indeed are sinners, but we believe the Saviour will show us mercy.”

It now became necessary to build a meeting-house. There was some timber large enough for such a purpose in that immediate part of the coast, though farther north not a tree was to be found. The first candidates for baptism were now set apart. But already the first-fruits of the labours in Labrador of those faithful servants of the Lord had been gathered into His garner. Anauke, once a desperately wicked man, had, during the summer of 1772, been so deeply stirred by the preaching of the cross that he returned on foot in the course of the following winter to spend some days with the missionaries. Early in 1773 his wife came to tell them how Anauke, falling ill, had refused to be visited by the angekoks, or sorcerers of his nation, and had trusted himself only to Jesus, and died with His name on his lips. Anauke was ever after spoken of by his countrymen as "the man whom the Saviour took to Himself."

In 1775 took place the baptism of Kinminjuse, once a noted angekok, who, after an entire change in his character and conduct, wrought by the hearing of God's Word, thus confessed his Christian faith: "He knew not indeed very much about the Saviour, but wished greatly to know Him; and he put his whole confidence in Him, because He truly believed that He only could make him happy in this world, and when his body should die." This event, and the subsequent joy of Kinminjuse, or Peter, as he was now called, and his Christian example and heartfelt exhortations made a deep impression on the congregation of Nain. The religious services were so numerously attended that the new meeting-house could not contain the crowd; the number of the catechumens largely increased. In this same year the untiring Jens Haven formed a second mission-station, one hundred and fifty miles north of Nain, which was named Okak, where the Eskimoes joyfully received the Brethren, and helped them in the erection of their dwelling, for which the wood had to be felled and prepared at Nain. Six adults of the Okak congregation were baptized in 1778; and in the following year it was found necessary to build a spacious meeting-house at that station.

In the winter of 1780, to the joy of the missionaries at Nain, eighty Eskimoes resolved to outstay the winter with their pastors, who could thus watch over them, instruct them methodically, and open a school for their little

ones.

A third station was established in 1782, to the south of Nain, at the earnest entreaty of the natives of that region. It was named Hopedale, in memory of the first brave effort to plant the cross of Christ in Labrador. The three stations were chiefly dependent for intercourse on the mission-ship from London, which yearly visited them in order; but they tried to keep up occasional communication by means of sledge journeys over the rocky land or on the frozen sea. In one such enterprise the Brethren Brasen and Lehman were drowned; and the following incident will give an idea of the perils sometimes encountered in such journeyings along the coast.

"Samuel Liebisch, the first general superintendent of the Moravian Missions in Labrador, was required by the duties of his office to visit Okak, the most northern of our settlements, and about one hundred and fifty English miles distant from Nain, the place where he resided. William Turner being appointed the 11th, 1782, early in the morning, with very to accompany him, they left Nain together on March clear weather, the stars shining with uncommon lustre. The sledge was driven by an Esquimaux, Mark, and another sledge with Esquimaux joined

company.

"An Esquimaux sledge is drawn by a species of dogs not unlike wolves in shape. Like them, they never bark, but howl disagreeably. They are kept by the Esquimaux in smaller or larger packs or teams, quietly submit to be harnessed for their work, and are in proportion to the affluence of the master. They treated with little mercy by the heathen Esquimaux, who make them do hard duty for the small quantity of food they allow them. This consists chiefly in offal, old skins, entrails, such parts of whale-flesh as are unfit for other use, rotten whale-fins, &c.; and if they are not provided with this kind of dog's meat, they leave them to go and seek dead fish or mussels upon the beach.

almost anything, and on a journey it is necessary to "When pinched with hunger they will swallow secure the harness within the snow-house overnight, lest, by devouring it, they should render it impossible arrive at their night quarters, and the dogs are unto proceed in the morning. When the travellers harnessed, they are left to burrow on the snow where they please, and in the morning are sure to come at their driver's call, when they receive some food. Their strength and speed, even with an hungry sledge, care is taken not to let them go abreast. stomach, is astonishing. In fastening them to the They are tied by separate thongs, of unequal lengths, to a horizontal bar in the fore part of the sledge; an old knowing one leads the way, running ten or twenty paces ahead, directed by the driver's whip, which is of great length, and can be well managed only by an Esquimaux. The other dogs follow like a flock of sheep. If one of them receives a lash, he generally bites his neighbour, and the bite goes round.

