as slaves.† For a year the issue remained in doubt. With all their evangelistic zeal, the Brethren had common-sense. Some said that the offer was reckless and premature; some dubbed it “the pretty imagination of young officious minds”; and some even called it a bid for fame. For these doubts and fears the Brethren had their own reasons. They had heard of Egede’s dismal failure in Greenland. As Egede, they said, was not only a scholar but a faithful preacher, it did not seem likely that, while he