One instance deserves more particular notice, that of a young man named Angukualak, the son of a most noted sorcerer, Uiverunna. His parents had instructed him in all the secrets of their art, and his confession gives at least plausibility to the opinion, that the influence of Satan is permitted to be sometimes visibly exercised, in the dark places of the earth, though, while the effects of that influence are palpable in the perpetration of the grossest vices and most barbarous cruelty, it is very immaterial whether it assumes a perceptible form, or merely acts upon the imagination. His own account to the missionaries, was as follows: "My parents told me, that their familiar spirit, or Torngak, lived in the water; if I wished to consult him, I must call upon him, as the spirit of my parents, to come forth out of the water, and remember this token, that I should observe, in some part of the house, a vapour ascending, soon after which, the spirit would appear, and grant what I asked. Some years ago, when my little brother was very ill, I tried this method for the first time, and called upon the Torngak, when I really thought I saw a small vapour arising, and shortly after, the appearance of a man in a watery habit stood before me. I was filled with horror, my whole frame shook with fear, and I covered my face with my hands."

His brother recovered, and the impression of this strange occurrence appears to have been forgotten, when a terrible dream overwhelmed his mind with anguish and terror. "I thought," to resume his own language, "I thought I saw a very deep, dark cavern, the descent to which was a narrow, steep chasm. In this horrible place, I discovered my mother, my relations, and many others whom I had known, and who had led a very wicked life upon earth, sitting in great torments, and exhibiting a dreadful appearance. I was already with my feet slipping down the chasm; and it seemed as if somebody said to me, 'Unto that dark place thou must likewise depart!' From that moment I found no rest anywhere, but having heard that true believers lived at Hopedale, I resolved to come hither, and with my whole family to be converted to Jesus, that I may not likewise descend into the place of torment, and be lost for ever. But alas! I know not how to get released from evil, for I still feel as if I was bound with the chains of sin."

To this account, the brethren added the following pertinent remark: "We often hear the Esquimaux relate dreams; and certain it is, that several of our Esquimaux have been led to very serious reflections, by occasion of a remarkable, and, perhaps, terrifying dream, and been convinced of their lost and wretched state. We do not encourage a belief in the fulfilment of dreams, nor pay any regard to them in general; but yet we find the words of Scripture true, Job xxxiii. 14-17. 'God speaketh once, yea, twice, but man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men; in slumberings upon the bed: then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw them from their purpose.'"

Towards the end of this remarkable year, the missionaries, in their diary, thus exultingly break forth: "O! that we were able, by words, to convey to our dear brethren and sisters, some faint idea of our sensations, and of the joy and gratitude we feel in beholding this work of the Lord among our dear Esquimaux. Could they but see the marvellous change wrought in the minds and conduct of some of these people, who were lately such avowed enemies of the truth, led captive by Satan at his will, and delighting in the most filthy and outrageous practices, they would mingle their tears of joy with us. We now hear backsliders as well as heathen, those who have long heard, but never believed in the gospel, speaking the same language as those who have never, till now, heard of a Saviour; all confess themselves most vile and unworthy, weep over their sins, and cry for mercy through the atonement of Jesus. Thus, in Labrador also, the word of the cross is the power of God unto salvation. We regard this gracious work of the Saviour, as the blossoming of a precious plant, which has been long germinating in the earth, and on whose growth we have been waiting with the utmost anxiety;—now that it has at last sprung up, and is bearing beautiful flowers, may He cause it to prosper and bring forth fruit unto eternal life!"

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote H: The Esquimaux always receive a new name at baptism, and most of them have such an abhorrence at the recollection of their early life as heathens, that it sickens them when any one calls them by their old Esquimaux names. They regard the days past, in which they fulfilled the lusts of the flesh, as almost literally a state of death.]



CHAPTER VI.

Mutual affection of the Christian Esquimaux and Greenlanders—their correspondence—letter from Timothy, a baptized Greenlander.—Delight of the Esquimaux in religious exercises.—Order of the congregations—distressing events, apostasy of Kapik—awful end of Jacob—peaceful death of believers—Judith, Joanna.—Revival among the communicants.—A feast by a Christian brother, to the Esquimaux.—Winter arrangements.—Childrens' meetings—schools.—The brethren's settlements contrasted with the heathen.—Progress of religion at the different stations.—Books printed in the Esquimaux language.—Number of the settled Esquimaux.—Epidemic at Nain—its consequences.—General view of the mission.

Love to all the members of the body of Christ, is the visible token of the vitality and truth of a Christian profession; and as it rises or falls, the progress of an individual or a community waxes or wanes. At this period, the converted Esquimaux felt a lively interest, not only in their countrymen, but likewise in their fellow-Christians in Greenland; the affection was reciprocal, and though they had never seen each other in the flesh, they rejoiced over each other's welfare, and communicated their feelings in affectionate letters. Jonathan had dictated an epistle to the baptized Greenlanders, in 1799; the annexed was from the Christian Greenlander, Timothy, an assistant at Lichtenfels, in return. "My beloved, ye who live just opposite us, on the other side of the great water!—You have the same mode of living that we have; you go out in your kaiaks as we do; you have the same method of procuring your livelihood as we have; our Saviour has given you teachers, as he has given us: be thankful to him that they make known to you his precious words, and all his deeds, which are full of life and happiness. I have, from my earliest infancy, been instructed in this blessed doctrine, for I have grown up in the congregation. When you read this, you may very likely think that I have always lived to the joy of our Saviour; but, alas, I have been, particularly in my youth, very often ungrateful towards him who died for me. But when this was the case, I was never happy, and I found no rest for my soul, until I cast myself at the feet of Jesus, and implored his forgiveness; and even now I can do nothing else, when I am distressed about myself and my great sinfulness. When I am in my kaiak procuring provisions, or on other occasions alone, and I call to mind that my Saviour was for my sake nailed to the cross, and suffered for my sins, which are numberless, I acknowledge myself the chief of sinners; I then pray to our Saviour with deep abasement, and often with loud weeping. At such times I feel that he draws nigh, and fills my heart with such comfort that I am quite melted by his love. This is also the reason why I make our Saviour my most important object; I cleave to him as a child does to its mother, and I will never turn away from Him. Nothing is more profitable to me than the contemplation of his sufferings. Of this alone I speak to my fellow-men.

"My dear brethren and sisters, I must still tell you that I have been four times in danger of my life when running in my kaiak, for so often have I been overset when I was quite alone. When almost suffocated in the water, I prayed to our Saviour for deliverance. Each time I raised myself up by means of the bladder, but it was God my Saviour who saved me from these dangers. In him alone I trust, and provide for myself, my wife and children with pleasure. Although, as long as I am upon earth I shall feel my weakness and corruption, yet I go with it all to our Saviour, as a child does for help to its parent. I pray thus: 'O! my Jesus! thou lover of my soul, let me feel thy nearness, impress thy sufferings and death upon my heart, melt it and make it tender through the power of thy blood, and according to thy good pleasure, make me well-pleasing unto thee. Thou hast bought me with thy blood, that I might be saved; throughout my whole life will I rely upon thee, my God and Redeemer! I will place thee before my heart, as thou for my sake in agony and sore distress in the garden of Gethsemane wast weighed down to the ground with my guilt, until sweat mixed with blood, forced itself through thy body, and fell in great drops to the ground.' At such times my heart grows warm, and my eyes overflow. This alone is able to soften our hard hearts—this I experience, and your hearts cannot be subdued and softened by any thing else. You must go to Jesus' cross, for there is no other way to happiness.—Take these my imperfect words to heart, which I write out of love to you, as a people related to us. Your Jonathan's words which he caused to be written to us, we have received to our joy; we have not forgotten them. It is very pleasing to hear such accounts. O that we all, as one people, might put in practice what our Saviour has commanded in his word, love him above all things, give him joy by our conduct, and never again cause him grief. I write to encourage the heathen in your country, of whom there are still many, to be converted to the Creator. Let them hear much of his incarnation, sufferings, and death, and relate it to them when you are with them. Remember us also, and pray for us to our Saviour. We will also pray for you, and when we do this we shall also reap those blessings which our Saviour has promised to those who pray to Him.—I am your brother, TIMOTHY."