"To return to our travellers. Appearances being much in their favour, they hoped to reach Okak in safety in two or three days. The track over the frozen sea was in the best possible order, and they went with ease at the rate of six or seven miles an hour. After they had passed the islands in the bay of Nain, they kept at a considerable distance from

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the coast, both to gain the smoothest part of the ice, and to weather the high rocky promontory of Kiglapeit. About eight o'clock they met a sledge with Esquimaux turning in from the sea. After the usual salutation, the Esquimaux, alighting, held some conversation, as is their general practice, the result of which was, that some hints were thrown out by the strange Esquimaux that it might be better to return. However, as the missionaries saw no reason whatever for it, and only suspected that the Esquimaux wished to enjoy the company of their friends a little longer, they proceeded. After some time, their own Esquimaux hinted that there was a ground swell under the ice. It was then hardly perceptible, except on lying down and applying the ear close to the ice, when a hollow, disagreeably grating and roaring noise was heard, as if ascending from the abyss. The weather remained clear, except towards the east, where a bank of light clouds appeared, interspersed with some dark streaks. But the wind being strong from the north-west, nothing less than a sudden change of weather was expected. The sun had now reached its height, and there was as yet little or no alteration in the appearance of the sky. But the motion of the sea under the ice had grown more perceptible, so as rather to alarm the travellers, and they began to think it prudent to keep closer to the shore. The ice had cracks and large fissures in many places, some of which formed chasms of one or two feet wide; but as they are not uncommon even in its best state, and the dogs easily leap over them, the sledge following without danger, they are only terrible to new-comers.

"As soon as the sun declined towards the west, the wind increased and rose to a storm, the bank of clouds from the east began to ascend, and the dark streaks to put themselves in motion against the wind. The snow was violently driven about by partial whirlwinds, both on the ice, and from off the peaks of the high mountains, and filled the air. At the same time the ground-swell had increased so much that its effect upon the ice became very extraordinary and alarming. The sledges, instead of gliding along smoothly upon an even surface, sometimes ran with violence after the dogs, and shortly after seemed with difficulty to ascend the rising hill; for the elasticity of so vast a body of ice, of many leagues square, supported by a troubled sea, though in some places three or four yards in thickness, would, in some degree, occasion an undulatory motion not unlike that of a sheet of paper accommodating itself to the surface of a rippling stream. Noises were now likewise distinctly heard in many directions, like the report of cannon, owing to the bursting of the ice at

some distance.

"The Esquimaux, therefore, drove with all haste towards the shore, intending to take up their nightquarters on the south side of the Nivak. But as it plainly appeared that the ice would break and disperse in the open sea, Mark advised to push forward to the north of the Nivak, from whence he hoped the track to Okak might still remain entire. To this proposal the company agreed; but when the sledges approached the coast, the prospect before them was truly terrific. The ice having broken loose from the rocks, was forced up and down, grinding and breaking into a thousand pieces against the precipices with a tremendous noise, which, added to the raging of the wind, and the snow driving about in the air, deprived the travellers almost of the power of hearing and seeing anything distinctly.

“To make the land at any risk was now the only hope left; but it was with the utmost difficulty the frighted dogs could be forced forward, the whole

body of ice sinking frequently below the surface of the rocks, then rising above it. As the only moment to land was when it gained the level of the coast, the attempt was extremely nice and hazardous. However, by God's mercy, it succeeded; both sledges gained the shore, and were drawn up the beach with much difficulty.

"The travellers had hardly time to reflect with gratitude to God on their safety, when that part of the ice from which they had just now made good their landing burst asunder, and the water, forcing itself from below, covered and precipitated it into the sea. In an instant, as if by a signal given, the whole mass of ice, extending for several miles from the coast, and as far as the eye could reach, began to burst and be overwhelmed by the immense waves. The sight was tremendous and awfully grand; the large fields of ice, raising themselves out of the water, striking against each other and plunging into the deep with a violence not to be described, and a noise like the discharge of innumerable batteries of heavy guns. The darkness of the night, the roaring of the wind and sea, and the dashing of the waves and ice against the rocks, filled the travellers with sensations of awe and horror, so as almost to deprive them of the power of utterance. They stood overwhelmed with astonishment at their miraculous escape, and even the heathen Esquimaux expressed gratitude to God for their deliverance."

But those brave hearts which no rigour of arctic climate, no personal sufferings could discourage, were almost daunted by a sore and unexpected trouble, which threatened for some time to undo the work of eleven long years of patience and love. Tuglivina, the husband of Mikak, a man once warmly attached to their cause, brought to Nain reports of the plenty which reigned among the European settlers to the south; where, as he declared, the Eskimoes were lavishly supplied with food and fire-arms, and where, moreover, baptism was administered just as at the mis

sion stations.

