Chapter 15

Mutual affection of the Christian Esquimaux and Greenlanders--their correspondence--letter from Timothy, a baptized Greenlander.--Delight of the Esquimaux in religious exercises.--Order of the congregations--distressing events, apostasy of Kapik--awful end of Jacob--peaceful death of believers--Judith, Joanna.--Revival among the communicants.--A feast by a Christian brother, to the Esquimaux.--Winter arrangements.--Childrens' meetings--schools.--The brethren's settlements contrasted with the heathen.--Progress of religion at the different stations.--Books printed in the Esquimaux language.--Number of the settled Esquimaux.--Epidemic at Nain--its consequences.--General view of the mission.

Love to all the members of the body of Christ, is the visible token of the vitality and truth of a Christian profession; and as it rises or falls, the progress of an individual or a community waxes or wanes. At this period, the converted Esquimaux felt a lively interest, not only in their countrymen, but likewise in their fellow-Christians in Greenland; the affection was reciprocal, and though they had never seen each other in the flesh, they rejoiced over each other's welfare, and communicated their feelings in affectionate letters. Jonathan had dictated an epistle to the baptized Greenlanders, in 1799; the annexed was from the Christian Greenlander, Timothy, an assistant at Lichtenfels, in return. "My beloved, ye who live just opposite us, on the other side of the great water!--You have the same mode of living that we have; you go out in your kaiaks as we do; you have the same method of procuring your livelihood as we have; our Saviour has given you teachers, as he has given us: be thankful to him that they make known to you his precious words, and all his deeds, which are full of life and happiness. I have, from my earliest infancy, been instructed in this blessed doctrine, for I have grown up in the congregation. When you read this, you may very likely think that I have always lived to the joy of our Saviour; but, alas, I have been, particularly in my youth, very often ungrateful towards him who died for me. But when this was the case, I was never happy, and I found no rest for my soul, until I cast myself at the feet of Jesus, and implored his forgiveness; and even now I can do nothing else, when I am distressed about myself and my great sinfulness. When I am in my kaiak procuring provisions, or on other occasions alone, and I call to mind that my Saviour was for my sake nailed to the cross, and suffered for my sins, which are numberless, I acknowledge myself the chief of sinners; I then pray to our Saviour with deep abasement, and often with loud weeping. At such times I feel that he draws nigh, and fills my heart with such comfort that I am quite melted by his love. This is also the reason why I make our Saviour my most important object; I cleave to him as a child does to its mother, and I will never turn away from Him. Nothing is more profitable to me than the contemplation of his sufferings. Of this alone I speak to my fellow-men.

"My dear brethren and sisters, I must still tell you that I have been four times in danger of my life when running in my kaiak, for so often have I been overset when I was quite alone. When almost suffocated in the water, I prayed to our Saviour for deliverance. Each time I raised myself up by means of the bladder, but it was God my Saviour who saved me from these dangers. In him alone I trust, and provide for myself, my wife and children with pleasure. Although, as long as I am upon earth I shall feel my weakness and corruption, yet I go with it all to our Saviour, as a child does for help to its parent. I pray thus: 'O! my Jesus! thou lover of my soul, let me feel thy nearness, impress thy sufferings and death upon my heart, melt it and make it tender through the power of thy blood, and according to thy good pleasure, make me well-pleasing unto thee. Thou hast bought me with thy blood, that I might be saved; throughout my whole life will I rely upon thee, my God and Redeemer! I will place thee before my heart, as thou for my sake in agony and sore distress in the garden of Gethsemane wast weighed down to the ground with my guilt, until sweat mixed with blood, forced itself through thy body, and fell in great drops to the ground.' At such times my heart grows warm, and my eyes overflow. This alone is able to soften our hard hearts--this I experience, and your hearts cannot be subdued and softened by any thing else. You must go to Jesus' cross, for there is no other way to happiness.--Take these my imperfect words to heart, which I write out of love to you, as a people related to us. Your Jonathan's words which he caused to be written to us, we have received to our joy; we have not forgotten them. It is very pleasing to hear such accounts. O that we all, as one people, might put in practice what our Saviour has commanded in his word, love him above all things, give him joy by our conduct, and never again cause him grief. I write to encourage the heathen in your country, of whom there are still many, to be converted to the Creator. Let them hear much of his incarnation, sufferings, and death, and relate it to them when you are with them. Remember us also, and pray for us to our Saviour. We will also pray for you, and when we do this we shall also reap those blessings which our Saviour has promised to those who pray to Him.--I am your brother, TIMOTHY."

