Detailed reports on the Salzburger emigrants who settled in America ... Volume 7, 1740 / edited by Samuel Urlsperger ; translated and edited by George Fenwick Jones and Don Savelle ; with a new foreword by Ben Marsh

Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America . . .: Volume Seven, 1740
Detailed Reports on theSalzburger EmigrantsWho Settled in America ...Edited by Samuel Urlsperger


University of Georgia Libraries

JAMES HABERSHAMFRIEND OF THE SALZBURGERS

Detailed Reports on theSalzburger EmigrantsWho Settled in America ...Edited by Samuel Urlsperger

VOLUME SEVEN, 1740

Translated and Edited byGEORGE FENWICK JONESandDON SAVELLE


THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESSATHENS

Copyright 1983 by the University of Georgia PressAthens, Georgia 30602

All rights reserved

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

(Revised for vol. 7)

Urlsperger, Samuel, 1685-1772, comp.

Detailed reports on the Salzburger emigrants who settled in America.

(Wormsloe Foundation. Publications, no. 9- )

Vols. 6- translated and edited by George Fenwick Jones and Renate Wilson ; v. 7- translated and edited by George Fenwick Jones and Don Savelle.

Translation of Ausfhrliche Nachricht von den saltzburgischen Emigranten, die sich in America niedergelassen haben.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

CONTENTS: v. 1. 1733-1734.--v. 2. 1734-1735.etc.--v. 7. 1740.

1. Salzburgers in Georgia--History--Sources. 2. German Americans--Georgia--History--Sources. 3. Lutherans--Georgia--History--Sources. 4. Ebenezer, Ga.--History--Sources. 5. Georgia--History--Colonial period. ca. 1600-1775--Sources. 6. Stockbridge Indians--Missions--History--Sources. 7. Indians of North America--Georgia--Missions--History--Sources. I. Jones, George Fenwick, 1916-.II. Wilson, Renate, 1930-.III. Title. IV. Series.

F295.SlU813975.8'0043167-27137

ISBN 0-8203-0664-9 (v. 7)

Volumes 1-5 of Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America were published as part of the Wormsloe Foundation Publications series. The publication of volume 7 has been made possible by grants from the University of Maryland and from the Provincial Government of Salzburg (Salzburger Landesregierung). The preparation of this volume was supported in part by a grant from the Program for Translations of the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency.

Reissue published in 2021

Most University Press titles are availablefrom popular e-book vendors.

Printed digitally

ISBN 9780820361291 (Hardcover)

ISBN 9780820361284 (Paperback)

ISBN 9780820361277 (Ebook)

CONTENTS


Foreword to the Reissue


ix


Introduction by George Fenwick Jones and Don Savelle


1


Daily Reports of the Two Ministers, Boltzius and Gronau, from the 1st of January to the end of the year


11


Notes


281


Index of Hymns Sung in 1740


302


Index


306

Foreword to the Reissue

The Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America offer an extraordinary window into the day-to-day lives of colonists establishing new settlements in North America. A unique mix of Protestant propaganda, social history, community study, spiritual biography, and environmental and economic reportage, the reports were originally edited by Lutheran theologian Samuel Urlsperger (1685-1772) in the imperial city of Augsburg, Bavaria, in the eighteenth century and published in Halle under the title Ausfhrliche Nachricht von den saltzburgischen Emigranten, die sich in America niedergelassen haben (1735-51). His reports were carefully crafted from a patchwork of rich colonial sources, by far the most important of which were the intimate observations of the German religious pastors who assumed responsibility for the communitys evolution. It was in Rotterdam, Holland, in 1733 that Rev. Johann Martin Boltzius and Rev. Israel Christian Gronau first encountered numerous families of Protestant exiles from Salzburg, Austria. Thanks to the financial and political support of German Protestant networks (especially the Francke Foundation at Halle), the Georgia Trustees, and the English Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, the exiles became transatlantic settlers, relocating to a new township that they established upstream from Georgias new capital, Savannah.

In the space of twenty years, Urlsperger amassed the reports from the pastors travel diaries, letters, lists, grievances, and requests, while further information was parsed from settlers, colonial authorities, and correspondents. Gronau died in 1745, but he was succeeded by Hermann Lemke as an assistant pastor to Boltzius, the latter offering real continuity within the Ebenezer settlement until his death in 1765, well beyond the lifespan of the Detailed Reports. The end products were by no means neutral publications, for comparison with surviving original documents in Halle indicate that multiple filters were in place to ensure the published messages were in step with what the editors wished to convey. The selection of events and the voices expressed by the pastors were with one eye on eventual publication, while Urlsperger happily omitted elements he thought best unsaidmeaning that readers of the Detailed Reports have to penetrate their overarching intent to demonstrate a story akin to wider tropes in the American creed: Cities on a Hill and Manifest Destiny.1 News of these Pietists successfully overcoming the trials and tribulations of Atlantic colonialism was intended to shore up German Protestantism, to support Anglo-German diplomatic networks, and to bring patronage for the future support of European religious refugees.

In spite of these editorial dangers and the relentless sermonizing, the sheer volume of material and the extraordinary depth of insight into the personal lives of a host of Georgia settlers present real opportunity for historical reconstruction through the eyes of participants in colonial encounters, conflicts, and community building. Indeed, one of the ironies of a curated archive intended to show a singular power at work is that the Detailed Reports clearly reveal the multiplicity of peoples, interests, languages, and ambitions at play in the eighteenth-century Low Country. Pioneer settlersthemselves a heterodox bunch not just from Salzburg but from the Rhineland, England, Scotland, Ireland, French-Swiss cantons, the Piedmont, South Carolina, and the Caribbeanwere sandwiched between European imperial powers, in the shadow of powerful Indigenous peoples and the growing presence of racial slavery and people of African origin in neighboring British colonies. Though at first resistant, by the early 1750s the leaders of the Ebenezer settlement had publicly reconciled themselves to what they described in the Detailed Reports as the need and the opportunity to invest in the purchase of enslaved Africans to labor on their estates.2 As in other areas, this was a reflection of how several of the settlements idiosyncrasies faded as the townships economy and society became integrated into wider regional patterns and markets.

There is no question that since the Detailed Reports translation and publication, scholars of German-speaking peoples in the Atlantic world haveto use a Salzburg occupationmined extensively and innovatively among these sources for fresh insights into processes of diaspora, worship, exchange, and cultural creolization. At first, the Detailed Reports provided texture for groundbreaking works in the late twentieth century that traced Georgias early social and cultural history, including George Fenwick Joness own syntheses and Harold E. Daviss rich exploration of colonial life.3 Later generations drilled into particular facets of the Salzburgers experiences and their relationship to wider trends in the German Atlantic, including Renate Wilsons exploration of charitable and medical networks, A. G. Roebers assessment of ideas of liberty and property among German Lutherans in British America, and other works comparing the development of Moravian immigrant streams, with whom relations were sometimes strained in Georgia.4 More recently, scholars have used the volumes in pursuit of microhistories, genealogical and biographic snapshots, and contingent works that address how questions of gender, agriculture, slavery, and migration intersected in the disjointed world of the mid-eighteenth-century Low Country.5 Far from the simple story of conquering the wilderness that they originally purported to chart, the Detailed Reports retain huge potential. Renewed attention to the commentary they offer will complicate and nuance ongoing research into how Georgias earliest Europeans misunderstood, adapted, competed, influenced, and transformed not only their immediate locale but also the larger Atlantic world.

BEN MARSH

Notes

1. George Fenwick Jones, ed., Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America Edited by Samuel Urlsperger (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1968), 1:xii

2. Jones, Detailed Reports, 16:99.

3. George Fenwick Jones, The Salzburger Saga: Religious Exiles and Other Germans Along the Savannah (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984); George Fenwick Jones, The Georgia Dutch: From the Rhine and Danube to the Savannah, 1733-1783 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1992); Harold E. Davis, The Fledgling Province: Social and Cultural Life in Colonial Georgia, 1733-1776 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1976).

4. Renate Wilson, Pious Traders in Medicine: A German Pharmaceutical Network in Eighteenth-Century North America (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000); A. G. Roeber, Palatines, Liberty, and Property: German Lutherans in Colonial British America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993); Hartmut Lehmann, Hermann Wellenreuther, and Renate Wilson, eds., In Search of Peace and Prosperity: New German Settlements in Eighteenth-Century Europe and America (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000).

5. Aaron Spencer Fogleman, Two Troubled Souls: An Eighteenth-Century Couples Spiritual Journey in the Atlantic World (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013); Paul M. Pressly, On the Rim of the Caribbean: Colonial Georgia and the British Atlantic World (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2013); Susanne Lachenicht, ed., Europeans Engaging the Atlantic: Knowledge and Trade, 1500-1800 (Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2014); James Van Horn Melton, Religion, Community, and Slavery on the Colonial Southern Frontier (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015); Ben Marsh, Unravelled Dreams: Silk and the Atlantic World 1500-1830 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).

INTRODUCTION

Readers of the previous volumes in this series will be acquainted with the situation of the Georgia Salzburgers at the beginning of the year 1740. Those who come upon this volume first are advised to read the introduction to the preceding volumes or else be content with the knowledge that these reports were written by John Martin Boltzius and his assistant, Israel Christian Gronau, two Lutheran divines assigned to a small group of religious exiles from Salzburg who settled in Georgia in 1734 and the following years. This little flock, a minute fraction of the more than 20,000 Protestants who renounced their homeland rather than their faith, was joined in Georgia by religious exiles from Upper Austria and later by individual German redemptioners, or indentured servants, from Savannah. Because so many of these redemptioners came from the Rhenish Palatinate, they were all lumped together under the term Palatines.

Upon arriving in Georgia, the Salzburgers established the town of Ebenezer some twenty-five miles northwest of Savannah on pine barrens surrounded by cypress swamps, an area that soon proved inaccessible, infertile, and unhealthy. Fortunately, bureaucratic bungling delayed the distribution of land until it had become obvious that the settlement would never succeed on such sterile soil. Consequently, James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, reluctantly allowed the surviving Salzburgers to move to the Red Bluff on the Savannah River. The name Ebenezer was transferred to the new town, while the older settlement was henceforth called Old Ebenezer. After their fiasco at Old Ebenezer and their initial hardships at New Ebenezer, the surviving Salzburgers at last received good land and achieved some success in agriculture. In his journal entry for 25 June 1740 George White-field, the English preacher and benefactor of the Georgia Salzburgers, wrote:

Went on Monday to, and returned this evening from Ebenezer, which I have seen with no small satisfaction. Surely there is a difference, even in this life, between those that serve the Lord, and those that serve Him not. All other places of the colony seem to be like Egypt, where was darkness, but Ebenezer, like the land of Goshen, wherein was great light. For near four miles did I walk in almost one continued field, with a most plentiful crop of corn, pease, potatoes, etc., growing upon it, - all the products of a few months labour. But God blesses the labourers; they are unanimous, the strong help the weak, and all seem hearty for the common good. In a few years, the Saltzburghers, I believe, will be a flourishing people. Their land is good, and lies very near the river. They already provide food, and before long, will be capable of providing raiment for themselves. I shall send them up cotton, spinning wheels, and a loom to begin a manufactory for themselves; and next year they hope their own land will produce enough flax, cotton, etc., to carry it on. I had communications with their ministers. Our sister Orphan House there, is blessed by their means. Yesterday was set apart as a day of thanksgiving for assistance sent the orphans from Germany and Savannah. The people seemed very grateful. They willingly received me into their clean little huts, and seemed proud when I accepted any thing from their hands. As I said formerly, so I say again, they who help the Saltzburghers will do a good work. They want assistance. Lord, raise them up benefactors.1

This favorable view was shared by Thomas Jones, the keeper of the storehouse in Savannah, who wrote on 18 September 1740:

Having mentioned Darien, which is a town inhabited by the Highland Scotch, under the Care of Mr. McCloud, the People live very comfortably, with great Unanimity: I know of no other Settlement in this Colony more desirable, except Ebenezer, a Town on the River Savannah, at 35 Miles Distance from hence, inhabited by Saltzburghers and other Germans, under the pastoral Care of Mr. Bolzius and Mr. Gronau, who are discreet, worthy Men; they consist of 60 Families on upwards. The Town is neatly built, the Situation exceeding pleasant, the People live in the greatest Harmony with their Ministers, and with one another, as one Family: they have no idle, drunken, or profligate People among them, but are industrious, many grown wealthy; and their Industry hath been blessed with remarkable and uncommon Success, to the envy of their Neighbours; having great Plenty of all the necessary Conveniences for life (except Cloathing) within themselves; and supply this Town and other neighbouring Places with Bread Kind, as also Beef, Veal, Pork, Poultry, &c.2

As Boltzius well knew and often reported to his superiors, the Salzburgers belated success was owed primarily to private enterprise, which had succeeded where their earlier communal endeavor had failed. Once the settlers owned their own land and cattle, progress was rapid; for, as Swiss farmers discovered long before, cattle fatten best under their masters eye (Dein selbers aug daz vich macht faiss). Despite the difficulties incident to frontier life, many of the Salzburgers had grown wealthy, to use Thomas Jones somewhat exaggerated expression. Georg Kogler, for example, owned fourteen head of cattle besides other livestock, as his wife Maria wrote to her sister on 21 February.3

Despite their desire to work independently, the Salzburgers were still rural enough, and Christian enough, to look out for each other, as we see from their willing support of the orphanage. White-field was to the point where he wrote, they are unanimous; the strong help the weak, and all seem hearty for the common good. This sense of communal effort was splendidly manifested in 1740 in the building of the grist mill on Ebenezer Creek, a feat not equalled elsewhere in Colonial Georgia and worthy of being commemorated by an excellent etching by the celebrated engraver Tobias Conrad Lotter of Augsburg, which was printed in 1747 by Matthaus Seuter of that city.4 Needless to say, this cooperation was furthered by Boltzius who, through both Christian and economic arguments, had persuaded the church builders to be content with modest wages (26 January) and used similar arguments later with regard to the mill (1 July).

The construction of the mill posed a dilemma for Boltzius. A clergyman devoted to God rather than to Mammon should have put church construction first, especially since Whitefield had provided money collected specifically for that purpose (11 January). On the other hand, Oglethorpe was urging the Salzburgers to plant wheat, barley, rye, and oats, grains which were of little use to the Salzburgers as long as they had no mill. Putting economic need before religious obligation, Boltzius interrupted church construction (after token work to pacify Whitefield) and directed all efforts to the mill. In this his chief workers, such as the master-builder Kogler, received just wages, whereas the rank and file contributed their efforts in return for future use of the mill (20 August). It is to be noted that work on both projects was discontinued during the spring planting season.

Whereas fieldwork at Ebenezer was usually either private or communal, we find one case of an economic system that was later to play a baneful role in Georgia history, that of the share-cropping agreement between the clockmaker Mueller and a Palatine redemptioner (1 March). Being an old man of about fifty and too weak to work his land, Mueller shared it with the landless Palatine in return for half the crop. In this case, however, social and economic equality survived, since Muellers son, Johann Paul, helped the share-cropper in his work. Incidentally, share-cropping does not appear to have been a German custom.

Another evil soon to be inflicted on Georgia was already in the offing, namely, the slavery that was still illegal but was being advocated by the Malcontents, a group of disgruntled inhabitants in Savannah, mostly lowland Scots.5 It is sometimes pointed out that Boltzius objections to slavery (all of which proved true) were chiefly of a practical rather than a moral nature, since he argued that slavery was uneconomic and dangerous (as he did, for example, in his entries for 23 April and 14 July). But it should be remembered that his arguments were usually aimed at the British authorities, who, he assumed, would be more receptive to worldly reasons. His entry for 20 July proves that he considered slavery morally as well as economically wrong.

When the Georgia trustees, or administrators of the colony of Georgia, held up Ebenezer as proof that white men could subsist in Georgia without African slaves, the Malcontents countered that the Salzburgers were yearly supported from Germany and England. To this the Earl of Egmont, the leader of the Trustees, rejoined that their friends may make them presents but they support themselves.6 There was some truth in the Malcontents claims, for the Salzburgers did receive funds for building their parsonages, church, and orphanage, to say nothing of liberal donations of clothing. In this regard, 1740 was a banner year. Whitefield arrived in Savannah on 11 January bearing gifts for Ebenezer, which were duly itemized in Boltzius entry for 16 January, namely, foodstuffs, clothing, and 73 b 18 Sh., a bell, and a barrel of hardware for the church. On 8 February the congregation received a large chest that had been dispatched two years earlier from Halle and had been lost en route, and on 19 May they received another crate that had been intended for the Lutheran missions in Cuddalore, India, but had been misdirected to Ebenezer. A third crate, apparently even larger, arrived on 3 August.7 These chests held linens, books, and medicines.

The various sums received, including the ministers stipends, circulated in Ebenezer and served as an economic catalyst, changing hands many times before leaving the community, because the frugal Salzburgers bought little from outside except cattle. However much sacrifice these donations may have cost the charitable donors in Germany and England, they were only a small fringe benefit in comparison to the hard work the Salzburgers themselves performed. It would have been far better for them if they had been settled on healthy and fertile land in Pennsylvania or Western Maryland without any benefactions.

Not so near home as the new grist mill, but potentially far more important, was Oglethorpes siege of St. Augustine, the Spanish bastion in Florida, of which Boltzius gives secondhand reports in his entries for 27 June and 15 July. Although these reports tell us nothing new about the campaign, they do show how it affected his little community. Like the mill, the war posed a dilemma for Boltzius. A naturalized British subject and protg of Oglethorpe should have supported the British offensive; and the leader of a band of expelled Protestants should have welcomed a chance to help rid Florida of the subjects of his Most Catholic Majesty of Spain. However, as a native of war-torn Central Europe, Boltzius knew that military life brutalizes enlisted men. Officers, often from noble families, were gentlemen who practiced a code of chivalry amongst themselves, whereas the enlisted men, unless draftees, were usually the dregs of society and acted accordingly. On 12 April Boltzius expressed this view about military service: Righteous people do not let themselves be used for this purpose; but rather those who like to roam around and find pleasure in such a life.

Because of Boltzius attitude, no Salzburgers volunteered. It was primarily the redemptioners who saw a chance to redeem themselves from servitude in the short period of four months, instead of in an equal number of years; and it is for this reason that the three orphanage servants, to wit, the English boy Robinson and the two Palatines, father and son Held, volunteered. It was beyond Boltzius comprehension that his servants would jeopardize body and soul to win their freedom, apparently unaware of the indignity attached to servitude.

Jacob Reck, a hard-drinking cobbler of Purysburg who had become a non-commissioned officer in James Richards polyglot South Carolina battalion, was none too discriminating on 21 April when he recruited a Swiss inhabitant of Ebenezer named Zant, who had been almost totally blind the previous year, and the consumptive Jewish convert, Johann Christ. The latter he soon lost again when some pious women dissuaded him from serving and refunded his bonus money. The efforts of the recruiters in Savannah are described in the journal of Colonel William Stephens, the Trustees representative in Georgia, who wrote on 24 April, Enlisting Men was now the principal Affair in hand; which had drained the Town, that it was hard to find a Man more to enter.8 This shortage of able-bodied men in Savannah explains the impudence of Major Richards soldiers there in impressing one of Gronaus rowers into service, as recorded by Boltzius on 9 and 14 May. To supplement Boltzius confusing entry of 14 May (which may have been garbled by his editor, Samuel Urlsperger), we have a dramatic account in Colonel Stephens journal under the date of 13 May.9

Gabriel Bach, already in Boltzius disfavor, was the only real Salzburger to enlist. He had enlisted in a pique when Boltzius required his fiancee, Margaret Staud, to perform humiliating church penance before letting them marry. By the time penance was done (3 February) and they were duly married (4 February), it was too late for Bach to obtain his release, even if he really wished to. He quickly became a skilled and renowned ranger but was one of the first casualties when hostilities began. Boltzius reported on 4 June that he had been beheaded by the Indians, but it was more likely that he was merely scalped, since beheading was not an Indian custom. He adds that Oglethorpe had the head cut off and sent in a box to the governor of St. Augustine with the warning that, if he would not restrain his Indians, the same fate would be suffered by all Spanish prisoners.

Bach was the only one of Boltzius parishioners killed in action. The older Held died of fever on the campaign and Leonard Rauner died of dysentery soon afterwards. The other six, Zant, Robinson, Held, Jr., Leitner, Reiter, and Zettler, returned in various degrees of ill health. Boltzius seems to have been almost pleased with these tragic results (tragic, of course, only in a worldly sense, but spiritually very salutary), for they confirmed his predictions of 15 April that the campaign would last longer than four months and would be a costly affair. However, even though he tried to discourage his parishioners from going to war, he held their share of linen for them during their absence and later allowed the survivors to settle again in Ebenezer.

It seems that Boltzius made all such decisions himself; for among his many duties were those of administering justice and maintaining law and order. Maintaining law and order meant not only punishing infractions but also anticipating misunderstandings. For example, on 14 April he required Elisabeth Sanftleben to postpone her marriage to Hans Michael Schneider until her former fiance, Andreas Grimmiger, renounced all claims on her. It is possible that Grimmiger had already planned to marry the widow Bischoff, as he did on 2 June; but it was still wise of Boltzius to take this precaution. The congregation seems to have accepted their pastors judgments willingly; for they knew that he was able, as he implied on 10 February, to request a judiciary to represent the authorities in temporal affairs. Such a man would surely have been more severe than the benign cleric, for Its good living under the crozier. (Unter dem Krummstab ist gut leben).

It was exceptional when, on 21 June, Boltzius sent an incorrigible thief to Savannah for punishment rather than try him in Ebenezer, as he had tried Grimmiger for stealing five pounds from his fellow Austrian Johann Pletter. It is to be noted that, after Grimmiger had confessed, repented, and served his very mild sentence, he was welcomed back into the community and no one was allowed to refer to the incident again. It is even possible that the widow Bischoff did not know she was marrying a former thief. The same tolerance was shown to Margaret Staud: once she had confessed her sin of whoredom, it was officially consigned to oblivion. Margaret had cohabited with a redemptioner named John Staud (Stout) in Savannah until Boltzius interrupted their common-law marriage, which had been ignored by the more tolerant British authorities who, according to the elderly Stephens, often had housekeepers of their own.10 After the death of her husband Bach, she was married to the pious Leimberger (6 December).

Although Boltzius secular activities interest us more than his pastoral cares do, we should remember that he considered the latter far more important, as seen by the space he gave them in his reports. Boltzius was undeviating in his religious convictions; during his long service in Ebenezer he never strayed from his Halle-style Pietism. In 1740 he and Whitefield were soul mates, both believing in salvation by faith; but in time Boltzius would have to denounce his benefactor for accepting the dreadful error of predestination. As a good Pietist, Boltzius never lost his optimism in the face of adversity, for it is the Lords to give and the Lords to take away. This Christian resignation is demonstrated by his acceptance of his kinsman Peter Grubers death on 2 December, which was both an emotional and economic blow.

In addition to informing us about his own flock, Boltzius provides occasional glimpses of the Palatine servants in Savannah, a major element of the population in that city that has not yet found its historian. Boltzius attitude towards them was ambivalent. As a good Lutheran he upheld the authorities as divinely ordained; and he found the redemptioners disorderly when compared with his own docile parishioners (28 February). On the other hand, he realized that their physical situation was as miserable as their spiritual condition. White-field, who was perhaps more socially conscious, vividly described the situation of three German orphans he accepted into his orphanage, and we may assume that some of the other German children were not faring much better. He wrote:

Tuesday, Jan. 9. Took in three German orphans, the most pitiful objects, I think, I ever saw. No new negroes could look more despicable, or require more pains to instruct them. They have been used to exceedingly hard labour, and though supplied with provisions from the Trustees, were treated in a manner unbecoming even heathens. Were all the money I have collected, to be spent in freeing these three children from slavery, it would be well laid out.11

Of musical and cultural interest are the many new hymns introduced in 1740, apparently for musicological rather than theological reasons. During the previous year Boltzius and the physician Ernst Thilo had instructed the congregation in polyphonic singing; and this had enabled them to increase the hymn repertory greatly, as was done, for example, on 20 and 25 January and 20 February.12 As in the previous volume, this one also leaves the titles of the hymns in German but puts their translations, along with the names of the composers when known, in an appended alphabetical index, thus obviating many footnotes. A number of annotations are also disposed of by numbering the ten commandments according to the English system, instead of calling to the readers attention each time that their numbering differs in the German system. For example, Boltzius reference to das 4te Gebot on 25 January is translated as the fifth commandment, it being the injunction to love and honor ones parents.

Unfortunately, there are no copies of Boltzius unexpurgated reports for the year 1740; and consequently we must rely on the bowdlerized version found in Samuel Urlspergers Ausfhrliche Nachricht, which was issued currently for devotional and promotional purposes. Such purposes may explain the gaps in the present reports, such as that between 21 and 24 January, which must have contained something distasteful to Urlsperger, since Boltzius unexpurgated reports were usually complete. In his entry for 7 June Boltzius explained how Urlsperger had edited his reports in such a way that not the slightest scandal or misunderstanding is to be feared. Because Boltzius knew that all scandalous matter would be deleted anyway, we may assume that he himself tried to suppress as much of it as he could.

Very annoying is Urlspergers policy of suppressing proper names, often for no apparent reason and seldom with any consistency. Even though a name is omitted, the description sometimes identifies the party, as is the case of the unnamed widow on 5 December whose husband had been drowned, for Andreas Lorentz Arnsdorf was the only inhabitant of Ebenezer who had died that way. Boltzius himself made identifications difficult. For example, he never distinguished between himself and Gronau, even though Gronau sometimes did so; and he never used Christian names except to distinguish between two bearers of the same surname. When brothers were involved, he usually omitted their Christian names and referred to the oldest (even of two!) and the younger. In the case of the Kieffer brothers this is no problem, since outside sources tell us that the older was Johann Jacob and the younger was Theobald, Jr. In the case of the Zuebli brothers we assume that the older was Ambrose and the younger one Johann Jacob, because elsewhere Ambrose is usually listed first. Should contrary evidence come to light, future indexes will have to be altered accordingly.

We, the editors, wish to acknowledge the kind editorial assistance of Renate Wilson, the coeditor of the previous three volumes of this series.

Like the previous volumes of this series, this one is indebted to the American Philosophical Society for supporting the original research in Halle, which was kindly aided by the authorities of the University and State Library of Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle, DDR. Support for the translation was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and publication has been made possible by grants from the General Research Board of the University of Maryland and from the Provincial Government of Salzburg (Salzburger Landesregierung). Salzburg also deserves thanks for the steadfast Christian exiles on whom this volume reports.


George Fenwick JonesUniversity of Maryland


Don P. SavelleUniversity of Maryland

I.N.IPart Oneof theDaily Reports of the Two MinistersBoltzius and GronauFrom the 1st of January to the End of the Year

JANUARY

Tuesday, the 1st of January 1740. Already yesterday evening our merciful God awakened our spirits through His word, which was contemplated from the first part of 1 Samuel in preparation for the New Year in order to perceive the grace of peace and all blessedness which the Savior has earned for us and has offered to us so far through the gospel and will therefore continue to offer us in the future according to His great unmerited mercy with His hallowed heart (cf. Genesis 35:2 ff. and John 5:2 ff.); and on this New Years Day our dear Savior has revealed His abundant grace especially to us and has most lovingly beckoned the greatest sinners, especially the shy and timid souls of which there are many among us, to the good that lies in His dear name of Jesus, which, as I saw, had a good beginning.

Oh, all our forfeited grace has been richly restored by the great Savior, who is God and man in one person, all our great debts have been paid superabundantly, and God has been fully reconciled. What more could be wished by the miserable sinners who are sighing under the burden of their sins? Everything that lies in the dear name of Jesus shall be granted them without their merits and through pure mercy. May God bring us all to the point that our Christianity will no longer fare so meagerly and miserably but rather we shall be right blessed in Christ with all sorts of spiritual blessings and heavenly goods, etc. Yesterday evening the rain ceased and this evening the strong wind; and therefore we could hold the prayer meeting yesterday and the repetition hour today, and during them God held us in His peace and gave us much edification. Our dear congregation find much refreshment in our singing sessions and home prayer meetings, so they come regularly and a whole room full of them assembled again this evening. They would remain together many hours encouraging each other through song and prayer if our strength and circumstance allowed it.

This evening we learned the beautiful four-voiced hymn, Mein Salomo, dein freundliches, etc. and made a start with the glorious hymn Lasset uns den Herren preisen und vermehren, etc. The Lord is with us, and we feel His merciful presence; and the refreshment that we have from this is uncommon. He dwelleth amidst the praise of Israel. I often think of the beautiful song and prayer hour that was held in my day in the house of the worthy Professor Francke under his direction on high holidays and on which our dear God always placed much blessing. Who could have thought only a few years ago that the Lord would also do great things in this wilderness? Oh, His praiseworthy name must be made known from the rising of the sun until its setting so that the whole earth, upon which the Creator has been so greatly dishonored until now, is filled with the glory of the Lord!

Wednesday, the 2nd of January. During the past holy days our dear Lord has granted the people in the orphanage a very special blessing; and today, when I visited there, I found them all of good cheer. They pray there very diligently and zealously, and the leaders there are right seriously concerned with the childrens salvation. Therefore we do not doubt that God will bless their prayers and admonitions in the children, who until now have not wished to bend themselves to divine order. My dear colleague is also trying in every way to lead the orphans and school children in truth to Jesus. Experience in Halle has taught us not to cast away all hope right away if blessings do not immediately follow in the work with young people: in the case of many of them the word which has been sown in their hearts has become active and borne fruit only after several years.

Thursday, the 3rd of January. The English youth, Bishop, who has been engaged as English schoolmaster, performs his duty loyally, to be sure, and is becoming ever more skillful in drilling the children in speaking English; but he is much too lax with discipline, and the children do not yet have the fear of him that is necessary. Therefore we must lend him a hand to improve the order in his classes. We would also undertake such practice with the adults if only they had enough time. I shall ask whether some of them wish it and would like to gather for a few hours, say in the evening, in which case I shall try to see whether it will be possible to teach them enough to understand and speak a little. In time this language may become indispensable because we must often deal with Englishmen.

Friday, the 4th of January. We can hardly express the longing felt by the poor in the congregation (which most of them are) for the long awaited linen; and our marvelous God must have a very good and salutary purpose for wishing to have the gifts, which have also been in danger between Hamburg and London, come to us so slowly this time. The schoolmaster in Savannah, Mr. Habersham, has written to me that the preacher in Savannah, Mr. Whitefield, is expected at any moment in Savannah. He has sent an entire sloop full of provisions and all kinds of things for Savannah from Pennsylvania or New York; and, since he departed some days before the sloop on horseback to come to this colony overland, people are surprised that he is not yet there.

Saturday, the 5th of January. Since most men work all week on their plantations and there are not very many people at home, I wish to hold the prayer hour in my house all week, for which purpose I made the beginning last night. Sunday evenings the people are back together again, at which time we assemble once more in our meeting house. Yesterday evening God granted us a right special spiritual enjoyment from the story of Davids anointment in the middle part of 1 Samuel 16. May the Lord let it lodge for a long time in our souls!

Sunday, the 6th of January. Today we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany. Just as the dear Lord has granted us great blessing in previous holy days, so He did today too. The dear Lord has been especially active recently; He has opened His whole heart to us and will continue to do so. We cannot tell how much God has done in us; and, through His mercy, I shall not forget it. I do not know when I have had such blessed holy days. May He make me and others right loyal and grateful, and may His unending and eternal love motivate us henceforth even more zealously and give us a firmer foundation through its recognition. The main lesson of todays gospel, Matthew 2:1 ff., was that the Lord Jesus came not only for the Jews but even for the heathens, consequently for all men, whereby we were reminded of the great mercy that God has shown to us in our ancestors and were aroused to be grateful to God with mouth and heart. We sang the song Singt dem Herrn nah und fern, etc., with four voices; and during the evening prayer hour we thought especially of the servants of the Lord among Jews and heathens. May the dear Father be pleased with all this in Christ His Son.

Monday, the 7th of January. God has granted a holy day blessing to N.N. so that he must now believe that God desires him too. Some time ago he said that, because nothing wished to come of his Christianity even though he prayed diligently, he thought he must have sinned too much in his life. But now his eyes are opening better. I told his wife that it was impossible for God not to wish to accept a sinner. After all, He sent us His son and showed full well how He was disposed toward the world. Therefore, I say, if nothing will come of his Christianity despite diligent prayer, then his heart cannot be honest, it must still be clinging to something that he does not wish to let go. God will run toward the sinner while he is still on his way and receive him with a thousand joys. We cannot cause the dear Lord any greater joy than by coming to Him in truth and asking His mercy, then His fatherly heart will truly open itself. May the dear Lord help us to recognize His love better, and may He so transfigure His Son in our souls through the Holy Ghost that He will be dearer to us than the whole world! Amen!

Tuesday, the 8th of January. A Salzburger who was concerned last year with the search for Gods grace but later let himself again be ensnared by the world has now been mightily reawakened; and the spirit of God has him so in His power that I believe that, if he remains loyal, he will lay a firm foundation and partake of the grace of God so that he will not let himself be turned away again. He told me something about his circumstances, whereupon I told him that the Lord Jesus is nearest with His help when people feel themselves abandoned by everyone and do not know where to seek advice and refuge. Such people He calls unto Himself, and they cannot come too late to Him. He will receive and refresh them and take his dwelling among them.

I called on another person and asked her about the blessing she had received on the holy day, and she answered that she had not come to church much because of the internal and external pains1 she had had. Therefore, I told her that, if she would not give herself as a captive to the Lord Jesus and come to Him bare and naked, she could not be helped. May the dear Lord have mercy upon her!

Wednesday, the 9th of January. Two of the recently bought cows have already died; but we do not hear the people lamenting or weeping about it even though they had cost them a great deal and they had earned the money with the sweat of their brow. Rather, one hears the opposite. One of them belonged to Gschwandel. After the service I came into their hut, and the wife told me that her husband had sent such a message here from the plantation but told her at the same time not to grieve. She also told me that her husband had already lost other cattle, yet he was quite content and could well resign himself to it. Another woman joined us and said that in her fatherland, Austria, she had served a peasant who had lost many cows through death but that he had remained comforted, whereas his wife had always grieved and been depressed. He had spoken with her; but when his wife remained so full of anxiety, he had gone out and prayed.

Thursday, the 10th of January. Several pious women gather under our supervision and awaken each other mutually. Yesterday they came together again and edified themselves through singing and praying. Today one of them said that it grieved her that she had to move out to the plantation and that she could not think of it without weeping. She wished to apply the time that she was still here well so that she would get to know her Lord Jesus rightly. During the holy days the dear Savior had granted her great blessings also.

Friday, the 11th of January. Our exceedingly loving God has not only planned an eternal blessing for us from the past holy days but has actually granted it. Just as the holy days were most blessed for me (Gronau), I also learned today from three people that the Lord had granted them His blessing too. The heart of the heavenly Father and of the Lord Jesus has become better known to us. May He make us right grateful and let our only concern be to come ever closer to such recognition. Meanwhile, since my dear colleague, Mr. Boltzius, has journeyed to Savannah, the dear Lord has granted us much blessing from the contemplation of the stories in the New Testament, as I have heard from others too.

Saturday, the 12th of January. Yesterday evening I visited a Salzburger family, in which the wife had already been in dark circumstances for a long time; occasionally a light dawns, but it does not last long. I spoke with her according to her circumstances, and I believe that it was not entirely in vain and that God Himself wishes to give His blessing. She told me what had been so comforting to her, namely, that the Lord Jesus had required St. Peter to forgive his brother seventy times; how much more would He do it. Two other men joined us and we all prayed together. It is so comforting that the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 11, All things are delivered unto me of my Father; then for this reason we can receive everything from Him. May He grant us to believe it rightly, to keep good faith in Him, and to receive everything from His abundance!

Sunday, the 13th of January. Today with the aid of the Holy Ghost we especially considered, from todays gospel, the right sweet words of the Lord Jesus, Wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers business? These are surely right sweet words; for, if a man learns to recognize them as a living truth, then he can call the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ his own Father as well and afterwards always find himself in those things that are his Fathers, and, as was shown in this afternoons epistle, also in those things that are in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that he will partake of His nature and become ever more transfigured in His image.

Our dear God is also showing great mercy to the younger N.,2 who is still at our place. His eyes are now opening much better than in the past and he is seeking to dig deeply and so to give himself to his Savior in such a way that nothing will frighten him from His love or cause him to turn away from it. The Salzburger Hertzog met me as I was going to the church this evening; and, when I asked him what he was doing, he answered me with good cheer that the Lord Jesus was still with him and had not yet abandoned him.

Monday, the 14th of January. In the afternoon I visited N.s youngest son, who has been sick for some time and has not been in school for several days. I asked him whether the dear Lord had been able to achieve His purpose with him? I had recently told him what the dear Lord was seeking through his sickness, but he had to admit that God had not yet achieved His purpose. His mother reminded him how often she had admonished him with tear-filled eyes to reflect upon it. I spoke with him according to the nature of his circumstances, and he said on his own that he now wished to give his heart to the dear Lord. May God help him in this!

Today, when I was writing a clean copy of the diary and came to the 8th of January, where it says that I believed that things would now change for a certain Salzburger, I wondered to myself whether there was truth in him and whether he meant things honestly. Just then the man entered my house concerning some external matters, so I took the opportunity to speak with him again. He said he knew that it was not hypocrisy, and he told me something from yesterdays sermon and repetition hour that had gone to his heart. He also said some other things, from which I recognized his honesty,3 and this gave me much pleasure. May God give him further grace! For later reading I gave him the late Professor Zimmermans The Boundless Recognition of Jesus Christ.4

Tuesday, the 15th of January. This afternoon a Salzburger woman came to us with her little daughter just as I was about to read something to my wife from Johannes Arnds True Christianity;5 so she remained, listened, and finally prayed with us. After the prayer I asked her little daughter to pray with her; and then, at her mothers request, she had to recite the verses and prayers that she had learned, and these were very edifying to hear. She had already learned quite a number. Finally I recited to her the little prayer that had been learned by the Countess of Solms, who went to her blessed eternity at the age of four and whose example stands in the Contribution to the Building of the Kingdom of God.6 This is, My Abba, hear my weak and childish babbling, and let my sighs be pleasing unto Thee in Jesus name.

Wednesday, the 16th of January. Three men from the congregation were sent to Savannah on Monday to bring me (Boltzius) back to Ebenezer; and this evening, God be praised, I arrived here with them healthier than when I departed. I have reason enough to praise the Lord greatly for all the mercy He has shown to me and, through my poor service, to the congregation and the orphanage. I was able to put order into the storehouse accounts for the building of my house and for the provisions received so far and other necessities for the orphanage; and I straightened out with the storehouse manager those matters for which I had to travel to Savannah several times in vain. My sojourn in Savannah was extended for quite a while, for which reason the time seemed long to me; but I have been resigned to it by the fact that I found everything in the congregation in a very orderly and Christian state and that my trip was not in vain.

On the 11th of this month Mr. Whitefield arrived in Savannah via Charleston. He was pleased to see me; and it was pleasing to me and profitable to the orphanage that I saw him early after his arrival in Savannah, because he will soon have to stop giving away so much. He is very generous and will have to use more than he could have imagined in England for the orphanage he is planning to build, which is to be very extensive, and to pay the other expenses of his very large household. This has already occurred this week, in that he has held back various things that he had thought he was bringing for our orphanage, probably because he learned from the builders what a great sum of money would be required to complete such an extensive building as the orphanage with its appurtenances. He is very cordial and means well with God and man. He received me with much love, showed much affection for our congregation and orphanage, and promised to look out for our establishments as best he was able.

From the blessings that God put in his hands he gave me the following items at this time for the orphanage: a barrel of beef of about 200 pounds, one barrel of flour of 190 pounds, a small keg of butter of 40 pounds, eight skirts of heavy cloth, seven flannel camisoles, twelve pairs of mens trousers, six pairs of boys trousers of coarse linen, twelve bonnets, twelve boys caps, sixty-two yards of coarse linen, several towels, six mattresses for children with little blankets for them, shoes for everyone in the orphanage and a few additional ones for other people, and other necessities; for example, material for handkerchiefs, a hat, a used iron mill, etc. For the construction of a church for the Salzburgers he had collected 73 ь 18 sh. Sterling, of which he paid me 52 ь 19 sh. 9 d.; and with the remainder he bought a large barrel full of hardware and locks for the church and also a fine bell, all of which he delivered to me in good condition.

He requests that the church construction be begun as soon as possible so that he can see how far this money will go. He intends to go in three months to New York and especially to Pennsylvania and even to England in order to collect more money for his establishments at which time he will remember our church too, if the present money does not suffice. Because people have spread the rumor that he has been applying the collected money to his own use, he requested me to send a report to our friends in England about what he has delivered; and this I did by writing about it from Savannah to the worthy Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen and to Mr. Newman and also to a benefactress who is unknown to us and who sent each of us 36 sh. May the Lord be praised for this very great blessing, and may He abundantly fulfill all His great promises, which He has given his children, on our known and unknown benefactors in this and other lands. May He grant us grace and wisdom to manage all the gifts entrusted to us well, so that the construction of the church we are to build will proceed in faith in His holy name so that much praise will be given Him both during and after the construction and much edification will be given to our neighbors.

Mr. Whitefield preached the gospel of Christ very purely and with great power, particularly the article concerning Gods justification of poor sinners through faith alone without regard to past, present, or future works. He does not speak from a written outline, as other preachers in the Anglican church do, but from the abundance of his heart. He conducts the daily prayer meetings in a most edifying manner and urges his congregation most forcefully not to rely upon the opus operatum, since they must come to a new birth and life that comes from God if they wish to be, and to be called, true Christians.7 He has brought several righteous young people, both men and women, to help him establish his institutions, especially a Christian doctor;8 and he intends to help all suffering people in this country in both physical and spiritual matters. Through schoolmaster Habersham he has taken up five hundred acres of land where he wishes to build his orphanage and charity school for children of all faiths.9 The place lies two hours south of the city, so that the children will have nothing to do with the noise of the city. In Purysburg he is buying a large plantation, where he wishes to establish a Negro school and to buy some young Negroes who will go to school and do their work on the side.10

On Sunday I preached the word of God to the German people and was asked by them to hold Holy Communion with them as soon as possible; but in this I must use every possible precaution, for the lives of most of them do not concur with Gods word, as I clearly said and proved to them in the afternoon when they wrote down their names.11

A severe sickness has brought the shoemaker Ade to a recognition of his disorderly life, and he has resolved to convert himself to God. In order to have a better opportunity for this he is earnestly requesting us to accept him and his wife and children again; and he has made this request not only to me but also to one of the leaders of the congregation. We need a shoemaker; and, if it were true that he wished to use our place to restore his soul, then we would like to do what we could for him. The difference between here and other places he can almost grasp with his hands.

Captain Thomson is still in the neighborhood of Frederica with his ship, and I would have liked to see him come last week or at the beginning of this one. Our dear people are waiting almost in agony for the linen; and I have been told that some of them in their extreme need of shirts have had to help themselves by borrowing. Mr. Jones,12 who is now taking charge of all the Trustees major affairs in Mr. Caustons place and is our good friend, wished to give me his own pirogue in order to go to Frederica to fetch our things. This would not have cost me anything, but we were afraid that we might miss the captain, who is awaited any day at any hour, and we would travel in vain. Also, my journey home was dearer and more necessary for me than such a long, and to some degree dangerous, trip.

Thursday, the 17th of January. In the afternoon both the adults and the children of the orphanage joined with me to praise God, who had again shown us so many proofs of His care through the things we had received from Savannah. We sang the song Lobe den HErrn o meine Seele, which the children had learned by heart. I tried to encourage them toward the praise of God and gratitude toward God and men for all these and similar charitable gifts and showed those who were not yet converted that the purpose of the gifts of God was to lead them to penitence and that, if this did not follow, then something more severe would follow because God is a holy God. At the same time I reminded them of the misery of the disobedient boy from Purysburg who was among the orphans at first but who now runs around with the Indians to the great harm of his soul and to the great sorrow of his old mother.13

To the obedient and pious ones among the children and adults I could say that they were able to praise God for these benefactions that were actually donated for them and to pray for the benefactors. Such people we would first let enjoy that which God had provided; and this would continue as far as possible into the future in case the others would cease insulting our good and pious God, who doeth only good, etc. We finally fell on our knees, praised God, and prayed for our benefactors. Some children cried and again promised much good. Something was given to everyone, but the best gifts for the disobedient were held back until they should improve. This blessing of the Lord gave great joy to the people in the orphanage and to some other people who participated in this or that benefaction.

Because it rained hard all day and also during the evening there was no actual prayer meeting as there usually is every day; but a few people came to my room to practice singing the songs they did not otherwise know, and finally we praised our good and pious God for everything that he had given to the orphanage and the whole congregation through the hands of Mr. White-field.

Friday, the 18th of January. Mrs. N. is increasing so greatly in the power of Christianity that she and we have reason to praise the name of the Lord, who wishes to have mercy on even the most miserable sinners. She also said that the indolent and inconstant N. has been more serious since last taking Holy Communion and that he has been much impressed by what had been laid on his conscience from Gods word.

Saturday, the 19th of January. Many people have shared in the gifts that were given to me to distribute, and they thank the Lord publicly and privately and pray for the unknown benefactors. I often think of the beautiful words of Job 31:19-20, which can serve to comfort all wealthy people and encourage poor people to be grateful.

Sunday, the 20th of January. On this day of the Lord we have tried to edify each other with singing, praying, and the preaching of the divine word, and the Lord has blessed such efforts in us and, we hope, in our congregation. The learning and singing of the edifying and hitherto unknown songs from both parts of Freylinghausens songbook14 lures many people to my room during the week and on Sunday, at which time we bend our knees before the throne of our Father who has been reconciled through Christ. In the recent past we have learned the emphatic and very beautifully composed songs: liebster JEsu liebstes Leben, etc., JEsu gib mir deine Flle, etc., Ihr Kinder des Hchsten, wie stehts, etc., Gott den ich als Liebe kenne, etc. May God let the evil spirit be driven out as by Davids spiritual music and let much edification be caused by the Holy Spirit through this practice.

Monday, the 21st of January. For some time it has rained very much, and therefore the river has risen very high and several of the Salzburgers plantations on Abercorn Creek are unusually flooded, whereby they are hindered in their work. If the trees were felled and the land were prepared for planting, this inundation would cause no damage, but now we are worried that they will not be ready with the preparation of the land before the planting season. Thus some obstacle must always arise, as we greatly need tribulation.

Last night God let the hour of help come for Mrs. Gruber and mercifully delivered her of a child. Because of her sickly body she has so far been in miserable circumstances, but God has shown that He can do superabundantly more than we request or understand. She herself prays with confidence. And Jesus lets Himself be asked, but never commanded.

N. is registering for Holy Communion, which is to be held next Sunday. Some time ago God pulled him mightily with ropes of love, especially during his last sickness, but afterwards he again slipped back into spiritual apathy and also seems to have made his wifes Christian progress difficult. He now recognizes himself quite well, and I instructed him to penetrate into a new strength and to prepare himself properly for eternity during his old age, which is no longer a handbreadth long. Our communal prayer meeting, which is still held after the midday meal on Mondays and Fridays, was very impressive for me and others. The pious listeners let the last blessing they received from Savannah through Mr. Whitefield incite them to a hearty intercession for him.

In this evenings prayer hour we are beginning the 17th chapter of the first book of Samuel, which has been more edifying for me than at any other time previously. It was well shown that this chapter stands not only for the sake of the external story, but mainly for the sake of Christ, whose prefiguration15 was David with his struggle and victory, as well as for the sake of the Christians in the Bible, whose duty it is to keep fighting the good fight of the faith, into which they have entered through holy baptism, to the very end, for the crown of righteousness will finally follow, witness 2 Timothy 4. The stories are full of morals and good teachings, which may not be neglected. Rather we try especially to apply them in order to get to know Christ our Savior out of the Old Testament too and to incite each other mutually to the righteous nature that is in Him; and to this end we always compare the New with the Old Testament.

Thursday, the 24th of January. We now have rather many children and other needy people in the orphanage; therefore we cannot accept many who would like to enter. May God continue to dignify us with His blessing so that we can refreshen many thereby.

Yesterday and today we have had colder weather than at any time this winter. The wind from the north was very strong and will hinder our people on the boat no little bit on their return from Savannah. Yesterday evening only a few people heard the ringing for the prayer hour, as has happened to them several times in strong wind. Therefore it is a benefaction well worthy of thanks that we have received a bell for this purpose, which is now being fetched with other things on the boat.

Friday, the 25th of January. To our amazement our large boat arrived here yesterday after the prayer hour and brought, along with other things for the orphanage and some other members of the congregation, the bell and a large barrel of all kinds of hardware, which Mr. Whitefield had bought in England for church construction. We praise the Lord for this new benefaction and call upon Him for wisdom to arrange the construction in such a way that His name will be glorified and the salvation of our congregation will be furthered. The bell weighs ninety-one pounds without the clapper. It is our intention, when the bell has been hung, to use it first to call the people of our village together to praise the Giver of all these and other gifts and to pray for the benefactors.

This evening we heard various things about the humble, obedient, and loyal behavior of David toward his father; and at this opportunity the fifth commandment16 was called forcefully to the attention of the listeners with all its promises and all its inherent threats.

Saturday, the 26th of January. N.N. brought me a very moving and humble letter from his mother in which she again begs us to accept her and her family.17 She recognizes and admits her former misbehavior and will gladly submit to all order, if only she can be with the gospel again. I referred her son to Mr. Oglethorpe; if he wishes to accept his mother with her children again, as I think he will, then neither I nor the members of the congregation would be the least bit opposed to it. May God ordain everything as is best for His glory and for these people. Thus much I have understood from some honest men of the community, that they would bear with all the trouble from the mother if something could be won in even one of her children. They lovingly hope that she will really improve herself, as she promises both orally and in writing, now that she has learned how one can ruin herself through obstinacy and disobedience.

Yesterday evening during the sermon I thought of Mrs. N. while I was speaking of the children of Belial, i.e., such as do not wish to bear the yoke of Christian order, and of their spiritual and physical judgments. We have already learned from her, from the late Rott,18 from his wife, who is still living in Savannah, from N. and others that God does not leave the disobedient and recalcitrant unpunished. May God make us all wise.

This afternoon a bell-frame was made on my house for the bell, and this evening we rang for the prayer hour with it for the first time. Most of the congregation, both young and old, were assembled; so we remembered the good deed that the Lord had shown to our congregation through the service of Mr. Whitefield and offered joint praises to His name. I told them that Christian people in England with trusting and willing hearts had contributed so much money that not only this bell but also a whole barrel of hardware and 53 ь, less 3 d. in cash money had been collected and sent to us for building a church. And, because the donors and benefactors had no other purpose in this than the glory of God and the good of their neighbors and had therefore contributed with simple hearts, it now behooved the workers who would be employed in building the church to do their work with simple faithful hearts and to deny all false and greedy desires regarding wages and gain. At the same time it was proper according to Divine providence for no one to work for nothing but rather for everyone to gain a physical blessing from his work, for which he should be grateful. Whenever we hear the sound of the bell, we should be moved to the praise of God for all the benefactions we have received in this strange land and to a cordial intercession for our benefactors. It has a very pleasant and penetrating sound and is to be rung several times every day at set times, and especially at five oclock in the morning, as is necessary and useful for dividing the day and keeping good order in all external activities.

Sunday, the 27th of January. For the past few days and also today it has been very cold; and, because a strong west wind is blowing, we have been considerably disturbed in the church hut. Twenty-eight of our people went to the Lords Table; and there would have been more of us if we had not had to hold back some of them for well founded reasons. Some have become sick and therefore prevented by sickness. On Tuesday some of them had to fetch a large ferryboat for the Trustees from Abercorn to Palachocolas, and the wind made the trip up there so difficult for them that they did not return home in time. We are planning to hold Holy Communion again in four weeks, at which time those who have been unable to come will have an opportunity to do so. May God grant that everything redound to His glory and to the salvation of our souls! He is indeed exceedingly loyal and keeps after us in all ways to tempt us and bring us to His Son and all the treasures of Salvation He has merited.

This evening we held the repetition hour in my house, and our merciful Lord blessed it greatly in me and others. Whatever could not be preached and covered this morning concerning the beautiful gospel Matthew 18:1 ff. was now covered in the catechismal repetition; and to this was added the main teaching, which flowed from the last part of the gospel. Not only lack of faith but also false faith are the cause of all evil in time and eternity. Many in the congregation are unwilling to consider themselves disbelievers but prefer to understand the word to refer to the infidels outside of Christianity; and therefore we endeavor to show them that false belief is just as dangerous as disbelief, indeed, that it is in certain respects more dangerous than outright lack of belief.

Before the repetition hour we played and sang the glorious Liebster JEsu liebstes Leben, etc.; and a half an hour later many more people gathered in my room again, as is customary, in order to continue learning the new edifying songs. Yesterday evening we began, and today we finished, learning Mein Freund zerschmeltzt, etc., also Meine Seele, wilt du ruhn, etc. The next ones will be Der Glaube siegt, und bricht, etc., and Wachet auf ihr faulen, etc. Because the middle voices are sung and the discant and tenor are constantly alternated with the bass during the singing, such variation is very edifying; and the people are becoming all the surer in the tones and melodies. Their zeal in this is very great, may God consecrate it to His glory and may the communal prayer that is always sent to him after the singing be pleasing unto Him in Christ.

Tuesday, the 29th of January. In todays evening prayer meeting we learned from the Bible story what a dreadful end was met by the arrogant, defiant, and insolent Goliath. His last words were bragging, reproaching, and cursing; and in him the proverb was fulfilled that Whence the curse comes, thither it will return, for the stone struck his forehead like a thunderbolt and sent his wretched soul into eternity. On this occasion, I had to think of N.,19 who sinned greatly and grieved other people again just a few days ago with swearing and cursing. Now we see nothing but malediction and misfortune in every corner of his hut; and everything is deteriorating because of his continuous quarrelling, discord, and even fighting with his wife. Therefore, we cannot prophesy any good outcome for him unless he repents. We requested his neighbors and others who might have occasion to consort with him to work on him as best they can so that his soul might still be saved and to repeat to him in a Christian way what I must now say about him in public, because I assumed from his previous wanton absence from prayer meetings that he would not be present this evening either. A little girl remained behind and told me that he had been at the meeting and had bumped into the door of the little room where the meeting was held. It pleases me all the better that he heard it himself.

God grant that he feel the wrath that he has merited so far through his un-Christian and vexing behavior during the period of grace with true humiliation rather than in eternity with the defiant Goliath and all godless people. The English boy Bischof20 told someone in my house that he had heard this N. cursing a pious Salzburger yesterday while chopping wood. This caused him to sigh and to marvel that God could witness such wickedness and insolence: if God wished he could punish him with his own ax. He had not even finished with his disgraceful speech before he chopped a serious wound in his left hand, through which he is now hindered in his work.21 I shall remind the boy to tell the miserable man in simple words what he had thought; or, if he is too bashful to do this, as it appears, then I shall do it myself.

Wednesday, the 30th of January. Mrs. N.22 has been very sick in her head for several days and has had to suffer very great pain; but, since she does not think that any of her affliction is by chance but accepts everything from the hand of her heavenly Father, she is very patient and always content. She is very edifying for all the people in the orphanage and for those with whom she has dealings and is a fine example of a godly widow. Her largest girl23 is to go into service with my colleague, for which she already has the age and strength. I discussed the necessary details about this with the mother in the presence of the daughter and found in her an attitude that I might well wish for all parents; for if all parents had such an attitude, then child discipline would be better than it now is.

Through the departure of this girl a place is becoming vacant in the orphanage, but it will soon be filled again. A half year ago Veit Lemmenhofer engaged a servant24 who actually belongs to the orphanage and whom he would like to get rid of because he is not doing him the services he had hoped for, and therefore he is reverting to the orphanage. Held25 in the orphanage is his father; and I am hoping for some improvement in both of them, since they are coming together at their own request. The boy has a flexible and willing disposition, but he does not have as much strength or skill in work as the others. He promises much good and wishes to help the orphanage director loyally, and therefore we will give him a try. From Gods word he has been convinced of the way of active Christianity and of his own lack of it, and he has now firmly resolved to convert himself fully to God.

Thursday, the 31st of January. I spoke about the church construction with Kogler, to whom it would actually be entrusted, and told him I wished it could be done as soon as possible. However, because of the Salzburgers circumstances, it seems almost impossible to begin the main construction until after the harvest, however much they would like to work on it before then. They must move to their plantations. There they will have their hands full with preparing the land for planting; and, because they need dwellings for themselves and stalls for their cattle, they will need the remaining time for building. Their cattle have increased and therefore they must give thought to getting much fodder, for in this country they can make no hay except for corn leaves, bean shells, rice straw, and the grass that grows on cultivated fields. Agriculture is their primary and most necessary work, and consequently I would not wish to put an obstacle in its way with any building.

Perhaps it will please the Lord to grant us, in addition to the beautiful sum that has flowed to us through the service of Mr. N. and from Mr. N.,26 as much more as might be required to build a spacious, durable, and comfortable church, for which we do not wish to contract any debts. For we believe that it is the intention of the benefactors, while causing no unnecessary expenses, to arrange the church in such a way that the intended purpose will be achieved; and from previous experience we can trust the dear Lord to give us whatever is still necessary for it. The beginning is there, and we commend the means and the end to Him and His fatherly care. Because Mr. N. would like to see a beginning of the construction before his return to England, we will lay the foundation in a few weeks and set the ground joists on it, and from this he will be able to see how large the building will be.

FEBRUARY

Friday, the 1st of February. Yesterday and last night we had an unusually strong wind that caused people much work by overturning the garden fences and blowing the shingles off the huts and stalls. The cold was, and still is, very great and causes much pain to the poor people, who have little protection and poor huts. On the plantations they are first arranging their house construction in such a way as to preserve their health better than has been possible so far. They are helping one another, and therefore it costs them no cash money. It is colder here than in England, so one cannot live here well without stoves; and it would be desirable if new colonists would bring with them iron stoves like those cast in Germany.1 They are highly regarded here, and we would be happy to get them. The earthenware that is made by the potter2 in Savannah is not durable and not very usable; and for this both the clay and his firing and glazing is responsible.

During todays evening prayer hour I was greatly impressed by the union of Jonathans and Davids hearts through the bond of a sincere and disinterested brotherly love, which reminded us not only of our duty but also of the benefactions we have received from the Lord Jesus, who has done great things for us wretched and fallen sinners, who are not worthy of love, by winning for us the garments of salvation and (as Jonathan did not do) even putting on our rags and filthy garments of sin and letting Himself be punished in them in our stead. If we will submit to His order, He will reveal Himself in us in His love for our eternal glory and comfort. While reading the 17th chapter of the Bible story we were reminded not only of Christs struggle and victory in general but also of various special details and especially of their glorious results; and I believe that the verses that were cited not only impressed others as much as they did me but also contributed much toward our understanding of such enigmatic stories, as for example Isaiah 40:11 and John 16:27-33 (Cf. 14:30-31). At the same time the beautiful song Der edle Hirthe GOttes Sohn was read out loud and commended to them for further reflection. The expressions that dear David used in his psalms and in which he referred to what he had experienced under Gods loving and beneficial care become much more living and impressive when one has become well acquainted with the very peculiar circumstances of his story.

We have encouraged each other to read the psalms of David often during our heartfelt prayers, and we select those psalms that seem to have been tailored for special cases or refer to them. In contemplating Davids cordial brotherly love we played and sang the first part of the song Ihr Kinder des Hchsten, wie stehts um die Liebe, etc. In the next song hour we will learn the instructive song of the late Dr. Richter, Der schmale Weg ist breit genug zum Leben, etc., and repeat those we have learned before. Since the prayer meeting is being held in my house and we are nearer the light and are more comfortable than in the almost tumbled down church hut, we often sing one of the new songs at the meeting for the praise of God and for our own encouragement.

Saturday, the 2nd of February. Mrs. Helfenstein is asking for her oldest boy,3 whom we have had here among the orphans along with another one4 from the earliest times, to be sent home. We will grant this, since we take the poor widows children to lighten their load; but when the children have reached the point that they can be useful to their mothers or kinsmen, then we gladly dismiss them, for the orphanage is not seeking any advantage for itself but only the glory of God in the Christian nurture of the children. She wishes to teach him, like the oldest one, whom she has with her, the trade of red and white tanning, which she understands well and through which she now has the opportunity to earn something. We will gladly advance her whatever we can for this. She has again received some good parcels of already cultivated land in the community, which the children are to plant for her in the spring.

The eighteen year old English boy John Robinson has long been requesting his liberty in order to begin some farming on his own in our place like the English boy Bischoff, and he will therefore travel to Savannah next week with our boat to seek such redemption from the authorities. He does not wish to leave our village, and we have been able to keep him in rather good order so far by threatening to send him away. He should serve three and a half years. It is our practice to have in the orphanage and in its service only those people who wish to be there and who do their work with willing and contented hearts. If anyone is not pleased with the arrangements and thinks he will find things better if he moves, we let him go after giving him good admonitions and warnings.

A pious woman complained to me that she has again lost all her courage in her Christianity, because she has remembered many old sins she once committed in Germany. Even though she has freed herself according to divine law from the disloyalty and unrighteousness she has committed, she still remembers much that belongs to the old leaven which she must purge; and she is afraid that, if she does not recognize everything, God will no longer forgive her anything but what she recognizes and confesses, etc. I told her various things about the proper use of the law and the gospel and tried to protect her spirit against these very usual anxieties, against scruples and doubts, and against all suspicion and to encourage her to a childlike trust in the Father, who has been entirely reconciled through Christ. I was aided in my purpose particularly by the beautiful song Es ist das Heyl uns kommen her, etc., in which the office of the Law and of the gospel is singularly presented and the penitent sinner is shown, in the knowledge of his sins and despite all contradiction from his conscience, how he can and should cling with a simple and grace-hungry heart to the rich and ample grace of God, which is offered him in the gospel entirely without his deserving.

As soon as I speak to her again, I shall recite and explain to her the last three verses of the song Mein Salomo, dein, etc., where it is stated so forcefully in verse 9 If only my heart could see Christ, etc., and have absolute faith in grace, let no fault in me be so great and grave that it could keep me from such sight of love. Verse 10, When my frailty strikes me down before Thee, etc. Otherwise she makes good use of the songs in our songbook and finds much edification, instruction, and comfort in them. Concerning the song that we learned not long ago, she said she could sing it only with great shame and sighing, because she could not truly say of herself what is said in this song.

Sunday, the 3rd of February. Bach is resolved to move at the beginning of this week from us to Fort Argyle or Ogeechee but would first like to be married at this place to Margaret Staud (who has already been mentioned in this diary).6 I recently told both him and her that something important must be done before the marriage, namely, she would first have to acknowledge her well known abomination of fornication before the entire congregation and publicly show her penitence and remorse for it, which she has expressed to me several times, and thus free herself publicly, in so far as it can be done before men, of the great vexation she had caused. They were both very difficult to persuade; but they finally agreed to it yesterday and therefore this unpleasant matter was disposed of this morning after the sermon in a Christian fashion.

What I first communicated to the congregation was the following: I must announce to your Christian love that Gabriel Bach and Margaret Staud wish to be married; but an important obstacle stands in the way, because of which I cannot agree to the marriage until it is removed. To wit, the said Margaret Staud has sinned dreadfully against the seventh commandment in Savannah through fornication and inchastity, and this abomination has been so public among Englishmen and Germans that it would cause me and our community great reproach if I were to marry her to Bach without first disposing of these disgraceful things in Christian fashion, as far as can be done among mankind. Since she has prostituted her body, which was dedicated to the Lord Christ in holy baptism, my efforts so far have been to convince her through Gods word of her grave sin and to bring her to true penitence. And in order that she might have an opportunity to come to a recognition of her sin and to penitence, I have allowed her to dwell in our village and to profit from good instruction. During the time that she has been here she has learned the catechism of our church along with a few Bible verses and has often declared to me that she sincerely regrets the sins she has committed and that she earnestly wishes to invoke God through Jesus to make another person out of her and to accept her as His child.

But now, since she has caused the said great scandal, it is necessary to put an end to it publicly before the marriage. And now you, Margaret Staud, must admit before God in this Christian community the things you have confessed to me. Therefore I am asking you now first of all whether or not your conscience tells you that you have sinned grievously against God by violating the seventh commandment. Tell me your opinion. (She answered, standing, with a clear but sorrowful Yes.) Further, you must explain to yourself how your heart and spirit feel about this, whether you sincerely regret this dreadful sin, which is a terrible abomination before our holy God and all righteous people. Tell us your opinion about this. (Bowing her head and her spirit, she again said Yes and wept bitterly). You have reason to regret it in your heart and humbly to beseech God for remorse and divine sorrow because of it; for it is a sin that draws down Gods temporal and eternal judgments. I shall now call your attention to two verses, namely Hebrews 13, Marriage is honorable, etc., but whoremongers and adulterers, etc., and Galatians 5, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, etc.

Therefore you should closely follow the admonitions that have been given you publicly and in private, do true penance, and persevere in prayer that God will show you mercy in Christ and cleanse you with His blood from this ugly sin, as from all your sins, and clothe you with his righteousness in which you can stand again before God. For know to your comfort that God has already converted and accepted into His mercy sinners such as you are, only they have not continued in sin but have had to cease sinning and become obedient to the teaching of the Lord Jesus. If you will do this too, then all pious people on earth who hear of your conversion, and all angels in heaven, will rejoice at it. For there will be joy in heaven among the angels of God for every sinner who repents. Now I hope (I added) that, this matter now having been settled before the congregation, no one will object if these two people are now married; for it is better for them to be given to each other properly than for them to live in an irregular and scandalous way. May God grant that everything proceed in an honorable and orderly way among us and in all congregations, Amen.

Hereupon the matter which had been settled was presented in public prayer to our dear Lord; and we prayed that the dear Lord would give this sinner true penitence and that, on occasion, he would awaken the consciences of others in the congregation who have been mired in secret sins or perhaps are still mired in them, so that their sins will be recognized, regretted, and forgiven here rather than be revealed and punished there before all people.

Until now I have been unable to give Bach any hope of being able to live in our community but always advised him that he would first have to reform like the prodigal son and that the said Staud woman would have to do penance also. However, since she has gotten along well with us so far, has good recommendations from other people, and has shown a great desire to remain here with the word of God and a good opportunity to be better instructed from Gods word and has also freed herself publicly from her bad behavior, I sent them word today through Sanftleben that, if they still wished it, I would assign them farmland in the community again, provided they would promise to submit to good order among us and that he would drop his acquaintance with dissolute Englishmen.

However, as I learned from him, Bach has already obligated himself to move to Ogeechee (a frontier station against the Spaniards). Meanwhile, he will have the hope of moving back to us again if he finds it suitable and if he remains in good repute. I am truly pleased that (as I have been assured by Sanftleben, who is very close to them) they are not embittered against this church penance. She was in the church again this afternoon and was very attentive as usual. Oh, if only everyone would believe that church penance is just as necessary and salutary as the discipline of children in their parents home. To be sure, caution is necessary in this, to keep everything in proper limits.

Monday, the 4th of February. Shortly after six oclock this morning I married Gabriel Bach to Margaret Staud in the presence of witnesses; and before the marriage I spoke a few words. I said something about the serious words of the Savior in Mark 5:1820 and showed in the application how much had been done so far for them, as well as for other still unconverted people in the congregation, by the loving Savior, who loves even His worst enemies and is kind even to ungrateful and wicked Gergesenes. To wit, He has sought to pull them out of their miserable condition and into the spiritual freedom and state of grace, if only they had not resisted Him. But this they would not do from this moment on, but rather throw themselves at His feet in humility and obedience, and then He would have mercy on them too. And now they would be in a position to proclaim to others in that dark place, where they would meet no one better than the man in the text among his countrymen, how great a blessing the Lord had shown them and how He had had mercy on them. Consequently, it would be entirely contrary to the conduct of this man and also contrary to the will of the Lord Jesus, if they were to resemble wicked people and act like them, etc. We again gave them hope that they might be able to return to our place sometime if they wished and we heard good reports of them.

