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splendour of the court, the stately churches, and other magnificent edifices,-and, above all, the presents which he had brought with him,-excited great amazement among the Greenlanders, and created a desire in many of them to make the same voyage. What they heard of the courtly grandeur and military power of the King, awakened new reflections in the minds of men who had been always accustomed to regard the most skilful and successful seal-catcher, as the mightiest and wealthiest person. These reflections led them to form some idea of a terrifying nature concerning God, as the supreme King of kings and Lord of lords. Hence, also, they regarded the Missionaries with more terror, especially when they heard that the King of Denmark, amidst all his might and glory, listened to the voice of his pastors, though they were his own subjects, when they declared the will of God.

The new ideas thus let in upon the minds of the savages appear, to human wisdom, well calculated to assist the Missionaries in leading them to form more exalted notions of the power and majesty of God; but the effect proves how utterly ineffectual are all means of instruction, until the thick darkness which broods over the human mind is dissipated by the power of the Holy Ghost. The reverence which should have been excited in the minds of the savages, by their increased apprehensions of the power and majesty of God, terminated in a little hypocritical respect to his ministers,-a respect not less base in its motive than its character,―originating in fear, and directed to a wrong object, a fellow-worm. The reader is requested to bear all these proofs of the utter inefficiency of the best devised means of instruction for the enlightening of the human soul, in order that the grace of Christ may have the full glory of the wondrous change afterwards produced in the hearts of numbers of these degraded savages.

Although Mr. Egede's hopes of seeing a congregation collected from among the adult Greenlanders were so often blighted, he was still encouraged by the expectation, that some fruit might be gathered unto eternal life from among the children and young people ; yet here also he ran great risk of disappointment, on account of the continual rovings of the Greenlanders,

which deprived him of the opportunity of giving their children regular instruction.

In the year 1728, we find the Danish Government making a vigorous effort, not only to uphold the commerce and Mission in Greenland, but to extend them, and plant abiding colonies for the cultivation of the land. Four vessels, one of which was a man of war, were despatched to Greenland: they brought materials for erecting a fort and new colony, with cannon and ammunition, and a sufficient garrison, which was ordered to afford protection, both to the trade, and also to such Greenlanders as desired protection from the depradations of marauders. A considerable number of married pairs were sent over from Copenhagen, consisting of masons, carpenters, and mechanics of all descriptions, some of whom adventured voluntarily others were taken out of the house of correction, married, and sent over to cultivate the country. The officers brought horses with them, to ride over the mountains, reconnoitre the country, and, if possible, discover lost Greenland; and one of the ships was ordered to make another attempt to land on the east coast.

By these ships Mr. Olaus Lange and Mr. Henry Milzong arrived, as Missionaries to assist Mr. Egede in his labours. On the return of the vessels, Mr. Egede's eldest son went to Copenhagen, to pursue his studies; with him went Poek and his wife, now named Christian and Christiana; and two Greenland boys and a girl, who had just before made confession of their faith, and had been baptized.

But all these preparations, which were calculated, in the estimation of man, to effect great things, proved abortive; and, if Mr. Egede or his colleagues had placed any confidence in them, they soon painfully realized the words of the prophet in their own experience. 66 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach." Isa. xxx. 5.

Soon after the Colony had received this accession to its numbers, a contagious disorder broke out among the newly arrived Europeans, the most useful workmen were speedily carried off, and the cattle also died for want of proper attendance; to aggravate their misfor

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tunes, most of the new-comers, as soon as they discovered that Greenland afforded them little opportunity of sensual indulgence, grew discontented and fretful. At last a mutiny arose among the soldiers, which threatened the lives both of the Governor and Missionaries, for they considered the latter as the authors of their banishment. Mr. Egede was therefore obliged to use a guard, and he who could before sleep unmolested in the tents of the savages, was now forced to surround his bed with armed men, as a security against the violence of men, who called themselves Christians.

As the Greenlanders had been much alarmed at seeing the Colony augmented by such a formidable accession of foreigners, especially of military men, whom they dreaded exceedingly, they rejoiced at the ravages which this destructive disorder made daily among them, and they attributed this mortality to the incantations of a famous Angekok, who had promised to destroy all the Kablunaks by magic; but when the people saw that some survived, and particularly the Minister, whom they looked upon to be the proper lord of the Europeans, most of them left this part of the coast, and removed to Disko Bay.

Such was the effect of the introduction of armed men, and the building of fortresses; the welfare of the Mission was hindered, and not promoted by them, the weapons of the Christian warfare are not carnal; Christ's kingdom is to be established, "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."

But the spring which set all these projects in motion was suddenly removed, by the death of Frederic IV. For when the government under Christian VI. saw no means, by which the sums expended upon Greenland for a series of years, could be reimbursed by the colonies, and that little success attended the endeavours used to convert the heathen, a royal mandate was transmitted by the ship in 1731, that all the colonists should return to Denmark. It was indeed left to Mr. Egede's option, whether he would return with the rest, or remain in the country. In case he remained, he might keep as many people as were willing to stop with him, and provisions to last for a year, but he was expressly told, that he had no farther assistance to expect.

Under such uncertain circumstances, no one at first could be persuaded to stay with this intrepid man; and he saw himself on the point of abandoning, with a heavy heart, after ten years' toil, a country to which he had worked his way with such persevering zeal, and where he had baptized 150 children,* who must now be deserted. The ship, however, proved too small to carry away all the stock; and, as whatever was left behind would have fallen a prey to the Greenlanders, or to the foreign sailors, Mr. Egede's remonstrances effected so much, that ten sailors and a year's provisions were left behind, on his binding himself to repay the officers for any loss to which they might be exposed by this concession: so determined was he in the prosecution of his great object, that even he undertook to carry on the trade at his own hazard, by means of his second son; and, in case his earnest request for the return of the ship on the following year should not be complied with, he engaged to send home the merchandize to its proper destination by such foreign vessels as might visit the coast.

Thus resolute was this zealous servant of God in carrying on a work, begun in faith among the faithlessThough he had hitherto seen so little fruit of his labours and privations, he could not be prevailed upon to leave a country, to which, he believed that God, who is the guide of His people, had led him. And his constancy is the more wonderful, when we consider not only the probable prospect of his being wholly abandoned by his countrymen, but also the declining state of his health, which had been broken by a continued series of labours, vexations and anxieties. This fortitude was not his own, but the gift of that God who had yet a work for his servant to perform, for it will be seen in the sequel of this history, that Mr. Egede not only opened the way for those labourers in the Gospel who succeeded him in Greenland, but also that he personally contributed to their support, and by his knowledge of the Greenland

Mr. Egede with the consent of his colleagues, thought fit to baptize the children of these heathen, provided, among other conditions, their parents would bind themselves to allow them to be instructed by the Missionaries.

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language, rendered them important service in qualifying them for their work among the heathen. Notwithstanding, therefore, the fruitlessness of Mr. Hans Egede's personal ministry among the Greenlanders, his name must ever hold the highest place among the spiritual benefactors of that people. He may be justly styled the apostle of the North, and children yet unborn will reverence his name as standing high among that glorious company, who by the grace of God have been called and chosen to "build the old wastes, to raise up the former desolations, to repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations."