"Dearly beloved Brethren and Sisters,--We are now for the third time
going among the wild Esquimaux; and in their name we thank you for the
assistance you have afforded us in the past year to enable us to
declare among these savages the gospel of the sufferings and death of
Jesus. We thank the Saviour that he has so illuminated your hearts,
that you are as willing to give your wealth, as we are to venture our
lives to promote this cause. We now take our leave, and commend
ourselves to your love and remembrance before the Saviour. He is
indeed near to you, and to us, to help in all our difficulties,--that
our courage may not fail, but that we may look to him. It is his
cause, and he will support us; on him we hope, and on him we rely; and
in his name we venture our lives and all that we have, for he ventured
his life for us. When we think of this our hearts are melted, and we
fall down at his pierced feet, and exclaim, O! Lord Jesus, the little
confidence we have in thee thou hast given us; our goods, our lives,
we have from thee. Thou knowest we venture to go through the great
deep, through rocks and ice, that thy holy name may be glorified among
the Esquimaux. We pray that the angel of thy presence may accompany
the ship out and home again; be with our brethren, give them courage
to proclaim the tidings of thy love, which was stronger than
death--Dear brethren and sisters, the Saviour is present, he certainly
hears us when we join together to call upon him for ourselves and
others The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God be
with you all. Amen."
On the 8th of May they left London in the ship Amity, commanded by
Captain Mugford, and on the 9th August reached the place of their
destination, after a passage of peril and danger. They had constructed
a wooden house while in London, and had been kindly furnished by their
friends with household furniture, and a number of implements for
enabling them to work in carpentry, in iron, and for gardening.
Immediately upon landing they commenced their operations, by
surrounding the spot upon which they had fixed, and to which they gave
the name of Nain, with pallisades, and on the 20th of August laid the
foundation of their wooden house; they soon found their fortification
was unnecessary, as the natives, so far from offering any obstruction,
appeared eager to forward the building, which, on the 22d September,
was so far finished as to be habitable. As on the former occasion, so
on this, the Governor of Newfoundland issued a proclamation in their
favour, declaring the missionaries under the immediate protection of
the British; and at the same time he conveyed to themselves the
strongest assurances of his personal regard for their characters and
wishes for their success, as what would so materially tend to
tranquillize the country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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