Diligence in the improvement of the means of grace, particularly in not forsaking the assembling of themselves together, is another evidence of the reality and health of the Christian life in any community: this awakening bore that stamp also of the genuineness of its nature; and from the frequency of their meetings, which were punctually and cheerfully attended by the people, some idea may be formed of the hungering and thirsting after divine things which marked the Esquimaux congregations. The order of the different meetings of the congregation at Hopedale during winter—and in the other settlements it was pretty much the same—was as follows:—Sunday. Public service in the fore and afternoon. In the morning the Litany was read. The children then met. After the afternoon's service the communicants sung a liturgical hymn, or the candidates for the Lord's supper held a meeting for instruction.—Monday Evening. All the baptized had a meeting, when a suitable discourse was delivered to them. After a short pause, a singing-meeting was held.—This is a service peculiar to the brethren's church, in which some doctrinal subject, commonly that contained in the Scripture-text appointed for the day, is contemplated by singing verses or hymns relating to it, so as in their connection to form, as it were, a homily on the text, according to the words of the Apostle, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs."—Tuesday Evening: A public meeting, with a discourse.—Wednesday Morning. The children had a meeting, the one Wednesday for all the children, and the next, for the baptized only. On the evening, there was a public service, when a portion of the harmony of the four Evangelists was read and explained.—Thursday Evening: The same.—Friday. Both the baptized and the candidates for baptism met, where, after a discourse on the text, a hymn treating of the Saviour's passion was sung.—On Saturday there was no service in the church. Besides these meetings, the believing Esquimaux had the worship of God regularly morning and evening in their own houses. But the crowning sheaf in this harvest of mercy, was the permanence of the awakening; the impressions were lasting, not like a momentary blaze occasioned by some temporary excitement, but a pure and steady flame, which in a majority increased in brightness, till it was lost in glory.

Lovely however, and heart-cheering as this delightful period was, it is not to be imagined that it was a period of unmingled joy; there were several instances in which strong and violent emotions were succeeded by coldness, formality, and hypocrisy, and in some cases by open apostasy, or by unequivocal marks of reprobation. The most remarkable were Kapik and Jacob; the former had been baptized by the name of Thomas, and his declarations breathed, or seemed to breathe, the very essence of a more than ordinary spirituality. "I have no other desire," said he upon one occasion to the missionaries, "but Jesus my Saviour, who has had mercy even upon me, the very worst of men; and I pray, that I may now give him joy, and cleave to him to the end. Alas! alas! that I have known him so late! Formerly I could not believe one word of what your predecessors and yourselves told us of Jesus, and of the necessity of believing on him, and becoming his property. I only laughed, and mocked, and gave pain and trouble to my teachers. But how is this? I now believe it all, and our Saviour has so powerfully drawn my heart towards himself, that I can find no words to describe what I feel." By this and similar speeches he so far imposed upon the brethren, that they believed him a humble follower of the good Shepherd, and a true child of God.

But being attacked, autumn 1806, by a malignant disorder somewhat resembling the smallpox and measles, which raged in the settlement, the severe pain he suffered from the virulence of the disorder, as the irruption in his face struck inward, and assuming a cancerous form destroyed his upper jaw bone, he became impatient, forsook his professions of confidence in the Saviour, and sought for help in heathenish practices, and if he had had opportunity would have proceeded to greater lengths in these abominations, than ever before. His behaviour in his family too, had become very oppressive, and all the kind exhortations, as well as the serious remonstrances of the missionaries, produced no effect; even after he recovered, he remained quite hardened. He some years afterwards professed sincere repentance, but his artifice had been so deep before, that the missionaries could only say, that nothing was impossible to God.

Jacob came first to the brethren at Nain. He was in the beginning apparently very earnest in seeking his soul's salvation and was baptized in 1801. But he afterwards fell into temptation, and again took refuge in his old practices, playing at the same time the part of a most consummate hypocrite: being discovered, he was excluded; yet when his health began to decline, the missionaries waited upon him, and as they saw him drawing apparently near his end, were the more earnest in exhorting him to turn to Jesus, who alone could deliver him from the bondage of sin and Satan. For some time he seemed to attend to their advice, but his last days and final exit out of the world, gave sufficient proof that his heart was untouched. As his pains increased, his impatience increased with them. He demanded with violent cries that a knife might be given him to stab himself, which being refused, he called for a rope, and persisted with such vehemence that his wife and son, wearied out by his constant shrieking, gave him one, with which he put an end to his own existence. Lamentable as these awful examples of the deceitfulness and depravity of the human heart were, yet they operated more powerfully than many exhortations, in inculcating upon the baptized the solemn warning, "Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall."

At the same time there wanted not instances of an opposite description, to prove the reality of God's work, and the power of divine grace, to recall and establish the deluded wanderer, and to preserve the humble believer amid the strongest temptations and the sorest trials; to enable him to maintain a consistent conduct through life, and to seal the sincerity of his faith by a peaceful, if not a triumphant death. Early in the year, Judith, a full communicant, died. She had come to Hopedale with her husband, Tuglavina, and always conducted herself with great propriety. After his death she married Abel in 1801, and with him came to live at Hopedale, 1804. When the awakening took place she was greatly enlivened; but like many of the old baptized people, who thought themselves converted because they had some knowledge, and a fluent way of expressing themselves on religious subjects, she did not at first shew much of the Divine life in her soul; till by the powerful work of the Holy Ghost she was brought to see and acknowledge herself an unworthy sinner, and no better than those who were just then alarmed and brought from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan to the living God. Before partaking for the last time of the Lord's supper, she was much affected. "I perceive now," said she, "that I am a great sinner, and am so ashamed that I dare hardly open my lips, for it is clear to me that I am far behind others in love to our Saviour. It appears as if he and I were yet strangers to each other, and I can do nothing but weep for him." Afterwards she became composed, and earnestly longed after communion with God. In her last illness, however, she showed much uneasiness of mind, as if something disturbed her peaceful expectation of dismissal. Brother Kohlmeister, who visited her very faithfully, encouraged her to look up to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; and on one occasion, particularly, offered up a most fervent prayer to the Lord that he would remove all her doubts by a full assurance that her sins were forgiven through the merits of his precious blood, during which the poor patient and all present melted into tears, and felt that their prayer was heard and answered. Then she unbosomed herself to her teachers, and confessed that she had hitherto concealed some deviations which burdened her conscience, and which she must make known before she departed. Having done so, she declared her firm trust that God her Saviour would wash away all her sins and remember them no more; after which she exclaimed, "Now I am ready, and will go to Jesus. He will receive me in mercy just as I am, for he has died for me." She now lay still in the joyful hope of being soon released. Both the missionaries' wives and Esquimaux sisters visited her frequently, to whom she declared the happiness of her soul; and on the night previous to her departure, conversed in a most edifying manner with those that watched with her of the near prospect she had of seeing her Saviour face to face. She requested her husband to bring her clean white dress, which she always wore at the Lord's supper, and to dress her in it after her decease. Her two youngest children she earnestly recommended to his care, and that they might be instructed in the ways of the Lord; and sent a message as her last will, to the two eldest who live at Nain, that they should remain with the congregation, and devote their whole hearts to Jesus. When the sisters took leave of her with a kiss, she exclaimed with joy in her countenance, "I shall now go to Jesus and kiss his feet, adoring him for all his love to me, and that he has redeemed me also, a vile sinner, and called me to eternal life."

Joanna, who died in child-bed, was another example of the faithfulness and rich mercy of the Redeemer; in the autumn, a wild ignorant savage, she came to the settlement with her husband Aulak, and when asked what was her intention in coming—if she wished to be converted? answered, "That's more than I know. I follow my husband, and as he chooses to live here, I will live here too!" But soon after she learned to know what true conversion of heart means, and would not be satisfied with any thing of a superficial nature. "She cried to the Lord for mercy, and obtained," says the diary, "real saving faith; it was surprising to observe how well she comprehended the meaning of the gospel, and in how clear a light the mystery of the cross of Christ was revealed to her soul, insomuch that she could apply to herself the sufferings of Jesus, as meritorious and allsufficient for the remission of sin, and the sanctification of soul and body. She adored the crucified Jesus in truth, as her Redeemer, and nothing was so delightful to her, as to hear of him, and all he had done and suffered, to save her from sin and destruction. She sought him with earnestness, and found rest for her soul in his sufferings and death. Her whole walk and conversation, from the time she joined the church, testified of the new birth which had taken place within her, and of a total change of heart and sentiment. Immediately after her delivery, there appeared symptoms of inward inflammation. She lay still and resigned to the will of the Lord, and seemed to take no more notice of any thing that was said; but towards morning, raising herself up in the bed, she exclaimed, 'Jesus is coming, and I am ready to meet him; a very short time will bring me to him. Jesus' bleeding love is not cold toward those who are longing for him.' So composed was she, that, observing the place dark, she desired them to 'trim the lamps, and make the room light and pleasant,' and when the company present proposed to join in a hymn, but could not immediately remember a suitable one, she herself pointed out that hymn of praise, 'Unto the Lamb of God,' at page 92. of the Hymn book. After it was ended, she fainted, and sunk down upon the bed; her sight and hearing failed, and she fell gently asleep in Jesus." During her short Christian career, she had become universally beloved; and the happy manner in which she left the world, made a deep impression upon the minds of the Esquimaux, "stronger," say the missionaries, "than all our words could do."