Because our large boat was going to Savannah today, they went on it; and both of them, particularly the woman, took heartfelt leave of me, by which I perceived that she had not taken the church penance as a disgrace but rather as a benefaction. I have good hopes for her that she will let herself be saved; and at her departure I thought of the words of the Lord that say that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before the generation that is full of bourgeois honesty and self-made piety.7 My dear colleague also traveled with the boat to Savannah, to request and to load up the things we hope have arrived with Captain Thomson. The dear Father in heaven acted very kindly and wisely in freeing me of this journey, which several circumstances had required; for in the afternoon I suffered an attack on and in my throat so that we feared it would turn into angina. However, because I could keep myself warm and keep a diet both day and night while taking certain medicines, the attack subsided under the blessing of the Highest, who again let me receive a blessing for my soul through this discipline of the body.

Tuesday, the 5th of February. I hear that our loving God has blessed His holy word, which was preached last Sunday, by encouraging several souls to great seriousness in their Christianity, for which His holy name should be praised and glorified. By using the beautiful Sunday epistle for Septuagesima Sunday, my dear colleague conveyed the two points that it indeed costs a great deal to be a Christian,8 but that it is worth the effort to become and remain a Christian. In the morning and in the repetition hour four main points were presented and amplified for a correct understanding and application of the important gospel Matthew 20:1 ff., these being: 1) it is a dear and unmerited blessing of God that He has called, and still calls, mankind in both the Old and the New Testaments for work in his spiritual vineyard. 2) It is uncommonly harmful if a man does not remain mindful of his unworthiness but lets himself be seduced to spiritual arrogance and false intentions through the advantages he has received from God. 3) The heavenly Father is so kind that He does not let His children serve and suffer in vain but rather richly rewards their work and suffering partly here but chiefly there. 4) God reckons the reward for good not according to the duration or difficulty of the work, but according to the loyalty, simplicity, and honesty of the worker. In doing this my dear colleague found the hymn Du meiner Augen-Licht, etc. very impressive; and therefore we have decided to teach it to the listeners in our song hour, too, as we did this evening, to our very special mutual enjoyment. The text is very emphatic and the melody gives it a lovely charm that insinuates it all the more emphatically into ones spirit. It is our earnest resolution to hasten forward anew toward the crown, and may our merciful God give His blessing in this!

Wednesday, the 6th of February. As much as my now weakened physical constitution allowed, I visited a few people; and God strengthened me noticeably in it. I found only women at home, with whom I edified myself through good conversation. On such occasions we learn how the dear Lord is working on their souls through His word and what obstacles there are here and there, some of which they have caused themselves, often with good intentions, and some of which have been caused them by other people and by personal matters. We can not only help them with these right away but also arrange our sermons according to them, since many people lie sick with these matters. The people often mention the catechism exercises that were held in my house before Christmas, and they still feel these help in furthering their Christianity.

Last Sunday I spoke lovingly and earnestly with a penitent sinner but could not be content with her because she believes more in Moses than in the Lord Jesus.9 To be sure, she lets herself be chastised, frightened, and humiliated by the law but will have no trust in the gospel. Rather she makes excuse upon excuse and is making no progress. But today I heard from another woman that my words had taken root; and this pleases me very much because at first I was somewhat worried that she might not have rightly understood what I had said to her. May God give us proper wisdom in our intercourse with our parishioners. Edifying songs make a deep impression; and, when we read them such songs as are edifying and impressive, we win the desired opportunity to have the kind of discourses with the people that suit them; and they have a guide for remembering the admonitions that are given them so they can pray accordingly.

Thursday, the 7th of February. Mrs. N. told me that she had heard someone praying very fervently and had noticed other signs of a good beginning in her Christianity. Thereupon I remembered the wife of N., who also began to pray fervently a few weeks ago but then slackened. Therefore I went to her immediately to speak to her about her indolence and the necessity and blessedness of evangelical conversion, and the dear Lord richly blessed this. She spoke out this time more freely than ever before; and this was a sign that my exhortations and prayers had penetrated her heart. It humbles me greatly that I am so often ailing and must give so much time to rest and taking walks because of my frail health, for which reason I cannot visit the dear parishioners as often as they themselves would like. My dear colleague calls on them as often as his schoolwork and other duties permit.

Kieffers oldest10 son stays with his brother a great deal on his fathers land, which lies in our neighborhood, and always avails himself of the opportunities to edify himself; and the Lord always lets this serve him for much good. This evening I had occasion to speak a good deal with him about his condition and about how good a change of disposition can be, and not only he acknowledged what had been lacking in him until now but also resolved with God to convert himself to God in righteousness. His words came from the depth of his heart and gave me great pleasure. I gave him the exceptionally beautiful song Du meiner Augen-Licht, etc. to read, from which he could thoroughly recognize not only the blessedness of a Christian but also the way to achieve it.

Friday, the 8th of February. My dear colleague returned yesterday with his traveling companions after having had to fetch the chests, for which we have had to wait for so long, all the way from Captain Thomsons ship at Tybee (at the mouth of the Savannah River). God be praised for the beautiful blessing which He has guarded for us by water and land all the way to here. We will distribute the linen in such a way that every man will receive a shirt, whereas the women will get some clothing of equal value. Dear Mr. N. and Mr. N.,11 a friend, received my dear colleague very lovingly and again gave the orphanage and him some gifts. We hear from Savannah that General Oglethorpe has taken two small fortresses from the Spaniards and has captured some fortresses from the Spaniards and has captured some Spaniards, whom he is keeping very well and not in the murderous manner of the Spaniards.

Saturday, the 9th of February. At about the time of the evening prayer meeting we called the congregation together to awaken one another to the praise of God for the benefactions we have received. First we sang the song Danckt dem HErrn ihr Gottes-Knechte, etc., then we read Senior Urlspergers printed letter, addressed to us, which tells of the righteous eighty-eight year old Salzburger Schneller, who died blessedly in Augsburg. Then, according to his method, we presented several points that suited our purpose and plans. The wisdom of God, that doeth everything in its own time, marvelously ordained that we should receive both this cordial letter and the gifts from Augsburg in the very week after Septuagesima Sunday, when Senior Urlspergers letter was written.

Because the noteworthy points are mostly connected with the important matters in the gospel Matthew 20:1 ff. and well clarified by the late Salzburgers example, I took the occasion to remind the congregation of the most important materials presented last Sunday and to illustrate and apply them through this example, e.g., what a divine blessing it is that God has led our Salzburgers, like the late Schneller, into the spiritual vineyard of the Evangelical Church, in which they should be workers even if they do not belong to the upper orders. The said example beautifully shows what kind of work even ordinary Christians have. Likewise, God is so kind that his childrens work and suffering are repaid here and there, as can also be seen in this example. Even though our Salzburgers are not in a poor house as he was, the Lord is still doing much good for them through benefactors and has especially verified in them His promise that stands just before the said gospel passage, namely, in Matthew 19:29, because what they are enjoying here in a material way they did not have in Salzburg. Whosoever hath eyes, let him see it well. Ingrates are blind, and blind men are ungrateful. But the greatest reward for grace is kept for honest workers in their blessed eternity; and now this blessed man will enjoy the blessedness that the dear apostles, martyrs, and all believers have enjoyed from the very beginning, and all this through grace (Matthew 19:28, cf. Revelations of St. John 3:21).

Likewise, it does great harm if man does not remain in the recognition of his unworthiness but lets his advantages mislead him into arrogance and false purposes. This blessed Schneller remained ever in the recognition of his unworthiness while receiving and enjoying his benefactions and thus revealed his righteous attitude, by which he serves our people as a shining example, especially on the occasion of the present distribution. I informed the congregation at once how abundantly our worthy Lord and Lady von N.12 had contributed to the gifts from N. and also how dear Mr. N. had sent a length of calico especially for the second transport. Finally we prayed for ourselves and our dear benefactors and undertook the distribution, which proceeded in very good order.

All benefactions were received with a very humble and grateful spirit and with wishes for rich reward. A Salzburger said he had just read the verse in the Treasure Chest,13 p. 161, I shall keep my grace for him forever, etc.; and this eternal mercy (Cf. Psalms 89:2); and we unworthy ministers, who have again shared in these gifts according to their instructions, and also our dear congregation herewith cordially wish this eternal mercy (See Psalms 89:2) as a reward for our dear Mr. N. and all our benefactors and friends, who have also wished us so much good in letters. We made every possible effort to make the portions as equal as possible; and it turned out that every family received a shirt, of which there has been a general lack among the members of the congregation. In addition to the linen, twenty-two pairs of mixed mens, womens, and childrens shoes have been sent, which, together with the linen, is a right dear and necessary gift, not only because the shoes here cost very much but also because they last only a few weeks or at best a couple of months with the work in the field, whereas the German shoes are of better leather and are more firmly sewn.

Should the dear Lord sometime arouse some benefactors to contribute a chest of such goods to the members of our congregation, who are all poor and are mostly true members of Christ, much good could be done through this benefaction. However, this should not be through self-will, but through the will of the Father; for He has already sent us through His human instruments more than we deserve, as several in the congregation have recognized and acknowledged. The many yarns, fasteners, buckles, needles, shears, knives, etc., as well as the black, brown, and brightly colored material and the linen for aprons and bonnets have caused much joy and praise of God during the distribution. The Father looked out even for the smallest children and let them receive blouses, winter skirts, stockings, and bonnets. Oh, that the hearts and mouths of both young and old might overflow with the praise of God for them. The beautiful supply of all sorts of edifying books and tractates we consider a gift to our church. They will well increase our church library, and we do not doubt that much spiritual blessing will flow to us and other hungry souls in the congregation. God help us make truly good use of these; and then it will be easy for Him, the great Lord who supports all things through His mighty word, to let us also receive the books that are in the chests from our dear Halle and have been left behind.

Sunday, the 10th of February. While preaching about the stony ground in todays gospel, I could not help but remember what we experience in carrying out our office. Because we not only have to use our ministerial office with disorderly people but also have to make decisions regarding squabbles and complaints and to pronounce judgments and aid the suffering and innocent party, we may offend many who think they are in the right even when they misbehave. As a result they not only act rude and immoderate and burst out stonily with gestures and words but even harden their minds against our spiritual office and keep away from our sermons. But I showed how irresponsible it is and what sighs it extracts from us, which do not please such people. What can the good word of God do against that? And why do they wish to avenge it and reproach the person who reveals it? It seems as if such people come to church only to please the minister and stay away to taunt him (oh, such miserable defiance!), if he does not act according to their liking. But with such ill behaved people we would not avoid any offense or bitterness even if we had nothing to do with worldly affairs but delegated such things to a regular justiciary.

During the repetition hour I read the congregation the very impressive letter from worthy Pastor Riesch of Lindau, which he had actually directed to those Salzburgers who were formerly under his spiritual supervision and care but had also directed to the others as well; and this letter is especially dear to me because its content applies to the entire congregation. This gave me an opportunity to add some things that were necessary for its application, and this was very profitable. The letters from our Fathers and friends in Europe always make a great impression on our minds and therefore generally awaken our zeal for piety. He and also our worthy Senior Preu have written something to us both that is very necessary for us and reveals in almost every line their fatherly love and affection for us unworthy beings. May God make us ardent in our intercessions for their worthy persons and offices, since there is nothing else we can do to repay them.

After the repetition hour a pious Salzburger spoke to me concerning Pastor Rieschs letter to the congregation, which he wishes to utilize for himself and his sick wife. At the same time I encouraged the righteous souls in the congregation not only to pray zealously for our benefactors, Fathers, and friends privately and individually (as they do anyway) but also to call on my colleague and me diligently (for which there is a special opportunity on Mondays and Fridays) so that we can thank the Lord communally for all His benefactions and implore Him for a correct use of them and pray for our dear patrons, both known and unknown. For this is good and also pleasing unto God our Savior.

Monday, the 11th of February. This morning I had the orphans and other children of the community before me in order to distribute the few remaining gifts such as fasteners, ribbons, yarn, and sewing needles, since on Saturday some of them had received shoes and the smallest had received shirts, skirts, bonnets, etc. I had already told them publicly on Saturday and now repeated, in a few words, that I did not consider it by chance that God had held back the other two chests of linen from Halle, from which I had promised them some shirts as in former times. The behavior of most of them did not yet concur with Gods word as much as we could wish; and, by holding back these blessings that were already in sight He was showing that He can give and take away all His benefactions, even those they are now enjoying. This they well deserve, but they should recognize this humbly and become more obedient and grateful through Gods mercy.

I now wished, I said, to give them what I still had. To be sure, it was very little, yet they should remember the verse they had heard yesterday: To him who hath (and well uses the little that he hath) shall it be given, etc. If the dear Lord should see them using these gifts gratefully and caring primarily for the chief values of the Kingdom of God, then God would give them more, perhaps even the beautiful supply of linen that had remained behind. For, I continued, God acts like pious fathers and mothers who give additional gifts to, and gladly cause great joy for, those children who know how to use their earlier gifts better than before.

During todays prayer meeting in my house I read something out of two letters from the Bohemian pastors in Berlin14 and told the assembled people something about the work of the Lord in Bohemia during the great oppression and about the great tribulations that the emigrants are experiencing at the place of their present sojourn. This was in part so that they would be encouraged to praise God for all the advantages we are enjoying here and partly so they would intercede heartily and zealously for these oppressed co-religionists. Oh how useful such reports are for us! Oh, Lord, what are we and our people that Thou lettest us enjoy so many more advantages than so many honest souls! Oh give us hearts in which burn an everlasting fire of mutual love and gratitude as well as merciful compassion for our poor fellow members! We acknowledge with most appreciative thanks that we have received so many edifying letters and diary extracts concerning the dear Bohemians. Some Salzburgers have received very impressive letters from their patrons and friends, for which they are full of joy. They generally communicate these to us and thereby give us an opportunity to help them benefit from them.

Tuesday, the 12th of February. A woman called on me and revealed that she had sinned against her late parents and other peoples property through disloyalty and that this had caused her much disquiet until now and had not let her grow strong in her Christianity. When N.s15 sin was publicly disposed of, she had wished to confess and to free herself of sin, too; but she had always postponed doing so. She had told her husband about it, she said; and he was willing to give her as much money as she needed from the pay he was earning, which I was to give to a poor person. I showed her how much more was demanded if she were to win the merciful forgiveness of her sins; and therefore she should not be content with this confession and restitution. Her husband is still frivolous; and because I seldom find him at home because of his work in the field, I told her various things she should say to him in my name for his salvation. I particularly recommended to him frequent company with N., who is his neighbor on the plantations; for he would receive much spiritual advantage from him during and after their work.

Hertzog had calculated in advance that he would not have quartan fever, but rather good days, on Invocavit Sunday and the Saturday before it, so he asked whether we might be able to let him go to the Lords Table, which was to be held at that time. I gave him a couple of little books from those that have just been sent to us from Augsburg. He read them in my study and found that they suited his circumstances especially well. Therefore, whenever he found a passage that was particularly useful to him, he called out to himself: God be praised and thanked!; and he repeated this very often in his joy. Upon leaving, he said that this gift was dearer to him than if I had given him some crowns. In both books there are prayers and sighs for all occasions. Previously he has always complained that he did not know how to express his troubles as well as he would like, and therefore he was very fond of prayers that inspired devotion.

In a conversation with a woman I came to the beautiful expression in the song we are now learning: Now indeed Thou hast received me, as I was imploring to come to Thee. My heart could well feel it when your glance of grace touched it.16 With it I gave her the admonition to make good use of this experience, which she has surely had in both her previous and her present dwellings during her very often dark struggles, and thus to restore her sinking courage with it. She remembered the corner in which she, with her awakened and active conscience, had lain and struggled during the dark night, while no fear came to her from without. Therefore she did not know, she said, how it came about that she is now so fearful and cannot pray undisturbed in the dark. She has had this trouble, she continued, ever since another pious woman had said that late in the evening, while she was praying in the garden, something white had brushed by her face very swiftly, by which she was, to be sure, startled but not disturbed. She always thinks of this, even though she struggles hard against it and even recites such strength-giving verses as Not a hair shall fall from thy head, etc. I told her something about the verse, Within, fear: without, struggle,17 likewise Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walketh about seeking, etc., and it is also written and know that these same sufferings (pathemata) afflict your brothers, etc. In how many ways the old skulker tries to disquiet true believers and impede their course.

Wednesday, the 13th of February. This afternoon a big storm arose, which was the first of this year. After the prayer hour we had another one, which brought us a heavy rain, just as the first had done. My God let it all pass soon and without damage!

Thursday, the 14th of February. Toward the evening yesterday God freed Mrs. N. from her bodily burden and granted her a young daughter. Her condition was very dangerous and difficult; and, because the child was very weak and almost strangled, I baptized it soon after its birth in the presence of the sponsors. I was told that during the time of Mrs. N.s great pain and suffering she showed that she had a firm foundation of Christianity that had revealed itself in patience and in a childlike praise of God despite her physical weakness. This made a fine impression on all those who understand the mind and speech of the faithful. Without doubt she will now praise the dear Lord very much for the mercy He has shown her and the child (which will be a good example for her husband), especially since the child lived to receive Holy Baptism. She greatly wishes for the Kingdom of God to be increased through new arrivals, and she sighs and weeps a great deal when things do not proceed properly here and there.

A worthy friend of children has sent us a little packet of inspirational verses, some of them inscribed in torn out hearts and some in figures with legible letters; and this afternoon I distributed them among our school children after a prayer and necessary admonitions. They could say most of them by heart and showed a great desire to commit the rest to memory, for which purpose they wish to pass around the little slips, which had been given to them individually, until they have all learned them. With simple children one must practice Christian simplicity and condescend in every way so that some good will be planted in their tender hearts. In this regard I remember the words of the apostle, I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

Because our dear Mrs. von N.18 caused much joy to both adults and children the last time through all sorts of benefactions, I asked the children whether they would like to send her as a sign of gratitude some little verses from Gods word that they had stored up in their hearts in school. I found them quite willing to do so; and every one of them, even the smallest who can hardly speak, recited a verse or an edifying rhyme for me, which I have written down to my own great joy and will send along in Christian simplicity.19 May God place a blessing on this childlike simplicity for the sake of Jesus, the great friend of children. Before their departure I distributed a few small copper engravings, which Mr. Engelbrecht of Augsburg sent in rather great number as presents.20 For that too we gave most respectful thanks. They all deal with Jesus Christ, and may the Holy Ghost inscribe His image and living recognition in all hearts.

Friday, the 15th of February. Many people in our place have planted cotton, some less, which serves them well, since stockings are expensive and not much good. We have already had a large but light wheel made like those used by the wool spinners in Germany, on which a woman has begun to spin cotton. Now others are following her and thereby accomplishing more than when they used the small wheels that are driven with the foot. Our clock maker, Mueller, is a very skillful man, who can copy almost everything he sees; and he is making such spinning wheels for the people. It would be good if we could manufacture more of the things that pertain to clothing.

For our spiritual music we could well use a clavichord, or, if it were possible to make, a clavi-cimbel or regal organ, which would contribute to the glory of God and to our edification. Such a thing is not to be had here in this country, except that a Swiss in New Windsor, whom they call Landeshauptmann,21 is said to have one. The clockmaker,22 who fabricates all sorts of things, does not understand music, otherwise he would try to build a little clavichord. We also lack strings for it. May this too be commended to the providence of God, who has made possible many things that seemed impossible. A few days ago a woman told me that in the song O GOtt, du Tieffe sonder Grund, etc., she had noted the beautiful expression And what is called impossible is the least of Thy works.

After our private prayer meeting I distributed among the people a few little books, which were sent to us this time in considerable numbers. They were very pleased with them, expressed their appreciation well, and were most grateful. They also wished their benefactors all divine blessings for their souls and bodies as a reward. We cannot make much use of the unbound and ungathered materials, because we have no one who can bind them.

A woman23 whose parents are in Frederica asked me with tears to write a letter to her people there and to tell them how well the heavenly Father has cared for her both spiritually and physically and how gladly she would like to share such grace and gifts of God with them, if it were only possible for them to get away from there and to come here. I wrote it for her. Another man, who gets along rather miserably in a physical way, expressed the sentiment that he would rather let go of a hundred thousand doubloons than to leave this place now that God has begun to bless the word of reconciliation in him and to let him feel His mercy. Our merciful God is still showing himself very powerfully in these souls. Hallelujah!

Saturday, the 16th of February. Mrs. N.s youngest baby died yesterday evening and was buried today. In the afternoon I visited her and found her much strengthened in soul and body and saw in her an example of what it means when My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Before the child was carried away, she heard with right heavenly pleasure the song Alle Menschen mssen sterben, etc., sung by the people who had gathered for the funeral. She knows no tribulations of the flesh, on the other hand she feels inwardly how much it costs to be a Christian.24 She had considered herself pious already in Germany; and she said in this connection that her prayers had come to her easily but that she is now learning better and better to recognize the value of a truly struggling prayer. Formerly, when she first realized how much she was still lacking, she thought that if she, like other people, did not have so much work in the world, she would be able to conduct her Christianity with more seriousness. But now she realized that it was a miserable excuse of the Old Adam to say that poor people, who are busy enough with getting their food, cannot do so.

Ever since early childhood the verse And now bless the God of all, who in every way does great things,25 etc. has reminded her to praise the Lord for His many blessings; and she counts it among the chief blessings of her life that God has not only led her out of Salzburg but has also brought her into this wilderness to His word, where He has shown mercy on her soul. Before the departure of the second transport she had refused to accept the call to Ebenezer; but afterwards she prayed a lot about it. When the third transport was being collected it seemed to her that she had rejected the mercy God had offered her and had sinned thereby. Her mistress, a laundress in Memmingen, had also contributed much to her resolution to move here through her Christian speeches and arguments. While she was taking Holy Communion the last time God had assured her of His mercy especially during and through the evangelical expressions in the song Frlich soll mein Hertze springen, etc. Even though her heart vacillated again subsequently and became fearful, our pious Savior has nevertheless continued with His comfort and refreshment. Her husband heard her and my words and thereby received many necessary admonitions. His wife is ahead of him in her godly zeal. He said that his former father-confessor had his schoolmaster tell him that, if he did not accept the call to America, he was kicking away his fortune; and these serious words animated him to hurry after the third transport, which had already left Augsburg.

Another Salzburger had received a couple of letters as answers from a pious benefactor who judged him to be a pious and godly man. But this caused the man to weep and to regret that he had written anything, since his words had been misunderstood and he was being considered better than he really was. He was therefore unwilling to undertake writing any more letters, even though he felt obliged to write a thank-you note for a monetary benefaction he had received. I explained the benefactors expressions and showed him, from Matthew 5, Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc., Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, etc. Because he must be counted among those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, and who are hungry and thirsty, the Lord has already called him blessed, provided he will not reject Gods mercy. This condition is a thousand times more blessed than anything the richest and most honored men of the world can boast of with their fortune and happy circumstances.

The dear man could not do enough to describe and lament sufficiently his previous blindness, in which he had presumptuously thought himself pious and had been considered so by other people, and to accept in humility the mercy God had shown him. At his departure from Germany he had no other purpose but to leave the rough and wild crowds and their public vexations and to come to some rest; but he had not thought of the main obstacle that lay in his way and had believed that he would have to remain behind for the sake of his old parents in order to edify them from the word of God, for it would be irresponsible to leave them. However, because God had seen that the departure would lead to the salvation of his soul, He Himself guided the hearts of his parents to advise him to make the journey to America; and God had even used a righteous man, who had presumably written a recommendation for him to Mr. Urlsperger.

Sunday, the 17th of February. Yesterday evening, when I had the congregation together again in the prayer meeting, I delivered the cordial greetings and benedictions that had been transmitted to our congregation by several of our dear patrons, such as Senior Preu, Pastor Riesch, Master Hildebrand, Mr. Kaltschmidt, etc., in their most recent letters; and this gave me an occasion again to tell my listeners many good things for giving their Christianity a firmer foundation and for increasing the good they had begun through Gods word. Our worthy Mr. Hildebrand has again sent various fine tractates both from himself and from Pastor Kleinknecht for our and the congregations use. May the Lord grant him and us good fruit from this, and may He richly reward him with much blessing in his office before God and man for his love and kind thoughts.

Today we have had a very enjoyable Sunday together, in which our loving God has blessed His word for our salutary recognition of Christ, the Savior of the world and Physician of poor sinners. Since the Lord Jesus refers in the gospel Luke 18:31 to the prophets of the Old Testament and says that their prophesies about Him, His passion, and His glory would soon be fulfilled, we were admonished that in the Old Testament we should seek and recognize only Christ as He was made for us by God for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Most people do not know what they should seek in the Bible; others, who think they can do better, observe only what is commanded or forbidden them and do not wish to respect Christ any more than Moses, and for this reason they slip into a condition of legality and self-sanctification and do not rightly experience the power of Christ, the power of His reconciliation and justification. This point was elaborated along with others in the main lesson, which was -- and this was the greatest benefaction, for which the consummately righteous would praise the Father of all Mercy in eternity -- that the Lord Jesus was sacrificed for the sake of our sins and was resurrected for the sake of our justification.

Monday, the 18th of February. The Salzburger Hossler called on me this morning and asked me to write to the benefactors who sent the recent gifts to him and other poor people. He named several dear benefactors, for example N.N., etc., to whom I should report in my letter that he and the others consider themselves unworthy of the benefactions but that God knows how much they need them, and they are wishing Gods blessing as a reward on him and the other benefactors. He also wished me to add a few verses, such as If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, etc. and The Lord Jesus was delivered for our offenses, etc., and God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, etc. Hossler sends many greetings to the pastor in Leipheim and to all his benefactors there for all the benefactions he enjoyed there.

N.N. would like to write his brother in N. a serious letter, but he does not think he has enough wisdom and ability to do so.26 He can clearly see from one of the letters he has received that he finds pleasure in the world and creature comforts and dislikes the hard work in this country. His dear brother knows from experience the obstacles there to true conversion and right penetration into the Kingdom of God, even though dear Mr. N.N. applies all effort, love, and seriousness to guard their souls so that they will not be swept away by the currents of vexation and mouth-Christianity. With great humility and grateful recognition of Gods miraculous love for him he expressed his certain belief that he would have been lost if God had not torn him free. Advantageous service with ones employer is indeed pleasing for the flesh, but it is a great obstacle to the soul.

Tuesday, the 19th of February. The splendid little book A Short Instruction to a True, Pure, and Apostolic Recognition of Jesus,27 which was sent to us this time in many copies, is being much sought and eagerly read by our congregation at our recommendation. May God bless it abundantly in all, for I know that it has greatly blessed the students at Halle. If any book is necessary and salutary for theological students and for ministers and teachers in churches and schools, it is this one. And, since the dearest truths of the gospel are presented in a nutshell, it is easy to read through it several times. And here too one could say, The longer, the better.

A pair of mens shoes cost 5 shillings or more; and the poor are to be pitied if they do not take care of them properly. If it is true, as it is claimed, that the widow Helfenstein can prepare leather for shoes as the tanners in Germany do, then it is to be hoped that the shoes in our village will become cheaper. I am sending to Charleston for a barrel of the oil necessary for preparing leather. Here in this country people pay only 2 Sh. 6 d for a raw ox-hide and only 2 Sh. for a cowhide, and yet shoes are very expensive. We could use a couple of shoemakers here. A short time ago Hans Schmidt wrote to his pious brother in Regensburg; and in his letter he invited his sisters son, who is said to be a good and pious shoemaker; but he could not get away at the time of Schmidts departure to come here. It would please him and us to know whether the letter arrived properly. It was enclosed with the letters to Augsburg.

Wednesday, the 20th of February. N.s daughter brought me a letter she had written especially for Court Preacher Ziegenhagen, but also for other benefactors. Upon reading it through, I find that she had remembered something from the examination for her confirmation, which deals with the order of salvation according to Gods word, but at the same time I see that she did not write down some points in the way she had previously understood them in her preparation for Holy Communion. God is working mightily through His word on her, her brothers and sisters, and her parents; and they all make diligent use of good opportunities. The clockmaker28 is among the men who would like to learn to read the notes if we had time for it. Mr. Thilo is taking the trouble to teach several women, among them his wife, the primary rudiments of vocal music in my house. He is also trying to teach the alto notes to Mrs. Helfensteins oldest boy,29 with which voice we are not yet supplied. The boy has a good voice and shows interest in this.

God has now caused a beginning to be made with the public preaching of the divine word on the plantations. This year we wished to make public use of the regular Sunday epistles for Lent, which we have omitted as long as we have been in this place; and the passion story as a basis of the catechisation has been postponed from Invocavit Sunday until Good Friday. This time we are planning to go through with it on Wednesday, piece by piece, both out there and here; for this a beginning was made today in Gods name, at ten oclock by my dear colleague on the plantations and in the prayer meeting by me in the town. This year the story is taken from the gospel of St. Mark. On the plantations they give their signal with a horn and are soon gathered in Ruprecht Steiners house. It is certainly not by chance that the first sermon held on the plantations was a sermon of gratitude, based on Joel 2, for the abundantly received harvest and the second was a Passion sermon. God make us thankful for all His goodness, which lasts forever and comes upon us fresh every morning; and may He make us especially thankful for the meritorious suffering of Jesus Christ and help us to love above all things the recognition of His power in our souls and to follow in His footsteps. All this takes a glorious end, for it leads to the Kingdom of God.

Our dear people are now experiencing some physical suffering and hardship, since they must get established again on the new land. However, they are not afraid of it, because they hope gradually to establish themselves on their own land. In this they will at least have Gods word nearby.

Thursday, the 21st of February. We are giving our congregation much joy with the little books that were sent to us from Augsburg. To be sure, we first intended to keep them with the books that belong to the church library. However, because several copies of each kind have been sent and they will become better known and more useful to the people through distribution, we have decided to give them to those who ask for them and of whom we know that they will make good use of them. May God also reward this benefaction! The people are on their plantations and will not be able to hear the word of the Lord as often as when they were at home until better arrangements can be made. Meanwhile, such little tractates stand them in good stead; and they can discuss them and lend them back and forth. Among others, we are very fond of the little tractate, The Necessary Examination of Oneself before Taking Holy Communion,30 and we hope for much benefit from it in the congregation through Gods blessing. God has granted His church an uncommon treasure in this little book, which we have already utilized in the congregation and (may He be thanked a thousand times for it!) with good effect on several souls. May our merciful God place much blessing on it on Saturday in the confessional, when I plan to read some points from it and impress them on the confessors. Dear Senior Preu, who had it reprinted in Augsburg and wished to make it especially well known to his congregation and put it into their hands and hearts, has served as a shining example for all righteous ministers who are concerned with their parishioners salvation and has shown how they should be disposed, namely to apply the labor of other servants of Christ for edifying the flock entrusted to them. How salutary it would be if others would follow him in this and make its very clear and emphatic contents known to their parishioners, both young and old, at every opportunity. The blessing would certainly show itself soon.

Friday, the 22nd of February. Several members of the congregation have a great longing for the Treasure Chest that was printed in Halle,31 which they could use with profit at their work or on trips or at other times when they cannot take the Bible in hand. If we could receive a few copies, they would cause great joy. My testament, to which the extract of the Halle Hymnal32 is attached, has become torn and almost useless through long use at home and during travels, and therefore I would consider it a benefaction if I could get another so necessary and useful book.

Saturday, the 23rd of February. In todays preparation for Holy Communion I acquainted the confessors with the chief themes from the aforementioned tractate Necessary Examination of Oneself, etc., for which purpose I read slowly and loudly those points that especially suited our parishioners present circumstances. From it God gave much edification to me and, I hope, to others.

Sunday, the 24th of February. God has given me much strength and blessing for the preaching of His word; and I praise the Lord for His very special mercy, which he has also shown even to my poor self. Oh, how dear to us is the article of reconciliation! Oh, if only we could properly grasp its power and correctly enter into this element of Gods mercy, which suits us fallen sinners. As our main lesson we had The Lord Jesus has become obedient unto His heavenly Father through His deeds and sufferings, which He did not do only as an example for us, but primarily for our sake, in our stead, and for our reconciliation. And now our reconciled God demands no more from us than that we 1) penitently realize that we have sinned against Him and regret this from our hearts, 2) that we place a good trust in Him that He will accept us in His mercy for Christs sake and let the achieved reconciliation flourish in us, for in His word He shows himself far more ready to grant us mercy than we are desirous to request it. He begs, Let yourself be reconciled with God. 3) We must make the honest resolution not to insult our good and pious God again but to live to His glory, for which there should be no lack of strength. I was deeply impressed by the late Pastor Freylinghausens lovely hymn Es ist vollbracht, etc., which we wish to learn soon. There were seventy-four of us at Holy Communion.

Mrs. N.33 was reconciled again with the congregation in the following way and thereupon admitted to Holy Communion. I must announce to your Christian love that N. has prepared herself to go to the Lords Table today with the congregation. It is her earnest desire to be reconciled with God and man and, since she believes and hopes that our dear God has forgiven all her sins for Christs sake, she is asking forgiveness from everyone whom she has insulted knowingly or unknowingly in this place. She regrets everything from her heart and hopes that the congregation will forgive and forget just as God not only forgives sins but also forgets them and thinks of them no more in all eternity. May God give much grace to her and all of us who now wish to approach the Lords Table so that we can come to it with a penitent, humble, and grace-hungry heart and, as we promised before His countenance yesterday, praise Him from now on with pious Christian behavior and thus bring the fruits of penitence and faith.

Because now, through Gods mercy, she recognizes better than previously what advantages God gives our town, especially in spiritual matters, over other places in this country, she yearns to be back at our place for the sake of her salvation and for the sake of her young children, whom she would like to have raised in the fear and admonitions of the Lord so that someday she can die in peace and without reproach from her conscience. But I shall leave this to the dispensation of God and the judgment of the authorities. If God should guide their hearts to give her permission again to move here, I hope that no one will have anything against it but will rather wish and invoke God to let everything work out for the glory of His name and for the true salvation of our souls. She does not wish to move here to anyones loss, and she well knows that by leaving this place she lost her rights to her former plantation and house lot. Therefore she, along with her son who is also here, testifies publicly that she will not claim, either now or in the future, the former plantation and house lot that her husband34 had previously won by lot but rather leave their owners in peace, unenvied, and undisturbed and be satisfied with another plantation that will be assigned to her. May God let everything take place in an honorable and orderly way among us.

Monday, the 25th of February. A woman told me that she thought it was all over with her, but yesterday in the repetition hour the dear Lord let her recognize otherwise. She looks forward with pleasure to this hour and it would greatly pain her if she were on her plantation and could no longer attend it, for then she would have to be at home in the evening because of her cattle. God be praised! Today was too much of a blessing.

Tuesday, the 26th of February. Today I had a very simple and edifying conversation with a person who has comprehended the Lord Jesus properly. She is very simple and also right sincere, and she makes good use of all that she hears. Recently, at the conclusion of the prayer meeting, she said she had heard someone sing the verse, Cling firmly to the faith in Jesus.35 Thereupon she had thought to herself, Now you too will cling to Him, and, through the grace of God, she did not wish to let go of Him again. For six years she had had enough fear and sorrow. She would often call on another woman; but all she could do was weep, so she had to marvel at the other womans patience. But now she was through,36 she said, and did not wish to let go of Jesus. Some time ago she had especially felt His grace, but now she was learning to trust Him better even without feeling Him. Yet during her conversation she broke out with the words, Sometimes I feel such joy that I cannot express it and cannot tell other people about it.

While she was in her former sad condition, she said, she had always wished she would finally break through so that she might give a joyful answer to the question of how she feels. She had always had to complain to us, and therefore she wished for once to say something joyful and now God has heard her prayer. Concerning St. John the Baptist she said that he had already been filled with the Holy Ghost in his mothers womb, yet he said, I must decrease. By this she wished to show how much more important humility is for us. Therefore it was such a pleasure for her to hear from the sermon that the devil can accomplish less with the humble. I am unable to record such a simple conversation as simply as I would like to, otherwise even more edifying things would appear here.

Wednesday, the 27th of February. Today I had an opportunity to speak with Mrs. N. and her son.37 I have thought several times of going to them, but I was afraid I would not strike the right tempo. Today, however, I felt an especial inclination to do so, so I did it with the hope that God would stand by me, which He did. She did not contradict me, as she had formerly done, but listened quietly and gave the appearance of approving of what I told her. Time will tell whether she will accept my words for her true conversion. May God grant it! At least we should not lose courage but rather continue working even on the recalcitrant according to the example of God, who is kind even to the ungrateful and wicked.

Mrs. N. is now very comforted. She knows she is free and has grace; and she hopes not to lose her courage even if temptations come.

Thursday, the 28th of February. Concerning Mrs. N. (who was mentioned under the 24th of this month), I spoke as much as necessary with the authorities in Savannah; and they will take all precautions, both orally and in writing, against all the disorders that we fear and the vexations that arose here previously because of her and will give her permission to return to us, but in cautious terms.

Among the German people39 things appear very confused and disorderly, and therefore they can almost grasp with their hands the reasons that are preventing us from giving them the Holy Communion they have often requested. In N. I found an opportunity to remind N.40 about his miserable and dangerous condition. He not only admitted it himself but also thanked me with very courteous words for the seriousness which we had to use in chastising him for his disorderliness, especially with regard to the fourth commandment; and he revealed his good resolutions. I happened to have the little book about the dreadful end of the Spira41 and of an atheist in London with me, which I gave him with the admonition to separate himself from the shameless people in N.42 who make fun of heaven and hell, as well as from all disorderly people. Otherwise he will not make the least beginning in his conversion.

Friday, the 29th of February. On the boat Bacher suddenly suffered an attack that looked like epilepsy; and it seemed that he would at once give up his spirit. I utilized this and whatever else he and his wife had experienced in their household so that they would learn better to tear their hearts away from everything through the grace of God and to hold only to the one God, in whom alone rest and blessedness can be found. Last Sunday God granted this man such a blessing from His words of reconciliation that, with tears of joy, he cannot sufficiently praise our eternally merciful God. I then showed him that even this mercy must go through tribulations and that one cannot lose this grace and goodness any more quickly than through worrying about ones daily bread. Through such worries Satan takes the word from many peoples hearts so that they do not believe and are not saved; and our Savior warns against economic worries just as emphatically as against other coarse works of the flesh.

MARCH

Saturday, the 1st of March. Poor Burgsteiner has a little four-year-old son who has been very sick and miserable for a long time. Since he has received little physical care because of his parents poverty and has not been kept warm enough, he has come very close to death. Now we have taken him into the orphanage; and Mrs. Kalcher is taking much trouble with him, even though she herself is very weak physically and has two small children. It is through her own volition that she has taken on this new burden, otherwise I would not have presumed upon her. Kalcher and she are both intent on doing much good, without personal gain, for the glory of God and the service of their neighbors, including the poorest children. They do not spare themselves but trouble themselves both day and night for the good of the people in the orphanage. I regret that I am not in a position to reward their loyalty and honesty even a little bit. But they suffer gladly for the orphanage and hope with faith and patience that God will again send a physical blessing.

It is a great blessing of the Lord that the Salzburgers have been so strengthened in their bodies and can constantly perform the heavy work they have with building houses, cultivating the land, making fences, and so many other things. The Lord well knows what is good and useful for us. Things seem worst with Eischberger and his wife, since they have both been frail for a long time and incapable of heavy work. Should the dear Lord again place something in our hands for the poor, we will gladly let them enjoy it before anyone else, for they need it and are worthy of it.

The clockmaker, Mueller, also suffers such attacks, that seem serious to me. He is a skilled and very useful man; and this time in Savannah I recommended him highly in order to help him earn something. He can make almost anything he sees, and God is working very powerfully on him. He attends divine services and all good opportunities with unusual pleasure and great attention, and he is happy that God has ordained that he not remove to the land but remain in town with a good opportunity for edification. For he has made a certain contract with a certain German man1 to work his land on fifty-fifty shares, for which he will redeem him in Savannah with a bond and advance him provisions. His son,2 an industrious youth, is working together with the share-cropper.3

Sunday, the 2nd of March. Today we announced to the congregation that we will celebrate commemoration and thanksgiving day next Saturday, for it is again the anniversary of the day that God, in His wisdom, goodness, and omnipotence, brought us into this land, where we have received so much spiritual and physical good under His divine guidance and where He has preserved us so far. Two of the vestrymen requested that this celebration too might be held on the plantations, because otherwise not all of the women would be able to leave their household duties. They would like to gather undisturbed for the whole day.

Tomorrow most of the men in the community will assemble and improve the path to make it convenient for riding and walking, for they wish to facilitate things for us in every way, in so far as possible. On my last journey God disposed things so marvelously that I was able to buy a tame and useful horse. Such are very rare in this country, and one must fetch them with great difficulty from Carolina, and in this one can be cheated. In the hot summer our health would suffer if we had to go back and forth on foot.

Monday, the 3rd of March. An Englishman from Carolina, who came here from Old Ebenezer, is said to have brought the news that the province of South Carolina has recruited five hundred men for military service, clothed them, and supplied them with all necessary equipment in order to send them soon to aid Mr. Oglethorpe against the Spaniards.4

There are now more women in my home prayer meeting, because some of the men are busy on the plantations and some are busy making fences. It appears that God has given some of them a new awakening in their hearts so that they are beginning to become serious in their Christianity. A Salzburger complained of his sloth and added that it was being proved in him and others that The first shall be last and the last shall be first, etc., for some, who had been awakened again through the word of the Lord, were showing more earnestness, etc. A pious woman said that she is heartily glad when she hears that this or that person has truly turned to Jesus, but she is soon depressed when she realizes that she herself has not achieved it. I find in her and the above-mentioned man precisely what is written in Matthew 5, Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst. Because they do not wish to deceive themselves in their work of salvation, they appropriate much from the word of God that is preached and whch really ought to be said of the unconverted and lukewarm Christians. The song Es ist vollbracht, etc., which we learned a few days ago and repeated yesterday in the song hour, has impressed me and others greatly. Its dear author, the late Pastor Freylinghausen, has also achieved5 and, after much work and struggle, has come to the Lord Jesus, to whom he has directed his listeners and readers so vigorously, wisely, and evangelically in sermons and writings. His office and example remain indelibly in my memory, and may the Lord never let me forget what I have heard of him and seen in him.

Tuesday, the 4th of March. N. and N.,6 who are sisters, are showing themselves to be very honest in their Christianity, and during my visit I found them very edifying. They are reaching the right point in their Christianity, namely, like souls troubled in their hearts by their perdition they are seeking their salvation in Christ alone and are hungering and thirsting for it. One of them said that she had told her sister several times that they were reared in their home like honorable heathens. They were admonished to much external good and were warned against theft, calumny, lying, and other coarse sins, and that was their and their familys Christianity. In Germany they had already learned that what man can accomplish through his natural power will not suffice for salvation; but they had come no further than to a literal recognition, and even in it much was lacking. However, our merciful God has already opened their eyes and let them experience His mercy, yet their hearts still vacillate and they sometimes become depressed. At the same time N. complained that the devil had laid many obstacles in her and her husbands way before their last Holy Communion, but God had removed it again out of their path. It saddens both of them that they must move out to the plantations, since they will not have such close contact with the pious women with whom they have kept company here.

Concerning another pious woman I was told that she cannot think of moving without weeping. She had already wished several times to take leave of me and thank me for all the good that she and her family had enjoyed, but her sorrow would not let her do it. To be sure, nothing would give us more pleasure than to be able to keep our congregation together under our supervision; but we must resign ourselves to the move, since necessity and their physical well being and even the providence of God require such a change. God give us wisdom to adapt ourselves properly to all situations that arise.

Wednesday, the 5th of March. The people are expressing great pleasure that the word of God is now being preached to them on the plantations. My dear colleague goes out every Wednesday morning and reads them the passion story from the gospel of St. Mark, and here it is read Wednesdays and Thursdays in the evening prayer meeting. I had intended to visit Ernst and his wife at their plantation, but because of shortness of time I could get no farther than to Ruprecht Steiners plantation, where I preached something out of yesterdays evening prayer hour, and then we prayed together. The dear people are very pleased when we visit them, and it is very useful both to us and to them.

Since the action has moved from Savannah to Frederica, very few sloops come to Savannah, and therefore some things are not to be had, or only very expensively. It is difficult and sometimes dangerous to have things brought from Charleston, because the ship crews are generally careless with the goods entrusted to them. They bring everything in open boats or pirogues; and, because they are sometimes fourteen days underway from Charleston to Savannah, much is spoiled or damaged by the rain.

Thursday, the 6th of March. A pious merchant in Savannah7 sent me a calendar, which he had procured for me in Charleston; and with it he sent me a very sincere little letter in which he revealed to me the troubles and desires of his heart and movingly implored our intercession. Since God is leading him to a true recognition of himself and of his Savior, the great Reconciler of the whole world; and, since he has a righteous guide in Mr. N.,8 God will surely make of him a splended vessel of His mercy and a valuable instrument of His grace for other frivolous and disorderly people of this place. He has especial natural gifts which the Lord will use for much good if they are sanctified.

We both went to N.s plantation to speak a few words with him and her about their salvation. When they told us about their physical want, this gave us an opportunity to remind them of their former state of sin and to tell them that they thereby deserved far more than their present poverty and sickness. We also showed them what salutary purpose God had in these well deserved afflictions, namely, they should penitently recognize their misery and perdition like the prodigal son, turn from the paths of perdition, and humble themselves before Him, then God will rejoice at their penitence and change the curse into blessing. They asserted that they now recognized the hand of God that was striking them better than before and promised to follow the good advice we gave them by showing them the 15th chapter of Luke and the 8th chapter of the first book of Arndts True Christianity.

In the hope of improvement we promised him a pair of shoes, which he had requested strongly, and also gave him the assurance that, should he and his wife convert themselves through the grace of God and begin a new life, we would gladly show our joy even through physical gifts; for, because of their annoying behavior, we had been prevented from considering them like other orderly members of the community. We knelt down together under the open sky and asked God to have mercy on these poor people and their two children and to bless in them the words we had spoken. This visit came to them entirely unexpectedly, but pleased them very much, as was shown by both their tears and their sincere thanks. Oh, may the Lord Jesus accept even those great sinners like lost sheep and set them aright, as He has done for so many others!

Friday, the 7th of March. Because many Salzburgers have moved, or are moving, to the plantations with their households, those men who have remained in town have joined in protecting an already planted field with a high fence. This has, to be sure, cost them much work, but not as much as they first assumed; because they all worked on it with right unusual industry and unity. They have divided the land in such a way that each of them is receiving as much as he himself can desire and has time and strength to plant. How greatly it pleases us when everything proceeds in a Christian and orderly way among our parishioners. How advantageous are harmony and mutual assistance even in external occupations.

Saturday, the 8th of March. Today we held our annual commemoration and thanksgiving celebration, at which the Lord did much good to our souls. We two alternated so that in the morning one of us preached the word of God at the plantations and the other in the town; and in the afternoon we did it again so that the entire congregation heard both texts expounded and applied. My dear colleague had as his text Galatians 2:19-20, I am crucified with Christ, etc. I had the words from Job 5:19, which dear Mr. N. sent to us and our congregation some time ago to encourage us when he had received reports of our manifold trials and tribulations, from which time I have always found them most impressive. From them I showed that in their manifold tribulations the children of God have good hope that everything will turn out all right. In the main lesson I reminded them that our true God has verified this His word of promise in us and that this should arouse us to the praise of his name and to further sincere faith in his help and care.

We have now been in this country for six years. Each year has had its particular tribulations and trials, but the Lord has helped us through all of them; and this should surely strengthen us in our faith and confidence with regard to our seventh year, even if poor crops, danger of war, or other hardships should arise. (Cf. Job 5:20-24). At this time I was greatly edified and comforted by the little verse from Psalm 68: We have a God who help-eth. The children have learned the 91st Psalm by heart and recited it publicly. In the evening we sang the two beautiful songs Lobe, lobe meine Seele, den der heisst HErr Zebaoth, etc. (in which Ebenezer is mentioned) and Singt dem HErrn nah und fern, etc. Between them we prayed and praised our heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost for all the blessings we have enjoyed, especially in the last six years, and called upon Him for further blessings.

Sunday, the 9th of March. Because the church hut is very uncomfortable and almost dilapidated, we began yesterday and today to hold divine services in my house, as we have done so far with the prayer meetings, for there is room in it for that too. God be praised for the good opportunity He has given here to me and my family for our dwelling and to our congregation for its edification. A man came to see me and told me that, to the praise of God, the word of the Lord has been especially blessed in him and another person who is staying with him; and it seemed to him that someone must have revealed to me what suited his circumstances, because the lesson applied to him so well. We learned in the main lesson that what Satan has corrupted in man the Lord Jesus can set aright, provided man does not willfully resist Him. To emphasize the first important point I used the two verses Ephesians 4:18-19 and Isaiah 53:6. All we like sheep have gone astray, etc. I was deeply impressed during the repetition hour, and the Savior did much good to my soul. We sang with all voices the edifying song Mein Heyland nimmt die Snder an, etc., which we had received printed for different voices and which we had distributed to our listeners.

Monday, the 10th of March. A pious and simple Salzburger, who cannot write and generally has a rather weak mind, told me how he makes use of the word of God that is preached to him and others; and I was particularly pleased when he said that, as soon as he returns to his hut, he reflects silently on the words he has heard and prays with them, otherwise he loses them quickly, as he has noticed in other people too. He was very happy that my dear colleague preaches every week on the plantations. One has, he said, not only a body that must have food and sustenance, but also a soul that must be cared for, for otherwise we would live like cattle. Some time ago he received some Bible pictures, whose meaning he well understood; and he was especially pleased with the Lord Jesus, who was represented under the cross in His lovely image; and he used very fine expressions in describing Him. I thereupon thought of the words of the blessed Luther, who called Bible illustrations Laicorum Biblia9 and, in his desire to edify simple souls, left them in the Evangelical Church in his great wisdom.

I found a pious woman reading Arndts True Christianity. She had the Bible lying beside her and said they were her two best books; but she complained at the same time about her lack of understanding, of which she had become well aware while reading. During the conversation she stretched her hands toward heaven and said with very friendly and joyous gestures: God has shown a most miraculous love for me by bringing me here and having mercy on this miserable worm. People sometimes say that God performs no more miracles; yet on her, she said, He had done nothing but miracles by saving her from perdition and bringing her to a faith in the Lord Jesus. To be sure, even in Old Ebenezer He had let her come into many dark states of mind to which she could not reconcile herself; and she had not had the heart to reveal it to one of her ministers until God Himself had miraculously ordained it. For then she realized that these were the right ways by which God was accustomed to lead the deeply fallen to eternal salvation.

All the pain and suffering that she had often felt in her conscience and soul were now dearer to her than all the treasures of the world, since the Lord had let the light of His grace dawn in her. She could hardly praise sufficiently the blessing God had shown her from His word yesterday and during the thanksgiving celebration or sufficiently praise His holy name. Another woman who was there also praised the good guidance of the Lord so far and could hardly degrade herself enough in view of the unworthiness caused by her previous sinful life. She prayed; and, in presenting to the dear Lord her perdition and the inner yearning of her heart for His free grace in Christ, she used words that could only be edifying for anyone who heard them. She also said that, even if she could be set on a royal throne, she would rather choose the poorest hut in Ebenezer in place of it. God be praised for the blessing my soul received in this assembly.

Tuesday, the 11th of March. Mrs. N. informed me sorrowfully that she and her family are moving to the plantations at the beginning of next week and that she finds it very bitter; yet she must obey the will of God, who has so ordained. She is concerned only with the salvation of her soul; and, since the daily evening prayer hour and other good opportunities for edification have been very useful for her, she regrets very deeply that she will have to forego them. She praises the dear Lord sincerely because her oldest daughter has acquired a thorough knowledge of Christian dogma through the instruction she has had so far in the church and school and has acquired through practice the gift of relating in an orderly and edifying manner what she knows and hears. The Lord Jesus is working very powerfully in her, so that people have every good hope for her. With tears the pious mother thanked us for all the spiritual blessings shown to her and her family and requested us very movingly to visit her out there. I hope the Lord will use her as a blessed instrument on other people at the plantations, for she greatly yearns to edify herself with other people.

Concerning N., who is her neighbor in the town, she told me that she had not lost the awakening that she had again experienced but was loyally applying the grace she had received for her conversion. She believes that, as soon as she has moved to the plantations and been weaned from her former acquaintances who do not really strive for heaven, things will go even better with her. I believe that, in the case of the plantations, to which most of the people are moving, God not only has the bodily welfare of our congregation as His aim but also will seek to fulfill the real work He has begun in many of them and also give us opportunity and strength to benefit both young and old in this main purpose, for which He has already given us the will and grace.

Yesterday I had planned to ride out this morning and visit the workers; but yesterday evening we had a heavy rain and thunderstorm; and in the night a real gale arose, which remained very cold and raw all day. After the rain we saw much yellow stuff on the streets as if it had rained sulphur.

Wednesday, the 12th of March. After the strong wind had receded and the sky had become clear, we had a violent freeze, which was a hard blow for the peach blossoms, the sprouting grape vines, and other delicate things. Because it has been as warm and pleasant as in the spring for some time, the new grass has sprung up frequently where the old was burned away, and this has been a great blessing for the Salzburgers cattle, which have been in a bad way because the meadows have been grazed off on all sides. Some time ago a part of the cattle were driven into the open woods because of lack of fodder, but they often return to their houses and huts because they are accustomed to the warm stalls and the fodder they find there. Therefore the people worry less now than formerly that they will run away. It is very advantageous for the community and the orphanage that the orphanages cattle and a few head from the rest of the herd have been separated and sent with their own herdsmen to the orphanage plantation more than two hours from our place; for in this way the cattle near the town have decreased and the orphanage cattle have fattened visibly on the new pasturage. Cattle raising is very advantageous, but the beginning is most difficult, especially for the orphanage.

N.N.10 is a disinterested friend of the orphanage and is one heart and one soul with Kalcher and the other pious people there, since he fears God from his heart. He greatly benefits the orphanage with regard to cattle raising and serves it very profitably in many situations; yet from this he feels no loss but rather the blessings of the Lord on every side, as he himself acknowledges.

I visited a couple of women, especially the wife of N.N.; and it pleased me to note that they join together nicely and edify each other mutually. I spoke with one of the women about the great reward of grace that will follow a true Christianity, in which a man remains faithful until the end. I warned her against indolence in prayer and other good exercises; and I told her in advance that the more seriousness she shows through the grace of God to reach Christ and to come through Him to the Father, the more obstacles will arise both from without and from within. But nothing should be able to turn us away from seizing our eternal salvation. I was deeply impressed yesterday evening by the little word Jesus-Love or the heartfelt love that flows from the Jesus-Heart abundantly and, according to their circumstances, not only upon the true believers but upon all those who would like to be helped; and therefore I told her this and that about it in order to encourage her to a good trust in our good and pious Savior. This is very advantageous at the beginning of conversion and sweetens the struggle.

I learned here that, in the absence of their husbands, the women make good use of the little books that were given them recently. Another woman called on me and said that the verse I will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her applied to her very well: the Lord speaks only kindly to her and she feels it well in her heart. She remembered the call to America with great humility and much praise of God and said that God really had to force her to the good. She begged her husband with tears to sign up for Prussia or Ulm,11 but he prayed to God to reveal His will to him and to lead him only according to His will and bring him and his family to such a place that they could be saved. When he signed up for America she became very depressed and disquieted, but now she praised the Lord for His good guidance.

The song Wenn meine Snde mich krncken, etc., which we sang today in the song hour, was very impressive for a person among us because it tells in very pleasant terms how we should properly utilize the dear passion of our Savior. We sing it in all four voices to its own melody, which we shall incorporate into this diary for our own remembrance.


The song Geheimniss voller Lieb, etc. has become very dear to us too because of its very important content. We learned it in the previous hour and repeated it this evening.

Thursday, the 13th of March. A miserable man from Savannah who came to us out of the woods in which he had been lost12 is somewhat more cheered in spirit than before, now that he has rested up and been refreshed with warm food and a good nights rest. Dr. Thilo found it necessary to bleed him, and this was done today. The patient would not have agreed to this unless, as he said, he had felt assured that he was among Christian people who cared only for his good. Yesterday his mind was still very disturbed and half delirious and he could not explain how confused and topsy-turvy everything was in his head. He looked upon everyone as his enemy and still had no desire to read in the Bible, although he liked to hear the word of God. He is wearied of his life in Savannah; and while he was straying in the forest it seemed to him as if he were better off there than with his master. He did not care whether he ever found his way out again but merely followed the high and dry ground, even when he discovered a footpath, until he finally came upon our settlement quite unexpectedly.

We are doing everything possible for him and adjusting ourselves to his weak mental condition in order to win and strengthen his confidence in us. He told us that in his journeying he had run from one land and place to the other and had therefore seen many lands and cities but had merely harmed himself all the more thereby. I then expressed the wish that he rest his body and soul here, for which he should pray to God too. He himself wished nothing more than this and promised to obey in all things and submit to all work and good order, if only he could be kept here. We are letting him live in our old hut next to Zuebli13 so that he will have someone to assist him in physical and spiritual matters. This will be done faithfully by Zuebli, in whom this poor man has already placed his trust. He is receiving much good from the orphanage and other people.

God blessed the visit of a pious Salzburger woman in her and me so much that we were both filled with the praise of God and took leave of each other with great pleasure. At first she was not at home and I spoke with the maid that she has with her about various things required by the state of their souls. The woman joined us and I repeated what I had said to her, and she again promised me to pay better attention from now on to Gods word and to good admonitions and to ask the Lord Jesus for another heart so that she too can someday reach the blessed place to which her brothers and sisters have already gone ahead of her. The woman complained that so far her maid is not yet serious in her Christianity; and she said she feared that she and her husband did not admonish her enough or pray for her enough or set her an example of pious behavior. I asked the girl who was to blame, whether God or man, that she is not yet a true Christian; but she answered, I myself. I explained her situation to her with the admonition first to pray to the dear Lord for a thorough recognition of her miserable condition so she might properly believe the article she had learned in school about the lost and damned souls (which all people are before their conversion).

The woman, who had her infant before her in its cradle, said that its name was Johannes. I admonished her to remember, with her husband, the beautiful example of the parents of St. John the Baptist, of whom it is written, They were both righteous before the Lord, etc. She remembered the words of St. John, He must increase, but I must decrease. It must be the chief goal of our Christianity that we become ever smaller and Christ ever larger. One should notice how much worldly people are harmed by not recognizing their misery and therefore placing no importance on Jesus Christ. Consequently it is a great blessing that He reveals the perdition of His children more and more so that only Christ becomes great and all.

She had, she said, existed some six years in her misery and had sighed for a state of grace and for certainty of it; but finally God brought the work He had begun in her so far that she could call God in Christ her father and herself His child. From time to time things look dark in her heart and she begins to doubt and to think that she might be deceiving herself; yet the Lord has given her grace to break through again, for she pays no attention to her fancies and to her sensitive feelings but adheres to her simple faith in Gods promises to penitent people who hate their sins and regret their frailty. On our recent holy day God blessed the example of Mary in Luke 10 in her greatly, etc.

At this time I told her what I had read, just before coming to her, to a girl about a pious virgin in Alexandria, who preferred to have her teeth knocked out of her mouth and have her cheeks pierced and finally be burned at the stake rather than deny and blaspheme her dear Savior. Because this girl was also named Apollonia,14 I admonished her to imitate this Apollonia in her sincere bride-love through His grace and then she too would come to the same blessed place of joy where that Apollonia will be eternally after undergoing struggle and pain. Once she comes into heaven, she will look around for this martyr and be joyful with her forevermore.

She (the woman) should do the same thing with Mary (whose name she has borne since baptism). How pleasing it would be for her if she imitated her here through the grace of Jesus Christ and could meet her there face to face. We also discussed the recent hard labor of Mrs. Hernberger, and she said she had implored the dear Lord in great simplicity just to free her from her bodily burden, since things looked pretty bad anyway, and to do whatever He wished with her and the child. When the birth pains actually began she reminded her heavenly Father of His promise And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Then she felt His help right clearly, and it seemed to her during her most violent pains as if God were standing by her and she was suddenly freed from all pain and worries. When she holds her child in her lap, then she wishes and prays that it too may be a child of salvation, for it would be very fine if parents and children could someday be together again, etc.

Friday, the 14th of March. I had to speak with Mrs. N. concerning her serving girl, whom she had kept out of the reading class to work at home, even though she is very far behind in her reading. At the same time I made an effort to awaken her and her husband out of their complacency and reminded them particularly of the edifying example and death of the late N.N., to whose struggle for penitence and suffering of soul they had not at the time been able to resign themselves because of their literal ignorance. I held up to the two of them several emphatic verses, such as Strive to enter in, etc., The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, etc., and Not everyone who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, etc. I showed how a worldly mind, in which they are too mired, hinders people in their conversion and finally casts them into the pit of perdition; and I warned them that they would not be helped by the empty use of the Media paedagogica15 and selfmade comfort from the merits of Christ. At the same time I admonished them to call upon God for open eyes, otherwise they would not be convinced of their misery, no matter how much good was said of them by people.

Here I met Mrs. N., who soon departed. Because Mrs. N. told me that she often visited her, I admonished her not only to have a good conversation with her but in particular to be sure to tell her that, if a person wished to become a Christian, he must learn in advance to believe that he is not yet a Christian and must first lay a firm foundation for his recognition of his deep misery. It is not enough, I said, for a man to acknowledge his coarse sins: the abomination lurks in the heart, and the Savior tells honorable people of the world that they are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mens bones and of all uncleanness.

I called on another family; and their bloodletting today furnished us with matter for a very edifying conversation about Christs blood of reconciliation, which He allowed to be bled through His uncommonly great love and through which He atoned for all the sins of mankind and made good our wicked condition. The husband complained of his blindness, because in the past he had recognized far too little the necessity, importance, and utility of this dear reconciliation of Christ; and I therefore explained this comforting thing for him even more through a parable of a miscreant who is in prison awaiting death; and in the application I showed that our holy and just God could let the misdeeds of men go unpunished just as little, or even less, than a just secular judge could and that the penitence and penance for our sins would be comforting only to those who recognized and felt the magnitude of their sins. We finally came to the very important verse in the Revelations of St. John 22:14-15; and the words Right to the tree of life, penetrated most unusually to his heart, and he spoke about it with very impressive words.

Saturday, the 15th of March. This morning I visited some plantations; and on one of them I received much refreshment through prayer and conversation concerning the principal theme of Christianity. A man whom I asked about the condition of his soul confessed freely and accused himself most bitterly. I gave him some instructions as to how he could win his true salvation while still doing his work. May the Lord Jesus give us wisdom, which is around His throne, to handle all our parishioners rightly according to the condition of their souls and to give each of them the lesson most pertinent to him alone. May he convince those of their perdition whom all our arguments can merely persuade to admit that we are right and to approve the outward sound of our words, while remaining just as they were.

Sunday, the 16th of March. A Salzburger from the plantations called on me; and I could well understand from his words what wish he is constantly bearing around in his heart, namely, to be found among those few chosen souls who force their way16 into the narrow gates of Gods kingdom. He complained that he had previously had entirely wrong ideas about the order of salvation and had merely held himself back despite all good instruction. He is very sorry for his parents, who were left behind, and fears not without reason that they still hold the erroneous opinion, as he did previously, that all baptized Christians will go to heaven if only they live orderly lives. Another young Salzburger, who complained to me yesterday on the plantation about his misery, had promised to come to me and pick up the New Testament and another good booklet; but, because he did not come (presumably through bashfulness), I sent them by this man, whom I admonished to read the booklet to him and see to it that he wins his confidence and that both of them help each other toward the good. The former is of such a nature that, despite all his convictions and although he uses the means to salvation diligently, he just goes his own way and lacks the advantages that come from Christian intercourse with others.

Monday, the 17th of March. Today our marvelous God ordained a great tribulation for the orphanage. Kalcher, his wife, Mrs. Schweighofer, and Christ had been in my house for prayers; and, as soon as they had returned and knelt again in prayer, a fire began unexpectedly in the cowshed and put the entire shed and its appurtenances in flames. To be sure, the people came running to their help, but the heat from the fire was so great that no one could approach it and therefore they could do no more than protect the orphanage itself by pouring water on it so that its dry shingles and boards would not be ignited by the great heat and by the flames that were driven against it by the wind. Next to the cowshed there was a spacious and newly-built pig-sty, along with a chicken coop and another long little building that served the needs of the children and other people. A calf and some brooding hens were burned too, because no one could reach them. Praise be to God, who tempered this chastisement with much mercy. Above all, this sad affair occurred by day and at a time when there was little wind and there were no cattle at home except for the above-mentioned calf.

Here in this country one can build only with pure wood; and the pine and fir wood is very resinous, for which reason the shingles, boards, beams, and posts catch fire quickly, especially because everything is unusually dried out and made quickly flammable by the strong heat of the sun and the dry winds. May God hold His hand over the orphanage and the remaining buildings and let this tribulation, which has indeed humbled us, serve as matter for His great praise. And may He turn the sighs and tears of the pious people in the orphanage into songs of joy, especially when we see Him showing us a new blessing for reconstructing these indispensable buildings that are now mere ashes. It is said that a little boy carried a lightwood torch through the shed and thus caused this misfortune. The authorities in the orphanage are very cautious with fire; but, if the Lord does not protect the house and the city, then the watchman watches in vain. Yesterday someone recited to me the verse, Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it. May He let us apply this, and everything else we meet in our pilgrimage, properly and according to His will. Concerning this loss a beautiful verse from Psalms 74:12 occurred to me while I lay before the countenance of the Lord: For God is my king of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

N. prayed more earnestly in the prayer hour than I have ever heard him pray before; and from his moving utterances I could clearly understand that the Lord had given him a fine blessing from his Word yesterday. I believe that the sad sight of this loss by fire has given his soul a new and salutary impression, as it did mine. In this regard Kalcher made excellent use of yesterdays gospel about the feeding of the multitude of hungry people; and, along with others, he strengthened himself in his trust in the help he hopes from the Lord.

Tuesday, the 18th of March. The poor man who came to us after getting lost begs earnestly to be allowed to remain with us. He has offered to guard the communitys cattle, for which he is probably more suited than for any other work. Because there is something else to arrange for the congregation, I have resolved in Gods name to travel to Savannah and to see whether I can have the said man donated to the congregation.17 Many Salzburgers have a good supply of corn which they would like to sell because they need clothes and other necessary things; but they know of no opportunity because everything is so cheap. I shall endeavor to persuade the storehouse manager to purchase a good quantity, for which our people would take linen, flour, nails, etc. God give His blessing to this!

Wednesday, the 19th of March. This evening after the prayer hour I returned home, God be praised, sound and contented from Savannah. Again the Lord has not let me travel in vain but has granted His blessing to everything I had to arrange for the congregation so that I can recognize from this that the trip took place according to His will and under His guidance. What can be more pleasing and comforting than to be certain of the merciful and pleasing will of God even in secular undertakings?

The authorities were touched by the miserable mental and physical condition of the stocking maker who recently came to us after being lost; and Mr. Jones, who is the most prominent man in the council, was very pleased that we have taken care of him and intend to do so further. I therefore obtained permission to keep him here and to assign some work to him according to his limited abilities.

The storehouse manager is kind enough to buy a quantity of the Salzburgers corn for 18 pence cash per bushel, and he gave poor Bacher back 10 Sh. for the rather spoiled flour he recently bought in the storehouse. And for this too I am pleased that the journey was blessed. In Purysburg a wealthy German widow18 spoke to me and asked me to accept her two children into our orphanage for pay so that they might be kept in school regularly and under good supervision. There would be more of them who would send their children here; but they prefer to give supplies of corn and rice rather than money, which would cause the orphanage a loss. Meanwhile, if only the means were present, we would be most willing to serve the parents, even at some financial loss, for the sake of the poor straying children. May the Lord look into this and ordain everything according to His will!

Thursday, the 20th of March. In addition to the already mentioned very important buildings, various necessary tools and vessels in the orphanage were destroyed or made useless in the fire; and now we must await a new physical blessing from the hand of the Lord in order to replace them. Kalcher is very frail, and because of the reconstruction of the burned buildings a great burden of work rests on him in the planting season. May he be helped by the Lord, to whom he has entirely dedicated himself. I spoke with the children about this fire damage, from which they should profit both spiritually and physically. Because we have now learned that both the children and the servants have been using fire very carelessly even though Kalcher had used every caution, we will have to make much more serious and strict regulations for safetys sake. Mainly we see that the hand of the Lord that has struck will also bind and heal. If the children and adults implore Him earnestly, He in His mercy can divert greater damage and can easily replace what we have lost.

