CHURCH HISTORY

Chapter 79

The Mission in Greenland and Labrador

(Continuation)

Egede now decided to consecrate himself and all of his time to the welfare of the Eskimos. They showed much more interest in hunting and fishing, however, than in the Word of God. When Egede would start to preach they would laugh at him, or would interrupt him in his discourse by saying, “We all know that already, tell us something new.” Finally Egede took two orphan boys into his home again with the intention of instructing them. One of them died after a short time; the other boy showed much interest in the instruction and began to seek the Lord earnestly. In the year 1725 he could be accepted in the Christian congregation by confession and baptism.

Egede rejoiced over this fruit upon his labors, but soon he experienced a new trial. The Danish merchants decided to abandon the commercial enterprise. The king continued to support the mission and sent other emigrants to populate the colony, but these new colonists behaved so badly that Egede often had much difficulty in keeping order among them. Their bad example also had a harmful effect upon the Eskimos. But this was not the worst; in the year 1731 Egede received the tidings from Denmark that the king had died and that his successor, Christian IV, planned to give up the mission. The king sent a message to Egede informing him that he would send him provisions for one more year, but no longer.

Egede was very much cast down at this tiding; he could not think about leaving the land in which he had labored so zealously. Though he had hitherto not seen much fruit upon his labors, still he wished to continue in the strength of the Lord. He also had not given up hope that better days would yet arrive for Greenland. Some parents had recently allowed him to baptize their children and promised to let him instruct them in the principles of God’s Word. He yet hoped to see some fruits from that instruction. The Greenlanders also now began to show that they were attached to him. When he spoke about having to leave them after a year, their answer was, “Oh, if you don’t have anything to eat any more, then we will still have birds and fish to support you.” Some even began to listen with much interest when Egede preached the Word of God in their midst, and gave him to understand that it was their desire to be baptized.

Because of all these reasons Egede could only think with grief about giving up the mission -work among these blind people; but again it was evident that God’s way differs from the ways of men. A ship came from Denmark with the tiding that the king had changed his mind and that he would continue to support the mission. With that same ship two Moravian missionaries arrived, Matthew Stach and Frederick Bohnish, who were very anxious to be engaged in the mis-mission work in Greenland. It was a cause of great joy for Egede that, instead of having to abandon the mission, the work could not proceed with new energy and strength.

The Moravians established themselves a certain distance away from Godthaab and called their settlement New Moravia. Egede and his children helped them as much as possible. Shortly after this the Lord visited the people with the terrible disease of smallpox. This disease was yet unknown in Greenland. The Eskimos were desperate. Egede and the Moravians did all they possibly could for them. They took the sick into their own homes so that they could give them better care. Most of those that were attacked by the disease died. Nearly 3,000 people succumbed to the disease. Egede’s own health had suffered greatly through all this care and misery. Therefore he decided to return to Denmark in order that his strength might be restored. Before he could do so, however, his wife became sick and died. This trial was such a blow for him that he had no courage left. On June 29, 1736 he preached his farewell sermon about the words, “Then I said, I have labored in vain,” Isa. 49:4.

The work of Egede, however, was not without any fruit, although he also had to experience the truth of the Word of the Lord, “One soweth, and another reapeth.” He had to till the ground amongst the people so that in later time the seed of the Word could take root under the blessing of God.

Although the other missionaries in Greenland also had to experience many disappointments after Egede’s departure, finally a longing for the Word of God was clearly seen among the Eskimos. At one occasion, when one of the missionaries had been telling the people about the suffering and death of the Savior, one of the Eskimos even came up to him and said, “Oh, tell me about that again!” The name of this man was Kajarnak, and he showed in his walk and conversation that he was seeking the Lord in uprightness of heart. His conversion made a deep impression upon the other Eskimos, and soon many had a desire to know more about the Word of God and to be baptized. By 1747 the Moravians had already gathered a congregation of 134 members in Greenland.

Thus Egede could yet rejoice that the Lord had heard his prayers for Greenland. He himself never returned to the island, but his son re-mained there to work as a missionary. Upon the recommendation of Egede, a seminary for the training of missionaries was founded in 1736 at Copenhagen, where he yet remained active as an instructor for many years.

Danish and Moravian missionaries are laboring in Greenland yet today. All of the Eskimos who inhabit the western coast of Greenland belong to the Christian organization; only in the northern part do we still find some heathen. Now and then they are brought into contact with the Christians, and the Gospel is also proclaimed to them. Not much exploring has been done along the eastern coast.

The Moravian missionaries tried to establish a mission post in Labrador in the year 1752. Their first attempts were a failure, and the first missionary who visited them was probably murdered. In 1771 the Moravians succeeded in establishing a mission post, which they called Nain, in Labrador. At present there are many Christian congregations in that country, and most of the inhabitants confess to walk according to the precepts of the Bible.

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