A spirit of discontent and defiance arose among the natives. Soon large numbers deserted to that quarter, and serious fears were felt as to the possibility of continuing the work in Labrador. In 1799 Burkhardt, then superintendent of the Mission, writes—“When I read the reports of other Missions, and think of our condition, my heart sinks, and I ask, Why does not the hour of blessing for the Eskimoes yet strike? I do not expect this for our own faithfulness, for when I think of Our many years' labours I can only pray, Lord Jesus, forgive us all our sins and mistakes! But because of the travail of His soul, why shall not He have an in-gathering from among the Eskimoes?"

But even this dark season was illumined by some rays of the dayspring from on high. And to-day Labrador, "the land which cannot be built upon," may be regarded as a Christian country.

ing "to the will of God." The whole evil past is condemned, renounced, forsaken: the present and the future, called "the rest" or remainder of our time here on earth, is given to God-to God who, in the person of Christ, stands ready to "judge the quick and the dead," all who have died and all who are living. The time of this judgment, says the apostle, will soon be: the end of all things is at hand. "Excesses," "revellings," "banquetings," "idolatries," passion, and pleasure, and pomp, and power, and "all that beauty, all that wealth ere gave," "await alike the inevitable hour," "The path of glory leads but to the grave." "The fashion of this world passeth away." The end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer.”

2. Nor, again, is it the death of the individual believers to whom he was writing which can explain the import of an immense expression like this, "the end of all things." The death of a human creature, believer or unbeliever, is only one thing in itself; in many a case not relatively a large thing, however important to the individual, and therefore has no pretension to be taken as the grand expository fact, which, like a key, will unlock the full meaning of our phrase. Indeed, it is remarkable how small a part death in itself plays in the Scriptures. At any rate it occupies, relatively, a very small place. Not in the whole Bible do we find a phrase like that which so often occurs in our modern religious teaching-"It is a solemn thing to die." Somehow, death did not seem to strike the sacred writers in that way; although none of them, perhaps, would have questioned the truth of the statement if it had been set before them. Knowing its importance, and feeling its solemnity, the fact remains that they did not represent it and speak of it in The mere article of dying, for instance, is nothing to them. nothing to them. They never mention it. They seem to have a calm, lofty disregard of it; as though they would by their silence say, "Death? That does not matter -the how, the when, the where. It is but falling asleep once again; the waking to be somewhere else. Be solicitous chiefly about living well. Care not for the dying. God will care for that." Accordingly, we have not in all the Bible a single death-bed scene in the modern sense of that phrase. We have in the Old Testament the patriarchs, when they feel the sands of life sinking low, gathering their sons about them to give them prophetic intimation of the future awaiting them and their children, and instruction as

our way.

to their duty. But they say little about themselves, and little is said about them by the sacred historian. "He died and was gathered to his people," is all that is said of one, and another, and another-the teaching of such silence being, "They died as they lived." That is the only true and safe teaching. The idea of living in one way, keeping in view and in reserve, as it were, the possibility of dying in another, hardly seems to have struck them. There is a solemn, and almost attractive beauty in those calm, majestic, unselfish scenes in which some of the Old Testament saints passed away from this life, with none of the trouble, and the weeping, and the heartbreaking sorrow which come so often to poor mortals who live on the lower plains of life, in their partings from each other at death. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have taught the world many great lessons, but none more perfectly, although with so little ostentation, than how to die. Nor is there any change perceptible when we pass into New Testament times. Who can tell us where,

or when, or how the apostles of Christ died? In a general way we know the end of one or two of the twelve, and that is all. The very first death recorded of a believer in Christ after the Ascension has something of the pathos and grandeur of his own. In the midst of a shower of stones dashed from malignant hands, Stephen kneels down in prayer, and-oh, wonder!" falls asleep.” Paul is "ready to be offered," and that is all we know. Peter, somewhere, "stretches forth his hands, and is bound by another, and carried whither he would not." James is killed by the sword. As to the rest all we know is this, that they lived and died under the promise, "Lo! I am with you alway."

3. "The end of all things" then must mean just what has been usually understood by the words-the close, viz. of the whole economy of human affairs as it is at present constituted. Temptation will end; and persecution, and sorrows, and the rasping of an evil world; and the scoffing and the scorn of the wicked; and all the hurry, and all the show of life; and the weary toils and unrequited sacrifices of the good; and all the gathered earthly results of this long development of years. Even the dispensations, which have successively died into each other, will all die again, that God's new creation may spring out of their dust. There will be an end of the very earth itself, which has sheltered and occupied for a few brief days so many toiling pilgrims, and of the heavens that shine above us "as they now are," while " new heavens and a