Diligence in the improvement of the means of grace, particularly in not forsaking the assembling of themselves together, is another evidence of the reality and health of the Christian life in any community: this awakening bore that stamp also of the genuineness of its nature; and from the frequency of their meetings, which were punctually and cheerfully attended by the people, some idea may be formed of the hungering and thirsting after divine things which marked the Esquimaux congregations. The order of the different meetings of the congregation at Hopedale during winter--and in the other settlements it was pretty much the same--was as follows:--Sunday. Public service in the fore and afternoon. In the morning the Litany was read. The children then met. After the afternoon's service the communicants sung a liturgical hymn, or the candidates for the Lord's supper held a meeting for instruction.--Monday Evening. All the baptized had a meeting, when a suitable discourse was delivered to them. After a short pause, a singing-meeting was held.--This is a service peculiar to the brethren's church, in which some doctrinal subject, commonly that contained in the Scripture-text appointed for the day, is contemplated by singing verses or hymns relating to it, so as in their connection to form, as it were, a homily on the text, according to the words of the Apostle, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs."--Tuesday Evening: A public meeting, with a discourse.--Wednesday Morning. The children had a meeting, the one Wednesday for all the children, and the next, for the baptized only. On the evening, there was a public service, when a portion of the harmony of the four Evangelists was read and explained.--Thursday Evening: The same.--Friday. Both the baptized and the candidates for baptism met, where, after a discourse on the text, a hymn treating of the Saviour's passion was sung.--On Saturday there was no service in the church. Besides these meetings, the believing Esquimaux had the worship of God regularly morning and evening in their own houses. But the crowning sheaf in this harvest of mercy, was the permanence of the awakening; the impressions were lasting, not like a momentary blaze occasioned by some temporary excitement, but a pure and steady flame, which in a majority increased in brightness, till it was lost in glory.

Lovely however, and heart-cheering as this delightful period was, it is not to be imagined that it was a period of unmingled joy; there were several instances in which strong and violent emotions were succeeded by coldness, formality, and hypocrisy, and in some cases by open apostasy, or by unequivocal marks of reprobation. The most remarkable were Kapik and Jacob; the former had been baptized by the name of Thomas, and his declarations breathed, or seemed to breathe, the very essence of a more than ordinary spirituality. "I have no other desire," said he upon one occasion to the missionaries, "but Jesus my Saviour, who has had mercy even upon me, the very worst of men; and I pray, that I may now give him joy, and cleave to him to the end. Alas! alas! that I have known him so late! Formerly I could not believe one word of what your predecessors and yourselves told us of Jesus, and of the necessity of believing on him, and becoming his property. I only laughed, and mocked, and gave pain and trouble to my teachers. But how is this? I now believe it all, and our Saviour has so powerfully drawn my heart towards himself, that I can find no words to describe what I feel." By this and similar speeches he so far imposed upon the brethren, that they believed him a humble follower of the good Shepherd, and a true child of God.

But being attacked, autumn 1806, by a malignant disorder somewhat resembling the smallpox and measles, which raged in the settlement, the severe pain he suffered from the virulence of the disorder, as the irruption in his face struck inward, and assuming a cancerous form destroyed his upper jaw bone, he became impatient, forsook his professions of confidence in the Saviour, and sought for help in heathenish practices, and if he had had opportunity would have proceeded to greater lengths in these abominations, than ever before. His behaviour in his family too, had become very oppressive, and all the kind exhortations, as well as the serious remonstrances of the missionaries, produced no effect; even after he recovered, he remained quite hardened. He some years afterwards professed sincere repentance, but his artifice had been so deep before, that the missionaries could only say, that nothing was impossible to God.

