His exertions were greatly blessed; and by the following year, 1779, six hundred negroes were joined to the congregation. He now contemplated the erection of a chapel, and for that purpose instituted collections among his people, and adopted every other consistent method to acquire funds to carry out his plans. Mr. Baxter’s situation was productive of great discomfort to himself; his duties to be performed in the naval-yard were very laborious; and after a long day’s work, his evenings were spent in travelling from plantation to plantation, the harbinger of Gospel news. He had no one to assist him in his self-appointed task, but for some years laboured on alone. In 1782, he mentions in a letter to a friend, “There is no white person in the congregation but myself. At St. John’s, thirty coloured persons receive the Lord’s Supper.” Assistance, however, was not so far off as he supposed. About this time an Irish family (who were all members of Mr. Wesley’s sect) were persuaded by an unprincipled captain of a trading vessel, to sell all their little property, and emigrate with him to America. Deceived by his plausible manners and fair speeches, they acquiesced in his proposals; and turning all their goods into money, the whole family, consisting of an elderly father and mother, a son, and some daughters, embarked on board his vessel, and sought with him their better fortune in a far-off land. But their false friend having inveigled them into his power, under various pretences, robbed them of their little all, and then deserted them, in a strange country. After suffering many and bitter privations, they found their way to Antigua, where they eventually became valuable assistants to Mr. Baxter. In the meantime, Mr. Baxter’s great object, the erection of a Methodist chapel in St. John’s, was rapidly being accomplished; and on the 8th of November, 1783, that worthy man, with an overflowing heart, had the happiness of preaching his first sermon in it, to a full and serious audience. In the space of the three following years, the society increased to 2000 persons. In 1786, Dr. Coke, the Wesleyan missionary and historian, left England, for the purpose of spreading gospel tidings in America. Meeting, however, with violent gales, the ship in which he took passage was unable to make her destined port; and after encountering a series of disasters, as a last and only resort, was obliged to put into Antigua, in distress. Dr. Coke was delighted to find the Wesleyan society in that island in so satisfactory a state—a circumstance he was unprepared for; and in his letters to England, expresses in warm terms his pleasure upon the subject.