Friday, the 21st of March. I spoke with a Salzburger at his work about the great disquiet that our dear Savior had and willingly bore for us both day and night during His passion, through which He sweetened all disquiet in our lives and changed it into a blessing and salutary medicine. Also, all the rest and refreshment that we have by day and night we owe to His meritorious disquiet and passion; and this we should always keep in mind.

Saturday, the 22nd of March. I journeyed this morning to the plantations and returned later than I had expected; but I did not mind this because I had had much pleasure in being with the people. I spoke with them a bit for their edification, especially about the meritorious passion of our Savior, and gave them some gospel verses for their use. It was also agreed how we could provide for the poor man who came to us after being lost and assign him a job that he can and is very willing to do, namely, guarding the cattle of some of the Salzburgers who live at the end of the plantations. In this way he will be able to find his maintenance in clothing, food, and other necessities most easily and suitably. Everything is arranged in an orderly way on the plantations; and I am very pleased with their unity, their contentedness in all their difficult circumstances, and their communal help and aid. They would be very pleased if we could preach to them twice every Sunday. However, because at present we cannot separate and can serve them with a sermon only once, namely in the morning, they prefer to come to the town in order to have the entire divine service until the Lord makes it possible for one of us to move out to them entirely and to supply them with the word of God on weekdays and Sundays. We shall present this weighty matter to the Lord in our prayers and implore Him to let His will be done and to show us which of us two should undertake this new change. Neither our present good dwellings or anything else will hinder us in this, if only we recognize the will of God. This much every knowledgeable person will recognize: if I had had to wait for a house to be built for me on the plantations, I would have had to get along for a rather long time in the miserable hut, to the harm of my health and my office, because they cannot think of building a church or anything else because of the great work necessary for cultivation and getting established.

Sunday, the 23rd of March. N.19 called on me before the afternoon divine service and greatly praised the kindness that God is showing him and said he now felt an earnest desire to become another man. His heart was especially moved by the words that were preached to him last Wednesday on the plantations concerning the passion story. Sometime ago he requested us to take him on as a hired hand in the orphanage, as God has gradually ordained, and this causes him great joy. He is guarding the orphanages cattle in the forest and is proving very loyal. He loves Kalcher as his father and he receives from him and her (as he himself admits) more good in spiritual and physical ways than he ever received from his parents. He has come into very good hands, and I hope something good will come of him if he remains true to the good he has received.

Today the people, including those from the plantations, attended divine services zealously; and some of them remained for the repetition hour. This pleased me, because they themselves could sufficiently perceive the basis and grounds of the good hope I had that some of the listeners would not see death forever but would come into eternal life. I had only been able to touch upon this matter in the main lesson. Oh, if only, through Gods aid, everyone wished to be sincerely obedient to the truth that is presented to them earnestly and emphatically so that we might well hope that they would all be saved! Unfortunately, however, when we examine the state of Christianity of many of our congregation according to Gods word, we must fear that many of them will come to the wrong place, unless they allow themselves to be warned in time.

In todays song hour we learned the two splendid songs Seelen-Weide, meine Freude, etc. and GOtt wills machen, dass die Sachen, etc., which were extremely refreshing for me and, I hope, for others too. The evenings are now becoming rather short, and therefore we must somewhat restrict the song hour and the appended prayer meeting. We will have to see whether, when the days get longer, we can find another hour; for various members of the congregation receive great pleasure from such practices. In this way we can gradually familiarize the whole congregation with exceptionally beautiful songs which, because of their unknown melodies, would otherwise remain obscure and unfruitful like a treasure in a field. Likewise, those we have already learned can be sung to the congregation, often polyphonically, in the prayer meetings and repetition hours.

Monday, the 24th of March. One of the vestrymen of the congregation asked me in the others names to have divine services held on the plantations twice on Sundays at least every two weeks, because some weak people and especially women in a family way cannot make the long trip. We will have to adapt ourselves to their wishes and fulfil their request, even though we would rather see the divine services held regularly on Sundays and holy days in the town, because everything can be organized better and carried out more edifyingly when we two are together. Some of the people find it hard to forego the evening prayer meeting; and, now that they are out there, they are learning to appreciate the blessing of the daily communal edification through the word of God, song, and prayer.

A man called on me after the evening prayer hour and thanked the dear Lord with very sincere and simple words for having ordained that he has his land near the town and can edify himself daily, for he values this more highly than all temporal advantages. For, even if one of us should move out immediately and live permanently with the people, the building of a house would be postponed for a long time for the previously given reasons; and it is to be feared that only the nearest neighbors could come to the evening prayer hours unless similar daytime arrangements could be made without harming their field work. We shall present such circumstances to our dear Lord in prayer, and He will dispose everything in this case according to His will and our salvation, just as He has led us wisely in former times and arranged everything better than men have been able to understand.

Tuesday, the 25th of March. N. is mired in all sorts of secular entanglements; and by his misbehavior he has attracted the disrespect of many people. Because he does not find as much love here as he would like according to his carnal desires, he complains and is amazed that I do not let him and his wife go to Holy Communion. I told him that I could well believe that he was passing judgment on me but that he would understand the situation better once he had become a true Christian. I then reminded him of an old matter, well known to him, which I had opposed for his own good. Although he and his wife could not accept it then as love, he could now see palpably that I had meant well with him. I also explained to him why we do not visit him so often in his hut as we do others in the congregation, namely, he and his family do not accept the publicly preached sermons and he can never tell us anything about experiencing the power of the word and therefore we must begin preaching to him all over again, which is not the purpose of private visits. He claimed that he did not know how to go about converting himself to God, and this is a clear proof that he is a fruitless and vain listener. He is more beside himself than in himself, his mind stands open to anyone, even the wickedest, and to every thing that occurs, he is constantly distracted, he is never quiet, he neither reflects on the word seriously, nor devotes himself to vigil or prayer, but is satisfied merely with hearing and reading. I gave him the booklet Dogma of the Commencement of Christian Life,20 etc. and told him how he should use it and that he should free himself of wicked company at home and elsewhere and seek instead the acquaintance of an honest Christian. He asked me to pray with him, and he shed many tears in doing so.

I had great pleasure in the orphanage and discovered that the most recently preached word of God had taken root and been well discussed. Mrs. Schweighofer had just returned from visiting Mrs. N. and could give me the good news that that woman is showing true seriousness in her conversion. Oh, how much it pleases me that God has brought about so good an acquaintance between these women, who have otherwise been so very different. Mrs. Bacher has moved from Mrs. Maurers neighborhood and gone to the plantations, and Mrs. Schweighofer is taking her place.

N.N., who is moving to the plantation tomorrow, took a very emotional and tearful leave from me and my dear colleague, who had just returned; and he commended himself to our continued supervision and spiritual care. He was very touched that I could tell him I had just been thinking of him in my prayer at the very moment he entered the room. I was very pleased with his words about his spiritual condition, in which he accused himself greatly and revealed his good resolutions; and I hope that he too shall be among those who shall neither see nor taste of death in eternity. If God wins him completely, then He will win others with him; for his personality makes a great impression on his acquaintances and colleagues, who are very attached to him. As a remembrance I gave him my Treasure Chest,21 and out of it I read him the dear verses on p. 101. May God stamp all this in his soul! He would have been pleased if one of us had been able to come to his house and say something good for his edification, but the time was too short.

Again it is probably not by chance that this change of moving out to the plantations has taken place precisely at the time of Christs passion. In this regard I remembered that we too came into this strange land, into the land of our earthly pilgrimage, at the time that the passion of our highly meritorious Savior is celebrated in the Christian church. Therefore this circumstance should again teach the people that, despite all their work in external occupations and in addition to their use of the means of salvation, they should be chiefly occupied with Jesus Christ crucified and His dear reconciliation. Even if they have just as many trials and tribulations out there as here, these will not harm them, for the sake of Christs sufferings, but will contribute to their spiritual good, provided Christ with his merits means everything to them.

Wednesday, the 26th of March. After the prayer meeting yesterday we had a thunderstorm and a quickly passing rain, which was most necessary for the soil, since the time for planting has arrived. Our two boats had been sent to Savannah full of corn; and, because they were still on the water at the time of the rain, it must have been disappointing for the people that their corn got wet; yet we hope they will resign themselves to everything like Christians. After our song hour we prayed for them too. Discontent with the providence and guidance of God is a very grave sin, against which one must ever warn oneself and others.

I showed a woman what must take place in her if she wishes to be saved; and I learned that she is, to be sure, lacking in the true essence of Christianity but that she is nevertheless on the way to reach it, for which purpose the necessary means have been shown to her. Some time ago her husband treated her very roughly, and consequently she suffered much in her health and Christianity. However, after our marvelous God had brought her husband to a recognition of his misery and to a right serious Christianity through His word and severe bodily chastisement, he is treating her in a Christian and reasonable manner, which is of great spiritual value to her. The husband was on the plantation, so I could not speak with him.

Mrs. Cornberger informed me that she would move with her husband to the plantation tomorrow, and she wished to pray beforehand with me and ask God for His blessing. She believes it is the will of God to undertake such a change, otherwise she would not be able to resolve to make it. I told her I was convinced that the people had received their present fertile and very conveniently located land as a gift from the hand of God, and I said that many honest souls had not only desired it for us but had also prayed for it. Therefore everyone could undertake his work there with joy, he would have the dear Savior there just as near as here, and arrangements would soon be made for more edification. God is working very powerfully on her neighbors, Kogler and his wife and others, and I hoped they would advance each other in the good. This woman has a small child and feared she would not be able to come here to attend divine services on holy days, so she requested a booklet, which was the story of Christs resurrection, as published by Professor Clausewitz.22 Because her husband is in need of good admonitions and prayer, I made an appointment with them both for the evening so that I could pray with them before their departure. They both came after the prayer hour, and I hope the conversation and prayer will not be without blessing.

Thursday, the 27th of March. This afternoon I visited several plantations; and in two successive huts I had an opportunity to say something about their salvation to the assembled people, who were thirsting for the word of life, and to pray with them. Because they live right near each other, they can assemble quite quickly in one spot, and they do so at the least suggestion and let no work interfere. To my and their edification I repeated something from that part of the passion story about which my dear colleague had preached something both out there and here. Before departing I admonished the dear people to Christian unity and edifying assemblage together. Were I to hear reports of this, I said, then it would bring me to them all the more often to edify myself in their company; and the way would not be too long or difficult even on foot, since we can seldom have the horse, because it always runs away and there arent enough people to find it. Nearly everyone has new neighbors, and this frightens some pious but bashful people; and therefore we are making efforts to awaken them to Christian trust in each other. I hope our dear Lord will crown my weak efforts with a blessing.

Friday, the 28th of March. A Salzburger registered for Holy Communion, which is to be held on Good Friday. To the praise of God he told me among other things that as long as he lives he will remember Invocavit Sunday, on which the dear Lord blessed the dear word of reconciliation in him more abundantly than ever before in his life, even though he had often heard this edifying and comforting matter of our redemption and reconciliation through Christ. His heart had felt such a great and heavenly joy at this, he said, that he could not express it; and, even though it is no longer in his heart as much as then, the memory of it still gives him much spiritual contentment and arouses him daily to praise and pray to God.

This morning, before the sun became too hot, I again had a group of people together in the middle part of the plantations, with whom I sang a song, preached something from the passion story, and prayed. Under way I met a Salzburger woman to whom I said these words: Teach us to number our days, etc. She said that she had just been bearing them in her mind and greatly regretted that she had been unable to attend our meeting yesterday or today. She also told me how difficult it was for her to move out here and how many sighs and tears it was costing. A psalm, namely the 42nd, which had been quoted in the prayer hour and which she read at home, had put her mind at ease again, to wit, where it says Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? and Hope thou in God, which last words she had especially noted for her own information. She also knew how to quote the last words of the 91st Psalm right powerfully: Because He hath set His love upon me, therefore will I deliver Him: I will set Him on high, because He hath known my name. Everything that I told her and that she told me impressed me deeply and well strengthened me to continue my journey.

Saturday, the 29th of March. Today I had an opportunity at two places in the plantations to preach something from the passion story to the assembled people, who were thirsting for the word of life. May God bless me in this and them for the living recognition of Jesus Christ. I greatly enjoy going out there, and the exercise is good for my physical condition. May the dear Lord just grant me enough strength of body and soul to be able to do it often. I found a sick man in his hut, who was very pleased by my call. He wished nothing more than to be thankful to his Savior for the great love with which He loved all men until His death.

Sunday, the 30th of March. Today the gospel of Christ and His dear reconciliation was preached to the congregation both out there by my dear colleague and by me here; and, since the dear Lord has strengthened us in our bodies quite visibly for this we can trust in Him that He will find a good place for His word, which is so comforting to us sinners.

Because the repetition hour was held instead of the catechisation, we had a song hour and a prayer hour in the evening, at which many people from the plantation were present. Our dear listeners uncommon desire to hear the word of God and their great constancy in visiting all great opportunities let us hope that our loving Savior will receive if not all, at least most of both the young and old into his shepherd-arms. Oh, if only this would occur soon, and if only we could see it in all of them!

Monday, the 31st of March. This morning Ruprecht Zimmerman and Margaret Berenberger were married, and in keeping with present circumstances we made use of the verse Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, etc. Because the Berenberger girl has served loyally as maid in the orphanage, something to eat was prepared here for the brides party and her friends. Afterwards they came together to our private prayer meeting and blessings were requested for these newlyweds. We received rich edification from the fifth chapter of the gospel of St. Luke, which was read in order, and later I heard from a Salzburger in the fields, who had been present, that it had made a very salutary impression on him. At his departure Zimmerman told me that he had resolved never to forget the golden verse, Behold, that is Gods lamb, etc. as long as he lived.

Because at the weddings in our congregation we do not have to fear anything un-Christian or anything that might hinder the worthy preparation for holy days, we do not hesitate to marry those who wish to be married during the passion period or even, as occurred today, during Holy Week. I believe that even the very fact that such an important act is performed on a holy occasion can impress them all their lives, especially if they are told that the crucified Jesus with His reconciliation can and must be their only concern in their married state, if their married life is to be refreshed and blessed and if all their trials in it are to be salutary and bearable. This Ruprecht Zimmerman is right seriously concerned with his Christianity and is also a very loyal, even if weak, worker and has already established himself on his plantation so well that he is not behind the others who have more strength. Therefore the Berenberger girl will be well provided for by him both spiritually and physically. She will live on the plantation very near the Egger woman, who married Lackner; and, if they are both so united in Christ and help each other in all sorts of situations as Lackner and Zimmerman have done so far, then it will be a very enjoyable and useful friendship. Mrs. Lackner is very content with her husband and has enjoyed constant health ever since she has been on the plantation, whereas formerly she had always been sick.

APRIL

Tuesday, the 1st of April. Mrs. N. is still dragging herself around with all kinds of anxieties and complains bitterly, whenever we visit her; and the comforting arguments we read to her from the gospel generally do not stick very long. She complains of sloth, a hard heart, disloyalty, and many other things; and she believes herself incapable of receiving Christs comforts because of them. The results of her long-lasting quartan fever she considers to be the results of disbelief, and she sometimes casts away all courage. It has even occurred to her not to come to church any more or to take Holy Communion because it does not make her any better, even though she receives new awakening, instruction, and comfort when she does come. She finds in herself no willingness to leave her life for the sake of Christ, as she used to do, and from that she concludes that there is no Christianity in her. She says that she does not feel her sins properly and feels no real remorse for her perdition even though she sheds the bitterest tears in discussing the plight of her soul. She finds in herself only disquiet and affliction and is assured this is not because of temporal things, for they do not lie in her heart at all; yet she cannot believe that she is worried about her sins and the perdition of her heart. I answered these and other complaints through Gods word and through examples that are known to me in the congregation, and I prayed with her. I directed her especially to the little verses on p. 193 of the Treasure Chest,1 to which I had referred only a short time ago to my great comfort and in which comfort and advice enough can be found for sinners like her.

With many tears she complained especially that in Germany she had let herself be misled through the example of pseudo-evangelical people into conforming to the world and had thus become disloyal to our dear Lord, and for that reason He had probably cast her away.

Thursday, the 3rd of April. This morning we celebrated the commemoration of the institution of Holy Communion; and, by using the regular epistle 1 Corinthians 2, we put into the main lesson what was to be preached to the congregation, namely, Holy Communion is a very dear treasure, of which none but worthy communicants should partake. Right after the sermon those who had registered for Holy Communion were detained, and we undertook our customary service of penitence and confession with them. God be praised for all the strengthening I had received this time too from the good hand of God, despite a few attacks of fever.

I have again earnestly revealed to N. and his wife their external respectability2 and their vain expectation of attaining salvation in this way; and I have shown them some evidence from which they should recognize their carnally minded and greedy hearts, but they have no lack of excuses. Both of them are still willfully blind and do not follow the instructions that are given them both publicly and privately for being saved from their blindness.

This evening I neither preached Gods word nor repeated the morning sermon, because I wished to save my strength for tomorrow. We sang a couple of very edifying songs about Christs passion and prayed between them, and this gave me as much blessing as a sermon would have had. I hope it was so with the others, who prayed earnestly also.

Friday, the 4th of April. Yesterday afternoon torrential rains fell, accompanied by thunder; and in the evening between nine and ten such a strong storm wind arose as we have never yet seen in this country. It caused much damage to the huts and especially to the garden fences, so this morning the people had the work of raising them again. As it happens every year, today was solemnly celebrated as the great day of reconciliation of the New Testament in commemoration of the meritorious passion, death, and burial of Christ. We preached twice to the congregation about the last suffering, death, and burial of the Lord Jesus; and the repetition hour was held at the usual time. The tears of the people both during the divine service and in my room were witness that their hearts had been penetrated by the dear word of the Lords passion and the reconciliation He had instituted. There were forty-two of us at Holy Communion.

Saturday, the 5th of April. N.3 is taking his child out of the orphanage again because it is not getting any better; and, since we are afraid that it may die unexpectedly, he would like to have it home in its last days. It would be better for the child to remain here; but, because the parents love and longing for it are so great, we must go along with it. It is said that it eats dirt and ashes whenever it can, just like Pichlers little girl, who has the same deathly pallor and bloated belly as this boy has.4

We have no remedy against the so-called fever clot,5 or the hard thing in the left side of several people who are always sick with it and have recurrent fever. We do not hear of these symptoms in Savannah; and, once the people there are cured of their fever, they know nothing more about it. But here the people often contract it again, and some of them drag themselves around with quartan fever for a year and a day.

Today we held our preparation for the holy Easter celebration at two oclock, early for the sake of those who must return to their plantations. From Matthew 12:40-41 we contemplated the example of Jonah as an excellent prefiguration of the passion and resurrection of our Savior; and from verse 41 we warned each other against the footsteps of the Jews, who little respected the gospel of Christ and the grace that was offered them and therefore must bear their judgment both in time and eternity. In the evening we had a song and prayer hour, for which several eager people gave us the opportunity and waited for it eagerly. We do not doubt that the Lord has prepared us a true Easter blessing that will be taken away by those grace-hungry souls who, having contemplated the suffering of Christ, have built in themselves a suffering and sorrow because of the sin that has induced such a great wrath and caused the Lord Jesus so much trouble and toil in atoning for it. The Easter-materials are especially suitable for such people.

The 6th and 7th were the Easter Celebration.6 Our merciful God has strengthened both of us right paternally in our minds and bodies so that we have been able to present our dear listeners with the holy gospel of the richly comforting resurrection of our dear and highly meritorious Savior and its splendid and blessed fruit and thereby to persuade them to come to Him themselves and not to be so timid. Then they would find abundantly more in Him than we are able to babble about. By looking at them, we could almost tell, as the blessed Luther said, that they not only saw the smoke but also felt the fire and not only heard the words but also experienced their power in their hearts, as it is written in Luke 24:32. We hope to learn more about this from them through private visitations. The dear Lord granted us not only good weather, which was not too warm, but also right great physical quiet and rest; and He did not let us hear anything that might depress our spirits. On Easter Monday my dear colleague held the morning and afternoon services out on the plantations; and, because the repetition hour here was early, we held a song and prayer meeting in the evening, as we had done on Easter Sunday.

Tuesday, the 8th of April. This morning two couples were married, namely Johann Jacob Kieffer with Anna Elisabeth Depp7 (who has served in Charleston) and Heinrich Bischoff8 with Sibylla Friederica Unselt,9 who until now has been in the service of my dear colleague and still has three sisters in our village. The youngest is still in the orphanage, and the two oldest have been married in the community for some time. Before the marriage we contemplated the beautiful little verse in Romans 4:25, The Lord Jesus was delivered for our offenses, etc., which was most impressive for me, and, I hope, for others too, because of the passion and resurrection materials which we have been contemplating until now and which are still fresh in our memories. Oh, what a treasure we have in Christ, in His death, and His resurrection. If only all men could know it!

Today I travelled to the place where the orphanage cattle are guarded by Schartner, to which Kalcher showed me the way. I learned from him that the selection of a place for the cow pasture was made by him and Christian Riedelsperger, who makes common cause with Kalcher on the basis of an earnest prayer; and the details of this impressed me very much. That the prayer was heard can be seen not only from Schartners honest and loyal behavior but also from the fortunate progress of the stock-farming there. At first some people could not prophesy any good for this undertaking, since the place is some three hours from the town and, from previous experience, they could not rely on the loyalty of the herdsman, who was at first full of fear. As a result there are now some clear signs of jealousy because everything is prospering under divine blessing. This stock-raising is so arranged that it does not cause the community the least trouble and does no harm to their cattle, because the establishment is situated between Ebenezer and Abercorn, far away from the plantations and further than the communitys herdsmen ever come. To the contrary, the community enjoys a great advantage from this; for some forty head of cattle, both large and small, have been taken from their herd and the number of cattle has become smaller near the city, where there is a lack of pasturage.

The orphanage itself does not have that many cattle, rather Kalcher himself, the widow Schweighofer, and likewise Christian Riedelsperger have their cattle with this herd; and we too have added a few head. If the surveyor should come again, we intend to have this region assigned to us as a plantation for the orphanage. If the orphanage servants were loyal, a ranch could be established out there under divine guidance and all sorts of small and large animals could be raised for maintaining and increasing the orphanage; but now the entire burden rests on Kalchers neck. Hertzog, who does his work very loyally according to his conscience, is very weak physically and almost consumed by the quartan fever he has had for so long. Some have enough strength and also their regular sustenance, but they do not work as Christian servants should according to Colossians 3:2-3; and the orphanage has more trouble than help from them.10 The Lord Trustees cannot imagine how much trouble people always have from the servants in this country and with their maintenance. May God incline their and other benefactors hearts to a generous contribution to these little institutions and free us from the debts that we must make because of our lack of clothing and food.

Wednesday, the 9th of April. Because the people on the plantations wish to continue hearing the word of God during the week as they did during Passion week, my dear colleague went to them again this morning to preach something to them about the beautiful gospel Luke 24:36-47. Since God, according to His great kindness, began during the holy days and in the midst of all my resulting work to free me from all my previous bodily ailments and to increase my strength right noticeably, I have decided to ride out a few times each week and work on young and old. My dear colleague will gladly aid me, even though the school will require him to do his work here. We will do all in our power to keep our congregation from lacking spiritual care, for which purpose one of us two will provide them with divine service on Sundays about every two weeks.

To alleviate the situation for the congregation, we had intended to divide the time between us two that one of us would fill the ministerial office here and the other out there and even move out there for that purpose. However, after we had looked at our contracts and instructions, we saw that we were obligated as pastor and adjunct for official duties in a single community and not for separate and divided functions. Therefore we cannot arbitrarily undertake such separation, because otherwise Ebenezer could no longer be looked upon as one but as two communities, each of which had its own pastor. For this the resolution of our dear superiors and a new vocational contract are necessary.

Meanwhile we will serve the people out there as has been shown and has already been done up to now until we learn what our dear Fathers, particularly his Worship, the worthy Senior Urlsperger, might resolve about it before God, since various points in the diary will have familiarized him with the external condition and the location of the plantations, which one can reach from here on foot in an hour. Wet and excessively hot weather will make the path and the trip back and forth rather inconvenient; but what did the apostles do? What do all loyal preachers do for their affiliated churches? And what do hungry listeners do in places where they have to go a long way to a sermon, as I once saw to my great amazement in Thommendorf in the case of the late Pastor Maederjan! May the Lord give us all wisdom!

Our dear Savior has relieved Mrs. N. of a great part of her sorrow and anxiety; and He also blessed the repetition hour on the second Easter day, in which the main lesson preached was that, although the Lord Jesus has entered into His glory, He still has the same kind and loving Jesus-heart that He showed formerly to suffering and miserable people during his condition of abasement. On His throne of joy He is just as kindly disposed to sinners as he was when despised and suffering. My Savior accepts all sinners. The greatest impression was made on her by the very evangelical verse from Isaiah 61:1-3, which praises and depicts before the eyes of all penitent and suffering sinners, the office of the Lord Jesus toward all sorrowing persons in Zion and toward all their misery that is specified here and in Luke 4. To clarify this we had the very beautiful example of Joseph, who, even in his state of glory, had a brotherly heart that was ready for reconciliation, forgiveness, and generosity.

During her sickness, which increased after her blood-letting, she thought she was very slothful in prayer and hearing Gods word, etc. and did not feel any true zeal; and therefore I told her something that the late Professor Zimmerman11 (whom she knows very well from the explanation of the song Es ist nicht schwer, ein Christ zu seyn)12 told me about his lack of joy in prayer and childlike trust in God during his bodily ailment and how one must act during it. The dear Lord knows how to make a distinction and does not treat a sick child like a well one. However, beginners in Christianity have a strong obstinacy of mind; e.g., they wish to have their sorrow and feeling of sin, their recognition of their misery, etc., according to their will; and they wish to be led as they perhaps see in other examples, whereas this, like all other wickedness, must first be crucified. I opened the Bible to Ezekiel 34:16, which verse was very impressive for her, along with the parable of the many chidren in one house who do not eat in the same way and the one about the clay, the potter, and the many pots of various kinds. She told me that Mrs. Krause had spent the holy days in much spiritual sorrow, which, however, did not end entirely without consolation. Even before the Easter celebration she had suffered great distress because of moving out to the plantations, but she was freed from it when I met her underway and spoke to her a bit from Gods word.

As I entered her hut, Mrs. N.N. called to me that God had granted her a beautiful blessing during the holy days; but, as I probably saw, she had wept a great deal. She had had two reasons for this, which she received at the beginning of the divine service by the reading of Mark 9:17 ff. The first was that the miserable person in v. 21 had reminded her of the great goodness of the Lord, who had done so much good for her and her brothers and sisters, of whom so many were together in one fathers house, and how He had mercifully blessed her and her family in this place, where He had warded off the kind of evil that had afflicted this son and even more evils, which she had surely deserved through sin, and had made everything turn out well.

The second reason, she said, was her great ingratitude toward this great kindness. If she were now in Salzburg, she would be hearing very miserable sermons as previously. The liberation of the Israelites from Egypt was a great blessing; yet she considered the liberation of the Salzburgers from their spiritual Egypt to be even greater, for which she cited several reasons. For example, we did not first have to occupy the land through warfare, we had divine services nearby, we did not have to support the ministers ourselves, we were richly supplied with the gospel, and God also granted us what was necessary for our bodies. Now she is grieved that she and others recognize these blessings so little and praise God so little, etc.

When I asked her whether her husband had also received a blessing according to his circumstances, she said he could proudly say that all the sermons convince him that he is worthless and cannot please the Lord as he is; and at the same time he complains of his lack of great sorrow and remorse for his sins, etc. She told me in what way she was trying to lead him straight; and I was pleased, among other things, that she was directing him to the words: Today you are living, today, etc. God wishes to take us today, she said, and give us grace for penitence; and therefore he should not always lament but rather earnestly struggle to the Lord Jesus by denying all things and asking Him for a sincere heart that is pleasing to Him. She believes that her husband is being held back from a real breakthrough because she is so full of faults and does not shine as an edifying example for him.

Burgsteiner informed me that his five year old child, whom he had recently taken from the orphanage to his plantation, died this morning. Toward evening yesterday his condition had already changed, and he told his mother that she should read something to him and that his father should pray so that his bodily pain might subside. When his father asked him whether he was thinking of the Lord Jesus, who had died for him, he answered yes and died soon afterwards. The father was quite well content with the poor childs departure to its rest; and I am pleased that I did not make much objection when he requested to take it home, as people assumed I would. We have no cemetery on the plantations but must now seek one out, since this is our first corpse. My dear colleague will go out early tomorrow to help bury the child with song, prayer, and Gods word, whereas I shall leave at about four oclock for Savannah, because I have definite news that Mr. Oglethorpe arrived there from Charleston last Saturday.

Thursday, the 10th of April. The dead child was buried this morning. I read the 11th chapter of the Gospel of St. John and examined the words of verses 25 and 26 for communal edification. Those are very sweet words, which make us realize how much we have in the Lord Jesus and how we must be, through His power, if our death is to be a mere sleep. Various people went to the burial; may God grant that these verses were blessed in them all! A pious woman said that this was a good beginning on the plantations and that she wished everyone would imitate this child.

During the recent holy days Mrs. Schweighofer enjoyed a true Easter blessing; and she wishes nothing more than her Lord Jesus and to be right obedient to Him. Mrs. Flerl recently said that, if Mrs. Schweighofer called on her every day, she would not regret the time she spent with her. Whenever she came to her, she complained a great deal about herself; yet when she (Mrs. Flerl) also began to complain about herself, Mrs. Schweighofer could not do enough to comfort her. Afterwards, when she prayed, she could not praise the dear Lord enough in her prayers.

Friday, the 11th of April. Our dear Lord has also granted an Easter blessing to N. He is very happy that the dear Lord has led him out of Germany and has brought him here to a better spiritual recognition. Everything is different with him now, he says. He is quite contented, even though the dear Lord does not let him receive as many physical advantages as the others. The last time I preached the word of God on the plantations, I announced that I would catechize the parishioners in the afternoon about what I had preached in the morning, if only I knew that they wished me to. When I had an opportunity to speak with this N., he brought up the subject and said he had spoken about it with two others who were also of the same opinion that it might well be a good idea. If I would ask him something, then he would answer as well as he could; if he did not know it, he thought I would tell him. This man is very simple and honest; he is already an old man, and one of those who cannot read.

Saturday, the 12th of April. Today at midday, God be praised, I finished my trip, after accomplishing much good with Oglethorpe and otherwise. He is still very affectionate toward our congregation; and, whenever he can do us a real favor, he does so gladly. Before reaching Savannah I had received a letter he had written in Charleston, in which he announced that he needed people for the siege of St. Augustine; if any men in our place wished to serve they would receive 6 ь Sterling for four months, in addition to provisions. The rumor had reached our town that all men would have to join the war against the Spaniards, and they were pleased when I could report differently after my return. The province of Carolina is obligated to help Mr. Oglethorpe with several companies, for which volunteers are being accepted here and there in Georgia and Carolina. A non-commissioned officer came here this afternoon to look for some people who would like to volunteer and to inform them about the enlistment conditions. Righteous people do not let themselves be used for this purpose, but rather those who like to roam around and find pleasure in such a life.

During my absence N.13 has become restless in the orphanage and has been entertaining plans; and for this the poor man is to be pitied. Until now he has felt Gods grace abundantly in his heart; and, because he does not use it loyally, I fear his judgment is not far away. Likewise N. and N., father and son,14 who have been disloyal and selfish servants so far, are moving out with him. To be sure, this is a judgment over the poor people, but it can be very welcome to us to get rid of these disloyal and ill-behaved people, who do not let themselves be chastised by the word of God, especially since Kalcher and his wife have had only difficulty with them. Therefore we will limit the fieldwork as much as possible, and God will find some other way to maintain the widows and orphans. These people are now reverting to the Trustees, who, as I have heard from Capt. Thomson, are very exacting about their payment. Now let them earn their passage money themselves.

In this country it is very difficult with hired men and women. Free people will not hire themselves out, because they wish to establish their own households or because they can earn more from daily wages than from being in service. If you have servants who have been indentured and have to pay for their passage, then they are disloyal and yearn for their freedom.

Sunday, the 13th of April. During the afternoon divine service General Oglethorpe himself came to us; but he waited patiently until its end and did not allow the soldiers from Purysburg to make any noise on his account. Already on Thursday evening he had set out from Savannah toward Palachocolas to meet the Indians; and, after receiving them and sending them to Savannah, he travelled back down by water. He was again very kind; and his paternal concern for us and the whole land made such an impression on me that I cannot describe it. He shrinks from no hardships and arranges everything so that it will be easy and comfortable for the people. He gives all sorts of salutary advice and helps in every way to put it into operation. And, even though he achieves his end in only a few matters because of the disloyalty and wickedness of the people, he nevertheless continues steadily in making good arrangements and never lets things anger or grieve him. He is very pleased with the progress in our town, as if he benefited from it, and offers every possible assistance.

He has given us a pair of very beautiful millstones, which are more than three feet wide and nine inches thick; and we have hope of receiving the hardware that belongs with them. He is advancing the money that is necessary for building a flour mill; and, later, to pay the costs, we are to give back something from every bushel, as is customary in other places. We have been needing a cannon on the plantations to give a signal now and then to the scattered people in case of emergency, and now he has given us one along with 20 pounds of powder. At about five oclock he left us by water to supply the Indians at Musgroves cowpen and send them on.15 With him was the king of the Cherokees, who is a very moderate, intelligent, and spirited man. Mr. Oglethorpes presence did not disturb us in the least at our divine service. Because he departed early, the repetition hour could be held, and in the evening the song and prayer hour.

Monday, the 14th of April. This morning our cowherd, Hans Michael Schneider, was married to Elisabeth Sanftleben. During the ceremony I cited the verse The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want for them to contemplate in their hearts and asked whether they might wish to put themselves under the rod and staff and into the care of such an omnipotent, very wise, and kind Savior. Grimmiger, who had formerly wished to marry her, has given up all claim to her. Since we know that this Schneider lived very peacefully with his former wife, we can only hope these two people will suit each other well.

Our large boat was sent to Savannah today to fetch the millstones, the cannon, and three sheep which Mr. Oglethorpe has given me. There are all sorts of difficulties because of the boat, which might be too weak, and for other reasons. Because the people do not know what to do unless one of us is with them, my dear colleague has undertaken to go with them. The stones are very heavy, and we fear that there may be danger in loading and transporting them. May the Lord in His mercy avert this danger!

The German shoemaker Reck of Purysburg16 is a non-commissioned officer among the companies that are to be raised and was already sent here on Saturday to enlist the people who wish to let themselves be used in the war. He obtained a few of them here, among whom is N. When he informed me that he wished to perform military service, I warned him against being in too much haste, which he might regret after it is too late. He should well consider his frail constitution,17 and especially the danger to his soul. I fear that the judgments are already upon him as one who has received the grace of God so far in vain and rejected it. Despite this he accepted 15 pence bounty money and allowed Reck to invite him as a guest of the Frenchman in our neighborhood in Carolina.

Before the marriage Mrs. N. came to me and said with tears that she was sorry for N.s soul. She and others had begged God in their prayers to free him from this dangerous company; and soon thereafter he felt remorse, wept, and regretted his hastiness. She begged me to help him get free. Reck was agreeable to this, but he claimed from him the bounty money and the costs of the banquet, at which much may have been consumed. Every Salzburger dislikes this way of life and thanks God with us that no one is being compelled to take part in the war. Otherwise no one would be able to refuse to obey the authorities.18 Only Leitner, who is a Salzburger and who, to his great harm, has been a soldier at Fort Augusta together with the renegade Stephen Riedelsperger, let himself be talked into this out of love for 6 ь Sterling, which was promised to him as pay in four months; and he thinks that he is compelled to do it by his poverty.

Tuesday, the 15th of April. Nett, the cowherd near the town, asked me this morning to give him permission to go to Augusta as a soldier, too, because he hoped to earn in four months enough to be free, which was also the intention of the above mentioned Robinson and the two Helds, who have now freed themselves from the orphanage. I said that I did not wish to hinder him, if he could supply me with a hardworking man who could graze the cattle; otherwise he could not demand it. These people imagine that the siege and capture of St. Augustine, the frontier fortress and the key to the Spanish plantations, will be very easy; but they may well experience it quite differently. They are also mistaken if they think that the servants will have to serve for only four months and then be freed; for it is the general opinion that they will have to bring the money they earn to their employers, who have given their consent and are risking their servants. Then they will have less time to serve because of the money they have earned. Or else, if they are Trustee servants and let themselves be maintained, they will have to serve in the field as long as the war lasts and will receive soldiers wages for the period of their service. I shall write to Mr. Oglethorpe and announce that the three disloyal servants19 are now free from service in the orphanage and are being returned to the Lord Trustees, so they can use them however they see fit. Kalcher has had a lot of trouble with them, and it may be the answer to his and our prayers that they are leaving and thus putting an end to the disquiet.

This morning I visited most of the plantations on horseback and am planning, God willing, to go out again to preach something from Gods word. The dear people are devoted to us with a special love, and it is a great joy for us to be with them. Rain has been lacking for a long time, and the earth at this planting time is very dry and as hard as iron.20

Wednesday, the 16th of April. Today, in the name of the Lord, I made a start with expounding the stories of the Old Testament for the people on the plantations, just as is done in the town, because several people had revealed a desire for it. The same stories that follow in regular order in the town will be contemplated there too; and I am planning to treat them twice each week there. Because I have a whole hour each time for my sermon, I can contemplate them the same way in both places, for the sermon in town lasts only half an hour. The people, men, women, and children, assemble with great eagerness and are not hindered by it in their work because this meeting is held at midday, when they would rest anyway, in Ruprecht Steiners cool house. Because the trees now have much foliage, the sound of the horn does not reach as far in winter, so the cannon we received from Savannah will be very serviceable.

My dear colleague has returned from Savannah with the Salzburgers safe and sound and has brought the two millstones, even though they are large and heavy; and thus he put to shame those Englishmen who, both here and in Savannah, imagined the transporting of these stones in our boat to be dangerous and impossible and prophesied no good outcome. In todays evening prayer meeting we praised together our kind God, the Giver of everything, including these good gifts. May He make us grateful for everything and teach us to pray zealously for our benefactors.

Because of the servants who have left the orphanage and have enrolled for military service I wrote to Mr. Oglethorpe and sent the letter along. I hope he will have received it in Savannah, although he has resolved to go to Frederica with the Indians as soon as possible. I find it necessary for good reasons to include the letter here:

Most high-born, most honored Sir:

Your Excellencys especial goodwill towards me and my congregation has filled my heart with so much joy that I wish only to have the opportunity to display in a few ways my humble gratitude for the so numerous and undeserved displays of love which have been shown me and my flock since we have been here and also a few days ago in Savannah and Ebenezer. Your Excellency may be assured that a common prayer from all of us accompanies you everywhere on land and water, whither the providence of God directs your paths, in the firm faith that the almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth will support and bless your important undertakings, whose goals are most praiseworthy, to the honor of His Royal Majesty and for the best of his subjects. I humbly take it upon myself herewith to report to Your Excellency that three servants of our local orphanage, by name John Robinson and Held, father and son, have announced their intention to me of enlisting for the seige of St. Augustine. I cannot oppose them in this, notwithstanding that much field work is now necessary. Because these persons prefer to serve in the war rather than at the orphan house, and because they have shown themselves, utterly without cause, to be constantly discontented, I beg to ask you to use them amongst your troops only until they have earned their passage and have received their freedom. Because of the present scarcity of provisions in the orphanage I would not know how to maintain them if they should wish to return to serve there after four months. Nevertheless, I would not wish to keep them from getting the same benefits which would accrue to others from here, if they should return in the future as free men and should want to settle down in Ebenezer and can produce a certificate for their good behavior. However, if they could not do this, then I would ask your Excellency to forbid them to live amongst us.

Moreover, I wish you a safe departure from Savannah, and I commend myself and my congregation to your continued paternal favor and care and remain

Your Excellencys mostobedient servant,

Johann Martin Boltzius

Thursday, the 17th of April. Mr. Oglethorpe would like to help in every way to enable the people at our place to get an additional livelihood along with the agriculture. He would like to cause some of the money which is leaving the country for trade and work to flow to this place. He has also suggested that some people should take up brickmaking, because we have here the best clay in the colony and are situated very conveniently for getting the bricks downriver. In the same manner he would like our people to start planting wheat and oats; they would do very well by delivering produce like that to his regiment. Such crops grow well here and are better and easier for our people to plant than rice and Indian corn. With Gods help, it may well come to the point, when the trunks and roots are rotted enough, that they will be able to use a plow. The mill which we are now expecting so confidently will surely encourage the people toward German crops.21

Friday, the 18th of April. The N. woman still has fever, but she is satisfied with Gods will. She is also better able to put up with her husband than she could formerly. She is quite insignificant and humble in her own eyes and thanks the dear Lord for every benefaction and also for the hut where she dwells, although it is simple enough. They are both very poor, and he said he had almost let himself be persuaded to take up military service. She held him back, however, by rebuking him with a verse from a hymn and other quite Christian remonstrances. It would be very appropriate in their case if we could give them some assistance. As heartily as we would like to, we are incapable of it until our own dear God once more grants us some funds.

I see it as a sign of Gods solicitude that Christian Riedelsperger, an honest Salzburger, has resolved in the name of the Lord to accept a calling to move to the orphanage for a period of time and attend to the work there with Kalcher. Although he is not seeking a wage, I will see to repaying him for his kindness if the Lord enables me to do so.

Saturday, the 19th of April. The Salzburgers thank God heartily for not being forced to take the field against the Spaniards, because they can easily imagine the disorderly life on the campaign. Nonetheless, I heard some say that, if need be, they would not refuse to obey the authorities and let themselves be used to protect the country. May the Lord keep His hand over us and our country.

Sunday, the 20th of April. The worms are doing great harm again this year, which may stem from the severe drought.

Once again we divided ourselves so that my dear colleague preached the word of the Lord all day in town, and I on the plantations. In the evening we were together again and held a prayer hour, during which a few new hymns were sung between the prayers. Out there I had only two children whom I could catechize concerning the divine truths preached this morning. The children caused me great joy, however; for I found that they had not been slothful listeners but rather, they could give a quite good account of all they had heard for the edification of the adults. If the children are wide-awake and attentive, a great deal is contributed in edification; and it also makes the catechism easy and fruitful. God be praised for all the help and strength He has bestowed on me in this.

Monday, the 21st of April. I visited Ns plantation and spoke with him and her about various things concerning true Christianity. Things still look poor for them. There is no earnestness at all when they pray and say the word of God and try to attain salvation. They do feel their physical needs and make many complaints as often as we come and ask for all sorts of assistance; but they do not recognize their corrupted hearts and do not wish to recognize them, no matter what I tell them. I am often at a loss to know how to begin to accomplish anything meaningful with them. It is as if a particular spiritual judgment were hovering over them and a few other people in the congregation so that they will not change in the least and will not let themselves be persuaded to.

We try to show them most clearly, from holy scripture and from examples found in the Bible, the path through which they can be saved by Gods grace from their perdition. If they do not apply these things to themselves during the sermons and prayer meetings, then we do it in friendly and circumspect terms whenever we visit them. Some own up to it and berate themselves and leave it at that. Others become secretly embittered and complain among other people that all we do is condemn them in a manner not meted out to them by others; and they take it more as a burden than as a benefit that they are not hidden for a long time here as in large congregations, but rather are known quite promptly by their ministers, both inwardly and outwardly. Hence we work on them according to their circumstances.

Another man remained with me after the home prayer meeting and had a heartily edifying conversation with me concerning the good that the Lord is doing in his soul. Zant also came and said he had resolved to enlist for four months military service, but he noticed that because of that the people in the congregation did not like him. An expression a man used in the prayer meeting about those who had gone away caused him especial disquiet. I explained the expression to him and told him what I had recently been saying, to wit, as we read in 1 Samuel 23, that in this important plan he, like David, should seek to become certain of the gracious and pleasing will of God, and he should strive to enter right into the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that if it came to dying, it might be said concerning him: If we die, we die to the Lord, etc.

I said that the life of soldiery was not sinful in itself, although more sinful things adhered to it than to other ways of life. Rather, I said, since people have to be employed here also, he could accomplish something useful for the honor of God to the best of his neighbor, if only he were first certain not just of what is admissible but rather what is pleasing to the divine will, and therefore stood in Gods grace. He said he had implored God concerning the correct mood and inclination of his mind and that he had felt from the beginning an inclination for military service and still felt one. Nonetheless he hoped with Gods help to return. He did not wish to stay away longer than four months, if God should spare his life; he would be sorry if others looked askance at him because of his military service. He is quite an honest man, but he does not understand farm work. Because he has no wife, the work in the field with cattle and things that otherwise come up in housekeeping are very difficult for him, and his Christianity suffers harm. He has long desired to become a servant in the orphanage, but he never communicated it to anyone, otherwise I would have accepted him gladly. If God should lead him back to us and if he still desires to accept that kind of service, we will probably find the means for it, for the orphanage is the physical and spiritual salvation of adults and children. Since he does not know what God has decided concerning him, he has made arrangements for his livestock.

Tuesday, the 22nd of April. Last Sunday it was announced on the plantations that I was resolved, with God, to come out twice a week, to wit, at noon on Tuesdays and Fridays as desired by the congregation, and to present the stories which we have in the city at the evening prayer meeting and which eager souls have wished for a long time. God sent us much edification from 1 Samuel 22; and the great desire of the dear people encouraged me no little during the recitation. At the end a few stayed and attested their joy that the remarkable story of David and what I had quoted from his Psalms had reminded them anew of Gods good paths which He has walked with them from the beginning for their salvation, to His praise and to their recognition of their duty. The little verse: When my father and my mother forsake me, then, etc., whose true meaning was clarified from the story, reminded them of the kindness of the Lord. It meant that, although they had been forsaken by all their family and people in Salzburg had prophesied great evil for them when they departed, our faithful God had received them by means of beneficent people in Germany and afterwards here in this country and had cared for their souls and bodies so remarkably. And, since we have seen the danger incurred by servants who, if they want favors and good things from their worldly-minded masters, sin to please them and are obliged to conform to their wishes, it is indeed a right great benefit for our people that they have been saved from such temptation and have been directed and held to a Christianity pleasing to God.

Davids thoughtful words Till I learn what God will do for me encouraged us to observe Gods paths and guidance better. It happens that many have had this happen thus far, and I could not refrain from pointing out my joy at being reminded from the written word how wonderfully and blessedly God has led us from the very beginning. Since in Old Ebenezer I had already wished for God to spare my life a little while longer until I might learn what our thoroughly good God would do with our congregation, the Lord has granted my wish. We have been delivered hither not by counsel of men but rather according to Gods gracious and well-pleasing will, with much prayer of His servants and children. He has permitted me, to my great edification, to perceive much in the external, still more in the internal guidance of people who have died blessedly. Either nothing at all or much too little is observed by worldly people or unpracticed Christians of Gods work in the congregation and on the souls of those who let Him lead them into denial and rejection of their own wills. They look only at David, at his splendid virtues, and at what God did in him, and do not see that God has His own even now. People are likely to make more of the saints who have gone before than they are of those still living; things were the same at the time of Christ and the holy apostles. We can all quite certainly grasp the spirit of faith and righteous being which lived in David and all the saints from the beginning and which directed them all to good works, 2 Corinthians 4:13.

Wednesday, the 23rd of April. The four men who had been lending me a hand in the external business of the congregation have all moved to the plantations. Hence they suggested Stephan Rottenberger, who is still staying in the town, to me as manager and elder. After I talked with him this morning he agreed in Gods name. He is a fine man and is looked on with favor by all because of his orderly behavior and great fitness and because of his good insight into matters in our congregation. Everyone thinks highly of him because of his unselfish character. He will be quite suited for the office of manager because he understands the work and is so undaunted in taking all kinds of useful projects and is liked among the people. It never occurs to these dear people to claim a superiority and authority over their brothers,22 but rather they lend me their assistance only after considering the things that are for the best for the congregation and for each single member in it. Thereafter they let themselves be employed in carrying out what has been considered and decided, and in ordering people to jobs which must be done individually or communally and in reporting to me either what is occurring to harm Christianity and good order or how this or that good person may be helped.

If God should deliver something in the way of spiritual goods into my hands, love and equity would require me to give these loyal men, who really have great pains and inconvenience, something in compensation. Most people are quite out of money, because our own poverty has made us unable to let the members of the congregation earn anything either at our houses or at the orphanage. They do not lack means of livelihood, which God has allowed them from the fields and from their cattle-raising, but they do lack clothing. If they do not earn anything for it at our place, then they have nothing. The corn brings very little, and they can spare little of it from their household needs; and they cannot sell the rice as cheaply as people in Carolina who have black slaves.

Thursday, the 24th of April. This morning I had a very profitable conversation with three families, who had gathered in a hut for prayer, about the verse: The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, etc., and we remembered therewith various other verses and edifying examples from the scripture. When I came to Gabriel Maurers plantation, I was told that the new herdsman, who came to us six weeks ago in a delirium and was now being kept here with the approval of Mr. Jones in Savannah, had just gone to town to talk with me about his situation. Someone ran after him, however, to entreat him to remain, because they were afraid he might become delirious again. He had become quite confused yesterday, letting the cattle run and sleeping in the woods without eating. Because he had heard that I was on the plantations he came back; and I took pains to talk him out of his strange fancies and unnecessary fear. He is still very distrustful and is fearful where there is nothing to fear. Otherwise he is honest and speaks no untruth; but he will not put his trust in anyone until one has won it from him, so to speak. He pulled himself together; and, because he knows quite well that his mind is not what is used to be, he will willingly subject himself to the cure, most particularly the blood-letting, at Mr. Thilos discretion. He believes that we have the best intentions for him, although he has a great horror or blood-letting. I also spoke with Pichler about it and asked him to tell the other people who have cattle in his neighborhood under the herdsmans care to be patient with the poor man, and for them to deal with him lovingly and charitably. Much good has come his way in his herdsmans job, and I do not see that he is lacking in bodily needs.

Saturday, the 26th of April. The dry, arid weather still continues, and the earth has gotten almost as hard as iron because of it. I received a letter from Savannah in which Mr. Jones reported among other things that he had orders from Mr. Oglethorpe to pay us 10 or 12 ь Sterling for building the mill and that he would give it to me as soon as I came down. That things are turning out so well in the matter of a watermill, with stone, hardware, and money available for it, is one more right great benefaction of the Lord. All who have spoken of it with me recognize that and praise God for it. Koglers father is said to have been very experienced in such building; and because he always worked with him at it and helped him build various watermills, the congregation trusts that, with Gods blessing and assistance, he will be able to do something in this country that has not yet been possible. Several sawmills, and also a gristmill in Savannah, have been built at great cost; but none has ever been completed, even though much money has been applied unprofitably to the task. The whole congregation will willingly help with the building, if only the most commodious and useful place for it can be found. Several good spots have been suggested, from which the best, most convenient, and safest will be chosen.

Sunday, the 27th of April. Today I announced that I was planning to resume the preparation hour for the children who are to partake of the Lords Supper in the near future. Because I have things to do on the plantations, I can give only two hours a week to them at present. They have their daily prayer meetings and otherwise have enough opportunity to prepare themselves for this important intention, if they are intent on it.

For some weeks now we have been unable to hold our singing hour on weekdays because it does not fit into the short evening hours, and during the day as well no good time can be found for it. In the summer the repetition hour on Sundays is held at five oclock, and we have time left over afterwards, after the people have eaten, to gather for spiritual music. Because it is only an hour, however, we cannot do anything other than repeat the songs we already know. This also is done in the weekly prayer meetings and brings the people, as I perceive, great spiritual joy. From Christmas through Easter they learned twenty-nine of the most beautiful songs.

Monday, the 28th of April. The old Swiss carpenter23 asked me to allow him to let his close relative from Purysburg, who has been here for eight days now, stay with him until autumn. He vouched for her, and she has been quite devout at our divine services so far. She is a widow; and, since her purpose in coming here is so good, I cannot do other than acquiesce in her desire.

The sins of Sodom are quite common in this country. How long the judgment of Sodom will be delayed is known to the Lord. At our place we have cause a thousand times over humbly to praise our gracious Father in Heaven for the great good he has shown us in bodily and spiritual things. The longer we are here the more we will dissociate ourselves from those people there,24 and allow none to Holy Communion if there is not adequate assurance that they are not conforming to the world but rather are directing themselves according to the teachings of Christ. I am indeed maligned for the earnestness I have applied to ill-bred people for their own salvation, and some are said especially to have threatened me with great evil; but I pay no attention to it.

Although few people are now in town and although they have field and housework during the day, nonetheless some still attend my home prayer meeting, in which our loving God does not leave us without edification. It gives me great joy that they are comprehending in a simple manner in their prayer the things about which I preach to them from Gods word. From this I can see how the divine truths go to their hearts, and how it is not just a matter of listening to the word, but rather of experiencing it and its strength. In addition, the circumstances of the congregation and the country are presented to our dear Lord, and His gracious name is praised for the spiritual and secular benefactions which have come to us so far.

Tuesday, the 29th of April. Last year we received a bee-swarm for our house, which has increased this year. I see it is just as easy, and perhaps easier, to get and keep bees here in this country than in Germany, if only the people can put more time to it and can take right good care of them. Our swarm has yielded so much beautiful honey that I am astounded when I look at it, and I must humbly praise God for this gift. I believe that by and by we will be able to set up our households just as well as the orderly housekeepers in Germany do. The Lord has already made much possible, has helped to overcome difficulties, and has blessed us in all sorts of ways. When the honest people of the congregation contemplate (as they do often and diligently) the kindness of the Lord, which they have perceived quite manifestly, they do so with much humility and praise of God.

MAY

Thursday, the 1st of May. Our gracious God refreshed our country with a fruitful rain today, for which He will be praised and thanked by pious hearts. If the Lord gives us another bountiful year, we may hope once again for much grain, that is, corn, beans, rice, and other produce from garden and field, because more fields were planted this spring than heretofore. A few fields which have been pretty well exhausted are lying fallow this year and are designated as meadows for the calves.

Yesterday I did not find the N. woman at home, so I called on her today. To be sure she is still going out and working a little, both in the house and in the garden, but she realizes from her many attacks that her death, burial, and eternity are not far off. She is not to be convinced that she lacks the right God-pleasing preparation for blessed eternity. Rather, she believes firmly and stoutly (and would live and die on it) that she has the correct faith and that she will be saved through the merits of Christ and the mercy of God. No matter how much we present the tokens and fruits through which the truth of conversion is proved, she acknowledges everything and believes that all such items which pertain to true Christianity are also to be found in her. As for items that are openly sinful and compatible with worldly life, such as impudent speech, innocent judging of ones neighbor, quarreling, etc., she thinks they are to be found in others too, whom we do not condemn on that account. She says she is sorry for all her sins and asks God indeed a thousand times for pardon.

When I warned her of self-deception and requested her to implore God to open her eyes to the recognition of herself and the paths of blessedness, she said she was already certain of her salvation and recognized the right way from her good books. They would not deceive her; she need no longer doubt her salvation. I told her she could not understand her own books, such as Luthers book of house prayers, Arndts Christianity, and whatever she was reading, if she did not ask God for grace in reading and correct understanding. I told her from Matthew 7 and from Luthers preface to the Epistle to the Romans how many people deceive themselves with their knowledge, false beliefs, and hopes, etc. I read to her from Ezekiel 3 that it was my office, that the Lord had commanded me at the risk of my own salvation, not to keep the truth from her. Hence I had to tell her anew that she did not have the signs of the penitent and faithful about her, and therefore her hope of being saved was an empty one.

I said I was extremely sorry about it; I wanted so much to help save her. And when she again brought up something about her previous preachers in N.N., with whom she had been quite close and who had never talked that way, etc., I told her curtly that I was afraid she had misunderstood her own preachers as well as her books and that she did not understand me now, however much I might say from Gods word. I said she had to experience in herself penitence, faith, new birth, and the imitation of Christ, if she wished to be saved; no excuses or self-made consolation would do. I worry no little about such people, because I can accomplish absolutely nothing. If the Lord Himself does not lead one, give wisdom for salutary intercourse with corrupted souls, lay the words in ones mouth, and let them come to power amongst the blind and perverse, one only expends ones strength in vain. Oh, how heavy is the office of a shepherd of souls! The late Korthold called the ministerial profession a heavy burden; one learns that only when one comes into the office itself and would like to save oneself and ones listeners. The Lord have mercy on us and let the intercession of His servants and children work on our behalf!

Saturday, the 3rd of May. Several times this week, under the gracious guidance of God, I have happened to come across the late Abbot Breithaupts life story and the special circumstances of his Christianity and office, which are found here and there in the blessed monument dedicated to him. I found therein so much edification, encouragement, and consolation that I had cause humbly to praise our marvelous and loving God for it. Since the Lord allowed me the pleasure of his blessed instruction for a few years, all that I have read anew about this cherished and chosen servant of the Lord is all the more impressive.

Sunday, the 4th of May. Since Thursday we have had a bountiful rain, and today towards evening it also rained very heavily. This gift of the heavenly Father is recognized by us with all humble thanks. My dear colleague held divine services both morning and afternoon on the plantations; and our dear God once again strengthened me here right marvelously and manifestly in body and mind so that I was able to edify myself without any hindrance along with the congregation from His word, although yesterday towards evening and during the night I had been struck again by the bodily weakness which I have often had. The Lord is still doing great things, may He be praised for it! On the plantations we still have no place of our own for gathering; but Ruprecht Steiner is giving his quite commodious house for it. The one sitting room is provided with a good floor, ceiling, and windows, and is thus quite suited to our purpose. By and by arrangements will be made for a proper meeting house. In my own house here in the city, half the space, i.e., the sitting room, bedchamber, and hallway, has been designated for our meetings on Sundays and weekdays until the people have time to build the church.

The fact that we have such a good opportunity here for unhindered edification, in cold or hot or wet weather, contributes much to my peace of mind; and I believe that the Lord will bestow something to pay the costs of the house, which have run up so high, contrary to my guess and the promise of the builder.

Monday, the 5th of May. Zant has returned from Purysburg; and, since the expedition is not yet leaving, he wishes to be bled first. He has gotten the fever and is also depressed in his mind over the great disorder he has already had to see in the military life in Purysburg. He would like to be out of it again, and this morning he asked my advice about it. I can advise nothing in this matter, however, except to refer him to prayer, to the earnest care of his soul, and to his commending his circumstances to the gracious care of God, and also to submission and obedience to his current superiors, to whose authority he and others voluntarily subjected themselves as in 1 Peter 2:13, 14, 18.1

Tuesday, the 6th of May. The Rauner woman was at my house very early and indicated that the shoemaker Reck had persuaded her to follow her husband to the war, because she could earn money there as well as he. She wants to take her fourteen year-old boy along, who is also supposed to play the role of soldier. Besides the boy she has two girls whom she would have liked to push off on the orphanage if it had been possible. They are not orphans, however, but rather children of parents who go off to war and hope to gain much, and therefore they are not suited for the orphanage. The woman along with her children has planted much land and cleared it of grass, and also planted a few beans. There is much work still to be done on it before the harvest, however; and I dont know whom she will delegate to do the work.

Wednesday, the 7th of May. This morning, I visited some families on the plantations who had announced at my dear colleagues house last Sunday that they would go to Holy Communion. Our dear God is working powerfully through His word on N. and his wife, and they have come far enough to recognize that the condition of their souls is very dangerous. Hence is it necessary and also possible (on account of the inexpressible mercy of God in Christ) for them to become converted from the heart. The woman had read the 55th chapter of Isaiah and had brought up the verse: Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near, etc., which gave me both here and in another hut a very good opportunity for conversation and the necessary examination of my listeners consciences.

I found the N. woman at work in the field; and, when I asked about the state of her Christianity and whether she was faithfully applying the grace she had received and was making progress, she answered quite unsatisfactorily. I soon found the cause when her husband came. Weeping with sadness, he said that this time he could not go to Holy Communion; but, if his wife and the N.N. woman found joy in it, he would not stop them. His wife had been willful and disobedient heretofore, and he had overlooked it and let it go by. He wished, however, to point it out to me because things were getting no better with her, and he was obliged to look on her behavior as no small sin and because he, as head of the household, could not answer before God why he had neglected his wifes willfulness, contradictions, and presumptions. It was known to the Lord that he was putting this household distress, which depressed him greatly, into his prayers diligently, but not so diligently and earnestly as should be, and he wished to do it further.

The woman said a few words to justify her behavior, from which I could see, although I did not know past details, that she had perverted Gods order, according to which the man is the wifes master and should rule her and his house according to Gods word. I took a few verses from the Haustafel,2 such as Ephesians 5 and 1 and Peter 3, and made the points from them clear to her. I also showed what great harm to Christianity and external life was resulting from this opposition of hers in which she thought herself right. After the prayer I promised to visit them again soon, and I hoped to see things a little more joyful than at this time. The woman has a very violent temper, is quick to break out with hard words, scolds her husband, and is obstinate.

When they were still near the city God worked very powerfully on her through His word. He brought her to repeated and right humble recognition of this and other bad behavior, which had become a habit. She had also recognized the grace which God had showed to her husband and through him to her, and she praised God for it. Because, however, she had not yet let her stubbornness be broken in a true conversion, the Old Adam has come through at every opportunity, be it given or just taken. Her husband had borne this for a long time; and from her subsequent better attitude he had gathered fresh hope for a full improvement, but it has not yet taken place.

N.N attested tearfully that until now he had lived with his wife blind and ignorant from day to day and had always let himself be preached at; if God had called him away in that condition, he would have fared badly. Quite recently, however, his eyes had been opened to his miserable condition; Gods word was now penetrating better, and he was resolved, with God, to become a better man. He cannot read, and he came to the congregation quite uninstructed. I told him, however, what God had already done through His spirit by means of the word to people well known to him and her who had been very ignorant previously and who had gradually come to a living recognition and true Christianity. He and his wife could also come to it if he would only apply the primary grace faithfully, would pray earnestly as I have directed him before, and use Gods word correctly.

The herdsman Schneider is also living here with his wife, the Sanftleben woman; and, because I could not find him in his hut or nearby in the woods, I opened his Bible to the above-quoted verse from Isaiah and marked it in pencil and left it there for them with the request that he and his wife should tell me on the following Friday, before divine services on the plantations, whether they had learned anything from the content of this verse. They would have to do so if they wanted, to their salvation, to partake of the Lords Supper.

Thursday, the 8th of May. The N. woman has suffered great harm because she was unable, because of her severe bodily illness, to attend catechism lessons while she was near town. She knows the barest amount from the catechism, and what she does know is very incomplete. She has not even learned any Bible verses. She intensely regrets her lack of knowledge and hopes to learn a few things from her husbands reading and repetition when he recovers. She means well and is sincere in all points, has great love for her Savior, and wants nothing more than to save her soul. Because she has always spoken in a very edifying and Christian manner and has accused herself and shown a great longing for true Christian improvement, I first assumed a better foundation in her than I have now gradually found while examining her.

To be sure she does have good notions and ideas of Christ, considers herself a great sinner, and hopes to be saved through Christ. If one thinks about it, however, these things she says are only expressions she has heard before and acquired; and, for all her good intentions, she does not know what a sin or the Lord Christ is. Her husband was not at home but in the town for a bleeding. When he visited me today, I suggested, as I had done before, that he aid her in her ignorance. I told him the items to which I had referred his wife for the recognition of the truth, and what pertained to being saved. I also delineated for him the last two chapters of the first book of Johann Arndts True Christianity, which he was to read to her and discuss with her a section at a time. He is also to take up the catechism, one point after the other, as much as she can grasp at one time. Various examples in the congregation have demonstrated that it is possible to bring even the most ignorant and depraved people to a recognition of Christian teaching, of themselves, and of true Christianity. The frail servant girl in my house is one example. She was quite ignorant, relied on her prayers which she had learned by rote, was mendacious, quarrelsome, etc., but God graciously brought her to recognition and awoke in her a great desire for the catechism and holy scriptures. Now the Lord has made her corruption so plain to her that she cannot humble and reproach herself enough, and I am very hopeful of her conversion to God.

Friday, the 9th of May. I have received no answer to my letter to Captain Richard,3 which I wrote on Tuesday concerning our herdsman who was led away from us.4 Hence I am obliged to write to Mr. Oglethorpe about it; I will first address the letter to the authorities in Savannah.

Three girls were at my house who were confirmed in their baptism some time ago and were then admitted to Holy Communion for the first time. The grace which was bestowed on them in their preparation is still manifest in them, praise God!; and the memory of the act performed at that time is still very impressive to them. Some of them had become quite slothful, but they are pulling themselves together; and I intend to work with them privately more often. The fourth child was the Arnsdorf womans son, whom I visited yesterday with his mother, who is with Sanftleben on the plantation; and there I received much joy and edification. Oh, would that everyone knew and believed that Christians and imitators of the most highly praised Son of God are the most blessed people! What the Lord in His gratuitous mercy had bestowed at our place is becoming a great and living thing to many once again, whenever they think and hear about all the wretchedness and disorder in the vicinity.

Saturday, the 10th of May. The N. womans tale of what the Lord is doing to her soul is very edifying to me. I perceived that she was using everything she heard and saw profitably, like a hungry little dove. Recently, after he had been with me, her husband brought home some things for her edification, and this afforded an opportunity for good conversation. Upon leaving, she said that I had exhorted her servant girl to ask Gruber and her, who were, in a manner of speaking, her parents, to include her from time to time in their private prayers. The girl had done my bidding, but she shamed them, the old people, because it was not they who reminded her of her duty but rather she who had to remind them of theirs. They had been praying together from that time on, the N. woman said, and this practice had now become so dear to them that, if it were missed even once, she did not feel right and suffered great harm. In that she was reminded of the words of one of our pious Salzburgers, who had told her that since his conversion he had been in the habit every day of tearing himself away from all external business and praying in solitude to his heavenly Father. Now he could no longer do without it, he was like a little child lying on the loving bosom of God, so that if he missed the practice even once he became anxious and upset.

N. often attests that she considers it a great blessing of God that He has brought her to this congregation, where she understands clearly everything that is told her for her salvation and feels its power in her heart. Her Christian and humble expressions give me good hope that she will change herself fundamentally and let herself be born again. She was very happy and thanked the dear Lord for taking awy her long-standing vomiting; hence she would like to go to the Lords Supper. How I rejoice and praise the Lord when I see that our parishioners are having their eyes opened and justify Gods word when he humbles the sinner and leaves him no shred of honor. If they become faithful, they will prevail all the sooner. On the other hand, I am right gravely depressed when people consider themselves better than they are and therefore do not let themselves be convinced of the fearful corruption of their souls. In the story we are now contemplating in 1 Samuel 24 we read that Saul said to David: You are more righteous than I, and that he indeed considered David to be better than himself but did not consider himself so bad; and in this he has very many imitators.

Sunday, the 11th of May. A Salzburger from the plantations was very edified by the example of Zaccheus, and he recognized in him his sense of honesty with regard to restitution. It occurred to him that he had besmirched his conscience with the sin (quite common in his homeland) of pilfering a few pocketfuls of fruit from his neighbors garden. Hence he wished to give a fairly large quantity of rice to some poor people for their nourishment. I suggested the N.N. couple who, more than others, are very badly off for food and clothing and who would thank the Lord earnestly for this physical refreshment. The man also realized that for some time now grace had changed N. considerably, which gladdens him greatly; and he asserted that he had been very edified by him when he was recently with him. With dear N. it had gone as with many who are pleased with their self-made piety and scorn truly pious souls, until the Lord opens their eyes. Then everything is reversed.

On this Rogate Sunday fifty-two people from the congregation were at Holy Communion. The Lord worked so powerfully on their hearts through His word that we hope this Sunday has been a very blessed day for many others, as it has been for us.

