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ded: and the misfortunes of others proved a lesson of wisdom to the helpers themselves, who were thus taught the bad consequences of acting according to one's own will, and in presumption on one's own strength.

The other circumstance relating to the Greenland congregation, to which allusion has been made, we relate in Mr. Crantz's own words.

Among the accounts read to them on the monthly congregation-days, some lives of children departed, in one or other of the European congregation, supplied them with peculiarly agreeable matter for shortening their long winter evenings in an edifying manner; as likewise the account of the steadfastness of some Christians, in a state of vassalage, under the barbarous treatment of their lords; again, the hard fate of the Negro slaves and also the particular preservation of the churches in the troubles of the war, administered occasion to a variety of natural, though striking and simple reflections, from which they drew this thankful conclusion, that though they were in a wild, miserable, and unfriendly climate, yet they lived under a mild government, could serve their Saviour without molestation, and be preserved from so many calamities of the earth. Nothing touched them so deeply, as the demolition of the Indian congregation at Gnadenhutten, in Pennsylvania. And when a relation of some farther circumstances was given to the helpers at their next meeting— for instance, that, though some European brethren and sisters were burned, yet the Indians had time to escape to Bethlehem, and therefore only lost their property in the fire; that these poor refugees, together with a multitude of people suffering under the effects of a similar calamity, were received in Bethlehem, and, by the assistance of some wealthy and compassionate neighbours, were fed and clothed; this relation, I say, excited such an emotion among them, as caused them to weep heartily, and to make offers of raising also some contributions for clothing the naked, and feeding the hungry members of Christ. One said, I have a fine rein-deer skin, which I will give.' Another, And I a pair of new rein-deer boots, which I will send.' ' And I,' said a third, 'will send them a seal, that they may have something to eat

and to burn.' Now, though their contributions, when turned into money, would be but of little value, yet the Missionaries did not choose to reject the mite, or rather the compassionate, willing heart of their poor Greenland brethren and sisters, but ordered the value of their presents (proffered with an equal measure of joy and tears,) to be sent by their brethren to the needy. in America."

We have before seen how the once selfish Greenlanders were made to feel compassion for their suffering countrymen; in this anecdote, we see their benevolence taking a still wider range, and extending, not only to their brethren in America, but to those who had no claim upon their sympathy, but a participation in their common humanity. Could we ask one of them how this wondrous change of disposition was effected, he would doubtless reply, as an individual once did to a similar question, "This hand was shut fast by avarice, but the grace of Christ has opened it."

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CHAPTER VIII. '

Establishment of a new Settlement-The first converts-Discourse of a Native Assistant--Conversation between a believing and a heathen Greenlander-Account of Susanna-Erection of a Mission-house and Church-Present state of the population in the neighbourhood of New Herrnhuth and LichtenfelsDeath of Matthew Stach-Another settlement established at Lichtenau-Rapid growth of the congregation-Death of John

Beck.

IN relating the progress of Christian Missions in Greenland, we have arrived so far as the year 1758, at which period we find the Greenland congregation at New Herrnhuth augmented to four hundred individuals ;* and as the Missionaries thought that any farther increase in the number of individuals collected at this settlement, would render the maintenance of discipline very difficult, they wisely resolved to establish another station, about 100 miles to the south of New Herrnhuth. This settlement was begun under the guidance of Matthew Stach, whose experience and enterprising genius well qualified him for such an undertaking. The difficulties which he and the few Greenland families who accompanied him had to encounter, and the providential assistance which they received, are scarcely less remarkable than those which have been related in connexion with the establishment of New Herrnhuth. This new settlement was distinguished by the name of Lichtenfels. Here also a congregation was soon collected. The first converts from among the heathen were a family consisting of four persons, which came far from the South, and had been quite ignorant of the truths of salvation; yet was it given to them to believe, while many, who had been long hearing the word, remained

* Besides these, nearly two hundred baptized Greenlanders had departed, as the Missionaries believed, into a blessed eternity.

unmoved by it. Thus, in every step of the progress of the conversion of the Greenlanders, we are constrained to say, "This is the finger of God." Indeed, the blessing of God rested in a special manner upon this new settlement. The congregation collected there, in the five first years, was more numerous than that collected at New Herrnhuth in the first fourteen years from the time of the arrival of the Brethren in Greenland. Among one of the earliest converts was a poor woman, who had often been much moved under the preaching of the gospel, but could not for a long time prevail upon her husband to fix his abode among the believing Greenlanders. At length, however, her intreaties prevailed, and her husband even determined to become a member of the congregation himself. Upon the arrival of this poor woman at Lichtenfels, she said, "I cannot express what I felt, when my husband said, 'Steer the boat to Kaumasok (Lichtenfels).' My heart was filled with joy, and my eyes with tears. Now I am here at last, where I have longed to be for so many years."

The discourses of some of the native assistants, whom the Lord raised up in this settlement, were often strikingly impressive. One of them expressed himself as follows: "How deep our fall must have been, we may learn from the sufferings of Jesus! When God created the visible world, he used only one word, 'Let it be,' and it was; but our redemption could not be accomplished by a word: to restore us poor creatures, he had to descend from heaven,-live and suffer as man,— tremble, and groan, and sweat bloody sweat,—and at last expire in torments,—that he might redeem us by his blood. Can any one, therefore, refrain from loving our Saviour, and devoting soul and body to his service ?"

The annals of Lichtenfels furnish many anecdotes, most interesting to the Christian, as exhibiting the working of the human mind in reference to its Creator. We transcribe the following.

On one occasion, a strange heathen, while fishing in company with the Greenlanders from Lichtenfels, on a fine moonlight night, suddenly raising his eyes, with an air of singular astonishment, to the starry heavens,

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exclaimed, "It must indeed have been a Nallegar soak (a great lord), who made these things." "Yes," said

a believing Greenlander, "it is a mighty Lord who created the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and this same Lord died on a cross for the salvation of men." “And,” added he, " at the end of the world, when all these things, which now astonish you, shall be burned with fire, this Lord will take the believers to a blessed place, where they shall rejoice with him for ever. Should you, therefore, not like to become a believer?" The heathen gave no answer, but seemed merely to shudder at the idea of a universal conflagration.

This anecdote is interesting, as it shews the power of the gospel in turning the minds, even of those who do not receive it, to attend to the testimony which things visible bear to the eternal power and Godhead of their Creator. The exclamation of the heathen Greenlander plainly shews, that his mind had received such a direction from his intercourse with his believing countrymen. There are many living in proud rejection of the gospel, and boasting themselves in their knowledge of the power and providence of God, as if that knowledge had been obtained by a meritorious exercise of their own reason, who, had they lived in countries not enjoying the light of the Scriptures, would have manifested as much ignorance as their heathen neighbours, and have participated with them in their abominable idolatries. Persons calling themselves philosophers are little aware of the extent of their obligations to the Scriptures. "Vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt."

The first of the baptized Greenlanders who departed this life, at Lichtenfels, was the single sister Susanna. She was born at Innusuk, six miles from the settlement; and, after the death of her parents, she was taken under the protection of a relative, with whom she removed to the brethren in the year 1760. Her heart was deeply touched by the narrative of the sufferings of Jesus; she manifested much sensibility, and a placid serenity of mind; and, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, she made daily advances in the experimental knowledge of the truths of Christianity.

The Brethren, however, being unwilling to admit