William Knibb was a British missionary to the island of Jamaica during the first half of the 19th century. I don’t know what he expected, but when he arrived, he was appalled by the wickedness of slavery. Whatever interest he had in the salvation of the whites was overcome with a desire for the souls and the freedom of the blacks. The Lord initially blessed in at least one aspect: the slaves heard the gospel and responded. For a while their Wednesday daybreak prayer meetings were attended by more than a thousand slaves. His influence over the black converts to Christ was so obvious that Knibb was thrown into prison, falsely charged with inciting the slaves to rebellion. After his release he returned to England to plead the cause of his friends, but he went unheard among the Protestants and Parliamentarians who were supported by the wealth which slavery provided. But his Baptist brethren rallied around him, and through them and others eventually the government was forced to outlaw slavery. Knibb returned to Jamaica, and at midnight on July 31, 1838 almost 20,000 slaves gathered to rejoice in their freedom. At that point Missionary Knibb began to preach the gospel to freed men and women, again with the Lord’s blessings. Then seven years later, on this day in 1845, more than 8,000 people gathered for the memorial service of Missionary William Knibb.
– Adapted from This Day in Baptist History, Cummins and Thompson