N.N.,5 who recently married a German person from N., said these words to me concerning himself and his wife: he believes with certainty that the Lord will tear them from Satans claws as He is striving to open their eyes better and better to recognize what the world does not recognize, namely, that being saved entails more than indifferent faith and the practice of divine works. She thanks God for rescuing her from N. and bewails her previous state of blindness. God help her not only to be convinced of the truth but also to be obedient to it.

Monday, the 12th of May. Because most people in our place are sorely lacking in clothes and other necessities, and we ourselves are too destitute to help them in any way, I wrote to Mr. Jones, the agent of Mr. Oglethorpe and the Trustees in Savannah. I asked them most emphatically to let them receive some of the benefits promised by Mr. Oglethorpe on the one last harvest of crops (1 shilling per bushel); even if it were not money they would be satisfied with getting goods in kind from the storehouse.6 The dear peoples lack, due to their new and very difficult arrangements on the plantations, goes to our hearts and will impel us to pray all the more.

The most precious promise of the Lord Jesus in yesterdays gospel: Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father, etc., gives us certain hope that the Father will look graciously on our prayers and those of the congregation and will let us feel his succor, if not from nearby then from afar, as He has often done. Now is the time for prayer and patient waiting, but finally will come the time for granting our prayers and help, just as Exaudi Sunday follows on Rogate Sunday. A pious man, who has become sick in body and also in spirit with hard work and bodily wants, said that the following also applied to him: Unless thy law had been my delights, I shall then have perished in mine affliction. We hear little complaining, still less impatience and grumbling, but rather, to our great joy, the opposite: to wit, praise of God and such contented speech that anyone not aware of their pitiful circumstances would think they had enough of everything. Todays quite heavily attended home prayer meeting gave me especial refreshment, with the singing of the splendid hymn: Mein Jesu, dem die Seraphinen, etc., as well as with the prayer itself.

I visited the N. woman today to find out what blessings the Lord had granted her from His word and from Holy Communion. Last week she had already said, to the praise of her good Savior, that she could now believe the Father would not cast her out, although she was a great sinner; and today she was all praise and glorification of God. There was honey in her vat, and she said what the Lord had sent her was a thousand times sweeter than the honey. The loving fire of God burned, as it were, in her soul. She would not take a thousand more worlds in preference to having had the Lord let her come hither, etc. She spoke words full of amazement at the marvelous kindness of God, who pitied a sinner as vile as she. In our conversation we came to the splendid hymn: O, wie selig sind die Seelen, etc.; and, when we read it, she became rapturously joyous. I was starting to sing it with her but was soon called away by a messenger who said that some English people from Savannah-Town were waiting for me and could not delay. I was again expected to marry a couple, which I refused to do. Immediately thereafter the Mueller woman, the clock makers wife, came into my room weeping and gesturing anxiously, to report that her son-in-law Bruckner, who was at the plantation, had had epileptic fits since ten oclock. She wanted my advice, but I directed her to Mr. Thilo, whom she had already seen and from whom she was to get medicine in a couple of hours. How strangely things in this world are entwined in each other. Oh, may the Lord teach us the right wisdom and direct our hearts amidst all external disquiet and vicissitudes to the right cause, which has been prepared for us in Christ through sheer grace.

Tuesday, the 13th of May. It was too late yesterday to visit the sick Bruckner on his plantation. I would have been kept from holding the prayer meeting, hence I visited him this morning before the divine service which we are accustomed to hold on the plantations Tuesdays and Fridays from ten till about twelve. God blessed the use of the medicine on him: the violent paroxysm had already subsided last night and he was in bed but quite lively. Heretofore he and his wife have felt the tugging grace of God working very forcefully, and this sudden occurrence will make a great impression on them. I spoke with them according to the circumstances of their spirit and closed with a prayer, along with some others who were present. Otherwise he has never had an attack of epilepsy.7 I do not know what the cause of it might have been, except that some time ago he had had rheumatism up and down his joints and, when it finally settled in his knee, he tried curing it with snake oil.

This Sundays main lesson showed why, from ages past, this Sunday and the whole week have received the name of prayer:8 it reminded us of our evangelical duty to use this week in particular, both individually and communally, for our prayers and entreaties. Not only the dear Saviors sweet promise and loving command, but also our and our neighbors need can and should drive us to mention some specific spiritual and physical things. By this means our dear God has moved our hearts powerfully, and He will be worshipped by many in spirit and in truth. At noontime a Christian man came to me, and others would have assembled too if it had not been getting too late. God be praised that there are many present who have learned through the Holy Ghost to recognize the new and living path which Christ won and prepared for us for stepping in His name up to the throne of grace. This gives us comfort in all trials and doubtful circumstances, because the Saviors promises stand more firmly than heaven and earth.

To our great encouragement we recognize what our dear David accomplished for himself and others, when we compare the stories about him with his psalms, as we are in the habit of doing. The last part of 1 Samuel 24, which we had in todays prayer meeting, has impressed me as much as a text from the New Testament, since we find our dear Savior prefigured by David everywhere;9 for example, when we compare the time he was expected to slay Saul but spared him because he desired his conversion, with Luke 9:54 ff.; or the fact that he did not go with Saul but rather remained in the wilderness, with John 2:22-23; 3:1-3.

Wednesday, the 14th of May. My dear colleague brought from Savannah the welcome news that the chests with linen from Halle, which had remained behind through oversight when Captain Thomsons ship left, had arrived in Charlestown and were expected with the earliest favorable opportunity. He brought along the small chest with a large supply of Schauer Balm10 for the benefit of the orphanage as a present from the most worthy Mr. N., likewise both old and recent letters to us and a few members of the congregation. We have a good God, who fulfills His word here too: Before they call, I will answer: and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. This example of divine providence brought me to a profound strengthening of faith; God does everything well in His time. Others in the congregation who came to me for prayer after the noon meal were also brought to this profound strengthening of faith, as was made manifest in their souls. We sang the hymn Sey Lob und Ehr dem hchsten Gut, etc.; and in the name of Jesus we praised the heavenly Father, who had granted us a favorable hearing on Rogate Sunday even before Exaudi Sunday. When we tell them in the town and on the plantations of some of the contents of the letters we have received, we hope that both young and old will be awakened anew to a spiritual joy and praise of God as well as to a renewed heartfelt intercession for our valued and dearest benefactors. I think we are not mistaken when we simply hope that the Lord has also heard our prayer and intercession for the sake of His Son our Reconciler and advocate, and has once more strengthened His valued servants, our dear Fathers in London, Augsburg, and Halle, despite all physical frailty beneath the burden of their occupations. We wish to praise Him for it both privately and in the congregation. May He let them achieve the salutary purpose of their God-pleasing labors, to the joy of their hearts, in the East and West Indies and in all places. May He let them richly enjoy the fruits of their holy works here and may He long preserve them in His power for the best of His kingdom, strengthened in spirit and body! Amen, thus it will happen!

My dear colleague had much disquiet and difficulties with the impudent soldiers, also with the officers from Purysburg, who went to Savannah at the same time. They were so audacious as to take away one of his oarsmen and try to tie him up with a rope and they also behaved in an extremely coarse manner towards him because of our herdsman, whom the authorities would not allow to go war and drafted him because of his freedom.11 The recently contemplated story of Davids fight with Saul and his other enemies gave him much light, instruction, and comfort. Most of these soldiers are worse than heathens and have engaged in all sorts of impudent behavior in Savannah, under the pretext of military freedom, which may, however, do them harm. For God is a righteous judge, and a God who threatens every day, etc. as has been shown on the occasion of the story from the 7th Psalm.

Mr. Jones has been unable to send any of the promised shillings for the poor in the congregation,12 since he has no orders for it, but he did provide two gallons of syrup or molasses for the poor Helfenstein woman. But the Lord is still living, and has planned already from afar a blessing for our poor in the orphanage and in the congregation (as I perceive from the worthy Mr. N.s letter and other enclosures). For this time, in addition to the many pieces of linen and the Schauer Balm, we will again be able to draw some money on a bill of exchange. God be praised for all help and assistance!

Thursday, the 15th of May. My dear colleague and I held divine services this Feast of the Assumption, he on the plantations and I here. Yesterday I made known the contents of Mr. N.s letter to the congregation, and I can say (praise the Lord) that he has bestowed with it many spiritual blessings on me and, as I perceive, on many others. I first mentioned how very much the bodily wants and great needs of a few dear members had gone to my heart. I reported these wants to Mr. Jones, our very sympathetic benefactor, and had thought at the time that, if I contemplated our dear Saviors recently heard promises that the believers prayer would be granted, then I would certainly have reason to hope He would let His help be meted out to us, whether from near or far, as He has done once before. They would well remember whither they were directed just this past Sunday with their own and their neighbors wants and needs, to wit, to the almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, who has been reconciled through Christ.

Now, to the praise of God, I could tell them that, although by the nature of present circumstances help was not forthcoming from nearby, it was come from afar. Our marvelous God had not only brought the apparently lost large chest of linen from Halle to our vicinity; He had also bestowed a second small box with books and twenty-two pieces of linen and had also advised us that the two cases filled with books and medicines, which were destined for Cuddalore13 but were sent here by mistake, should serve for our use too. Thereby He graciously rewarded our faithful waiting and praying with new benefactions and, on the other hand, shamed the unfaithful and wavering, who had given all up for lost.

To be sure, He did all this during the week of Rogate Sunday; for we can believe that He does all in His time and that whatever He intends for His children in His eternal loving counsel must come not before nor after but exactly at the appointed time. How joyful it is for us that our prayer and wishes were not in vain! How joyful it will be for the faithful in blessed eternity when they find their prayers with more than thousandfold blesings! For, since each of our hairs is numbered, as the Lord Jesus Himself attests, how much more the prayers, sighs, and tears of the faithful, etc., all of which should stimulate us to the praise of God and to zealous prayer for ourselves and others, and especially for our worthy benefactors. The enduring, right active, and paternal love of the most worthy Mr. N., of which so many attestations appear in the letter, has especially penetrated to our hearts. How many congregations are there who are cared for spiritually by so many valued and select instruments of Christ and with so much zeal both day and night? Oh, may the Lord make us all, both young and old, thankful and let us be right powerfully encouraged by His holy spirit to beseech and pray for those instruments through whose service and prayer so many good things befall us, one after another! Not only our Christian duty above all, but also the rules of Christian gratitude, obligate us to it.

The Lord often reminds us of the superscribed verse: Have I not told thee, if thou, etc., which was truly edifying not only on our ocean journey (which was again recalled to the congregations memory), but also in the first sermon I delivered upon our arrival in our new Ebenezer four years ago after my severe fever. And, since our experience till now has taught us much that we could not have imagined in the beginning, still more of His marvelous and blessed works will be revealed to us if we become and remain right faithful. If only we could transmit to our dear Fathers and brothers the long-desired report that everyone in Ebenezer had converted to the Lord Jesus and had become reborn. That would indeed be most agreeable compensation for all their trouble, care, and untiring remembrance for our sake before God and man. It has been recently shown that this can and must come to pass if we wish to step into the spiritual and heavenly company of the children and servants of God. All the indolent and slothful people were awakened by certain circumstances mentioned in the letter.

If God in His wisdom and kindness wishes to let further material gifts flow to us from across the sea, as has happened this time once again, may He also wish to give us the wisdom to apply everything to the appropriate end. That is certain, and I can testify before God that, as often as something comes to our hands, a right heartfelt joy is caused among most of the congregation by these loving gifts and our hearts are awakened to His praise and to a prayer for our benefactors. Through Gods grace we can see that the members are being led to the true source by these little streams that so please us and also that each person is using his gifts for the purpose for which they were sent. Otherwise, we prefer to hold them back and lay them aside rather than act contrary to the purpose of God and the benefactors.

We are indebted for our life-time to the Trustees (our Christian and beneficent temporal authorities), as well as to the praiseworthy Society, for the many benefactions directed to our congregation. It would be a sin for us to cease praying for them, and they are so kind (as General Oglethorpe has twice mentioned to me) as not to regret the expenses made for our congregation because (I write down humbly his own words) they have attained their goals better with the Salzburgers than with others in the colony and are therefore further inclined and willing to do their utmost by us. How deep the Lord-Trustees stand in debt on account of this colony; how many extraordinary expenses will still be necessitated, in both war and peacetime, to establish and protect this colony; and how much it will cost to settle this country with inhabitants, since the first ones either died off or moved away after enjoying so many benefactions. Anyone who knows this will not blame the Trustees if they no longer support the community to such an extent as at first.

Hence our benefactors in Germany are unquestionably doing a good work when they let our Salzburgers benefit from what those benefactors apply to Christs followers out of love for Him. The Salzburgers indeed need it for getting established in a new, quite wild country, where they are subject to all kinds of obstacles and contingencies concerning their health, households, cattle-raising, etc., which others cannot imagine. It is also beyond their means to build the church, school, and parsonage themselves or to support widows and orphans and also the infirm. We unworthy servants of the Lords congregation in Ebenezer have presented the Salzburgers poverty only because our office as shepherds and the love we owe to the congregation require it. We also know from experience that Christian patrons are pleased to know how their gifts are applied and how they will be applied.

Jesus, however, will reward the beloved Mr. N.14 on the day of his appearance before angels and men for paying no heed to the worlds judgment, to which he must be subject. He has shown himself to be a true father to the Salzburgers and has provided for their spiritual and physical welfare in every way. Just as our beloved God has impressed many seals of His gracious approbation and favor on N.s honest undertaking (which must glare in the eyes of Gods enemies if they do not maliciously close them), I have good hopes that it will continue thus, which will vex the enemies and gladden the friends of Gods cause.

In Fridays evening prayer meeting we noted concerning Sauls acknowledgment of Davids innocence in 1 Samuel 24 that Gods servants and children must not let envy, ingratitude, and the worlds malice deter them from doing good and bearing evil. A day surely is coming, possibly already in this life but most certainly at the worlds end, when the honest mind and pure intentions of the faithful, after being pelted with the filth of lies, perversions, suspicions, accusations, etc., will be revealed before angels and men. In this example the verse in Psalm 37:5, 6 became very clear and impressive to me: Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

We again read in Mr. N.s aforesaid edifying letter various names of our dear benefactors, who have sent material benefactions partly for us and partly for the orphanage and ill people. In todays afternoon divine service we read, in order, the 14th chapter of Luke, where the idea of the Lord Jesus in vv. 12-14 caught my attention, and I wished in my heart for all of our benefactors, known and unknown, the treasured and sweet promise of the 14th verse: And thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee. So said the Lord Jesus, the friend and brother of the poor blessed by God.

We were also pleased that, in his letter, our worthy Mr. N. used the expression: They in H.15 also live in Ebenezer, and the Lord has helped them thus far. He will help further nor let those who trust in Him be shamed. For that purpose the Lord has often built us a new Ebenezer in Ebenezer. When the great blessing arrives, i.e., the previously mentioned linen, we will report in detail about its condition and on what paths the Lord has led us to distribute it for the spiritual blessing of the congregation. In the meantime, in place of compensation, we are sending, with sighs and good wishes, the previously quoted promise of the Savior to our worthy Mr. N. as well as other dear friends who have contributed something to the purchase of the linen. There is a general lack of shirts among the Salzburgers, and certainly they will all be joyful at the filling of that need. May God rouse us all to His praise! Also Mr. N. has been untiring in providing us with good books and medicines; and, as the previously received specification shows, a fine supply of selected new books and a new batch of medicine will come in the next chest. May our bountiful God reward the dear orphanage16 and others who have contributed these and other benefactions with thousandfold spiritual and physical blessings!

I would prefer not to express further here with words how very much I and my dear colleague were refreshed by the dear letter from Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen, who has been untiring in caring for our physical and spiritual benefit. Rather, we thank the Lord, who favors us in every way; and we rejoice that we will be able to edify the hungry and desirous souls in the congregation by means of the edifying content of that letter, when we hold our next prayer meeting.

Friday, the 16th of May. In the meeting on the plantations I again made good and beneficial use (Glory be to the Lord alone!) of the joyful proofs of Gods paternal solicitude for us that had been mentioned yesterday here in town to the great edification of our hearts, along with the contents of the two letters of Mr. N. and Mr. N.17 I could perceive the emotion of their spirits from their eyes, and later from the humbly thankful words of two men who accompanied me for a while. One said: The Lord has done great things for us, may He make us thankful, etc. The other found in the current experience of Gods help a parallel to the help He rendered us a few years ago. Nothing had grown here, and what had grown had been consumed by worms in the fields, and there was nothing to be had for money in the whole country. Gods providence then ordained that, when the accounts at the storehouse were examined, we got so much provisions in meat, rice, corn, molasses, and other things that by this blessing the people had enough till the new harvest.

May God reward the two aforesaid dear Fathers18 as well as the worthy Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen for the trouble they take in writing such letters, amidst the otherwise very extensive and burdensome business of their offices. The letters lead us to the right cause of Christianity ratione Credendorum & Agendorum19 and are indeed right edifying for us. I had intended to read the Court Chaplains letter in todays evening prayer meeting in the town, but because of my bodily weakness I could do almost nothing further than read aloud the heart-and-soul-refreshing words, as much as pertains to the congregation. I was hopeful of adding the remainder in the next prayer meeting (tomorrow, God willing) for further application and inculcation in certain points. Also, on the last page of this beautiful letter, our dear Mr. Berein, who participates so heartily in all the good things the Lord does in the congregation, had added his amen to the heartfelt good wishes for us from the most treasured name of our Redeemer and Reconciler. By this he edified us and the congregation, and may God reward him for it!

Saturday, the 17th of May. I had directed N. to come to me a week ago, but learned that he had suffered a very bad injury and therefore had been unable to come here. Hence I rode this morning to his plantation; and, on account of the high water, I had to take the long way by the most distant plantations. Even this was good, because I called on N. and N. and was able to edify myself with them.20 He complained a good deal about his worldly disposition and his spiritual slothfulness. He well recognized that the renown one has amongst men from ones diligence and industry in household affairs and other external virtues is an abomination before God if it does not derive from a hallowed basis and that one may thereby stand in a damnable condition. He said people bear in mind much too little that they are only lent to this temporal world and that they must soon leave it. They care so little and far too little for their souls, which are their noblest part. I told him with the example of Pauls epistle to the Philippians, Chapter 3, of the right path to come to an evangelical, unconstrained denial of earthly and temporal things, no matter how beautifully they glisten; and I gave him a short instruction in how rightly to recognize and experience his Savior in His incomparable love for us sinners. If he becomes his treasure, then certainly his heart will follow after and there will be enough strength present for the struggle against the slothful flesh.

I had with me the late Professor Frankes21 sermon about the glorious gospel for Mary Magdalenes Day, which I gave to him; and I believe it will be very profitable for him and his wife, on whom he is working quite faithfully for her repentance and conversion, for our wise God would surely not have let it come into my hands in vain on this trip. His wife had told him something as well as she could from yesterdays devotional hour. Her eyes are being opened more and more, through Gods grace. While she was still single, she practiced spelling and reading with Hans Flerl;22 and now she is continuing it with her husband, although it is proceeding slowly and arduously because of her inborn lack of ability. Her husband said she was very desirous of learning to read. She wept that there would be nothing but bad reports of her to Mr. N., who had done her so many good deeds. It was her earnest resolution to convert to the Lord. She would especially like to have written to Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen to express thanks for the especially great love and solicitude shown her during her illness in London. In particular she cited gifts of money and physical refreshment and knew how to recount something from a sermon she had heard in the palace chapel about Christ crucified on Mount Golgatha. I asked at this point about her marriage text, which she knew well: Behold, the lamb of God, etc., which verse often lies in both their minds.

Mrs. Lackner remembered how Mr. N. had given her the courage to travel to Ebenezer and not allow herself to turn away from her plan, as others were inclined to do. She thanked him for it and said her Ebenezer was dear to her and that her journey hither had never become a burden to her even in her rather protracted illness. I read to her husband several proofs from the letter of how well remembered his late sister is in Mr. N.s house. He and she both desire at the first opportunity to write to this man, their and his sisters benefactor.

I had already indicated in yesterdays evening prayer meeting that I remembered from Mr. S23 letter of 19th June 1738 how, on the occasion of some letters of thanks, Mr. Schauer in Augsburg had been moved to present the congregation with 100 vials of his excellent medicine, which we prize very highly. This had now arrived with the supplies Senior Urlsperger had sent at that time for the orphanage and would be distributed to the townspeople after todays evening prayer meeting and to those on the plantations tomorrow after divine services. In my prayer meeting at home today I mentioned before God this great benefaction (which amounts to almost 20 florins, and is not the first) along with the dear benefactor. I kept the people back to distribute the gift to them, every adult receiving one small bottle. Because the ointment has been so long in transit, in many bottles it is half evaporated and in many even more than half. Nonetheless, what we have we recognize with all gratitude before God and men. The bottles which came for the orphanage are fuller. They are also packed in small separate cases, which perhaps conserved the ointment better. Along with this gift I distributed to them Prof. Frankes Introduction to the Reading of the Holy Scriptures,24 and Pastor Freylinghausens sermon on the evil of original sin. They had been found amongst the books in the two chests bound for Cuddalore.

In the boxes just mentioned are many copies of the 42d, 43d, and 44th continuations of the reports of mission operations in India.25 Some of the parishioners are very eager to read them; and by and by I will let them have them. May the Lord compensate the missionaries in some other way for the loss of the books and medicines, which were sent to us erroneously by the customs officials, and may He thereby achieve His intended salutary purpose amongst us!

Sunday, the 18th of May. After the close of the sermon, when I had recounted the wicked actions and malicious behavior of N. and his wife,26 I added my motives for making this sorrowful business publicly known. 1) That the congregation might know that God is a holy God. He may let the godless behavior go undisclosed and unpunished for a time, but not forever. And, since many have upon themselves the mire of unrighteousness and other abominations, hidden yet known to Gods eye and their own consciences, such persons should believe there will come a time or an eternity when everything not disposed of according to divine order here in this time of grace will have to be pulled before angels and men from the darkness to the light and before the seat of judgment. How terrible such disclosure and revelation will be! 2) That pious members might pray zealously to God to open these miserable peoples eyes to the wretched state of their hearts and to turn themselves away from the darkness to the light, etc.

As the present facts demonstrate, they were so sly and deceitful in their evil that they could find all sorts of plausible lies to gloss over their own condition and make themselves appear innocent. On the other hand, in regard to Christianity and the dogma of bliss they were so blind and ignorant that I could not find words enough to express it. 3) That the members should pray that wisdom from above be given to us so that, in this case and every case, we will conduct ourselves so as to act neither contrary to love nor contrary to righteousness, etc. In my mind I had one other motive for making this matter public; by this procedure frivolous and impudent spirits who are not disciplined by Gods word and not held back from committing sin may at least be held in check by such visible reins of discipline, since their vexations would not be approved of, etc.

May God choose the truly intended purpose to be achieved with N. and his wife, as with us all, so that we will recognize the Fall of Man and the abomination and the detestable corruption of the whole of human nature emanating from it. May He let us humble ourselves in the name of our great Restorer before Gods throne of grace, and let us attain to a fundamental salvation through Him!

In yesterdays evening prayer meeting we edified ourselves once more from Court Chaplain Ziegenhagens letter, for which may the cherished name of the Lord be praised. May it help us keep faith in the certain promises of the Lord, to which we have been directed, even in the present war troubles. Then the glory of God will certainly become manifest in us too.

The superscribed verse from Isaiah 54:15-17 likewise Psalm 20:8-9, are incomparably dear to us along with the entire contents of the letter. This reminded us of Gods dear words from Isaiah 33:20-24, which are very impressive and are cited propos in the foreword to the 1st Continuation, as well as a little verse from the 46th Psalm, which was very edifying to us at the Feast of the Assumption, where it says: ...Though the earth be removed ... nonetheless the city of God shall be made glad, with its little fountains, etc. ... for God is in the midst of her, etc.

At the end was appended a special admonition to the children of the orphanage, which I read in such a way that even our town and schoolchildren could see what undeserved benefactions the Lord is showing them and what their duty is because of them. I promised them to make even better use of the Court Chaplains dear expressions from Mark 10:13 ff., if they wished to come to me today after the afternoon divine service. But I requested only those children who would form and bring to me the good resolution to give way to the good admonitions better than up till now and let themselves be made by the Lord Jesus into pious children whom He can cherish and embrace. They all came at the appointed time, however, and asked to be edified from the letter, which is quite full of Christs gospel. Singly and as a group they promised to perform much good, whereupon I dismissed them with prayer and a gift of some of the separately printed sermons of the late Professor Francke and Pastor Freylinghausen.

Monday, the 19th of May. I kept Kalcher and his wife back after the prayer meeting at my home and read aloud to them from Court Chaplain Ziegenhagens beautiful letter that which concerned especially the orphans father and mother. The cited verse (Matthew 25) As you did it, etc. was once more very impressive to them and me because God had seen fit to give us much edification and comfort them from it when the foundations were laid for the orphanage. I presented Kalcher with a copy of Christs prayer of the high priest, which was found in the chest for Cuddalore. To his wife I gave the large, beautifully bound Canstein Bible.27 She has never had a Bible from Halle but has made do with another with very small type; and, because she searches Gods word practically day and night and the small type hurts her eyes, I knew that she would praise the name of the Lord for this gift. I believe I am acting according to the wish of the worthy Professor Francke in presenting this Bible to her, which belongs to someone in India. I gave it to her with the wish that she might learn to form a childlike, positive trust in her Savior, for to him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever, etc. Mr. N. is also thinking of her in his fatherly missive to us when he writes: The person who has written to me several times in a particular concern should indeed believe that all has been taken care of and remains so. She should now simply keep to the word in Hebrews 10:19-24. May our eternally faithful God be inclined to bless this superabundantly, to the repose of her heart!

Pichler has a sick, miserable little girl who has had the so-called fever clots28 for some years, from which probably all the other symptoms may derive. Professor Dr. Ploss in Augsburg has received news of this illness through Senior Urlsperger. As a measure of his affection for our Salzburgers, he has sent us a plan and suggestions as to which medicines to use and how to use them properly, internally and externally, to counter this malady and thoroughly to cure the fever, with which several of our people have dragged on for some time. He does not consider the clots to be the fevers cause, but rather the vestige or effect of a protracted or badly cured fever or even of bad diet and behavior during the fever. It had also appeared to me, as Dr. Ploss writes, that this clot or infurctus (as he calls the hard Ausdnstung29 found in the left side) has its origin in a badly cured fever. For we hear nothing about it amongst the English in Savannah, who have the fever only a short time. After a few symptoms it is cured for them; and they too use cortex Peruviana30 for it.

On the plantations we visited Ruprecht Zimmerman, who had been sick until now, and found him at his work, strengthened in body and soul. He could not praise sufficiently, to Gods glory, what great blessing he had received from Professor Franckes newly communicated sermon for Mary Magdalenes Day, which is The Heart Alarmed and Battered by Sin,31 since it fully suited to his circumstances. He wants to read it several times.

Tuesday, the 20th of May. At the meeting on the plantations before noon my dear colleague read aloud Court Chaplain Ziegenhagens letter, as well as one from Master Riesch from Lindau, which was already four years old, for the Salzburgers from there. May God also lay much blessing on it. God has well ordained for me to stay in town this time and to work in the meantime on N. and his family. I met him in the street on his way home; and, because otherwise I seldom find him at home because of his work in the fields, I went inside his hut with him (as head of the household) to inquire about his and his familys Christianity. The testimony he gave of himself was indeed severe, and it amounted to the fact that he was convinced that his Christianity was worthless. He said that, if he and his family wished to be saved, they would have to reach the point that is always shown in sermons from Gods word and that he had read in Arndts Christianity and in Schaitberger. But, do what he would, he could not achieve it, he said -- he feared he had sinned too grossly previously and had waited too long to convert, etc.

Since it was quite clear to me why he was using such expressions, I told him that he could see from the time of grace that God was still granting him, as well as the good and powerful movement of his heart, and above all from Holy Scripture, that our exceedingly merciful God was not seeking his death but rather his eternal salvation. I said God would also gladly accept him to grace for Christs sake, as he had done thousands of others, if his penitence were serious and if he would not merely pray but combine a zealous and humble prayer with a serious struggle against everything evil without and within.

If he did this, I said, God would hear him favorably for the sake of Christ (in whose name he was seeking grace), and not reject him. If he wished to conclude something from the lack of favorable responses to his prayers, I told him, he should not conclude, as he had previously done, against Gods loving nature and word, but rather in the following way: God has been working on me for a long time and has offered me much grace, especially in Augsburg. But I did not wish to hear or follow, hence I must not think it strange if God causes me to wait for a favorable hearing of my prayer, now that I am searching, through His mercy, for the grace of justification and salvation. He wishes to test the earnestness of my feelings. N. quite approved of this and well remembered how powerfully God had prompted him at the poorhouse32 in Augsburg and here; and how he had not followed the prompting.

His wife was weeping copiously nearby, especially when I began talking with her three children and admonished them no longer to thrust from themselves the abundant grace being offered them for their conversion. I said their conversion would otherwise become much harder as they grew older, as it was becoming harder for their father; they had more good opportunity in their youth than he had had. God is so holy, I said, that He cannot let continued scorn of His grace go unpunished. But great and generally spiritual judgments follow upon great spiritual grace; and, when the flesh fares well, it is not even considered a judgment, of which I gave them comprehensible examples.

The mother asked the second oldest boy if he still remembered the verse Senior Urlsperger had impressed upon him in his chamber, which was: Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, etc. etc., which fine verse gave me an opportunity to give parents and youngsters wholesome instruction, which was heard with much weeping.

I had with me a booklet of the beautiful material mentioned yesterday about the gospel for Mary Magdalenes Day. I had thought to bring it into the orphanage; but, because N. had need of it, I left it behind for him. I guessed that our marvelous God had also kept a blessing in it for him, so I gave it to him and promised to come again in the afternoon and bring him another booklet with directions for Christian fathers and mothers of households to run their house in a godly manner and hold home services with their children. It was indeed the Glaucha Home Liturgy,33 which we found in the Cuddalore chest. Kalcher, to whom I had also given it, made right good use of it for himself.

When I returned to N.s hut in the afternoon I found only the wife and youngest son at home; the rest were in the field. I gave her the aforementioned booklet and told her the contents and use of the same. I also bade her tell her husband that I considered Gods current powerful tugging at his soul to be a sign that he perhaps had only a very short time left to live in the world and that therefore he would do well to make haste.

She recounted to me how his worldly mind and concern for temporal things manifested itself far too often. If the most minor trial came up, his diligence in prayer and what God had wrought in him through His word were both gone then; and, whenever she reminded him not to act thus, he would use all sorts of language, which clearly ran counter to Christianity, about which his eldest son would also remind him. I admonished her to intercede sincerely for her husband and children and to let nothing make her err or become fatigued therein. She could tell how God recently made her experience her prayer when the soldiers from Purysburg wished in every way to persuade her son to go off to war. He had almost been persuaded, but his mothers prayer and tears had prevented it and her son was now quite happy about it.

I was very highly pleased with the way she dissuaded her husband, through the extensive experience of Gods providence he had had in his homeland and here, from worrying mistrustfully about making a living. The youngest boy had contracted fever in the field and was lying in bed. Because he had wept considerably during my discourse this morning, I asked why. He raised himself up and wept copiously, saying: Because I am so quarrelsome (contentious) and malicious. I asked about his current intention, which was, as he had promised Sunday, to convert and become a different child. At that point I directed him especially to pray against his frivolousness and be on guard against everything of a frivolous nature; and, since his heart was becoming softened, to pray all the more zealously to God. He well knew how to distinguish a softened heart from a hard one. His mother also made him realize the cause of Gods making him get sick so often.

Wednesday, the 21st of May. N. is feeling his recent attacks anew and is recognizing the hand of God therein. He came to me with bowed spirits and acknowledged that God had been working powerfully on him and his wife for a considerable time. He related this especially to certain occurrences where he emphatically sensed the power of the word in his soul. He and she deplored with hot tears the fact that he could not get up courage to uncover himself to someone who also feared God, since people also failed to trust him because of his previously vain nature and frequent backsliding and were not inclined to get into any familiar conversation even when coming home from church. He said he had begun to pray with his wife zealously; but his conversion was not proceeding as he wished because he did not wish to cast away his old sins and come right out with his confession.

After he had recently recovered, he said, he thanked God that he had, as it were, returned to this life and treasured time of grace; and he was gladdened when informed that one of us would come out and visit him. However, because people had been with him just at the time of the visit, he had once more held back out of bashfulness.

Last Sunday he came to church and heard, with the necessary reflection and application, the behavior of N. and his wife recounted. Afterwards at Mondays prayer meeting in my chambers he heard about the noteworthy words of the Savior, Luke 13:2 ff., that some have been punished and at the same time that some have been loved and warned, at which time his conscience got more and more upset until he was finally driven to me today. At this point he commenced sighing and weeping copiously over his ill-spent youth. He began with Salzburg and recounted the disloyalty he had committed even against his own mother, and how in doing it he had taken recourse to the worst kind of lies. He said he had had no desire for any good things and was almost completely unfit even for learning a trade; on the other hand, he soon found himself suited for all kinds of maliciousness. He well recognized that our holy God is exercising great judgment on the extensive grace offered to sinners in our locality, as is clearly to be seen in the aforementioned Lemmenhofer, Stephan Riedelsperger, Rauner, N., Muggitzer, and others.34 It was, he said, an undeserved mercy of God to follow him so closely, etc. I told him various things from the 1st Psalm about what kind of end is met by the godless who remain thus and how it is his and his wifes obligation to take good heed of the warning in the 1st verse if the weal and good therein are to come over him; for vain, unconverted people have hindered him from carrying out his good intentions, as he himself well saw.

And, when he brought up how many things have intervened and gotten in the way of his banning his sins from his conscience, he said he had to gird and arm himself now, since he wanted honestly to convert to God against even more obstacles to his good intentions, obstacles from Satans malice, the world, and his own flesh. Prayer and struggle would have to be his constant weapons, and he especially would have to call on the Lord to lead him, by means of the chastising authority of the Holy Ghost, from his acknowledged outbursts to the right malicious source in his heart, as happened with David in the 51st Psalm. He should not aim at comfort immediately lest he comfort himself too soon and fall once more into self-assurance and frivolousness, which for him (as he recognized) has been one of Satans special nets.

Nonetheless I reminded him of the beautiful verse from Psalm 68:19-21, which I had previously impressed carefully upon him and his wife. From that he sees that grace has been obtained even for him and that the verse can be inspiring for him in his serious physical circumstances. As a sign of my love and my good trust that he will apply himself to his souls salvation more earnestly, I gave him dear Pastor Schubarts three sermons that were found in the trunk for Cuddalore and from which I had read only a little today for my own edification. He will tell me what a blessing the Lord presented him from it. In addition to this I reminded him of what I had impressed on several people at yesterdays evening prayer meeting in preparation for the feast of Holy Pentecost from Acts 1:12-14, to pray more than to read and to incorporate what one hears and reads into a right earnest prayer. For there are many good souls amongst us who err in reading and hearing much and not leaving themselves enough time, as it were, to chew it once more and digest it spiritually and convert it to strength and vigor from which comes more harm than profit.

If God would only grant him something for his physical needs, he would like to disengage himself from the ablatis realiter35 by means of restitution to Christs poor members. In this he has good precursors in the congregation, as I could tell him without revealing names, even though he might not make a merit or improvement of the rotten matter; but he well recognizes that this is a main requirement of a true contritition and abhorrence of the sins committed, in which one both drives every malicious intent out of ones conscience and banishes all ill gained goods from his home. For thus is the true penitence.

Thursday, the 22nd of May. In his letter Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen mentioned a point regarding N. and N., to which he added a quite necessary admonition. This afternoon I talked with one of the men in the matter; and his expressions and entire behavior strengthened me in my opinion of him even more: to wit, he was shaping his salvation earnestly, was humbling himself most deeply before the Lord on account of his frailties and those things not in accord with our Saviors wholesome instruction and example, and was seeking grace in Christs wounds for his justification and improvement and was even working faithfully on his neighbor with the gift received. I did not fail to give him various necessary admonitions, instruction, and consolation according to his hearts sincerity. May the Lord accompany that with His blessing!

I also visited N. and asked what he and his wife were now doing. They said they were seeking to follow my admonition and were falling to their knees several times every day before Gods countenance and were calling on Him for recognition of their sins and true repentence, etc. I told them a great deal about the spiteful nature of their hearts, which was an abomination before God, and about the uprightness of hearts which was pleasing to Him; and I pointed them to the right foundation. They promised a good deal, and they say they want to attend closer instruction when their field is cultivated. They recounted that their oldest girl had been much better when she was small and had liked to pray more than now. I showed them the cause of that, to wit: the girl was coming to a greater understanding and, when she heard and saw so many disorderly things about her parents, a great deal of vexation and harm would be stirred up thereby. External and oral admonition to prayer and piety would avail nothing; but, if they made a true beginning at improvement and set a good example for the child, they could hope for more blessings.

On the plantation of Mueller, the clock maker, I found N. with his wife, who were working there,36 also N.s son and N.N.s wife. All four are beginners at Christianity, for whose edification I said something about the vigorous verse, God so loved the world, etc. It had edified me at home in the inexpressibly great, eternal, quite undeserved, real love of God.

Friday, the 23rd of May. In todays gathering on the plantations we had as a basis for preparing the Holy Feast of Pentecost the three verses 12-14 from Acts 1, of which we have made use all this week according to every circumstance in the evening prayer meetings. May it please the Lord in His wisdom and kindness to lay a blessing on todays treatment of His word. He has revealed examples of it in the town, in whom the contemplated truths have gained entrance and effected much good.

I called on the N. woman in passing yesterday and brought her the core verse: For God so loved the world, etc. I sought to encourage her to a simple, faithful trust in the eternally loving, completely faithful and pious, reconciled God. She said little about it; but, when I had left and was going on my way, she wept copiously. When I visited her and her husband again today, I learned why: she felt woe and unrest in her conscience because, just as I was entering the room, she had begun speaking of external things (which concerned her servant girls schooling and learning and were therefore necessary), and thereby neglected something better. The three of us together came upon much edifying material relevant to the foundation of faith and Christianity; and everything I said was directed at showing the good woman the nature of a sincere penitence and simple faith, which does not doubt and speaks directly.

She and her husband gave me the opportunity, she with the example of the sanctuaries of the Old Testament, he with the quotation of the important verses from Romans 4:5 and 2 Corinthians 5:21, to which I added something from Numbers 21 about the brazen serpent, the feeling of the snakebite, and how people ran up and looked at the raised serpent, upon which the Savior looks and remarks, John 3, and also of the sacrifices in the Old Testament.37 If the Israelites could come to the forgiveness of their sins by way of the scanty precepts in the Old Testament and without self-made subterfuge and unnecessary formalities, if they simply complied with the order made by Gods wisdom, so that, for example, they brought their sacrifices in penitent recognition of their sins and recognized the sins on their heads, recognized themselves as worthy of death and damnation, took refuge in faith in the reconciling death of the Lord Messiah and poured out the blood of the animal to this end and applied it to themselves by means of sprinkling it, why then should not we, who live under the bountiful grace of the New Covenant, come soon and without anxious digressions to the certainty and faithful conception of the gracious forgiveness of sins, if only we conform simply to Gods order? We remembered hereby various examples from the New Testament, that of Lydia, of the jailer, of the Samaritan woman, and others, who, setting honestly about their work, soon came into a state of grace. Good souls do not wish to deceive themselves with temporal comforts. Hence they desire much, indeed, more and more contrition, through which they wish first to make themselves capable of faith and the reception of consolation. That is to say, the Scripture, as we learned not long ago from Mark 16:14 (cf. Luke 24:25), certo respectu38 unbelief and hardness of heart, with which the good sweet Savior cannot be satisfied. For hidden behind it are self-will, works without faith, even self-esteem, which one would like to have before one claims grace as ones own.

Dear N.N. gave me much joy through his prayers, tears, and heartfelt expressions of his great desire to penetrate thoroughly into the righteous essence of Christianity. I have good trust in God that He will make this man into a vessel of His mercy and an instrument of His grace, so that through him his wife and also others (who consider him dear and worthy because of his skill and many natural virtues) will be won and led to Christ. In my chamber, before the administration of Holy Communion, he had let me read and elucidate for him something about the certainty of death, the last judgment, and the eternity of Hells torture. It had lain on his mind till now, and he thanked God diligently with tears for not snatching him away in sin, when he had been so near death a short time previously. Although he was quite weak in body and had great pains in his neck, he asked me nonetheless to kneel and pray with him, in which he was very zealous and sincere. I left behind for him the beautiful verse and promise in Isaiah 44:3-5, which I found in the Bible for him.

His wife was in the field, and therefore I could not speak with her. Her husband hopes that by and by she will let her eyes be opened better. He is finding that she is faring as he once did when, to be sure, he heard Gods word but seemed to have no ears and always remained as in a dream, blind and ignorant. Frivolousness, self-assurance, and self-will are all terrible things to him, and sources of much evil.

As I was departing I said something to him of the blessing our faithful high priest, Jesus, when He ascended to heaven, placed on His dear disciples, who had previously been surrounded by all kinds of weakness. By it they were placed in a state to be obedient to the Lord Jesus, resigned to His will, and of good courage in all fearsome and doubtful circumstances, as we have learned so far in the prayer meeting from Acts 1. I said he and his wife would have to seek this blessing with prayer and supplication, which would have to be arranged with proper persistence, constancy, and union of heart, according to the edifying example of the disciples, both men and women (ibid.)

Saturday, the 24th of May. Among the many sweet benefactions we enjoy here in this country while we are getting established under Gods loving care, we rightly count the cellar and the well dug between our two dwellings. It is a cellar and well beneath one roof; and, since water was found soon, it did not cost as much as the well in the orphanage, which is some twenty feet deep.

The old huts we lived in were starting to collapse, so we were able to take the still usable lumber (beams and boards) from them for this closed-in cellar and well. Praise God for the right beautiful soft, pure water we now have in such abundance. May He make us right thirsty and eager for the promised water of life,39 especially since during these days (as has already happened this week) many magnificent things will be told and sung about it to our awakening.

Mr. Oglethorpe has advised people at our locality several times to apply themselves to growing German crops, such as barley, rye, wheat, and oats. We are finding, as has already been noticed, that these same crops, if they are sown timely (to wit, in September), grow and ripen very well and better than in Germany before the great heat comes. Even if the rains in spring fail to come, this does not cause much harm, because the ground gets enough moisture in the winter. One would hardly hear in Germany of a single grain producing thirty to forty stalks and as many full, beautiful ears. Because everything must be sown very thinly and spread out, only very few seeds are needed for sowing. What is stopping the people from cultivating such European crops are the stumps and roots in the earth, because of which they still cannot use a plow, and without a plow those crops cannot be grown. The fields planted for the last four years are becoming almost suitable for it, since the stumps are almost rotted. If God should grant the orphanage any sort of funds, the manager would engage in such crop cultivation first of all, as a good example to others. It can happen for him sooner than for others because old fields are already there and the orphanage has plowing oxen and a plow, even if an unfinished one.

If we could just use a plow, the field work would be easier for the people than it is in Germany, because there are no stones, only loose fine earth. In addition they can work in the fields the entire winter; and, by using plow and harrow, they could control the uncommonly thick and plentiful grass much sooner and easier than if they just used the hoe. If they had wheat and rye, they would plant that much less rice, for in planting the latter they destroy their health and clothes more than in other kinds of field work. They must often stand quite deep in the water or swamp.

Praised be the Lord, who has caused one or another kind of bodily assistance to come to our parishioners. If the little fountains of His kindness should continue, as we hope in faith they will, everything will become easier for the parishioners by and by. By divine grace they will be put in a position to lend a hand to those who come later, when they first settle. Things should hardly be as difficult for them as for those who had to break the ice.

The maintenance and provision of our herdsmen (who till now have consisted of four persons, to wit three men and a woman) have provided our poor congregation with a great physical benefaction. May our faithful God richly reward our benefactors in Europe, who have also contributed something to this end. Most of it probably came from the blessing that was sent to the orphanage, under which divine direction is also set up as a poor house and for the benefit of the congregation. The cost of clothes alone amounts to over 16 ь sterling, besides whatever is required whenever one of our regular herdsmen happens to take sick and we have to engage others.

Sunday and Monday, the 25th and 26th of May, were the Feast of Holy Pentecost. The Lord has let us spend these two holy days in bodily health, with cool weather and much edification of our hearts, for which we rightly bring praise and honor to His praiseworthy name. After the feast we will probably see what our faithful God has accomplished amongst our dear parishioners, through His word (which was indeed purely evangelical) through the grace of the Holy Ghost, although I could see the movement of the spirit in various individuals even during the sermon, in their eyes and faces. Once again on the second holy day my dear colleague held divine services on the plantations, as has taken place every two weeks. God be praised for strengthening us so that, with His aid, we can still attend to our office and profession unhindered. The attacks and weaknesses have always passed quickly, or our faithful and miraculous God has sent us a sharply felt aid to our powers of body and spirit during our work, as I have experienced often, glory be to God.

On Saturday Mr. Holzendorf,40 a brother of the distinguished men of that name in the royal Prussian service, came here to our place from Purysburg, as he said, to attend the divine service. He came into my chamber just when a few people had gathered to prepare themselves with me through Gods word and prayer for the feast of Holy Pentecost. He sang and prayed quite reverently with us; and, during the time of the celebration, he conducted himself publicly and privately in such a way that I hope something of the good which the Lord has given will fall into his heart. With great thanks he accepted from me a beautiful and edifying preparation by the late Professor Francke concerning a text from Romans 8, as well as the three sermons from Pastor Schubart, whom he knew well and whom he had heard as a sometime royal chamberlain.

Tuesday, the 27th of May. Towards evening I rode to N.s plantation. I was very pleased that the dear Lord had arranged it thus, for I found him lying in bed and learned that as long as he had been living out there he had not been really healthy. His whole demeanor impressed me greatly. He was very resigned and recognized in this Gods kindness, which just intended to purify him. He said men could not help him, only God was his help. I referred him particularly to the seventh chapter of Micah, verse 7, where it says: But as for me I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Among other things he said that things were not turning out as he had wished and desired. I told him there was good counsel for this, he should turn to Him who said: If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. Let him take the water of life freely. With that I said a few other things, and finally we prayed. He wanted me to make a greater effort to come out to him. Still, even if that could not be, he thought I would keep him in mind in my prayers to God.

In the evening prayer meeting I took from the New Testament the verses John 6, vv. 48-58 in order, which are incomparable words. Along with them one could very well cry out from Psalm 36: How excellent is thy loving kindness, 0 God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, etc. May our dear heavenly Father teach us day by day better to recognize the good we have in the Lord Jesus. May He give us grace to accept, appropriate to ourselves, and enjoy that good, so that through this, right strengthened, we may spend our short lifetimes to His glory.

Wednesday, the 28th of May. I learned from some women today how our dear God had sent them a Pentecost blessing. One of them knew how to praise Gods grace and hoped our dear God would take pity on her children also, because He said in Isaiah 44:3: I will pour water, etc., I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring. At the same time she is full of hunger and thirst and would gladly have more and more. The other one said she had often received refreshment during the sermon, but never so especially at this time. She said she had been well assured of the forgiveness of all her sins and that she had especially desired something like that, so that people could correctly say: A thousand worlds indeed I would give thee, to pay back your faithful love. Nonetheless, she said, she had readied herself for new conditions of suffering, and she had soon lost her sense of comfort. However, after she had once again become quite powerless, she opened her Bible; and the dear God caused the words from Luke 1, 45 to come into her sight and heart: And blessed is she that believed; for there shall be a performance of those things that were told her from the Lord.

Thursday, the 29th of May. Kieffer from Purysburg, who celebrated the holy days with us, told me that Mr. Holzendorff, who was mentioned above under the 26th of May, had told him that his (Kieffers) plantation was worth a good deal of money because it lay close to our locality where divine services and good order were kept. He assumed that land was still vacant in the neighborhood on the Carolina side, which he wants to have allocated to himself, presumably for a good purpose.

In Savannah I found the small trunk which our worthy Professor Francke had sent last with twenty-two pieces of linen, medicines, and books to London; but the large trunk had not arrived from Charlestown, because it could not be brought onto the boat on account of its size and weight. The petiaguas and other larger vessels are mostly being used against the Spanish, for carrying people, war supplies, and victuals back and forth. Nonetheless, Col. Stephens correspondent in Charlestown has promised to send it to Savannah as soon as possible.

To my great pleasure this Colonel Stephens delivered to me a packet of letters from Europe, whose contents gladdened me greatly, especially because I saw from them that a considerable benefaction had come anew from Gods paternal hand, through beneficent hearts, for our orphanage and congregation. It came just at a time that those Salzburgers who, because of their work on the orphanage, had been painfully awaiting physical assistance and had often asked whether they could not be given something for this and that.

For that reason, in Savannah I wrote out another promissory note for 44 ь in order to pay some debts here and in Savannah; and, along with the manager (who gladly does his utmost), I will try to manage as far as possible with what remains. We are very much obliged especially for what has been presented to us and our helpmeets by some unknown benefactors, as Senior Urlsperger and Professor Francke report, and we ask the dear Lord to repay a thousandfold, both here and in heaven, this and other gifts of money and material. To be sure, this time I will not apply any of this considerable gift towards the cost of my house, although it was included, because the orphanage is in much more dire need. At the storehouse in Savannah, however, where I am most deeply in debt, they will give me additional credit until the Lord causes His blessing to be felt here too. I have heard nothing from the Lord Trustees regarding my request about the house. Secretary Newman writes that, because of the war, there was no hope of the Trustees resolving on a new transport at this time. They have enough expenses, and these would also likely keep them from making any contribution to my house at this time.

While journeying down to Savannah I had spoken to a Salzburger sitting in front of me about the solicitude of God, which I had experienced during the building of my house, to the great strengthening of my faith, and which cheered me greatly in the face of the expenses that were amounting to more than anyone thought or expected. On our way back I read to the Salzburger, to our mutual joy, the words from the Professors letter: The construction of a dwelling was necessary indeed, in your circumstances, etc. In building, costs always run higher than people estimate they will. But it is good to build when people can rely on divine providence, for He will provide everything that is lacking, although betimes He may test our faith in such circumstances. Thereupon the Salzburger said with a smile: The dear professor is doubtless writing from experience. He explained to me from his own meager experience what the Lords blessing did, and how much He made out of little. He said: Two years ago I was sick for a long time and harvested practically nothing. Last year God gave me so much nourishment from the little work I did and from the farming I did so poorly that I still have enough. If I figure the value of the harvest altogether, the work I did each day was worth maybe four pence. A person with a wife and two children cannot live from that, yet we are all living contentedly and this by means of Gods blessing.

Friday, the 30th of May. Last night we had a severe thunderstorm, and with it came a rain squall which rushed by. Wednesday afternoon on my return trip from Savannah it rained violently for some hours, and here in Ebenezer hardly a drop of rain has fallen. Our soil is very parched and thirsty for rain; the things in the garden are almost withering.

The N. woman41 has been tanning for some time and seems to understand that craft quite well. Since she is poor and also God-fearing, one gladly lends her a hand as best one can; it is bestowed well on her, a poor and at the same time pious widow. She is asking me to help her get a kettle, it can be old, as long as it is whole, likewise an iron scraper and four blades for the plane. Such tools are not to be had here in this country, hence I wanted to incorporate it into this diary to see whether the dear Lord might provide something of the kind elsewhere, especially in London.

Saturday, the 31st of May. This afternoon at two oclock the people on the plantations were summoned so that the beautiful gift of linen we received from Halle could be distributed to them and to those in the town. We prepared ourselves for this purpose in yesterdays prayer meeting through prayer and Gods word, when something from the sermon on the second day of Pentecost concerning the glorious text, God so loved the world, etc. was repeated and it was demonstrated that the greatest ingratitude towards the greatest benefaction of God, which was the actual subject then being treated, consists of loving darkness more than the light -- by darkness is meant not just coarse sins but everything that is not of Christ and His grace, such as worrying about ones belly and earthly things.

If anyone receives the eternal, fervent, and undeserved love of God into his heart and, as a sinner striving for grace, accepts this priceless gift of love, the Son of God himself, and therefore has experienced this verse, he will also believe: how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? and not grieve over trials and wants, but consider it love, because it comes from God, who is love itself. However, if anyone does not acknowledge this priceless present, but rather thrusts it away from himself through lack of faith and concerns of the flesh, he is also unworthy of physical gifts. If God should nonetheless give them, he should let them awaken him to penitence and a change of attitude, from now on no longer to love the darkness but only the light, etc. During the application, we purposely spoke with adults and children according to their circumstances about the linen which we had already received and were still expecting.

Today we first sang the hymn Man lobt dich in der Stille, etc. Thereupon I pointed out that the story from 1 Samuel 25 we were then contemplating was very impressive and inspiring to me in the circumstances in which we had been and still are, as has been the case with several stories in which we have found an agreeable parallel to Gods path. David had traveled into the wilderness of Paran, outside Canaans borders and toward the south, where his forbears had experienced many trials and also the Lords assistance. This was not from willfulness but rather (as we have already noticed) according to the recognized will of God; for else he would have chosen a more convenient spot. Since he had suffered much want here (it could not be otherwise in the wilderness, with so many people), he no doubt made good use (as we know from the Psalms) of the story of the ancient Jewish people with regard to their trials, evil behavior, chastisement, and the help they got from the Lord, for his own instruction, the strengthening of his faith, and his comfort. It is also Gods purpose here in our own wilderness, into which we have been led according to Gods will (and of this there can indeed be not the least doubt), for us to make use of the stories of the olden times in every way.

David was in such great need that (although he was an anointed king and prominent man) he had to send his young men to appeal to Nabal for nourishment. This, however, was surely no sign of divine disfavor, as he himself recognized: I have not seen the righteous forsaken, even if he or his seed (according to the Hebrew) go begging for bread. However, Nabal, to whom David had sent the most amicable and humble words, received Davids young men quite rudely, not only giving them nothing but also adding coarse words. This was a new trial for David, who would have stumbled in error if the Lord had not held His hand over him. Nonetheless, in the end, what the Lord granted him had to befall him, although not from the unfriendly Nabal but rather from the friendly Abigail. God indeed will not let us get into such dire circumstances that we have to seek our bread at other peoples doors. Rather, as he knows our congregations poverty and the want which breaks out here and there (as is wont to happen in the wilderness), He always awakens good people who, quite unasked, will cause their bits of bread to float across the water.42 If it is not men, then it is women whose hearts are moved to this end; if not adults, then children, as we learn from the edifying reports in letters.

Even when we have informed our benefactors of our congregations need and have requested aid, we have received no hard answers but rather very friendly, heart-strengthening, and comforting letters, and indeed even more gifts than one could desire or expect. And even if, when our need was known, someone should have no desire to send us any of his wealth but should answer rudely in letters and malign us, perhaps asking (as happened to dear David): Why didnt you stay in this country, why did you throw away your service and good opportunities? -- that person should remember that, long before it happened to us, it had also happened thus to the Lords servant, who was indeed wandering in Gods path, and that such speech is not wise but the foolish talk of Nabal, etc.

Moreover, just as David glorified the Lord with a beautiful song for each and every benefaction, it is also our duty to praise God for all help we experience and to pray for our dear benefactors. Next I read aloud from the very refreshing letters our worthy Professor Francke had written to both of us, in which there were so many beautiful things for the inspiration of the congregation and the comfort of those carrying crosses, and especially for the timid; and I also recalled this and that for further reflection. We finally fell upon our knees, prayed to the Lord, the Giver of all good gifts, and praised Him for all the kindness and benefactions He has shown us and our benefactors; and we prayed that they might continue to have the blessing of the Lord as a rich reward. We have been able to cut fifty-two complete shirts from the twenty-two pieces of very good linen. From that every family got a shirt, and a reason for joy and the praise of God.

JUNE

Sunday, the 1st of June. Yesterday towards evening a man called at my house and recounted how much goodness our miraculous God had done him through His word during the distribution. He told me how good things are for him in view of his former way of life; and he said that, in his poverty, he is living quite from Gods hand as if his needs were fulfilled crumb by crumb every day. He cited many special examples of divine providence he felt from day to day, to his joy and to the strengthening of his faith. This reminded me of a righteous woman in Germany who, in her great poverty and extreme distress, determined to live only from the hand of her heavenly Father. She would rather reject every advantage contrary to her faith and not to the furtherance of her Christianity; and she and her family lived in penury, but she paid careful heed to Gods footsteps, which were often miraculous.

This man told me about a simple but nonetheless heartily pious Salzburg woman amongst us who, when he went to her husbands hut on external business, had asked him to say a prayer. He said it, but was shamed by her powerful prayer and fervent praise of God. She could not read, had been under the Pope for a long time, and had come to the gospel only a few years previously, yet she had progressed further in the recognition of her Savior, His paths, and His benefactions than he, who had lived with the gospel from childhood.

A Salzburger was deeply impressed by the words of the Savior: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God, and by what was said as a warning in the example of the scribe in Mark 12 on the occasion of todays gospel and John 3:1 ff. He was impressed, he said, because this exactly reproduced his former condition. May God help him break through and come to a righteous state. He has been dragging himself around with good motives and intentions for a long time. I had him especially in mind during the sermon, which was on the correct way to penetrate the kingdom of God, because I knew he has been getting along for some years with good resolutions and has probably said that conversion to God must have taken its proper time, and cannot happen so quickly. Hence I was pleased that the arrow of Gods love had touched his conscience. He recalled the recently heard words of Saul: Thou art more righteous than I. He had pondered them too little aforetimes, he said, and he found that many recognize their sins in this way and only exculpate themselves, especially when they compare themselves with others who have either more evil or less good about themselves than they.

Monday, the 2nd of June. This morning my dear colleague traveled to Savannah. A fruitful rain fell yesterday and is still continuing today, and because of it the journey will doubtless be made difficult; nonetheless we thank God for sending our dried-out earth and fields such a physical blessing. Our journeys are not as difficult and dangerous as what dear Pastor Weise in Astrachan described about himself in his diary, which came to us last time amongst many other edifying things. What a pleasure it is for me to hear out of distant lands once again from this honest friend of mine, from whose zealous sermons, edifying catechising, and righteous life I often edified myself in Halle. This afternoon at my home prayer meeting I told the dear assembled people one and another point from this diary and read aloud Pastor Weises most inspiring letter to Professor Francke, along with some observations -- all of which gave us matter for the praise of God and for a humble intercession for his important, very burdensome office.

Before noon, Andreas Grimmiger was married to Anna Maria (the widow Bischoff), who has served in my house for about eight months, and who was to be midwife to the congregation. The verse from Genesis 17: I am the Almighty God; walk before me, which my dear colleague had used as an exordium yesterday afternoon was presented to the hearts of the married couple as well as of their friends for their instruction and (if they follow it) for their comfort.

Because these valuable words are set before the covenant of grace which God made with Abraham and all his descendants (Ch. 17), I remembered the words of the covenant in Exodus 20:2-3, I am the Lord, they God, thou shalt have, etc. These two verses, in my opinion, harmonize very well, clarify one another, and have been very impressive to me. After their meal this newly married couple came to our prayer meeting, where the Lords blessing was requested for them. The N.N. woman is now beginning, as she said, to recognize that I had the good of her soul in mind and thanked me for the requisite earnestness which I had demonstrated towards her, but with great patience. God grant that she take notice of what was said to her from yesterdays gospel concerning the one and only way into the kingdom of God. Whoever does not resolve from his heart to be born again, must be willing to be eternally damned; because God will not retreat from His holy order, confirmed with the seal of His truth: Truly, truly, I say, etc. The whole world would have to be damned before God would stop and do anything contrary to His holiness and truth.

Tuesday, the 3rd of June. Hernberger and his wife live alone by themselves but cheerfully. They are often sickly and hence cannot keep up their tailoring as industriously as they would like, nonetheless they are quite content. Nor do they lack the necessities of life, for he is the only tailor in Ebenezer and does good work and at the same time takes quite Christian and moderate pay for his work; so he and she are always busy and receive cash. He has a brother living in Hungary not far from Temeswar. Because he hears that war and pestilence hold sway there, he is worried about him. He could not convince him of the truth when he was with him, albeit he recognized pilgrimages and a few other things as being worthless.

A few years ago our inhabitants bought some young plum trees from Purysburg, which are already bearing fruit this spring. The fruit is quite round, red, and no larger than a type of apricot called, if I remember, Morello. The taste is delightful and sweet; and, as it is said, they are not unhealthy. They are growing quite copiously. The tree itself multiplies like thorns and weeds. From a single sapling the roots, which strike out in all directions, run throughout the entire garden, so that in two years a large area will be nothing but young plum trees, if they are not continually cut out, along with their roots. People call them Cherokee plums, because, supposedly, they are found amongst the Cherokee Indians. One can make living hedges and enclosures of them, as in time will surely happen.

Wednesday, the 4th of June. News has come from Savannah that Mr. Oglethorpe has taken another small fortress with a garrison of fifty men from the Spaniards without losing one of his own men. The soldiers were made prisoners of war. Gabriel Bach, who left us for the Ogeechee and took up military service, was attacked by Spanish Indians, shot, beheaded,1 and almost completely skinned. Because he was bold and knew well how to get around in the woods, Mr. Oglethorpe regretted losing him. His head is supposed to have been recaptured from the Indians and brought to Mr. Oglethorpe, who had it sent in a box to the commandant in St. Augustine and let him know that he and his people would fare no better because of that atrocity.

This Bach is one who came from Memmingen with the second transport and always kept company with disorderly people rather than keep good order with the congregation. How we finally proceeded with him and that woman2 he married against all our protestations before leaving us has been entered into the diary from time to time in detail. He always sinned heavily against our ministerial office and the dear means of salvation (not to mention other really base things) and never let himself be warned; and now the Lord is showing the truth of Psalm 7: God is a righteous judge, and a God who threatens every day. If one does not repent, He has, etc. Oh, if only all sinners would take heed and return with the Prodigal Son!

I again had a very sad hour today with the N. woman. I am really quite sorry for her; and, since she is walking along the abyss, I would like to help her to be saved, but she cannot stand for anyone not to let her pass as a true Christian. She was so exasperated today that she used quite coarse talk and unfounded reproaches, refused me her cottage and any further consolation, and looked on my admonitions and intercessions as quite unneeded. I would gladly bear all coarse accusations that are based on anger and malice if only I could see the way to reach her heart with the word so that she would still be saved; for we are sorry for her so dearly redeemed soul. The best thing will be for people to pray for her all the more earnestly, although she does not want it, but rather (as she said) can pray for herself. She has not come into any church for a long time.

Shortly before the prayer meeting Mr. Holzendorff was with me and requested six small glasses of Schauer Balm3 from the orphanage for the preacher in Purysburg. He stayed at the prayer meeting and received much good from the first verse of Chapter 1 of 1 Samuel (which may the Lord bless in him and all who were present)! He and the surveyor are really seeking out land in Carolina not far from us on the Savannah River, because he would like to live nearer us for his childrens sake. We would wish for all men to be helped and would come to the recognition of the truth!

Thursday, the 5th of June. Today before noon I visited N. and his wife, who were very happy with my visit and encouragement. He complained extensively about frivolousness and a hard heart, etc., and wept for getting so deep into sin. He again revealed to me a certain kind of suspicious thought and faultfinding words, which were causing him a good deal of unease and discomfort now that he saw things otherwise. On Sunday in the last devotional hour on the plantations the dear Lord gave his heart much new refreshment, which is very profitable for him in the course and struggle he has undertaken.

I found N.s wife working in the fields while her husband was helping N. build a hut. She told me that God had struck her husbands conscience by means of a violent, quickly passing fever and had shown him his perdition so that she had good hopes that he would finally turn to Jesus from his self-made righteousness and natural virtues. I told her what mercy God was showing N. and his wife, and I expressed the wish that they might become acquainted for the furtherance of their own good, especially since their plantations did not really lie far from one another. The above-mentioned people are still quite bashful, hence it is necessary for others who have gained some strength to work with them.

Two women from the plantations visited me, and since I had just received a short letter sent by an English trader, who was asking for our intercession, I read it to them. He was complaining that he lacked faith, love of God and His children, humility, and everything except sin and disbelief, of which he was entirely full and which were continuing to spread. He said, however, that he was seeking grace in Christ. These humble expressions were very impressive to me and these women gave us an opportunity for an edifying conversation.

Mr. Holzendorff wrote a short letter to me by way of the surveyor and requested another six glasses of Schauers Balm, and for himself he asked our intercession. He finally came out of the woods (where he intends to seek out land for himself) directly to me, because the surveyor had held him up too long, as is his way. All the land across from us in Carolina has been surveyed and belongs to a rich London merchant, Mr. Simonds, whose agents here are Mrs. Montaigut4 and Mr. Beaswin,5 a Frenchman. He advanced a great deal to the late Mr. Purry for transporting his people to Purysburg, and because of this he has a large share of Purysburg. Mr. Holzendorff and the surveyor have now discovered a great deal of confusion: to wit, the Purysburg preacher,6 the oft-mentioned Kieffer, and the shoemaker Reck had a large quantity of land in our neighborhood surveyed for themselves, land in fact on the property of the already-mentioned Mr. Simonds or Beawsin.

Although Kieffer has done much work on his land, and a Frenchman on Recks, it is now all for nothing, since the land cannot go to them. This surveyor, who called on me with Mr. Holzendorff, measured off the land for them on their own responsibility, because he did not know whether it was vacant or had already been surveyed by the deceased surveyor for someone else. He had not had time to follow up the lines and blazed trees, nor did he have any hope of getting paid. Such confusion to the detriment of the poor common people in Purysburg will become more glaring by and by. Rich people from England and Charlestown have many thousands of acres of land in the Purysburg region; and, because they pay the surveyors better than others do and can cater to their interests, they have taken the best part away and others have to take what they do not want. I do not see how the County of Purysburg can be settled with people if the present arrangement stays the same.

Rich people have the most land, and even the poor and humble ones who either have left or are still here have taken up as much as there are members of their families. For example, many a man with children, brothers, and sisters, and white and black servants takes up fifty acres for each individual, even for a one-day old child; and this remains theirs even if they lose their servants, children, etc. through death or otherwise. When others come afterwards, they have to buy the land; but they will hardly do this, since enough land is to be had free in the province.

Friday, the 6th of June. Secretary Newman has given us the report, in the name of the praiseworthy Society, that not only schoolmaster Ortmanns wife but also all the women are to be heirs to the land which belonged to their husbands.7 And therefore we have been vouchsafed our wish on this point; and I have not been put to shame in my good hope that was based on the entirely disinterested paternal care and love of the Trustees for the inhabitants of this colony. Whenever our people had heard questionable things from our neighbors, I had comforted them and directed them to the heart-guiding grace and power of the Lord, who has done well by us from the very beginning.

Saturday, the 7th of June. I wanted to visit a few families towards the Savannah River; but something, I do not know what, moved me to turn to N.s cottage first; but I later recognized quite well that the Lord had arranged it thus. The husband was on a plantation, so I found the wife alone. She told me many invigorating things about the grace of God she had sensed in her soul only yesterday, in a quite inexpressible way during prayer. She had already had such an extraordinary assurance of the grace and love of the heavenly Father several times, but the feeling did not last long. Because she was conscious of much unfaithfulness in herself, she had become quite uneasy and had let her courage fall. I sought to represent for her Gods loving heart in the best possible manner and to assure her from Gods word that He does not withdraw His grace from His children on account of faithlessness, rashness, and weakness. Rather, I said, He lets them recognize such errors for the very purpose that they hurry all the faster to the free and open well against sin and uncleanliness and wash themselves clean very often. I said, however, that it would be very displeasing to the dear heavenly Father if they wished to remain with their frailties and errors, become anxious about them, and then assiduously try to repair the damage first and only then to grasp a new trust in Christ and His merited reconciliation. That would basically be no different, I said, from wishing to win Gods grace and favor through good works.

