The Moravians in Labrador by Anonymous
page 109 of 220 (49%)
page 109 of 220 (49%)
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brethren it had made such an impression on him that he could not sleep
for three nights; but he continued in his evil course of conduct, and still kept the mother and the daughter among his wives. He went afterwards to the south, where he remained two or three winters, but whether he ever obtained repentance must remain a secret till "that day." Reports of many horrible murders committed in the north in the year 1790 having reached the brethren, they were not a little comforted by the remark of an Esquimaux living at one of the settlements, "As many murders," said he, "would have been committed here if you had not come and brought us the good word of our Creator becoming our Redeemer, of his great love to us, and of our duty to love him and our neighbour." A strong desire to travel to the south became again prevalent among the Esquimaux in the summer of 1791; they said one could get a large boat there for a small price, and plenty to eat, as the Europeans caught the seals in nets and gave away the flesh for nothing, and they gave them also bread and rum at a low rate, and all this was good for the _Innuit_. A hundred persons, of whom fifteen were baptized, and three candidates for baptism, went from Nain and Okkak in eleven boats. The sad experience of former years had shewn the brethren the destructive effects that the frequent dispersion, and the constant intercourse with their heathen countrymen and careless Europeans, had in bewildering the Esquimaux, and erasing all their religion; they therefore determined at parting to give them a serious and affectionate admonition. In this they reminded them that the members of the congregation, in going away, were departing from what they had heard of the Saviour, and what they had promised at their baptism, and from what the ordinance of the holy supper required them to be. That |
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