Chapter VI: Disintegration (1)

Spangenberg’s Visit.

After Spangenberg had decided not to comply with the request contained in the letter from Savannah, but to stay and prosecute the work among the Schwenkfelders, where a door seemed to be opening, he became conscious of a feeling of uneasiness, an impression that he was needed in Georgia. This was increased by news of the expected Spanish outbreak, for so general was the alarm that all the war-ships in the northern harbors were ordered to Carolina, and the selling of supplies to the Spaniards was absolutely prohibited.

At this point George Neisser and Benjamin Ingham came, bringing word of the pressure on the Moravians, their decision to leave Georgia as soon as it could be arranged, and their request that Spangenberg should go to England with Ingham to see the Trustees, and secure their consent. Of this plan Spangenberg did not approve, for he thought the war would ruin everything, or else the danger would be over, before he could make the long journey to England, and return. Ingham professed himself ready to carry letters to the Trustees, and do his best to influence them to grant the Moravian requests, so Spangenberg decided to entrust that errand to him, and himself go at once to Georgia, to see whether he could not help matters there.

John Eckstein, a resident of Germantown, a middle-aged man who was in entire sympathy with Spangenberg’s plans for religious work in Pennsylvania, resolved to accompany him on his trip to Georgia. They sailed from Philadelphia on the 22nd of May, 1737, and had a long and very trying voyage. The Captain and crew were evil men, given to cursing and swearing, and more than once they threatened to murder the two passengers, whom they called sorcerers, and accused of bringing the continuous head winds and frequent storms upon them. Seventy-seven long days the voyage lasted; twice they sailed southward past Cape Hatteras, and twice were they driven back to north and east, taking weeks to recover the distance lost; and the Captain finally discovered that not only were the elements against him, but his helmsman was slyly hindering their progress all he could, for some malicious purpose of his own.

To the mental strain of the long journey was added physical discomfort, for firewood gave out, so that no cooking could be done, and for a month the crew lived on hard tack, dried cherries soaked in water, and raw fish,--dolphins caught as need required. Spangenberg and his companion had brought provisions to supplement the ship’s fare, but long before the voyage was ended their store of butter and sugar was exhausted. Dried ham and tongue had a tendency to increase their thirst, but by soaking tea in cold water they made a beverage which bore at least a fancied resemblance to that brewed on shore. Then the supply of water ran low, each man’s allowance was reduced to a pint a day, and even this small amount would have failed had they not been able occasionally to catch rainwater to replenish their casks. The Captain at last opened a keg of beer found in his cargo, and sold his passengers enough to relieve their thirst, for which they were very grateful.

But unkind words, delay, uncooked food, thirst, were not all that Spangenberg and his companion had to bear, for actual danger was added to their experience from time to time. High waves broke over the ship, winds tore away the sails, and a water-spout threatened total destruction. So late was the ship in reaching port that she was given up for lost, and word was sent to Pennsylvania which caused much grief,--needless grief, for Spangenberg’s days of service were not to be ended thus. It sounds almost trivial to say that in the midst of trials of body, mind and soul Spangenberg occupied himself with making buttons, but no doubt the homely, useful labor did its part toward rendering endurable the seemingly endless days.

At last, on the 7th of August, the ship ran on a sandbank near Tybee, and the Moravians, hearing that Spangenberg was on board, took a boat and brought him to Savannah. They had asked him to go to England, he had disregarded their request and come to Georgia, but he was dear to them through many months of united service and mutual help, and they gave him a hearty welcome, ignoring all cause for complaint, and taking him at once into their full confidence. He and Toeltschig sat up all of the first night carefully discussing the condition of affairs and what could be done to remedy them. Their views were very different, for Spangenberg thought they had been too hasty in deciding to leave Georgia, while Toeltschig felt that it was a reflection on the lot to try and hold them in Savannah, when the lot had said “go”. But Toeltschig possessed the rare art of seeing a disputed question through the eyes of those who did not agree with him, as well as from his own standpoint, and now, with no petty self-assertion, he quietly awaited developments, and told Spangenberg all that had happened since Neisser’s departure.

As the alarm concerning an immediate invasion by the Spanish had died away, the inhabitants of Savannah had regained their composure, and the wild outcry against the Moravians gradually ceased. The wagon and oxen which had been taken for work on the fort had been returned to their owners, after seven or eight weeks of hard usage, and the hope that starvation would shake the resolution of the non-combatants had signally failed of fulfillment. The ship which was to bring the town supplies had been twelve weeks late in coming, and the stock in the store-house was almost exhausted. The authorities therefore had announced that provisions would be sold only to those who were helping build the fort. This entirely excluded the Moravians, but instead of suffering from hunger they had been able to share with some of their neighbors. The prices charged at the store in Savannah were always high, so, as he was passing through New York on his return from St. Thomas, Spangenberg had asked a friend to send the Moravians two thousand pounds of flour and salt-meat, for which they were to pay. The merchant at that time knew of no ship sailing for Savannah, so in Philadelphia, Spangenberg had arranged that two thousand pounds of meat should be sent from there at once on a year’s credit. Meanwhile the New York merchant found an opportunity to send what was ordered from him, so the Moravians had been surprised by a double quantity, which proved to be just what they needed during the general scarcity. When the friends in Pennsylvania heard that provisions had been sent, but not enough to last until the next harvest, they gave thirty-six hundred pounds of flour to Spangenberg to be taken, as a present, to the Georgia Moravians, and when word was received that Spangenberg’s ship was lost, they sent an additional eighteen hundred pounds, so the “Society” was well supplied with this necessary article of food for some time to come.