Previously to the administration of the Lord's Supper, the missionaries usually have some conversation with the communicants, and at this time they were greatly refreshed by their simple, artless declarations. One said, "I am struck with astonishment when I reflect that Jesus can, and does receive such abominable creatures as I am. Indeed I am one of the worst, but his love is infinite. He bled and died for me, that I might be saved. Oh! how often have I crucified him afresh by my sins, and bid defiance to his mercy. But now he has forgiven me, and granted me to hunger and thirst after him. I pray to him continually that he would not forsake me, for I can do nothing of myself as I ought. The holy communion is, every time that I enjoy it, more valuable to me, because I feel the power of my Saviour's death, more than I can express in words." Another: "I have now only one object, and that is Jesus; may I never more part with him. Since I have had the favour to partake of his holy body and blood in the Sacrament, I continually cry to him to keep me under his direction, and to preserve me from the evil one, for I am indeed weak. He alone is my strength and refuge."

A peculiar blessing also attended the administration of the ordinance, not only to those who partook, but to those, likewise, who were permitted to be spectators. At Nain, in the month of February, when that holy feast was celebrated, three Esquimaux, Joseph, Lydia, and Kitura, were present as candidates, and Sarah with a view to confirmation; the three women were so much affected that they cried and sobbed aloud, and after the service was concluded were so overpowered that they could hardly stand, and still continued weeping. Being brought into the mission-house, when they recovered themselves they said they were so overcome by a sense of the presence of the Lord Jesus, that they knew not where they were nor what they did. They wept on account of their unworthiness, and would now give their whole hearts to him who died for them. On the following day Sarah came, and brought all the metal rings with which she had decorated her fingers after the Esquimaux fashion, and wished to part with them, and assigned as her reason, that she wished to delight herself in nothing now but Jesus. Lydia, Louisa, and others followed, and brought their pearl ornaments to dispose of, as they thought it improper for Christian women to be gaudily decked out in costly pearls; and this they did spontaneously, without being spoken to by the missionaries, who never begin with finding fault with the dress or ornaments of inquirers.

Before the Esquimaux set out for their fishing or hunting stations, the members of the church usually partook of a love feast together, and united in thanksgiving and prayer for the mercies they had received, and for the continuance of the Divine blessing. Siksigak, now named Mark, and Joseph, at their return, having been remarkably successful, treated all the inhabitants of Nain with a meal of seals' flesh. The entertainment was given in the open air, and Mark opened it in an edifying manner by singing some verses of a hymn expressive of thanks to their heavenly Father, for providing for their bodily wants, in which all the Esquimaux joined most devoutly, exhibiting a very different scene from the riotous gluttony of the heathen.

After the people reassembled at the end of the season, the winter arrangements were made. The communicants were divided into classes, male and female, the former under the care of the missionaries, and the latter under that of their wives. In their meetings the conversation was unrestrained and profitable, many little grievances were done away, and brotherly love promoted. "That of the communicant sisters," the diary of Dec 11 remarks, "was remarkably lively; their conversation treated of the great love of the Saviour in dying on the cross to save them from death, and their own unworthiness to be so highly favoured as to be permitted to approach unto his table, and there to feed on him by faith, and to experience the power of his sufferings and death in the quickening of their souls." They added, that upon that occasion they sometimes felt a desire to depart out of the world, to see him face to face, and thank him for his mercy revealed to them. Mark thus addressed his countrymen: "If we who belong to this class are with our whole hearts converted to Jesus, and determine, by his help, to put aside all the old deceitful and evil ways, and give ourselves up entirely to him, then we shall feel his power within us. It has been a very painful thing for me to leave my brethren at Hopedale, but I shall live here with pleasure if I perceive that we are come together with a view to belong to our Saviour, and in truth to believe on him, and to become his faithful followers. I am indeed not fit to teach you, but yet I wished to say what I hope from your love, and our being bound together in one mind, to live unto the praise of God. You all know that formerly I led a very wicked life, but at Hopedale Jesus Christ called me by his powerful voice, saved me from death, and forgave my sins. As my conversion to him began at that place, I feel a peculiar attachment to it." He was heard with great attention, and all exclaimed, "Yes! we all desire to become such people, over whom Jesus may rejoice, and pray him to grant us all true conversion."

The children likewise had their meetings, in which they sung hymns and prayed, during which they were frequently so sensibly affected that they would burst out into weeping. A boy who gave evidence of being truly awakened, called upon the missionaries and told them, "We boys have been sitting together by ourselves and speaking, both of our own sinfulness and of the mercy we have experienced from our Saviour. At the close of our conversation we kneeled down and prayed to him in fellowship, that he would deliver us from all power of sin, during which my heart grew so warm that I felt it penetrate to my feet"—a phrase used by the Esquimaux to express great inward joy. "Jesus," continued he, "was very near us. I will give him my whole heart as his property." The schools were diligently attended, both by young and old, whose improvement in Christian knowledge, and in the facility of reading, advanced steadily, while several among the scholars evinced a strong desire to know Jesus, and live to him. But at Okkak in the following year an unusual emotion appeared among the scholars. One day, while the teachers were closing the schools as usual by singing a verse, there arose such an affection of heart, that all melted into tears, and at last without any direction they all fell on their knees. The missionary, therefore, who was keeping the school knelt down also, and was powerfully excited to fervent prayer for these dear little ones, commending them to the grace of the Saviour, that he would preserve them from the many snares of Satan, and sanctify and build them up in the faith. Some of the more advanced youths gave the missionaries much pleasure by their simplicity and frankness in speaking of their hearts; two of them—companions—conversing with one of the brethren, said, "When we are out together hunting we speak of Jesus and pray to him, and often feel such power and happiness in thinking of him that we weep for joy. But how is it that we have so long heard of him, and he is but just now become precious to us?" They could not explain the phenomenon; but they felt that a long train of historical proof, or of external evidence, was unnecessary to establish the authenticity of the gospel-message. "How is it," added one of them, "that formerly I used to think—It is all fiction! There is no Jesus! And now I know in truth that Jesus lives and loves me, and sometimes draws so near to me that I weep for gratitude and delight. To him I will give myself both soul and body."

In the back ground, at the distance, stand out in horrible and melancholy contrast the effects of satanic influence on the conduct of his votaries. The wife of the old sorcerer, Uiverunna, having died, the old monster seized a poor orphan child, whom they had formerly adopted, and murdered him; then cut him across all the joints of his fingers and toes, ripped open his belly, and threw the body naked into the sea, an offering to appease the wrath of the water-devil he worshipped, and by whose aid he pretended to work great wonders, but who now required a greater sacrifice than usual, as he had not saved his wife's life. But his day of retribution did not long linger. Having boasted that his Torngak had killed a man, Kullugak's two wives, who died suddenly within a few hours of each other at Okkak, where the family had obtained leave to settle, Kullugak, in company with another Esquimaux, assassinated the poor wretch within eight days after he had sacrificed the unfortunate infant.

For several succeeding years the progress of the awakening continued to advance at all the three settlements, both among the heathen by whom they were visited, and among the residents, while the believers grew in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord their Saviour; and the decided nature of the change which had taken place was evidenced by the professing Esquimaux declining their pernicious intercourse with the Europeans, while their heathen countrymen, who were determined to retain the abominations of their forefathers, were as unwilling to reside among them; so much so, indeed, that the missionaries at Hopedale, writing to Europe in 1807, remarked, "No heathen families have lived near us, and it appears as if that old den of Satan at Avertok would remain unoccupied. Three Europeans lived about half a day's journey from hence, but as none of our Esquimaux went to them they did not call here." The report of the brethren in 1809 was: "Concerning our dear Esquimaux congregation, we may truly and thankfully declare that we have perceived a continued work of the Holy Spirit within their souls, leading them to a better acquaintance with themselves as depraved creatures, who stand in daily need of the saving grace of our Almighty Saviour. They are earnest in prayer to him that he would preserve them from falling back into their former wicked and superstitious courses." The accounts from Nain were to the same effect: "Our communicants," say they, "have made a perceptible advance both in the knowledge of themselves as sinners, and of Jesus as their Saviour. They have been taught to know how needful constant dependance on, and communion with him is, if they would walk worthy of their heavenly calling." It is a melancholy and stumbling remark, that as the converted Esquimaux advanced in knowledge and in decency of conduct, so in proportion those who formed an intimate connexion with the Europeans in the south increased in enmity to the word of God, and to the Saviour's name in particular, declaring they would hear or listen to nothing about him.