Jacob came first to the brethren at Nain. He was in the beginning apparently very earnest in seeking his soul's salvation and was baptized in 1801. But he afterwards fell into temptation, and again took refuge in his old practices, playing at the same time the part of a most consummate hypocrite: being discovered, he was excluded; yet when his health began to decline, the missionaries waited upon him, and as they saw him drawing apparently near his end, were the more earnest in exhorting him to turn to Jesus, who alone could deliver him from the bondage of sin and Satan. For some time he seemed to attend to their advice, but his last days and final exit out of the world, gave sufficient proof that his heart was untouched. As his pains increased, his impatience increased with them. He demanded with violent cries that a knife might be given him to stab himself, which being refused, he called for a rope, and persisted with such vehemence that his wife and son, wearied out by his constant shrieking, gave him one, with which he put an end to his own existence. Lamentable as these awful examples of the deceitfulness and depravity of the human heart were, yet they operated more powerfully than many exhortations, in inculcating upon the baptized the solemn warning, "Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall."

At the same time there wanted not instances of an opposite description, to prove the reality of God's work, and the power of divine grace, to recall and establish the deluded wanderer, and to preserve the humble believer amid the strongest temptations and the sorest trials; to enable him to maintain a consistent conduct through life, and to seal the sincerity of his faith by a peaceful, if not a triumphant death. Early in the year, Judith, a full communicant, died. She had come to Hopedale with her husband, Tuglavina, and always conducted herself with great propriety. After his death she married Abel in 1801, and with him came to live at Hopedale, 1804. When the awakening took place she was greatly enlivened; but like many of the old baptized people, who thought themselves converted because they had some knowledge, and a fluent way of expressing themselves on religious subjects, she did not at first shew much of the Divine life in her soul; till by the powerful work of the Holy Ghost she was brought to see and acknowledge herself an unworthy sinner, and no better than those who were just then alarmed and brought from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan to the living God. Before partaking for the last time of the Lord's supper, she was much affected. "I perceive now," said she, "that I am a great sinner, and am so ashamed that I dare hardly open my lips, for it is clear to me that I am far behind others in love to our Saviour. It appears as if he and I were yet strangers to each other, and I can do nothing but weep for him." Afterwards she became composed, and earnestly longed after communion with God. In her last illness, however, she showed much uneasiness of mind, as if something disturbed her peaceful expectation of dismissal. Brother Kohlmeister, who visited her very faithfully, encouraged her to look up to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; and on one occasion, particularly, offered up a most fervent prayer to the Lord that he would remove all her doubts by a full assurance that her sins were forgiven through the merits of his precious blood, during which the poor patient and all present melted into tears, and felt that their prayer was heard and answered. Then she unbosomed herself to her teachers, and confessed that she had hitherto concealed some deviations which burdened her conscience, and which she must make known before she departed. Having done so, she declared her firm trust that God her Saviour would wash away all her sins and remember them no more; after which she exclaimed, "Now I am ready, and will go to Jesus. He will receive me in mercy just as I am, for he has died for me." She now lay still in the joyful hope of being soon released. Both the missionaries' wives and Esquimaux sisters visited her frequently, to whom she declared the happiness of her soul; and on the night previous to her departure, conversed in a most edifying manner with those that watched with her of the near prospect she had of seeing her Saviour face to face. She requested her husband to bring her clean white dress, which she always wore at the Lord's supper, and to dress her in it after her decease. Her two youngest children she earnestly recommended to his care, and that they might be instructed in the ways of the Lord; and sent a message as her last will, to the two eldest who live at Nain, that they should remain with the congregation, and devote their whole hearts to Jesus. When the sisters took leave of her with a kiss, she exclaimed with joy in her countenance, "I shall now go to Jesus and kiss his feet, adoring him for all his love to me, and that he has redeemed me also, a vile sinner, and called me to eternal life."