In their household affairs the Moravians had had various experiences. Hermsdorf had been so thoroughly frightened by the demonstrations against the Moravians that on the 16th of May he had sailed for Germany, regardless of Toeltschig’s efforts to persuade him to wait, as his wife might even then be on her way to join him. Not only did he fear the townspeople so greatly that day and night he stayed in his room “as in a prison”, but he was still more afraid to face Gen. Oglethorpe, who, it was said, would soon return. Only once had he joined in the devotional exercises of the household after his return from Frederica, and it was rather a relief when he left for home, having first repaid the amount of his passage to Georgia. He seems to have retained his connection with the Moravian Church, for he was in Herrnhut when Wesley visited there, and showed him many courtesies; and he is mentioned in 1742, as bearing letters to the “Sea Congregation”, then about to sail for Pennsylvania.

On the 6th of June a four-year-old English boy had been taken into their household. He was an orphan, and they meant to bring him up, but the little fellow died on the 23rd of July.

On the 10th of June the matrimonial troubles of George Waschke and Juliana Jaeschke had been happily terminated by their marriage. Waschke had been one of the discontents ever since the arrival of the second company, but when his marriage was finally arranged he professed himself contrite, and promised all obedience to the rules of the “Society”, so long as he stayed in Savannah, though he retained his desire to leave as soon as possible. Juliana also had greatly improved in her behaviour before the wedding.

This marriage was the cause of a very interesting discussion among the Moravians, as to who should perform the ceremony. “In the afternoon the Brethren met to decide who should be appointed to marry Waschke and Juliana. Properly Br. Peter (Rose) should have been ordained by Br. Anton (Seifert) to the office of a “Diener” in the Congregation, that he might marry and baptize, but the Brethren did not think it necessary to ordain him on Waschke’s account, and voted that Toeltschig should marry them. He objected, but they said Toeltschig had been made a ‘Diener’ of the Congregation at Herrnhut. He protested that he had not been sent to Georgia to marry and baptize, and did not wish to do it. The others insisted, and asked that the lot be tried; Toeltschig agreed to submit to their wish, and the lot drawn read ‘he shall marry these two’,” which he did the next day.

Parallel with this is the baptism of Rose’s twin daughters, Anna Catherina and Maria Magdalena, who were born on the 16th of September, 1737,--Anna Catherina dying later in the same year. Of this Toeltschig wrote: “I, at the request of the Brethren, baptized them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, after Br. Anton (Seifert) had ordained me a “Diener” in the Congregation.”

It frequently happens that a puzzling action becomes clear when it is considered from the standpoint of the man who has done it, but when the motive can not be fathomed many things are hard to understand. That Seifert had been empowered to delegate to another member a duty usually reserved for the clergy, was reasonable, though unusual, for his serious illness or death would have left the Congregation without ministration until word could be sent to Germany, and some one else could come to take his place,--a matter of months,--but, when the “Aeltester” was present, in full health, in entire accord with his Congregation, and when he in person confirmed candidates for Church membership, why did he not marry and baptize directly, instead of ordaining a “Diener” especially for those two offices? There must have been some regulation in the Congregation at Herrnhut which led to it, for the idea that Seifert himself should marry Waschke and Juliana, and baptize the Rose children, evidently did not occur to them, but the rule can not now be found, and there is no clue to the strange proceeding.

Soon after the Waschke affair had been settled to the satisfaction of all parties, serious trouble had arisen with Jag and Haberecht. It was reported to the Moravians that Jag had engaged himself to a Swiss woman living in Savannah, and when questioned he admitted that it was true. They argued with him, and pled with him, but to no avail, and finally told him plainly that they would not allow him to bring the woman to their house, and more than that, if he persisted in his determination he would have to leave them; and angry and defiant he did take his departure the next day, July the 10th.

That “troubles never come singly” was exemplified, for the very day that Jag left, Haberecht went to Toeltschig, and asked if some way could not be found so that HE could marry that same Swiss woman! Toeltschig was almost stunned by this second blow, and gave a stern answer, whereupon Haberecht applied to Seifert, the Aeltester, who was equally as unyielding in his condemnation of the acquaintance already made, and his refusal to countenance further steps. Poor Haberecht, less resolute than Jag in his rebellion, drank deeply of the waters of Marah during the next weeks; promising to give up the woman, who was really unworthy of his regard, and then trying to draw Toeltschig into a discussion of his possible marriage; despairingly making his way to the garden to hide himself among the swine, feeling he was fit for no better company, and then going to the woman and asking her to marry him, to which she consented, having already thrown Jag over; again bitter repentance, confession, and a plea that his associates would forgive him. Either he was really in earnest this time, or Spangenberg’s arrival had a salutary effect, for after that the Swiss woman disappears from the story, and two months later Jag returned, promised good behaviour, and humbly asked for readmittance to the household which was at once accorded him.

