580 



MISSIONS. 



Sierra 

 Leone. 



Missions, that the inhabitants of Africa should cling to that as a 

 **" "Y"*' blessing, which we had abolished as her greatest curse ; 

 but the fact is, the slave trade had, from time immemo- 

 rial, been the main support of the country, and the re- 

 moval of the slave factories stopped the whole trade of 

 the natives, which could not fail to be felt as a serious 

 evil, until some other profitable traffic was established. 

 Hence they hailed the appearance of a smuggling ves- 

 sel on their shores, and, on a short notice, supplied her 

 with a cargo of slaves in exchange for tobacco and pow- 

 der and rum, which quickly spread idleness, disorder, 

 and misery through the whole country. The governor 

 of Sierra Leone having sent armed vessels to destroy 

 the slave factories, and to capture the smuggling ships, 

 the Susoos became extremely exasperated against the 

 missionaries, imagining it was they who communicated 

 information to him of the arrival of smugglers on the 

 river, though they in fact scrupulously avoided inter- 

 fering in matters of this description. The two settle- 

 ments which the missionaries had established in the 

 country were burnt to the ground ; and the enmity to 

 them became at length so general and so violent, that in 

 1818 they retired with a considerable number of the 

 children to Sierra Leone. A similar establishment, 

 which was formed on the Bullom shore, was also aban- 

 doned, chiefly in consequence of the pernicious influ- 

 ence of the slave trade. 



But while the slave trade has unhappily blasted the 

 prospects of the Church .Missionary Society in the Su- 

 soo country, and on the Bullom shore, it has opened 

 to them a wide and important field of usefulness in the 

 colony of Sierra Leone. After the abolition of this in- 

 iquitous traffic, multitudes of negroes, captured in 

 smuggling vessels, were brought to Freetown, and, as 

 they were in a most wretched forlorn condition, they 

 were settled in towns in different parts of the colony, 

 and were supplied with food and clothing at the ex- 

 pense of government, until they were able to maintain 

 themselves. In the principal of these towns the Church 

 Society established missionaries and schoolmasters, who 

 are proceeding in their labours with every prospect of 

 success. In January 1819 the number of adults and 

 children attending the schools in Sierra Leone was no 

 fewer than 2 1 04. 



' n 1 " 2 1> Mr. Hans Egede, a Norwegian clergyman, 

 proceeded to Greenland, with the view of attempting 

 the conversion of the inhabitants to the Christian faith. 

 There, amidst numberless difficulties, and hardships, 

 and dangers, he laboured with unwearied patience and 

 perseverance, but with little appearance of success. 

 Though theGreenlanders often listened to him with won- 

 derful attention, and approved of all he said, it was evi- 

 dent they understood little of his instructions. It is 

 worthy of notice, however, that the immortality of man 

 was a favourite doctrine with them. It pleased them 

 to hear that the spirit did not die with the body ; that 

 the body itself would be restored to life at the last day ; 

 that friends would meet together in another and a bet- 

 ter world ; and that they would be no more subject 

 to sickness and sorrow. In Greenland, the Danish go- 

 vernment afterwards established a number of other co- 

 lonies, (See Art. GREENLAND,) and in the principal of 

 them supported missionaries. Many of the Greenlanders 

 have now embraced the Christian faith, and its benefi- 

 cial influence is obvious in promoting civilization among 

 them : there is a marked difference between their 

 manners and customs and those of their pagan country- 

 men. 



NORTH 



AMERICA, 



Greenland, 



In 1733, Christian David, Matthew Stach, and 

 Christian Stach, three of the Moravian Brethren, pro 

 ceeded on a mission to this cold inhospitable country. 

 " There was no need," says one of them, " of much 

 time or expense for our equipment. The congregation 

 consisted chiefly of poor exiles, who had not much to 

 give us, and we ourselves had nothing but the clothes 

 on our backs." No description can equal the difficul- 

 ties, and dangers, and hardships which the Brethren 

 had to encounter, especially during the first years of 

 their residence in that dreary region. By the Green- 

 landers they were treated with all the caprice common 

 to savages. Sometimes they appeared very friendly to 

 them ; at other times they behaved with the greatest 

 rudeness. If the missionaries stopped with them more 

 than one night, they employed every kind of art to 

 entice them to their wanton dissolute practices ; and 

 when they failed in this, they endeavoured to weary 

 and provoke them, by mocking and mimicking their 

 reading, singing, and praying, or by accompanying 

 these sacred exercises with their hideous howling, or 

 the beat of their drums. All this, and much more, the 

 Brethren bore with patience, meekness, and serenity ; 

 but the savages, instead of being softened by their gen- 

 tle behaviour, were only encouraged to abuse them the 

 more. They pelted them with stones, climbed on their 

 shoulders, seized their goods, and shattered them to 

 pieces : they even attempted to spoil their boat, or to 

 drive it out to sea, which would have deprived them of 

 their principal means of subsistence. Cheerless, how- 

 ever, as were the prospects of the Brethren for several 

 years, they at length beheld their labours crowned with 

 remarkable success. 



" Fired with a zeal peculiar they defy 



The rage and rigour of a polar sky ; 



And plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose 



On icy plains, amid eternal snows." COWPER. 



In January 1816, the number of baptized Green- 

 landers connected with the three settlements which the 

 Brethren have established in Greenland, was as fol- 

 lows : 



Begun 



1733, New Herrnhuth, 359 

 1758, Lichtenfels, 306 



1774, Lichtenau, 487 



Total 



1152 



To some these numbers may appear inconsiderable, 

 but let it be remembered they constitute a large pro- 

 portion of the Greenland nation. The population of 

 this unhospitable country is said not to exceed six or 

 seven thousand; so that if this estimate be correct, 

 the Christian converts under the care of the brethren 

 form about one-sixth of the whole inhabitants of the 

 country. Such indeed has been their success, that in 

 the neighbourhood of New Herrnhuth and Lichten- 

 fels, Greenland has for many years past, assumed the 

 aspect of a Christian country. A century ago, not a 

 Christian was to be found in the whole of that unhos- 

 pitable country ; now there are no Pagans in the 

 neighbourhood of these two settlements, except occa- 

 sional visitors. A few years ago only two or' the con- 

 verts at Lichtenfels had relapsed into paganism ; and 

 at New Herrnhuth, the number was nearly the same. 

 This certainly is a very extraordinary fact, and is a 

 striking proof of the strictness of the brethren in the 

 admission of persons to baptism, and of the care with 

 which they afterwards watch over them. 



