HISTORY OF SOPHIA.

151

tears testified the sincerity of their affection for the deceased.

The next person whom we find particularly noticed, who died at this time, is Sophia. This woman first heard the gospel at Kangek, in the year 1742, and the Lord opened her heart to understand it, so that she was always an attentive hearer When the Missiona

ries went to visit the heathen in her neighbourhood, she received them with joy, and frequently lodged them in her hut for a fortnight. But in a short time she was obliged to leave Kangek, and travel 200 leagues northward with her husband, who had at this time no relish for the gospel. However, after much intreaty, she prevailed upon him to reside in the neighbourhood of New Herrnhuth; but, as there appeared no probability of her being able to become an actual resident in the settlement, the Missionaries made an exception to the general rule, and, in spring, 1744, baptized her at her place of abode, among the Heathen at Kangek. Amidst all the temptations to which she was exposed in her sojourn among the savages, she steadfastly adhered to her unseen Lord and Saviour; and, at length, the prejudices of her husband were so overcome by her exemplary behaviour, that, in the autumn of the same year, he was induced to remove with his whole family to New Herrnhuth. In the history of this poor Greenland woman, we have a beautiful illustration of the words of the Apostle-" Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear," 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2.

In 1748, Sophia was admitted to the Lord's supper. "She loved," writes Mr. Crantz, "her nation tenderly, and was a great benefactress. Her heart was tenderly affected and penetrated by the merits and wounds of Jesus, nor could she be silent about the grace and happiness she experienced therein, but from time to time delivered her testimony of the grace in the blood of Jesus, to upwards of a thousand people, and confirmed it by her unblemished and cheerful life and conversation."

Nor was it only in their life that the Greenlanders

testified the excellency of the gospel. One of the individuals who died this year cried out several times, just before he expired, "Ah! what blessedness it is to have a happy heart! Now I shall soon be with my Saviour." We cannot dismiss the history of this period of the Greenland Missions, without some notice of the Danish Missionary, Mr. Drachart, who, in company with Matthew Stach, returned to Europe, in 1751. This devoted servant of Christ came to Greenland in 1739. There he became acquainted with the Moravian Missionaries, and with them, and his colleagues of his own communion, laboured harmoniously in the service of the heathen for nearly thirteen years. These men of God honoured each other as fathers, and loved each other as brethren. They assisted each other with counsel and deed, particularly in leading the awakened souls to Jesus; and no jarring of opinions, or controversial bickerings, were ever observed among them or their people.

Nor was this sweet harmony secured by the compromise of principle on either side. Each party proceeded according to the rules of the communion to which they respectively belonged, but each party seems to have fully imbibed the spirit which pervades the fourteenth chapter of Romans, that "most healing discourse," as an old writer terms it, and to which we refer the reader. In a word, the Missionaries experimentally knew the meaning of the Apostle's words-" But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature," Gal. vi. 14, 15. And, like him, they could heartily add, “As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." This unity of spirit gave great effect to their ministry. Nor was it only in the immediate field of their labours, that the blessed influence of this unity of spirit among the Greenland Missionaries was felt. Mr. Crantz, a member of the Brethren's Church in Moravia, writes in reference to it: "I still remember with what pleasure the late ordinary of the Brethren read, in the yearly accounts from Greenland, the report of the

A GREENLAND LETTER.

153

sameness of principle, and unanimity in labour, between these two missions; how he extolled it, and recommended it, as worthy of imitation; and how earnestly he exhorted our brethren to continue in this course. This he also testified publicly: in his Annotations on Dr. Weisseman's Ecclesiastical History, he says, 'The internal harmony between the Brethren and the Lutherans there is one of the greatest beauties in Davis's Straits.'

That this Christ-like spirit continued to exist, after Mr. Drachart's departure, among the Danish and Moravian Missionaries, is abundantly evident from the following letter, written in 1738, by one of the former, in reply to a letter received from the brethren at New Herrnhuth, by the hands of some converted Greenlanders returning from that place.

66

Sincerely beloved friend and brother in our common Saviour!