Oral instruction has, from the beginning, been the principal, and most efficient means, which God has employed in propagating the gospel; but the written word has been always necessary for establishing and building up the churches in their most holy faith. Never did Satan employ a more effectual method for covering the earth with thick darkness, than by instigating his servants, under pretence of a high reverence for the holy word, to shut it up from the people; and when God wills mercy to a nation, he removes all the hindrances which obstruct its diffusion. As the Esquimaux advanced in their course, they were furnished, by means of the press, with portions of the Scriptures as they could be got translated. The brethren, however, wisely prepared the way for this important work, by translating hymns and tracts, and a harmony of the Gospels, where any deficiency in the language could be more easily rectified than in a book, destined to be left as a permanent legacy to future generations. The joy of the Esquimaux on receiving the hymn books in 1809, was inexpressibly great. "We wish," the missionaries write, "our dear brethren had been present at the distribution, to see the fervent gratitude with which they were received. They entreated us, with tears, to express their thankfulness to their fathers and brethren in the east, for this present." In 1810, they received the Harmony of the Gospels, also printed by the Brethren's Society in London for the furtherance of the Gospel, and the Gospel of John and part of Luke, printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who undertook to print the other parts as they could be got ready. Meanwhile the superintendant, Burghardt, finished the translation of the Acts, and the epistles to the Romans and Ephesians, which were read from the MS to the Esquimaux congregation, who were highly delighted to hear the words and exhortations of our Saviour's apostles, and particularly struck with the character and writings of the apostle Paul. Along with their activity in the Christian life, the activity of the converted Esquimaux, in their temporal concerns, increased. The missionaries in the different settlements had erected saw mills; the Esquimaux, under their direction, kept them frequently in employment, and built substantial store-houses for themselves, for preserving their winter's stores; and when the scarcity of food in their own neighbourhood obliged them to go to a distance in search of seals or whales, or to the cod-fishing, their anxiety to return, to enjoy the benefits of instruction from their teachers, and of communion with their fellow-Christians, quickened their diligence in their necessary avocations. At the close of 1810, the number of the inhabitants at the three settlements amounted to 457, of whom 265 belonged to the different classes of communicants, baptized and candidates for baptism.

Hitherto the settlements, though occasionally visited by the contagious diseases that periodically afflicted the country, had never known more than a partial sickness; but in 1811, the small society at Hopedale suffered severely from an epidemic, which, so far as we are able to judge from the symptoms mentioned in the diary, quoted below, bore some distant resemblance to the spasmodic cholera. "On the evening of the 24th of July, we were all suddenly thrown into the greatest confusion, by the arrival of a boat, with our people, from Tikkerarsuk, one of their provision-places in the south: Mark—formerly Siksigak—was dead, and several others dangerously ill. When they went out in the morning, they were all in good health, but were suddenly seized with a nervous affection, which, in a very short time, terminated fatally; notwithstanding every assistance, Samuel died in the night. Next morning another boat arrived, and brought Adam and Isaac, both dead, though they had yesterday been both fishing in their kaiaks; the four dead bodies were obliged to be immediately buried, as they quickly showed signs of corruption. The same evening, Daniel brought in his boat four dying persons; at five o'clock the younger, Mark, died. On the 26th, early in the morning, the widow Rebecca, and in the forenoon, young Philip departed; before twelve o'clock, the bodies became so offensive, that it was necessary to inter them. All were filled with alarm and terror, but to our comfort we also remarked submission to the will of the Lord. The sick, in general, declared they were willing to go to the Saviour when he should call them; some said they felt their unworthiness to appear before him, and yet expressed their reliance upon his sufferings as their only refuge; but from total debility and oppression they could speak very little: they complained of great weakness, lameness, blindness, and a feeling of suffocation. At four in the afternoon little Abel, and in the same tent, the widow Salome, and at six o'clock old Thomas, (Kapik,) died. 27th, There was little improvement; besides those who remained ill many more began to complain, and cried out to us for assistance, so that we knew not where to go or who to help first. At eleven o'clock the four dead were buried, which made ten. On the 29th a great many were taken ill; at four in the afternoon, Magdalene departed comfortable and happy. Father Abel, who had willingly assisted in burying the dead, followed the same evening. His wife, Benigna, who had faithfully attended the sick, was prevented from nursing him, being herself laid up. The dead bodies were laid in their place of rest next day. We now felt that all of us were more or less worn out by this great affliction, some of us actually sick, and none certain but he might be seized the next moment. To add to our distress, many children were rendered orphans by the loss of both father and mother, which called forth our sighs to our gracious and merciful God and Lord for his compassion and assistance, and felt revived with the hope that he would hear and help us. Some of the sick began to recover: but on the evening of the 31st the Saviour took Abel's wife, Benigna, home to her blessed rest, and on the following morning, August 1, she was laid in her grave; at seven o'clock in the evening we held a meeting with the Esquimaux, especially with regard to improve the solemn warning given in that harvest the Lord had gathered from this church. From conversations held with several of the sisters on the 12th, we clearly perceived that the removal of so many of our number had made a deep impression on them, and had brought them to reflect on the necessity of constantly depending on the Saviour, and being ever ready to meet him when he shall come to gather them also into his garner."

But to their great grief the missionaries discovered that this was not the happy state of all. When the disease abated they learned with the utmost pain, that some, even of their communicants, in their agony and terror, had had recourse to their old heathenish practices; and what was worse, had endeavoured to appease their consciences by attempting to assimilate them to Old Testament rites imperfectly understood. They had killed a dog, and cut the ears off many others, that by sprinkling themselves with the blood of the dog they might prevent death from approaching them. Under the influence of a fanatical delusion, they compared this with the offerings of the Jews, and particularly with the slaying of the Paschal Lamb, and sprinkling the blood on the lintel and posts of the door. "Our situation we feel very difficult," complained the anxious missionaries, "as the enemy uses all his ingenuity to blind the poor people, and knows how to employ their fear and distress to harden their hearts, and to prevent them from discerning their sins and repenting. It appears as if he exerted every power to destroy this little congregation, but we hope that God will shortly bruise Satan under our feet, and not allow his attempts to prosper."

They found it necessary to exclude several from partaking of the holy supper, and this severity was the blessed mean of soon bringing them to repentance and sorrow for their sins. Others who had fainted, but not fallen in the day of trial, expressed themselves now convinced of the necessity of watching over their hearts, that they might not be seduced to seek false comfort or unlawful assistance: they had, during the time of this awful visitation, as well as they could, kept close to Jesus and prayed to him; but they were nevertheless troubled with fearful thoughts—as that they might all perish, and how sad it would be if their teachers should turn away from them, when there was no one to come to their assistance, and when they could not help themselves. But they now saw that they had greatly erred in indulging these hard thoughts, for Jesus had delivered them in their necessity. They felt that they ought to be thankful, but they came far short of that gratitude they owed to him.

Nain and Okkak were mercifully spared this year, and in the grand object of their labours the brethren had still occasion to bless the Lord that he graciously owned the preaching of the glad tidings of salvation, and accompanied it with power and the demonstration of his Spirit: often was his presence powerfully felt, particularly when, from time to time, individuals were added to the church by baptism, or when they partook of the holy sacrament of our Lord's body and blood, in fellowship together.

The outward circumstances of the missions in Labrador this year were uncommonly prosperous—they sent to England upwards of 100 tons of blubber, 2000 seals' skins, and 2750 fox skins.



CHAPTER VII.

Desire of the heathen to hear the Gospel.—Brethren meditate a new settlement—voyage to explore the country.—Quiet course of the mission—advantages of their church discipline.—Death of Burghardt.—Exertions of the aged survivors.—Schreiber, superintendant, arrives.—Anxiety of the native Christians to attend the ordinances of religion.—Advantages of the Bible as a school-book.—Four missionaries unexpectedly carried to England.—Baptized Esquimaux seduced by traders.—Perilous voyage of the returning missionaries.—striking accident.—Schreiber retires from the superintendance—Kohlmeister succeeds—his journeyings to Okkak, to Nain.—Stability of the work of God at Nain—hopeful deaths—conversion and recovery of a young native.—Remarkable preservation of an Esquimaux youth.

Ever since the settlement of the brethren on the east coast of Labrador, scarcely a year had passed, without their being visited by great numbers of Esquimaux from the north, either for the purposes of traffic or curiosity; and latterly, to visit their friends and acquaintances who had become residents. From these strangers, the missionaries obtained much interesting information respecting the inhabitants along the coast; they were told that the most considerable part of the nation dwelt beyond Cape Chudleigh, lat. 60 deg. 17 m., called by them Killineck; that accounts of the settlement had reached them, and that they were desirous of teachers to instruct them in the good words. When some of these natives were asked by the brethren to remain and settle with them, they expressed a great inclination to have done so, but urged as an objection, the difficulty of procuring food for their families, and requested the missionaries rather to come to them, where they could be easily able to obtain a comfortable supply. The brethren, in consequence, had long meditated a new settlement, and the Society for the furtherance of the Gospel had repeatedly consulted with them about the best plan for carrying their wishes into execution. Various obstacles had, however, always prevented any effectual steps being taken, till, in consequence of repeated invitations, it became a subject of serious consideration, by what means a more correct idea of the extent and dwelling places of the Esquimaux nation might be obtained, and a general wish was expressed, that one or more of the missionaries would undertake the perilous task of visiting such places as were reported to contain more inhabitants than the southern coast, but remained unknown to European navigators.