The first days of his visit to Savannah, Spangenberg spent in acquainting himself with the condition of affairs, and in interviews with the members singly and collectively, trying to persuade them to content themselves in Georgia. The “bands” were reorganized, but he was unable to re-establish a feeling of unity among them, and even those who were willing to stay, and work, and try whether their plan might not still be carried out, felt that it would be unwise to hold the rest, for as Toeltschig wrote, almost with a groan, “it is a blessed thing to live with a little company of brethren, who are of one heart and one soul, where heart and mind are dedicated to Jesus, but so to live, when many have weak wills and principles, and there must be a community of goods, is rather difficult, especially when many seek their own ends, not the things of Christ.”

Spangenberg was forced to see that his arguments were futile, and wisely yielded to the inevitable. At a general conference each man was called upon to state his wishes. Several desired to leave at the earliest possible moment, others as soon as the debt was fully paid; two or three wanted to return to Europe, others preferred to go to Pennsylvania to Spangenberg; some longed to live among the Indians as missionaries, while quite a number were content to stay in Savannah, unless absolutely forced to leave, or definitely called to labor elsewhere. However, no immediate steps were taken toward breaking up the settlement.

On the 12th of August, Spangenberg and Wesley visited the Salzburgers at Ebenezer, by the invitation of Bolzius, the senior pastor. They, too, had had their troubles without and within, and Gronau had mourned over the fact to the Moravians, who deeply sympathized with him. At this time Gronau and Bolzius differed greatly in their feeling for the Moravians. Gronau was openly and honestly on the best of terms with them, but Bolzius, while occasionally accepting their hospitality in Savannah, sent complaints to the Trustees, in keeping with his original protest against their coming to Georgia. The English friends of the Moravians heard of these letters, and were much puzzled, as the reports from the Savannah Congregation spoke only of pleasant relations with the Salzburgers, and requests for union of the two forces. Probably Bolzius was fretted by their refusal to join him, even as the leaders at Halle resented the independence of Herrnhut, and after Gronau’s death, in 1745, the pastors of Ebenezer steadily opposed the efforts of the Moravians to recommence a mission work in Georgia.

Apart from the friction with their fellow townsmen and the lack of united purpose among their own number, Spangenberg found the Moravian colony in good condition. Their devotional hours were steadily observed, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated regularly, and a weekly conference kept the many interests of the “Society” running smoothly.

By the aid of the second company, various improvements had been made, so that their lots and garden presented a prosperous appearance. “They have a house in town (on Spangenberg’s lot) with a supply of wood for the kitchen. Behind the house is a well, with a pump, on which almost the whole town depends, for it not only never goes dry, as do all the others, but it has the best water to be found in the town. From early morning to late at night the people come with barrels, pails and pitchers, to take the water to their homes. Once some one suggested that strangers should be charged so much a pail for the benefit of the orphans, but Frank said ‘they have so far received spiritual water from us without price, let them also have this freely.’ Between the well and the house is a cow shed. They have a cow, which is pastured out during the day, but comes back in the evening, and they use the milk and butter for the sick. Near the shed is a kitchen and bake-oven, and on the other side a hut for their provisions. Behind the well, on Nitschmann’s lot, stands on one side Tanneberger’s and on the other Rose’s cabin, with a roof between, under which the leather is stored, which is to be made into shoes.

“Two English miles from the town they have cleared ten acres, (the garden) and planted corn and rice, which is growing nicely. They have set out mulberry, peach, and apple trees, which are doing well; in the middle of the garden, which is enclosed with a fence and ditch, they have built a corn-house, a cabin in which to live, and a stable.” Another cabin, the first erected in the garden, had been burned in January, at which time Mrs. Waschke was living in it, though she was away when it caught fire, and returned too late to give an alarm and save it. The farm four miles from town was proving unsatisfactory, requiring much labor and yielding little return, and they had about decided to stop cultivating it, and give all their effort to the garden, which was paying well.

From the 14th to the 17th of August, Spangenberg busied himself with the account between the Moravians and the Trustees. In addition to the bonds signed by the first and second companies for their passage to Georgia, and provisions to be delivered on arrival, it had been necessary to get a great deal at the store on credit. On the other hand the men had done a considerable amount of carpenter work and hauling for the Trustees and for others. The account on the books at the Trustees’ store was all in confusion, and as everybody at the store claimed to be too busy to unravel it, Spangenberg obtained permission to do it himself, and found that in addition to the bonds, (60 Pounds and 226 Pounds 13 Shillings 9 Pence,) the Moravians had taken supplies to an amount which gave them a total debt of some 500 Pounds ($2,400.00). Against this they had a credit which entirely paid their current account at the store, and reduced their debt to the Trustees to 121 Pounds 2 Shillings 9 Pence, ($580.80).

On the 19th, a Lovefeast was held in honor of Spangenberg and Eckstein, and on the 21st of August the two visitors sailed for Pennsylvania, landing there safely in due time.

A Closing Door.

