RELATING TO THE Missions of the Church OF THE UNITED BRETHREN, ESTABLISHED AMONG THE HEATHEN. VOLUME XII. London: PRINTED BY W. M'DOWALL, PEMBERTON-ROW, GOUGH-SQUARE. FOR THE BRETHREN'S SOCIETY FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF THE SOLD AT 97, HATTON GARDEN; AND BY HAZARD AND BINNS, BATH; AND T. LAMBE, BRISTOL. 1831. THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY PREFACE. ed. 1552 7.12 1831-1833 ON this day, the Church of the United Brethren enters into the hundredth year of her Missionary labours, It was on the 21st of August, in the year 1732, that two young brethren, Leonard Dober, and David Nitschman, members of the congregation at Herrnhut, set out to convey the glad tidings of a Saviour's love to the poor negro-slaves in the island of St. Thomas. Alike unmoved by the remonstrances of well-meaning friends, and by the scoff of open or disguised enemies, they pressed onward toward the scene of their apparently hopeless warfare, nor did the prospect of the manifold trials and persecutions which awaited them, shake their steadfast purpose, to spend, and to be spent, for the conversion of the most despised and oppressed of the human race. Their immediate successors in this arduous field were imbued with similar devotedness to Christ, and love for the souls of men; nor is it possible to peruse the simple, yet instructive narratives of the first Missionaries in Greenland, North America, Surinam, and Labrador, without being impressed with the conviction, that they were men, who, though plain and unlettered, had been with Jesus, were led by His Spirit, and sustained by His all-sufficient grace. The work which they so happily commenced, has been meanwhile extended beyond the most sanguine expectations of its first promoters; a third generation of labourers will soon have passed away, leaving behind them evidence, the most cheering and indisputable, that their Lord and Master has been pleased to accept their imperfect services, and to crown them with His abundant blessing. Herein we do greatly rejoice, yea, and we will rejoice; at the same time, that we thankfully adore the grace of God our Saviour, who has been pleased to choose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things that are despised, yea, and things that are not, to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence. As a Preface to the twelfth Volume of a publication, whose sole object is to magnify the grace of God our Saviour, displayed towards the most benighted heathen, it is thought that a few pages may suitably and profitably be devoted to an estimate of the true nature and principles of the Brethren's Missionary |