Joanna, who died in child-bed, was another example of the faithfulness and rich mercy of the Redeemer; in the autumn, a wild ignorant savage, she came to the settlement with her husband Aulak, and when asked what was her intention in coming--if she wished to be converted? answered, "That's more than I know. I follow my husband, and as he chooses to live here, I will live here too!" But soon after she learned to know what true conversion of heart means, and would not be satisfied with any thing of a superficial nature. "She cried to the Lord for mercy, and obtained," says the diary, "real saving faith; it was surprising to observe how well she comprehended the meaning of the gospel, and in how clear a light the mystery of the cross of Christ was revealed to her soul, insomuch that she could apply to herself the sufferings of Jesus, as meritorious and allsufficient for the remission of sin, and the sanctification of soul and body. She adored the crucified Jesus in truth, as her Redeemer, and nothing was so delightful to her, as to hear of him, and all he had done and suffered, to save her from sin and destruction. She sought him with earnestness, and found rest for her soul in his sufferings and death. Her whole walk and conversation, from the time she joined the church, testified of the new birth which had taken place within her, and of a total change of heart and sentiment. Immediately after her delivery, there appeared symptoms of inward inflammation. She lay still and resigned to the will of the Lord, and seemed to take no more notice of any thing that was said; but towards morning, raising herself up in the bed, she exclaimed, 'Jesus is coming, and I am ready to meet him; a very short time will bring me to him. Jesus' bleeding love is not cold toward those who are longing for him.' So composed was she, that, observing the place dark, she desired them to 'trim the lamps, and make the room light and pleasant,' and when the company present proposed to join in a hymn, but could not immediately remember a suitable one, she herself pointed out that hymn of praise, 'Unto the Lamb of God,' at page 92. of the Hymn book. After it was ended, she fainted, and sunk down upon the bed; her sight and hearing failed, and she fell gently asleep in Jesus." During her short Christian career, she had become universally beloved; and the happy manner in which she left the world, made a deep impression upon the minds of the Esquimaux, "stronger," say the missionaries, "than all our words could do."

Previously to the administration of the Lord's Supper, the missionaries usually have some conversation with the communicants, and at this time they were greatly refreshed by their simple, artless declarations. One said, "I am struck with astonishment when I reflect that Jesus can, and does receive such abominable creatures as I am. Indeed I am one of the worst, but his love is infinite. He bled and died for me, that I might be saved. Oh! how often have I crucified him afresh by my sins, and bid defiance to his mercy. But now he has forgiven me, and granted me to hunger and thirst after him. I pray to him continually that he would not forsake me, for I can do nothing of myself as I ought. The holy communion is, every time that I enjoy it, more valuable to me, because I feel the power of my Saviour's death, more than I can express in words." Another: "I have now only one object, and that is Jesus; may I never more part with him. Since I have had the favour to partake of his holy body and blood in the Sacrament, I continually cry to him to keep me under his direction, and to preserve me from the evil one, for I am indeed weak. He alone is my strength and refuge."

A peculiar blessing also attended the administration of the ordinance, not only to those who partook, but to those, likewise, who were permitted to be spectators. At Nain, in the month of February, when that holy feast was celebrated, three Esquimaux, Joseph, Lydia, and Kitura, were present as candidates, and Sarah with a view to confirmation; the three women were so much affected that they cried and sobbed aloud, and after the service was concluded were so overpowered that they could hardly stand, and still continued weeping. Being brought into the mission-house, when they recovered themselves they said they were so overcome by a sense of the presence of the Lord Jesus, that they knew not where they were nor what they did. They wept on account of their unworthiness, and would now give their whole hearts to him who died for them. On the following day Sarah came, and brought all the metal rings with which she had decorated her fingers after the Esquimaux fashion, and wished to part with them, and assigned as her reason, that she wished to delight herself in nothing now but Jesus. Lydia, Louisa, and others followed, and brought their pearl ornaments to dispose of, as they thought it improper for Christian women to be gaudily decked out in costly pearls; and this they did spontaneously, without being spoken to by the missionaries, who never begin with finding fault with the dress or ornaments of inquirers.

Before the Esquimaux set out for their fishing or hunting stations, the members of the church usually partook of a love feast together, and united in thanksgiving and prayer for the mercies they had received, and for the continuance of the Divine blessing. Siksigak, now named Mark, and Joseph, at their return, having been remarkably successful, treated all the inhabitants of Nain with a meal of seals' flesh. The entertainment was given in the open air, and Mark opened it in an edifying manner by singing some verses of a hymn expressive of thanks to their heavenly Father, for providing for their bodily wants, in which all the Esquimaux joined most devoutly, exhibiting a very different scene from the riotous gluttony of the heathen.

