200 



MORAVIAN MISSIONS. 



adopted the custom of annually compiling a 

 collection of scripture texts for every day in the 

 year, each illustrated or applied by a short verse 

 from some hymn. This text was called the 

 " daily word/' it supplied a profitable subject 

 for private meditation, and a theme for the pub- 

 lic discourses. The daily word on the morning 

 of their embarkation on a mission which so often 

 appeared to baffle all hope, was, c Faith is the 

 substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 

 things not seen.'' 



" We view Him, whom no eye can see, 

 With faith's keen vision stedfastly." 



In this confidence they set sail ; nor did they 

 suffer themselves to be confounded by any of 

 the unspeakable difficulties of the following 

 years, till they and we at last beheld the com- 

 pletion of what they hoped for in faith. 



They sailed by Shetland, April 22nd; and, 

 after an expeditious and agreeable voyage, en- 

 tered Davis's Straits in the beginning of May. 

 Here they encountered a field of floating ice, 

 while enveloped in a thick fog ; but the next 

 day a terrible storm arose, which dispersed the 

 ice and freed them at the same time from their 

 fears. On the 13th they came in sight of the 

 coast of Greenland, when a violent tempest of 