With the month of September letters began to come from England and Germany in response to Dober’s report, and the communications sent by Ingham, who presented the Moravian request to the Trustees, (receiving “a sour answer”,) and also sent a full account of their circumstances to Count Zinzendorf. The Count had already written to his distressed brethren, giving his advice on various points, and this letter, which was the first to arrive, gave them little comfort. They had once hoped for reinforcements, earnest men and women who would strengthen their hands for the work among the Indians, and even now it was disappointing to hear that Zinzendorf had decided not to send any more colonists to Georgia. He argued that it would take very few men to supply teachers for Tomochichi’s little village, and that as the Trustees would only permit four missionaries among the more distant tribes, that number could easily be spared from the company already in Savannah.

Regarding military service he repeated his former definite instructions, “you will not bear arms either defensive or offensive.” He said that he had tried to secure from the Trustees a formal “dispensation”, either verbal or written, exempting the Moravians entirely from military duty, but they refused to give it, insisting that the Moravians must at least employ two men to represent the two town lots in defense of the country. Zinzendorf had agreed to this, so far as the night watch was concerned, since such a watch was necessary for civic peace and well-being, and the Moravians were authorized to pay the necessary sums therefor, but he considered it inconsistent to refuse to fight as a matter of conscience and then hire others to do it, and so, as he said, “there is nothing to do but to say NO, and wait.”

Although Spangenberg had hoped it would not be necessary for the Moravians to leave Georgia, he had sent the Trustees their request for permission to go, adding, “Nor indeed is there any reason why they should be detained, since it is their full intention and design to pay every farthing of their debt before they stir a foot; and they have never yet sold their liberty to any man, neither are they bound to any man by any writing or agreement whatsoever. I doubt not therefore but ye will readily shew the same clemency towards innocent and inoffensive men, which any one may expect from your Honors, whose business is not to destroy but to save and benefit mankind. May it please you therefore to send orders to the Magistrate of Savannah that these people may have leave to depart that Province. I do assure your Honors they always thought it a great favor that ye were pleased to send them thither; but now they will think it a greater to be dismissed.”

In reply the Trustees wrote to Mr. Causton, forbidding the introduction of martial law without their express order, and reproving him for having required more than two men from the Moravians, but in that very reproof practically insisting that two must serve. The Moravians thought they had defined their position clearly at the outset, and believed they had the Trustees’ promise that all should be as they desired, and if the Trustees realized the construction placed upon their words they had taken a most unfair advantage of the Moravians by offering them the two town lots as a special favor, and then using the ownership of those lots as a lever to force unwelcome service. On the other hand the Trustees claimed that Zinzendorf had tacitly agreed to furnish two fighting men when he allowed Spangenberg and Nitschmann to take the two freeholds, and one can hardly imagine that the gentlemen who served as Trustees of Georgia would stoop to a subterfuge to gain two soldiers. Probably it was an honest misunderstanding for which neither side was to blame, and of which neither could give a satisfactory explanation, each party having had a clear idea of his own position, and having failed to realize that in the confusion of tongues the other never did grasp the main point clearly.

Regarding the Moravian request for permission to leave, the Trustees declined to give instructions until after an exchange of letters with Zinzendorf; but in a second letter to his Congregation, the Count wrote, “If some do not wish to remain, let them go,” and “if the authorities will not do what you demand it is certain that you must break up and go further; but whether to Pennsylvania, or New York or Carolina, the Lord will show you.” Carolina would be no better than Georgia for their purpose, for the military conditions were identical, and Bishop Nitschmann’s advice that they go to Pennsylvania, together with Spangenberg’s residence there, decided them in favor of that location.

Zinzendorf’s permission having cleared the way for departure, they resolved to wait no longer on the Trustees, and a general conference was held on September 18th, in which definite arrangements were made for the assumption of the debt by those who were willing as yet to remain in Georgia, freeing the four who were to go first. A recent letter had informed Tanneberger of the death of his wife and children in Herrnhut, and the news shattered his already weak allegiance. Without them he cared little where he went, or what became of him, if only he could get away, and Haberecht was more than ready to join him. His young son went as a matter of course, and Meyer, another member who had been lazy and unsatisfactory, completed the party, which sailed for Pennsylvania on the 16th of October. Jag also intended to go, but for some reason waited for the next company.

Haberecht settled at Ephrata, and the two Tannebergers at Germantown. In 1741, Haberecht joined the Moravians who were building in “the forks of the Delaware”, and became one of the first members of the Bethlehem Congregation. In 1745, David Tanneberger married Regina Demuth, who had lost her husband the previous year, and they ultimately moved to Bethlehem also. Meyer never renewed his association with the Moravians.

Before the four started to Pennsylvania, another member had taken the longer journey, and had been laid beside his brethren in the Savannah cemetery. This was George Haberland, who died September 30th, from flux, a prevalent disease, from which almost all of the colonists suffered at one time or another. He had learned much during his life in Georgia, had been confirmed in June with his brother Michael, and had afterward served acceptably as a “Diener” of the Congregation.

On the 7th of October, Seifert and Boehner moved to Tomochichi’s village to perfect themselves in the language, and begin their missionary work. As some of the congregation had already left Savannah, and others were soon to follow, Seifert thought that he could be spared even though he was “Aeltester”, especially as at first he returned to Savannah every Saturday to hold the Sunday services. In November he and Boehner spent several weeks in town helping the carpenters raise the frame of a large house they were building, and when they returned to the Indians in January, 1738, Peter Rose, his wife, and surviving daughter went with them.

