The Moravians in Georgia(莫罗维恩在乔治亚)

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The Moravians in Georgia

The Moravians in

Georgia

Adelaide L. Fries Winston-Salem, N. C.

The Moravians in Georgia

Chapter I. Antecedent Events.

The Province of Georgia.

It was in the year 1728 that the English Parliament was persuaded by

James Oglethorpe, Esq. -- soldier, statesman and philanthropist, -- to

appoint a committee to investigate the condition of the debtors confined in

the Fleet and Marchalsea prisons.The lot of these debtors was a most

pitiable one, for a creditor had power to imprison a man for an indefinite

term of years, and the unfortunate debtor, held within the four walls of his

prison, could earn no money to pay the debt that was owing, and unless

friends came to his rescue, was utterly at the mercy of the oft-times

barbarous jailor.The Committee, consisting of ninety-six prominent men,

with Oglethorpe as Chairman, recommended and secured the redress of

many grievances, and the passing of better laws for the future, but

Oglethorpe and a few associates conceived a plan which they thought

would eradicate the evil by striking at its very root, the difficulty which

many found in earning a living in the overcrowded cities.

In 1663 King Charles II. had granted to eight "Lords Proprietors" the

portion of North America lying between the 31st and 36th degrees of

latitude, enlarging the boundaries in 1665 to 29 deg. and 36 deg. 30 min.

By 1728 most of these Lords Proprietors had tired of their attempt to

govern the colonies they had established in "Carolina", and in 1729 seven

of the eight sold their interest to the English crown, the district being

divided into "North Carolina", "South Carolina", and a more southerly

portion, nominally included in the latter, which was held in reserve.

To this unused land the thoughts of Oglethorpe turned, and he and his

friends addressed a memorial to the Privy Council, stating "that the cities

of London, Westminster, and parts adjacent, do abound with great numbers

of indigent persons, who are reduced to such necessity as to become

burthensome to the public, and who would be willing to seek a livelihood

in any of his majesty's plantations in America, if they were provided with

a passage, and means of settling there." They therefore asked for a grant of

land lying south of the Savannah River, where they wished to establish a

The Moravians in Georgia

colony in which these unfortunate men might begin life anew, and where

Protestants, persecuted in some parts of Europe, might find a refuge.They

also offered to take entire charge of the affair, and their petition, after

passing through the usual channels, was approved by the King, George II,

a charter was prepared, and the great seal was affixed June 9th, 1732.

This instrument constituted twenty-one noblemen and gentlemen a

body corporate, by the name and style of "The Trustees for establishing

the Colony of Georgia in America", and in them was vested full authority

for the collecting of subscriptions and the expending of moneys gathered,

the selection of colonists, and the making and administering of laws in

Georgia; but no member of the corporation was allowed to receive a salary,

or any fees, or to hold land in the new province.The undertaking was to be

strictly for the good of others, not for their own pecuniary benefit. The

charter granted to them "all those lands, countries, and territories situate,

lying and being in that part of South Carolina, in America" between the

Savannah and Altamaha, gave them permission to take over any British

subjects, or foreigners willing to become such, and guaranteed to each

settler the rights of an English subject, and full liberty of conscience, --

Papists alone excepted. This apparently pointed exception was natural

enough, since from a political standpoint the new colony was regarded as

a valuable guard for the Protestant English Colonies on the north, against

the Indians and Roman Catholic colonists to the south, who had been

keeping the border settlers in a continual state of uneasiness, even in times

of nominal peace.Moreover England had not forgotten the terrible

experience of the latter half of the preceding century, when it was war to

the death between Catholic and Protestant, and the latter party being the

stronger the former was subjected to great and unpardonable persecution,

many were executed, and all holding that faith were laid under political

disabilities which lasted for a hundred and fifty years.

The plans of the Trustees were very broad.They intended "to relieve

such unfortunate persons as cannot subsist here, and establish them in an

orderly manner, so as to form a well regulated town.As far as their fund

goes they will defray the charge of their passage to Georgia -- give them

necessaries, cattle, land, and subsistence, till such time as they can build

The Moravians in Georgia

their houses and clear some of their land." In this manner "many families

who would otherwise starve will be provided for, and made masters of

houses and lands; * * * and by giving refuge to the distressed Salzburgers

and other Protestants, the power of Britain, as a reward for its hospitality,

will be increased by the addition of so many religious and industrious

subjects."

Each of the emigrants was to receive about fifty acres of land,

including a town lot, a garden of five acres, and a forty-five acre farm, and

the Trustees offered to give a tract of five hundred acres to any well-to-do

man who would go over at his own expense, taking with him at least ten

servants, and promising his military service in case of need.