Evangelical obedience goes first, I said, and obedience according to the law follows. The former consists of the poor penitent sinners hurrying, with all his wounds of sin and his bad conscience, to the saving blood of Christ (as did the bitten and wounded Israelites to the brazen serpent) and causing himself to be saved, for such is Christs will: Come unto me all ye who are, etc., likewise, They that are whole need not a physician, etc., I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentence, etc. If anyone becomes so obedient, he will receive the strength into his heart to become more and more faithful to Jesus. She marveled at Gods forebearance and kindness, she said, since she was worth no benefaction at all. Then she remembered what had caused her great trouble throughout the Feast of Pentecost and would have caused even more, if she had not been openly frank. I then showed what thoughts of tranquility God had had for her; since He let her recognize her errors so clearly. Since she had sensed so much pain from it, it was His purpose to preserve her spirit all the more from frivolity and from the pursuit of the world.

In N.s8 cottage I was very pleased, and the wife was especially moved during the reading, conversation, and prayer, so that at my departure she was unable to speak for weeping. They are getting on quite well, and I especially noted that Bachs sad case had made a strong impression on the husband. Bach dwelt with him the last time he was here and may have been rather frivolous again. Because N. likes reading, I promised to lend him the Second Continuation of the reports from Ebenezer, which makes several mentions of the edifying death of the late Adam Riedelsperger, whose widow is the N. woman. These contain our diaries, which we submitted from time to time in 1736 and which were delivered for printing by the worthy Senior Urlsperger in such a way that not the slightest scandal or misunderstanding is to be feared.9 May God let everything redound to His glory and the edification of the reader! When I read through those diaries I think of the morning text for our feast of commemoration and thanksgiving: He shall deliver thee in six troubles, etc. The year 1736 was a year of much affliction but also of much help and grace from the Lord for the congregation; and He showed Himself to us as a faithful and exceedingly gracious God, in that He let things get gradually better for us and never let us be tempted beyond our capacity. The pious among us would not wish to have missed the tribulations that our wise and loyal God ordained for us then. I am only ashamed at my great lack of understanding and imprudent actions, of which I have often been reminded when reading the diary. The Lord forgive me for the sake of Jesus, my and our Reconciler.

Sunday, the 8th of June. Today we again separated (as we have always done since Easter) so that one of us preached the Lords word in town and the other on the plantations. Towards evening we are together again and hold a prayer meeting, as is done at Professor Franckes house on holy days, during which a few of the newly learned songs are sung between the prayers. Because the people on the plantations have regular public services every two weeks (as here in town), and prayer or devotional hours twice a week, and because in addition we visit them as often as possible in their homes, we need no further division of our office, whereby one of us would move out to them entirely. This would take place only with great difficulty for the congregation, who would have to build a new parsonage, and would also cause us great difficulty and harm, not to mention that by and by a lessening of the Salzburgers good harmony would be felt if they were to form two congregations. At this time there are only three children out there who can be sent to school; if more should be added, we can make arrangements for them. If the parents desire it, they can have them cared for in the orphanage; and we would leave it up to them whether or not they wished to show their gratitude by doing some work for it.

Monday, the 9th of June. I visited Sanftleben, who by day stays at the Arnsdorff womans cottage with her children and does them as much good as he can in their bodily and spiritual needs. He has a long-lasting infirmity in his legs, which he has not yet been able to cure with the medicaments he has been using. Otherwise he is a very industrious worker, and he is very sorry that he cannot pursue his profession now that the greatest and, because of the heat, the most difficult work is going on in the fields. Nonetheless, his spirit is quite calm and well composed in the matter. With him and the Arnsdorff woman, in the presence of the children, I had many good conversations, especially about the sermon from yesterdays gospel, Luke 16:19 ff., wherein I showed what it means to be lost, in the example of the unhappy rich man, and what it means to attain eternal life, in the example of the poor Lazarus.

From here I came to N.s plantation, where once again I received from him and her much matter for friendly and edifying conversation. She showed me a verse from John 7:14 ff. in which she had found the blessed state of those consummate righteous ones who have passed into the kingdom of God through great affliction. This passage has been constantly joyous and impressive for her, as often as she has read or heard it, because it was consecrated in her heart already in Old Ebenezer. In this regard we talked about the real tribulations of Christians, which are not the visible ones, but rather the daily struggle against the Old Adam and his especial lusts, which must be crucified. With that we came to other passages such as 1 John 2:15 ff., and Philippians 3:7 ff. which may the Lord bless in both of them. God has mightily inspired the man to seek his salvation earnestly but he will not reject the cares of the world and of nourishment. He easily lets himself be led astray, in his new inspiration and good resolutions, by temporal things; and hence he has never been able to come to a proper firmness of heart in Gods grace.

Tuesday, the 10th of June. Peter Gruber belongs to the first transport; and with his compatriots he put up with a great deal in the beginning and always showed himself undiscouraged and patient in all the great difficulties of the time. The Lord has given him grace, especially since he took the late Moshammers widow to wife, gradually to recognize his lack of a living recognition of the Savior. Amidst prayer and supplication and with diligent listening to and repetition of the divine word, he has honestly turned to God and Christ as a result of his pious wifes Christian exhortation. He is now in truth a child in Christs love, and makes it his business to attain a proper disciples power and manly strength in Christ.

Although he deserved to be provided with a good and comfortably situated plantation like the remaining Salzburgers, especially since he belonged to the first transport which were first in hardships and should therefore be first in comforts, it has nonetheless pleased the Lord (doubtless for his testing, and hence for his salvation) to allow him to receive a plantation with good land but no neighbors. Because of this, and because it does not lie on either Abercorn Creek or the Savannah River, he has at least ten times the difficulties of the others. This can easily be seen if one is off in the woods by himself, has to build the fence around the field by himself, must endure the shadow of adjacent plantations trees, and must sacrifice his pigs, calves, and poultry to the wild animals because all around there is nothing but woods, where no people live.

With our permission he has been considering exchanging this plantation for one on Abercorn Creek, but it has always failed to come to pass. Because he would like to live near town and always be near us since neither he nor his wife can read but are zealously concerned for their salvation, he decided last winter to keep this plantation, the one which fell to him by lot through the heavenly Father, trusting God to stand by him. Zant, however, is not used to field work and hard circumstances, so he dropped this work and has gone off to war so that this Peter Gruber is alone again.

At this time our miraculous God is ordaining for us two to have to seek out two plantations, since the settled plantations in our locality are to be written up and sent to the Trustees, with the names of the occupants, by a pious merchant10 in Savannah. Since everything else that is even fairly good is possessed by the inhabitants of our locality, only two plantations remain next to this dear Peter Gruber, and they are right good for our purposes and situated quite well. Therefore we are recognizing them in Gods name for our own, and we will afford all possible assistance to our dear neighbor, who, through our wives, is our brother-in-law.11 This man and his wife are indeed gladdened over this unexpected matter, and they look on it as new testimony of the divine providence ruling over them.

To be sure, we are not really planning to farm; yet if the Lord grants us a physical blessing of money or we can save something from our salary, then we will let the poor and diligent workers in the congregation earn something if they help Gruber build fences, cut trees, etc. For this he will leave something from the additional crop in the new field for us to use in our housekeeping. Or if we can get a faithful servant from the congregation, this Gruber would become our manager on these plantations. We would provide him and his family with all their needs during his well and sick days; and we would have as much claim as he to what God lets grow in the field and also to cattle. Thus he and his family would be well provided for; and we would have the pleasure of investing well what God throws to us.

These plantations lie practically in the middle of the land belonging to Ebenezer. From them it is a short half-hour to the city and no farther to the plantations on Abercorn Creek. If we should have a cottage built here, we would not only have a little place to which we could repair for rest and quiet on Sundays, when public services are held out there, and then return again for the afternoon service. Also we could be visited by pious people who would like to talk with us at an appointed time for the sake of good exercises, not to mention that it is sometimes necessary to go out for recreation and exercise with ones family. It would be easier if one had his own little place to rest up and get some quiet.

To be sure, our two plantations really have little land for planting corn, but there is therefore that much more pasture for cattle; and, since two small streams flow through both plantations, there is never any lack of water here. In addition there is the most beautiful timber in great profusion here, which Gruber would lack if the three plantations were not combined in this way and seen as one. His good crop bearing land will complement ours; and ours, suited for cattle raising and provided with timber, will complement his. May God further cause us to want and choose what is pleasing to Him and what is useful to our neighbor in this matter, and also what is appropriate to the aims of our ministerial office. Everyone who wishes Gruber good is gladdened by our intent and by the easing of the burden he will gain thereby.

Wednesday, the 11th of June. We have had, to be sure, less rain this spring and early summer than last year; yet the dear Lord has always given as much as is needed, so that the crops are standing handsomely everywhere, notwithstanding the long absence of rain. Some people have cleared and planted some of the land on the actual island in Abercorn Creek, where the corn is growing more beautifully than on any spot in our fields, from which the people what an especially material benefaction they have received in this land on Abercorn Creek. It can be as dry and arid as may be, nonetheless this land always retains enough moisture;12 and even when it rains a lot, the rain water can be led into the ditches situated around and into the river itself. They do not even have to improve it with manure or leave it lying fallow after a few years, because it is flooded for a short time, if not every year, at least sometimes in the fall and spring, and hence richly fertilized by the Savannah River, since the Savannah River carries a lot of silt and fertility with it.

This year the Salzburgers have had to clear the trees and bushes from the good high land lying near their cottages along Abercorn Creek. In the coming year, God willing, they will advance across the river to the above-mentioned island; and therefore they will all experience what till now only a few men have enjoyed from the especial fertility of the soil. Just about everything they sow should grow there. Especially the flax should come up much better on this low ground than on the high.

Whenever we consider the miraculous paths on which God leads us, we must marvel at his wisdom and kindness, and indeed we must never forget to give humble and hearty thanks to His holy name for all His good guidance in Old Ebenezer. It is too bad that the deer are becoming more numerous and are doing greater harm than heretofore. They eat the beans almost right up to the cottages and cause a good deal of harm to the sweet potato leaves. Our people do not have the time to lie in wait for them at night or go after them in the daytime, albeit at times while they are working they shoot a deer. There have been no Indians in our area for a long time. If we could just get one family at our place who would deport themselves properly, we would provide them with everything if they would just shoot the deer and other harmful beasts.

I found Michael Riesers and Simon Steiners wives in the Landfelder womans cottage, where I spoke with each of them about worldly feelings and cares about nourishment, which are clear signs of eternal damnation and still unaltered hearts. The N. woman13 came up, and I told her the same thing and asked her to take earnest care of her soul so that she may still be saved like a brand plucked from the fire. I pointed out she was walking along the abyss; and therefore I wished she would soon be saved from her blindness and love of sin and world and would be transplaced into a state of grace as a child of God. I said I was sorry she had forbidden me her cottage and also that she never came to church, whereby she was doing herself the greatest harm. In the meantime I would not be prevented from praying for her, even if she did not wish it. She remained a source of astonishment to the women gathered there, in that she said she did not need my own and others prayers as long as she could pray herself. And she had no intention of going to church, nor could she, she said, because I did not want to grant her Holy Communion. She cared nothing about anything, she said, because she knew better that she was going to heaven, because Christ had died for her and she believed in Him. She again used many impudent words, but saw no sin in that. I again read to her from James 1:26, If any man bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his heart, etc., and also from Matthew 12:37, by thy words thou shalt be condemned, etc. But she would not be convinced by anything.

A few hours later I spoke especially with the N. woman 14 and admonished her neither to deport herself like the N. woman nor give her any encouragement in her blasphemies, indiscreet remarks about her fellow man, false comfort, and empty hopes of salvation, otherwise she would be a party to alien sins15 and would be helping N. strengthen her blindness and malice. Rather, I said, she should experience for herself the valued and important effect of new birth and true change of heart, without which there is no hope of salvation. In that way she would be able to work profitably with her fellow man and her neighbor, to wit, the N. woman.

I now have four girls and two boys in preparation for Holy Communion, and I hope from my heart that the intended goal may be reached in them all. This time I am placing the psalms of David along with Luthers catechisms as the basis for the admonishments I give to these children two hours a week. The psalms give me an opportunity to repeat the basic truth of Christian doctrine as it is brought home to them on other occasions. What I am really looking to do, however, is to bring them to a true conversion and to lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ with the help of His spirit.

As I was taking a stroll through the tall stalks of corn, I found a girl who had come to the lesson for the first time today. She was on her knees, and her eyes and heart were raised to heaven. She surely had not seen me, much less been able to guess that I would come into this place in the field, which is most unusual for me. This sight brought my heart great joy, especially because I could see the good fruit of the admonitions I had given today, which, especially at the beginning of the lesson, aimed at teaching them to compose their hearts amidst sighs and prayers and to bring an eager soul along to Gods word, and thereafter throughout the day to ponder the expounded word of God heartily and also to find a little spot to pray to God concerning these things; then the preparation would achieve its desired effect. In this regard I catechized and applied the weighty expressions of the fifth psalm.

Thursday, the 12th of June. The N. woman is often full of astonishment at Gods inexpressible love, the fact that He sent His son to us sinners, and that He indeed has mercy on her. Her desire is for greater and greater hunger and thirst for His grace, which God is also giving to her to her great joy. In the afternoon after school I was planning to go out to visit one or two of the plantations, but I turned back because I thought I would be able to accomplish little in that short time. Therefore I visited Rottenberger and his wife in town and read them the passage from Isaiah 30:18, Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you. The husband liked this especially and caused me much pleasure. He also tried to present Gods love to his wife and to arouse her to accept with proper seriousness the grace which had been offered her once more. May the Lord bless their efforts!

Saturday, the 14th of June. A Christian donor gave me a 200 lb. barrel of flour, a barrel of biscuits or ships bread, a keg of butter, and a pound of tea and four coarse hats for our orphan house. May God richly compensate those gifts! I have posted the letters Pastor Riesch sent for forwarding to Philadelphia, but have received no written answer, just the assurance that they were correctly forwarded. They are addressed to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church society there, and concern a certain inheritance. I have not heard, however, that there is anything of that kind there; and therefore I do not know whether anything will be received from that inheritance. I am still keeping the copies of the letters here; and I intend to address them to Mr. Zwiffler, who is still there. I hope he will take the trouble, if possible, to get all or part of what is wanted.

Mr. Zwiffler has written me about the bad state of affairs in Pennsylvania, especially about the lack of righteous preachers. Nonetheless he has resolved to remain there until the end of his life, for he perceives that his medical practice is growing. He reports of Stephan Riedelsperger, who left our colony at this place some years ago, that he (namely, Riedelsperger) once wrote to him but had not indicated his place of residence or the date. However, Zwiffler concluded that he was living with his wife a hundred miles from Philadelphia. He did not indicate how he was faring. A German widow16 who moved there from Purysburg writes a note to me and Kieffer in Purysburg to say that she and her three orphans are having their troubles in Germantown (a city near Philadelphia, where for the most part Germans live). Nonetheless, she has bread, water, and healthy air. She has a house in Purysburg and would like to sell it, because she needs the money very badly.

Sunday, the 15th of June. Praise to God, who vouchsafes us not only to treat His holy word to the great edification of our own souls, but also to celebrate the Lords Holy Communion, which we held today with forty-five people. Amongst them were Kieffers family from Purysburg and the older Zuebli, who has been staying for some months with his brother at his plantation above Purysburg.17 Two families from Purysburg have asked if we would take their children into the school and board them in the orphanage. We will be happy to serve their wishes if they will only bear the costs of their maintenance. These childrens parents have the means to care for their own, hence they should burden the orphanage that much less.

Monday, the 16th of June. We are having a great deal of trouble with Ruprecht Zittrauer and his wife to rescue them from their extreme ignorance, but we are not succeeding as we wish. They cannot read and think they have no natural ability or time for it; and I am astounded that they have not learned even the most well-known little prayers. Eischberger is their neighbor; I visited his plantation today and summoned Ruprecht Zittrauer. He promised to come to this cottage every day with his wife and have Eischberger read him and her some short passages, prayers, and the words of the catechism for as long as it takes to get them firmly in their minds. In order for Eischberger to learn how to teach them to memorize their lessons simply, I myself undertook something with Zittrauer from the catechism and a short passage from the last sermon. I pronounced each single line for him until he comprehended it; and when he could also do the second and third, I would then always repeat the first. At this the mans courage has grown to the point that he is diligently applying himself to learn such necessary pieces, as he sees it is not impossible to learn something by and by.

I also told him, using the Eischberger woman and others as examples, how very profitable it would be on Sundays or at other times when Gods word was being preached if, on his way home from church with his companions, he would carefully repeat what he has heard, would have others explain the texts or some points from the lecture, and would heartily pray with his wife before and after the sermon. Because other very simple folk amongst us have done likewise, I said, they have, with divine blessing, come to such salutary awareness that I am often edified by them and their conversation. Eischberger practices the catechism diligently with his wife and follows the directions I have given him. He is much edified by the awareness of the schoolchildren when they are examined; and he remembers, in a way that impresses me greatly, the good that God has effected in his soul whenever the children make their confession of faith before the whole congregation and are publicly confirmed. Among other things, he used the following expression: he said he wished to be young and a child again for no other reason than that he might be instructed from Gods word for his salvation the same as our children are and might be prepared for Holy Communion, etc., etc.

Mr.18 Schmidt has planted a piece of land beyond Abercorn Creek, to which he took me in his boat to show me the blessing of the Lord there. I had to marvel as much as he over the height, strength, and copiousness of the corn stalks, and it is easy to recognize the difference between this and other good land. He is finding that everything one plants here will grow, and he has many different things growing here in the most beautiful condition, such as beans, rice, pumpkins, greens, and sweet potatoes. He is worried that the deer, which hide amidst the tall corn and cannot be hunted as much as formerly, will not leave much of the beans, vegetables, and sweet potatoes. He has to go there from time to time at night and chase them away; yet he and others thank God that they do nothing to the corn and rice, not even eating a single small leaf, while all domestic cattle like to eat both green and dry corn leaves and even dry rice straw in winter. The Lords solicitude is wonderful in deeds of kindness, protecting, testing, maintaining, taking and giving. Happy he who sees this and subjects himself to the wise and gracious rule of the Lord in everything. He will also say: The works of the Lords are great (in the realm of nature and grace), whosoever seeth them hath pleasure therein!

Tuesday, the 17th of June. I had hardly come home from the edification on the plantations when I had the pleasure of welcoming Mr. N. and two other good friends of his family.19 He had indicated in a letter last week a desire to see our place, and, since Sunday was near, he could not travel with me; hence my dear colleague fetched him here yesterday in our small boat. These dear friends were extremely pleased when they saw the fields around the city and especially when they looked in on the orphanage and its installations, as they gave us to understand with expressions praising God and wishing us many blessings.

Today was set aside for children and adults at the orphanage to praise God for all the good He has recently shown to our little institution from Europe, and, contrary to expectation, from nearby, even through the hand of our friend who was present. These dear friends attended this holy exercise at four oclock in the afternoon. We sang the hymn, Sey Lob und Ehr dem hchsten Gut, etc.; and, after we had called on the Lord to bless our intentions, I catechized the children about the few words: Now thank God who doeth great things in all ways, and showed in short the causes from all three articles of the Christian faith. These should inspire and move everyone, including the children and adults in the orphanage, to hearty laud and praise of the Lord. I dwelt especially on the last words, who doeth great things in all ways, because they served my particular purpose. Ah, the Lord does not forget us in this corner of the earth, rather he has quite clearly shown us from near and far the footpaths of His kindness and solicitude. To awaken the children and adults to praise of God and hearty intercession for our benefactors, we read to them the new benefactions listed in the last letters received from the worthy Professor Francke and Senior Urlsperger, which gave the names of the benefactors from Halle, Augsburg, Schleswig, Bremen, Nuremberg, and other places, who were inspired by God to dispense benefits to us.

And, because Mr. N. was on hand, I also made known to them his love for our congregation and orphanage, to wit, not only how he had produced all sorts of iron tools and clothing to pay the surveyor for the current fine plantations, but also how he had recently and now again supplied the orphanage with clothing and provisions. I also told how today, when he had seen our fire damage for himself, he promised 10 ь sterling for new construction. What was also quite impressive to me, and doubtless to others, was that even a child in Augsburg presented something to the orphanage from its savings box. How they should apply all these great things which the Lord has done for them not only stands in the text but is also made clear in other verses. For example, they should impel themselves to do penance and to come to the sweet Savior himself and therefore let themselves be put in a condition to be thankful to God and man and to pray right zealously for their benefactors, for whom otherwise they can do nothing in recompense. We did not forget to remind them what great spiritual things the Lord is doing for them, to which end the example of Eischberger, whom we mentioned yesterday, was cited for their consideration. Finally, we fell upon our knees and presented to the dear Lord in Christs name what we had heard, and both our own and all mens needs.

Wednesday, the 18th of June. Fairly early in the morning the dear Mr. N. rode with his friends to the Salzburgers plantations. As soon as we came to the very first one, he was gladdened by the beautiful crops standing there so green and in such profusion. He asked how long it had taken to clear the land; and, when he heard it had been done mostly this year, he was all the more astonished at the Salzburgers industry, since they had no field hands but worked alone. The sight of the beautiful fields gave him right great pleasure, for he took the trouble to go through practically all of them. He praised the dear Lord right heartily; and when he turned aside into the cottage where the woman served him milk to drink and a little fresh butter and bread, he prayed with his friends right heartily and powerfully before leaving for the good of our congregation.

We were happy that this worthy benefactor has seen our place for himself and that he has become more familiar with our circumstances. Now he and his friends will pray for us all the more zealously, for they pray very diligently in N., where we are not forgotten. Now, however, we will be remembered all the more, and we will be inspired all the more to think of them at our place. Finally we stopped at the Arnsdorf womans cottage, where we took such food as had been brought for us from the city. After the meal had been concluded with a hearty prayer by Mr. N., we went to the river, where the boat was already waiting for him. Here in the city he prayed also right heartily and named separately the worthy Mr. N. and N., for he has a great love and admiration for them. My dear colleague recounted for him the circumstances of the widow Helfenstein, especially that she needed a large cauldron for her work. He asked him, when he returned to N., to assist her in getting one, even if it were only an old one. Thereupon he promised to procure one from New England, whither he was thinking of going, if Mr. Bolzius would just remind him of it. May the dear Lord be inclined to reward the dear Mr. N. richly with all His love, to bless him spiritually and physically once more, to lead him down the proper paths, and to place him amidst great blessings!

Thursday, the 19th of June. There is surely nothing more gladdening to a minister than hearing and seeing that the word which he has preached in Gods name is blessed here and there. A certain woman was able to say, in truth and to the Lords glory, that He was merciful to her. This gladdened her and me. She complained only that her husband was making no progress, and this caused her great sorrow. Another woman complained of her great blindness and ignorance. She thought it would be better after Holy Communion, but then she saw more and more how simple she was. She said she had been that simple in everything from her youth on, and still was; and she did not think things were getting any better; but I told her that she should nonetheless worry only about the one main thing and be satisfied if she became better acquainted with it. I said otherwise she would just hold herself back and come to no real power; she should seek to thrust her way into the Lord Jesus, and not cease praising and thanking Him for what He is doing for her.

Friday, the 20th of June. With Gods help I arrived here this afternoon with the Salzburgers in a healthy state, and found everything, praise God! in good condition. This time the orphanage was not only presented with the already mentioned 10 ь Sterling for the construction of some needed outbuildings, but also with some soap and candles; and we two were given a few yards of black summer cloth by N. May the Lord make us thankful from our hearts for it. People in Savannah told me and the Salzburgers that at the evening prayer meeting on Thursday Mr. N. had made public mention of what he himself had seen here in the town, at the orphanage, and on the plantations, to the glory of God and to show his hearty joy. He told how he as well as the other friends on the trip down had been greatly pleased by the arrangement of our place and had recognized clear signs of divine blessing dwelling amongst us. May God be praised for that, and may He make us fit for praising His splendor.

Mr. N. is thinking again of traveling to Port Royal and Charleston this coming week. He told me he had already collected more money in America than in England for the orphanage to be erected in Savannah. He hopes to get even more blessings when he travels to New England in a little while. In Pennsylvania he has bought 5,000 acres of land for an institute for Negroes that cost him upwards of 700 ь sterling because all land there is very expensive. It lies rather distant from Philadelphia. The land is undeveloped, and he hopes to get such Negroes as have gotten their freedom (for whom he wants to establish a school) to work in the construction voluntarily, above all if they, as he has very good hopes, have been won by the gospel of Christ.

In Philadelphia he has had a letter printed, directed to the inhabitants of North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, in which he earnestly reproaches them for their irresponsible attitude towards the bodies and souls of these slaves and reveals to them the divine judgments which some have already experienced and some are waiting to experience, if there is no improvement.

I was received very kindly by Mr. Jones, who is serving us and our congregation in whatever way possible. He practically gave us several thousand nails for the intended orphanage construction and otherwise displayed clear witness to an upright good will. He assures me that General Oglethorpe, with whom he was for a short time, still shows constant good will towards us, and took it very ill that the recruiters from Purysburg had been so presumptuous here and in Savannah, as has been recently mentioned. I communicated to him the letter of 29th March of this year we received from Mr. Verelst, which answered my letter of 5th October of last year in the name of the Trustees. It says that, if Mr. Jones will certify to the Trustees that Mr. Causton used the linen I delivered to him from the merchant Mr. Schlatter in St. Gall for the best purposes of the colony, they should have no hesitancy to compensate the merchant properly.20 Mr. Jones has already sent a certificate with Captain Thomson and will write once again regarding it so that the good man will finally be paid.

The thievery of N., who is no Salzburger, I have made known to the magistrate, because I do not trust myself to take care of the matter here on account of other malicious acts of this man. He should be sent down there, but at my request that has been delayed until the harvest in his field is taken care of. Because he has not kept his promise of three years ago to the authorities to improve himself, but rather has gotten worse, I have requested that he simply be removed from us to another place. To be sure, I will be condemned once more by people who see the matter from one side only, but I really can proceed in no other way. I will do nothing further than lay the case and pertinent matters honestly before the authorities and suggest his removal, which is, in fact, a mild punishment and was recently his and his wifes expressed desire. We have to be very serious in the matter of thievery, because through it not only is ones innocent neighbor harmed and injured, but also the entire congregation is maligned, when it comes out that one cannot hold ones own property with assurance in Ebenezer.

Sunday, the 22nd of June. On this third Sunday after trinity the Lord has richly edified us from His holy word, on the occasion of the very splendid gospel of Luke 15. Just as He has given a great blessing to my heart as well as to those of my family, I do not doubt that still other souls have shared in the good that has flowed upon us from the loving heart of the Lord Jesus by means of the gospel, for I have found the listeners very attentive and eager for the words of life. My dear colleague has held divine services on the plantations, as happens on Sunday every two weeks, and likewise preached and catechized on the treasured gospel. In the evening prayer meeting we sang the hymn: Mein Heyland nimmt die Snder an, etc., and I was glad to see that the children and almost everyone in the congregation could sing it, although it has a difficult and musically intricate melody. It was very hot for a few hours today, nonetheless we had cool and refreshing breezes; and towards evening a thunderstorm came up which brought us a fruitful rain. The thunderstorm was soon past, as they have been quite weak and soon over this year.

Monday, the 23rd of June. As often as I come to the N. woman and her husband I steer the conversation to the main thing they still lack: the thorough recognition of the miserable condition of their still unchanged hearts. Even if they hear publicly the most impressive truths, nonetheless I still perceive that they have not grasped the principal matter and what is especially pertinent to their case, so that I have to direct them especially to it. I also visited N. and N. and found a great difference between their way of listening and that of the N.S. The N. womans eyes are being opened more and more, and she is coming to recognize better and better how merciful the Lord has been to her by bringing her here and rescuing her from the empty hopes she once had of being saved, and letting her see how much is involved in being saved. She has been fairly unfit and frivolous in her housekeeping, causing her husband much annoyance and both of them much inconvenience. Now, however, we are seeing how much an honest beginning in Christianity can influence ones secular existence. They are both content. I showed her how to come further and further into the grace that has begun, and this made her very happy.

The N. woman is never satisfied with herself and her Christianity and most sharply accuses herself of unfaithfulness, frivolity, and lack of recognition of herself and Christ, etc. She is also very downcast because of her many faults and because she does not find in herself all and every single of the characteristics of Gods righteous children. She had to see that her current state is really different from her former one and that a real change has come to pass in her. However, because she does not know the difference between novices or weak Christians and disciples and elders she constantly compares herself with perfect ones, she errs and depresses her courage. She also applies her recognized errors to anxiety and worry instead of turning as a burdened and fragile sinner to our loving Savior, who loves sinners so heartily, and sinking all her transgressions in the unfathomable sea of His blood of atonement. One must always watch that members of the congregation do not mistake justification for sanctification and do not build their comfort and joy upon their improvement and increase in faith, which is quite slippery ground and disadvantageous for the merits of Christ.

When she was still in Germany, God let her recognize that the would-be faith which she found in herself and others would not suffice for salvation. In her heart she was worried when she heard that people were hoping to die in blessedness through their own selfmade faith. However, because there were so many obstacles to true faith and penitence, she always had the notion that she would either have to depart with the third transport or not be saved; she would not have left the city for the sake of this temporal life but was concerned only with the salvation of her soul. Since she had heard several times here about conversion and change of the heart and about the new birth and its urgency and necessity, she had indeed considered this, she said; but by and by she had let her heart be misled to think it was not so necessary and not even possible. But now she has learned otherwise and does not doubt in the least that she must experience a new birth if she wishes to enter Gods kingdom; and, since she does not think she has experienced this, she is very worried about it.

Tuesday, the 24th of June. Our Salzburgers have a great and universal desire for a flour mill, for which divine providence has made some preparations both by means of the millstones we received and also the twelve pounds sterling presented by General Oglethorpe. All the people are willing to work two or three weeks gratis on it, but it depends on Koglers leaving his fieldwork and giving himself entirely over to his profession. He does not really have the desire for that, and he cannot work both jobs at once. For such an important construction project twelve pounds sterling does not go far, but Mr. Oglethorpe let me know clearly that the Trustees as the lords of the land would bear the costs, at least the largest part thereof. They would then get, for the maintenance of the mill and the people, a small measure from each bushel. A flour mill would be very convenient for the whole countryside, especially for the people in Savannah, Purysburg, and in this neighborhood, because otherwise they cannot use the lovely Indian corn half so well and must also lose a lot of time getting even a moderately fine grind on iron mills or small stone ones.

With a proper mill, however, we could make flour which would yield very little in quality to the white flour that is brought from the northern parts of America and sold dearly. Our people now have a lot of corn which is devoured by the worms; but, if they could make it into flour, they would soon be able to sell it. Other people buy nothing for their livestock, for they either raise no pigs here or let them run wild on their plantations; and, before the English would go to the trouble to grind corn as food, they would rather eat rice and give their servants the same, or spend their money for white flour. We would arrange it with our mill so that we could also stamp rice and prepare it for selling, and such a machine would especially please the Trustees. Today after the devotional hour on the plantations I encouraged the people again not to leave it at wishing and longing but to bring this important matter into their prayers. I also told them to discuss amongst themselves how to lighten Koglers housekeeping,21 since he would be the builder, and how he could always have a certain number of people from the congregation working on behalf of the remaining people. I urged them to begin building soon, not only for necessitys sake but also because I had learned in Savannah that Mr. Oglethorpe wishes to reconstruct the collapsed sawmill22 and is looking for a better place for it. Now we still have the choice of a suitable place in the river; if we let the time slip by, we will have to stand in line.

Mr. Jones complained to me in Savannah that the Trustees in England have quite a few enemies who, by means of all sorts of unfounded and only apparently valid complaints about Georgias infertility, wish to move Parliament to cease its yearly appropriations of money for the support of the colony. They say that all the costs would be lost and that all the inhabitants would never reach a condition of being able to earn their own livelihood. Because the opposite is now the case in our congregation, and because from our own experience we can be sure that the land has a natural, and to be sure not a meager, fertility, Mr. Jones, at the request of Mr. Oglethorpe, would like to keep me a few days in Savannah so that he could inform himself of special conditions in our congregation. If he will determine a particular day for me, I will happily go to his place. The last time I could not hold up our people who had brought me down, because of all their field work. I told him, however, that from time to time we transmit our diaries to Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen. If the Trustees would put up the cost of translating them, they could extract many items showing how useful the planting, cattle raising, and housekeeping were proving here with divine blessing. The Trustees have probably already learned from our letters what the Lord is doing among us, as I can tell from the conclusion of Mr. Verelsts letter of 29th March anni currentis: It is [a] great Pleasure to hear of the Salzburgers well doing, whom God has blessed with happy Fruits of their Labour.

Those of our people who understand agriculture find great advantages here in regard to the fertility and tilling of the land, hence they do not desire to go back to Germany even if they could have their own farm there. If they just had a mill they would plant European crops such as wheat and rye, etc., which produce a thousandfold here in this land, the ground being quite suitable for them. The fact that this country has received such a bad name comes probably, among other things, from the following: 1) the land was allotted to the colonists for planting according to a plan or sketch drawn up in England, hence most of them were supplied with very bad ground. They were not in a position to make it fertile with manure; and they either worked in vain or did no work from well-founded worry about working in vain, but rather applied themselves to other ways of making a living or left the region. If they had been allowed the freedom first to seek out the best land and earn their bread from it as we had always desired on our part and as was customary in other colonies, the poor land could have been used by and by, and the colony would have soon gained strength and a good reputation. In this way, however, provisions from the store house were given for a few years, but in the end the people were not capable of supporting themselves.

2) People were brought into the land who never held an axe or hoe in their hands in their entire life, much less did they bring the skill and strength and will to work the land. On the contrary they came here with the notion of living here comfortably and better, also doubtless of becoming richer and more prominent with less trouble than in Europe. Because the earth here too lies under the curse because of sin23 and bears thorns, thistles, and weeds, and because the inhabitants here also, according to Gods plan, must eat their bread in the sweat of their brow, that type of life does not suit most of the people in this country. Hence they apply themselves to trade or become lazy, wasting what they brought with them or was given them for assistance. Or some may take up a handicraft for a time which nonetheless brings in little, because each person must live with the barest necessities. They work as day laborers; and when they cannot get any further they leave, although they have good land, as I find around Savannah, in Abercorn, and in other places.

Some people bring a few servants along or get them here in this country. However, these sometimes understand as little about field work as their masters; or, because they long for their freedom and are kept badly in food, clothes and work, they make a lot of mischief, run away, or have to be forced to do their work, or only pretend to do it. If a person has to buy his own servants, he cannot succeed because the crops a servant can draw from the land in a year are not worth nearly the cost of keeping him. On account of the Negro slaves in the region, corn, beans, and rice are cheap. On the other hand meat, butter, clothing, and medicines, etc. are very expensive. Because of those conditions, if a man does not understand the work and if he and his family do not approach it very seriously and if he does not keep a very frugal house before gaining his strength, then he will not succeed. If he uses day laborers to work the fields or for other business, he cannot keep up long, for the daily wage is not in proportion to the work. For example, a man working in my field as a day laborer can produce at the most 4 pence for me, even when working diligently. But I have to pay him 18 pence in wages, which cannot be altered even though everyone clearly recognizes the sad consequences of that, as has been pointed out on occasion even to our people.

Our congregation has the advantage that people needing the help of others in their own work pay for it by exchanging services, so that, if the other person is ill or is building something or needs help on the boat, he pays him the days he owes him with work of all sorts. Otherwise, if the Salzburgers were to give daily wages in building their houses and cottages, they could not succeed. The incapacitated and ill get a lot of work done gratis by right minded people, or they get some assistance from the blessing God gives into our hands, which especially happens to the widows.

3) It causes great harm in the land when people on the plantations cannot choose neighbors with whom they get along but rather have to have the neighbors they are assigned. Hence a diligent worker gets a lazy neighbor, and as a consequence the diligent one gets no help building his fence; and, because all the trees and bushes in the neighborhood remain standing, not only does their shade hinder the growth of crops but also one cannot keep anything in the field on account of harmful vermin, wildcats,24 etc., not to mention that dwelling alone in the woods is unsafe, what with thieves, Indians, and other bad folk.

If our Salzburgers had not received the freedom to arrange their plantations, as happened through the pure, clear goodness and wisdom of God, so that the only ones who could get land were those who undertook to do industrious work, and so that they built one common fence around all the land and everyone had so much ground cleared on either side that everything was open to their neighbors land everywhere, then the shadows of the trees and all kinds of animals would do more harm than they do now, and we could not so quickly call the workers together in case of emergency as is necessary to promote good order and avoid misunderstanding.

Wednesday, the 25th of June. Because it has often come about that infants have had to be baptized soon after birth, and we cannot come to the plantations as quickly as necessary, I have to advise those persons whose delivery is near to come to town and lie in here, which is also necessary in order to care and better provide for them. Those women who have nowhere to go and have no one to attend to them except their husband, who has to perform his work on the plantation, shall have a little space and what care can be given in the orphanage or even in my house, as much as can be done in view of the daily meeting. Today or tomorrow the N. woman is coming here at my request and will stay with her sister, the Bischoff woman.25 These good people are too bashful to ask for such things or to ask our counsel. Therefore they are pleased when we offer them what is useful and wholesome for them.

I visited the N. woman, N.s neighbor, and clearly noted Gods grace working in her. Her husband was in the forest, and I could talk and pray only with her. I asked how the two of them said their prayers throughout the day and learned that they avail themselves of the Little Garden of Paradise26 and some short prayers they have learned by heart. She said her husband, however, had begun to declaim their need to the dear Lord in his own words, but it was not yet going well (at which she wept). Otherwise he came to us with her, very simple and ignorant; but she told me, to Gods glory, how everything was becoming clearer to them in Gods word, after they had been with Gods word for some years. The stories they hear from it are good guides for them for understanding beautiful verses and divine truths. I left with her the 37th and 73rd Psalms, which she was to read out loud to her husband, because they fit the recently heard story of Nabal quite beautifully.

N. is quite content with his wife in all the trials he is suffering; previously he was rather hard on her. Married couples and other kinds of people have been receiving many salutary teachings from the story in 1 Samuel 25; and they have gone through it point by point according to need and applied it to general and specific uses.

Pichler said he had learned how it was going with his father-in-law Kieffer from Purysburg concerning his land across from us in Carolina. He will probably lose it now, after doing much work, because it belongs to a Purysburg judge, and in his name to the London merchant Simons. He said he and his wife thanked God for putting into Mr. Oglethorpes heart the idea of not allowing him, for good cause which he now recognizes better than before, to accept 50 acres from his father-in-laws land along with his house lot in Ebenezer. He would have planted these 50 acres; on the other hand he had only wanted to have cattle in Ebenezer, so that he would have been spared building a fence there. He could remember the very words I reported to him from Mr. Oglethorpes mouth and wished that this dear benefactor might know how indebted he was to him for not accepting his request. For now he had settled down on his land, whereas his father-in-law was a poor man, despite all the famous Purysburg freedom. The law no longer held that women went empty-handed after their husbands death,27 which, he said, was often held up to him to incline him to the Carolina side. People in Carolina boast of many excellent liberties which, as will from time to time become clear, are often more harmful than useful.

I have not been in the outermost region of the plantations for several weeks. In the meantime everything which was hardly planted has grown so high and large that I cannot marvel enough at the blessing God has manifested in the field. The land is so rich and good that the people here do not need to hoe their corn or pile up earth at its base around the roots, as we had to do twice in Old Ebenezer. Rather they simply keep it free of grass and have hardly half the trouble.

Thursday, the 26th of June. I have written to Mr. Zwiffler in Philadelphia. In his letter he had complained about the deteriorated divine services and ministerial office in that place. This gave me the chance to inquire whether the Lutherans there were really serious in their intention of having one or more upstanding preachers and schoolmasters, etc. I also requested Mr. Zwiffler to ask about the letter from Lindau which I had sent to Philadelphia and what had been done about the legacy discussed in it.

Friday, the 27th of June. I had given a pious Austrian who is seriously concerned about the salvation of his soul the late Professor Franckes pithy explication of the sacerdotal prayer of Christ,28 for him to edify himself, his family, and his neighbors on the plantations. Today before the devotional hour he told me how much edification our good pious God is granting him. This man had been edified by the reports from India, especially by the missionaries letters; but the said book, as he himself said, had led him nearer his goal. On the plantations the good people must forego the daily refreshment in the evening prayer hour, hence we must give into their hands all sorts of good writings. And because the works of the late author are right clear and vigorous for them, we give them principally those because we have a large supply of them as separately printed sermons.

I learned that a snake had bitten a little German girl who had been with us in the school for some time. Her leg was tied off very tightly below the knee, and it was attempted to suck the poison out.29 She got thick swellings and blisters all over her leg, and is said to be out of danger now. From Mr. Thilo the father requested medicines, and from my dear colleague a plaster. We believe that it was not a so-called rattlesnake (which have little shells or rattles on their tails and are very poisonous), but rather some other less harmful one; otherwise, it would have cost her her life.30 This same man told me that once again several hundred Creek Indians from the mountains had marched to Mr. Oglethorpes camp, to be used there against the Spaniards. They would have come sooner if Mr. Oglethorpe had commissioned all the traders who deal with each town separately to send them down. However, because only one person was charged with this matter, he found opposition and jealousy until the error and misunderstanding were discovered.

Mr. Jones, who was in the camp for a few days, told me recently that, without losing a single man, Mr. Oglethorpe had seized not only two large herds of cattle but also an island lying between Augustine and Havanna,31 from which Fort Augustine received fresh provisions. He also said that they had advanced quite close to the fort, even though the Spaniards had been shooting out of it most violently day and night. At the time he had not more than twelve hundred men, to wit, about 600 regular English troops and about 400 people raised at the expense of the province of Carolina, along with 200 Indians. Also there are various warships in the area of St. Augustine that cut off all assistance, foodstuffs, and personnel for the fort.

Saturday, the 28th of June. As already mentioned, in our midday prayer meeting, after we sing, we are accustomed always to read one or more chapters from the New Testament. We also always repeat the main passage from last time, but today I read aloud to the men and women gathered there the notable example of a non-commissioned officer in Prussia, to whom Gods mercy became splendidly apparent for his conversion, as is found in the revised edition of the Building of Gods Kingdom,32 which the Lord had already blessed in me recently. May He bless it in others too according to His great mercy!

The Rheinlaender woman, who is midwife to the congregation, complains to me about various things pertaining to her office. She requires one thing and another with which I would gladly help, as necessity requires, if only the means were there. The good people of the congregation often think that we have more means in hand than there actually are for procuring this and that. This may stem from the fact that, for the glory of God and to encourage them to gratitude and Christian intercession, we often tell them that the dear Lord lets many quite magnificent gifts come from across the sea from the loving hands and hearts of our dear benefactors for the good of the orphanage and for the poor in the congregation. They do not consider the many expenses, however, and the fact that the gifts, which amount to a lot in German money, do not go as far in this land as they would there, and indeed most of these loving gifts come from German lands. For example, when we are presented 40 florins, that is about 4 ь 8 sh., which is soon spent, since here in this country everything must be paid in shillings and pounds. We must simply wait and hope in faith. One thing after the other will come, and the things we lack, when they are supplied us again through the paternal solicitude of God, will redound to our great joy and the glory of God, as has often happened. And even if, trusting in God, we must incur a few debts (which, however, we are now seeking to guard against), our worthy benefactors will not hold them against us in view of these and other circumstances they read of in our letters and diaries.

Mr. N.,33 who now knows from experience how much the directing and provisioning of an orphanage cost, asked me recently how many debts we had at our orphanage. Not counting the timber we had prepared for erecting the buildings to replace the ones burned away, they came to 32 ь and a few shillings. I delivered it to him in written form, as a reminder. We will wait amidst prayer and faith in God to see whether the dear Lord will bestow anything on him for the payment of these debts. It is hoped that the Trustees will donate to the orphanage what we had to take previously from the storehouse at Savannah in the way of foodstuffs and a few clothes. For urgent reasons the orphanage also bears the provisioning of the herdsmen, who cost a great deal in clothes and other incidental things.

Sunday, the 29th of June. Today after the divine service I discussed N.s34 thievery and vexation publicly and indicated to the congregation that the authorities in Savannah wish to punish his wickedness, as I had made known to him last week. At the same time I let it be known that, if he wished it and if he requested it, his wicked affair could still be taken care of amongst ourselves. Because he now prefers being punished here rather than in Savannah, he has been sentenced, now and before the winter, to clear the towns streets and public market place of bushes and weeds from now until winter. Although they are cut out and partially uprooted every year, we have not been able to eradicate them to the point that a great mass of bushes and weeds will not grow back, whereby the growth of good grass is hindered. If we let it grow freely for two years, it would soon look as wild in the town as it does in Purysburg, from which much harm arises. On this occasion adults and children were given many good admonitions. God pity N. and his wife; and may He let his punishment serve that for which it is imposed upon him, to wit, that he learn to feel his sins, quail before Gods wrath, and become converted to God in a righteous manner.35

Monday, the 30th of June. For the last several days we have had quite cool pleasant weather both mornings and nights, and even cool and refreshing air during the day, as if we were in springtime or fall. Since we have been in this country now for some years, the summer does not strike us as particularly burdensome. Rather it seems to us that our climate has a great advantage over what we were accustomed to.

This afternoon my spirits were rather downcast, but they became somewhat easier and lighter in the evening prayer meeting; and, after the prayer meeting, they became fully cheered through an edifying conversation with a man who called on me. To the praise of God he recounted how much good the Lord had done him through yesterdays sermon; and at the same time he opened me to the whole state of his soul, which was very impressive to me. He prays very earnestly for himself and others, hence he increases well in the grace he receives, he recognizes better and better his former impurities, he esteems the good in other faithful people and edifies himself from it, and he considers Christ and His cherished redemption to be his own treasure and most cherished jewel.

Prior to noon a woman told how our loving God had strongly assured her during the afternoon divine service of His grace on the first feastday of Pentecost. She said the peace of God had spread so splendidly in her poor bowed heart that her good spirits went beyond all bounds. She would not have wished to take the whole world and all its treasures for one little drop of this divine comfort. Nonetheless, this sweet feeling did not last long; barren, sad hours soon intruded. I recited to her the little verse, For we walk in faith, not in sight, etc. and Let His word be thee assuring, whether thy heart be demurring, etc. She also desired to know the meaning of a few words in several verses, which I told her. I calmed her complaints about her laxity, for which such great chastisement is set in Jeremiah 48:10 and John 3:16; for I know, and her bitter laments, tears, and struggles bear witness enough, that it is not a laxity that completely rules her but rather a laxity that clings to all the faithful, and I direct her to go with it from Moses and all legalistic ideas to Christ and His fountain of salvation.

JULY

Tuesday, the 1st of July. A week ago at the gathering on the plantations I recommended most emphatically that the construction of the mill should begin; and, to make things easier, I made one of two suggestions. I learned thereupon from a Salzburger that the carpenter Kogler, who really understands such construction, declared to others that it was a hindrance that the workers wages had not been firmly set. He said he could not manage others properly at the construction unless a specific wage was agreed upon and promised. This gave me another opportunity, at the end of the devotional hour, to make public mention of the building of the mill, for which the entire congregation has a very great longing. I reminded them of what I had told them of the reconstruction of the saw mill in Old Ebenezer, and therefore I wished them to anticipate it by seeking out a suitable place on Abercorn Creek. I said that, since their plantations lay around this river, this was probably allowed them. Otherwise, if strangers were to place a mill in this river in the name of the Trustees, great harm and inconvenience would stem from their going back and forth, dragging wood, and cutting boards, etc. Since I now heard that the undetermined wage was still holding up construction, I reminded them

1. That I wanted them diligently to consider what I had carefully told them in a special prayer meeting, when we were encouraging one another to thank God for the bell, iron work, and money we had received for building the church, to wit, that it was fair and Christian for men of the congregation to work at building the church with just as loving and charitable hearts as those from which we got these contributions. Other people unknown to us were contributing so lovingly and beneficently to this construction that it would be absurd and unchristian for our workers to seek high wages and profits. Things stood the same way with the building of the mill. What they were building here was not for other people but for themselves and the congregation, hence they could not request such a wage as they heard others in this country were requesting and getting. If they were to agree to accept a fair wage, we would get further with what God has bestowed to this end. Even if we could not pay them right on the spot, I would make note of who was working, in the faithful hope (in which I had never yet come to grief) of paying everything by and by, so that their work would not be done vainly and unrewarded. I said they might also consider the Saviors words from the recent Gospel, Luke 6, Give and it shall be given unto you, etc. If they applied the gifts God was granting them for His glory and service to their fellow-man, without selfishness and profit-seeking, God would know how to compensate them for it.

2. Concerning the wage given till now, however, I would ask them to understand me well this time, and weigh the following points well: I need not reveal my disposition towards them, which was shaped by God, for I believed them to be convinced that I had sought only so far what was best for them (in a material way, too). Therefore, if it were within my power to give them the old wage or even more, I would do it heartily and joyfully; but I had to tell them not only that I was in debt at the orphanage but also that I would go deeper if they intended to continue demanding the old wage in the present construction in the congregation, and especially in the orphanage. I said the orphanage was an institution erected for the spiritual and physical good of the congregation. Accordingly, whatever work they did for its fields and buildings, they were doing for themselves, indeed for God, who, if they did it in faith, would reward them richly enough. I said I trusted the dear Lord to help me again out of the debts I had made because of necessity and would guard me from making new ones. It was my intention, I said, to go no further than the Lord showed me the way.

I pointed out that they themselves should know that the disproportion between wages and work is the ruin of this country. To be sure, the daily wage earner or worker received a lot, but the employer was soon ruined, and this was unjustified throughout the entire world.1 I cited various miserable consequences of these unfair wages, with which they were all quite familiar. For example, because they see white servants from overseas doing nothing well, and because they cannot get along with day laborers, the people in Savannah are beginning to want black slaves as is customary in other colonies, etc. Even if they heard that such wages were being given in other places in the country, they should consider 1) the work done here is being done for the congregation, hence for themselves (as I had reminded them already); 2) that there is a great difference between elsewhere and here, where one can maintain ones household and hear the preaching of Gods word. Also, they were expected to help at the construction only when they can most easily leave their own work and thereby earn something in between. In addition they are at liberty to return to their own business if they wish.

3. I said it was well to keep in mind that we were getting benefactions mostly from Germany for expenses in the congregation and orphanage. Even if considerable sums were sent over, we would still not get far, as it appears, unless we got field and construction work done cheaply in the German manner. If the orphanage were gradually freed of debts through their Christian fairness and assistance, and if God bestowed any supply of money, we would be able more often to give them some earnings. It also holds true here: a small profit often is better than a large one seldom.

With cash we could also have Christian and conscientious people in England, Charlestown, New York, and Pennsylvania buy rough linen, shoes (or leather for them), flour, and other needed items, which could be turned over to the workers at their first price, instead of money payment, in order to decrease the high wages which are the ruination of this country, hence of our place and of posterity. I also did not forget to place the following verse in their consciences: Look not every man on his own things, but, etc.

Wednesday, the 2nd of July. Schweigers little child died of epilepsy2 this afternoon. The mother had it some years ago. She had it more strongly than usual after her confinement, hence it is no wonder the child had similar attacks. They were resolved to bring it up without mothers milk; but, since it had been at the breast more than once, it got unwholesome milk, and so the good idea and resolution were too late. God help the mother, who is in a miserable condition.

Three years ago the Salzburgers planted all sorts of peach trees, a good part of which are bearing fruit this year. Amongst them is an early type we did not expect. They are as delicate as apricots in Germany, quite yellow, very soft and full of pleasant juice; but they rot more quickly than others. They have already been ripe for ten or twelve days, although they bloomed later than the usual peaches. Since they bloom late and escape the night frost at the beginning of March, we can expect a decent crop from these trees. The usual peaches, which can or cannot be separated from the stones,3 are still quite green on the trees and look very small. The other kind also separates from the stone, but it is quite large and has much more pulp around it.

Some time ago Mr. Thilo decided to bleed the people in the congregation himself. The provisions he got for his livelihood out of the storehouse from the Trustees are, to be sure, good and abundant; but now that he is married and his family is increased, they do not reach as far as his household might require. Hence I would be glad if he applied himself to the blood-letting, for which the people of the congregation bring him a lot of things such as fresh butter, eggs, chickens, etc., which they have in their households. In the meantime I will take the opportunity to say some good things about Mr. Thilos growing family to Mr. Oglethorpe. It is only too bad that we cannot get anything done with letters and it may be a long time before he is finished with the Spaniards and returns!

Thursday, the 3rd of July. A thunderstorm came up this afternoon, which we could hear quite loudly from rather far off. On the plantations it rained heavily, yet hardly any drops fell in the town. The rain this year is rather scanty, nonetheless the fields have gotten enough for the crops to be able to keep growing. We know of no long-lasting thunderstorms this summer.

Sanftleben has had sores on his feet for some months. Whenever one sore heals another breaks out, and this has been going on till now. I was glad to hear he was content with this cross which keeps him quite out of his work in the fields and always makes him lie or at best sit in bed. In the late Arndts book on True Christianity he is finding directions for profiting from this cross. I was able to read and talk about many different edifying things with him and the widow Arnsdorf, who serves him as well as her children and looks after his housekeeping. I also reminded the children of their duties. We concluded with a heartfelt and humble prayer. N. is working here with his wife. He has come to an understanding about the punishment decreed upon him but has asked for a weeks grace, during which time he hopes to be finished with his own work.

Friday, the 4th of July. I visited Lackner and his wife on their plantation and found them both with Gods physical and spiritual blessing, which they relish contentedly and full of the praise of God. Especially he extolled the goodness of the Lord which had shown itself miraculously over him and his countrymen back in their fatherland. For the sake of religion he has come into all sorts of danger. For example, he and those like him were shot at as rebels, put in a pen, and threatened with being burned in it; and, when they could not be brought to deny the truth by those means, they were put on a boat with the threat of being sent out on the water without rudder or oars and being left to float, where they (all the more as they had no foodstuffs) would come to a bad end.4 To strike terror into the others, some of the group were tied up very roughly (he was one of those) and dragged through mud and muck. He was also hit on the head, and he still has a scar from it on his forehead, which he showed me and which made a very great impression on me.

I reminded him of the story of the children of Israel who were led from Egypt and said that more than once God had caused Moses to give them good reminders of what the Lord had done for them and to rouse them to a heartfelt gratitude for the miraculous escape they had experienced, and all sorts of benefactions. I also told him what I had recently heard from a woman who had compared the benefactions the dear God had bestowed on the ancient Hebrews and our present Salzburgers. She found to her great joy and the glory of God that we had advantages over the Hebrews in various matters, as Lackner also recognized.

N.N., whom I had really come out to visit, dwells next door. Since it happened that neither of us had come out to them for some time, the couple was sad and thought we must be dissatisfied with them. Because his and his wifes spirit were very eager for Gods word and prayer, I had a right great pleasure here. They still find themselves so incomplete and meager in their Christianity that I disclosed to them as best I could the obstacles I still recognized in them and gave them instructions for forming for themselves a good foundation and for properly building upon the foundation they had formed. The woman has a burdensome condition in her body, which she puts to advantage according to Gods will and purpose.5 May God let everything spoken and prayed here have many blessings, for Christs sake!

Saturday, the 5th of July. Kogler advised me that this coming week he was planning to begin construction at the orphanage with eight or ten men; and, as soon as that is over, he will get to the construction of the mill, which is indeed very pleasing to us all. I learned from him that my proposal last Tuesday regarding wages had impressed the people and had therefore had a good effect. It is too bad the people on the plantations have to stand guard over their beans during the night, otherwise they are eaten by deer. Hence not everyone who would like to can help with the construction of the orphanage and the mill. Nonetheless, they will do what they can for the latter; for everyone is happy that there is hope for a flour mill.

The hand mill in the city, whose gear and drive shaft were quite worn out, has been repaired by Kogler and Rottenberg; indeed, because they corrected a mistake, it is now better to use than it was at the beginning. What a pleasure it is for us when the people work with willing and unselfish hearts. If God puts us in a position to reward the men who are performing so many good services in the congregation, it will give us right good pleasure.

A woman accompanied me on my way home, seeking an opportunity to speak in private about something concerning some quite raw winds of despair, which she had sensed in her conscience for some days because of a breach of faith in a material matter, as it seemed to her. She said she had prayed and sought instruction and comfort in the Scripture, especially Isaiah 55; but she had found no rest until she disclosed her worries to her husband, who was quite content with her conduct and instilled her with courage. Nonetheless, she recognized that such unease of heart and conscience had been very useful to her. Another person who did just this would probably have had no scruples but would have considered it a good deed; but she finds and feels in her conscience the tiniest flecks of impurity. However, because, through her ignorance and weakness, she causes herself to get into a legalistic fright and terror,6 I admonished her not to make a sin out of something that is not a sin, but to hasten in humility and faithful confidence to the throne of grace placed before us by the Father in the redeeming blood of Christ as soon as she perceived any transgressions.

Just as the Israelites used their Old Testament intercessor, Moses, so well when they had sinned and brought upon themselves the displeasure and chastisement of God, we too should even more have our merciful, great High Priest in Christ, the intercessor between God and man, who was constantly faced with temptation. Even good spirits sometimes set the repose of their conscience and the peace of their hearts, even if unnoticed, upon their righteous life and honest piety; yet even after justification the sinner should always live in the unmerited grace of Jesus Christ and the blood of His atonement, as in his element, for then the foundations of his repose would not waver. It is a precious thing for the heart to become firm, and this occurs through grace and not through divine service and things like that. In the meantime I learned from the woman how carefully the Lord had been teaching her and her husband to proceed with secular matters pertaining to the household, so that nothing would be applied for the wrong ends.

Sunday, the 6th of July. The N. woman7 was once again today in church, although she had made up her mind and even told me in a quite bold manner that she had no desire to come to church to a pastor like me, who had no desire to let her come to Holy Communion. She said she had enough good books to read.

N. was home for a few days but I did not see him any more. He is probably doing some outside work somewhere else. What will become of such disdainers of Gods word, we will have to wait and see. Gods word itself, which they are disdaining, prophesizes no good for them, of which we have indeed had serious examples amongst ourselves. The story we are now contemplating (1 Samuel 27) tells that David, from fear of Saul, went at the promptings of his own heart to live among the heathens, the Philistines. It teaches us into what difficulties a man can plunge if he seeks to escape the cross and abandons his profession for the sake of rest and gratification of the flesh and surrenders himself to worldly people. For David came into more danger to body and soul than ever before. See Chapters 27, 29, and 30.

Monday, the 7th of July. I found Ruprecht Zittrauer on his plantation in bed. He got up as well as he could, however, to tell me what he had learned through the arrangements he had recently made with his neighbor Eischberger: it was the prayers for grace, which he could recite in a quite clear and orderly manner (excepting one). To this end he promised to keep going to him, along with his wife. He could also recount to me the contents of the gospels, about which he had heard something preached yesterday on the plantations. This gladdened me greatly, for otherwise he had been not only ignorant but also lazy and inattentive. Necessity is driving them both to work diligently, and I admonished them to be diligent in spiritual matters so that they will be converted to Christ.

Bruckner and his wife are also sickly; and, because the dear Lord is meanwhile working on their souls (and is accomplishing something good), I admonished them to recognize bodily infirmity as well as poverty as a benefaction from God, and to let the wholesome intended purpose be attained in themselves. I told them various things for their information and comfort about the trials which had befallen Peter and his companions, according to yesterdays gospel (Luke 5, 1 ff.). I cited for them the splendid verse in Hebrews 10: Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath, etc. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, etc. The three sermons of Pastor Schubart, which I presented to him some time previously, are giving them much edification.

Hans Schmidt had come to town tonight to cut boards for the approaching construction on the orphanage. He came to me shortly before the prayer meeting, and what he said to me was very edifying. The dear Lord is using the contemplations of the late Professor Francke on Christs sacerdotal prayer,8 which I had given to him, to good effect in his soul, and he is also using them for the spiritual growth of his family and others. He often thinks about his serious illness of two years ago when he was attacked in body and mind and could so taste the fruits of his sins that he will not forget it to his dying day. He thanks God heartily for all His guidance, for all His chastisements, and especially for bringing him to peace and to the gospel and working on him so faithfully.

Tuesday, the 8th of July. The Schweighofer woman is somewhat ill; and, as she has been longing for some time, if God wills it, for a blessed death and ascension, her longing is increasing the more the love of Christ is increasing in her heart, a love which quite manifests itself in her. From her words and entire demeanor today I learned impressively the meaning of the verse: Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching for unto those things, etc. Her heart is set upon no other temporal but otherwise permitted things, she is to them as if she were dead; her mind on the other hand is set on eternity. At the same time, because of the corruption moving in her, she stands in such poverty of spirit that we vividly recognize in her the verse: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, etc. She is in the realm of grace, it nourishes her in all difficult inner struggles, she has justification, peace, and joy; she is gladdened and has already the blessedness which the true Savior promises to all those who are poor in spirit. I could hardly begin to say anything of inner Christianity and how the Savior leads His children according to scripture and experience, before she brought forth the most splendid things from her hearts treasury, in very great humility and recognition of her unworthiness, so that I was very much edified by it.

She often thinks abut her previous self-deception when she thought herself better than she really was. She said God had borne her for so long until He brought her to recognize the path to blessedness and to the experience of penitence and faith. She now knew the difference between nature and grace, between a self-made faith and Christianity, and how to bear magnificent witness to the truth of it. She thanks the Lord often for bringing her into the state of matrimony with her late husband, who not only had been Lutheran but had also understood Gods word better than she. She said that, after God, it was through him that she had been rescued from the darkness of Popery and had been led to this place upon the green pastures of His word.9 May the Lord long preserve the life of this precious soul and right faithful woman of prayer, who, as it were, carries the whole world upon her heart, especially for the good of our orphanage. Nonetheless -- everything according to His will!

Wednesday, the 9th of July. N.N. and his young wife10 are leading a Christian and contented state of matrimony. He himself shows great seriousness about saving his soul. And, because he is aware of some but not the correct seriousness in her, he keeps on with requests and admonitions not to be satisfied with one thing and another but rather to grasp Christianity as it is commanded of us in the Bible. They told me their wedding motto: And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth, etc. This gave me the opportunity to repeat something from yesterdays prayer meeting, where we perceived what harm is caused when true Christians form friendships with the world, as David did with the Philistine king Aschish, whereupon we took note of the verse James 4:4. They have arranged their husbandry so well that (as they themselves recognize, to Gods glory), they are not only eating sufficiently but indeed quite well, and have no lack at all. The husband assures me that, even with the hardest trials of the previous time, a regret has never entered his mind about coming to America. The wife has her parents in Frederica,11 and she sheds many tears on their account, because she worries that they are in a poor state of body and soul. No one knows why they have not answered the letter sent to them recently.

Thursday, the 10th of July. I visited the sick Gruber, whose wife brought me Arndts book on True Christianity and requested me to read something from it to her and her husband. She said she especially likes this book because the dear Lord had first blessed it in her so that she came to a true awareness. She turned to her sick husbands bed and said: Dear Peter, it is good being ill here because we are near the gospel. In Salzburg, it was quite otherwise. At that she told of being dangerously ill once but said she knew and felt only the least discomfort, since she had prayed much and often to God to let her die soon and secretly, so that no Papist cleric would be fetched for her. She wished, she said, to hear and see nothing of that kind of person. She said God had accomplished the good work in her and had presented her with an inexpressible rapture in praying to Him as often as she could tear herself away from her work. She had then demonstrated to her Lord most movingly her need and desire to emigrate and had gotten the notion of emigrating alone if no one wished to accompany her. She had always felt in her heart: Either you must emigrate or you cannot be saved. She said God had now presented her from His word such grace and assurance of blessedness that no enemy could snatch it away. She would rather die, she said, than move away from here where God had shown such grace from His holy word, although she herself could not read.

The Lord has worked very powerfully on N. till now, and grace is manifesting itself quite splendidly in his current illness. As long as we have known him, he has been considered a good Christian and has practiced all the good things very precisely, and has caused many external virtues to be seen in himself. But he had lacked a true conversion, which he came gradually to recognzie; and through Gods grace he has learned better to understand the corruption of his heart, which has been covered with pure, good outward appearances. In such examples I have a living commentary on the Saviors words: Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, etc.

When I first began my duties I could not reconcile myself to perceiving in the Salzburgers so much good, so many external Christian virtues, and a great difference between them and the way of the world, while they could tell me nothing of experiencing a true penitence and change of heart. I thought mayhap they could not express themselves and could not give in words what they had experienced of the order of salvation, hence I was not happy in doubting the truth of their Christianity. But the dear Lord gradually revealed to us in various souls that they really lacked a firm foundation, and afterwards they caused themselves to be brought to penitence. On the other hand others, who do not have nearly as much good in themselves as many Salzburgers before their conversion, hold themselves to be pious, and we can accomplish nothing with them either publicly or privately.

Friday, the 11th of July. Herzog is very wasted by quartan fever, which he has had for some time; and after it left him he was almost more miserable than before. I found him lying in bed and gave him all kinds of admonitions salutary to body and soul on the verse: Cast not away therefore your confidence, which, etc. For ye have need of patience, etc. He said he had not had a more beautiful night than the one just past. For, since he had been unable to work the previous day, he was worried he would have to spend the night sleepless. But the Kalcher woman came to him in the evening and read aloud the glorious hymn: . Gott, den ich als Liebe kenne, etc., and said many edifying things too, whereupon he soon fell asleep. And, because it seemed to him that in his sleep he saw the Lord Jesus by him in great friendship, the entire night passed quickly for him. I availed myself of this to arouse his mind, which has been rather moody until now, to a sweet trust in the Lord Jesus; and besides the foregoing things, I said to him a few times in this verse also: Look unto me, and be saved, etc. I reminded him of the brazen serpent and said that, through the merciful dispensation of God, everyone was called upon to creep to it with his wounds and become sound. He could not comprehend that Jesus blessed sinners even greater than he (Herzog) was, for he said weeping: I am surely the greatest sinner. I told him something of Manasseh and what the Lord did in him, to wit, that the Lord Jesus saves not the minor sinners (who consider their sins small and unimportant) but rather the hamartolas, the right gross sinners: I said none was too big for Him.

Saturday, the 12th of July. This year the raccoons, a kind of wild cat, are said to be doing great harm once more in the corn by pulling the young ears or cobs down to the ground with the stalks and, because they find few grains of corn, they reach out all the further. Every crop has its enemy. The corn has the raccoons at the planting as well as at the harvest; the beans, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes have the deer, and the rice has the birds which many a year settle on the stalks like a cloud. We would have to call out here too: Cast not away your confidence, etc. Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, etc.

Sunday, the 13th of July. Once again today the dear Lord has given us much edification from His holy word; and, since temptation and the unpleasant report which arrived today concerning the war with the Spaniards teach us to take note of the word, everything said to us from Gods word makes all the greater an impression. Because of the rainy weather fewer came to the repetition hour than usual, hence only a little was repeated about the gospel for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, and after that everyone kneeled and prayed. We are planning to get together for prayer more often during the week, in addition to the evening prayer meeting, so that we may communally present the plight of the country to our Almighty God and Father reconciled through Christs blood. The 124th Psalm impresses me greatly; I read it before the prayer today to those gathered there.

Monday, the 14th of July. In the current circumstances of war we are most troubled because of the black slaves in Carolina, who only recently in Santy,12 a city beyond Charlestown, would have stormed the church on Sunday and slaughtered the people there, had they not been betrayed by two Negroes. The whole country is overloaded with these black folk, and many a planter in Charlestown has some hundreds of such slaves, and not even one white or European for an overseer. Rather the Negroes born in this country, if they are considered loyal, are placed over the others as drivers. I was told that, because many whites had gone to war from Carolina against the Spaniards, the masters themselves in Charlestown are moving to New York or Pennsylvania from fear of their slaves. This will, of course, become known to the Negroes, who are very sly and suspicious. To be sure, for some time no more Negroes have been allowed to be brought to Carolina, but there are already some thirty thousands in the country. They are all, very few excepted, treated very harshly and barbarously, which will lead to troubling consequences, if the Lord does not hold back His judgments. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Tuesday, the 15th of July. Mr. Jones, whom I visited in Savannah, read me two letters from General Oglethorpe, dated the 30th of June. One was to him and the other to the Presbyterian preacher in Darien, Mr. MacClayd.13 In the first, Mr. Oglethorpe reported to Mr. Jones that some 20 men, Scots and Indians, had gotten into an empty fort against his orders and were attacked by the Spanish in a great fury. Several were killed, and five or six were led to St. Augustine as prisoners. They had orders to stay in the open field near this same fort so that, if the Spanish became too powerful for them, they could save themselves in quick flight.14

In the second letter Mr. Oglethorpe reported to the above-mentioned preacher that a number of his parishioners had given their lives for their king and country. He had made arrangements to bury them in military fashion, but still did not know all their names. In the meantime he was letting the widows in Darien know that he would write to the Trustees requesting them to give each widow two manservants and a serving girl free and supplied with provisions, to offset in some measure the loss of their husbands and to console them in their widowhood.