Friday, December 13th, John Wesley left Savannah, to return to England. His popularity had long since waned, in the face of his rigid insistance on ecclesiastical rules, and it was said “the Brethren alone can understand him, and remain in love with him.” He was unfortunate enough to provoke a spiteful woman, a niece of Mr. Causton, the Magistrate, and so greatly did the persecution rage under her influence, that Wesley’s chance of doing further good was ruined, and nothing was left but for him to withdraw. The Magistrates forbade him to leave, (secretly rejoicing that they had driven him away,) but he boldly took his departure, without molestation, making his way to Beaufort, where Charles Delamotte joined him. Together they went to Charlestown, where he parted from Delamotte, and on the 2nd of January, 1738, sailed from the continent that had witnessed the shattering of so many fond hopes and ambitions.

Forty-seven years later Brierly Allen settled in Savannah, the first minister there to represent the great denomination which grew from Wesley’s later work in England, and the first Methodist Society in that city of his humiliation was organized in 1806.

During the preceding summer Zinzendorf had written to the Trustees, asking once more for (1) entire exemption from military service for the Georgia Moravians, for (2) permission for them to leave Georgia if this could not be granted, and (3) that at least four might remain among the Indians as missionaries.

In answer the Trustees (1) repeated their former decision regarding freehold representation, (2) gave consent for the Moravians to leave if they would not comply with this, and (3) refused to let them stay as missionaries. “The privilege of going among the Indians was given to your people out of consideration for Your Excellency, and also on account of their good conduct, they being citizens of this colony; but if they cease to reside there, this privilege will not be continued to any of them. To employ them as missionaries to instruct the Indians would be a reflection on our country, as if it could not furnish a sufficient number of pious men to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore your people may continue among the Indians, only so long as they are citizens of the colony.”

This was the death-blow to the Moravian settlement in Georgia. Had the Trustees exemplified their much-vaunted religious toleration by respecting the conscientious scruples of the Moravians, there were enough members of the Savannah Congregation who wanted to stay in Georgia to form the nucleus of the larger colony which would surely have followed them, for while they were willing to give up everything except religious liberty, they were human enough to regret having to abandon the improvements which they had made at the cost of so much labor and self-denial. The Church at large shared this feeling, and for many years watched and waited for an opportunity to re-open the work in Savannah, but without result. If the Trustees had even permitted the Moravians to stay as missionaries it might have saved the settlement to Georgia, for within a decade the English Parliament passed an Act granting the Moravians the very exemption for which they now asked in vain, and had there been a promising work begun among the Indians during the intervening years it would inevitably have drawn more laborers, as it did in Pennsylvania. But the Trustees shut the door in their faces, other promising and more hospitable fields opened, and the Moravian efforts were thereafter given to the upbuilding of other commonwealths.

In the latter part of January, 1738, eight more of the Moravian colonists left Savannah,--Gotthard Demuth and his wife, George Waschke, his wife and mother, Augustin Neisser, Gottlieb Demuth, and David Jag, those who remained giving them money and provisions for their journey to Pennsylvania. Gotthard Demuth and wife settled in Germantown, later moving to Bethlehem and joining in the organization of that Congregation. In 1743 they were again living at Germantown, where Gotthard died the following year. Regina subsequently married David Tanneberger and moved once more to Bethlehem. Gottlieb Demuth lived at several places, but finally married, and settled in the Moravian Congregation at Schoeneck. Jag, who located at Goshenhopper, and the Waschkes and Augustin Neisser who went to Germantown, never rejoined the Church.

On the 28th of January, the Moravians in Savannah received an unlooked-for addition to their number. Toeltschig wrote to Spangenberg, “Yesterday two boys, who belong to Herrnhut, came unexpectedly to our house. They ran away from the Brethren in Ysselstein and went to Mr. Oglethorpe in London, begging him to send them to the Brethren in Georgia. He did so, but we will have to pay their transportation. One is Zeisberger’s son David, about 17 years old, and the other John Michael Schober, about 15 years old. Both are bad boys.” It appears that when Zeisberger’s parents went to Georgia he was left in Herrnhut to finish his education. From there Count Zinzendorf took him to a Moravian settlement near Utrecht, Holland, where he was employed as errand boy in a shop. He was treated with well-meant but ill-judged severity, and finally after a particularly trying and undeserved piece of harshness in October, 1737, he and his friend Schober decided to try and make their way to his parents in Georgia. In this they succeeded, and though their story was received with disapprobation, they soon made a place for themselves. Schober did not live very long, but Zeisberger, from the “bad boy” of Toeltschig’s letter, became the assistant of Peter Boehler in South Carolina, and later the great “apostle to the Indians”.

During this Spring the Moravians strained every nerve to do an amount of work sufficient to balance their account with the Trustees. It took a little longer than they expected, but at last Toeltschig was ready for his journey to England, the lot having previously decided that he should go as soon as financial affairs made it proper. His wife remained in Savannah, it being uncertain whether he would stay in Germany or return to America. John Regnier took his place as financial agent of the Moravians.

On March 12th, Toeltschig went aboard a ship, bound for Charlestown, sailing from Tybee two days later. On the 18th, he reached Charlestown, whence he sailed April 1st, bearing with him the record of their account with the Trustees, and commissioned to tell the authorities at Herrnhut all about the Georgia colony. On the 30th of May, the vessel touched at Cowes, where Toeltschig landed, making his way overland to London which he reached on the 2nd of June.