But there was a commercial as well as a benevolent side to the designs

of the Trustees, for they thought Georgia could be made to furnish silk,

wine, oil and drugs in large quantities, the importing of which would keep

thousands of pounds sterling in English hands which had hitherto gone to

China, Persia and the Madeiras.Special provision was therefore made to

secure the planting of mulberry trees as the first step towards silk culture,

the other branches to be introduced as speedily as might be.

Filled with enthusiasm for their plan, the Trustees proceeded to spread

abroad the most glowing descriptions of the country where the new colony

was to be settled.

"The kind spring, which but salutes us here,Inhabits there, and courts

them all the year. Ripe fruits and blossoms on the same trees live --At

once they promise, when at once they give. So sweet the air, so moderate

the clime,None sickly lives, or dies before his time. Heaven, sure, has kept

this spot of earth uncurst,To shew how all things were created first."

So wrote Oglethorpe, quoting the lines as the best pen picture he could

give of the new land, and truly, if the colonists found the reality less

roseate than they anticipated, it was not the fault of their generous,

energetic leader, who spared neither pains nor means in his effort to make

all things work out as his imagination had painted them.

The Trustees having, with great care, selected thirty-five families from

the number who wished to go, the first emigrant ship sailed for Georgia in

November, 1732, bearing about one hundred and twenty-five "sober,

The Moravians in Georgia

industrious and moral persons", and all needful stores for the

establishment of the colony.Early in the following year they reached

America, and Oglethorpe, having chosen a high bluff on the southern bank

of the Savannah River, concluded a satisfactory treaty with Tomochichi,

the chief of the nearest Indian tribe, which was later ratified in a full

Council of the chiefs of all the Lower Creeks. His fairness and courteous

treatment won the hearts of all, especially of Tomochichi and his people,

who for many years remained on the best of terms with the town which

was now laid out upon the bluff.

The Salzburgers.

The Salzburgers, referred to by name in the proposals of the Georgia

Trustees, were, at this time, very much upon the mind and heart of

Protestant Europe. They were Germans, belonging to the Archbishopric of

Salzburg, then the most eastern district of Bavaria, but now a province of

Austria. "Their ancestors, the Vallenges of Piedmont, had been compelled

by the barbarities of the Dukes of Savoy to find a shelter from the storms

of persecution in the Alpine passes and vales of Salzburg and the Tyrol,

before the Reformation; and frequently since, they had been hunted out by

the hirelings and soldiery of the Church of Rome, and condemned for their

faith to tortures of the most cruel and revolting kind. In 1684-6, they were

again threatened with an exterminating persecution; but were saved in part

by the intervention of the Protestant States of Saxony and Brandenburg,

though more than a thousand emigrated on account of the dangers to

which they were exposed.

"But the quietness which they then enjoyed for nearly half a century

was rudely broken in upon by Leopold, Count of Firmian and Archbishop

of Salzburg, who determined to reduce them to the Papal faith and power.

He began in the year 1729, and ere he ended in 1732 not far from thirty

thousand had been driven from their homes, to seek among the Protestant

States of Europe that charity and peace which were denied them in the

glens and fastnesses of their native Alps.

"The march of these Salzburgers constitutes an epoch in the history of

Germany.* * *Arriving at Augsburg, the magistrates closed the gates

against them, refusing them entrance to that city which, two hundred years

The Moravians in Georgia

before, through Luther and Melancthon and in the presence of Charles V

and the assembled Princes of Germany, had given birth to the celebrated

Augsburg Confession, for clinging to which the Salzburgers were now

driven from their homes; but overawed by the Protestants, the officers

reluctantly admitted the emigrants, who were kindly entertained by the

Lutherans.

"The sympathies of Reformed Christendom were awakened on their

behalf, and the most hospitable entertainment and assistance were

everywhere given them." Only a few months after the signing of the

Georgia Colony Charter, the "Society for the Propagation of Christian

Knowledge" requested the Trustees to include the Salzburgers in their

plans. The Trustees expressed their willingness to grant lands, and to

manage any money given toward their expenses, but stated that they then

held no funds which were available for that purpose.