After the people reassembled at the end of the season, the winter arrangements were made. The communicants were divided into classes, male and female, the former under the care of the missionaries, and the latter under that of their wives. In their meetings the conversation was unrestrained and profitable, many little grievances were done away, and brotherly love promoted. "That of the communicant sisters," the diary of Dec 11 remarks, "was remarkably lively; their conversation treated of the great love of the Saviour in dying on the cross to save them from death, and their own unworthiness to be so highly favoured as to be permitted to approach unto his table, and there to feed on him by faith, and to experience the power of his sufferings and death in the quickening of their souls." They added, that upon that occasion they sometimes felt a desire to depart out of the world, to see him face to face, and thank him for his mercy revealed to them. Mark thus addressed his countrymen: "If we who belong to this class are with our whole hearts converted to Jesus, and determine, by his help, to put aside all the old deceitful and evil ways, and give ourselves up entirely to him, then we shall feel his power within us. It has been a very painful thing for me to leave my brethren at Hopedale, but I shall live here with pleasure if I perceive that we are come together with a view to belong to our Saviour, and in truth to believe on him, and to become his faithful followers. I am indeed not fit to teach you, but yet I wished to say what I hope from your love, and our being bound together in one mind, to live unto the praise of God. You all know that formerly I led a very wicked life, but at Hopedale Jesus Christ called me by his powerful voice, saved me from death, and forgave my sins. As my conversion to him began at that place, I feel a peculiar attachment to it." He was heard with great attention, and all exclaimed, "Yes! we all desire to become such people, over whom Jesus may rejoice, and pray him to grant us all true conversion."

The children likewise had their meetings, in which they sung hymns and prayed, during which they were frequently so sensibly affected that they would burst out into weeping. A boy who gave evidence of being truly awakened, called upon the missionaries and told them, "We boys have been sitting together by ourselves and speaking, both of our own sinfulness and of the mercy we have experienced from our Saviour. At the close of our conversation we kneeled down and prayed to him in fellowship, that he would deliver us from all power of sin, during which my heart grew so warm that I felt it penetrate to my feet"--a phrase used by the Esquimaux to express great inward joy. "Jesus," continued he, "was very near us. I will give him my whole heart as his property." The schools were diligently attended, both by young and old, whose improvement in Christian knowledge, and in the facility of reading, advanced steadily, while several among the scholars evinced a strong desire to know Jesus, and live to him. But at Okkak in the following year an unusual emotion appeared among the scholars. One day, while the teachers were closing the schools as usual by singing a verse, there arose such an affection of heart, that all melted into tears, and at last without any direction they all fell on their knees. The missionary, therefore, who was keeping the school knelt down also, and was powerfully excited to fervent prayer for these dear little ones, commending them to the grace of the Saviour, that he would preserve them from the many snares of Satan, and sanctify and build them up in the faith. Some of the more advanced youths gave the missionaries much pleasure by their simplicity and frankness in speaking of their hearts; two of them--companions--conversing with one of the brethren, said, "When we are out together hunting we speak of Jesus and pray to him, and often feel such power and happiness in thinking of him that we weep for joy. But how is it that we have so long heard of him, and he is but just now become precious to us?" They could not explain the phenomenon; but they felt that a long train of historical proof, or of external evidence, was unnecessary to establish the authenticity of the gospel-message. "How is it," added one of them, "that formerly I used to think--It is all fiction! There is no Jesus! And now I know in truth that Jesus lives and loves me, and sometimes draws so near to me that I weep for gratitude and delight. To him I will give myself both soul and body."

In the back ground, at the distance, stand out in horrible and melancholy contrast the effects of satanic influence on the conduct of his votaries. The wife of the old sorcerer, Uiverunna, having died, the old monster seized a poor orphan child, whom they had formerly adopted, and murdered him; then cut him across all the joints of his fingers and toes, ripped open his belly, and threw the body naked into the sea, an offering to appease the wrath of the water-devil he worshipped, and by whose aid he pretended to work great wonders, but who now required a greater sacrifice than usual, as he had not saved his wife's life. But his day of retribution did not long linger. Having boasted that his Torngak had killed a man, Kullugak's two wives, who died suddenly within a few hours of each other at Okkak, where the family had obtained leave to settle, Kullugak, in company with another Esquimaux, assassinated the poor wretch within eight days after he had sacrificed the unfortunate infant.