In like manner an officer also wrote that Mr. Oglethorpe had written to the governor in St. Augustine immediately upon the report of some of his people being taken prisoner. Mr. Oglethorpe indicated that, if the prisoners were treated badly, he would take reprisals and would have the captured Spaniards hanged before St. Augustine. But one of the prisoners immediately wrote to Mr. Oglethorpe reporting that the governor was treating them quite kindly, having them dine at his table daily, and that they all, except one who was badly wounded, were doing well.

Mr. Oglethorpe is not as near to St. Augustine as was previously told. Rather he took position behind a hill and had some bombs thrown into the city, and in addition a warship is said to have begun firing on the fortress, at which the Spaniards are said to be in great fear. The Indians who came to Mr. Oglethorpes aid have scattered throughout the entire countryside, observing the movements of the Spanish Indians so that there need be no worry about their excursions.

A Salzburger, who is a good weaver, is supposed to be used to Mr. N. to produce cotton material, and this time he got as many hand-tools as he could carry on the boat. A few people spin cotton at our place, and he hopes therefore shortly to produce a piece of rough and a piece of smooth material. Perhaps that is a beginning to preparing linen amongst us by and by. I will take the trouble to get some hemp and flax seeds, because many of the Salzburgers are willing, and have the land, to sow much flax and hemp.

Thursday, the 17th of July. N. cannot recover. Whenever a sore on his breast, back, or shoulder heals, others open up nearby. Whenever it appears that everything is becoming healed, he gets that many more pains in his arms and legs. He recognizes how he sinned in his previous life and that he has thus deserved not only this punishment but also hell and eternal death. He knows that God has a very salutary purpose with this wearisome illness, which He is attaining better and better in him. He regrets terribly not having thanked God sufficiently for sound physical strength, now he knows that he should treasure good health as a valued benefaction, since he has had to do without it for so long. N. and his wife are becoming more and more righteous and are using the means of salvation very earnestly. I found the wife at home and was able to discuss much with her that was pertinent to her situation. She is learning better and better to see how corrupt man is, and how difficult it remains to break through obstacles and to come to Christ. She has a five-year-old girl who gladdened me when she recited the whole 23rd Psalm and a few other small prayers, and also knew how to say grace quite clearly and properly when she wanted to eat breakfast.

Friday, the 18th of July. Gods wisdom has so ordained that we are observing now in succession such Biblical stories as pertain to the current war unrest, and we are getting many wholesome admonitions from them. In the prayer meeting today we are making use of the situation related in 1 Samuel 28, when the Philistines penetrated as far as the tribe of Isashar with their army, although the tribes of Judah, Dan, and Benjamin were nearer. The people of the tribe of Isashar thought themselves quite safe, as nowadays those persons are wont to who are most distant from the enemy; hence many retire farther north from this country and out of Carolina to gain safety. But the Lords hand can find sinners who are ripe for judgment anywhere, and therefore it is that much more serious a sin if a person feels safe from the onslaught of the enemy by reason of distance, or wishes to win safety through an unbelieving withdrawal. Believers, on the other hand, have their King with them everywhere; and, because His chief characteristic is to rule amidst His enemies, He will know how to protect us if we humble ourselves beneath His scepter, even if we were to be surrounded everywhere by enemies, especially if we can comfort ourselves with the zealous prayer of not just one but of many Samuels and servants of the Lord, whom our true God has left alive till now. I reminded the listeners once more of what Professor Francke had mentioned in his letter some time ago about a few pious people in Cr., to wit, how our miraculous God had known how to preserve and protect this little band in all the misfortunes of war so that they were able to stay together tranquilly.

Saturday, the 19th of July. Last year we had already wished to have a threshing floor and hayloft built for the orphanage, because we knew no place to store the crop. But many obstacles have intervened; especially our lack of means to carry out the construction. Because meanwhile the pen for the cattle and pigs burned down some months ago, necessity has not only demanded a new construction, but has compelled us to arrange the construction so that it can serve many purposes. To wit, a building is being erected which is 36 feet long and just as wide. In the middle goes a dividing wall the length of the room, which separates the cattle stall from the pig and poultry pens, which are also separated from one another. Above, the attic will be floored in the middle with well-nailed lumber five inches thick and boarded along the sides and arranged so that we have the threshing floor in the middle and storage bins on both sides, as it were, to store crops and feed for the cattle. Eight men worked on it this week, and to everyones astonishment they got quite far with it. I am pleased that the lesser wage has not decreased their industriousness; rather they are working as loyally and eagerly as before.

At the beginning of the week, when I was in Savannah, my dear colleague in two prayer meetings passed along something of the edifying report of Gods splendid work in New England which has been translated into German through the care of Abbott Steinmetz. Because everything in it, even what is in the beautiful preface, suits our congregation so extremely well, I started gradually going through the entire report today in the house prayer meetings for the purpose of communal edification. May God lay His blessing on it!

Today I received a letter from England, which had been enclosed in a letter to a Jew in Savannah. It comes from one N., who supposedly is the son of one Colonel N. in S.15 The thrust of the entire letter was to persuade me and the Salzburgers to petition the Trustees for permission to keep black slaves, because the Trustees are supposed to be almost inclined to it by now. It would not turn out well, he wrote, and it would even be harmful to us if there were Negroes in Savannah and Purysburg but not in Ebenezer. The writer claimed it was not possible to live in Georgia without Negroes, and, even though we said it, that was not enough; we had to make it as plain and clear as two times two. I believe the man learned that the congregation had petitioned General Oglethorpe as well as the Trustees some time ago not to allow Negroes to come into our region because the harm from it was obvious.16 In what distress would this colony now be, if such unreliable folk were in the country? People in Carolina were now already in great anxiety on account of the Negroes, especially if the war does not have a favorable outcome.

Kieffer from Purysburg and a Frenchman, almost directly across from us in Carolina, each have such a black man. They are said to have been secretly at our place a few times and to have stolen all kinds of things, although the broad Savannah River is between us and them. I also believe that no Christian can buy such a black in good conscience, since it is known how such things usually come to pass; for they are snatched away from their own country and brought here, although people seek to paint the matter in favorable colors.17

Monday, the 21st of July. By the grace of our dear Lord, a few persons are earnestly concerned about the righteous essence of Christianity. Without neglecting their work, they come together regularly and read and pray with one another. I met a couple of women on their way home from the plantation of a pious Salzburger woman. They were carrying the separately printed reflections of the late Professor Francke on the 139th Psalm and attested that they had had right heavenly delight together and that it was very painful to them to separate, each one having to return to her tasks. Such an edifying visit also occurred between the mother of our Savior and the pious Elizabeth.

A Salzburger woman attested to me her heartfelt joy at being able to bear witness that her husband was more seriously concerned about the salvation of his soul than formerly. Among other things she said: He does not hate me any more; for previously, although I was a good wife to him, he did not like the conduct of my Christianity, but called me all kinds of names. Nor could he understand it whenever I told him anything of my hearts Christianity. He would use my errors and transgressions to demolish my Christianity for me and to strengthen himself in his unconverted attitude. Hence I could speak little with him of what I experienced daily in my soul of Gods word, for he could not and would not comprehend it. During his sickness he became much concerned about his soul and prayed at night whenever he had even a little power; I would get up at those times and pray with him and for him as well as I could. Thereupon he became more intimate and asked me whence I knew that I had been born again and had come to the forgiveness of my sins; likewise, what should he do to come to such grace, etc. At his request she gave him such information as was based on Gods word and her own experience. I was heartily pleased by it, and also ashamed, finding that I still lack much of the Christian simplicity to be really comprehensible to those who are simple and unsophisticated. I was indeed especially pleased that she had so well recognized the time to come to her husbands side and had learned in the school of the Holy Ghost the right time to speak and to be silent.

Tuesday, the 22nd of July. The watermelons are a great blessing from God in this hot land, which we enjoy with heartfelt praise for His loving kindness. Whenever we come to the plantations and are thirsty and somewhat tired, they commonly bring us such melons, which refresh us quite exceptionally and give us new powers, as it were, to conduct our business. On the plantations they grow more plentifully and much bigger and have a sweeter and more delicious taste than near town. People have noticed that this is due to the new land, which the melons prefer to that which has been planted several times over. Several people can eat their fill from one average-sized melon, and they cause not the slightest discomfort. The weather this year is indeed fruitful, and hence we are hoping for a good harvest.

Thursday, the 24th of July. The N.N. woman is still in a bad spiritual state. She is very weak and witless in her understanding, she can retain nothing, knows no Bible verses, and can make no sense out of anything we tell her about her soul and Christianity. Along with that, when she was in her country, she had put many such teachings which please the Old Adam into her mind, either through her own fault or through that of others; and she will not be dissuaded from them. She depends, in all her ignorance and unconverted being, upon her praying, reading, and outwardly quiet demeanor; and, even though her hearts malice manifests itself through wrath, disobedience, scolding, etc., she knows how to justify herself in such a way that one would think she is not as simple and ignorant as she really is.

What should we do with such people, so that they can be helped? They understand nothing in the sermons and catechisations, and they believe the private consultations of their ministers and other pious Christians only as far as they agree with their incorrect ideas of Christianity. Because they take themselves for poor sinners, although they cannot specify any sins that they feel in their minds, and because they therefore think they believe in Christ, they are full of hope of being saved. A couple of men registering for Holy Communion spoke in another tone and brought me great joy by disclosing the state of their minds. The one recounted how, nine years ago during a protracted illness, God had let him recognize the size, weight, and quantity of his sins and had caused him to feel His wrath about it. He said he was in such distress of conscience that he sent for a priest; but that one could not come because he was too drunk, and sent another in his place. This one expounded much to him about Christs merits, about penitence and faith. This astonished the sick man, and it seemed to him that the Lord had enjoined him to encourage him thus and in no other way, for this encouragement had been a splendid balm to his poor wounded conscience. He said he had implored the Lord according to the example of Hezekiah to postpone his death and period of grace so that he could truly convert to Him and be certain of his salvation. God granted this, but he had been quite ungrateful. He marvelled at Gods forbearance and patience, and he accepted the instruction I gave him according to his circumstances very willingly and eagerly. There are many sorts of external circumstances in which a few uninformed folk are hindered in the earnestness of their Christianity: in this we must help straighten them out.

Friday, the 25th of July. Some women were involved in some disunity, which had spread also amongst a few men. The men have already been charged with their error and set straight, because they were in town working on the construction and therefore were nearby; and the women also wished nothing more than that they might be reconciled and that their old friendship might be restored again. Two other women had made a good beginning at it with prayer and exhortation. When I came out, all gathered in a cottage, where I read aloud to them something of the Christian constancy in good work one has begun and what means one must use; and they listened with great emotion and much weeping. Thereupon we prayed to the Lord for grace to apply His word properly as well as to bless our conference and reconciliation amongst ourselves. God caused the last to take place very well; and I hope this will be a new beginning to a Christian friendship and proper alliance of the hearts amongst them.

N. and his wife wish to go to Holy Communion, but they are nonetheless still unconverted. I have had them at my house and talked with them for fully an hour concerning their unconverted state and showed them what must take place in people if they do penance, but they have experienced nothing of that. I recounted to them the example of the late Schoppacher18 and otherwise tried to make it as comprehensible as possible to them that their nature is not adequate, but rather that a true change must occur in them if they wish to be saved. They are not such regular church-goers as other members, for which they excuse themselves with their bodily infirmities. They never visit us for edification, because they have no worries about their souls, but are satisfied with external praying and reading. I gave them the booklet: Necessary Examination of Oneself,19 etc., and I will also deliver to them the little tract: Commencement of a Christian Life,20 and betimes read something from them, whether they come to me in my room or I am at their dwelling.

Toward evening a dangerous evil might have befallen me and my wife, if our loving God had not mercifully averted it. We were taking a stroll along the field by the town; and, because we were conversing and observing the blessing in the fields on either side of the narrow footpath, we would have stepped on a large rattlesnake lying before us, if a little dog had not come before us, onto the snake. The dog, because it was bitten so severely by the snake, fell to the ground with great crying, yelping, and extremely grotesque twisting. We were reminded by that to look both around ourselves and in front of ourselves. The snake remained lying motionless and angry, until finally it crawled quite slowly into a bush by the path. We sought people in the fields to kill the snake but could find no one in the vicinity. Whoever does not have good power and speed to dispatch it with one stroke would not like trying it, particularly since this kind of snake is said to jump at people. Anyone bitten by one like it will not live. God be praised for His protecting grace.

Saturday, the 26th of July. Some people from Purysburg came to us to attend our divine services and to celebrate Holy Communion. They have had many kinds of prejudices against us, which fall away when they hear us themselves. For what is preached here is not teachings and opinions of men but divine truths, preached by Christ and His apostles, which must be preached by faithful ministers everywhere wherever they wish to save their own souls and the souls of the sheep entrusted to them. They also attended the penitence and confession ceremony, which treated the very beautiful verse in Acts 5:31 concerning the gracious purpose of the heavenly Father at the exaltation of His son. It is too bad that my wife and especially our little Gotthilf Israel are ill and that he causes disturbance; otherwise I would always have these dear guests with me, and I believe the Lord would place a blessing upon private associations with them. Because church services are held in my house and half the house is used for them, I can hardly put up a single person.

Mr. Zuebli from Purysburg is putting a little girl in the orphanage and our school, as is a captains wife from Purysburg. Mrs. Wallpurger21 is taking her two boys away from the Helfenstein woman and is bringing them too under the supervision and care of the orphanage. May God accomplish much good in the souls of the children, to His glory and to the joy of the parents. A small amount is paid for each child every month, to wit, 5 shillings sterling; all maintenance costs for eating, washing, cleaning, sewing, etc., are covered by it, for we do not seek profit, but rather the childrens welfare. God will surely bestow as much as is needed to attain the goals of the institution.

Sunday, the 27th of July. Forty-four persons went to Holy Communion. May our loving God bless it in all of us. A few persons were held back for justifiable reasons, and a few kept themselves away probably because their hearts told them that their ways displeased God, and because last Friday on the plantation I had to specify a few things which would declare a person to be an unworthy communicant.

Monday, the 28th of July. Mr. Zuebli and his wife went home from our place very early this morning, whereas the others stayed here till almost ten oclock in the morning. I praise the Lord, who let me learn from others and let me hear and see myself that our pious God blessed His word highly in the hearts of these dear guests, so that they themselves praised the Lord for it. Mrs. Wallpurger departed amidst many tears.

Kieffer from Purysburg is going to go to Port-Royal; and, because our chest with the linen has been there for some time, we are sending a man along who will fetch it from there. I wrote Colonel Stephens a few lines about it this morning, beseeching him to give a written order to allow the box addressed to him to proceed from Port Royal.

A captains wife from Purysburg showed me letters from her husband and son which said that General Oglethorpe had raised the siege of Fort Augustine and had marched back to Frederica, because the warship being used in the siege could not remain as near to the land on account of the hurricanes and stormy winds which are now to be feared. Mr. Oglethorpe is expecting more help from North Carolina, and in a few months a new siege will be undertaken. We have resolved to celebrate a solemn day of prayer and penitence this coming Friday in our congregation, in which we would seek the countenance of the Lord, asking Him to turn aside the well-deserved judgments for the sake of His dear Son, or indeed, to withhold them, so that all the unconverted will be given time and space for penitence and the saving of their souls.

Tuesday, the 29th of July. This afternoon we had a great wind storm with immense torrents of rain, thunder, and hail; and we thank the Lord for causing this cloudburst to pass without damage. It came up more or less unexpectedly and would have been detrimental to me if I had been riding on the plantations, as I had planned. As almost always happens, this great wind once more tore down various old and half-rotted garden fences; hence the people will have more work to keep their pigs from harming the field crops, especially the sweet potatoes. Large numbers of peaches were thrown down, also whole branches completely hung with fruit were torn off. Because, however, most of them are ripe and can still be used, the damage is bearable. May God mercifully avert all dangers from travelers who are wont to meet them on the sea or in places near the sea.

This year God has very richly blessed our two gardens by the old torn-down cottages with peaches of all kinds, with which we can give joy and refreshment to many adults and children. Other people to be sure have some, and they thank God for them; but this year the Lord has granted us a special advantage in this material blessing, just as He did a year ago. We did not notice in Germany whether the types of peaches were also as varied as they are here in our gardens. I believe we have over ten different kinds, all of which have a very pleasant, wholesome, and refreshing taste, but different in each fruit. Some kinds come loose from the pit and have various colors, others grow tight around the pit and are either all yellow or yellow and red, or all dark red. Some taste quite sweet, others tangy, others have a wine-like taste and pleasant sharpness, others seem to us to taste like the big plums in Germany and have externally a round, pretty appearance like apples. God be praised for this benefaction! Who could have imagined anything like it a few years ago when we were still in Old Ebenezer! We often compare the old and the present times.

Wednesday, the 30th of July. The carpenter Kogler is selling me his house for 2 ь because he has moved to the plantation. I renewed my offer of it to the Ortmann woman.22 Here she is sheltered from rain and all kinds of inclement weather, she has a sound sitting room and bed-room, and good kitchen and stalls, so that she can be content and thank God. She is still keeping her lot (and little garden with it), and can make every use of it. We could not build her a house there.

Yesterday we finished the story of 1 Samuel 28 and were able to take from it much material to prepare ourselves for our forthcoming day of prayer and penitence. Today I read something aloud from the splendid preface to the penitential sermons of the late Professor Francke on Ezekiel 22:30 for this purpose;23 and I forcefully repeated some points especially pertinent for us, as much as the short time allowed. It is a very edifying preface, and God has blessed it in me and, I hope, in others. Especially impressive to me were the following meditations: What was Israels wall and rampart other than that they did not sin against their God, but walked in the paths and commands He had given them, etc. (see Judith 5:15-23). As long as they remained obedient to God they had no need for any other earthly fortress, such as they first made for themselves when they did evil before the Lord, Judith 6:1-2. As much as they did evil thereafter and sinned against God, thus did they make breaches in their proper wall and rampart, and then no other rampart and fortress built of stone and mortar could help them. Thereafter God did not look at such ramparts and fortresses as those; rather He sought amongst them themselves for anyone making himself into a rampart, etc. Likewise, just as many who are doing this not for forms sake but rather with true hearts (which, namely, is required according to Gods word), just that many God will find who make themselves into ramparts and stand before Him against the breach. No matter how insignificant one may consider oneself, no one may think that penitence, prayer, exhortations to ones fellow-man, and righteous demeanor in the fear of God are judged insignificant. How great is such grace that God will recognize him whom He finds standing before Him to be a rampart and will protect not just him but also others, etc.

Thursday, the 31st of July. The new construction in the orphanage, which is quite indispensable for housekeeping, is finished, except for one door and the floor next to the threshing-floor, for which boards are being sawed. Because the Lord has showed the footsteps of His grace especially in this work and has quite unexpectedly granted us the wherewithal to pay the costs, we feel ourselves bound all the more to praise Him, along with the carpenters. In accordance with that, I assembled upon the threshing floor, high above the cattle and pig stalls, with everyone belonging to the orphanage. We fell together upon our knees before Gods countenance and glorified Him from simple hearts for every benefaction He has shown the orphanage till now, in general, and above all in this construction. To our astonishment the workers have shown themselves extremely diligent, they have worked together in the best harmony, and not one has suffered the least injury, although one came close to having a bad fall.

Because this construction has proceeded so rapidly and successfully, Kogler and Rottenberger are not a little strengthened in the hope that the Lord will also give His blessing to the upcoming construction of the mill. On this occasion I sought to give them new courage for a joyful assault on this project, from which the country and our congregation can hope for so much good. What our miraculous God took away from the orphanage a short time ago, through the fire, He has now richly returned. Prior to this the diligent people praying in the orphanage often had their retreat in the burned stalls to consort with God through contemplation and prayer. What they had to do without for a short time they now have again, all the more conveniently. For there are not only three stalls here, which can be divided according to circumstances by thick boards, but there are also two large storage bins on the threshing floor for storing crops, all of which will also be applied to spiritual profit by the eager souls in the orphanage. For to a Christian everything is clean, and every place is sanctified by prayer and Gods word.

AUGUST

Friday, the 1st of August. This day was celebrated by all of us as a day of prayer and penitence, with teaching, singing, and praying as another great holy day. My dear colleague had as a text on the plantations Jeremiah 14:7 to the beginning of the 8th verse: O the hope of Israel, the savior thereof, and we set here as a basis Psalm 91:14-16, which words our dear God especially caused to occur to me last Sunday, to His praise, when I remembered with my family His gracious and miraculous guidance. What can excite the sinner more powerfully to penitence and complete surrender of his heart to God than holding out the sweetest and most treasured promises of God! If He could just come thereby into everyones heart! The children recited publicly the 85th Psalm, which they had learned by heart. In the evening we came together with the congregation in the town for prayer and sang the powerful hymn: Mein Heyland nimmt die Snder an, etc.

Before the morning divine service an Englishman came to me with a letter asking me to help him get to Old Ebenezer. He had been interpreter for the Indians in the camp with Mr. Oglethorpe and was supposed to bring them home and take some others back. He delayed, at my request, until after church, when a horse and guide were given him. He said that Mr. Oglethorpe was at Frederica with all his men, waiting for some regiments of soldiers from England, and that he intended to mount a new attack on St. Augustine in October. Because he had too few troops, he could not get to the fortress, because they fired their cannons so heavily from within. To be sure, bombs were thrown into the place, but the Spaniards are said to have taken measures so that they fell into the sand and did little damage. In the meantime, although little else has been accomplished, Mr. Oglethorpe now knows the whole region around St. Augustine, because of which he expects a big advantage in the future. He caused no damage to be done in the fields, gardens, and houses before St. Augustine, except what the Indians did, because he hoped to put everything to better use than letting it be consumed by fire. Mr. Oglethorpe is said to have endured more hardships than any of his soldiers; and, although he was always ailing because of the constant dampness above and below, he was always at the front in all important actions.

There are many lies and slanders being spread in the country by Carolinians, which cause him some unease, as do those persons lost inside a fort. A captain deserted in the night, taking with him seven out-posts to get away in the boat. Mr. Oglethorpes camp might have come into great danger from it. He is now said to be in North Carolina; and things may go ill for him there. All those recruited in Carolina and in this land have to serve till the siege of St. Augustine ends. This confirms what I said to those at our place who let themselves be enlisted, that I could not imagine their coming back home in four months unless St. Augustine were taken by this time. They are supposed to have endured severe sicknesses, as have the Indians who are now coming home and who were in a bad way and still are to some extent.

Saturday, the 2nd of August. This morning we sought out a suitable place in Abercorn Creek to build the water mill with Gods help. On Leitners plantation we found a very beautiful site, which Kogler takes to be the best on all the plantations, and where we can hope that the mill will operate most of the year, except in the spring when the waters in the Savannah River (and therefore here) are at their highest. The mill is quite well situated for the plantations, for Abercorn, and for every place from here to Savannah, because from Savannah to here one can ride in a middle-sized boat in six hours, if someone will tear down Parkers1 collapsed sawmill and clear the trees from the creek.

From our town, however, it is somewhat out of the way, since we must constantly go against the current when we take the flour from the mill, both on the Savannah River and on Abercorn Creek. Nonetheless, we will pay no heed to any inconvenience, if only a mill can be built in our vicinity, for which there is now the best hope. I hope the Trustees will bear the costs, as Mr. Oglethorpe assured me, even giving me twelve pounds sterling for a start. Constructing waterways is difficult work and causes many costs which a congregation as poor as ours cannot bear alone. The most pressing need makes this construction urgent, for our dear members are very poor and cannot always buy white flour. They would not have to do so if they could make their fine Indian corn into flour on a proper mill. They have been able to benefit from hardly half of it on the hand mills. These hand mills, especially the stone ones (for the iron ones are quite broken-down and unusable), consume much time and energy and no one who has not seen it and experienced it can imagine how much. Therefore every householder wants to work two or three weeks gratis (where needed), if they can just come by a flour mill.

Because the most pressing need makes this construction urgent, because Mr. Oglethorpe has become very much involved and even presented twelve pounds, as mentioned, along with mill stones and iron work for it, and because we find in the congregation a common willingness to help with the construction, and also because we expect much advantage to our own and other places in this colony, I believe it would be a kind of faithlessness not to have followed this mark of divine love and not to have made arrangements for this construction, but rather to have waited until we had the money in hand that we needed for it.

There were various Salzburgers, carpenters, and others present here, with whom I presented to the all-wise, kind, and almighty God the important construction we had planned, in the name of Jesus Christ. I made for myself and for them, in humility and faith, especially good use of the I will, I will, from yesterdays penitential text, as also the last words: I will show him my salvation (which words contain in themselves everything useful for soul and body, now and forever). Quite certainly in this 91st Psalm the pious workers have trust that the lord will command His angel above them to guard them on all their paths.

Sunday, the 3rd of August. Prior to the morning divine service Kieffers boat came back from Port Royal and brought our box along, for which we had been waiting so long and fervently. After the prayer meeting, which was held once more today in place of the repetition lesson because my dear colleague held divine services on the plantations, we unpacked the books, linen, and medicines in the boat, because the box was too heavy to bring up the steep hill from the water. As far as we could tell at the time, everything, with a couple of exceptions, was undamaged; and this aroused us all the more to glorify God who let this gift come to us over such a long journey through so many kinds of danger.

Today we contemplated the gospel for the 9th Sunday after Trinity, Luke 16, on the unrighteous steward and received from the mouth of Christ very necessary instruction on how we should proceed with the goods and gifts God has entrusted to us so that we may not be unrighteous but faithful and good stewards of Gods many gifts. No one can do this unless he first, like the publicans and sinners (see ch. 15) becomes a child of Christ through a true conversion and learns to practice the first lesson of Christianity, which is self-denial, through which man is guarded from squandering and misusing temporal gifts and from avarice. We praised God with one another in the prayer meeting for the benefactions received; and we asked Him to admit our benefactors into the eternal tabernacles to His eternal joy for the compassion they had shown the poor in our congregation and to reward their love in this life too.

Of the books sent here through Court Chaplain Ziegenhagens kindness (actually requested for the Palatines), consisting of a dozen song books and two dozen of Arndts True Christianity and twelve dozen New Testaments, not a single one was damaged; and the medicine in the little box is undamaged except that some of the polychrest pills have leaked out. We have already written of these books to Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen, saying that from the fine supply sent for our congregation here we shared New Testaments, a few books on True Christianity, catechisms, and other books with the Palatines and other German folk in Savannah who asked for them. We said that we would rather do it for the people who would apply this noble gift well, knowing that the purpose of the gift is reached by only a few. Concerning the twelve songbooks, however, we are considering giving them to some of those in our congregation and some of those who attend our divine services, because the people in Savannah cannot really use them, as they do not know even the best-known melodies.

We have received several of these Palatine women at our place who have married here. We hope that they will use the songbooks well, although those do not go far enough to supply everyone. God be praised for all these gifts, and may He help us to use them for His glory and our own salvation. Gods favorable hearing of our poor prayer is strengthening the faith of the pious amongst us mightily. He not only caused these things to come to us at a time noteworthy for us on account of the recent day of prayer and penitence and todays gospel text, but also prevented spoilage and great damage. As the shipper in Port Royal reports, the box stood under a pouring rain for a whole day right in Charleston. How gladdened are the poor, who in their great lack are being so exceptionally revived by the seventy-seven pieces of linen and are being inspired to the praise of God and to heartfelt intercession.

With this same boat I received a letter from a Palatine in Frederica,2 informing his daughter and her husband, Simon Reiter, that he and his family were lying in bed so ill that one could not bring a glass of water to the other. Since being in Frederica, he said, he had been burned out twice, and in the last conflagration had lost all his things, not even saving one little book for reading his morning and evening blessings (as his expression is). Hence he asked me to help him find a good book. And because he is at liberty to pay his own passage by degrees, he is asking me to persuade General Oglethorpe to let him move to Ebenezer because he hopes to be able to earn his bread here as well as there. He longs for church and school.

Monday, the 4th of August. The N.N. woman lamented to me her poverty and need, hence she asked me to remember her family this time at the distribution of the linen; for otherwise she would not know where to get shirts for them. I told her what pleasure it would give me to let her family share in the gifts the Lord had caused to flow to us from near and far, if there were the least hope that by doing it the intended goal would be reached with them and that they would be awakened to the praise of God and heartfelt gratitude to God and men. But, I said, till now her demeanor towards God, His word, and His good order had been so bad it could hardly have been worse. For my part I had decided to hold back and store away the physical things from those who till now had disregarded the spiritual gifts and benefactions of God, until an improvement resulted.

She wept and said the evil and disobedience of her family were her greatest burden and were driving her to intense prayer. But she said that amidst much prayer and beseeching she had nonetheless a hidden hope in her heart that God would take pity on her children and draw one after the other to Himself, because, she said, her oldest son was already more compliant and obedient than he had been some time ago. On account of this hope, which she has for her true improvement and conversion, I do not wish to pass them by but rather give them their share. But I assured the mother, so very burdened by her children, that I would gladly take away from her not just a portion of the burden, but rather the entire burden of her children, if she desired it of me. I said that this was why the orphanage was there, but I knew how much her children feared the place.

We had both gone to have ourselves bled today. Hence nothing was preached from Gods word, as is usually done, in the evening prayer meeting, rather we made music in praise of the great and magnificent God, who manifested Himself so magnificently, mightily, wisely, mercifully, holy, and justly over the entire face of the earth. The song was Singt dem Herrn, nah und fern; and then we prayed and praised His magnificent name, as much for all His benefactions in the realm of nature and grace, as also for the gift of the seventy-seven pieces of linen which were received yesterday and divided up today. May everything please God, for the sake of Christ!

Tuesday, the 5th of August. Today, instead of holding divine services on the plantations as usual, we called the people, men, women, and children, into town to receive what God has caused to come into our hands. There were in all seventy-seven pieces of linen, and both adults and children have been able to get from them a fine portion, worthy of gratitude.

Contrary to our expectations, they were in town already before 1 oclock in large numbers. After we gave the signal, they were in our chambers where church is held, and we sang aloud the song: Lobe den Herrn, den mchtigen Knig der Ehren, etc.; and, after we had invoked the dear Lord to bless our undertaking, I reminded the listeners of the weighty words of the apostle: For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with gratitude, etc. Because God had bestowed on us a benefaction of books and linen worthy of gratitude, we should handle them as Christians in order to sanctify them through Gods word and prayer. Therefore, as we have always done before the distribution, I wished to lay something on their hearts for their edification and to pray with them and thank God for the kindness He had shown us in this matter too.

In the sermon I referred to a certain circumstance in last Sundays gospel (Luke 16:1 ff.) which I had noted in Germany, to wit, that in some places a pauper sermon is preached on this gospel. Because the dear Lord, who is also a God of the poor, directs the hearts of pious ministers to be patrons and, as it were, advocates of the poor with the rich of this world, the poor have therein a sign that God does not forget them because of their labor and toilsome circumstances or abandon or reject them; rather He loves them, especially when they are His children. I said He finds their poverty salutary, He cares about them and will know how to create means to fill every need. Now our miraculous God had arranged, contrary to our expectations, for the chest with linen and books, which was sent two years ago tomorrow from Halle and has passed through many dangers, to arrive this past Sunday much better than anyone could expect, and just prior to the sermon on the gospel; we should not view this as mere chance. God finds the right time; what should come comes neither earlier nor later, but just as He in His wisdom determines for His glory and our salvation. Although no pauper sermon has been preached on this or any other text for our poor congregation in Halle or the surrounding area, I said the dear Lord has steered the hearts of well-to-do people to contribute so much that this large supply of linen could be purchased. Over and above that He had awakened pious patrons and friends in Germany and England, and especially the Trustees, and made them willing to deliver such a heavy chest hither -- and we still did not have to bear any costs.

For that reason all those in the congregation who are poor in spirit and body, who come into all kinds of distressful circumstances of mind and body, may conclude, as it were, that God does not forget them, that He does not treat them according to their sins, rather He loves our congregation, and especially the God-fearing ones, in an incomprehensible way, because He, as usual, bears such a clear witness of His love and paternal care by sending such a great quantity of books, linen, and medicines. In this lay our duty, I said: 1) to use these and other benefactions of the Lord as loving bonds, seizing hold of them and thereby causing ourselves to be drawn to Him. What He gives us in linen, books, and other gifts was not the grandest thing, rather he wanted to lure us and incite us by means of them to the magnificent treasures. Luke 15 says: Bring forth the best robe, etc. Psalm 45: The kings daughter is all glorious within, etc., cf. Isaiah 61:10 and Revelations of St. John 19:7-9.

I said God would much rather give spiritual than physical goods, because His Son truly merited the former with His death of atonement. This is a comforting gospel to those who, in penitence, have overcome the inclinations of the flesh. But if anyone does not use these benefactions as a bond of love for coming nearer to God the highest good, for him they will turn into a noose, and it will finally go with him as it did with the unjust steward, or as it does with all children of this world.

2) Our duty also lies in the last verse of the gospel: Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteous; that, when ye fail, etc. Since the dear benefactors are showing themselves so friendly toward us through their gifts and are proving to be such good friends of the Ebenezer congregation, it is Christian and fair, I said, for our mind to incline them once more through Gods grace, in love, gratitude, and intercession. Who knows in what want, i.e., in what physical and spiritual need, danger, and lack so many benefactors and benefactresses in Germany find themselves or could fall into in the current times. For such a person our constant Christian intercession should prove useful. Our prayers should be especially directed towards saving their souls so that they may be received into the eternal tabernacles, for the sake of Christs merits, through faith in Him which they actively prove through their love. Everyone will easily see, I said, that because the Lord talks of such poor people who take up their benefactors into the eternal tabernacle just as heretofore they were taken up by them in love and beneficence, He is not talking of all poor everywhere, but rather of God-fearing poor and his weak members, cf. Matthew 25. We must all become such if our prayers are to prove useful and profitable to our benefactors. At this we all fell upon our knees, praised God for His benefactions, and asked Him to recompense those who had given what we received today.

After the adults, numbering ninety-nine men and women, had received their share, the children, big and little all together fifty-eight, pressed around me; and I asked them where this pile of linen on the table before them came from. When they answered that it originally came from God and demonstrated it with Every good gift and, etc., and Everything we have are gifts of God,3 I told them what happened yearly in Halle (whence God caused this blessing to flow): namely, a gift of cake and a small book was distributed to the school children, of whom there were more than two thousand when I was in the school of the orphanage and Paedagogium,4 after their examination in spring and fall; before that they sang something and something from Gods word was said to impress their hearts. Such a distribution does not occur here, I said, but in another way; for God was bestowing on them so many books for which they and their parents did not have to pay; and, speaking of the present time, they were being presented with shirts, indeed a sign of divine providence, especially as He was working so earnestly and powerfully in their souls in church and school.

Not all children had it so good, I continued, as some of them knew from Germany and as some could and should be told by the adults; rather they had many advantages in spiritual and physical matters. For many children in Christendom fare as we would hear in the story of 1 Samuel 30 and as we would also hear on Sunday from a father5 of three children who are members of our congregation, who wrote from Frederica that not only he and his family were ill, but they had lost everything, even all their books, in a fire. Because our loving God had turned much harm away from them and once more was doing things for them daily, they might well become more grateful than many were till now; otherwise, I said, God could easily block off the little brooks which had flowed upon us till now.

After we had prayed, we gave each child three peaches and one of the shirts already cut. And thus this distribution was concluded, with great pleasure and praise of God. A few men who have performed many kinds of tasks for the benefit of the congregation received an extra piece of linen. Ruprecht Steiner also received a tablecloth for the church held in his house on the plantations, and a few pregnant women received some soiled linen for household use. A portion was also laid by for the men who have gone to war and are expected back momentarily, which they shall receive in the event we hear good evidence of their Christian behavior. It was very edifying to see the mothers carrying their children on their arms, some of whom were suckling. Only to God on high be honor and gratitude for His mercy!

Wednesday, the 6th of August. N.s wife fetched a couple of shirts for her two little girls because she had not been present at the distribution yesterday. I also gave her her own and her husbands share, because they gave me hope that they were endeavoring for a true conversion and because the man is willing to continue, as he has begun, the work meted out to him for punishment: clearing the citys streets and public places of bushes and weeds. She now tearfully recognized that a curse clung to them and their entire household because of their sins, and she attested her regret that they had been disobedient for so long to what they heard from Gods word. I told her there was still time to turn around. God stil desired their penitence, for then they would have His blessing. If I should become aware of a true change in her, I said, I would take her oldest little girl into the orphanage so that she could go to school.

I have received, from the merchant Purry in Port Royal, a piece of unbleached linen (which, because it comes from Osnabrck, is here called Osnebrig or Osnabrig) for the workers constructing the stable and threshing floor of the orphanage. I had it distributed to them, to their great pleasure. It was cheap and very good. In this manner they lose nothing, although we cannot give them the old wage. Raising this building comes to something more than 12 ь Sterling, which does not count the lumber and shingles prepared last year. The boards being used for doors, floors on both sides of the threshing section, and corn cribs for the cow stalls cost alone about 4 ь Sterling. If Mr. N., who presented 10 ь Sterling for the purpose, should see the building, he would be glad to have used his money so well, giving new spirit not only to the orphanage but also to poor Salzburgers who thus had the opportunity to earn something. Perhaps one of his friends wil come up this time with my dear colleague, as he has wished for some time.

Thursday, the 7th of August. Since the last heavy rain, which fell continuously for a few days toward the end of last week, we have had pleasant weather and especially pleasant cool nights. We would hardly have expected such favorable weather during the dog days. Because the dampness has abated, the peaches are becoming remarkably beautiful, they are getting a very vibrant color and such a fine taste that with this especially fine fruit we can easily do without apples, pears and plums; for one kind is even better than the other in delightful taste. We have a great number of them this year, and many in the congregation enjoy them and are inspired to praise God for providing orchards for us even in this wilderness. Our friends in Germany can get no proper picture when we report anything of these peaches, for they have an image of German peaches in their minds; the ones here surpass the ones in Germany in size, color, and taste by far, as we learn from everyone who knows anything of German peaches. Here we conclude that also apples and other fruit, if things like that should grow here, would become likewise more beautiful here than in Europe. We have many apple trees, but they grow slowly and therefore will bear fruit later. None of the plum and pear seeds want to come up, although that type of seed has been planted often.

Mr. Thilo wishes to have another dwelling against the winter, because the wind sweeps through his cottage; and, even though the kitchen is large and roomy, it is inconvenient for spending the winter. The love I have for him presses me to be mindful of an improved dwelling. Hence I intended to borrow money for its construction, if anyone in the country would lend me something for a year without interest; for I trust in God that He will grant something for this purpose. Everyone in the congregation doubtless would help with this construction gratis, if only, as I mentioned, there were some money and the carpenters did not have the urgently needed mill construction before them.

Friday, the 8th of August. Mr. N.7 is not too satisfied that we are not yet building the church, but he does not know the cause. When he comes to us next week I will tell him in detail, and give him something written for the sake of others in England. Our people moved to the plantations in the spring; and until now they have been busy working on their cottages and their fields and establishing their households. In the fall God is granting them once more much corn and rice, but they cannot use half of this physical blessing if they have no mill. That too cannot be built for another year if we do not do it in the autumn, when the water is very low. Also, I have wished to wait for our dear Lord to grant us something more from Germany for the church so that we could arrange the construction accordingly, for making debts is not advisable. In addition, there is no hurry amongst us, because my house is very convenient for holding church services, especially since only a few people are present. We have only the one Kogler who can serve as master builder; and, since he is being used on other buildings in the congregation and has his own household besides, it would be impossible for him to resolve to work on the church, although I wished to persuade him to as best I could. Also, for the reasons already indicated, he said he could not get people here as helpers.

I was in Old Ebenezer with some carpenters to seek out the appropriate iron work for the mill, for which Mr. Jones gave written permission. The Englishman was not at home, however; and, although his wife had the iron material shown to us, we could still find nothing that suited us. Everything is lying there in great confusion, and it is too bad that so much must spoil that the Trustees have provided at such great cost and have sent here from across the great sea. Things look generally very desolate in Old Ebenezer because everything is collapsing, and there is no one who will even strike a nail to maintain the buildings.

Saturday, the 9th of August. Rauner died of bloody dysentery before he could be brought to Charlestown. And thus the two brothers in evil, to wit, Bach and Rauner, have passed into eternity one right after the other. Held, too, who was well off as a servant in the orphanage but went to war, is said to have died suddenly.

I received a reply from Mr. Lampton, the merchant in Charlestown, in which he offered to send me as many things for the orphanage and the congregation as I might desire, for which he would be glad to accept bills of exchange. He is willing to send everything to Purysburg, whence it can be fetched quite easily. Our congregation would receive a true favor if we could get the things we need directly from Charlestown, because they are a good bit cheaper than in Savannah.

Sunday, the 10th of August. Mr. Zuebli from Purysburg was with us yesterday with his daughter to attend our divine services. Now that he was once with us, it is his plan to travel the short way from his plantation to here often. It is a journey of only two or three hours. He lodged in my house and showed himself very pleased at all that he heard and saw in our congregation. He will soon send his little son to our school as a boarder in our orphanage.

Monday, the 11th of August. Mr. N.8 has promised to come today from Carolina with his friends; and, because they do not know the way any farther than Purysburg, my dear colleague has gone to meet them. He took a statement along in which a few reasons are given why it was impossible to build our church this summer. He wishes to present it to Mr. N. when he travels up there. As soon as the corn mill is built, the carpenters and others will proceed to the church. We have been able to give Mr. N. hope that the construction will be finished in the spring, and we hope to have a convenient place for public divine services. In the meantime we make do quite well in my house. If it is passable in the summer, it will be even more so in the winter, when the people are sitting close together and cause less inconvenience.

At noontime some people came unexpectedly from Purysburg to observe the orphanage and its arrangements. They stayed only a few hours and traveled back in the afternoon. I hear some of the gentry there are making efforts to take up land in our vicinity on the Carolina side, so that they will be nearer to us with their children. There is said to be land still vacant higher up towards Palachocolas, whereas the entire strip of land across from us has been fully surveyed. May God let only that happen which suffices to glorify His name, to further His kingdom, and to save souls.

Tuesday, the 12th of August. A woman lamented that her condition before God was still worthless. She said that in her perdition she could lament her need to none but the dear Lord. She wished that we would not impart so much comfort to her from the gospel when we conversed with her; she was not worthy of comfort, rather of an earnest reprimand from the law. As a sign of her unworthy condition she cited her laxity in prayer; she had to force herself to it. In prayer things became easier for her, and afterwards she felt a new power in her heart. I told her that two things exist in the faithful person: the flesh and the spirit. The two are opposed to the other so that they do not do as they wish. Laxity and disinclination to the good and to the zealous use of the means of salvation come from the flesh; but there will be something in the soul of the faithful person which will not be satisfied with such laxity and evil but will feel them to be a yoke and will sigh over them. The heart will be driven and inclined by means of all kinds of profitable notions to become obedient to the will of God as opposed to the will of the flesh, and to struggle through. If the struggle is crowned with victory, this will cause great pleasure and new courage in the soul. With this I referred her especially to this verse: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us ... looking into Jesus, etc. Thus that which she saw as a sign of an unconverted state was a sign of a state of grace in which all Gods promises proceed to the faithful person in his poverty of spirit and his sorrow at his sins.

At the beginning of the evening prayer meeting my dear colleague returned with his rowers from Purysburg, where he had waited yesterday and today for Mr. N. and his friends to show them the way here. However, no boat came up from Savannah, and therefore there must have been an obstacle to their journey here, which they had intended with such certainty. Mrs. Walpurger came in his boat to visit her eldest son, who had received an injury to his cheek beneath the eye. Mr. Thilo preferred not to do anything to it without the mothers foreknowledge.

The dear Lord again gave her much edification in todays prayer meeting. God has inspired her so powerfully by a certain image which was quite remarkable to hear, that she will remember it as long as she lives; and now she does not wish to rest until she has left the world and entered into the community of God through faith. So that she may have all the more opportunity to be edified by Gods word and good examples, it is as good as certain that she will move to our area and will not be deflected by any worldly judgment. She now sees the advantage of breaking through all human fear in the example of her children, whom she sent here. It was only through fear of people who dislike our place through sheer coarse blindness that she had held back her children from our school and from the opportunity to be reared in the fear of God.

Wednesday, the 13th of August. The Bacher woman has become ill this last week, and things have looked quite unfavorable for her. For this reason I took Mr. Thilo with me yesterday morning to her plantation so that he could inform himself properly of her condition. Because of the divine services being held on the plantations, I did not have time to stay with her yesterday. Hence I went today before noon and found her in a blessed state, as concerned her soul. She does not like to deceive herself, and therefore she subjected herself to my examination according to Gods word and told me the entire basis of her heart. She is a dear bride of Christ and is being prepared by Him for that wedding day by means of all kinds of external and internal purifications. It would take too long to set down the entire conversation I had with her, but God gave me a quite special pleasure from it. This visit pleased her very much, because her mind had been much oppressed by the memory of her former life. She was very comforted in the Lord.

Gabriel Bachs wife would like to be properly instructed in the basic truths of Christian doctrine, and this must be done before we can admit her to Holy Communion. She moved to the orphanage as a maid some time ago, and there she has the time and opportunity to attend the preparation lessons for Holy Communion, which we now held three times weekly. They also work on her in the orphanage, which indeed is a great grace of the Lord. In such a way we become more closely acquainted with her, whether she might be suited for a wife to a young head of household in the congregation. From the psalms of David, which I established as the basis for the catechisations in the preparation lessons, I have had the desired opportunity to preach not only credenda but also agenda,9 and therewith the choicest verses were noted and learned by heart. In the first two lessons in the week they repeat the little catechism with the exposition and question sections, but in the third lesson the verses they noted and learned are recited.

General Oglethorpe wrote me a very friendly letter of the 5th of August in the following words:

Reverend Sir

Though God has not been pleased to prosper us with the Success of taking St. Augustine, yet we are to thank him for the safe return of the greatest part of our men, and that the Pride of our enemy has been curbed. Those men who came from Ebenezer, and that were in the Carolina Regiment, I have ordered to be sent up again to you. I recommend myself to your Prayers and am

Reverend Sir

Frederica 5 August 1740

your most obedient humble Servant

James Oglethorpe

(The German translation follows)

This letter was delivered by the English boy John Robinson, who had formerly been a servant in the orphanage. He looked quite ragged and was covered with lice. He would like to be back at our place, but I sent him straight back to Savannah, as I had written to General Oglethorpe at the very beginning that I would not accept people who had left the service of the orphanage because I could not support them and because they had also caused much unrest and vexation. This Robinson could not complain enough about how badly provisioned the men in the Carolina Regiment were. Not only did the soldiers get dangerously ill, but some died for lack of water. Mr. Oglethorpes wisdom and paternal care are being much extolled, notwithstanding all the slanders of his enemies. Besides which, the Carolina soldiers wish to obey no orders; both prominent and lowly persons are said to have deserted, which the government will take very badly.

Thursday, the 14th of August. My dear colleague, Mr. Boltzius, travelled to Savannah today. May the Lord Jesus bless him and bring him back again to us soon. We prefer nothing more than to be together in Ebenezer, and it is not out of curiosity or desire if one of us has to leave the other for a few days. Necessity and the many circumstances which occur in the congregation bring about such journeys.

After school I visited the Schweighofer woman, who was just arising from prayer. I asked her whether she had obtained a blessing. She answered that her wish and desire in prayer was to receive more and more earnestness to struggle for blessed eternity. She saw herself quite unworthy of what the Lord Jesus was doing in her, as she tearfully attested. I said she should simply keep on with her prayers and tears, and sigh: Oh, if only I could follow after you weeping like a little child until your heart embraced me ardently with its arms. In this manner she would know the blessed mother heart of the Lord Jesus better and better and prevail over the Lord Jesus, as did Jacob in Genesis 32. At her departure she gave me her hand, saying I should forgive her for deceiving me in Old Ebenezer, for she had not yet been converted. I answered briefly that the Lord Jesus forgave that also.

Friday, the 15th of August. I visited the Bacher woman in the afternoon and found two women with her, both weeping. The one had the Little Treasure Chest10 in her hand and gave it to me. I read aloud to them, especially from page 128, and said a few things about it. Next I read aloud to them the last hours of the Countess of Schwartzburg, in the revised Collections11 in the eleventh chapter, which indeed was a fine reading and which the dear Lord blessed splendidly. She still has great pain but bears it patiently. Yesterday two women from the town visited her, and one of them could not have been more amazed at her patience. During the conversation I came to the matter of the Lord Jesus tears, of which we heard last Sunday and which so especially soften ones heart. At that she said that last Sunday Hans Maurers wife had been so moved by it that she went with the Craus woman to her cottage and was unable to stop weeping.

Saturday, the 16th of August. This morning God helped me and the Salzburgers, my fellow travelers, to reach home again, for which I praised His holy name with some of those who had attended todays home prayer meeting. We learned from the first part of I Samuel 31 what a blessing of the Lord it is when we find our family and home in a blessed state at the end of a journey. I have given the statement concerning the postponing of the church construction to Mr. N.,12 and he was completely satisfied with it. God willing, he is thinking of returning to London as late as next spring. He will be satisfied if in the approaching winter just the walls and roof of the church are built; for he well knows that no proper and enduring church can be built in this country for the money we have in hand. Hence he will endeavor with Gods help to collect more money for this purpose.

He is quite glad that we are building a flour mill. In the future he wishes to buy as much Indian corn meal from our Salzburgers as he needs for his extensive housekeeping in the orphanage.13 In like manner he is happy that our people wish to salt down beef and bring it down in his absence for a very fair price. To this end he gave me three barrels of salt, which is very rare.

He had been quite weak till now but has now recovered and can hold prayer meetings again, although on one occasion he so taxed his powers in the small church that, if he continues, he will soon injure his lungs. This coming Tuesday he is going on his sloop with some friends and servants to Charlestown, and from there to New England, whence he will return by land to Savannah through all the English colonies.

Mr. Jones paid me 12 ь Sterling for the mill construction; and, because I had the opportunity to write to Mr. Oglethorpe, I requested additional assistance for it and reported where we were going to build it and how we hoped to use it.

Because the people in the orphanage need winter clothing, I wrote to an honest merchant in Charlestown and asked him to send me all those things we cannot do without in the orphan house and for the herdsmen. Perhaps we will soon get a blessing from Europe with which to pay for these urgently needed things. I do not doubt that he will send us very good and fairly priced wares, as he has done once already.

Mr. Jones asked me to make known to our congregation and to the people in Old Ebenezer that the Spanish spy, along with a soldier confined in prison, had filed through his iron chains and thus broken out.14 Whoever finds them and delivers them to Savannah can expect 10 ь Sterling as a reward. The spy left a letter behind in the prison for a merchant in Savannah.15 It was written in Spanish, and, because there was no interpreter, I could not learn its contents. The merchant had shown much material kindness to this spy in prison and had spoken much with him in spiritual matters and had also advanced him money. He is surely thanking him for that.

A short time ago he had persuaded a boy confined in this prison to act sick; and, when he was taken under cure to Mr. Whitefields physician,16 he was to purloin all kinds of medicines from him. The boy did this, and was caught. The Spaniard practiced as a physician in the prison, and has been used much by common people. Many of Mr. Oglethorpes soldiers have deserted to the Spaniards, but they will be able to do no more harm to our colony than what the Lord allows them. We were very impressed recently in the prayer meeting with how the Amalekites burned the city of Ziklag, leading away men and cattle, but killing no one, because the Lord did not permit them to. Except for that, they were inclined enough to do it, on account of their old and new hatred for Israel and David.

Monday, the 18th of August. I visited several families on the plantations and found everywhere a great desire for edification through prayer and Gods word. Crauses serving-girl is catching on very well and has paid careful attention to the preparation for Holy Communion. She is also faithful in external matters, so that the congregation can hope for a good housewife in her someday. The Bacher woman is still full of pain but at rest in her heart and certain of Gods grace in Jesus Christ. The dear Savior blessed the conversation about Him and His treasured love so greatly in us two that the hour I spent here was as blessed as hardly ever before. The husband, who was present, also received a share for the inspiration of his soul, although he does not equal his wife in Christianity.

Today Mr. Zuebli from Purysburg brought his son, a lad of fourteen years, to us for schooling and for boarding at the orphan house. He even wishes to make it possible to move close to our neighborhood so that he and his family may have more opportunity for the edification of their souls.

Tuesday, the 19th of August. Mr. Zuebli took the trouble today to travel to our plantations and to attend divine services there. He was pleased by everything here and recognized that the Lord is with us. In the afternoon he returned home and resolved to visit us soon again. It seems as if the Lord has awakened some people in Purysburg to be more mindful of their salvation than they were formerly and to avail themselves of the opportunity they can find at our place to edify themselves. May the Lord bless them in this to their eternal salvation. There is also a shoemaker in Purysburg who understands his trade very well and who has attested his great desire to be accepted here. He and his wife, who is a God-fearing woman, are not concerned with making a living, which they can also find in Purysburg. We like to be circumspect in accepting outsiders, so that no one will slip into the congregation to become a bitter root and cause discord.

Wednesday, the 20th of August. Today in the name of the Lord we started building a flour mill and rice press,17 from which our entire congregation promises itself great advantage. I prayed with the workers at the mill site and called upon the Lord to bless this important labor. Everyone amongst us who has learned to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth is commended to intercession in this important and useful matter. The carpenters, especially Kogler as master builder, are undertaking this construction with great joy, and everyone is willing to help with it gratis; and we do not doubt that the Lords blessing will be with this labor.

Yesterday they blocked off the inflow of the Savannah River into Abercorn Creek, where the mill is being built, and today the mill is as good as dry, as the water in the main river at this season is as low as hardly ever before, which is very advantageous when building along the water. I gave the workers hope that their labor could be paid not only by the mill itself but also with money I expect to receive from Mr. Oglethorpe in addition to the 12 ь already received. To all appearances the expenses will not be high; and, with divine support, much profit will ensue from such a mill as has long been desired in this country. Mr. Oglethorpe expressly told me that the Trustees will pay the expenses of the mill and that they will also maintain it, for which each person will have to pay a small portion from each bushel of corn.

I found N.N. sick in bed. His wife had just delivered, but she and her little child were fairly healthy. The husband edified me greatly through his conversation and was full of desire to hear something good about his Savior and to pray to Him with me. Here we say: Jesus receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. This mans sins in the years of his ignorance, when he was still in his homeland, were indeed very great. When he repented they became quite bitter for him, nonetheless our friendly Savior has mercy upon him and has made him into a useful instrument for winning his wife and helping her become a true Christian woman and preparing her to be a good housekeeper.

Kalcher got the fever yesterday with much vomiting; and, although he had recovered towards evening, it attacked him hard once more today. He now sees and feels the usefulness of this physical weakness, and his tears flowed very heavily when he discovered the state of his spirit. He is becoming more and more familiar with himself and his Savior and also enters more and more deeply in hunger and thirst into His outspread loving arms, to be justified and saved. Therefore his faith is as it should be, to wit, a divine light and a divine power, which the Holy Spirit brings forth in Its workshop, namely, a crushed and battered heart, and preserves and strengthens in the poverty of the spirit.

Thursday, the 21st of August. For a week now, a few Indians have been with us who are not of the best kind. They go into gardens and fields and take whatever suits their fancy; and the people have to put up with it, because they do not like to get too near them. They received horses and all kinds of things as booty and gifts at St. Augustine.

The Englishman from Old Ebenezer who is in charge of the Trustees cattle told me that a short time ago some Indians who had returned from St. Augustine shot down one of his large fat oxen, cutting out only about 40 lb. of meat and throwing away all the rest. Hence it is indeed very good that our place is so distant and that there is no rum or brandy, otherwise we would have a great deal of vexation with them and no help from anywhere. Their dogs have already harmed the peoples swine often, and once they tore a cow almost to shreds.

Several people are getting attacks of the fever, but it seems as if they do not last long. They are also not as violent as previously. Being sick a little does not hurt. God is praised also for this paternal chastisement by all who recognize His salutary purpose in it. Cool and moist weather has come up; perhaps this has caused the fever, especially since many people do not or cannot hold to the rules of good health.

Friday, the 22nd of August. Today divine services were held on Pichlers plantation, where the mill is being built, and the women also made their appearance. Most of the men from the town and from the plantations have been occupied with making the dam. Everyone must contribute his strength to this, because the largest oaks have to be brought into the creek. Carts and horses (which we also lack) could be of no service here. Much work has already been done, although yesterdays heavy rain hindered the workers greatly and the water in the river rose. The unity of the people in this important work gladdened me greatly, and the words on the Dutch ducats occurred to me (as nearly as I remember): Concordia res parvae crescunt,18 which I cited to the workers in German. They were all very pleased and eager at the preaching of the divine word from 1 Samuel 30, and I believe the Lord has laid a blessing on the sermon.

Saturday, the 23rd of August. I was told in Old Ebenezer that an Indian had died on the path between Abercorn and Old Ebenezer and that his companions left him unburied, which is not their usual way.

Simon Reiter asked me to write a letter for him to his father-in-law in Frederica, who had attested in a letter to him a desire to move to Ebenezer. He and his wife wish to take all possible precautions so that he will not create a burden for himself if he advises his father-in-law to move hither. For this is a man who has, in his own eyes, been a pious man for a long time and has brought along letter and seal from his father-confessor concerning the matter: such people who commonly think themselves wiser than others generally cause much trouble. He advised him to travel here once and inform himself about our land and our good order; and he said that, if it pleases him and if Mr. Oglethorpe grants permission, the local ministers will not hinder it.

Monday, the 25th of August. Kalcher has been sickly for some time, yet in his tasks in the orphanage he shows all possible diligence and loyalty, although I wish, as I advise him often, that he would spare himself more until he has his health back. I see it as an item of Gods fatherly love that Bachs widow has moved into the orphanage for a time and works there faithfully so that Kalchers burden has become lighter, especially since Christian Riedelsperger, his faithful co-worker, is helping with the work at the mill and Herzog is almost always sick. The above-mentioned Bach woman deports herself very well, is faithful and diligent in her work, and handles Gods word and prayer well. She is also very eager for Gods word in the preparation lesson for Holy Communion, so that we are quite hopeful that her return to Ebenezer will be profitable for her in body and soul.

Tuesday, the 26th of August. I cannot describe with my pen the joy I feel whenever I come to the workers at the mill. They are all of one mind, they attack the important project with communal strength, and they enjoy the support of the Lord in a special way. In regard to their communal labor, todays story gave me the opportunity to give them many sorts of evangelical admonitions, which the Father of all grace will bless in them along with others. If I were able, I would gladly serve them some refreshment to show them my joy. Who knows what the Lord will do in the future. I have never seen such labor, since they are bringing the heaviest oaks and cypresses into the river for the dam and fit one tree upon the other. It would not be possible to make such an important construction unless all the men in the congregation strained every muscle at it. There are also a few grown boys and frail persons there who have their work according to their strength. The best thing is, they strengthen themselves and are strengthened in the Lord their God, through the word of the gospel and through prayer, and thus their work is sanctified.

The Kornberger woman called on me bowed low in her mind on account of her weakness in Christianity, and she shed many tears about it. She said she had previously deceived herself considerably with her literal recognition19 which she took for a spiritual and living one; and after God had made her recognize her self-deception, she did not wish to go to Holy Communion until she had had herself tested according to Gods word. She is poor in spirit, she mourns, she is hungry and thirsty, and thus the comfort of the gospel belongs to her and was given to her.

Wednesday, the 27th of August. Kogler is a capable and modest master builder, under whom the people like working.

The N. woman, who dwells in this area, asked me to call on her yesterday if my circumstances would allow it, because she had a certain request to disclose to me. But there was less to it than I had guessed, hence I led her from external matters to the still unaltered foundation of her heart and hastened home so as not to miss my preparation lesson with a few children and adults.

The Schweighofer woman is weak in body on account of quartan fever and is having some serious attacks which may well pertain to the apoplexy which crippled her entire side five years ago. She applies the feeling of her physical and spiritual infirmities very well in order to take better and better refuge through faith in her Savior. She lamented greatly on account of the inherent evil of her sin, although she knows for certain that her guilt and punishment are forgiven through the blood of Jesus and that the power and love of sin are broken through the spirit of Christ; but she is very conscious of her corruption and is poor in spirit but thereby rich in God and His grace, although she attributes the least amount thereof to her great increase in hunger and thirst for Christ.

Another woman heard with many sighs how much this widow lamented and humbled herself before God. When she was alone with me she said the Schweighofer woman lamented and humbled herself so, while she knew that she had never offended God with deliberate sins, rather had feared the Lord from her youth ever since her recognition. What should she not do, if only she could; for in her youth she had defiled herself with the most terrible abominations, which were being disclosed to her more and more, and in her anxiety over them she did not know what to do. At this, she wept bitterly. I believe the Lord gave grace so that this mourning heart was also comforted to some degree from His gospel. In the case of many penitent sinners, we must believe that they do not come forward on their own with the sins God has hidden from the eyes of men according to His wisdom and that they only confess everything because they think they will find rest once they are chastised before men.

Thursday, the 28th of August. A few days ago Mr. N.s schoolmaster20 wrote me that he and his family were lacking meat, hence he would like someone from our place to bring some down. For this purpose three oxen were slaughtered, and the meat was salted and carried down today. Praise God who not only gives our dear people their just necessities but also gives some of them so much that they can sell something and others can procure something for their need. Who would have believed a few years ago that God would have brought things so far with us in so short a time. The Lord has helped Ebenezer till now!

Friday, the 29th of August. Late in the evening someone came into our cellar yard and took away some victuals several times and also lopped off melons and pumpkins in the field, carrying them off and spoiling them. Today we learned with certainty it was a Negro or Moor from Carolina who is in the orphanages corn field near the city and in the woods lying nearby. Last night a few men lay in wait and went after him today but could not catch him. He must have run away from Carolina, and was already detected several weeks ago in our region. In the open field he surely has it as good and better than with his master, although we do not know to whom he belongs, for they are kept everywhere very harshly; and hence there is almost no end to the stealing in Carolina on the plantations.

Because the white people in that place are not secure on account of the great horde of these ill-kept slaves, it was arranged that from Saturday evening all through Sunday, a certain number of white people have to patrol in every district all through Carolina. This is very burdensome for the poor who have hardly one or two blacks, but serves to assure the rich, who have fifty or a hundred and more. It is indeed a great and partly unrecognized benefaction that no black slaves may be introduced into our Georgia colony.

Saturday, the 30th of August. Today our boat came once more from Savannah and brought a letter from Mr. Verelst in London, in which he briefly reports that Mr. Whitefield has informed the Trustees that he has collected 966 ь for the orphanage in Savannah, 76 ь for the Salzburgers, and 148 ь for the poor in general, and that he wishes to know on behalf of the Trustees in what way the 76 ь were applied for the benefit of the congregation. An error must have occurred, for we have received no more than 52 ь, 19 sh., 9 pc. for the construction of the church, besides which Mr. Whitefield has brought along all kinds of iron work required for this construction, e.g., a bell. In all, the collection runs to 73 ь 18 sh., of which I informed the most praiseworthy Society as well as Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen as soon as I received it.

Sunday, the 31st of August. Yesterday, another three of the people21 who let themselves be persuaded to go to war arrived at our place and told much of the right great hardship they suffered before St. Augustine. Leitner and Rauner had to bury Gabriel Bach,22 who had been shot four times and who had been beheaded by the Indians. Rauner remembered much about that and wept and prayed much about it. He was indeed able to recognize that these were unmistakable judgments of God, from which later on Rauner himself did not escape either. It makes me think of what Senior Urlsperger, upon reading the report in the diary of Rauners evil deportment, wrote in his last letter: Is this the man who promised so much good? etc. May God let this sad example have a wholesome impression on everyone!

A man from a trading boat brought me a letter from Court Chaplain Butienter, which he had found in the Charlestown post office and redeemed because he knows me. It was dated as far back as the 30th of October 1739 and must have lain long in Charlestown. We have had no word for him for a long time, and hence it is pleasing to learn that he is still attached to us with sincere good will and shares heartily in all that the Lord does amongst us.

SEPTEMBER

Monday, the 1st of September. Young Kieffer1 and his wife had a letter written today to his mother-in-law in Orangeburg in North Carolina.2 In it they let her know the opportunity they had here for the edification of their souls, so that they might find out whether she would like to resolve to move hither with her little children. They promise to care for her in every physical and spiritual way; and the son-in-law wishes to fetch her himself from Charlestown if she has the inclination to start out on the journey hither. This young married couple, who have their plantation almost opposite us in Carolina, have to make do with very meager resources; but, because the Lord is working very powerfully on their hearts through His gospel and because they know from experience mans danger in living amongst the rough multitudes without the word of God, they wish to have their relatives here and to do their utmost for them.

Tuesday, the 2nd of September. The Indians who had built their shelters on the plantations have returned here today. The people out there will be happy to see these guests leave, for they are said to have taken crops from the fields there just as they did here. I met them on the path when I was just coming out of the meeting, and I was amazed that the men load up the women with a great cargo of hides, cooking gear, and children along with that; while they themselves walk practically unencumbered or can ride on horseback.

The people who returned home from the war are now getting their share of the linen which was distributed a short time ago in the congregation. They claim, and it seems so, that they heed the good in our place all the more since they were in foreign parts for some time and experienced all sorts of things. They wish to apply their short time of grace to preparing for the long and blessed eternity, to which end they are being urged privately and publicly whenever Bible stories are read.

Thursday, the 4th of September. A certain person had dealings with the Indians and bought from them colorful material for a skirt. But, because they regretted it later, they brought her money back and asked for the material. She refused to return it, hence the Indians requested help from me. It is very strictly forbidden, through a public proclamation of the Trustees, for anyone to trade with the Indians without special permission; and, because this N. woman has been guilty of this and also gave them too little for the material, I had to require her to make restitution of what she had purchased and take back her silver money. She resisted strongly but finally had to acquiesce, because otherwise I would have reported the matter to Savannah. For not only the woman, but I and others would come into danger of being harmed or killed by the Indians, as they had already uttered threatening words. The Indians otherwise are not used to trading in money, but these do it, only they take no other money than English or Spanish silver.

The Black who has run away from Carolina is still staying in our region and slips into peoples cottages during the night to do harm. At the Helfenstein womans place he even took a hunting knife, and hence it is that much more dangerous to catch him. This afternoon all men who were in the town went out one at a time to seek him out in the surrounding brush, but they came back emptyhanded. Yesterday evening as well, a few men endeavored to locate this thieving person, who was about to break into the Rheinlaender womans place during the prayer meeting. In the midst of this Kalcher would have come into mortal danger on account of a careless shot fired without need and permission by herdsman Nett, if our kindly and omnipotent God had not turned it away.

Friday, the 5th of September. Yesterday towards evening before the prayer meeting, the N. woman implored me to come to her place, but I was not up to it, and in addition I had to gather some strength for the prayer meeting we were to hold. Today she asked me to pardon her unchristian behavior of yesterday, and she showed herself in gestures and words to be very humble and penitent. God grant that she rightly recognize the foundation of her heart, which is still unaltered, and that she may in time be helped.

In todays prayer meeting, and with divine assistance, we concluded our contemplation of the stories from the first book of Samuel and will begin the second book next. God be humbly praised for all blessings he has right richly shown us in this. May He bless the seed broadcast amongst the local people and outsiders, of whom a couple from Purysburg were present at this last prayer meeting, to the honor of His holy name and their eternal salvation, for the sake of Christ our treasured Savior. Amen!