On the 11th of June, Toeltschig, accompanied by Richter, went to present the account to the Trustees. They asked him many questions concerning Georgia, all of which he answered frankly, receiving most courteous attention. Three days later a settlement was reached. The written accounts showed that the Moravians were short 3 Pounds 5 Shillings 5 Pence, which Toeltschig offered to pay in cash, but the Trustees said they realized that the supplies provided for in the second bond had been rated at a higher price in Georgia than in England, and they were content to consider the obligations as fully discharged, interest included. Toeltschig answered “I am VERY glad,” a short sentence which spoke volumes!

Wesley, Ingham and Toeltschig.

During the days which elapsed between his arrival in London and the meeting of the Trustees, Toeltschig had many interviews with those who had been “awakened” by the two companies of Moravian colonists, by Count Zinzendorf, and by Peter Boehler and George Schulius. The last two were even then at Portsmouth, on their way to America, and the interest caused by their visit was very manifest.

John and Charles Wesley had been particularly attracted to Boehler, the former especially finding great relief in laying his many spiritual perplexities before him. Wesley complained that when he conversed with Spangenberg in Georgia, and they could not agree on any point, Spangenberg would drop the subject and refuse to discuss it further, but in Boehler he found a clearness of argument, and power of persuasion which convinced without irritating him.

Having passed through many stages with the guidance, sympathy, and encouragement of Boehler, Wesley at last found the assurance of salvation he had sought for so many years, and three weeks after Boehler left London, he records that at a meeting of their society “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” A few days previously his brother Charles had made the same happy experience, and this gave to their religious life the warmth and fervor which, added to the zeal, industry and enthusiasm that had always characterized them, made their labors of so much value to England, and founded the denomination which has grown so rapidly in America, still bearing the name once given in derision to the little group of Oxford “Methodists”.

But Wesley’s mind was not one of those which can rest contentedly upon one vital truth, he must needs run the whole gamut of emotion, and resolve every point raised by himself or others into a definite negative or affirmative in his own life. Once settled in a position to his entire satisfaction, he was as immovable as a mountain, and this was at once the source of his power and his weakness, for thousands gladly followed the resolute man, and found their own salvation therein, while on the other hand the will which would never bend clashed hopelessly with those who wished sometimes to take their turn in leading. So he became an outcast from the Church of England, alienated from Ingham, Whitefield, and other friends of his youth, estranged from the Moravians, even while he was one of the greatest religious leaders England has ever produced.

At the time of Toeltschig’s sojourn in London, however, he was in the early, troubled stage of his experience, rejoicing in what he had attained through Boehler’s influence, but beset with doubts and fears. And so, as he records in his Journal, he determined “to retire for a short time into Germany, where he hoped the conversing with those holy men who were themselves living witnesses of the full power of faith, and yet able to bear with those that are weak, would be a means, under God, of so establishing his soul, that he might go on from faith to faith, and from strength to strength.”

Ingham, meanwhile, informed of Toeltschig’s arrival in London, had hastened “over one hundred and forty miles” to see his friend, a fact that seems to have touched Toeltschig deeply, and arranged to go with him to Herrnhut, as they had often planned while still in Georgia. John Wesley joined them, and the three young men sailed on June 24th, landing at Rotterdam two days later. Wesley’s Journal does not mention Toeltschig by name, but on leaving Rotterdam he says, “we were eight in all, five English and three Germans,” and there is no doubt that Toeltschig went with them to Marienborn to report to Count Zinzendorf, who was living there during his temporary exile from Herrnhut.

In Rotterdam, Dr. Koker showed the party much kindness, while at Baron von Watteville’s in Ysselstein, they were received “as at home”. At Amsterdam, they joined in the meeting of the “societies” established under Moravian influences, and from there proceeded to Cologne, and up the Rhine to Frankfort. Having neglected to supply themselves with passports, they experienced much difficulty whenever they reached a walled city, sometimes being refused admittance altogether, and at other times being allowed to enter only after much delay, which caused Wesley to “greatly wonder that common sense and common humanity do not put an end to this senseless, inhuman usage of strangers.” When any of their number had an acquaintance in the city to which they had come they sent in a note to him, and he would arrange for their entrance, and at Frankfort they applied to Peter Boehler’s father, who entertained them “in the most friendly manner.”

On Tuesday, July 15th, they reached Marienborn, where Wesley remained for fifteen days, and Ingham for about seven weeks.

From Marienborn, Wesley went to Herrnhut, stopping at Erfurt, Weimar, Jena, Halle, Leipsig and Dresden on the way. He remained at Herrnhut twelve days, and then returned by the same route to Marienborn, and to England.

