REV. R. HOLBERTON.
47
there has been, from the time these missionaries first came to the island, up to the present, a great number of churches and parsons. But of these, few, I am sorry to say, practised the pure doctrine they pretended to preach ; indeed, many openly denied by their lives what they taught with their lips: their motto was—" Do as I say, not as I act ;" which conduct, although it ought not to make religion less respected, has, in a great measure, a tendency to that effect among all classes. “ For how," would many exclaim, “ could they enforce the seventh commandment when they wilfully broke it ?—or teach a proper respect to the ordinances of God, when (as some have been known to do) they have left a card-table to read the service at church, and then returned to finish their game ?" But those days have passed away : Antigua now possesses another race of clergymen very different to those alluded to ; men of pious lives, and of ardent desire to further the cause of Christianity. The rector of St. John's, the Rev. R. Holberton, is an evangelical preacher, and has proved a great acquisition to the island. This gentleman is one who does not preach for the sake of the loaves and fishes alone, but strives to do his duty as an humble follower of his divine Master. To his talents as an orator, he adds the more sterling quality of earnest zeal in his vocation, evinced by the bright example he sets, of joining practice to precept. His discourses are not in that flowery style which, working upon the feelings and imagination, produces but a transitory impression ; he rather strives to speak to the heart than please the ear. Like a skilful surgeon, he probes the wound he hopes to heal, and then offers the “ balm of Gilead," and binds it up with the essence of love. I once more beg pardon of my readers for my digressions ; but I could not let the opportunity pass, without noticing the great difference between the former race of clergymen and those of the present day ; I will now return to my more immediate subject—the outlines of the negro character. Before their conversion to Christianity, the Africans firmly believed that after death they would return to Africa, and