Saturday, the 6th of September. Bachs widow, who has been working for a time in the orphanage as a maid, has kept herself so well till now that we are hoping the Lord will attain His goal through His word, which she has heard publicly and in the preparation lesson for Holy Communion: that she undergo a heartfelt conversion to Christ and in His blood be purified of all her recognized and unrecognized sins. A few people have advised Leimberger to take her for his wife, for which purpose he saw me last week and today. It is now certain on both their parts, and tomorrow the banns will be published for them. She has cause to thank God for His solicitude, for in Leimberger she is getting an upright, very capable, diligent, and, in his husbandry, clearly blessed man. She has a very tractable, pliable mind, is very simple and modest; and therefore I am hoping she will let herself be steered towards everything good by Leimberger, who is quite knowledgeable in all matters, and will become a real helpmeet to him.

Sunday, the 7th of September. Today forty-eight persons were at Holy Communion. The Bacher woman, who is still not fully recovered, has had a special hunger and thirst for the Lords Holy Communion; and this time not even her weakness could hold her back from it. The Lord has also splendidly refreshed her through His gospel and through this holy sacrament, so that she now desires to abandon the world and be with her Savior much more than she did before.

Young Held has come back by land to his sister on her husband Gabriel Maurers plantation and would like to guard the peoples cattle if only they will accept him again at our place. He is one of the three servants who left the orphanage and went to war. His father died miserably. After he had returned again from St. Augustine without money, clothes and health, this young Held apprenticed himself to a slovenly shoemaker in Savannah, from whom he has now run away again. I prefer to have nothing to do with him, but I do not wish to stop him from staying at our place if the congregation, with the permission of the authorities, wishes to accept him as a servant and herdsman.

Monday, the 8th of September. I have finished a letter to Mr. Verelst and through him to the Trustees, reporting first of all, at their request, how much money Mr. Whitefield transferred to us for the benefit of the mill and church construction, and otherwise putting in a few presentations and requests.

Tuesday, the 9th of September. The water in the river has risen quickly and is getting higher and higher; this is causing some obstacles in building the mill. If they had built the dam as at the saw mill in Old Ebenezer, it would be ruined already. But it is of such soundness that the most violent water cannot harm it, even if the greatest ice floes crashed against it as in Germany. Two men were sent to the old saw mill on the Abercorn Creek to seek out the remaining nails and iron work. They indeed did their utmost, but they were in mortal danger on account of the strong wind and rising water. They both could swim and had no further injury except that one suffered the loss of a shoe. I would gladly have given him a pair from the orphanage, if only the means were there.

After the devotional hour on the plantations I had to mention a few things concerning the mill construction, so that no misunderstanding would arise. For the mill I had in all only 12 ь sterling, but there were many of the poor in the congregation working, in addition to the communal labor, for the purposes of earning something for clothes, flour, and other needs. Most wish to be paid, and I had to advise them that I could go no further than the 12 b would allow. Hence they would have to work in the hope that payment would ensue either from Mr. Oglethorpe or from the Trustees, or they would have to increase the days of communal labor, so that a few would not labor too much ahead for pay and then be hurt if by chance nothing more were given by benefactors for the construction.

I added the cause which moved me to discuss this with them, because I would like to avoid any misunderstanding. I said it had often happened to me, whenever I promised to give something to one or another person to help him in his poverty, illness, or other circumstance and then could not do it soon thereafter, that many had condemned me in their hearts and also in words and secretly closed their mind against me. My promise always includes the stipulation that the Lord give me the means for it. I had dared enough till now in the name of the Lord to satisfy those poor workers who would like to earn something for their extreme need in constructing the orphanage and my house. I was not going any further now, since I did not even know what the Trustees would decide regarding my house and the debts of the orphanage, half of which stemmed from Mr. Caustons time.

Last night the Schweighofer woman became suddenly and dangerously ill. She had very violent pains in her body as if she were having miserere, which stem from a long-time obstruction which, out of bashfulness, she never disclosed to anyone. The dear Lord blessed a few of the things we used on her. Towards evening when I came to her, the first thing she said was that the Lord had demonstrated a great miracle of His kindness in her; she had never before had such violent pains in her life, and our pious God had nonetheless helped once more. She could talk no further for exhaustion. Thereupon we prayed for her and with her, which caused her the greatest joy and refreshment, and she always prays very diligently.

Wednesday, the 10th of September. Yesterday the men came from the plantations to lie in wait tonight for the Negroes who are staying secretly in our region and who break in at night here and there and steal. The prayer meeting was held only with the women and children, and something from the story of the first book of Samuel was repeated. The thieving people have on other occasions slipped into some of the huts during prayer meeting, but no one saw anything yesterday; and everything was quiet throughout the entire night too. There are said to be three together, two blacks and a woman, who even threatened the Indians who were with us, saying they would cut off their heads if they did not do as they wished. On account of that the Indians moved away apparently from fear.

The Spanish spy is also said to be staying in our vicinity with a soldier who was imprisoned with him for a long time, and to have been at the place of the Frenchman across from us in Carolina on Sunday, but to have run away when they saw a trading boat coming. The woods are being searched today also, to see whether we can find or catch some of these evil folk.

A man borrowed the emigration history3 of the Salzburgers from me, and in doing so he told me as good news that his wife was, to be sure, a good housekeeper, but that she was not displaying the earnestness that one must display if one wishes to be saved. To be sure, she prays both morning and night the prayers she has learned by heart, but he knows what happened to him when God caused his sins to fall heavily on his conscience. Need had often driven him to prayer then, and for this he did not simply use the prayers he had learned by heart or something from a book (for which he had especially used the Little Garden of Paradise),4 rather necessity and his feeling of misery had taught him to call to God. In addition, when she could not come to church or to the devotional hours on the plantations, he was displeased that she did not ask him what good things he had heard after he came home. Rather, he had to begin the conversation and tell her, otherwise she would remain silent. I admonished him just to keep on working on her untiringly, especially as she belonged to those of good will and was also quite attentive during the preaching of the gospel. Temporal things lie very much on her heart. This information serves along with many other things which I wish to apply profitably in the case of this woman, insofar as the Lord gives me grace and wisdom.

All men and women in the congregation who are concerned with their salvation recognize the grace and also the errors in one another, to advance the former and get rid of the latter. This pious man also wished for the opportunity to hear once more the entire Christian doctrine in its continuity, as it was preached last year to men and women in my house with regard to Luthers catechism, especially the interrogatory part. His wife had also profited much from it. A short time previously I had recommended to him the forty-first chapter of the first book of Johann Arndt for reflective reading, in which he found a great deal of edification. He had also read the following expression: If anyone is dissatisfied with his condition but rather wishes from his heart to improve constantly, it is a good sign in him. This was very dear to him, for thus he saw himself.

Thursday, the 11th of September. Although the few Indians who had been with us for some weeks left a few days ago, today we got all the more of these uninvited guests. An old man who is supposed to be their king came to me, sat down at my table, ate his fill, and gave his son what he could not eat. The Englishman at Old Ebenezer had to have his corn guarded from these people last night, and hence there is concern here that they will do more harm than the previous ones. This evening I will admonish the congregation not to enter into any trade with these people; for in this way we may be rid of them that much sooner. If they bring meat into the house the people must not send them away but rather accept what they bring and give them something else for it, otherwise one will incite the Indians against us.

The Schweighofer woman is almost completely recovered. She is full of the praise of God and knows how to extol the Lords kindness in her recovery in the most glorious manner. The Kalcher woman loves her as a mother and strives with the greatest willingness to take care of her in both sound and ill days.

Simon Steiner showed me some verses which my dear colleague had left behind for him, at which he rejoiced as at a great gift. I recounted to him something from todays preparation for Holy Communion and from yesterdays evening lesson and opened the Bible to a few verses: especially I brought him back to the prayer at James 5:13 ff., which verses will be profitable to him in his remaining weakness.

A woman was sighing on her sick bed, weeping bitterly, and said: How can I be so frivolous? In so many places I could have set a Christian example, and I have doubtless scandalized others through my behavior, etc. I told her God found it necessary at times to rap our fingers on account of our excesses and to take us into more strict discipline so that we will begin to reflect and humble ourselves before Him in the name of Christ, and become more circumspect, etc., etc.

Friday, the 12th of September. Because the Salzburgers have been working on the mill till now, the devotional hour is still being held in Pichlers dwelling, where the people from the plantations also attend diligently. The water has risen very high, so that the dam, which is built of stout timber, cannot be filled in. All sorts of materials are lying ready, and we are waiting for the water to fall once more so that the whole congregation can quickly get behind the work of filling it in. Twice now they have fetched the great mill stones from our place, which could not have been done if the water had been as low as previously. But the workers still have enough work in building the mill house of stout lumber and preparing other things for the mill. Kogler is designing things so that, when necessary, we can use two sets of stones and thus grind that much more at one time. Everything has a fine appearance. Something did come up which might have caused harm, but the dear Lord brought everything back to order.

I visited Ruprecht Zimmermann, who lives not far from the mill, to find out how things looked with his fever, whose symptoms were similar to typhus, so that I could give information on it to Mr. Thilo. He has greatly improved and seems to be out of danger. Because this fever is especially virulent, I admonished him to hold to a good diet, in which he is also obedient. A Salzburger went with me from Zimmermanns hut to the mill and told me that till now, because he was working on the mill, he had been sleeping at Zimmermanns place and had found much edification with him. He found him to be an earnest and solid Christian, but did not find himself in such a condition. This recognition gave me an opportunity to give him good admonitions.5

NOVEMBER

Saturday, the 1st of November. For a long time now we have received no letters from Europe. Because the letters and diaries we have sent are either remaining long underway or have been lost, perhaps because of the now dangerous sea journey, we are planning to write and to send along something from the diary as often as we get the opportunity for posting our packets. May God let us hear something joyful from our benefactors and friends and let the news of us, who are calm and blessed beneath the paternal care of God, become matter for His praise, as they have loyally commended till now the considerable circumstances of this colony in their prayer to the Lord, of which the previous letters testify sufficiently.

A few people from the plantations came here already on Saturday to hear the evening prayer meeting in preparation for Sunday. The Lord blesses it richly in those who are serious about assuring their salvation. In the morning the grass is usually very wet, and hence it is very inconvenient for the people when they enter, especially since the footpaths are quite narrow and rather overgrown with grass and bushes on either side. When they have more time they will make such roads broader and wider, as some already have done the nearer one gets to the plantations. These and similar inconveniences are a good test on the part of our listeners as to whether they are concerned more with Gods word than with physical convenience.

Sunday, the 2nd of November. There will be something for us to do in our ministerial office with a certain family, since all sorts of disorders and dishonesties are becoming apparent. They are all very diligent in attending divine services and prayer meetings, and their behavior at all exercises is so devout, eager, and zealous that it must be edifying to one who sees only the external things. They lack the everything for Christ, and through their concern for making a living and keeping house they lay many obstacles in their way which they cannot surmount; and therefore they remain distant from Christ and the life that is of God.

Tuesday, the 4th of November. My worthy colleague, Mr. Boltzius, has often acknowledged openly, with sadness and melancholy in his heart, what sorrow it causes him when those whom he has prepared for Holy Communion at times slip backwards and do not progress in the good with which they began. But just recently, when he was attesting this to me and could name but one single person for whom he had better hopes, I was able to point out to him someone on whom the Lord had shown great mercy for some time. The N.N. woman, who is becoming more and more solid in Gods grace and who has become quite familiar with this person after she had once more awakened, also wishes to give my dear colleague, to his joy, news of her current good condition. When she was still in school and had gone to Holy Communion for the first time, God had worked often on her heart; but when she came home, all her good inspiration was soon lost, because she saw no good example in her family. Now she lives on the plantations and there seeks to associate diligently with the N. woman to the greater advancement of her Christianity, which the Lord is also not leaving without His blessing.

Today I contemplated the story of Christs transfiguration, on the plantations as well as in town. Oh, how blessed and glorious indeed are the faithful in Christ! May the Father beckon them more and more to Him through His voice: This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, him should ye hear, so that everything, sin, the world, and the like will vanish and nothing remain but Jesus. Indeed may He open the eyes of others also, so that they will recognize their folly and surrender themselves heartily to this glorious Savior. Then self-denial, the acceptance of the cross, and everything would become so easy for them.

Wednesday, the 5th of November. My (Boltzius) trip from Savannah was finished today toward evening, and I glorify God that once more it was not in vain. I delivered our letters at the right time, for Colonel Stephens will immediately send a packet to the Trustees. No letters have yet arrived from London. It is being presumed here because of certain information that Captain Cornish, whose ship had the standard of Minerva, has been captured by the Spaniards. He has money, letters, and many things for this colony on his ship; and therefore the loss is that much greater. The Spaniards, we hear, are quite bold in that they attacked one of Mr. Oglethorpes captains quite near the Georgia coast. He had intended to travel to Charlestown with a few people to get new recruits, but this time the Spaniards were beaten back. It is being said with certainty that a new preacher is on his way for the city of Savannah, being sent by the Trustees themselves.

In Savannah a couple of Englishmen came to me, asking me to come to the two delinquents to be hanged at the end of this week, and to serve Holy Communion to the Spanish doctor, whom they took to be penitent.1 This, however, was not a part of my ministerial office, hence I had to decline; and I referred them to the preacher in Port Royal, who could be fetched promptly if it were seriously desired by the malefactors. It is indeed too bad that Savannah is now completely without a preacher2 since, as Colonel Stephens showed me in a note, there are still 172 men in the town, without counting women and children.

Thursday, the 6th of November. Last night Mr. Thilos little daughter died, after living some twenty weeks in this toilsome world, being healthy the first six weeks but constantly ill in the ensuing period. We made brief use of the verse from Matthew 18:14, So it is not the will of your Father ... that one of these little ones should perish. It had been very edifying to me in Sundays repetition lesson, when I sought to place it in the hearts of the children.

Sanftleben was at my house with the Arnsdorf womans daughter,3 who had had a right slavish service for six years in Carolina and had been brought some months ago by the mother to our place. He wished the banns of marriage to be published this coming Sunday. He and she have promised not only to be diligent at home in repetition and reading, but also to attend my repetition lessons along with other good occasions. As far as I am concerned I am resolved to marry no one from my congregation who has not reached a basic awareness of the basic truths of Christianity. Because I can rely on Sanftlebens diligence and faithfulness, which he will prove in the encouragement of her spiritual improvement, I have overlooked a few things in this matter.

Friday, the 7th of November. I traveled yesterday evening out to the mill to see the workers diligence and what they had accomplished in my absence. Even from a distance I heard the powerful roaring of the water, and this confirmed the good report I had already heard at home concerning the dam even before I looked at everything for myself. A pious man told me, with joy and happy words, that he believed many pious people were praying for the project because it was going so well. Indescribably much and great labor has been done here and is still being done between the walls of the dam and before the dam, to keep the water from its old course and lead it towards the mill, which stands some 30 feet away from the dam. People in Savannah and Purysburg asked me whether the mill would be completed, and therefore it is common knowledge that our people have undertaken a project which has not yet been completed after many almost royal sums have been applied to it.4 God will help us so that our enemies have no cause to rejoice, rather they will be shamed; and the Lords name will be praised by us and others. I was hoping to get some assistance from Mr. Jones for this construction, but he put me off until his return from Frederica, where he was thinking of traveling this coming Monday. He also wishes to bring from Mr. Oglethorpe the so-called bounty of the Trustees, in pursuance of which they have promised to give the Salzburgers one shilling sterling for each bushel of the crop gathered last year. By means of this money our dear people would be placed in a position again to buy themselves a few head of cattle, which will bring them great profit in their household economy.

On my way I became acquainted with a Carolina planter who pledged to bring our congregation thirty or forty head of young tame cows and calves next spring, each cow and calf for 27 sh. 6 p. sterling, which is very reasonable. Perhaps the dear Lord will bestow something on the orphanage so that we can buy a few head of cows and oxen for it too. What a benefaction it is that this year we have had to buy no meat for the orphanage, since God has blessed its cattle raising so notably till now. We would get no meat in Savannah even if we had the money for it,5 but there is no money now because our letters and the benefactions we are hoping God will send us from Europe have not come for such a long time.

Saturday, the 8th of November. We had rain yesterday, and it continued very heavily for the entire night. For a long time now we have had dry and right desirable weather, which has advanced the work at the mill considerably. The soil around the river is full of clay, and in rainy weather the workers could not take one sure step. Because it still looked quite dark this morning, the workers dispersed, especially since each of them had necessary things to take care of at home this last day of the week. Those small streams which are springing up mostly from swampy places have risen so high between here and the plantations that one can hardly get across with a horse. The water in the mill stream is also said to have climbed very high and to roar with full force over the dam but not to have harmed the earth itself. In the afternoon the wind veered towards the south and the heavens cleared up completely, so that at night we got frost and fine weather again.

The current work on the mill is now going through all kinds of trials and difficulties which we could not have foreseen previously, and that too is good, for otherwise no one would have risked anything, rather we would have looked upon a risk in faith without an external summons and capability for it as presumption against the tempting of God. But the Lord is supporting the workers, and for that we will bring Him much praise and gratitude. Towards evening Kogler was with me and recognized that, if the omnipotent and kind God did not bless the project and the labor of their hands, it would not be possible to build a mill in this country; human art and skill would not reach far. For (not to mention other difficulties) the soil is so light that, when water mingles with it, it completely crumbles and flows away with the water. The people have dug rather deep into a hill and are finding a type of sand or sandy soil which they sink into and in front of the dam6 for filling in, along with a lot of bushes and the so-called tree oakum (a certain moss hanging from the deciduous trees which looks like oakum),7 to drive the water higher and up to the mill. Yesterday we heard from the Bible story that the conquering of the fortress of Zion was difficult for David to achieve, but that, even though he was mocked about his intention, it was nevertheless not impossible for him. For the Lord, the God Zebaoth (as is expressly stated in 2 Samuel 5), was with him. Kogler accompanied me and said with moist eyes that he had again been much strengthened today.

Monday, the 10th of November. Last night it was severely cold, also yesterday during the day it was bitterly cold in the loveliest sunshine. The water between the town and the plantations has risen so high in the little creeks that my dear colleague could not get through yesterday on his horse, but rather had to make a large detour, where he still had to go by foot over a fallen tree and had to drive his horse before him. The weather and everything connected with it are very changeable in this country. We will soon learn how things look at the mill since the water has risen so fast. It is very advantageous for the work that we have dry weather again, which probably will hold for a few days.

A woman dealt her conscience a quite deep wound in her youth; and from time to time she can find no comfort, even if the most powerful comfort for assuaging the pain of conscience and healing spiritual wounds comes from the holy scripture. This soul is honest at heart and practices Christianity with such earnestness and purity that all who have eyes to see are edified. I hope the Lord will look upon her misery with grace and grant her a proper joy of spirit and certainty of the forgiveness of her sins, which she already received some years ago in the blood of Christ at her fundamental conversion before Gods throne of grace. This soul has often reached the point of savoring the friendliness of Immanuel in her heart and has received an assurance of the gracious forgiveness of all sin. But, whenever she hears or reads something on the occasion of the Bible stories, or otherwise, which resembles her case, what happened previously wakes up again, and many birth pangs return.

I visited the N. and N. women on their adjoining plantations, and urged the first woman to earnestness in prayer and wakefulness over herself, saying she would thus soon lay a good foundation in her Christianity, otherwise nothing would come of all her good intentions. The second used the most edifying and pleasing expressions of Gods kindness, which befalls her in many ways, even in physical benefactions. She remembered to her shame what she had lamented to me of her poverty, illness in all members of her body, etc., and how she had thereby revealed her lack of faith. She said God had done great things in her by and by, had made her completely well, had granted her and her family their physical needs, and had cared for her chiefly in her soul, but she was always too ungrateful for everything. I looked up for her the beautiful verse in the Lamentations of Jeremiah 3, 22-25.

Tuesday, the 11th of November. N.N. is becoming more and more convinced of his youthful sins and the miserable condition of his soul, so that he listens diligently, as much as his chronic fever and other attacks permit; and his long illness helps to get right to the foundation and to true penitence. Last Sunday afternoon the Lords word penetrated so deeply into his heart that, as he acknowledged today, he could hardly keep from weeping aloud. He lamented exceedingly over his corrupted youth and over the negligence of the ministers and superiors in his country; and, although an old minister wished to carry out his office scrupulously, he got only mockery and contempt as a reward for his loyalty and accomplished nothing. He intends to visit me and bare his whole heart. Arndts book on True Christianity, which was given to him, is proving most useful for him. It is only too bad that he cannot read very well. I do not doubt that, if he becomes a true Christian, he will also become faithful in his work. The Lord works powerfully through His word on young and old, and if they did not lack loyalty, they would all soon achieve a fundamental conversion and strengthening in goodness.

Mr. Thilo accompanied me to the devotional hour on the plantations because he wished to visit a child injured in its foot, to take some exercise on account of his current weakness, and to view the mill construction. He is amazed, as are we, at the extensive and very constant and also blessed labor of our Salzburgers; and he can now conceive better than before that the mill will be completed under divine blessing. At the same time the total of sawn boards was indicated to me: there were in all 2,134 feet, which Leimberger and Schweiger alone had cut with great industry. Today these two gallant workers were busy moving earth like the others, which can well rouse the rest to similar diligence.

Thursday, the 13th of November. This afternoon Burgsteiners little child was baptized in his cottage on the plantation. He dwells not far from the mill, so I went there too to visit the workers. The project is progressing well, which encourages the workers very much. Yesterday and this morning we had rainy weather, which made the labor on the bank of the river, where everything is muddy and slippery, difficult and dangerous. I had hardly returned home when a man came after me on horseback, reporting that a workers feet had been severely crushed by a large piece of lumber which was still to be laid on the dam, and hence he was seeking Mr. Thilo to ride out and look at the injury. I have received no further report as to whether the injury was serious. God grant that this accident redound to the good of this man and others. We have to recognize with gratitude that the Lord till now has turned away all dangerous instances in this so important labor, which the Salzburgers recognize as an especial kindness of God.

Friday, the 14th of November. The above mentioned man was, to be sure, dangerously close to having both feet crushed to a pulp when a large tree on the slippery, sloping earth unexpectedly skidded down too fast. But the kind Lord graciously turned away the danger so that, to all appearances nothing was broken, rather only the foot was bruised and somewhat hurt. At our meeting we thanked the Lord for turning away this and all other dangers, for till now no real injuries have occurred. In the Bible story we considered the beautiful circumstances in 2 Samuel 5 to strengthen our faith in the help of the Lord to be able to pay the costs of the current construction of the mill. Just as He was able, contrary to all thought and expectation, to guide the heart of Hiram, a heathen king, to come to Davids help with cedar wood and workmen, free and without recompense in his current want (for indeed at the beginning of his reign, with the troublesome circumstances in Israel, he had neither riches nor supplies), so too He still has the hearts of all men, high and humble, near and far, in His hands and can incline them to us in love and beneficence, as we have indeed had proof enough of the gracious solicitude of our King of Grace throughout this year.

Saturday, the 15th of November. For a few days we have had quite mild weather, but last night the wind veered toward the west; and it has become rather cold. Various people, including Mr. Thilo and his wife, are afflicted by quartan fever; and it seems to him as it did to us from previous experience that this fever has something contagious, in that commonly both husband and wife are inconvenienced by it if one is first infected with it. Because we have been receiving assurances from Savannah, with many examples, that the cautious use of China de China has not a harmful but rather a very good effect, in that those with fever are free from it after a few spasms and attain constant good health, Mr. Thilo is not disinclined to make an attempt with it on a few who desire it, especially since Doctor Ploss from Augsburg recommends this remedy highly.

The N. woman tearfully lamented that last Sunday her husband was again very disquieted by the powerful persuasions from Gods word, which he cannot elude, yet does not wish to obey. He is afraid of hell and would like to go to heaven, if only his heart did not have to be torn loose from everything in a fundamental conversion and his carnal mind nailed to the cross. She had the two youngest boys with her at home, of whom one is being prepared for Holy Communion. They have often been moved and brought to a denial of a few coarse things, but they do not desire a true conversion either; and my admonition today was aimed at that in the most heartfelt manner I could manage. If Gods word were satisfied with people who use the means of salvation diligently and earnestly, and if nothing more were required for Christianity, then N.N. and his children would be good Christians. But that does not suffice, as was pointed out to them and others last Sunday, with several examples. Yesterday evening in the prayer meeting, on the occasion of the important Bible story that was scheduled, I preached the contents of the important verse in Hebrews 5:8-9, from which the N. woman also received new encouragement to conduct her Christianity other than previously. She is now using better words than in past years. Whether it will come to the Truth with her, time will tell.

Sunday, the 16th of November. Some time ago, a few people had revealed a desire to learn the new songs in our songbook this winter as they did last year. Because their desire seems to be a very serious one, we have resolved in the name of the Lord to begin again this week the practice that was blessed in previous times and devote to it twice weekly, to wit, on Monday and Wednesday, one half hour after the evening prayer meeting. This time our first song, whose melody we will learn, will be: Sey hochgelobet, barmhertzger Gott, etc., for which we have the following melody:


Once again this morning it was announced that, God willing, we would hold Holy Communion in two weeks, that is to say, on the first Sunday of Advent, with those who would accommodate themselves to divine order according to the instructions they have been given; and at the same time everyone was entreated to see to it that no one would increase and enlarge his old ledger of sin, to his terrible judgment, through a hypocritical and unworthy partaking of Communion.

Monday, the 17th of November. I visited N. to learn how he had applied yesterdays sermon and the prayer meetings of last week. He was planning to come to me and acknowledge his wicked way of life before and during his marriage and to request instruction in his ignorance and malice, which were more vexatious, he said, than the Prodigal Sons. Unfortunately, he had lived like other unconverted journeymen and had wantonly dissipated what his mother had earned with the sweat of her brow and had struck many wounds into his conscience through heathen vices. He now wishes (as he expressed it) no longer to go to Holy Communion like a dumb beast, rather he first wishes to turn to God, and if I become aware of the signs of worthy communicants in him or her,9 then they wish to come. They have not learned the catechism at all yet, but they wish to begin now with the Biblical words in it, without the exegesis. They wish us to visit them often and explain to them further what they have not understood in the public sermon, and he had written down for himself the powerful verses he had heard in church. They have both been very ignorant; and, since their eyes are now being opened a little, it is now for them as it was for the blind man to whom people appeared as trees, until through the miraculous power of Christ he received his full sight. It is just good that they recognize and feel their misery and are sighing for help. The Lord Jesus will certainly help them if they faithfully apply the first grace.

Tuesday, the 18th of November. We again held our meeting on the plantations in Ruprecht Steiners house after we had been holding it for some weeks in succession in Pichlers dwelling because of the labor at the mill, where all the men were together. The dam is filled in, hence only the carpenters are working on those things which pertain to the completion of the mill. Kogler told me the water which was supposed to be running over the dam has gone down somewhat, and he had now found a few small streams and ditches to which the high water was diverted but which were easy to block off if necessary. He will therefore be required to lead the water from the river to the mill wheel more deeply than he had previously thought. The Lord has helped so far, He will let us see His help further.

Friday, the 21st of November. Hernbergers hut10 has been prepared as a dwelling for Mr. Thilo by as many people as we could get. It is a comfortable litle room with a fireplace, as is customary here in this country instead of an oven, and is provided with glass windows; and because he cannot store away all his things here, another hut will be set up for him as soon as possible. The dwelling he has had by now has been requested by the Rhinelaender woman, which I did not deny her, because it was standing empty and she has no dwelling otherwise, since Sanftleben got her plot when she left our place previously. It is difficult to get people for labor, since everyone is busy with his own construction. Last winter various people on the plantations already had timber cut for well protected houses, in the manner in which Ruprecht Steiners is built; and they are waiting eagerly for the mill to be completed so that the carpenters can help with the construction. We would also like to begin building the church, the sooner the better. We have progressed so far with the mill that, praise God! this afternoon the water was let onto the wheel. May God Himself lift all difficulties which are still there, according to His wisdom and kindness, and grant the construction people all necessary wisdom and insight. Their faithfulness and steadfastness cannot be seen without edification and joy. A pious Salzburger noted that in this external construction the dear Lord had given Kogler much spiritual profit for his soul and Christianity, as I too noticed today from his own avowal.

Saturday, the 22nd of November. I visited the N.N. woman to take up the catechism with her, to which she has otherwise paid no heed; but she was so weak from fever that I said only one or two things about her preparation for a blessed death through penitence and faith, to the necessity of which her waning powers should also arouse her. She told me a part of the course of her life, in which indeed many perverse things appear. She recounted everything with detestation and regret; and she attested that she considered it a special benefactin of God that she has come to Ebenezer. She had not recognized it previously, but rather had longed for her old life in N.

The N.N. woman is also ill. Her sins against the sixth commandment (among others) are awakening in her. She is getting free of them through restitution; and amidst sighs and tears she is bearing such witness of her previous blindness and malice and likewise of the grace of God now working on her soul that I have reason to rejoice and hope for her conversion. If God converts these two people in a heartfelt manner to Himself, He will indeed perform a special miracle amongst us.

I visited N. and his family. He is increasing well in his Christianity; and, when he accompanied me, he could bear witness that his wife was praying diligently and altering her attitude. She associates diligently with N.s wife, who is steadfastly serious in her Christianity. However, her husband will not follow her in this, which is a great sorrow to her.

Sunday, the 23rd of November. The banns for Sanftleben and the Arnsdorf womans eldest daughter11 were published today for the last time, and they will be married this coming Wednesday. The bride has been coming for a few weeks to the preparation for Holy Communion and will continue to attend this lesson, which is held four times weekly around noontime.

God has granted us the grace, on this last Sunday of this church year, not only to be able to treat His holy word both in town and on the plantations to our edification, but also to come together in the evening prayer meeting as usual to glorify Him for all His kindness and benefactions and to beg for His further blessing and support for ourselves and others. May He further grant us peace and outer calm to conduct our divine services undisturbed, and let us gather His extensive grace for steadfastness in all trials and for all judgments which we fear by and by will fall upon us according to the prefiguration12 of the Jewish people, so that, in Jeremiah 45, we will bring only our souls away from there, for a prey.13 In the gospel for the 25th Sunday after Trinity we had the words of Sirach, ch. 16, vv. 11 & 12, as an introduction.

Monday, the 24th of November. On account of the mill construction hardly any men have been in town for weeks and, because I too had to attend to many things, I postponed for a few weeks the prayer meetings held Monday and Saturday in my house from 1 until 2; but today we gathered once more and had a very gratifying hour together. Previously, we used to read something from the Bible before we prayed, and now and then I drew attention to an edifying example, but that makes the time for prayer short. Hence we now praise God and speak to Him of our own and others needs immediately after the hymn, especially since there is no lack of opportunity amongst us to hear many good things. May God let this practice and also the singing lesson we have begun be commended to His blessing.

Tuesday, the 25th of November. Yesterday it was very cold all day, and last night and today before noon it snowed; but during the day, as is usual in this country, the snow melted away. No one is hindered in his field work by the snow or frost, but it is painful for us because we are used to warm days in this country. Ruprecht Steiners well protected room serves us very well for holding church in the cold weather, and the members all have seats there. However, because he needs the house for his household, he would like to see a house or good hut built for this purpose on the plantations. But now, since the people have plenty of work for themselves and because the church in town must be built first, there is little hope for it.

Kogler and a few others were occupied yesterday with forging the ironwork that will hold the millstone. Our locksmith has an extremely small bellows, and he could not have forged such strong iron if others had not helped him. Kogler and Rottenberger are skilled in all work and comprehend everything quickly when the need arises. The water in the river has suddenly fallen so much that we observe it quite clearly at the mill. Because it cannot take its old course on account of the stout dam, it presses into the little tributaries which lead toward the island and are probably going to have to be dammed up.

N.N. claims he would heartily like to become as Gods word would have him, but he cannot reach that stage, although he uses the means of salvation earnestly. He wept and asked me to tell him where the problem lay. I told him it could not lie with God, for He earestly desires his conversion and offers him every power for it from His gospel; therefore it lies only with him. His heart does not wish to be free of everything, I said, and therefore his conversion is not honest. I instructed him how to arrange his prayer and the treatment of Gods word and how to watch over himself, his prayer, and the heard and received word of God, and how he should wage his struggle against himself and his chief enemies earnestly and be perfectly steadfast in everything. If he performed his prayer with the proper earnestness, I certainly believe God would let him recognize from the sermons, or from a good book such as Arndts Christianity, what obstacles lie in the path to his conversion. When he recognizes these, he should apply faith in removing them. I also warned him not to voice his scruples, doubts, and frequent confusion of mind before others, as he has often done; for much harm and vexation come from it. He is an old sinner, like deep-rusted iron, which is expensive to clean and make shiny: a comparison he could well understand. I also admonished him to be acquainted with simple, pious people who would be very useful to him with their experience, for I know from the examples of various people that they have received much enlightenment and insight from the words of simple Christians and also remembered with blessings what they had seen and heard of Christians who have passed away. His wife corroborated that and recounted what had befallen her before she departed from Salzburg. The authorities wished to compel her to abjure the Evangelical truth she recognized, but this she could not do. When she returned home weeping, she met an old beggar seated at the fountain who inquired into the cause of her tears and lamentation and comforted her, saying that she just should leave the country and she would not lose a hair on her head, for every one of them was numbered by God. These words brought her much profit.

Wednesday, the 26th of November. Sanftleben was married today on his newly built dwelling on his plantation, to which he had invited a few righteous persons. We edified ourselves from the little verse in 2 Peter 2:9, which agreed very well with the matter recently preached from the gospel.

A certain person was also present; and, because she wishes to go to Holy Communion with her husband, I asked her whether she had the properties and marks of a godly person, such as were presented in the abovementioned little verse, and to this she replied no. The husband was at home, somewhat sick, hence I visited him and showed him that, as much as he fancied himself a good Christian, he still had not experienced what stands in verse 18 of the 26th chapter of Acts of the Apostles. Hence he should pray diligently for his eyes to be opened and should turn to God, before wishing to go to Holy Communion. We had very little opportunity to associate with him and his wife, nor do they hold diligently to Gods word and to good opportunities; they always know how to make excuses for themselves, but on bad grounds. I visited a few more persons on the plantations and found that they are diligently practicing their catechism and are already profiting from it.

N. is not treading in the path of his pious and very earnest wife. From his manifold errors I persuaded him of his still unaltered heart and talked with him and her of many sorts of necessary things; he accepted this and thanked me for my openhearted chastisement.

Thursday, the 27th of November. I called on the N.N. woman and reminded her of the verse: Let your light so shine, etc. She claimed the Lord was beginning to effect a true conversion in her, but, I said, she had vexed other people by her words and deeds, hence she would have to redress such vexations through a pious and righteous deportment and show other people, and therefore also the Landfelder woman with whom she was involved from time to time, by her Christian deportment that she was walking on the path of conversion. For else, if she did not prove herself cautious in words and deeds and shun all appearance of evil and still went to Holy Communion, she and I would be condemned and maligned as if I were partial. I told her at the same time that an annoying gossip between her and two other women on Saturday had given me the opportunity for this admonition. She took the admonition well and testified that she and her son would properly convert themselves rather than come to this holy supper as she had done previously. She had dishonored her Savior severely; with His support it should not happen again. From her I learned that N.N.s wife also had sinned through hard words in anger and had committed an injustice against someone through ungrounded suspicion and accusations. Hence I went to her and discussed the situation with her in detail. She is earnestly intent upon reconciling herself with God and men.

Friday, the 28th of November. We resolved some time ago to thank the Lord our God at an especially scheduled hour in the orphanage for the harvest we have had. Yesterday at the prayer meeting we learned from the story of David how he not only made every effort to avoid everything that might serve to dishonor his great God, his allhighest Benefactor, and to disgrace His name but also brought Him honor and praise for all His blessings and also caused others to do so too, by which he also, as it were, paved a way for further blessings. 2 Samuel 5:17-24. Thus we encouraged one another to gather together this evening in the orphanage with all those who recognize the good hand of God that is held over us and to join together in praise of God. The late Pastor Freylinghausen preached a very edifying sermon to the Salzburgers in Halle14 concerning the 124th Psalm, which sermon I treated at this meeting. I reminded the listeners, both young and old, of the goodness of the Lord that has ruled over us not only previously but also now in this strange land that is surrounded by enemies; and I encouraged them to recognize their Evangelical duties. There was quite a nice group of us. May God be pleased with this exercise for the sake of Christ, His beloved son. When the mill has been completely built, we will also schedule a morning on the plantations to praise God both for the harvest and also for the construction of the mill and to call upon Him for His continued blessing.

Friday, the 29th of November. Two German men from Old Ebenezer had had their names written down under the Confessor is;15 but they did not come to me until shortly after the act of confession, and because there was no time remaining to test them according to Gods word, they had to abstain this time from Holy Communion. But they had not come in vain, for they attended the preparation for Holy Communion with the others and were able to learn many things necessary for them concerning Psalm 51:19; and in the evening prayer meeting they learned about the last part of the story from 2 Samuel 5, and also about the 144th Psalm, which pertains to it. One of them had forgotten the catechism he had learned in his youth and got this little book from me in order to familiarize himself again with the main items from it. On this last day of the church year the Lord has once more given us many good things from His word, may He make us faithful and grateful. From these two men I learned that General Oglethorpe is said to be dangerously ill and that there are doubts about his recovery. This news was supposed to have been brought from Frederica by an Englishman who was passing through. We do not believe it but wish to apply it to praying that much more diligently for this dear benefactor.

N.N., a former orphan girl, whom N.N. took on some time ago at her earnest request, has more than once insisted and is now insisting most movingly that she be taken back into the orphanage. Through all sorts of external suffering God has caused her to recognize her previous misbehavior, and He has more or less broken her obstinate nature. Physically she is rather sickly and not fit for hard labor; and, because she would like to be nearer Gods word for her true conversion, it may well happen that she will be taken back into the orphanage.

N.N. was formerly disobedient to Gods word; but now that she is striding nearer and nearer to death from a wasting disease, which appears to be consumption, she is beginning to be mindful of the salvation of her soul. Now, we are admitting her to Holy Communion in good hope. The Lord will help and find means to win even the frivolous children by and by.

Sunday, the 30th of November. On this first Sunday of Advent there were thirty-four of us at the Lords Table.

In this new church year the gospels are being used as the basis of the morning devotional hour, as is customary in our Lutheran church. Until now God has always given us much edification from it so that we could especially come to know our dear Savior in His merciful blessings. In this year of the support of the Holy Ghost, He will also permit us to apply everything to the proper preparation for blessed eternity. Afternoons we will go through the catechism with young and old, since the customary Sunday and holy day epistles, which are so full of power and sweetness, were preached and explained to the congregation last year. If I am alone in the town on Sundays, I plan to treat the catechism through questions and answers in the prayer meeting on Saturday, so that I will have extra time on Sunday afternoons to treat the material preached before noon, which has been blessed in almost all the members so far.

DECEMBER

Monday, the 1st of December. N.N.1 has been in service for a year in N.; and, because his year is up, he is returning to our place. He had a proper longing for it so that, if he could not have fulfilled his wish, he would have gotten ill, as he said, and likely have died. Gods word amongst us has been very dear to him. His brother is still having it rather difficult in physical matters, and physical nourishment is difficult for him because he does not understand agriculture properly and has not the strength for it and otherwise has no assistance.2 Nonetheless he is constantly satisfied with Gods care and prefers to suffer hunger and grief rather than do without the edification of his soul and the advancement of good in our place. The one who returned to us is of a like mind. There are still other poor people amongst us in the congregation whom we would gladly succor in their need, if only the means were there. The purpose of the material gifts would certainly be reached in them. Concerning the Lord Jesus, it is often written in the gospels that the need and misery of men caused Him grief and that He had actually remedied them. He will also demonstrate to us in His time that the need of His poor members in our congregation lies on His merciful pontifical3 heart.

The news has come from Charlestown that the city has been burned almost to ashes in a conflagration. And, because many warehouses and the merchandise in them were burned up, the price of provisions and other wares are rising sharply. The sins of Charlestown are very great and because no penitence followed on the last penitential sermon of God, when through a pestilential illness quite many were suddenly carried off, God is coming with new judgments.

Tuesday, the 2nd of December. This morning we received the news that Peter Gruber had died suddenly on his plantation, where he intended to set up his cottage with four other men today. Previously he had complained about nothing but his old ailment, which often pressed his chest. Of him we can hope not only from love but also with reason that he has attained the peace of the people of God, for which he has longed for a considerable time. Since he married the pious Moshammers widow,4 God has worked hard on him through her service for his true conversion. Since worry about making a living had been his strong enemy in previous times and had done him much harm in his Christianity (about which he complained to me with many tears), God helped him to overcome this too and lightened his housekeeping and the first establishment of his plantation for him. Yesterday towards evening I visited him and his coworker at the construction and learned that while eating with the other men he had edified himself anew with the introductory words of Sunday: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, etc., words which brought him much spiritual profit. In the evening he attended the prayer meeting on 2 Samuel 6 and heard, among other things, the little verse in Acts of the Apostles, ch. 13, For David after he had served his own generation by the will of God, at which we reminded the people that after the death of a Christian nothing more beautiful can be said to praise him than that he served God and His will and therefore died as a faithful servant of God.

In the morning before his departure for work he had held quite an edifying conversation with the young Zuebli,5 who was helping him; and just as they were at the point of making a small fire at their work, he suddenly fell over and died. When I mentioned this unexpected instance of death during the sermon on the plantations, it made a special impression on the listeners, who had all liked the man. We all have cause to make use of this case, especially at the beginning of this new church year. Gods wisdom has ordained that at this time in the prayer meetings we are involved with the observance of the remarkable circumstances in which the ark of God was brought up to the fortress of Zion, in which we are given salutary lessons on the earnest attainment of salvation and on the faithful application of the treasured gospels of Christ. The body was placed in a coffin on the plantations and was brought to town at the request of the widow; it will be buried tomorrow in our churchyard.

Wednesday, the 3rd of December. The Gruber woman, as a true Christian, is very composed at this occurrence, which indeed affects her in flesh and blood. This can only be edifying to others who associate with her. She knows that one spouse is only lent to the other for a short time, as it were, and that, when it is pleasing to the Lord, He requests His own and takes it back. Zant was particularly affected by this death. He had received half of his nearby plantation from Gruber and enjoyed his help in every facet of his work. I admonished Zant to lament this current trial to the almighty and gracious God, his dear Father in Christ, in a simple manner and to beg for His gracious guidance in his current and future circumstances. If he can make me some suggestions as to how he can be lodged with someone for his physical labor, I wish to contribute my utmost to his maintenance, for he is worth it. The external arrangement of his housekeeping, which still has not been completed, has caused him many difficult struggles in his Christianity. Since the beginning he has received no good land. A good piece might have been sought out for him on Abercorn Creek, but for him it was too far from the town and from good opportunity for edification; and, since he was not married, he could not manage it alone.

The N.N. woman continues to ask for her little girl to be taken into the orphanage because she, as a widow, is not in a position to keep her three children in clothes and other necessities. I told her that what worried me was that, if her little girl came under exacting supervision and discipline, she would now and then take her complaints to her mother and cause trouble amongst us, which I could not allow. Also, I said, she would have to wait until the girl was free of quartan fever, in the meantime we would see what was best. We are hoping the Lord will cause His little well of kindness to flow over us, because we are once more in need. This year the field crops did not turn out as richly as we had hoped at the beginning, and the orphanage as well received much less corn and other crops than in the previous year. May the Lord just let us enjoy all these undeserved gifts with gratitude, in acknowledgement of all our unworthiness.

Thursday, the 4th of December. We are having little rain this year, rather almost always dry weather, hence the water in the river is as low as it has ever been. An Indian family that was with us once before has come back to our place. Now there is nothing in the fields, and therefore they will not be able to steal the crops from our people as before.

Our boat went to Savannah today; and, when it returns, we will learn whether Mr. Jones has come back from Mr. Oglethorpe. He wished to arrange with him various important things concerning our congregation; and doubtless he will do his utmost for our benefit, since he is an honest man and our friend and patron. Last year, Mr. Oglethorpe had promised the Salzburgers one shilling for each harvested bushel of crops. Other people in and around Savannah have received theirs, but the money did not reach as far as us. We also need assistance with the mill; and we hope Mr. Oglethorpe will fulfill this promise when he learns from Mr. Jones that it has been completed and that the expenses are not being applied in vain, as is the case of other constructions in this country. The congregation was also supposed to get seven horses for surveillance in our woods; and, because there are no horses to be had in this country and they have to be brought in from Carolina, Mr. Jones will endeavor to procure such horses from us as were brought from St. Augustine. Our congregation would need these horses especially because of their cattle, which run free in the woods. The congregation has only a single horse which has done much service at the mill and must be used everywhere.

Friday, the 5th of December. Before the devotional hour I was at the mill and found the carpenters at a new labor. They are building themselves three boats which they will find necessary for their own use, and one for the mill. The mill is completely finished and has a fine appearance. It lacks nothing but a little more water and then we could grind. The water is as low as it is wont to be in the dry summer, and we were resigned right from the beginning that we would be unable to grind at very high or very low water.

A few men also got together and built a stout bridge over a very swampy spot through which cows and horses could not pass without danger, and this is very convenient for us when we take the nearer way to Ruprecht Steiners on the plantations. One thing after another will be set in order if God gives life and health.

We suffer much distress because of the church discipline, which must be treated publicly or privately from time to time, according to the nature of the circumstances; and indeed we must let ourselves be judged. Also, if we do not always reach our intended goals, we have trouble and spiritual disquiet. Today I learned, to my comfort, that the N.N.6 woman often remembers what a great benefaction it has been to her from the start that we disciplined and awed her husband, who acted like a tyrant towards her first in Germany and then in Carolina. She could not break his anger until she humbly said she would be obliged to make known his demeanor to us. Whereas it had been like hell to live with him previously, she said, at our place she had had almost only good days. But with the husband we could not accomplish what we would have liked, hence God laid His judgments on him, for in Purysburg he lost his life in the water as a drunkard. And thus came about what he had often said to his wife in anger: he did not wish to die in Ebenezer. With N. and N. and his old mother7 we also have recalcitrant people who have to keep themselves within external bounds because of church discipline, but who otherwise allow nothing to be accomplished in them. May God convert them before His judgments come.

Saturday, the 6th of December. This morning I visited N. and his wife to learn how they were both conducting their Christianity. The woman is making fine use of what is being preached to her from Gods word, and she brought forth all sorts of edifying things from the treasury of her heart. At the beginning her husband was not in the hut, and she told me that some weeks ago he had begun to conduct his Christianity more earnestly than before. Because we could not justify him in a certain matter, but rather employed the necessary earnestness with him, he had decided to move away, but his pious wife set him aright. I told them both what I knew of the Gruber woman, to wit, that our loving God had blessed in her the word and example of her first husband, the late Moshammer, for her true conversion, and after the late Peter Gruber, who has now also died, married her, she had again increased in him the grace she had received and had given him an opportunity for true Christianity and proper preparation for blessed eternity. Whenever people travel the shorter path to the plantations, they always have to cross Grubers plantation, and therefore (God grant!) those who pass back and forth will often remember, to their salvation, the late man and his unexpected end.

After the home prayer meeting the Gruber woman stayed behind to discuss something concerning her external circumstances. I must marvel greatly at her well-composed mind, her insight into the will of God, which causes everything to happen as it should, her Christian resignation, and her good application of everything that took place with her dear husband. Her words were as impressive and edifying, if not more so, than what had been said in the entire prayer meeting preceding our talks. Her example (since she is only a poor simple woman who cannot read) reminded me of the beautiful words from Psalm 19: The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making the wise simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The late Peter Gruber did much labor on his fruitful and well laid out plantation, for he not only protected half of his land with a good stout fence, but also prepared lumber and shingles for a snug cottage. Two years ago he had already cleared a large piece of land of trees and bushes, but he could not enjoy it because it lacked a fence until now. He had no neighbors and, because he could not complete the fence by himself, Zant went to his assistance and received one half of this plantation, as we were also willing to proffer him all possible assistance. But now the fence will be useless until God shows what might be done further. The widow lives near the orphanage and from it will enjoy all possible assistance with her little one-year-old son.

I did not find Ruprecht Zittrauer and his wife at home. I would have liked to examine what they have learned from the catechism and the word of God since my last visit.

N. and his wife are very diligent. He has taught her the words of the catechism without exegesis and will also continue with the remainder. God is still visiting these people with many physical woes in that they not only are very poor but also are quite frail. During the conversation, the woman mentioned her husbands blood-letting, at which time she had noticed that his blood was very thick and sticky. I asked him whether he was fretting and was sad and anxious, for this gives the blood such qualities. He could not fully deny it, but he also testified that his sadness stemmed more from the miserable condition of his soul than from temporal things. Because he cannot yet achieve a correct essence of Christianity, I entreated him to find through prayer and reflection the cause of his lack of progress, which was not to be sought in God but rather on his part. Usually he is quite earnest, prays diligently, and likes to hear and read Gods word. May God just let him truly recognize his arch enemy, which indeed is selfishness!

Sunday, the 7th of December. In this church year, instead of the epistles, we will work through the catechism in the afternoon through questions and answers. Because my dear colleague seeks to edify the congregation every two weeks on the plantations and is therefore unable to treat the catechism on one Sunday in town, he intends to go over the matters he will preach out there on Sundays at Saturdays evening prayer meeting with the children for the edification of the members; and this was begun yesterday, with the first commandment. May God give His rich blessing also to this labor!

The dear Lord has honored me with many blessings in the repetition hours, which I would like very much to maintain. In the evening prayer meeting on Sunday, we will have to make different arrangements, however, for a few children are slow in it and become sleepy. We are thinking of putting the lazy and inattentive children under the supervision of a man, perhaps the schoolmaster, who can read a few chapters from the Bible with them, and sing and pray; and this will be more useful for them than sitting idle and sleepy in the prayer meeting.

Monday, the 8th of December. N.N. remained behind after the evening prayer meeting to speak with me alone. He tearfully acknowledged that till now he had sinned considerably. His conscience, he said, had been awakened by the unforeseen death of Peter Gruber, and he had made the earnest resolution not to sadden us any longer through his impenitence and sinfulness but rather to let himself be instructed and brought to a true conversion. He wished to come to me after the evening prayer meeting as long as he was working in town so that I could instruct him as a very ignorant man. However, because my strength is rather exhausted after the prayer meeting by my daily labors, I cannot accede to this wish, as much as I would like to. He will easily find Christian people in the orphanage and elsewhere who will discuss and treat useful things with him if he is really concerned with this. I still dont trust him.

Tuesday, the 9th of December. Simon Steiner is said to be very ill, hence arrangements were made for Mr. Thilo to go to him on the plantation. He is a beginner on the plantation, dwells at the farthest end, and is very poor; hence he cannot maintain himself in his bodily weaknesses as he should and his attacks are increasing. May our merciful, pious Savior accept all poor and distressed people among us and place us in a position to come to their aid in their troublesome circumstances.

Today we had a very cold north wind, which brought us a very hard frost during the night. The Indians fires ignited the grass in the woods near town and some pine trees; and, because the wind was blowing heavily, we were afraid that damage might be done to the fences near town. People were posted at watch to call others there if the need arose.

A woman had come to me in regard to some external matters, but she was very edifying for me with her spiritual conversation. She was living entirely with the aid of her Savior. These words were very important and sweet to her: Were the Child not born for us, then we would all be lost. We have all been saved.8 She lamented that the great salvation in Christ was still so little acknowledged by men; by nature they had no desire for it. She saw that in her little child with sorrow; it was happy to pray but, when it was time to pray and incline its heart and hands to Christ, there was much recalcitrance. She added that she feared a snake greatly but feared sin even more, for through it body and soul perish in hell.

Wednesday, the 10th of December. Someone told me something disturbing; and, because this person had often asked me to tell her candidly everything wrong that I saw or heard, I did that today when she gave me the opportunity in a conversation. She took it well; but, through fear of others, she was not frank, and this caused her to be anxious and to weep after I had departed. She had implored God tearfully and prayerfully to ordain for me to return soon to her dwelling so that she could confess openly and apologize for the falsehood. Shortly before the prayer meeting my heart was inclined to go to her once more, not knowing exactly why myself. But I soon discovered the cause from her many tearful words; and from this she could also take comfort that God had heard her prayer in the matter, although she was not worthy of it because of her lack of candor.

Thursday, the 11th of December. A man is learning to recognize that he has earned his sickness and still much greater distress through his sins. The sins of his youth are indeed right numerous. He is very distressed that he grieved his old, pious mother, a widow for thirty years, with his coarse disobedience and also moved to the new world without her knowledge and against her wishes. She has many sons; but they have all turned out badly and are scattered around the world so that she gets little information from them. He wishes to write to her what God is doing for him in America and to beg forgiveness for the sins he committed against her. May God help them both come to a true conversion. There is still disunity between the married couple sometimes; for it is hard to avoid what has once become a habit and second nature.

Friday, the 12th of December. Simon Steiner, who is dangerously ill and so far distant on his plantation that we cannot visit him as often as we would like, has a good treasure in his heart which he will now certainly use. Our loving Savior blessed him richly during the last Holy Communion service. At that time the confessional contained the little verse: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, etc., and from this he recognized that God had let him feel his sins in previous times in just such a way as was stated in this verse, and thus he was admonished in the sermon. He said he had gone from one nook and cranny to another but his awakened conscience followed him everywhere, and indeed he had to feel how sin stirred up anger. He lamented herewith his lack of faith, etc. When I talked of the saddened and burdened sinners whom the Lord Jesus calls to Himself, and one thing and another came up which pleased him, he nodded to his wife and said several times she might take note of it, for that is what happens when a person converts and comes to grace, etc. The man is so poor that he cannot provide clothes and blankets for his little child, who is only four months old. I promised him I would have some old clothing provided for it. His previous illness stopped him from weathering his cottage, hence in this too he has had to get along badly in this cold winter.

Many people are wishing along with me that the construction of the church can begin after Christmas; and in this matter I admonished the construction people today. However, I do not know whether we will get to it, as they have lost so much time at the mill, contrary to expectation, and now wish to build dwellings they need for themselves; and in addition the time is again approaching when they should clear and prepare their land for planting. I would be sorry if we could not at least make a beginning of it this winter. Mr. N.9 would put an especially bad interpretation on it; he would have liked to see the church built long ago, for while in England he had strongly argued the necessity of this construction. Since he intends to go to England, he would like to give written and oral reports of the good application of the money that was collected. May God make possible what seems impossible and help to overcome all difficulties!

Saturday, the 13th of December. The dear Lord, in His wisdom and kindness has ordained that we observe, at this inspiring time of Advent, the 6th chapter of the first Book of Samuel, according to the schedule in the prayer meeting, from which we learn many things of importance through His grace and assistance, things which provide us beautiful opportunities for the proper perception of the present time of grace and for the appropriate preparation of our hearts for the celebration of Christmas. May the Lord only cause us to deal right faithfully with the good He has brought on our hearts and consciences through the effect of the Holy Spirit, so that His treasured name will be exalted and our salvation advanced. Because the circumstances of this story are very important, we are dwelling on it longer than we usually do. What matters is not to dash rapidly from one chapter to another, but to turn the divine truths, as it were, into succum & sanguinem.10

Sunday, the 14th of December. I received news from Old Ebenezer that Mr. Jones was still in Frederica with General Oglethorpe and would hardly come back to Savannah before Christmas. We are anxious to hear from him because he promised to put in every good word for us and to bring back the money for paying the shilling promised for each bushel of crops harvested last year. Kogler was at my house and told me that (praise God!) during the night between Friday and Saturday he got enough water for grinding. From his description I could see that he hopes to grind six bushels of fine meal in twenty-four hours, which will be a great advantage to our congregation. Praise God who has helped so far! May He deign to incline the hearts of the construction people to go with willing and faithful hearts to the building of the church so that we can gather more conveniently to hold public services. The old church hut has had to be torn down because otherwise it would have soon collapsed and might have injured people or cattle in falling.

Monday, the 15th of December. The news of the dangerous conflagration in Charlestown is being confirmed. In seven hours three hundred houses are said to have burned down, and amongst them the store houses of the most prominent merchants. Last week in the orphanage there might have been fire damage through the carelessness of a woman, if the Lord had not turned it away, for which His name be praised. This week several outbuildings are being erected which we have lacked till now. We still hope for a new influx of a material blessing from Europe. In the meantime we manage as best we can, and those who have done any labor in the orphanage give it on trust until we have the means to pay them.

Tuesday, the 16th of December. Our song hour, which is held Mondays and Wednesdays after the prayer meeting, is very edifying for all those who come to it with proper hearts; and the Lord grants us many blessings through song and prayer. Through the word previously preached in the prayer meeting the Lord awakens our spirits so that we can then sing and play in our hearts before the Lord all the more enthusiastically. In a few weeks we have been learning: Entznde dich in Andacht, etc., Sey hochgelobt, barmherziger Gott, etc. Auf Zion auf! auf Tochter, etc. Eins Christen Hertz sehnt sich, etc. Wach auf, wach auf, du sichre Welt, etc. Das Leben unsers Knigs siegt, etc. and Kommt seyd gefasst zum Lammes-Mahl, etc., which will also be sung publicly in the congregation by and by. God be praised for the beautiful blessing in song!

After the devotional hour on the plantations I went to the mill to have a look for myself at what several people had already told me. Although the water is low and has fallen since yesterday, Kogler had made six bushels of corn into fine flour during the night; and from this we can see that with good water more than the six bushels assumed recently can be ground in twenty-four hours on these two millstones. The sight of this now usable mill inspired me to great joy and much praise of God. It is my intention to thank the Lord publicly with the congregation at a time set aside for it. Who would have thought seven or only a few years ago that our loving God would help our Ebenezer so far that the first mill in Georgia and Carolina could be constructed here. Whoever amongst us has eyes to see marvels at the undeserved kindness of the Lord and is inspired by it to His praise and is strengthened in faith of further divine aid, without which our dear Ebenezer could not be what it is and still can be. We should now have a proper miller who understands the construction and can arrange, alter, and improve one thing and another according to the situation, since all such machines are indeed subject to change. Kogler, who built the mill with the assistance of the entire congregation, is best fitted for it and is also untiring in serving the congregation, but he is our most prominent carpenter, and his talent can be better applied. Perhaps the dear Lord will indicate someone who is fitted for it. In the orphanage we have a volunteer servant named Herzog, who learned the millers trade and ground a lot in Salzburg; but his hearing is poor and he is subject to many weaknesses of body and spirit and therefore might be incompetent for this, although the orphanage, for love of the congregation, will gladly let him go.

Until now we have had constantly dry, cold weather, but today we heard thundering, and thereupon we got heavy rain, which made my journey hither somewhat difficult. Through this rain the mill will doubtless get sufficient water. Above the mill a small stream flows into the land and finally drops into a creek or an arm of the Savannah River running towards Abercorn. This small river is now blocked with boards at its confluence, but if there is too much water at the mill we hope to lead it away by opening this small river so that there will be less danger for the dam. But we are nonetheless resigning ourselves to suffer all kinds of trials in the first year, and experience will indeed teach our people all kinds of things about it. But we already know from experience that everything the Lord ordains for us has to work to our advantage.

Wednesday, the 17th of December. Last night the wind stormed so violently that we thought it would tear down huts and garden fences, and indeed it did do some damage. It brought us such a freeze as we have never seen in Ebenezer. The thick ice stood throughout the entire day, even though the sun was shining hot. Towards evening the strong wind abated, and perhaps the harsh cold may also abate, especially since the weather here in the country is very changeable. Poor people suffer especially at night with the cold.

Thursday, the 18th of December. The cold has not decreased but rather increased. Everyone is saying we have never had a freeze like it and that it could hardly be greater even in Germany. Necessity will require the Salzburgers by and by to construct houses as stout as they had in their fatherland, for it seems to be getting colder every year. This probably stems from the woods being more and more cut down, giving more room to the free wind. In town it is colder than on the plantations.

This year the people have gotten very few sweet potatoes because the weather has been too dry and also because the mice have done much harm. Otherwise the same thing would have happened to them as to the pumpkins, which, as was recounted, froze by the hundreds if they did not lie in a proper, warm spot. In the orphanage there is an oven only in the room where the manager with his family and the widow Schweighofer dwell. When the cold is very severe the oven is enjoyed by ill persons during the day as well as by some girls who work at sewing. The remainder make do with a great fire in the well-protected cottage. I told them today that, if they feared God and thanked Him heartily for the many spiritual and physical benefactions they had already received, it would be an easy thing for Him to bestow one or more ovens for their comfort. Now the beautiful prefiguration of Christ, the Ark of the Covenant in Obededoms house was in our minds, cf. Genesis 39:5.

For some time I have set the Psalms of David as the basis of the preparation lessons for Holy Communion and tried to preach from them, by question and answer, that which pertains to faith and the Christian life, with quotations from other biblical verses and also to have the basic and principal verses learned by heart. Amongst the ones being prepared there are a few married women, who are more in need of instruction than the remaining children. Because Pastor Freylinghausens Compendium Theologiae11 previously brought about much edification through Gods blessing when we went through it with a few preparatory students, I have begun once more to preach one article after the other from it simply and briefly, and to inculcate the subjoined verses as proof, clarification, and confirmation of the truth. The articles of faith adhere to one another beautifully at this point, and we also show the duty and comfort that flow therefrom, and we always have a fine thread of repetition at hand. May God give wisdom to me; and to the members of the class, who at this time number ten, i.e., two boys, six girls, and two women. May He give hearts and ears that are opened, so that the goal we are seeking herein will be achieved, to His glory and the salvation of us all! If we had more copies of such compendia we would give them to the preparatory students so that they could diligently repeat the Christian doctrines in them with their families at home. But I have been able to serve only the two women in this manner.

Friday, the 19th of December. We have long had in mind to schedule a special hour on the plantations, as we did in town, wherein we might mutually praise the Lord our God for His assistance during the construction of the mill as well as for the blessing of the harvest we received and invigorate ourselves through the divine word. This hour was held today at the usual place for public divine services. In the Bible story we first observed what is recounted concerning the blessing that originated in the house of Obededom for the sake of the Ark of the Covenant, 2 Samuel 6. Not only the faithful amongst us, but also strangers at our place have recognized and attested both orally and in writing that the Lord is amongst us with His blessing. Hence it is indeed a great shame for those amongst us who are still blind to the footprints of the Lords blessing to enjoy the divine kindness and nonetheless not to recognize and glorify it. Thereby we pointed out with examples what God had done just this year in other spiritual and physical kindnesses, but especially in the harvest and in the construction of the mill, for which He not only made the workers willing and joyful but also mercifully turned away all injuries and accidents.

This kindness of God should awaken the faithful to praise Him, but others should know that God wishes to lead them to penitence through it. Otherwise severity and chastisement will follow, as is to be seen in the case of Usa and other examples, cf. Luke 13:1 ff. Hereby everyone was inspired to true godliness which is inherent in the promise of this and the future life, as we were also able to recognize quite beautifully in the example of the pious Joseph, Genesis 39:4, and from the 128th Psalm, which were read aloud. Finally we knelt down and praised the name of the Lord and we called to Him to grant what is required for the building costs at the mill as well as to give His blessing to the intended church construction, so that the builders may cheerfully set about it with willing, faithful, and disinterested hearts.

Saturday, the 20th of December. The great cold and raw winds have died down, to be sure, but in place of them we had really cold rain storms yesterday afternoon and last night, and it was also cold and gloomy throughout the entire day. The water, which dropped quite low with the frost, is beginning to rise once more; and this will be very useful for the mill. Everyone would like to have some flour for the holiday, which is very hard to get from the hand mills, and also practically all of them are ruined.

Coming in from the plantations I met the N. woman, who had intended to speak to me regarding her serving girl, who would like to go to another woman. This girl was very spiteful and unruly at first, but subsequently she has improved so much that she may be very well employed. The N. woman told me that she had sought the change and improvement in the girl with much praying and imploring to God and that she had been heard therein (as she told with great joy). Because the girl had already been yearning a few weeks ago to go to the other woman, and the N. woman did not know what action would be proper according to Gods will, she and her husband decided to lay the matter humbly and diligently before the heavenly Father. He would arrange the matter of her remaining or leaving according to His paternal will; selfishness would only generate unrest. And since everything was right for her departure, they were quite satisfied if only the girl were aided in body and soul.

I believe that things would look better here and everywhere if everyone amongst us with bad children would act as this woman did and would not simply let others pray for them and work on them, but rather would do it themselves earnestly and diligently and also give them a good and constant example through a righteous Christian behavior. Many parents are not properly united, one is converted and leads an earnest Christian life, but the other does not. This causes great harm in raising children.

In the afternoon my dear colleague had visited the sick Simon Steiner and given him instruction and comfort from Gods word. He still has the difficult and dangerous condition he has long had, and the medicines he is using still have no effect. At the beginning of the week Mr. Thilo will have the opportunity to travel to him, as he finds it necessary himself. The good man is very ill in his badly protected hut in this cold weather; he is on the plantation farthest from us on the mill stream, hence we cannot go to his aid as often as might be necessary.

Sunday, the 21st of December. The weather is very changeable. Last night such a hoar-frost fell that the ground and trees appeared as if it had snowed. Nonetheless the cold was easy to take after the sun began to shine delightfully, and it bothered us little at the meeting. Todays evening prayer meeting was as edifying to me, and doubtless to others, and as blessed in my heart, as hardly any other in previous times. We had put the children who had previously tended to be lethargic together under the supervision of the schoolmaster in a room in my house. He read through with them the edifying little book called Christs Gift,12 and thus we had space to bend our knees in good order. And, whereas we usually prayed alone in the prayer meetings (which are held every two weeks when we share the labor, one on the plantations and one here), today we let a few pious male members pray; and this doubtless gives others a good impression since it takes place very heartily. We are thinking of continuing in this manner. May the Lord bless everything for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ!

A young girl tearfully asked me to admit her to the prayer meeting; she will be admitted in the future because she is a child in whom we have good hope. Such good shall occur to other children if they let the preached word of God awaken them from their sleep of certainty and bring them to earnestness in their Christianity. Before the prayer we sing one or more of the privately learned songs; pious members see this as a great benefaction, and those who attend the divine services in town and can be present at the evening prayer meeting as well have an advantage over the others. Today we sang the two songs: Wach auf, wach auf, du sichre Welt, etc., Liebster Jesu, liebstes Leben, etc., which were sung aloud quite accurately and devoutly. Oh, what a pleasure it is for us to be in such a gathering! We hear from their prayers how heartily they praise God, and will do so even better in heaven, that, according to His wise providence, He has brought them together in this corner of the world to prepare for blessed eternity. Publicly and privately they request many blessings as compensation for the worldly Senior Urlsperger in particular and for other dear benefactors in Europe whom the Lord is using as blessed instruments for this purose.

Monday, the 22nd of December. In the recent hour of thanksgiving on the plantations I made mention of the sermon on the 124th Psalm which the late Professor Freylinghausen held for the Salzburgers who had come to Halle and with which we familiarized ourselves in the public thanksgiving in town. Today one of the leaders fetched a few such little books, and I wish to give a few to those people who want to gather together and edify themselves for them. We have good reason to retain such sermons as were held for the Salzburgers after their emigration, as a constant good reminder. The above-mentioned Mr. Freylinghausen edified another transport of Salzburgers with I Peter 1:18-19 and had the sermon on it printed, of which I sent out two copies. It is a very heartfelt sermon and well worth reading.

I received from a pious merchant13 in Savannah a short letter in which he reported that Mr. N.14 had returned from his long journey a week ago Saturday during the night. He reports at the same time that he was intending to return to London next month. Perhaps after the celebration the Lord will grant us time and strength to write a few letters to Europe, since with him we would have a good and safe opportunity to send along our diary, which once more is starting to become rather heavy. Oh, how we yearn for news of the circumstances of our dear fathers and benefactors!

Tuesday, the 23rd of December. Prior to the devotional hour I visited the sick Simon Steiner and sought to place a few Christmas verses in his heart. They were ones which he himself knew by heart and which he might most easily remember, for now his powers of thought and mind are very weak. He reminded his wife to keep the verses safe, so that she can recite them to him again. He has a longing and desire for Gods word as great as that of a new-born child for the mothers milk. He added that, if God helped him recover, he would not remain on the plantation because he was too far distant from Gods word to hear it publicly and often. He was also suffering loss in his physical nourishment, to be sure, and had lost three pigs just a short time previously; but that did not cause him (praise God!) the least unease, rather he was concerned only with the salvation of his soul and with spiritual pastures. I consoled him by promising to talk further with him on this when God had made him well. Now he should only be concerned with comprehending the salvation of Jesus better and better, like Zacheus, and with gaining a sure footing in the gospel of the dear Savior, which was so comforting for all the mourners at Zion. He is making some improvement, and it would come sooner if he did not have to put up with so much cold in his poor cottage. He is requesting something for his extreme need, which will also be provided today.