This trip to Germany has been given as the beginning of the breach between Wesley and the Moravians, but it is doubtful whether such was really the case. In the “Memoirs of James Hutton” it is stated that Wesley was offended because Ingham was admitted to the Communion at Marienborn, while permission was refused him, and that he secretly brooded over the injury, but Wesley himself does not mention the occurrence, and refers to Marienborn as a place where he met what he “sought for, viz.: living proofs of the power of faith,” and where he stayed twelve days longer than he at first intended. The tone of his account of Herrnhut is also distinctly friendly, though he did not unreservedly accept two or three theological statements made to him, but the long conversations he records prove his joy at finding sympathy, and confirmation of what he wanted to believe concerning justification by faith, and the fact that a weak faith was still a real faith, and as such should be cherished and strengthened, not despised. He could not have been greatly influenced against the Moravians by his visit to Halle, for each time he stayed but one night, and on the first occasion Professor Francke was not at home, nor were their arguments new to him, that they should have impressed him deeply.

It frequently happens that when a controversy has arisen between friends, both parties look backward and read into former words and deeds a meaning they did not have at the time they transpired, and most probably this is what has happened in regard to the trip to Germany and its effect on Wesley.

Immediately on his return to England, Wesley began an active religious campaign, drawing such crowds of all kinds of people that the various churches in turn closed their doors upon him, and eight months later he followed Whitefield into open air preaching, after consultation with the Fetter Lane Society. This Society had been organized at the time of Boehler’s visit to London, and was composed of members of the earlier Methodist societies, Germans residing in London, and English who had been interested in salvation by Zinzendorf and the Moravian companies bound for Georgia. It had met in the home of James Hutton until it outgrew the rooms, and was then transferred to the Chapel at 32 Fetter Lane. It was an independent Society, with no organic connection with the Moravian Church, and the religious work was carried on under the leadership of John Wesley, and, in his frequent absences, by James Hutton and others who leaned strongly toward the Moravians, some of whose customs had been adopted by the Society. The Hutton “Memoirs” state that Wesley made an effort to break off intercourse between the Society and the Moravians soon after his return from Germany, but failed, and matters continued to move smoothly until about the time that Wesley began his field preaching. During the subsequent months disputes arose among the members, largely on account of views introduced by Philip Henry Molther, who at that time had a tendency toward “Quietism”. Molther was detained for some time in England, waiting for a ship to take him to Pennsylvania, he having received a call to labor in the Moravian Churches there, and being a fluent speaker he learned English rapidly and made a deep impression on many hearers.

Wesley was much hurt by the dissensions in his Society, and entirely opposed to Molther’s views, and after several efforts to bring all the members back to his own position, he, on Sunday, July 31st, 1740, solemnly and definitely condemned the “errors” and withdrew from the Fetter Lane Society, adding “You that are of the same judgment, follow me.” About twenty-five of the men and “seven or eight and forty likewise of the fifty women that were in the band” accepted his invitation, and with them he organized the “Foundry Society”. Into the Foundry Society and the many others organized among his converts, Wesley introduced lovefeasts and “bands” (or “classes”,) both familiar to him from the Fetter Lane Society, which had copied them from the Moravians. When his societies grew so numerous that he could not personally serve them all he selected lay assistants, and then “became convinced that presbyter and bishop are of the same order, and that he had as good a right to ordain as to administer the Sacraments.” He, therefore, ordained bishops for America, and Scotland, and registered his chapels in order to protect them, according to the Act of Toleration. This gave the Methodist body a separate legal status, but Wesley always claimed that he was still a member of the Church of England, and would not allow the preachers of his English societies to administer the Sacraments, a right which was finally granted them by the Methodist Conference after his death.

When Benjamin Ingham returned from Georgia he commenced to preach the Gospel in Yorkshire, his native place, and at the time of his journey to Germany a promising work was begun there. From Herrnhut he wrote to Count Zinzendorf asking that Toeltschig be permitted to visit him in England, and the request was granted a few months later. Meanwhile Ingham’s work prospered mightily, so that in June, 1739, he was forbidden the use of the churches, and forced to imitate Wesley and preach in the open air. Some forty societies were formed, and in November, Toeltschig went to him, making many friends among the people, repeating his visit at intervals during the following months.

The intimacy between Ingham and the Moravians became closer and closer, and in July, 1742, he formally handed over the care of his societies in Yorkshire and Lascashire to the Moravian Church, himself going into new fields, and then giving new societies into their keeping. It has often been stated that Ingham was a Moravian, but this is a mistake. During these years he worked with them shoulder to shoulder, but there is no record of his having been received into their Church as a member, nor did they reordain him into their ministry. The situation would be more strange to-day than it was then, for there was apparent chaos in England, the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters before “light shone, and order from disorder sprung,” and the Moravians did not care to emphasize their independence of the Anglican Church lest it injure their usefulness. In 1744, when England was threatened with a French invasion, a number of loyal addresses were presented to the King, and among them one from the “United Brethren in England, in union with the ancient Protestant Episcopal Bohemian and Moravian church,” a designation selected after long and careful discussion as to a true term which would avoid placing them among the Dissenters from the Church of England.

When the Moravians took over the Yorkshire Societies in 1742 they established headquarters at Smith House, near Halifax, but this not proving permanently available, Ingham, in 1744, bought an estate near Pudsey, where the Moravians planted a settlement which they called “Lamb’s Hill”, later “Fulneck”. In 1746 and 1749 Ingham presented to the Moravians the ground on which the Chapel and two other houses stood, but for the rest they paid him an annual rent. The property is now held of Ingham’s descendents on a lease for five hundred years.