When brother Kohlmeister was in Europe, it was arranged with the Synodal Committee for the management of the missions of the United Brethren, that an exploratory voyage should be undertaken, for which Kohlmeister made preparation on his return to Labrador, and on the 17th of June, he and brother Kmoch set out from Okkak. The vessel engaged for the arduous undertaking, was a two masted shallop, 45 feet long, 12 broad, and 5 deep, belonging to Jonathan, (vide p. 213) who also accompanied them as their captain. Jonathan was a man of superior understanding and skill, possessed of uncommon intrepidity, and looked up to, at Hopedale, as the chief of his nation. It was therefore no small sacrifice on his part, to agree to leave, for an indefinite time, the place where he was so much respected; but he was ready to forsake all, and enter on an expedition of unknown length and peril, in the hope that it would be a means of introducing the gospel among his countrymen. The greater part of the other Esquimaux thought the voyage impracticable, and an old Angekok predicted that if the adventurers did not perish in the violent currents that set in round Cape Chudleigh, they most certainly would never return.

But none of these dark forebodings made any impression on the mind of Jonathan. When told that the wild heathen would kill him, he generally answered, "Well we will try, we shall know better when we get there;" and once, when conversing with the missionaries, who were not altogether without apprehension, remarked, "When I hear people talking about the danger of being killed, I think—Jesus went to death out of love to us; what great matter would it be, if we were to be put to death in his service, should that be his good pleasure concerning us." Nor did his conduct belie his profession: under all circumstances, during the voyage, his firm, cheerful faithfulness, proved honourable to his character as a true convert. Besides the missionaries, the expedition consisted of four Esquimaux families from Hopedale, and one from Okkak, who attended with a skin, or woman's boat, in case of any accident befalling the shallop, and to be used in landing, as the larger vessel could never safely be brought close to the shore—in all eighteen persons.

As they coasted along, they met several Christian Esquimaux, who were scattered at different summer provision places. At Kangerlualuksoak, sixty miles north of Okkak, a fishing station, with a fine strand and excellent harbour, where they rested on the 30th, [Lord's day,] the missionaries went on shore, and visited the Christian families, whom they assembled together for public worship. The congregation amounted to about fifty, including the boat's company. Brother Kohlmeister addressed them, and expressed his hope that they were all walking worthy of their Christian profession—presenting a good example to their heathen neighbours. A number of strangers sat as listeners, and the missionaries felt their hearts dilate with joy, to hear the cheerful voices of converted heathen melodiously sounding forth the praises of God, and giving glory to the name of Jesus their Redeemer, in a place which had but lately been a den of murderers, and dedicated by sorcerers to the service of the devil. Proceeding northward, they soon found their progress obstructed by drift ice, which forced them, after two days of incessant labour, to seek shelter in the estuary of a river, Nullatartok, where being blocked up, they went on shore, and pitched their tents on a beautiful valley, enamelled with potentilla aurea in full bloom, resembling a European meadow covered with butter-cups. The river abounded with salmon-trout; and their hunters killed two rein-deer, a seasonable supply, as they were detained here twelve days. On the 16th July, they reached Nachvak, where the high rocky mountains, glowing in the splendour of the morning sun, presented a most magnificent prospect. About fifty heathen Esquimaux, who had encamped here, received them with loud shouts and the firing of muskets, and while they remained, behaved with great modesty, neither annoying them by impertinent curiosity, nor harassing them by importunate begging; they also attended their morning and evening prayers with great silence, and apparent devotion. They heard the discourses of the missionaries with respectful stillness, but they listened with much greater eagerness to the exhortations of their own countrymen. Jonas, a son of Jonathan, addressed them thus: "We were but lately as ignorant as you are now; we were long unable to understand the comfortable words of the gospel; we had neither ears to hear, nor hearts to receive them, till Jesus by his power, opened our hearts and ears. Now we know what Jesus did for us, and how great the happiness of those is, who come unto him—love him as their Saviour, and know that they shall not be lost, when this life is past. Without this, we live in constant fear of death. You will enjoy the same happiness, if you turn and believe on Jesus. We are not surprised that you do not yet understand us. We were once like you, but now we thank Jesus our Redeemer with tears of joy, that He has revealed himself unto us." This address, delivered with great energy, produced, at least, a temporary effect, for one of the leading men of the party, Onalik, exclaimed, "I am determined to be converted to Jesus;" and another, Tallagaksoak, made the same declaration, adding, "He would no longer live among the heathen."

Having spent two days with these people, the expedition proceeded on their voyage, and passing Nennoktok, were constrained by tempestuous weather to anchor in Kummaktorvik-bay. Here they met with four Esquimaux families, of whom John, and Mary his mother, had once been residents at Okkak, but had left the brethren, and retired to the heathen; with them Kohlmeister spoke very seriously, representing the danger of their state as apostates from the faith, but they showed no symptoms of compunction, and seemed determined to persist in their ways. When the storm ceased, they resumed their course, and after a providential escape from shipwreck on a sunken rock, they arrived it Oppernavik, where they found Uttakyak, a chief of superior understanding, and of great influence among his countrymen, with his two wives and youngest brother, waiting to receive them. He had, while on a voyage to Okkak in 1800, given the brethren particular accounts of these regions, and as he had learned that the missionaries intended to take a voyage to Ungava-bay, he had waited during the whole spring for them, and put up signals on all heights surrounding his tent, that they might not miss him. Successive storms, and accumulating ice, prevented the progress of our adventurers till the 1st of August, when they left their harbour, and entered Ikkerasak, a narrow channel between Cape Chudleigh Islands, and the continent; it is ten miles in length, and dangerous from the currents and whirlpools occasioned by the flowing and ebbing of the tide, but the missionaries passed through in safety at low water with a fair wind. On quitting the channel, the coast ran S.S.W. low, with gently sloping hills, and the sea [Hudson's straits] appeared studded with small islands. Here they saw the Ungava country at a distance, stretching to the south before them.

Three skin boats, filled with Esquimaux, came to bid them welcome, and followed them to Omanek, a small island, where they pitched their tents; brother Kohlmeister visited them on shore, and explained to them the design of their voyage: they listened, but could not comprehend the scope of his discourse; they shouted, however, with joy, when he told them that he would come and see them in their own country. Many among them had never seen a European before, and not content with accurately inspecting them on every side, came close up to the travellers, and "pawed" them all over.

Dismissing them highly grateful with some trifling presents, the voyagers proceeded, and on the 7th reached the entering of the great river Kangerlualuksoak, 140 miles S.S.W. of Cape Chudleigh, lat. 58 deg. 57 m. Sailing up the bay, they found a fine slope or terrace facing the south, covered with shrubs, from whence a wooded valley extended to the left, which they fixed upon as the most suitable place for a settlement. Uttakisk, who had spent more than one winter in the Ingura country, assured them that there was an ample supply of native provisions both summer and winter, and that many of the Esquimaux would resort to them from every quarter, if they were once fairly settled. And the missionaries were satisfied that Europeans might find the means of existence, as the place was accessible to ships, and had wood and water in plenty. Before departing therefore, they set up high marks of stones on two opposite hills at the entrance of the bay, and placed a board on the declivity of a hill to the right, on one side of which they cut G. III. R. and S.U.F.—Georgius III Rex, Societas Unitatis Fratrum; and on the other, the initials of the missionaries, with the date of their arrival. This tablet was raised with some solemnity in presence of Uttakisk and his family, as representatives of the people of Ungava; and the missionaries informed them, that they had taken possession of the place, in case they or their brethren should think proper to settle there, and called all present to bear witness; they then proclaimed that the name of the river should henceforth be called George River, after which three vollies were fired by those on shore, and answered from the boat.—The texts of Scripture for the day, were very encouraging:—"From the rising of the sun, even to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts," Mal. ii 1. "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," Phil. ii 10, 11. After the ceremony, pease and bread and beer were distributed among the Esquimaux, which enabled them to make a splendid feast, and the day was spent in the most agreeable manner.