For several succeeding years the progress of the awakening continued to advance at all the three settlements, both among the heathen by whom they were visited, and among the residents, while the believers grew in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord their Saviour; and the decided nature of the change which had taken place was evidenced by the professing Esquimaux declining their pernicious intercourse with the Europeans, while their heathen countrymen, who were determined to retain the abominations of their forefathers, were as unwilling to reside among them; so much so, indeed, that the missionaries at Hopedale, writing to Europe in 1807, remarked, "No heathen families have lived near us, and it appears as if that old den of Satan at Avertok would remain unoccupied. Three Europeans lived about half a day's journey from hence, but as none of our Esquimaux went to them they did not call here." The report of the brethren in 1809 was: "Concerning our dear Esquimaux congregation, we may truly and thankfully declare that we have perceived a continued work of the Holy Spirit within their souls, leading them to a better acquaintance with themselves as depraved creatures, who stand in daily need of the saving grace of our Almighty Saviour. They are earnest in prayer to him that he would preserve them from falling back into their former wicked and superstitious courses." The accounts from Nain were to the same effect: "Our communicants," say they, "have made a perceptible advance both in the knowledge of themselves as sinners, and of Jesus as their Saviour. They have been taught to know how needful constant dependance on, and communion with him is, if they would walk worthy of their heavenly calling." It is a melancholy and stumbling remark, that as the converted Esquimaux advanced in knowledge and in decency of conduct, so in proportion those who formed an intimate connexion with the Europeans in the south increased in enmity to the word of God, and to the Saviour's name in particular, declaring they would hear or listen to nothing about him.

Oral instruction has, from the beginning, been the principal, and most efficient means, which God has employed in propagating the gospel; but the written word has been always necessary for establishing and building up the churches in their most holy faith. Never did Satan employ a more effectual method for covering the earth with thick darkness, than by instigating his servants, under pretence of a high reverence for the holy word, to shut it up from the people; and when God wills mercy to a nation, he removes all the hindrances which obstruct its diffusion. As the Esquimaux advanced in their course, they were furnished, by means of the press, with portions of the Scriptures as they could be got translated. The brethren, however, wisely prepared the way for this important work, by translating hymns and tracts, and a harmony of the Gospels, where any deficiency in the language could be more easily rectified than in a book, destined to be left as a permanent legacy to future generations. The joy of the Esquimaux on receiving the hymn books in 1809, was inexpressibly great. "We wish," the missionaries write, "our dear brethren had been present at the distribution, to see the fervent gratitude with which they were received. They entreated us, with tears, to express their thankfulness to their fathers and brethren in the east, for this present." In 1810, they received the Harmony of the Gospels, also printed by the Brethren's Society in London for the furtherance of the Gospel, and the Gospel of John and part of Luke, printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who undertook to print the other parts as they could be got ready. Meanwhile the superintendant, Burghardt, finished the translation of the Acts, and the epistles to the Romans and Ephesians, which were read from the MS to the Esquimaux congregation, who were highly delighted to hear the words and exhortations of our Saviour's apostles, and particularly struck with the character and writings of the apostle Paul. Along with their activity in the Christian life, the activity of the converted Esquimaux, in their temporal concerns, increased. The missionaries in the different settlements had erected saw mills; the Esquimaux, under their direction, kept them frequently in employment, and built substantial store-houses for themselves, for preserving their winter's stores; and when the scarcity of food in their own neighbourhood obliged them to go to a distance in search of seals or whales, or to the cod-fishing, their anxiety to return, to enjoy the benefits of instruction from their teachers, and of communion with their fellow-Christians, quickened their diligence in their necessary avocations. At the close of 1810, the number of the inhabitants at the three settlements amounted to 457, of whom 265 belonged to the different classes of communicants, baptized and candidates for baptism.

Hitherto the settlements, though occasionally visited by the contagious diseases that periodically afflicted the country, had never known more than a partial sickness; but in 1811, the small society at Hopedale suffered severely from an epidemic, which, so far as we are able to judge from the symptoms mentioned in the diary, quoted below, bore some distant resemblance to the spasmodic cholera. "On the evening of the 24th of July, we were all suddenly thrown into the greatest confusion, by the arrival of a boat, with our people, from Tikkerarsuk, one of their provision-places in the south: Mark--formerly Siksigak--was dead, and several others dangerously