"I am greatly obliged to you, and owe you my best thanks, for your kind letter by the baptized Greenlan ders, who arrived here last autumn; and, having an opportunity by some Greenlanders going into your parts, I now transmit you my acknowledgments by these few lines, with the utmost integrity and affection. "It gave me great joy, and excited me to bless and praise the Lord, when I saw by your letter, and heard by the verbal relation of the Greenlanders, that the faithful Saviour daily accomplishes his gracious promises, and blesses the publication of the gospel of his death and blood to many souls, whom, as the true Friend of men, he attracts and allures to himself, as a reward for the anguish and distress which he underwent for them; and also that in general he is daily near to you, my dear brethren, with the blessed fruits and effects of his death and blood.

"With respect to me, poor creature, I can praise my merciful Saviour, that I know and believe, all my salvation depends on my knowing the crucified Jesus, and being found in him, and that I have a righteousness not made up of good works and external piety, but by faith in Jesus Christ, with which alone I can go to meet the resurrection of the dead. This is also what I incessantly declare to the poor Greenlanders, according to

the grace and power that our dear Saviour himself endows me with. I also tell them the unfathomable riches of the grace of Jesus, for all that turn to him as poor lost sinners, and accept in faith the atonement and reconciliation which he made by his agony and bloodshedding. And this last winter he has blessed this simple word of the cross to some souls, who have a feeling in their hearts that they need a Saviour, and whom I have baptized. These, and the children born to the Greenlanders baptized before, amount to thirty-five souls. May the benign Saviour, who has begun to lead them to the blessed knowledge of his grace, reveal himself further to their poor hearts, as him that imparts salvation and happiness. May he grant them to experience what power lies in his blood to forgive, purify, and sanctify them, yea, to make them perfectly happy in time and eternity.

"In the spring of the year 1752, an epidemical disease raged among the Greenlanders in our neighbourhood, of which half the baptized people, and an incredible number of the heathen, died very suddenly. This mortality lasted the whole summer, but towards autumn most of them withdrew further north, where, it seems, death followed, and cut off most of them. But mercy has hitherto spared mine, and those that dwell with me.

"Now, my dear friend and brother, pray greet your whole house, and all that love the Lord Jesus, from me, your poor but sincerely affectionate brother, through the grace of our Saviour. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all, and grant you to enjoy daily the fruits of his death and blood. Think also on me, when you lie in the dust at our Saviour's feet, and pray for me. This good hope I have in you, (0 that I could but see you and speak with you!) and in this hope I conclude, with repeated hearty salutations from me and my colleagues, and renewed wishes of every blessing for soul and body, and remain," &c.

Declining health, and the desire of placing his children at school in Europe, were the reasons which induced Mr. Drachart to believe it to be his Lord's will, that he should leave Greenland at this time; his name, however, was long retained in the grateful recollections of both Europeans and Greenlanders. His sermons,

DANISH MISSIONARIES.

155

"concerning God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, through whose atonement and all-sufficient satisfaction all poor sinners may attain to life and happiness," were the means of making wise unto salvation many of the Europeans belonging to the colony with which he was connected. Several of these were once very ignorant and profligate; but, having been brought to the knowledge of the Lord, their holy life tended greatly to recommend the gospel to the heathen, from among whom a little flock of believers, who lived together that they might enjoy the benefit of regular instruction, was collected by the labours of Mr. Drachart. Nor was it among these only that the fruit of Mr. Drachart's ministry appeared. His instructions made a lasting impression upon many Greenlanders, who still continued to live among their heathen countrymen; and several of · these poor people, in their last moments, were able to testify that Jesus Christ was indeed mighty to save. Mr. Crantz particularly records one instance of this, which we give in his own words. "A long time after Mr. Drachart left the colony, a man baptized by him was taken ill, and one of our brethren was desired to bleed him. The present Missionary, who was not yet master of the language, requested that the sick man might be comforted out of the word of God. Accordingly, the brother asked him how he felt his heart disposed. He answered, 'I meditate on our Saviour, who died for me, and I kiss the wounds in his hands and feet. I call frequently to mind, nor can I forget, what I heard when Pellisingsok* was here and baptized me. Upon being asked, further, whether he could depart this life in firm reliance on our Saviour, he answered, 'O yes, for He hath purchased me with his precious blood.' What encouragement does this little anecdote afford to those who labour in the gospel!

The winter of 1752 was one of the most dreadful ever known in Greenland. "The cold," writes Mr. Crantz, "was perfectly horrible, and held from February till towards Easter with little intermission; so that the inlets were frozen over, and blocked up with ice to

The little minister, the name by which Mr. Drachart was known among the Greenlanders.