Next day [Aug. 13th] they left George River, and after beating about till the 17th, they cast anchor near a point of land, Kernertut, where they expected to lie in safety [the whole of the crew, except Jonas and his children and two boys, had gone on shore in the skin boat;] but during the night, the wind blew a gale, which increased in violence till daybreak; the sea rose to a tremendous height, and the rain fell in torrents. Notwithstanding the shallop had three anchors out, she was tossed about dreadfully, the sea frequently breaking quite over her, insomuch that they expected every moment to be swallowed up in the abyss. Jonathan, and the rest of their company, were obliged to be passive spectators from the beach, where they waited the event in silent anguish, looking every moment when the vessel should break from her moorings, and be driven on the rocks. About noon, the rope by which the small boat was fastened brake; she was immediately carried up the bay, and thrown, by the violence of the surf, on the top of a rock, where she stuck fast, keel upwards. When the tide turned, the raging of the sea and the wind began to abate, and Jonathan and the other men, as soon as it was practicable, came to the assistance of the distressed and worn-out brethren. He was quite overcome with joy, unable to utter a word; he held out his hand, and shed tears of gratitude at meeting with them alive, for he had given them up as irremediably lost. The little boat was brought down from her pinnacle, to the great surprise of all, without material injury.

Since leaving George's river, the expedition had made little more than fourteen or fifteen miles, and were at least seventy or eighty, as far as they could judge, from the river Koksoak, the western boundary of the Ungava country, which they had fixed upon as the final object of their voyage. The season was far advanced, and the Esquimaux represented to them, that if they proceeded farther, it would be impossible to return to Okkak before winter. In this dilemma, the missionaries, unable to decide, retired to their hut, and after weighing all the circumstances maturely, determined to commit their case to Him in whose name they had entered upon this voyage, and kneeling down entreated him to hear their prayers in their embarrassing situation, and to make known to them his will concerning their future proceedings, whether they should persevere in fulfilling the whole aim of their voyage, or give up a part and return home.—"The peace of God," add the missionaries, "which filled our hearts on this memorable occasion, and the strong conviction wrought in us both, that we should persevere in his name to fulfil the whole of our commission, relying without fear on his help and preservation, no words can describe; but those who believe in the fulfilment of the gracious promises of Jesus given to his poor followers and disciples, will understand us when we declare, that we were assured that it was the will of God our Saviour, that we should not now return and leave our work unfinished, but proceed to the end of our proposed voyage. Each of us communicated to his brother the conviction of his heart—all fears and doubts vanished—and we were filled anew with courage and willingness to act in obedience to it in the strength of the Lord." When they made known their determination to Jonathan, and the reasons which swayed them, he without hesitation replied, "Yes! that is also my conviction! We will go whither Jesus directs us. He will bring us safe to our journey's end, and safe home again." With renewed strength and spirits, the missionaries set forward, and their companions, who had been wonderfully refreshed and invigorated by their success among the seals and the rein-deer, willingly followed. They encountered a severe storm, and escaped many hidden dangers, as they coasted along a dangerous and unknown shore; but, guided by His hand in whom they trusted, they had the pleasure of reaching the mouth of the Koksoak, August 25th, 58 deg. 36 m. N.L. about 700 miles from Okkak—Cape Chudleigh half way. To the west the country is called by the natives Assokak, the coast turning again W.N.W. The Koksoak here is about the breadth of the Thames at Gravesend, and with its various windings, much resembles that river for twenty-four miles inland. As they sailed upwards, they were hailed by the natives in their kaiaks, with "Innuit, Innuit! man, man;" and when they hoisted their colours there was a general cry of "Kablunat, Kablunat! Europeans! Europeans!" About one P.M. they cast anchor close to an encampment, containing fourteen families, some from a distant district called Rivektok. At first they appeared shy, but upon receiving a few trifling presents became quite familiar; and as many of them had never seen a European, walked round them, and inspected them narrowly to see what manner of animals they were, having previously received some account of them from Uttakiyok's brother, who had joined them. Proceeding farther up the river, accompanied by most of the men and some women, they arrived at a bay, which by the winding of the stream appears like a lake surrounded on all sides with gently rising grounds, well planted with woods of moderate size, chiefly birch. Behind the woods are some low hills. This place they named Unity's Bay.

Here they found another good situation for a missionary settlement—a fine slope, extending for about half an English mile, bounded on each extremity by a hill, on both of which they erected high signals. Juniper, currants, and other berries, were growing in abundance—and some rivulets of water at no great distance. This spot they named Pilgerruh, Pilgrim's rest. The view of the interior was in general flat, with a few low hills and ponds in some places full of wild geese; the largest trees were not more than eight inches in diameter, and fifteen or twenty feet high. The Esquimaux informed them that farther up the trees were larger. The inhabitants were poor, and miserably equipped in comparison of the Esquimaux near the brethren's settlement; as those who accompanied the expedition, and who, from their intercourse with the Europeans, had obtained many conveniences by barter, and from the teaching of the missionaries had acquired a knowledge of the gospel. These advantages the latter did not fail to expatiate upon to their heathen countrymen; and once the brethren met with Sybilla, Jonathan's wife, surrounded by a company of women under the shadow of a skin boat, set on edge, exhorting them with great simplicity and fervour to hear and believe the gospel. Even Uttakiyok occasionally engaged in advocating the same cause, explained as well as he could the reason of the Brethren's living in Labrador, and exclaimed, "My friends, let us all be converted to Jesus." Having finished their observations on this quarter, the missionaries resolved to return, as, from the account given by their able and faithful conductor, Uttakiyok, whose information they had hitherto found correct, the western coast on the opposite side of the bay was bare and without any proper landing place, and at this season of the year uninhabited, the Esquimaux being generally employed in the interior in hunting the rein-deer; they, therefore, Sept. 1., left the river and shaped their course homeward. The natives shewed the greatest reluctance to part with them, and called after them, "Come soon again; we shall always be wishing to see you." Several of them, and among these their disinterested friend, Uttakiyok, followed them for some miles, repeating their entreaties for their speedy return, and promising to settle beside them when they came. At parting, they presented Uttakiyok with their skin boat and several useful articles, as a recompense for the important, essential, and affectionate services he had rendered them. On the 4th October they reached Okkak in safety, after an absence of three months and ten days, having performed a voyage of from twelve to thirteen hundred miles. An account of their expedition was transmitted home,[I] but circumstances prevented the mission from being undertaken for several years.

No very remarkable alteration took place at any of the different stations, during the two succeeding years. The increase of their number was gradual, and their advance in the Christian course quiet but perceptible; and at Okkak they had the pleasure of readmitting, upon their repentance and acknowledgment of their sin, the members they had been forced to exclude for their misconduct during the past season; and it is not the least among the mercies of God towards the brethren, nor one which ought to be passed over in silence, the benefit which their congregations derive from the kind and judicious, yet firm administration of church discipline; in a majority of instances it answers the ends for which it was instituted—the brother is gained instead of being driven away to associate with the world, and to nourish a spirit of dislike, if not of hatred, towards those with whom he was formerly in fellowship—a melancholy consequence when this ordinance of the Saviour is not attended to in the spirit of love.

In 1812, the superintendant, Burghardt, was called to his reward; he had been able to fulfil the duties of his office till within three days of his departure. He was obliged to take to his bed on the 24th of July, and had appointed the 28th to confer with his brethren on various subjects, but when that day came, he was so much exhausted, that this was found impracticable. He had done with active service upon earth. He now lay quiet, in peaceful expectation of the happy moment when his Lord and Master would call him to rest. About three o'clock in the afternoon, he breathed his last in a most gentle and peaceful manner, in presence of the family gathered around his bed. "During this transaction," the missionaries add, in their letter announcing the event, "a powerful feeling of divine peace prevailed among us, and many tears were shed by us who are left behind, to follow the example of this devoted servant of Jesus. He had attained to the age of seventy nine years."

His removal brought forward, in a very prominent point of view, the unwearied diligence of the Moravian missionaries, who unite so much active exertion in temporal affairs, with such devotedness to spiritual exercises, and, in a pre-eminently apostolic conduct, exhibit the import of the injunctions, "not slothful in business,"—"fervent in spirit,"—"serving the Lord." "In consequence of this vacancy," they continue, "and the age of two others of us, who are fast approaching their seventieth year, we are not able to do any great things by manual labour; however, we contrive to perform what is absolutely requisite, and intend, with the Lord's blessing, to prepare for the building of a new church, as the present is much too small, and gone to decay, We thank you for your readiness to assist us with the necessary help."

Next year, 1813, brother Schreiber arrived to succeed the late lamented Burghardt as superintendant, and brought with him two efficient missionaries. The general course of the mission for some time continued pretty uniform, the meetings were always well attended, and so great was the desire of the people to be present, that some came at the hazard of their lives; especially the sisters, who, when they had no boat of their own, would venture across bays some miles in breadth, sitting behind their husbands on their narrow kaiaks. The number of printed books circulated in the congregations, and now constantly increasing, kept alive the desire to learn to read and understand the holy Scriptures. The schools were thronged by young and old.

