in the BMS Periodical Accounts, with additional information that John Rowe, a member of the church at Yeovil and a student at Bristol Baptist College, would be going to Jamaica to assist Moses Baker (1755-1822), a former slave turned Baptist preacher in Jamaica. James Dore (1763/64-1825) was the Baptist minister at Maze Pond, Southwark, 1783-1815.  Thomas Coles (1779-1840) was the Baptist minister at Bourton-on-the-Water. His address was titled Advice to Students and Ministers:  A Sermon, Preached at Broadmead, Bristol, August 4, 1813, before the Bristol Education Society, and Published at their Request (Oxford, 1813). Thomas Roberts (1780-1841) ministered to the Baptist congregation in the Pithay, Bristol, 1807-41. Stephen Cooke was a merchant in Kingston and a correspondent of John Rippon. Samuel Vaughan, Esq., was the proprietor of the large estate at Flamstead where Moses Baker preached and a friend to the BMS in Jamaica. Thomas N. Swigle (d. 1811) was a black Baptist minister in Kingston, Jamaica. Joseph Berry (d. 1864) was an Independent minister in Warminster. Thomas Trowt (1784-1816) was a BMS missionary in Java, 1814-16. A reference is also made here to John Ryland, Jr's, The Necessity of the Trumpet’s Giving a Certain Sound:  A Sermon Preached Before the Ministers and Messengers of the Baptist Churches, Belonging to the Western Association at their Annual Meeting held at Lyme on Thursday, June 10th, 1813 (Bristol, 1813). See Periodical Accounts, vol. 5, pp. 289-93; Gordon A. Catherall, “Bristol College and the Jamaican Mission: A Caribbean Contribution,” Baptist Quarterly 35 (1993-94), 294-302.