Disturbed by this view of the case, the Schwenkfelders accepted an offer of free transportation to Pennsylvania, where they arrived in safety on the 22nd of September.
Spangenberg had wished to serve as their pastor in Georgia, thinking it would give him opportunity to carry out his cherished wish to bear the gospel message to the heathen, and he felt himself still in a measure bound to them, despite their change of purpose, and at a somewhat later time did visit them in their new home.There was some idea of then taking them to Georgia, but it did not materialize, and they remained permanently in Pennsylvania, settling in the counties of Montgomery, Berks and Lehigh.Their descendents there preserve the customsof their fathers, and are the only representatives of the Schwenkfelder form of doctrine, the sect having become extinct in Europe.
Preliminary Steps.
While the exile of the Schwenkfelders was the immediate cause which led Zinzendorf to open negotiations with the Trustees of the Colony of Georgia, the impulse which prompted him involved far more than mere assistance to them.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.
But this was not enough."My passionate desire," wrote Zinzendorf from Herrnhut in January, 1735, "my passionate desire to make Jesus known among the heathen has found a satisfaction in the blessed Greenland, St.Thomas and Lapp work, but without appeasing my hunger.
I therefore look into every opportunity which presents itself, seeking that the kingdom of my Redeemer may be strengthened among men."Nor did he lack ready assistants, for the Moravians were as eager as he.
"When we in Herrnhut heard of Georgia, of which much was being published in the newspapers, and when we realized the opportunity it would give to carry the Truth to the heathen, several Brethren, who had the Lord's honor much at heart, were led, doubtless by His hand, to think that it would be a good plan to send some Brethren thither, if it might please the Lord to bless our work among the heathen, and so to bring those poor souls, now far from Christ, nigh unto Him.We tried to learn about the land, but could secure no accurate information, for some spoke from hearsay, others with prejudice, and many more with too great partiality.But we at last decided to venture, in the faith that the Lord would help us through."The needs of the Schwenkfelders gave a new turn to their thoughts, and suggested the advantages that might accrue from a settlement in America to which they might all retreat if the persecution in Saxony waxed violent;but early in the year 1734, the question "Shall we go to Georgia only as Colonists, or also as Missionaries?" was submitted to the lot, and the answer was "As Missionaries also."The defection of the Schwenkfelders, therefore, while a serious interference with the Herrnhut plan, was not allowed to ruin the project.
Zinzendorf wrote again to the Trustees, and they repeated their promise of land, provided his colonists would go at their own expense.
After much consultation the decision was reached that Zinzendorf should ask for a tract of five hundred acres, and that ten men should be sent over to begin a town, their families and additional settlers to follow them in a few months.
The next step was to find a way to send these men across the Atlantic.
Baron George Philipp Frederick von Reck, a nephew of Herr von Pfeil,who had led the first company of Salzburgers to Georgia, was planning to take a second company in the course of the next months.
He was young and enthusiastic, met Zinzendorf's overtures most kindly, and even visited Herrnhut in the early part of October, 1734, when, as it happened, nine of the prospective colonists were formally presented to the Congregation.Baron Reck was very much impressed, promised to take with him to Georgia any of the Moravians who wished to go, and even sent to David Nitschmann, who was to conduct the party as far as London, full authorization to bring as many as desired to come, promising each man who went at his own expense a fifty-acre freehold in Georgia, and offering others necessary assistance when they reached London.
This paper was signed at Bautzen, October 22nd, 1734.