It has sometimes been asserted that the sacred writings are ill adapted for school books; that they are above the capacity of children, and do not possess those attractions which little stories, extracts from entertaining writers, histories of our own and other countries present.[J] Without entering upon any argument, it may be sufficient to remark, that at no time did our native Scotland produce a more intelligent, acute, and moral race, than that generation which was educated in schools where the Bible and the Shorter Catechism were the chief, if not the sole, medium of their instruction. At the Moravian settlements the same effects flow from a similar mode of tuition, and the mind that has been early exercised in searching out the meaning of the Divine Oracles of truth, comes well prepared to estimate the realities of life, and form a true and correct judgment upon common topics and matters of daily occurrence: they have been taught that the present ought to be improved with a reference to the future, not only in spiritual but in temporal matters, and the natural consequence is, that the converted Esquimaux and their children become at once an intelligent and a provident race. So long as they continued heathen their intellect in general appeared incapable of comprehending any thing beyond the immediate and grosser cravings of nature, but now they understood and could converse upon more rational subjects; then no arguments could induce them, not even their own necessities, to build store houses, but now they willingly assisted the missionaries in erecting these buildings for public use, while in some of the settlements they erected new ones for themselves. Along with reading, the natives were taught writing and arithmetic, in which many of them made no inconsiderable proficiency. Yet, notwithstanding all their care and watchfulness, the brethren were not without their trials from the members of their congregations, and they, commonly sum up their accounts of the prosperous state of their people with some such conclusion as this:—"We must after all confess that much imperfection is yet seen, and some of those living here are not what they ought to be. The enemy is not idle, but endeavours to sift those who believe on Jesus; and we grieve to be obliged to mention, that even of our communicants there are who have fallen into temptation and sin. This shall not damp our courage, but we will continue to direct them to Jesus."

Hitherto little interruption had taken place in the communication between Labrador and England; the vessel had sailed in safety amid enemies and storms, and although in some voyages had been in jeopardy, and in others detained, had always made it out to visit all the stations; but in 1806 the Jemima was not only prevented from reaching Hopedale, but carried four of the missionaries on an involuntary trip to England. The ship arrived at the drift ice on the Labrador coast on the 16th of July, which Captain Fraser found extending about two hundred miles from the land, and after attempting to get in first to Hopedale, then to Nain, and last of all to Okkak, he was at length completely surrounded by it and in the most imminent danger during six days and nights, expecting every moment that the ship would be crushed to pieces, till after very great exertions he got towards the outer part of the ice. Nevertheless he was still beset with it, and did not reach Okkak before August 29. The very next day the whole coast, as far as the eye could reach, was entirely choked up by ice, and after laying at Okkak nearly three weeks, he was twice forced back by it on his passage to Nain, which place he did not reach till Sept 22. After staying the usual time the captain proceeded, Oct 3., from Nain for Hopedale with fine weather; yet, on account of the lateness of the season, and a great deal of drift ice, with but little prospect of reaching that settlement. This circumstance he mentioned to the brethren at Nain, notwithstanding which, however, Brother Kmoch and his wife, and two single brethren, Korner and Christensan, who were going to Hopedale, went on board and they set sail; but the same evening it came on to blow exceedingly hard, with an immense fall of snow and very thick weather, so that they could not see the length of the ship, and being within half a mile of a dangerous reef of rocks, the captain was obliged to carry a press of sail to clear them, which he did but just accomplish, for after that the gale increased to such a degree, the wind being right on shore, that he could not carry sail any longer, and was obliged to lay the ship to, when the sea broke often over her, and he was at last forced, seeing every attempt to reach Hopedale vain, to bear away for England. He again experienced a gale equal to a hurricane, on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of October, which, during the evening between the 9th and 10th, was so violent that the captain expected the vessel would have foundered. She was at one time struck by a sea that twisted her in such a manner that the seams on her larboard side opened, and the water gushed into the cabin and into the mate's birth as if it came from a pump, and every body at first thought her side was stove in; however the Lord was pleased to protect every one from harm, nor was the ship very materially damaged, neither was any thing lost.

Winter set in severely on the Labrador coast, but this proved an advantage to the missions, as those at Nain were enabled to forward supplies by sledges to their brethren at Hopedale, who, although curtailed of some of their comforts, acknowledged with cheerful thankfulness that they had suffered no essential deprivation. The Esquimaux were also deprived of their usual supply of food by the early winter, which prevented them from taking many seals, either by the net or in kaiaks; but, as not unfrequently happened in their times of extremity, they were successful in killing a whale, which preserved from suffering much from famine, and for which they joined their teachers in returning thanks to their heavenly Father. Their number was reduced by the death of a venerable brother, Sueb Andersen, who had served the mission forty years, as well as Christensan, who had been carried to England; but nevertheless, besides their usual daily labour, they were able to erect for their own use a building containing rooms for holding provisions and fuel, and a bakehouse.

Easily contented, however, as they were with their stinted fare, and pleasantly as they could undergo both privation and manual labour; they could not see, without the most poignant sorrow, those who had begun to run well, hindered in their progress, and the greatest affliction they felt, and the only one which extorted from them a complaint in this trying season, was the seduction of several of their congregation. Four traders from the south, with an Esquimaux family in company, spent that winter in their neighbourhood. They sent European provisions to the native inhabitants, and invited them to come and traffic, which proved a great snare, and disturbed the peaceful course of the congregation; for many of the baptized had lived formerly in the south, and contracted a taste for European indulgences, particularly for strong liquors, from which they had been weaned since their settling at Hopedale; but these propensities revived when temptation was presented. The brethren spared no pains, by friendly exhortations and affectionate remonstrances, to avert the calamity, yet they had the grief to see three families of eighteen persons desert the station; among whom were six communicants and several hopeful young people. The women and children wept bitterly at parting, and even the men seemed affected, but the latter, led captive by the wiles of the seducer, forced their families to follow. "We cannot describe," say the missionaries, "the pain we felt in seeing these poor deluded people running headlong into danger, and we cried to our Saviour to keep his hand over them in mercy, and not to suffer them to become a prey to the enemy of their souls."

Kmoch and his wife, and the single brother Korner, who had so unexpectedly visited England, returned to Labrador in the brig Jemima in 1817, accompanied by single brother Beck, a descendant of the Greenland missionary, who in the third generation inherited the same spirit. Their voyage was perilous, and their preservation afforded a new display of the mercy of God towards his devoted servants, engaged to proclaim salvation to the utmost ends of the earth. On the 2d of June the Jemima left London, and after stopping at the Orkneys, they reached within 200 miles of the Labrador coast before the 4th of July; the weather had been remarkably fine, and they were pleasing themselves with speedily arriving at their destination, when the ice-birds gave notice of their approaching the ice.[K] Now the wind shifted, and on the 7th the drift was seen in every direction: for six days they made several attempts to penetrate through different openings, but in vain; fields of ice beset the ship on all sides, and towards the evening of the 13th they discovered an immense ice-berg approaching. They were sailing before the wind, and just when they neared it, became enveloped in so thick a fog that they could not see a yard from the ship, nor use any means to avoid a concussion which threatened instant ruin. After an hour of helpless anxiety the fog dispersed, and they perceived that they had providentially passed at a very short distance. Next morning land was discovered a-head, which the captain endeavoured to reach, but was forced to seek shelter by fastening the vessel to a large field of ice three hundred feet in diameter, elevated about six above the water, and between fifty and sixty in thickness below. Here they lay with little variation from the 14th to the 20th; when they attempted with a fine breeze to get clear out. In the evening, the sky lowered, and it grew very dark. At midnight the passengers were roused by a noise on deck, and hastening to learn the cause, found they were driving fast towards a huge ice-mountain, on which they expected every moment to suffer shipwreck. The night was excessively cold with rain, and the sailors suffered much before they could again bring the vessel to her moorings. But this was only the prelude to greater terrors: shortly after mid-day on the 21st, the wind having risen to a tempest, the missionaries were alarmed by a tremendous outcry; they instantly ran upon deck, and saw the ship with the field to which she was fastened, rapidly driving towards another immense mountain, nor did there appear the smallest hope of escaping being crushed to pieces between it and the field. They all cried fervently to the Lord for speedy help in this most perilous situation—for if they had but touched the mountain they must have been instantly destroyed. And he heard them: the ship got to such a distance that the mountain passed between them and the field, but one of their cables was broken and they lost an anchor; and were left to the mercy of the storm and the current, in the midst of large masses of ice from ten to twenty feet thick. The following night was dreadfully dark and tempestuous, and the howling of the wind, and the roaring of the ice, as the fields were dashed against each other by its fury, rendered it truly terrific; while the fragments, as they were dispersing by the storm, struck violently against the vessel, and each blow sounded like the harbinger of instant fate. Such shocks were repeated every five or ten minutes and sometimes oftener; nor was there any possibility of avoiding them. In this awful situation they offered up earnest prayers to Him who alone is able to save, and about six in the morning they were carried into open water not far from the coast, after having spent ten long hours in a state more easily to be conceived than described. During the remainder of their voyage they encountered several heavy gales, and were threatened occasionally with the gathering ice, and their vessel was leaky, but they happily arrived at their desired haven in safety. On the 9th of August they cast anchor at Hopedale.

