s, if they would walk worthy of
their heavenly calling." It is a melancholy and stumbling remark, that
as the converted Esquimaux advanced in knowledge and in decency of
conduct, so in proportion those who formed an intimate connexion with
the Europeans in the south increased in enmity to the word of God, and
to the Saviour's name in particular, declaring they would hear or
listen to nothing about him.

Oral instruction has, from the beginning, been the principal, and most
efficient means, which God has employed in propagating the gospel; but
the written word has been always necessary for establishing and
building up the churches in their most holy faith. Never did Satan
employ a more effectual method for covering the earth with thick
darkness, than by instigating his servants, under pretence of a high
reverence for the holy word, to shut it up from the people; and when
God wills mercy to a nation, he removes all the hindrances which
obstruct its diffusion. As the Esquimaux advanced in their course,
they were furnished, by means of the press, with portions of the
Scriptures as they could be got translated. The brethren, however,
wisely prepared the way for this important work, by translating hymns
and tracts, and a harmony of the Gospels, where any deficiency in the
language could be more easily rectified than in a book, destined to be
left as a permanent legacy to future generations. The joy of the
Esquimaux on receiving the hymn books in 1809, was inexpressibly
great. "We wish," the missionaries write, "our dear brethren had been
present at the distribution, to see the fervent gratitude with which
they were received. They entreated us, with tears, to express their
thankfulness to their fathers and brethren in the east, for this
present." In 1810, they received the Harmony of the Gospels, also
printed by the Brethren's Society in London for the furtherance of the
Gospel, and the Gospel of John and part of Luke, printed at the
expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who undertook to
print the other parts as they could be got ready. Meanwhile the
superintendant, Burghardt, finished the translation of the Acts, and
the epistles to the Romans and Ephesians, which were read from the MS
to the Esquimaux congregation, who were highly delighted to hear the
words and exhortations of our Saviour's apostles, and particularly
struck with the character and writings of the apostle Paul. Along with
their activity in the Ch