In May, 1733, the House of Commons appropriated 10,000 Pounds to

the Trustees of Georgia, "to be applied towards defraying the charges of

carrying over and settling foreign and other Protestants in said colony,"

and over 3,000 Pounds additional having been given privately, the

Trustees, at the suggestion of Herr von Pfeil, consul of Wittenberg at

Regensberg, wrote to Senior Samuel Urlsperger, pastor of the Lutheran

Church of St. Ann in the city of Augsburg, who had been very kind to the

Salzburgers on their arrival there, "and ever afterward watched over their

welfare with the solicitude of an affectionate father."On receipt of the

invitation from the Trustees, seventy-eight persons decided to go to

Georgia, and left Augsburg on the 21st of October, reaching Rotterdam the

27th of November, where they were joined by two ministers, Rev. Mr.

Bolzius, deputy superintendent of the Latin Orphan School at Halle, and

Rev. Mr. Gronau, a tutor in the same, who were to accompany them to

their new home.In England they were treated with marked kindness, and

when they sailed, January 19, 1734, it was with the promise of free

transportation to Georgia, and support there until they could reap their first

harvest from the fifty acres which were to be given to each man among

them.

They reached Charlestown, South Carolina, the following March, and

The Moravians in Georgia

met General Oglethorpe, the Governor of Georgia, who was intending an

immediate return to Europe, but went back to help them select a suitable

place for their settlement, they preferring not to live in Savannah itself.The

site chosen was about twenty-five miles from Savannah, on a large stream

flowing into the Savannah River, and there they laid out their town, calling

it "Ebenezer", in grateful remembrance of the Divine help that had brought

them thither. Baron von Reck, who had accompanied them as Commissary

of the Trustees, stayed with them until they had made a good beginning,

and then returned to Europe, leaving Ebenezer about the middle of May.

Unitas Fratrum.

But while the Salzburgers received so much sympathy and kindness in

Germany on account of their distress, other exiled Protestants, whose story

was no less touching, were being treated with scant courtesy and

consideration.

On the 6th of July, 1415, the Bohemian Reformer, John Hus, was

burned at the stake.But those who had silenced him could not unsay his

message, and at last there drew together a little body of earnest men, who

agreed to accept the Bible as their only standard of faith and practice, and

established a strict discipline which should keep their lives in the

simplicity, purity, and brotherly love of the early Apostolic Church. This

was in 1457, and the movement quickly interested the thoughtful people in

all classes of society, many of whom joined their ranks.The formal

organization of the Unitas Fratrum (the Unity of Brethren) followed, and

its preaching, theological publications, and educational work soon raised it

to great influence in Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland, friendly intercourse

being established with Luther, Calvin, and other Reformers as they

became prominent.

Then came destruction, when the religious liberty of Bohemia and

Moravia was extinguished in blood, by the Church of Rome.The great

Comenius went forth, a wanderer on the face of the earth, welcomed and

honored in courts and universities, introducing new educational principles

that revolutionized methods of teaching, but ever longing and praying for

the restoration of his Church; and by his publication of its Doctrine and

Rules of Discipline, and by his careful transmission of the Episcopate

The Moravians in Georgia

which had been bestowed upon him and his associate Bishops, he did

contribute largely to that renewal which he was not destined to see.

In the home lands there were many who held secretly, tenaciously,

desperately, to the doctrines they loved, "in hope against hope" that the

great oppression would be lifted.But the passing of a hundred years

brought no relief, concessions granted to others were still denied to the

children of those who had been the first "protestants" against religious

slavery and corruption, and in 1722 a small company of descendants of the

ancient Unitas Fratrum slipped over the borders of Moravia, and went to

Saxony, Nicholas Lewis, Count Zinzendorf, having given them permission

to sojourn on his estates until they could find suitable homes elsewhere.

Hearing that they had reached a place of safety, other Moravians took

their lives in their hands and followed, risking the imprisonment and

torture which were sure to follow an unsuccessful attempt to leave a

province, the Government of which would neither allow them to be happy

at home nor to sacrifice everything and go away. Among these emigrants

were five young men, who went in May, 1724, with the avowed intention

of trying to resuscitate the Unitas Fratrum. They intended to go into

Poland, where the organization of the Unitas Fratrum had lasted for a

considerable time after its ruin in Bohemia, but, almost by accident, they

decided to first visit Christian David, who had led the first company to

Herrnhut, Saxony, and while there they became convinced that God meant

them to throw in their lot with these refugees, and so remained, coming to

be strong leaders in the renewed Unity.

Several years, however, elapsed before the church was re-established.

One hundred years of persecution had left the Moravians only traditions of

the usages of the fathers, members of other sects who were in trouble

came and settled among them, bringing diverse views, and things were

threatening to become very much involved, when Count Zinzendorf, who

had hitherto paid little attention to them, awoke to the realization of their

danger, and at once set to work to help them.