Amid the trials which the brethren had to encounter, they acknowledge, with gratitude, the mercies that intervened: they witnessed many instances of the faithful leading of the Holy Spirit among the Esquimaux, particularly in the return of many to the good Shepherd, from whom they had strayed—and during the winter, the station of Hopedale was preserved from moral contagion by a striking providence. Some heathen who had set out to seduce their countrymen to go to the south, were overtaken at sea by a violent storm, which dashed their large boat in pieces, and being thrown on an unknown desert region, where no assistance could be obtained, perished miserably by cold and hunger.

At the close of 1819, brother Schreiber returned to Europe, and brother Kohlmeister succeeded him as superintendant of the Labrador missions, for which he was well adapted, both by his knowledge of the country and the language. In the former year he had performed a voyage from Okkak to Nain, very different from that remarkable journey in 1804. The weather was fine and warm, with a gentle favourable breeze, and the varied scenery was delightful. He doubled the promontory of the Kiglapeit mountains with the greatest ease, and was wafted through the narrow channel to Nain, charmed with the verdure that decked the shores, the woods in foliage, the hills covered with grass, and the vallies spangled with innumerable flowers. Early next year he visited Hopedale, and the weather being again fine, he accomplished the journey in two days. The dogs drew the sledge over the frozen snow with great rapidity; no English post-horses could have done better. He had formerly ministered in this settlement, and the inhabitants came out to some distance to meet, and bid him welcome. "I was deeply affected," says he, in a letter to Mr Latrobe, "on again entering this place, in which I had spent so many happy days in the year 1804, when it pleased the Lord to send forth his Spirit, and awaken in the hearts of the Esquimaux, that hunger and thirst after righteousness and salvation, the fruits of which have been so manifest and encouraging ever since. I was then eye-witness of astonishing proofs of His power and love, and my heart and spirit revived in the recollection of the all-conquering and superabounding grace which then prevailed, and by which he drew all hearts unto himself."

To the continuance and advancement of this blessed work, the brethren were able to bear joyful testimony in the succeeding year. July 31, 1820, they thus write: "The Lord is graciously pleased to cause his power to be made manifest in the conversion of sinners, and in the building up our dear Esquimaux flock in the faith by which we are saved. This we may truly testify to his praise. The Father draws them to the Son, and the Holy Spirit leads them in the way of life everlasting. We find open ears and hearts when we declare to them the love of Jesus as their Saviour, and his blessing rests upon our feeble testimony of his atoning death and passion. Many a heart, by nature hard as the surrounding rocks, has been broken by the divine power of the word of the cross."

They had, however, to mourn over the loss of three of their most approved native Esquimaux brethren, in the prime of life; they were suddenly seized with a mortal illness, which, after a short suffering of twelve hours, brought them to the grave; but the joyful hope of seeing their Saviour face to face, and celebrating the praises of his redeeming love, supported them in their dying moments, and comforted the hearts of their teachers. Their widows, also, distinguished themselves by their resignation to the Lord under this severe dispensation, which rendered them desolate, placing their whole trust in Him who is the faithful friend of the widow and the fatherless. A young married man, a candidate for baptism, was seized with the same complaint, and brought to the brink of the grave. In his extremity, he complained to one of the missionaries that he had never been truly converted to Jesus. "O!" exclaimed he, "if but one drop of the precious atoning blood of Jesus would flow upon my soul to cleanse me from guilt, that I might be assured in my inward parts, of the forgiveness of my many sins!" He was baptized on his sickbed—it was an affecting scene—a sense of the presence of the Lord was felt on the occasion by all present, by the peace and grace that accompanied the administration of the ordinance. The answer to the sick penitent's fervent prayer, seemed like that given to the poor repenting thief on the cross when he cried, "Lord remember me"—it was immediate. To the surprise of all, he recovered, and remained an instance of the love of Jesus, even to the chief of sinners.

A remarkable preservation of another Esquimaux youth, was likewise the cause of much joy at Hopedale. On the 10th of June, 1819, this lad had been carried out to sea upon a flake of ice, which separated from the main mass in a terrible storm, and was given up for lost. He, however, after having, for some time, been driven about, gained the larger body of drift ice, and was carried towards an island, on which he landed. Here he staid about two months. He had only a gun, a small knife, and a few pieces of cord with him, but neither powder nor shot. Of the cord he made nooses and caught eider-ducks, by which, and their eggs, he kept himself alive; in the night, he crept under an overhanging rock to sleep. At length he discovered a piece of wood floating to the shore; of this he made an oar, and, getting on a flake of ice, rowed himself to an island nearer the main land, whence he reached two more islands nearer still. About the beginning of August, he observed two boats steering towards the south, and made signals: these were not noticed by the first, which passed on; but the second approached and took him in. They were southlanders from Kippolak, with whom he was obliged to go on to the south, and remain there till the ice was strong enough to admit of his travelling to Hopedale. He removed thence to Okkak, where he most unexpectedly arrived, to the astonishment of all his relations, who received him as one from the dead. He declared that in his banishment from human society, Jesus had been his hope and refuge, though the prospect before him was indeed terrific. While he gave this account of his escape, his eyes overflowed with tears of joy and gratitude; and at the conclusion of his narrative, he said to brother Kohlmeister—"Benjamin! I declare to you that I was never alone; Jesus was always with me, and I will ever follow Jesus, and belong to him in time and eternity."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote I: The Journal of the Voyage, illustrated with a map, was published in a separate form. London, 1814.]

[Footnote J: "The children and young people have given us much pleasure; they have made good progress in reading, and often speak to us of the pleasure it affords them to be able to read the Scriptures at home."—Periodical Accounts, vol. 6 p. 241.]

[Footnote K: This bird is about the size of a starling, black, with white and yellow spots, flies about a ship chiefly in the night, and is known by its singular notes, which resemble a loud laugh.]



CHAPTER VIII.

Fiftieth anniversary of the missionary vessel's first arrival in Labrador—jubilee of the mission celebrated at Nain.—Summary view of the success of the gospel in Labrador during that period.—Instance of maternal affection.—Esquimaux contribute to the Bible Society.—British sloop of war, Clinker, visits Hopedale.—Captain Martin's testimony to the good effect of the brethren's labours—visits Nain and Okkak—consequences of his favourable report.

Fifty years had now elapsed since the first ship arrived at Nain, 9th August 1771, with missionaries on board for the service of the Esquimaux, and in the morning of the same day of the same month, August the 9th, 1820, at eight o'clock, the Harmony cast anchor in the same bay, bringing stores and provisions for a Christian settlement containing one hundred and sixty-eight inhabitants, chiefly gathered from among the heathen, and exercising the habits of civilized life, instead of roaming the wilds as rude savages, or infesting the seas as ruthless pirates. The day of the vessel's arrival was always a day of gladness, as she brought tidings from their Christian friends in Europe to the missionaries; and good tidings from a far country, especially when brought to such a secluded spot, were doubly welcome. That this communication should, notwithstanding all risks, have been uninterrupted, afforded much subject for thanksgiving, which the brethren expressed by hymns, and likewise endeavoured to show by some little external tokens. They hoisted two old small flags and a white one, on which the sisters had marked, in large figures, the number 50, surrounded by a wreath of green laurel; their small cannon fired several shot, which were answered by the ship, and the Esquimaux fired their pieces as long as their powder lasted. Meanwhile, some tunes of hymns, expressing thanksgiving to God for his mercies, were played on wind instruments, which altogether made a good impression on the Esquimaux, and gave them an idea of a jubilee rejoicing. Brother Kohlmeister explained to them the meaning of the number 50 on the flag, and made them understand that it was the fifteenth time that a ship had come safely to Nain for their sakes, and how it had been preserved, by the wonder-working hand of God, from all harm in these dangerous seas, and that this was the cause of these extraordinary demonstrations of a joyful gratitude; they listened with great attention, and then exclaimed, "Yes! Jesus is worthy of thanks!" nor were the sailors unmoved.