ERRATA. P. 16. 1. 5. for former read latter; and for latter read former. 98.-14. for settlements read settlement. — 144.— 4. for heaving read having; and for harty read hearty. -287.-34. for justly deemed, read justly be deemed. 320.-37. for besides read and. Sect. I. Pilgerhut on the Rio de Berbice III. Hope on the Corentyn IV. Bambey on the Sarameca VI. Sommelsdyke Chap. V. Mission in the West Indies Sect. I. Danish West India Islands 5 INTRODUCTION. THE declaration of our blessed Saviour, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation; may with great propriety be applied to the Missions of the United Brethren. Their attempts to bring the Heathen to the knowledge of God and our Saviour commenced in a manner so obscure and unostentatious, as generally to elude the notice of all, but their own immediate connexions and particular friends; and they had exerted themselves, for several years, in this labour of love, before the attention of their fellow-christians, in other denominations, was attracted to this great object. But while the world at large, either remained totally ignorant of these exertions, or treated the scheme with silent contempt or open ridicule; the Brethren, unappalled by contempt and calumny and a thousand difficulties, which impeded their progress, pursued with unabating zeal what to them appeared the path of duty. The love of Christ constrained them to obey his command: Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every crea ture, and the gracious promises of his holy word animated them in their arduous work. The origin of their Missions was attended with circumstances, singularly interesting. Count Zinzendorf*, hav * This pious young nobleman was the instrument employed by God, for preserving the small remnant of the ancient church of the Brethren, and renewing its constitution and discipline at the beginning of the eighteenth century. In consequence of dreadful persecutions, stirred up against them by the papists, the Brethren's congregations in Moravia, [upwards of 200 in nnmber,] were totally destroyed, their ministers, together with many noblemen and private individuals of their church, put to death, or exiled, and their B ing gone to Copenhagen in the year 1731 to be present at the coronation of Christian VI. King of Denmark, some of his domestics became acquainted with a Negroe, called Anthony. This man told them much of the miseries endured by the Negro-slaves in the island of St. Thomas, and of the ardent desire of many, especially of his sister, to be instructed in the way of salvation. This relation deeply affected the Count, and served to revive the hope, expressed by him some years before at a public meeting in Herrnhut, that the Brethren would one day have it in their power to proclaim the gospel to the Laplanders, Negroes and Greenlanders. On his return, therefore, he took an early opportunity of mentioning this occurrence to the congrega tion. Anthony, having soon after obtained leave from his master to visit Herrnhut, repeated his former relation to many of the inhabitants; but added, that the labours of the Negroes were so incessant, that they could find no leisure for religious instruction, unless their teacher himself became a slave, for the purpose of instructing them in the midst of their daily employment. This representation afresh roused the zeal of the Brethren for the conversion of the Heathen, and they determined, that no obstacle, however apparently insurmountable, should deter them from the attempt. Two young. brethren, in particular, Leonard Dober and Tobias Leupold, were so deeply impressed with the magnitude of the object, that they publicly avowed their desire and resolution to go to St. Thomas, and even TO SELL THEMSELVES bibles and other religious books burnt. Those few, who survived the persecution and faithfully adhered to their principles, were forced to conceal themselves in cellars and other obscure places, in the caves of rocks and the almost impervious thickets of the forests, where they held their religious meetings in private, and chiefly in the night, for fear of their enemies. Being informed that there was greater liberty of conscience in Saxony and Silesia, many sought an asylum in these countries, Some of these emigrants arrived in 1722 at Berthelsdorf, in upper Lusatia, an estate belonging to Count Zinzendorf, who, when he had learned the cause of their emigration, received them in the kindest manner, and encouraged and assisted them in forming a colony on a neighbouring hill, called Hutberg. This colony afterwards received the name of HERRNHUT, and became the first congregation of the renewed church of the Brethren. AS SLAVES, in order that they might have an opportunity of preaching the gospel to the Negroes, should they find no other way of accomplishing their purpose. Tobias Leupold repeated his desire in writing, and while his letter was read to the congregation, the brethren Mathew Stach and Frederic Boenish formed the resolution of offering themselves to go to Greenland.* A sacred impulse to missionary labours was thus imparted to the congregation at Herrnhut by the great head of his universal church, who, in the unerring counsels of his wisdom and love, designed the Brethren to become the honoured instruments of publishing the saving name of Jesus to many savage tribes, and sowing the gospel-seed on soils the most barren and unpromising. The impulse, thus granted, operated most powerfully, for though the colony at Herrnhut, at the time of commencing this great work, consisted of only six-hundred persons, and these mostly poor exiles; yet neither their external poverty nor the smallness of their number could damp their zeal or relax their ardour. Having given themselves unto the Lord, they were disposed to offer to him also their talents and their substance, fully persuaded that it is nothing with the Lord, whether to help with many, or with them that have no power, and that with his blessing upon their exertions, a little one would become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. Supported by this conviction they cheerfully encountered every difficulty, and endured the severest hardships in distant countries and among barbarous tribes, with a spirit of self-denial, patience and fortitude, which clearly manifested, that they were willing even to hazard their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus. Within the short period of ten years missionaries went to St. Thomas, to St. Croix, to Greenland, to Surinam, to the Rio de Berbice, to several Indian tribes in North America, to the Negroes in South Carolina, to Lapland, to Tartary, to Algiers, to Guinea, to the Cape * Brethren's Hist. Vol. i. p. 149. Risler, Part 2, Sec. i, p. 19, |