Foreign Missions, in the modern sense
of the word, were almost unknown in Zinzendorf's boyhood,
yet from his earliest days his thoughts turned often to those who lay
beyond the reach of gospel light. In 1730, while on a visit to Copenhagen,
he heard that the Lutheran Missionary Hans Egede, who for years
had been laboring single handed to convert the Eskimos of Greenland,
was sorely in need of help; and Anthony, the negro body-servant
of a Count Laurwig, gave him a most pathetic description
of the condition of the negro slaves in the Danish West Indies.
Filled with enthusiasm, Zinzendorf returned to Herrnhut,
and poured the two stories into willing ears, for ever since
the great revival of 1727 the Moravian emigrants had been scanning the field,
anxious to carry the "good news" abroad, and held back only by
the apparent impossibility of going forward. Who were they,
without influence, without means, without a country even,
that they should take such an office upon themselves?
But the desire remained, and at this summons they prepared to do
the impossible. In August, 1732, two men started for St. Thomas, --
in April, 1733, three more sailed for Greenland, and in the face of hardships
that would have daunted men of less than heroic mold, successful missions
were established at both places.
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