The Moravians in Labrador | Page 8

on the East Maine, while those of the brethren on the
opposite coast of Labrador bloom and blossom as the rose.
The first thought of attempting to establish a missionary settlement in
that quarter among the Esquimaux, originated with a Moravian brother,
John Christian Erhardt, a Dutch pilot. He had in early life made several
voyages to Davis Straits; but in 1749, when sailing under Captain
Grierson in the Irene, the vessel touched at New Hernhut in Greenland,
where he saw the congregation that had been gathered from among the
heathen in that land; and in conversation with the brethren they told
him that they supposed the opposite coast of North America was
peopled by tribes having the same customs and speaking the same
language as the Greenlanders. This statement made a deep impression
on his mind, and during his stay at Hernhaag, 1750, while musing on
the state of that people sitting in the darkness of heathenism, and on
how the light of the gospel might be communicated to them, a
description of the journey undertaken by Henry Ellis, 1746-7, at the
desire of the Hudson's Bay Company, to try to discover a north-west
passage, accidentally fell into his hands. The account there given of
these barbarous regions convinced him that the people were sprung
from the same origin with the Greenlanders, and the methods suggested
by Ellis for their moral improvement enabled him to bring his own
scheme to a bearing.
In a letter, dated 20th May 1750, addressed to Bishop Johannes de
Watteville, he laid before him his plan for establishing a mission on
that part of the coast between Newfoundland and Hudson's Straits,
which had as yet been but rarely visited by Europeans, and offered
himself to undertake it. "Whoever," says he in this letter, "has seen our
cause in Greenland, and what the Saviour has done to the poor heathen
there, surely his heart and his eyes must overflow with tears of joy, if

he possess any feeling of interest in the happiness of others: they are
indeed sparkling rubies in the golden girdle of our dear Saviour, as the
text for the day speaks, Rev 1 13. And I believe the Saviour has in
these northern waters many such gems that he will also gather, and set
in it to his praise and glory. My heart is much impressed with the
thought of carrying the gospel to the before mentioned countries and
places." "Now, dear Johannes," he concludes, "thou knowest that I am
an old Greenland traveller; I have also an amazing affection for these
northern countries, Indians, and other barbarians; and it would be a
source of the greatest joy if the Saviour would discover to me that he
has chosen me, and would make me fit for this service. It is not for ease
or convenience that I so earnestly desire it. I think I can say before the
Saviour, if this is of thee thou wilt cause it to prosper, if not, yet it is a
good work, and no one will lose any thing by it."
On purpose to further the prosecution of this object, M. Stach, the first
Greenland missionary, had been recalled to Europe, and in the year
1752 was sent for to London by Count Zinzendorff, to be consulted
with upon the occasion. Application was at the same time made to the
Hudson's Bay Company, for permission to preach the gospel to the
savages in the neighbourhood of their factories; but this being refused,
probably lest it should interfere with their mercantile projects, M. Stach
returned to found new settlements near the scenes of his first labours.
Meanwhile, three London merchants, but unconnected with the
Hudson's Bay Company, Messrs Nisbet, Grace and Bell, fitted out a
vessel for the coast of Labrador, to trade in oil and whale fins, and
engaged Erhardt, then at Zeist, to act as supercargo, who, on account of
his knowledge of the north seas, of the trade, and of the language, they
judged well qualified for that office; but they also wished to make some
preparation for a missionary settlement, and four brethren, Golkowsky,
Kunz, Post, and Krumm, volunteered to remain in the country to learn
the language, and endeavour the conversion of the heathen; for this
purpose they took with them a wooden house ready to set up, a boat,
various articles of furniture, and some kitchen garden-seeds.
Count Zinzendorff, who, from former experience, was opposed to
mixing trading transactions with the work of a Christian mission, was

not without doubts as to the issue of this undertaking, he did not
however attempt to prevent it. The vessel on board of which this small
society embarked, named the Hope, reached the south-east coast of
Labrador on the 11th July 1752. The whole is