In 1753 Ingham withdrew from his close association with the Moravians, and established a new circle of societies, himself ordaining the ministers who served them. These societies flourished for a while, but about 1759 Ingham became imbued with the doctrines of a certain Sandeman, and the result was the almost total wrecking of his societies. This broke Ingham’s heart, and affected his mind, so that his last days were very sad. He passed away in 1772, and his societies gradually merged themselves into other churches.

John Toeltschig, Ingham’s friend in Georgia and his co-laborer in Yorkshire, came to England in November, 1739, in company with Hutton, who had been to Germany to form a closer acquaintance with the Moravians. After the debt to the Trustees was paid, Toeltschig had eagerly planned new things for Georgia,--extension of work among the Indians, a settlement further up the Savannah River, the strengthening of the Savannah Congregation, from which missionaries could be drawn and by which they should be supported while laboring among the heathen tribes. He offered to return to America at once, ready for any duty, but requesting that he might not be sole financial manager again, as he had found it most difficult to attend to those duties, and at the same time share in the spiritual work.

The elders of the Church, after carefully weighing all the circumstances, decided not to send him back to Georgia, but that he should go to England, to labor in the Fetter Lane Society, and among its friends.

The first step was a visit to Ingham in Yorkshire, and the reception given him was so cordial and the field so promising that he went again, and yet again. Boehler and Spangenberg returned to England and traveled hither and thither in response to the calls that came from every side, other members aided as they could, and the societies under their direction grew apace. Fetter Lane Society was organized into a congregation in November, 1742, and the others followed in due time. The Moravian Church was introduced into Ireland, and took a firm hold there. In England its successes were paralleled with much opposition, and in 1749, after several years of preparation, an appeal was made to Parliament for recognition as a Protestant Episcopal Church, with full liberty of conscience and worship throughout Great Britain and her colonies. General Oglethorpe warmly championed their cause, and after a thorough investigation of Moravian history and doctrine, the bill was passed, May 12th, 1749, and the Moravian right to liberty of worship, freedom from military service, and exemption from oath-taking was unreservedly granted.

While not involved in these Parliamentary proceedings, Toeltschig played an important part in the development of the Moravian Church in England and Ireland. Although he had great success as a preacher, his especial talents were as an organizer, and as leader of the “bands”, as might be expected of a man with a judicial mind, executive ability, and great tact. He was Elder of the “Pilgrim Congregation” formed at Fetter Lane in May, 1742, a congregation composed exclusively of “laborers” in the Lord’s vineyard, and he was also one of the committee charged with the oversight of the general work.

In February, 1748, he went to Ireland, as superintendent of the societies there, some of which had been organized by Wesley, but now wished to unite with the Moravians. In 1752 he conducted a company of colonists to Pennsylvania, but the next year went back to Ireland, where certain troubles had arisen which he could quiet better than any one else.

After Zinzendorf’s death in 1760, Toeltschig was one of that company of leading men who met in Herrnhut to provide for the immediate needs of the Moravian Church, whose enemies prophesied disintegration upon the death of the man who had been at its head for more than thirty years. These predictions failed of fulfillment, and “it was demonstrated that the Lord had further employment for the Unitas Fratrum.”

Less renowned than many of his confreres, Toeltschig was a type of that class of Moravians who carried their Church through slight and blight into the respect and good-will of the world. Industrious and scrupulously exact in business affairs, courteous and considerate in his dealings with others, firm and fearless in matters of conscience, bold to declare his faith, and witness for his Master, energetic and “conservatively progressive” in promoting the growth of his church, he took little part in the controversies of his day, but devoted himself unreservedly to preaching the Gospel as it was read by John Hus, by the founders of the ancient Unitas Fratrum, by the renewers of that Church in Herrnhut, “Salvation by faith in Christ and real Christian living according to the precepts of the Bible.”

The Negro Mission.

John Toeltschig had been the diarist of the Moravian Congregation in Savannah, as well as their treasurer and most able member, and after he left very little record was kept of the daily occurrences. A few stray letters have been preserved, but little of interest appears therein, beyond the facts that the summer of 1738 was hot and dry, and that the Moravians were not molested, although always conscious of the under-current of antagonism.

Some time during these months Matthias Seybold left for Pennsylvania, where he married, and was one of the company that established the settlement at Bethlehem. He returned to Europe in 1742, and died at Herrnhut in 1787.

In May, the Rev. George Whitefield reached Georgia, “authorized to perform all religious offices as Deacon of the Church of England, in Savannah and Frederica,” in the place of John Wesley. The poverty of the people touched him deeply, he distributed to the most needy such sums as he had brought for their relief, and with James Habersham, who had come over at the same time, he agreed upon the erection of an Orphan House. Whitefield visited Ebenezer, and acquainted himself with conditions there and elsewhere, and then returned to England, in August, to raise funds for his Orphan House, Habersham meanwhile beginning to collect and instruct the most neglected children.

During his stay in Georgia, Whitefield lodged with Charles Delamotte, who was still carrying on the little school. During the winter Delamotte had boarded for a while with the Moravians, and when he returned to England in the autumn, he at once associated himself with the English members. Tyerman in his “Life and Times of John Wesley”, says, “On his return to England, Charles Delamotte became a Moravian, settled at Barrow-upon-Humber, where he spent a long life of piety and peace, and died in 1790.”