It was no easy task which he undertook, for the Moravians insisted on

retaining their ancient discipline, and he must needs try to please them and

at the same time preserve the bond of union with the State Church, -- the

The Moravians in Georgia

Lutheran, -- of which, as his tenants, they were officially considered

members.His tact and great personal magnetism at last healed the

differences which had sprung up between the settlers, the opportune

finding of Comenius' `Ratio Disciplinae' enabled them with certainty to

formulate rules that agreed with those of the ancient Unitas Fratrum, and a

marked outpouring of the Holy Spirit at a Communion, August 13th, 1727,

sealed the renewal of the Church.

"They walked with God in peace and love,But failed with one another;

While sternly for the faith they strove,Brother fell out with brother; But

He in Whom they put their trust,Who knew their frames, that they were

dust, Pitied and healed their weakness.

"He found them in His House of prayer,With one accord assembled,

And so revealed His presence there,They wept for joy and trembled; One

cup they drank, one bread they brake,One baptism shared, one language

spake, Forgiving and forgiven.

"Then forth they went with tongues of flameIn one blest theme

delighting, The love of Jesus and His NameGod's children all uniting!

That love our theme and watchword still;That law of love may we fulfill,

And love as we are loved." (Montgomery.)

At this time there was no thought of separating from the State Church

and establishing a distinct denomination, and Zinzendorf believed that the

Unitas Fratrum could exist as a `society' working in, and in harmony with,

the State Church of whatever nation it might enter. This idea, borrowed

probably from Spener's "ecclesiolae in ecclesia", clung to him, even after

circumstances had forced the Unity to declare its independence and the

validity of the ordination of its ministry, and many otherwise inexplicable

things in the later policy of the Church may be traced to its influence.

Halle Opposition.

In 1734 Zinzendorf took orders in the Lutheran Church, but this, and

all that preceded it, seemed to augment rather than quiet the antagonism

which the development of Herrnhut aroused in certain quarters. This

opposition was not universal.The Moravians had many warm friends and

advocates at the Saxon Court, at the Universities of Jena and Tuebingen,

and elsewhere, but they also had active enemies who drew their inspiration

The Moravians in Georgia

principally from the University of Halle.

The opposition of Halle seems to have been largely prompted by

jealousy. In 1666 a revolt against the prevailing cold formalism of the

Lutheran Church was begun by Philip Jacob Spener, a minister of that

Church, who strongly urged the need for real personal piety on the part of

each individual.His ideas were warmly received by some, and disliked by

others, who stigmatized Spener and his disciples as "Pietists", but the

doctrine spread, and in the course of time the University of Halle became

its centre.Among those who were greatly attracted by the movement were

Count Zinzendorf's parents and grandparents, and when he was born, May

26th, 1700, Spener was selected as his sponsor.

Being of a warm-hearted, devout nature, young Zinzendorf yielded

readily to the influence of his pious grandmother, to whose care he was

left after his father's death and his mother's second marriage, and by her

wish he entered the Paedagogium at Halle in 1710, remaining there six

years.Then his uncle, fearing that he would become a religious enthusiast,

sent him to the University of Wittenberg, with strict orders to apply

himself to the study of law.Here he learned to recognize the good side of

the Wittenberg divines, who were decried by Halle, and tried to bring the

two Universities to a better understanding, but without result.

In 1719 he was sent on an extensive foreign tour, according to custom,

and in the picture gallery of Duesseldorf saw an Ecce Homo with its

inscription "This have I done for thee, what hast thou done for me?" which

settled him forever in his determination to devote his whole life to the

service of Christ.

Rather against his wishes, Count Zinzendorf then took office under the

Saxon Government, but about the same time he bought from his

grandmother the estate of Berthelsdorf, desiring to establish a centre of

piety, resembling Halle.The coming of the Moravian and other refugees

and their settlement at Herrnhut, near Berthelsdorf, was to him at first only

an incident; but as their industry and the preaching of Pastor Rothe, whom

he had put in charge of the Berthelsdorf Lutheran Church, began to attract

attention, he went to Halle, expecting sympathy from his friends

there.Instead he met with rebuke and disapproval, the leaders resenting the

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TheMoraviansinGeorgia1TheMoraviansinGeorgiaAdelaideL.FriesWinston-Salem,N.C.TheMoraviansinGeorgia2ChapterI.AntecedentEvents.TheProvinceofGeorgia.Itwasintheyear1728thattheEnglishParliamentwaspersuadedbyJamesOglethorpe,Esq.--soldier,statesmanandphilanthropist,--toappointacommitteetoinvestigatethecondi...

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