A man from town attended the preparation for the holy celebration on the plantations; and, when he came to me, he attested his joy at Gods ordaining for him to hear what was preached about the story in 2 Samuel 6, cf. I Chronicles 16, for this purpose. He is one of those who thank God hundreds of times for leading them here. A woman said today that she thought to herself that the first thing she would do in heaven would be to glorify the Lord with a transfigured mouth for the grace He had shown her in Ebenezer and also to thank the worthy Senior Urlsperger for assisting her in moving to Ebenezer. Throughout the entire Advent season, we have been suckling, as it were, from the beautiful story, which we are still reading; and, because we compare other passages of the Old and New Testament with it, we are going through it slowly, to be sure, but from it we are receiving much edification through Gods blessing.

Sanftleben met with a severe accident on his plantation this morning, which God will cause to serve for his benefit. A wild cow knocked two teeth from his mouth and a hole in his head, and he would indeed have lost his life if God had not turned the danger away.

Today we heard that it did not seem too far to the Children of Israel to come to Jerusalem from every corner of their land, to please the Ark of the Covenant, and that they were rewarded for it spiritually and physically. I dwelt somewhat on the matter of I Chronicles 16:12-14, which presents the preparation for the priests and Levites and their simple obedience to it, and compared with it Exodus 19:10, 11, 14 and especially Genesis 25:1-5. I had occasion there to recommend our church construction as a Bethel for our congregation, out of love to God, who has till now been no less friendly to us than to the pious Jacob on his pilgrimage.

Wednesday, the 24th of December. An orphan girl named Magdalena Haberfechner15 has had an illness in her chest for some time, and her strength has waned to the point that Mr. Thilo has no hope of her recovery. She is vomiting off little stones which look like grains of rice. She was always of a quiet temperament, nonetheless the Lord has drawn her closer to Himself in this last illness. She was among the last children who took Communion for the first time after our customary confirmation ceremony, and at that time she had a fine beginning of Christianity. When she went to Communion with the congregation the last time in Advent she prepared herself very well for it, as the Kalcher woman recounted to me. Because her name is Magdalena, I only recently gave her Luke 7 for reflective reading, which she read several times (as she attested to me), and profited well by what was recounted therein about the great sinful woman. May God prepare her well through His spirit for a blessed journey home. She will find her pious father, who died in Old Ebenezer in the faith of the Son of God, before the throne of the lamb, on the other hand we have no hope for her mother.

The oft-mentioned pious merchant from Savannah today sent me by Kieffers son some sack cloth for the mill, which I had sought from him. We are also letting nothing prevent our physical rest towards and during the celebration. After the celebration one of us may perhaps travel to Savannah and, if we can get finished, deliver to Mr. N., if he is still there, a few letters and our diary for posting.

Thursday and Friday, the 25th and 26th of December, were the holy Christmas celebration. Quite early on the first holiday the Lackner woman16 gave birth to a young daughter. She came to Ebenezer amongst the womenfolk with Sanftleben, and soon after her arrival she married the shoemaker Ulich. After he died, she married the honest Lackner already on the 10th of December 1739, and has led a quite contented marriage with him.

Shortly before the midday divine service on the first day of the celebration, the consumptive orphan girl Magdalena Haberfechner died. Kalcher bore good witness for her. She liked to pray, yearned heartily for death and blessed redemption, and trusted her dear Savior to take her to Himself in His peace.

On the first holiday the divine service was held only in the town, and the people on the plantations were diligent in attending, although the weather was quite raw and inclement. For it rained during the night and throughout the entire day and thereupon froze, whereby the paths became very slippery. From the sermon the Lord has surely sent those desirous members much for their salvation and comfort, so that they will not regret their trouble and diligence.

It was, to be sure, quite raw and stormy both holidays, nonetheless we did not let ourselves be stopped from holding public divine services. If ever a Christmas celebration has been edifying for me and blessed in my heart, I can say it of this one, God be praised. He also strengthened us noticeably in our bodies. Shortly before the sermon on the first holiday the swelling in my cheek burst open on the inside, and I felt no more inconvenience. Also, while preaching Gods word at the prayer meetings before the celebration, it seemed as if I was lacking nothing and no pain was there at all. I have often thought of the little word that we found so impressive in the story 1 Chronicles 16:26, where the Lord helped the Levites, etc. The beautiful Christmas songs were sung aloud on all occasions in such delightful harmony and reverence and so accurately that anyone concerned with edification could have been edified quite remarkably by means of them. God be praised for the beautiful treasury of songs. It was astounding that this time only two people came to the celebration from N.17 I fear that the way is too far for them and the weather too inclement, and that in many hearts there is no desire for edification. For many a person the previously heard word may be too burdensome, and hence in his carnal attitude he does not wish to let himself be disturbed again.

Saturday, the 27th of December. This morning the deceased orphan girl was buried. Because it was cold all those days, we were able to leave her in the orphanage throughout the holiday. Kalcher and his wife are very joyful at her departure, hoping certainly to find her again before the throne of God. In the last hours she edified herself considerably with the example of the great sinful woman and the daughter of Jairus, whom the Lord awakened, and at the same time she let this be her prayer: Lord, if only I have thee, etc., and also, Oh, Lord, how long; redeem me soon, I wish to die. When will my hour strike? She lovingly reproved the bad manners of the other girls, and also indicated this or that thing which should be redressed. Finally, after requesting some tea, she fell asleep unnoticed and quite gently.

The ill Simon Steiner yesterday called for my dear colleague when he held the divine service on the plantations; but, because there was no time remaining yesterday to take the long road to him, he traveled out to him today and took some medicines along from Mr. Thilo. Some people wish to gather for mutual prayer, and they would like to have him with them, so he will spend the night there because the divine service tomorrow is to be held on the plantations anyway. On the other hand on New Year and on Epiphany we will seek to edify the congregation together in town from Gods word and also to go to Holy Communion.

Sunday, the 28th of December. It seems to me that N.N. is acting anew with earnestness to convert to the Lord. His prayer, which he rendered to God publicly in our home prayer meeting and in the customary Sunday prayer meeting, was full of humble recognition and acknowledgement of his misery. May God grant that everything take firm hold! Our loving God still allows us to feel some blessings from the preaching of His word; and He is graciously caring for our souls and has granted us right rich grace during the recent holy days for achieving our salvation. Hallelujah!

Monday, the 29th of December. A few months ago I had purchased salt in Savannah for the orphanage which now benefits us very much, since salt is rarer than flour in this country. Till now one more barrel of salt had been stored in the storehouse in Savannah; and, because we learned that all salt will, Regia Auctoritate,18 be taken for salting the oxen slaughtered for Mr. Oglethorpes soldiers, we sent the small boat down today to fetch said salt. On this occasion I wrote an answer to N.19 asking him to excuse me for not being able to come down before the new year, as I had wished, because of much work. In the meantime, he could report that we would begin the church construction in the name of God after the Feast of the Epiphany, although the Salzburgers have their hands full with their own building, field work, and housekeeping. He wished to have a few barrels of cornmeal ground for the orphanage.20 He will be served with that when the water has risen somewhat more and a proper miller has been appointed. Kogler recently said that, if it were not so cold in the water and there were more time remaining and if we had another pair of stones, he might bring it to the point in three days that we could grind with the lowest water.

I am now writing to the Trustees and to the most praiseworthy Society, because we desire to send our diary to Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen at the beginning of this new year. The status of our congregation is to be found everywhere in our diary, hence we will write no more than a few lines to Mr. Ziegenhagen, which our dear Fathers in Germany21 will interpret best. We are sending the most praiseworthy Society a report on our office and our congregation, to wit, that God in His loving kindness is ruling over us spiritually and physically, is keeping us all rather healthy, and has granted His blessing to the preaching of the divine word. We are further indicating that the Salzburger congregation in Ebenezer consists at this time of sixty-four families, in which are one hundred seventeen adults, both men and women, and seventy-two large and small children. Twelve children were baptized in the year just ended, seven couples married, one man, one girl, and five small children died, and three men, to wit Bach, Held, and Rauner, fell at St. Augustine.

We further report that God has helped the Salzburgers to build a stout flour mill on the so-called Abercorn Creek, which is now called the Ebenezer Mill Stream. They look forward to profiting from it. The people have neglected their own affairs while building it and would thank God if kind benefactors wished to contribute something for the payment of the mills expenses, as the Trustees were asked in this and in another letter in September. Likewise, we report that the Salzburgers are starting to work on the church construction, also that the orphanage can be carried on under divine blessing and that there are twenty-one persons,22 young and old, therein, being kept mostly by benefactions from Europe. We also report that the young Englishman, Bischoff, gave up the English school because the salary of 5 ь sterling was too meager, although he should have reckoned in his freedom, which was given to him. We wish to have a qualified person for this purpose. We are also mentioning the circumstances of Mr. Thilo and Schoolmaster Ortmann for their benefit.

I am thanking the Trustees in a letter to Mr. Verelst above all for the goodwill shown to our congregation till now, and especially, according to their last letter, 1) for having paid Captain Thompson 18 ь, 16 sh., 8 p. for the German servants sent to our place. But we believe that there was an error committed, in that the Captain accepted pay for people who do not belong to us or who died while still in Savannah; 2) that the mill has been completed and the Trustees are being asked to bear the expenses of construction. If some payment results, the Salzburgers would be encouraged and made capable of building a rice mill in a short time. The expenses run up to 89 ь sterling, to which Mr. Oglethorpe has already contributed 12 h. 3) Because the Salzburgers were occupied with the mill and other necessary labor, they did not plant as much land or grow as many crops as last year, and also ten men23 who went to war planted nothing and harvested nothing. I did not wish to cite other causes for the harvests not being so abundant this time, although it was blessed. They planted in all 154 acres; and from them they got 2,423 bushels of corn, 261 bushels of beans, 553 bushels of rice, and 385 bushels of sweet potatoes. 4) I recently commended Mr. Thilo, whose provisions from the storehouse are at an end, most strongly. I am also transmitting a copy of the letter written to Mr. Verelst in September, which once more mentions the still unpaid Swiss linen, my house, and the orphanage. May God give His blessing thereto!

In my prayer meeting at home today only a few pious women were present. The men, as I learned afterwards, had either gone to the mill or to other necessary business. A small book came into my hands with the title: List of the most outstanding Gifts and Benefactions of God according to the 3 Articles of our Christian Faith, etc.24 From it I propose to publicize one or two such gifts and benefactions of God each time before the prayer, and to look up the verses cited therein and lay them closer to our hearts. Thus we will always have good material for the praise of God and prayer. Today we begin with the first three gifts and benefactions of eternity: 1) God wishes to be our God. 2) God wishes to be our father. 3) We should all be Gods children, sons and daughters. Because I was unfamiliar with this small book previously, it is all the more dear to me now; and I believe the Lord has kept it for me till the right time and will (as has already happened today) send me and others much edification from it.

Tuesday, the 30th of December. The cold, which is greater this year than previously, is still keeping up, especially at night; and hence Simon Steiner, in his dangerous illness, must bear a great deal in his miserable hut. Kalcher carried something out to him today in his extreme need, and he admitted more clearly to him than he did recently to me that he and his wife had a yearning desire to be taken into the orphanage. If God should make him well again, he said, he would dedicate his time and his work to the Lord and the orphanage. In view of his illness I find it necessary to have him brought to a comfortable place for care; and, because Kalcher is fond of him and is not shy of additional labor, he will be fetched today in a boat from his plantation and brought into the orphanage. If the Lord sends him his health again, I see it as a benefaction for the orphanage, because we will indeed have need of the mans help, since Christian Riedelsperger, who committed himself to the orphanage for one year out of pure love of God and the orphanage, will once more return to his own household and look for a loyal helpmeet. Simon Steiner is seeking only the one necessary thing, as are Kalcher and others in the orphanage, and therefore he is very suited for it.

Before the devotional hour I was at the mill to see if everything was progressing in good order. I was again inspired to much joy and praise of God, for people are recognizing more and more the great profit the mill is bringing to the congregation. There is grinding night and day, although there is still no miller present. Pichler, who learned something from Kogler, does as much as he can in running the mill. I believe, and I am learning too, that God is being highly praised for the benefaction He has shown our congregation in this. Because Kogler has indeed done all kinds of service for the congregation as long as he has been with us and has taken only quite meager compensation for his labor and now has shown right extraordinary industriousness and care at the mill and also great patience with so many helpers, I have made mention of his good services in the letter to the Trustees. I hope they will put us in a position to render him some reward, which he indeed needs, since he is almost as badly provided with clothes and other necessities as are the others. His dwelling is so poor, without even a kitchen, that others on the plantations likely have more comfort than he in regard to their dwellings. That is because he labors more for others than for himself.

During the prayer meeting yesterday evening our boat came back from Savannah. Mr. Oglethorpe desires a barrel of flour from our mill, which will be sent to him immediately. It is probably known everywhere, as we hear, that praise God! our mill is complete and serviceable. The Lord has helped us so far (1 Chronicles 16:26), may He be praised!

Once more we are having some inconvenience from a runaway black slave or whatever kind of fellow it might be. He has already stolen a few odds and ends of provisions and has been seen various evenings during the prayer meeting. Someone told me that the two miscreants and murderers who were in prison for some time in Savannah have been hanged. The Spanish doctor was taken down from the gallows and buried, but the soldier was taken down and hanged once more in irons at Fort Argyle or Ogeechy, where the murder was committed. A black slave who also had deserved death had to hang them, and for that he was given his life.25

Last year our cowherd Schneider had me write a letter to his close relatives in Pennsylvania, in which once more he requested his trunk and the things in it, which a good friend from Rotterdam had taken along with him. Today I received the answer that most of the German people on the ship had died and that the ship itself, when it came into the vicinity of Rhode Island, went aground, the helmsman and everyone else left aboard had fled, and therefore his trunk had been lost.26 This Schneider and his wife and children had wanted to go to Pennsylvania on the abovementioned ship; but, because he could not pay even half the passage, they did not accept him. Rather he was finally brought with other German people to his colony by Captain Thompson, and was taken on at his repeated request as cowherd in our congregation. Oh, may he and his family indeed gratefully recognize the benefaction the Lord has shown him through this, for which I wish to give him cause by reading this letter aloud. Since Schartner went to the plantations to guard the cattle in the place of Schneider, the latter is to become cowherd to the orphanage, and much good is being done for him and his wife (Sanftlebens sister), also an opportunity is being given them to establish a household of their own.

Mr. N. still has quartan fever, and his wife is also always ailing. I am saddened that he has lost his chimney in this cold season through a sudden fire; for it cannot be built before the beginning of the new year.

Before noon I traveled to Kogler to talk a bit with him and consider the total expenses of the mill construction. Everyone will be satisfied with a modest wage for the hard and bitter labor, which caused much loss of clothing; and the workers will thank God if the Trustees pay the costs, as Mr. Oglethorpe assured us even before the construction. With the very stout dike a good foundation has been laid for all kinds of mills, which can be built with little expense by and by as needed. I am considering writing to Mr. Oglethorpe in detail about the matter when a barrel of flour is sent to him. On the road a pious man told me that another man, who had stopped at a plantation above Purysburg, had told him of the poor accommodations in the households even of the so-called gentlemen, although they have many Negroes or slaves; and he thought that many of the inhabitants amongst us had it better. He added that it was such a great benefaction to have the prayer of so many pious people with us, which accomplishes more than other human things. We certainly have to thank the intercession of righteous ministers and other pious Christians who bear the welfare of Ebenezer in their hearts for the fact that there has been not the least fear and inconvenience on account of the war, although we in this colony are closest to the Spaniards. News has come to Savannah that General Oglethorpe has recovered once more in Frederica. Mr. Jones would like to remain with him a few more weeks.

Today, I had the children and workers in the orphanage together to praise all the spiritual and physical benefactions which the Lord has shown us so richly in the year just ended and to arouse ourselves to an active gratitude to serve God from now on in spirit and in truth. Before the prayer I briefly made profitable use for them of what is found for our information and warning in Isaiah 5:1 f., and I showed that we now, especially in Ebenezer and in the orphanage, had come to the place of the ancient Jewish people and were enjoying the benefit of all spiritual care and providence from our gracious and merciful God, all to the end that we may be something for the praise of His glory. And, because God has not yet attained His goal in some amongst us, especially in the children, but rather they had shocked God with their behavior and had caused their superiors much sadness and sighs, it must by Gods grace be quite different from now on. Gods kindness must conduct them to penitence and its righteous fruits. They could all come into such a blessed state, that God could refresh Himself, all the saints, and all pious people by their example more than one can refresh oneself with a sweet bunch of grapes.

The Kalcher woman told me of a little girl who has been unattentive and frivolous until now, saying that God is tugging powerfully on her soul and is causing a holy disquiet in her heart because of her previous naughtiness. God has also visited four boys with quartan fever and they are now becoming quieter; perhaps the Lord will attain His merciful purpose in this way. In this connection I remembered the prayer we sent to God at the beginning of the church year, in which we prayed that He would show mercy on our children for the sake of Christ and, if He could not bring them to their knees and to penitence in healthy days, that He would draw them to Himself through bodily tribulations and sickness, etc. I reminded the children of this too today and inculcated the verse Psalms 7:13-14. May God bless all this to His glory and to mans salvation and bliss!

Ever-merciful, pious, and loving God and Father, who, as great and glorious as Thou art, hast loved us from all eternity in Christ, Thy Son our most beloved Savior, with so great and splendid a love, may praise, laud, thanks, glory, and adoration be unto Thee for all spiritual and physical benefactions Thou hast shown so richly and steadfastly in the past year to us and our congregation, old and young, great and small. Thee we are to thank for our enjoyment of Thy word, of the holy sacraments, of external calm, of our health and physical strength. From Thee alone come all the blessings we receive from the preaching of Thy word and the partaking of the holy sacraments. We have felt Thy merciful presence abundantly in the performance of our office, and Thou hast granted us much right celestial refreshment along with many kinds of spiritual and physical tribulation in the blessings that Thou hast shown to our listeners. Thou hast also let our church discipline, which has been necessary from time to time, not be without good effect. Praise be unto Thee! How great is Thy patience, forebearance, and mercy, which Thou hast shown towards us all, especially towards the disobedient and disloyal souls! Grant us true penitence and let us find forgiveness of all our known and unknown sins in Christ and His blood of reconciliation. Let us spend the short remaining time of our life, especially the now beginning year, entirely to Thy glory and the salvation of our souls so that, when our course comes to an end either soon or late, we will gaze upon Thy blessed countenance and eternally praise Thee with transfigured tongues and mouths for all Thy gifts that we have enjoyed even in Ebenezer. Reward all our dear benefactors in this land and in Europe for all the spiritual and physical blessings that have flown through them to us ministers and to our dear parishioners and let us further commend to Thy mercy and blessing the state of our office and our households and the needs of all the members of our congregation and also of our dear orphanage. Continue to bless the preaching of Thy word (for which Thou hast wished to make us right suited again through Thy holy word) for the conversion of many souls and the strengthening of the grace in those in whom Thou has already established Thy kingdom of grace. Grant also, oh Lord, Thy blessing and aid for the important building of the church construction, which is to begin soon at the beginning of this new year, so that, begun in blessing, it will be continued and completed and all harm and accidents will be averted in this construction as in previous ones. All for the glorification of Thy name, the salvation of and mutual joy of our souls, and for the joy of those who wish, desire, and petition our good.

Amen, for Christs sake, Amen.

Hallelujah!

NOTES

Works Abbreviated in Notes


Ausf. Nachr.


Samuel Urlsperger, ed., Ausfhrliche Nachricht von den Saltzburgischen Emigranten ... (Halle, 1735ff.)


CRG


Allen Candler, ed., The Colonial Records of the State of Georgia (Atlanta, 1904ff.)


Det. Rep.


George F. Jones, et al., Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants ... (Athens, Ga., 1968ff.)


Smith


John A.M. Smith, Purrysburgh, South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine X (1909), 189-219.


Whitefield


George Whitefields Journals (1734-41), reprint by William V. Davis (Gainesville, Fla., 1969).

Notes to Introduction

1. Whitefield, p. 436.

2. CRG Vol. XXXIX (unpublished), p. 491.

3. Ausf. Nachr., 6th Continuation, p. 357.

4. Reproduced in Angelika Marsch, Die Salzburger Emigration in Bildern. Weissenhorn, West Germany: Anton H. Konrad Verlag, 1978, p. 156.

5. See A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia, with Comments by the Earl of Egmont, ed. Clarence L. Ver Steeg. Athens, Ga., 1960.

6. Ibid., p. 136.

7. This appears to have been the chest which was at Port Royal on 5 July and was too heavy to be brought to Savannah by canoe (CRG XXII, Pt. II, 382).

8. CRG IV, 559.

9. See footnote to May 14 (note 11). The date of this incident is not clear. Stephens mentions it in his entry for 13 May, yet Boltzius entry for 9 May states that he had already sent a letter of complaint on 6 May.

10. See Stephens entry for 8 March 1740 (CRG IV, 530).

11. Whitefield, p. 392.

12. Twenty-nine hymns were learned between Christmas and Easter (Entry for 27 April).

13. Angelika Marsch, Die Salzburger Emigration in Bildern. Weisshorn, West Germany, 1978.

Notes to January

1. Boltzius means that she was held back by religious scruples and by physical ailments.

2. Johann Jacob Zuebli.

3. Honesty (Redlichkeit) usually designated the acceptance of Pietistic principles.

4. Johann Liborius Zimmerman, Die berschwengliche Erkenntnis Jesu Christi... (Halle, 1731).

5. Johann Arndt, Vier Bcher vom wahren Christenthum (Halle, probably 3rd ed. of 1735).

6. Anonymous collective work, Sammlung auserlesner Materien zum Bau des Reiches Gottes (Leipzig, 1731ff.), which consists of Contributions (Bey trge).

7. Like Boltzius, Whitefield believed that one could not achieve salvation through good works but only through faith in Jesus. According to William Stephens journal, on 13 January 1740, upon returning from Savannah, Whitefield preached on Justification by Faith Only (CRG, IV, 489. See also 531).

8. Patrick Hunter (CRG XXXIV, 94). Jonathan Barber, a Presbyterian, served as chaplain (ibid.)

9. Bethesda, which now functions as a school, is still on the same site.

10. Whitefield saw no contradiction in exploiting slave labor in order to make life easier for his orphans. Because the Trustees would not allow him to have slaves at Bethesda, he established an income-producing plantation in South Carolina.

11. It is regrettable that these communion lists are lost, since many of the Savannah Germans are known only by the anglicized names recorded by the English scribes.

12. All references to Mr. Jones are to Thomas Jones, the new keeper of the stores, since Boltzius did not yet dignify Noble Jones with that title.

13. This was Johann Paul Francke, who had run away from the Ebenezer orphanage in 1737 (Det. Rep. IV, 29). After serving an Indian trader for twelve years, he returned to Purysburg, having completely forgotten his native language and religion (Ausf. Nachr., Seventeenth Continuation, p. 701).

14. Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch (Halle, probably 3rd ed. of 1725).

15. Like the medieval schoolmen before him, Boltzius looked upon the events and persons of the Old Testament as prefigurations of those in the New Testament. David generally prefigured Jesus. See entry for 13 May.

16. Boltzius says the fourth commandment. He is, of course, referring to the commandment, Honor thy father and thy mother, which is number four according to German reckoning but number five according to ours. In this translation the commandments will be numbered according to the English numbering.

17. Probably Mrs. Rheinlaender, who had been excommunicated and expelled from Ebenezer. Her son was apprenticed to a cobbler in Savannah.

18. Georg Bartholomus Rott, a Bavarian distiller, was the first inhabitant of Ebenezer to be banished for misbehavior. He died soon afterwards, unrepentant and a dreadful example for the Salzburgers.

19. Josef Ernst.

20. Boltzius usually Germanized the name of Henry Bishop, the son of a London butcher, who had been completely assimilated into the Salzburger community.

21. This injury turned gangrenous and proved fatal, yet salutary, since it caused Ernst to see the evil of his ways and to die penitent.

22. Mrs. Schweighofer.

23. Maria Schweighofer, aged 16.

24. Hans Michael Held.

25. Condrit Held, a Palatine redemptioner.

26. Urlsperger shows his usual inconsistency in suppressing Whitefields name here while leaving it a short time previously, when it was necessary to show that the benefactions had actually been delivered. The second N. is probably Oglethorpe, who also contributed to the church.

Notes for February

1. The cast iron stoves brought by the Germans to Pennsylvania were the model for Benjamin Franklins stove.

2. Andrew Duch.

3. Johann Friedrich, aged 16.

4. Jeremias, aged 11.

5. A small fort guarding the crossing of the Ogeechee River, now on the terrain of Camp Stewart at Hinesville, Georgia.

6. Boltzius has discovered that the marriage between this woman and Johann Staud (John Stout) was unlawful because he had a family in Germany. The Savannah authorities, many of whom had their own housekeepers, were quite unconcerned with this arrangement. See Det. Rep. VI, 81.

7. Brgerliche Ehrbarkeit connoted conventional morality, and selbst-gemachte Frmmigkeit connoted the false piety that people think they can achieve on their own merits rather than solely through faith in Jesus.

8. Allusion to the hymn Es kostet viel, ein Christ zu seyn, by Christian Friedrich Richter.

9. She was a legalist who believed more in the Law than in the spirit, more in the Old Testament than in the New.

10. Johann Jacob was aged 24 and Theobald, Jr., aged 21. When the family reached Purysburg on 22 December 1732 they were listed as Theobald Kffer 49, Anna Margarita 40, Jacque Kffer 16, Theobald Kffer 13, Margaritt 14, Elisabeht Margaritt 11, Elisabeht Catarina 9, Maria Ottillia 4, Barbara 2 (Smith, 209). Theobald Kueffer received 50 acres on 16 September 1738 and Devall Kueffer (probably the same person) received 450 acres on 12 April 1739 (Ibid., 214).

11. For some reason Boltzius distinguishes between Herr N. and Mr. N.

12. Herr and Frau von Hoslin (Hasslin, Haesslin, etc.), benefactors in Augsburg.

13. Gldenes Schatz-Kstlein der Kinder Gottes (Halle, 17??), devotional tract by Carl Heinrich Bogatzky.

14. King Frederick William I of Prussia, who died in 1740, had welcomed and supported Protestant refugees from many lands for both religious and military reasons. The Habsburgs had been trying to eradicate heresy from Bohemia.

15. Margaret Stauds.

16. Nun hast du mich ja angenommen, als ich bin flehend zu dir kommen, es hats mein Hertz ja wohl gefhlt, als es dein Gnadenblick gerhrt. From unidentified hymn.

17. Boltzius reversed these two. Luther has auswendig Streit, inwendig Furcht (2 Corinthians 7:5). King James has without were fightings, within were fears.

18. See note 12 above.

19. This list, which gives not only the Bible verses but also the names and ages of the children, appears in the Ausfhrliche Nachricht, 6th Continuation, pp. 715-716. It was common in the eighteenth century for people to send each other Bible verses for their comfort and betterment.

20. Martin Engelbrecht of Augsburg was a noted engraver. Among his works was a copper engraving, after Paul Becker, of the Salzburger exile Josef Schaitberger, which is reproduced in Angelika Marsch, Die Salzburger Emigration in Bildern (Weisshorn, 1979), plate 128.

21. Johannes Tobler, who had been Landeshauptmann, or governor, of Appenzell.

22. Friedrich Wilhelm Mueller.

23. Magdalena Gephart, wife of Simon Reiter.

24. See note 8 above.

25. Sirach 50:22. Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus, is in the Apochrypha but not in the King James Bible.

26. One of the Zuebli brothers was then working for Habersham at the orphanage near Savannah.

27. Kurze Anweisung zur wahren, lautern und apostolischen Erkntnis Jesu Christi, devotional tractate.

28. Friedrich Wilhelm Mueller.

29. Johann Friedrich Helfenstein, aged 16.

30. August Hermann Francke, Die nthige Prfung sein selbst vor dem Gebrauch des heiligen Abend-Mahls (Halle, 17??), devotional tractate.

31. See note 13 above.

32. See note Jan. 14.

33. Mrs. Rheinlaender.

34. Her husband, Frederick, had caused much trouble and finally left to seek his fortune in the North.

35. Fest fein fest dich angehalten, an die starcke Jesu-Treu, verse from an unidentified hymn.

36. Nun wre sie durch. This was Pietistic parlance for Now she had broken through to an awareness that she could be saved by the grace of God.

37. Mrs. Rheinlaender.

38. Mrs. Rheinlaender.

39. In Savannah.

40. This was probably Josef Ernst, who was being treated in Purysburg for his injured hand. See entry for 29 February.

41. Apparently a religious sect.

42. Purysburg.

Notes for March

1. Martin Kaesemeyer; his wife was Catharina.

2. Johann Paul Mueller, aged 18.

3. This is an early instance of share-cropping, which was not a German institution.

4. This unit was commanded by Major James (Jacques) Richard(s), a Swiss officer of Purysburg. See entry for 9 May.

5. hat auch vollbracht. A Pietiestic expression meaning to win salvation through faith.

6. Apparently Ursula Landfelder and her sister Elisabeth Pletter, both nee Wassermann.

7. This must have been Francis Harris, later the business partner of James Habersham. According to a letter from Thomas Jones, dated 1 July 1741, Harris could speak German (CRG, IV, 678).

8. James Habersham.

9. Laymens Bibles. It had been assumed that laymen were illiterate, only the clergy knowing how to read.

10. Christian Riedelsperger. See entry for 18 April.

11. Most of the Salzburger exiles had gone to East Prussia, but others remained in the Protestant cities of southern Germany.

12. This man is never identified.

13. Boltzius seldom distinguished between the two Zuebli brothers, one of whom, probably Ambrose, was working at the Bethesda orphanage. See note 26 above.

14. Apollonia Maurer was the only girl by that name.

15. Educational means.

16. A typical bit of Pietistic rhetoric, also reflected in the title of Friedrich Eberhard Collins Das gewaltige Eindringen ins Reich Gottes ... (Frankfurt/Main, 1722).

17. He was a redemptioner. Boltzius hoped his remaining period of service would be donated to the Salzburgers so that he could remain in Ebenezer. Although most German redemptioners had skills, in this case stocking making, they usually had to serve as laborers.

18. This was Mrs. Wallpurger. See entry for 26 July.

19. Schartner, see entry for 8 April.

20. August Hermann Francke, Lehre vom Anfang Christlichen Lebens (Halle, 1696ff.)

21. See note Feb., 13.

22. Benedikt Gottlieb Clauswitz (1692-1749), Die Auferstehung Christi, devotional tractate. A Latin version appeared in Halle in 1741 as Programma Paschale de mortuis tempore resurrectionis Christi resuscitatis.

Notes for April

1. See note Feb. 13.

2. Aeusserliche Ehrbarkeit, see note Feb., 7.

3. Burgsteiner. See entry for 9 April.

4. Clay-eating is a symptom of serious dietary deficiency.

5. Fieber-Kuchen, apparently some organ, probably the spleen, swollen from malaria.

6. Easter lasted two days, both Sunday and Monday.

7. A Palatine girl who had been indentured in Charleston. Her family was in Orangeburg, S.C.

8. Henry Bishop, see note Jan., 20.

9. She was a daughter of a schoolmaster named Unselt who died in Purysburg. Her oldest sister, Eva Regina, had married Georg Schweiger and her sister Anna Justina had married Franz Hernberger. The youngest, Eva Rosina, was still in the orphanage at Ebenezer.

10. Boltzius is alluding to the Helds. See entry for 15 April.

11. Probably Johann Liborius Zimmerman.

12. Apparently a variant of Es kostet viel, ein Christ zu seyn.

13. John Robinson.

14. Like Robinson, the two Helds wished to pay off their indentures by serving at St. Augustine.

15. These must have been the Chickasaws and Uchis who, according to Colonel Stephens, visited Savannah on 14 April (CRG, IV, 553).

16. Jacob Reck (sometimes written Rck) received a grant for 50 acres in Purysburg on 16 Sept. 1738 (Smith, p. 214).

17. Johann Gottfried Christ, who was in an advanced state of consumption.

18. Although opposed to military service, Boltzius was too good a Lutheran to resist lawful (i.e., divinely ordained) authority. See entry for 5 May.

19. The two Helds and Robinson. Robinson had four more years to serve, having been indentured for nine years on 10 May 1735 (CRG, II, 101).

20. Boltzius must be referring to the alluvial soil of the bottom lands along the river, since the highlands, being sand, never hardened.

21. Barley, wheat, oats, buckwheat, and rye are too hard to grind by hand. See entry for 8 March 1738 (Det. Rep., V, 50). Oglethorpe probably wished the oats for his horses and Highlanders.

22. This political passivity was typical of the Germans throughout colonial America, especially among the plain people. Even in areas of Pennsylvania and Maryland where the Germans comprised the majority, they often elected English representatives and officials.

23. Hans Krsy.

24. Boltzius seems to be referring to Purysburg. Possibly Urlsperger had deleted something.

Notes for May

1. See note April, 40.

2. Haustafel or Tabula Oeconomica, a devotional tract by Martin Luther.

3. See note March, 4. The name was usually anglicized to Richards. James Richard of Geneva came in 1732 with Jean Purry to Purysburg, where he received a grant of 300 acres on 17 March 1735 (Smith, pp. 192, 211).

4. See entry of 14 May.

5. Johann Jacob Kieffer, who married Anna Elisabeth Depp. The latter had done her service in Charleston, and her mother was settled in Orangeburg.

6. The Salzburgers had not yet received the bounty of one shilling on each bushel of corn they raised in 1739.

7. The word epilepsy was used of any paroxysm, such as those caused by malaria.

8. Boltzius was alluding to the name Rogate Sunday, derived from Latin rogare, to ask or beg.

9. See note Jan., 15.

10. A medication made and donated by Johann Caspar Schauer of Augsburg.

11. Mein lieber College hat mit den frechen Soldaten, auch den Officiern von Purrisburg, welche zu gleicher Zeit nach Savannah gekommen sind, viel Unruhe und Beschwerlichkeit gehabt, indem sie so dreiste gewesen, einen seiner Ruderer wegzunehmen, denselben mit einem Strick binden wollen, auch gegen ihn unsers Hirten wegen, den die Obrigkeit nicht mit in den Krieg zu gehen gestattet, und ihn wegen seiner Freyheit einsetzen lassen, mancherlei Grobheiten bewiesen. Free men could be drafted; but redemptioners, being private property, could not. Colonel Stephens relates the event more clearly and dramatically. Having been greeted in Savannah, Major Richards and his recruits departed in a schooner, But before their going off, a little Ruffle happened between our magistrates and the Major, on the following occasion. Mr. Groneau, one of the Ministers of Ebenezer, coming into Town a Day or two since, on some Business, with a Boat rowed down by some of their own People, as usual, came to me complaining, that Major Richards had impressed one of his Men into the Service, and took him by Force aboard the Skooner, intending to carry him off; whereupon I recommended him to the Magistrates, who I told him I was sure would not suffer a Freeholder of this Colony to be carried away against his Will: Accordingly upon hearing the Complaint, and finding it to be just (for the Man was aboard on the Deck, with two Men as Guard over him), they sent two Tything-men to demand the Fellows Appearance before them ashore, where they themselves stood, that they might enquire into the Truth, the Vessel lying fast at the new Wharf: But several of the listed Men obstructed them in their Way, and set up a great Shout, crying out to their comrades, Couragio: Whereat the Magistrates seeing themselves so contemned, called particularly to one of the Tything-men (known remarkably for a robust, daring Man) and bad him lay hold on one of the most insolent among them, and to bring him before them; whereupon John Lyndal the Tything-man instantly collard him, and betwixt him and his Partner, they brought him up the Hill, when the Magistrates directly committed him into Custody: Upon which the Major then appeared, and offered some Words in Justification; which made it rather worse: Wherefore seeing it in vain to contend, he gave up the Man to Mr. Groneau; and upon asking it as a Favour, the Magistrates gave him his Soldier out of Custody. So Peace was concluded and the Service went forward. (CRG, IV, 572). This suggests that Urlsperger may have edited Boltzius account.

12. See note 6 above.

13. The Francke Foundation was also sending benefactions to its missions in East India.

14. Although Urlsperger usually deleted all mention of his name, he was sometimes inconsistent, as in the entry for 17 May.

15. Halle, meaning the Francke Foundation.

16. The orphanage (Waysenhaus) of the Francke Foundation in Halle.

17. Urlsperger and Ziegenhagen.

18. Urlsperger, Gotthilf August Francke, and Ziegenhagen were the dear fathers.

19. With respect to what is to be believed and done. This may be an allusion to J.J. Breithaupts treatise Theses credendorum atque agendorum fundamentales (Halle 1722).

20. Ruprecht Zimmerebner and his wife Margaretha Berenberger.

21. The late Professor Francke was August Hermann Francke, the founder of the Francke Foundation and father of Gotthilf August Francke. This sermon was entitled Das der Snden wegen gengstete und zerschlagene Hertz.

22. See entry of 18 July 1740 (in Vol. VI).

23. Senior Urlspergers.

24. Einleitung zur Lesung der Heiligen Schrift.

25. Der kniglichen Dnischen Missionarien aus Ost-Indien eingesandte Ausfhrliche Berichte (Halle 1735).

26. Probably Josef Ernst and his wife.

27. Bible printed by Canstein Bible Society, founded in 1710 by Pietist Karl Hildebrand, Baron von Canstein.

28. See note April, 27.

29. The word Ausdnstung, which usually means an evaporation or effluvium, must have meant a swelling.

30. Cinchona bark.

31. See note 21 above.

32. Many of the Salzburger emigrants had been housed in the Evangelical poorhouse when they stopped off in Augsburg.

33. Glauchische Haus-Kirch-Ordnung, regulations for the church at Glaucha, where the Francke Foundations were located.

34. This indicates that Urlsperger deleted some entry concerning the various renegades from Ebenezer. There is no explanation of why one of these five names was deleted. Lemmenhofers absence had not been reported.

35. What he had actually taken.

36. Martin Kaesmeyer and his wife Catharina. See entry for 1 March.

37. According to John 3:14, Jesus Himself considered the fiery or brazen serpent of Numbers 21:9 as a prefiguration of His own death.

38. In a certain respect.

39. Probably an allusion to the story of Christ and the Samaritan woman in John 4.

40. (Johann) Friedrich Holtzendorf. In 1733 the Duke of Newcastle wrote Governor Johnston recommending to him the bearer Mr. John Frederick Holzendorf a gentleman of good famiy in Brandenburg who wished to settle in Purysburg and was bringing two servants with him (Smith, p. 198). In 1736 he received a grant of 200 acres under the name of Capt. John Holdzendorf (Ibid., 212).

41. (Anna) Dorothea Helfenstein.

42. Might this be an allusion to Cast your bread upon the water?

Notes for June

1. The story may have been exaggerated, since the Indians usually only scalped their victims.

2. Margaret Staud, who had done church penance. See entry for 3 February.

3. According to a letter from Boltzius and Gronau dated 29 May 1740 the orphanage was selling Schauer Balm (Ausf. Nachr., 6th Cont., p. 338).

4. Mrs. Montaigut was the widow of Samuel Montaigut, who had received a grant for 710 acres in Purysburg on 10 December 1736 (Smith, p. 212).

5. This was an error for Beaufin or Beaufain. Wm. Stephens consistently made the same error. Hector Berenger de Beaufin received 800 acres of land at Purysburg on 1 June 1737 (Smith, p. 212).

6. Henri Franois Chifelle.

7. The trustees were finally agreeing to drop the stipulation of inheritance by tail male.

8. Adam Riedelspergers edifying death is related in the Detailed Reports (III, 266). His widow Barbara and Georg Kogler published banns on 19 March 1737, but Boltzius failed to note their marriage in his regular reports.

9. This explains Urlspergers method of editing.

10. Francis Harris, see note March, 7.

11. Peter Gruber had married Maria, the widow Moshamer, nee Kroeher, stepdaughter of Barbara Rohrmoser, the mother of Boltzius and Gronaus wives, Gertraut and Catherina Kroeher. Maria would seem to be Peter Kroehers daughter by a previous marriage. She accompanied her stepmother and the latters two daughters into exile, leaving Peter in Salzburg with Barbaras younger children. It is not clear why Barbara called herself Rohrmoser instead of Kroeher.

12. Boltzius is referring to the rich alluvial bottom land. The soil of the pine barrens would dry up immediately after a rain.

13. Mrs. Rheinlaender.

14. Mrs. Helfenstein.

15. Fremde Snden (peccata aliena), instigation of or connivance at sin.

16. This was the widow Schnmannsgruber (Schmansgruber). See Det. Rep. III, 116-117 and IV, 9. On 23 Jan. 1737 Boltzius referred to two children (ibid., IV, 9) but here he refers to three, yet it is clearly the same widow.

17. Ambrose was visiting his older brother David, father of Johann Joachim Zubly.

18. Hans Schmidt. It is most unusual of Boltzius to give the title Herr to any of his parishioners.

19. George Whitefield and two of his colleagues.

20. Schlatter of St. Gall had sent an unsolicited assignment of linens that had been accepted by Thomas Causton but had never been paid for. Boltzius agonized over this for three years. His answer to Verelsts favorable letter appears in CRG, XXII, Pt. II, 369-372.

21. Haushaltung. This includes housekeeping and husbandry.

22. He is referring to a mill built by a Swede named Purker. See Det. Rep., V, 143. All British records, of which there are many, give the name as Parker.

23. The curse of Adam, Genesis 3:17.

24. Boltzius often used the word wild cat (wilde Katze) for the raccoon. See entry for 12 July.

25. Eva Regina Schweiger, nee Unselt, visited her sister Sybilla Frederica Bishop, wife of Henry Bishop. She had come in from the plantations to pass her confinement at the orphanage, where she would have better medical attention. See entry for 2 July.

26. Das Paradies-Grtlein, a religious tract by Johann Arndt.

27. See note June, 7.

28. August Hermann Francke, Betrachtungen ber das Hohe-priesterliche Gebeth unsers Herrn und Heylandes Jesu Christi ... (Halle 1738).

29. This was a better cure than being buried alive, as was done two years later. See Ausf. Nach., Elfte Continuation, p. 1946.

30. Water mocassins (agkistrodon piscivorus) are far more common than rattlesnakes on the Savannah Delta and not quite so poisonous.

31. Boltzius did not understand that Anastasia Island was immediately in front of St. Augustine and therefore able to blockade it.

32. See note Jan., 6.

33. George Whitefield, who was building his orphanage at Bethesda.

34. Apparently Josef Ernst.

35. This suggests the original meaning of penitentiary, a place where one could learn penitence.

Notes for July

1. Most Republicans of 1980 would agree with what Boltzius said in 1740. This is a splendid explanation of the wage-price spiral.

2. Epilepsy denoted any paroxysm, in this case probably caused by malaria. Boltzius failed to mention the death of the child. See note June, 25.

3. Clingstone and freestone peaches.

4. This seems like an odd threat, since there were no large bodies of water in Catholic Germany. However, Protestants, like other convicts, were sometimes sentenced to serve as galley slaves on the Mediterranean Sea.

5. According to the theodicy endorsed by the Pietists, an all-loving, all-knowing, and almighty God can only do good. Therefore sickness is a blessing in disguise, being sent to teach us humility and to tear us away from the blandishments of the world. It is for this reason that the more honest of the Salzburgers always thank the Lord for their afflictions.

6. Gesetzliche Furcht und Zagen. She feared the law of the Old Testament more than she trusted the grace won by Christ crucified.

7. Apparently Mrs. Rheinlaender.

8. See note May, 28.

9. Several of the Salzburgers were recent converts to Protestantism, possibly in order to emigrate. Some Catholics accompanied their Protestant spouses into exile.

10. Simon and Magdalena Reiter.

11. Philip and Martha Gebhart were Palatines indentured at Frederica.

12. Santee.

13. John McLeod.

14. The Highlanders losses at Fort Moosa were actually much higher.

15. This was from Thomas Stephens, the disloyal son of the Trustees representative, Colonel William Stephens. Thomas espoused the cause of the Malcontents, who wished to introduce slavery.

16. Boltzius is referring to the Salzburgers petition of 1739, which appears in the Detailed Reports, VI, pp. 43-45.

17. This proves that Boltzius saw the immorality as well as the impracticality of slavery. His arguments against slavery were usually based on economics because they were directed at the British authorities who, in Boltzius opinion, would be more susceptible to practical arguments.

18. Ruprecht Schoppacher of the first transport had died a Christian death on 16 April 1735.

19. See note Feb., 30.

20. See note March, 20.

21. Because Boltzius dignifies this woman with the title of Mrs. (Frau), she must be the rich widow previously mentioned in the Detailed Reports entry for 19 March.

22. Boltzius has failed to report, or Urlsperger has deleted, Ortmanns absence.

23. Apparently from A.H. Francke, Buss-Predigten. Darinn aus verschiedenen Texten H. Schrifft deutlich gezeigt wird ... (Halle, 1706 ff.)

Notes for August

1. The unsuccessful mill downstream from Ebenezer. See note June, 22.

2. See note July, 11.

3. Alle gute Gabe und alle, etc. and Alles was wir haben, das sind Gottes Gaben. These would appear to have been prayers or songs of thanksgiving, perhaps as a table grace.

4. Boarding school for the sons of the nobility, part of the Francke Foundation in Halle.

5. Philip Gebhart. See note July, 11.

6. Whitefield, who must account to the donors for the money he collected.

7. Whitefield.

8. Whitefield.

9. That which is to be believed and that which is to be done. See note May, 19.

10. See note Feb., 13.

11. See note Jan., 6.

12. Whitefield.

13. At Bethesda.

14. According to William Stephens, the Spanish spy was Joseph Anthony Mazzique and the Irish soldier was William Shannon, a deserter from Frederica (CRG, Sup. to Vol. IV, p. 9).

15. The merchant may have been one of the Sephardic Jews, they being able to speak Spanish.

16. Patrick Hunter.

17. A stamping mill for removing the outer husks.

18. Small things prosper in peace.

19. Her legalistic, pre-Pietistic views.

20. James Habersham, schoolmaster at Bethesda.

21. Apparently Robinson, Leitner, and Zant.

22. It would appear that the Salzburgers had served together.

Notes for September

1. Boltzius seems confused about the relative ages of the two Kieffer boys. Johann Jacob Kieffer, who was married to Anna Elisabeth Depp, was the older (Jaque Kffer was 16 when Theobald was 13. See Smith, p. 209).

2. Orangeburg, peopled first by Swiss and Germans, is in South Carolina.

3. Probably Gerhard Gottlieb Gnther Gcking, Vollkommene Emigrations-Geschichte ... (Frankfurt & Leipzig 1734).

4. See note June, 26.

5. A footnote at this point explains the gap from 12 Sept. to 1 Nov. as follows: From the 12th of September to this point the diary has not arrived and until now has been awaited in vain. Because of that we did not wish to wait with the editing of this continuation, but rather will fill out the gap at a future opportunity.

Notes for November

1. Using the name Anton Masig, the spy had claimed to be a German from Cologne. He also claimed he had renounced Roman Catholicism (CRG, Sup. to Vol. IV, p. 27).

2. Norris had acceded to Whitefield, who had a written commission, and returned to Frederica; but then Whitefield left unexpectedly to collect money in the North, leaving only Schoolmaster Habersham to read the Sunday services.

3. Magdalene. Like so many indentured families, the Arnsdorfs had been separated.

4. The rumor had probably been caused by the expense of the sawmill at Old Ebenezer. According to Boltzius, he had received only L 12 so far, plus some hardware. Later it turned out that the mill had cost ь 89. See letter of Boltzius to Verelst, 29 December 1740 (CRG, XXII, Pt. II, 465).

5. Fortunately for Savannah, a German butcher from Purysburg was able to supply some meat. William Stephens wrote to Harman Verelst on 20 November, Had not a German butcher from Purysburg come sometime last year & lived among us, who has supplyed the Town, with fresh provisions of Meat kind, at a cheaper Rate than we used to have the same; We should have been in some distress. (CRG XXII, Pt. II, 447). This was apparently the German-Swiss Johann Altherr.

6. Boltzius is referring to the sides of the mill-run.

7. Spanish moss.

8. Quinine.

9. In him or his mother. These were Johann and Rosina Spielbiegler.

10. Boltzius has failed to mention, or Urlsperger has deleted, the fact that Hernberger had left Ebenezer.

11. See note 3 above.

12. See note Jan., 15.

13. Allusion to Jeremiah 45:5, see also 21:9.

14. This was one of the groups en route to East Prussia, possibly the one accompanied by Gronau.

15. They registered for Holy Communion.

Notes for December

1. The absent Zuebli brother, apparently Ambrosius.

2. An allusion to the lack of help from his brother David.

3. Hohepriesterlichen. It is not clear what Boltzius means by this word.

4. Maria Kroeher, stepdaughter of Boltzius wife. See note June, 11.

5. Johann Jacob.

6. The widow Arnsdorf.

7. Mrs. Spielbigler.

8. Wr das Kindlein nicht geborn, so wren wir allzumal verlorn, das Heil ist unser aller, from Der Tag der ist so freudenreich, a Christmas song translated from the Latin in the 15th century.

9. Whitefield, see entry for 8 August.

10. Pith and blood (i.e., strength and vigor).

11. Compendium, oder Kurtzer Begriff der gantzen Christlichen Lehre ... (Halle, probably 7th ed. of 1734). See Det. Rep., III, 331, n. 278.

12. Christ-Bescherung, work by J.C. Schade.

13. Francis Harris.

14. Whitefield.

15. She was the next to last survivor of a large family of religious exiles from Upper Austria, survived only by her sister Susanna.

16. Margaretha, nee Egger.

17. Purysburg.

18. By royal authority.

19. Whitefield.

20. The orphanage at Bethesda.

21. Gotthilf August Francke and Samuel Urlsperger, along with Friedrich Michael Ziegenhagen, were the Reverend Fathers of the Georgia Salzburgers.

22. On 24 June 1740 the occupants were: managers, Ruprecht and Margaret Kalcher; widows, Margaretha Schweighofer and Catherina Kustobader; volunteer helpers, Christian Riedelsperger, Martin Herzog, Jacob Schartner; children, Susanna Haberfehner, Magdalena Haberfehner, Eva Rosina Unselt, Ursula Schweighofer, Margareta Huber, Ottilia Kieffer, Barbara Kieffer, Ursula Kalcher, Maria Kalcher, Thomas Schweighofer, Jeremias Helfenstein, Johannes Schneider, Friedrich Kieffer (Ausf. Nachr., 6th Cont., p. 685). Magdalena Haberfehner died on Christmas Day. It is not clear who the additions were.

23. The ten men were Bach, Held, Sr., and Rauner dead; Held, Jr., Leitner, Reiter, Robinson, Zant, Zettler, and probably Ortmann. Matthias Zettler, who was apprenticed to the cobbler Reck in Purysburg, was required to enlist by his non-commissioned master, who then kept half of his pay (see Boltzius entry for 10 January 1741).

24. Verzeichnis der vornehmsten Gaben und Wohltaten Gottes nach den 3 Articuln unsers Christlichen Glaubens, etc., unidentified devotional work.

25. Mercy was often shown to convicted Blacks because they were too valuable to kill.

26. Of a party of 400 Palatines who left Rotterdam in August 1738, only 105 had survived an epidemic of malignant fever when their ship went aground on Block Island on 26 December and fifteen of these soon died, along with the captain, George Long. The purser would not let the survivors take their baggage ashore, since this had to pay for the passage of those who had died.

Index of Hymns Sung in 1740

(Hymns followed by F-T and volume and song number are reproduced in Albert Friedrich Fischer - W. Tmpel, Das deutsche evangelische Kirchenlied des 17. Jahrhunderts (Gtersloh, 1916, reprint Hildesheim 1964). Authors followed by an asterisk are identified in Albert Friedrich Fischer, Kirchenlieder-Lexikon (Gotha, 1878, reprint Hildesheim 1967).

Alle Menschen mssen sterben ... (All men must die ...), p. 45, by Johann Georg Albinus.*

Auf, Zion, auf! auf Tochter ... (Up, Zion, up! up Daughter ...), p. 263, by Peter Franck.*

Danckt dem Herrn ihr Gottes-Knechte ... (Thank the Lord, ye servants of God ...), p. 37, by Heinrich Georg Reuss.*

Das Leben unsers Knigs siegt ... (The life of our King doth conquer ...), p. 263, by Christian Friedrich Richter.*

Der edle Hirte Gottes Sohn ... (The noble Shepherd, Son of God ...), p. 28, by Johann Scheffler* (Angelus Silesius)

Der Glaube siegt, und bricht ... (Our faith conquers and breaks ...), p. 25, by Ulrich Bogislaus von Bonin.*

Der schmale Weg ist breit genug ... (The narrow path is broad enough ...), p. 29, by Christian Friedrich Richter.*

Du meiner Augen Licht ... (Thou, light of mine eyes ...), pp. 35, 36, by Johann Georg Kehl.*

Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott ... (A mighty fortress is our God ...), p. 456, by Martin Luther.*

Eins Christen Hertz sehnt sich nach hohen Dingen ... (A Christians heart doth yearn for lofty things ...), p. 263, by Maria Magdalena Bhmer.*

Entznde dich in Andacht ... (Inflame thyself in devotion ...), p. 263, by Friedrich Rudolf Ludwig, Freiherr von Canitz.*

Es ist das Heyl uns kommen her ... (Salvation hath come here to us ...), p. 30, by Lazarus Spengler.*

Es ist nicht schwer, ein Christ zu sein ... (It is not hard to be a Christian ...), p. 88, by Christian Friedrich Richter.*

Es ist vollbracht ... (It is finished ...), pp. 52, 58, by Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen.* There are also hymns beginning this way by Salamo Franck,* Andreas Gryphius,* and Johann Eusebius Schmidt.*

Es kostet viel, ein Christ zu sein ... (It costs much to be a Christian ...), p. 284 n. 8, by Christian Friedrich Richter.*

Fest fein fest dich angehalten, an die starcke Jesu-Treu ... (Cling firmly to the mighty love of Jesus ...), p. 51.

Frhlich sol mein Hertze springen ... (My heart should leap for joy ...), p. 46, by Paul Gerhardt.* F-T III, 405.

Geheimnis voller Lieb ... (Mystery full of love ...), p. 66, by Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen.*

Gott, den ich als Liebe kenne ... (God, whom I know as I love ...), pp. 21, 189, by Christian Friedrich Richter.*

Gott, du Tiefe sonder Grund ... (God, Thou depth without a bottom ...), p. 45.

Gott wills machen, dass die Sachen ... (God will ordain that things ...), p. 75, by Johann Daniel Herrnschmidt.*

Ihr Kinder des Hchsten, wie stehts ... (Ye children of the Highest, how does it stand ...), pp. 21, 29, by Christian Andreas Bernstein.*

Jesu gib mir deine Flle ... (Jesus give me Thine abundance ...), p. 21.

Kommt, seyd gefasst zum Lammes-Mahl... (Come, be composed for the feast of the Lamb ...), p. 263, by Christian Anton Philipp Knorr von Rosenroth.* F-T V, 559.

Lasset uns den Herrn preisen und vermehren ... (Let us praise the Lord and magnify ...), p. 12, by Christian Jacob Koitsch.*

Liebster Jesu, liebstes Leben ... (Dearest Jesus, dearest life ...), pp. 21, 25, 268, by Johann Wilhelm Petersen.*

Lobe den Herrn, den mchigen Knig der Ehren ... (Praise the Lord, the mighty King of glory ...), p. 208, by Joachim Neander.*

Lobe den Herrn, O meine Seele ... (Praise the Lord, o my soul ...), p. 20, by Johann Daniel Herrnschmidt.* F-T I, 275. Here it is attributed to Martin Alther.

Lobe, lobe meine Seele, den der heisset Herr Zabaoth ... (Praise, praise my soul, Him who is called Zabaoth ...), p. 61, by Hermann Reinhold.*

Man lobt dich in der Stille ...(We praise Thee in quiet ...), p. 143, anonymous, often attributed to Joachim Neander.* Based on a hymn by Johannes Rist.*

Mein Freund zerschmeltzt ... (My Friend doth melt ...), p. 25, by Christian Friedrich Richter.*

Mein Heyland nimmt die Snder an ... (My Savior accepts the sinners ...), pp. 62, 167, 203, by Leopold Franz Friedrich Lehr.*

Mein Jesu, dem die Seraphinen .. (My Jesus, whom the Seraphim ...), p. 114, by Wolfgang Christoph Dessler.* F-T V, 392.

Mein Salamo, dein freundliches ... (My Solomon, Thy friendly ...), pp. 12, 30, by Christian Friedrich Richter.*

Meine Seele, wilt du ruhn ... (My soul, wilt thou rest ...), p. 25, by Johann Scheffler.* (Angelus Silesius). F-T V, 443.

O Gott, du Tieffe sonder Grund, see Gott, du Tieffe, etc.

O wie selig sind die Seelen ... (O how blessed are the souls ...), p. 114, by Christian Friedrich Richter.*

Seelen-Weide, meine Freude ... (Souls Delight, my joy ...), p. 75, by Adam Drese.*

Sey hochgelobet, barmhertziger Gott ... (Be highly praised, merciful God ...), pp. 244, 263, by Ludwig Andreas Gotter.*

Sey Lob und Ehr dem hchsten Gut ... (Praise and glory be to the highest Good ...), pp. 116, 162, by Johann Jacob Schtz.*

Singt dem Herrn nah und fern ... (Sing unto the Lord both near and far ...), pp. 13, 61, 208, by Johann Daniel Herrnschmidt.*

Von Gott will ich nicht lassen ... (I shall not let go of God ...), p. 268, by Ludwig Helmbold.*

Wach auf, wach auf, du sichre Welt ... (Wake up, wake up, Thou complacent world ...), pp. 263, 385, by Johann Rist.* F-T II, 235.

Wachet auf, ihr faulen ... (Wake up, ye indolent ...), p. 25, by Ludwig Andreas Gotter.

Wenn meine Snde mich krnken (When my sins distress me), p. 65, unidentified hymn.

Index

A Short Introduction, etc. = Kurze Anweisung, etc.

Abercorn Creek, branch of Savannah River, site of mill, 204, 222, 274.

Ade, (Hieronymus) Solomon, Pal. shoemaker from Tubingen, recognizes sinfulness, 19.

Altherr, Johann, Swiss butcher, 299 n. 5.

Arnd(t), Johann, author of Vom Wahren Christenthum, 17, 60, 62, 106, 111, 128, 182, 188, 206, 234, 242, 249, 281 n. 5

of Paradies-Grtlein, 173.

Arnsdorf, Andreas Lorentz, Pal., drowned while drunk, 257.

Arnsdorf, (Anna) Dorothea, wife of Andreas, living with Sanftleben, 111.

Arnsdorf, Magdalena, daughter of Andreas, declares banns, 238, 248

marries, 250.

Arnsdorf, Peter, son of Andreas, living with Sanftleben, 111.

Augustine, see St. Augustine

Ausfhrliche Nachrichten, contemporary publication of Salzburger reports, 9.

Bach, Gabriel, Salz., marries Margaretha Staud, 6, 8, 30, 33

resolves to leave, 30

leaves, 34

enlists, scalped, 6, 148

dead, 274

buried, 227.

Bach, Mrs. Gabriel, see Staud.

Bacher, Maria, nee Schweiger, wife of Thomas, ill, 216, 219, 221, 230.

Bacher, Thomas, Salz., suffers attack, 55

receives refund, 73.

Baptisms: twelve in all, 27.

Barber, Mr. Jonathan, chaplain at Bethesda, 282 n. 8.

Beaufain, Hector Berenger, French merchant at Purysburg, 150, 293 n. 5.

Bees, do well at Ebenezer, 105.

Beitrge, individual contributions to Sammlungen auserlesner materien...

Bell for church, weighs 90 lbs., 23

mounted, 24.

Berein, German chaplain in London, 123.

Berenberger, Margaretha, marries Ruprecht Zimmerebner, 81.

Bethesda, Whitefields orphanage near Savannah, 19, 282 n. 9.

Bischoff, Anna Maria, Pal. widow, marries Andreas Grimmiger, 7, 146.

Bischoff, Heinrich, see Bishop, Henry.

Bishop, Henry, English servant to Boltzius, engaged as schoolmaster, 12

gives up school, 274

reports cursing, 26

marries Sybilla Friederica Unselt, 85, 283 n. 20.

Bleeding, see Medicine and Medical Treatment.

Boats, being built, 257.

Bogatzky, Carl Heinrich, Pietist, author of Gldenes-Kstlein der Kinder Gottes, Halle, 17??, devotional tractate, 285 n. 13.

Bohemian pastors in Berlin, letter from, 41, 285 n. 14.

Boltzius, Gotthilf Israel, son of Johann Martin, ill, 199.

Boltzius, Johann Martin, pastor at Ebenezer, passim. (He appears on nearly every page, but anonymously, and cannot be distinguished from Gronau.) The Boundless Recognition of Jesus Christ, see die berschwengliche Erkentniss ...

Breithaupt, Abbot Joachim Justus, theologian, 107.

Bruckner, Georg, Salz., has paroxysm, 115

sick, 186.

Bruckner, Anna Margaretha, ne Mueller, wife of Georg, sick 186.

Building of the Kingdom of God, see Sammlungen zum Bau ...

Burgsteiner, Matthias, Salz., takes son from orphanage, 56, 84

son dies, 90.

Butjenter, Heinrich Alard, court chaplain at London, letter from, 228.

Canstein Bible, given to Kalcher, 127, 291, n. 27.

Cattle: cows die, 14

lack grass, 64

orphanage cattle sent off to distant pastures, 64, 86

calves and cows promised, 239

oxen slaughtered, 226.

Charities from Europe: chests arrive with Capt. Thomson, 36, 116

linen from Halle, 117, 122

distribution, 142, 211, 229.

Charleston, capital of South Carolina, burns, 254, 263.

Christ, (Johann) Gottfried, Jewish convert with Salzburgers, recruited but released, 6, 94, 289 n. 39.

Christ-Bescherung, devotional work by Johann Caspar Schade, 268.

Christs Gift, see above.

Church, building urged by Whitefield, 213

begun, 274.

Church penance, described, 31-32.

Clay-eating, see Diseases.

Clauswitz, Prof. Benedikt Gottlieb, Pietist author, 288 n. 22.

Collin, Friedrich Eberhard, Pietist author, 287 n. 16.

Compendium Theologiae, see Freylinghausen.

Contribution to the Building of the Kingdom of God, see Beitrge.

Cornberger, Gertraud, nee Einecker, wife of Johann, to move to plantations, 79

poor in spirit, 225.

Cows, see Cattle.

Craus(e), see Krause.

Creeks, see Indians.

Crops: less than previous year, 274

corn cheap, 72

damaged by worms, 98

corn subsidy, 117, 239, 256

wheat and oats urged by Oglethorpe, 97

rice, 275

sweet potatoes, 200, 264, 275

pumpkins, 264

report of corn, beans, rice, sweet potatoes, 275.

Cuddalore, scene of Lutheran missions in India, 5, 118, 125.

Das gewaltige Eindringen, etc., devotional work, 287, n. 16.

Deaths: 7 natural, 3 killed in war, 273

Peter Gruber, 254

Magdalena Haberfehner, 271

Burgsteiners child, 90

Schweigers child, 181

Thilos child, 238

Bach, Held, Rauner killed, 274.

Deer, destructive, 162, 184, 190.

Depp, Anna Elisabeth, Pal. girl from Charleston, marries Johann Jacob Kieffer, 85, 290 n. 5.

Devotional tractates, see Arnd(t), Bogatzky, Clauswitz, Collin, A.H. Francke, Freylinghausen, Luther, Schade, Schubert, Prof. Zimmermann; Christ-Bescherung, Kurze Anweisungen, Sammlungen auserlesner ...

Die Auferstehung Christi, devotional tractate, 288 n. 22.

Diseases: clay-eating (pica), 84

malaria, 42

fever clot, 84, 127

quartan fever, 84, 189, 225, 277

epilepsy (any paroxysm), 115, 181

sores on feet, 182.

Dogma of the Commencement of Christian Life, 77, 198

see Lehre vom Anfang Christlichen Lebens, 288 n. 20.

Duch, Andrew, potter in Savannah, 28, 284 n. 2.

Ebenezer Mill Stream, new name of Abercorn Creek, 274.

Egmont, John Percival, Earl of, president of Trustees, opposes slavery, 4.

Eischberger, Maria, ne Riedelsperger, wife of Ruprecht, 161, 185.

Eischberger, Ruprecht, Salz., doing poorly, 56

teaches reading, 161.

Engelbrecht, Martin, Augsburg engraver, sends engravings, 44, 285 n. 20.

Ernst, Josef, Bavarian distiller, 25

visited by Boltzius, reprimanded, 125.

Ernst, Maria, wife of Josef, reprimanded, 125.

Fathers, see Reverend Fathers.

Fever-clot, see Diseases.

Flerl (Flrel), Anna Maria, ne Hflinger, wife of Hans, enjoys Mrs. Schweighofers visits, 90.

Flerl, Hans, Salz., teaches reading, 124.

Fort Argyle, small fort on Ogeechy, 30, 277.

Francke, August Hermann, Pietist theologian at Halle, author of sermons, 123, 127, 128, 139, 201

of tractates, 125, 174, 186, 195

Die nthige Prfung ..., 285 n. 30

Lehre vom Anfang Christlichen Lebens, 288 n. 20

Das der Snden wegen gehgstete ... Herz, 291 n. 21

Betrachtungen ber, 294 n. 28

Buss-Predigten, 296 n. 23.

Francke, Gotthilf August, son and successor of above, sends chest, 140

letters from, 142, 144.

Francke Foundation, philanthropic institution in Halle, 291 n. 13, 15, 21.

Francke, Johann Paul, lives with Indians, 13, 283 n. 13.

Frederica, town on St. Simons Island, active during campaign, 59.

Frederick William I, King of Prussia, welcomes Protestants, 285 n. 14.

Freylinghausen, Johann Anastasius, author and hymnist, 21, 51, 52, 58, 125, 127, 251, 268

Compendium Theologiae, 265

Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch, 283 n. 14.

Fruit: plums, plentiful, 148

peaches abundant, 181, 200, 213.

Gebhart, Martha, wife of Philip, 188, 207, 296 n. 11.

Gebhart, Philip, Pal. at Frederica, father of Magdalena Reiter, 188, 207, 296 n. 11.

Georgia Trustees, administrators of Georgia, oppose slavery, 4

benefactors of Salzburgers, 120

letter to, 273.

Germans (= Palatines), confusion in Savannah, 55.

Gifts, see Charities.

Glaucha Home Liturgy (Glauchische Haus-Kirch-Ordnung), 130.

Gcken, Gerhard Gottlieb Gnther, historian, 298 n. 3.

Grimmiger, Andreas, Austrian, renounces claims, 7, 93

marries Anna Maria Bischoff, 7, 146.

Gronau, Israel Christian, assistant pastor, passim. Like Boltzius, he appears often and anonymously.

Gruber, Maria, ne Kroehr, widow Moshammer, wife of Peter Gruber, bears baby, 21

very composed, 255, 258.

Gruber, Peter, Salz., a good Christian, 154

to manage pastors plantation, 155

sick, 188

dies, 254

a good worker, 258, 293 n. 11.

Gschwandl, Thomas, Salz., his cow dies, 15.

Gldenes Schatz-Kstlein, devotional tractate by Bogatzky, 78, 285 n. 13.

Gldenes Mess-Bchlein, Catholic tractate, 78.

Haberfehner, Magdalena, Austrian orphan, ill, 270

dies, 271

buried, 272.

Habersham, James, schoolmaster at Bethesda, letter from, 13, 226

buys land for Whitefield, 19

a righteous guide, 59, 287 n. 8.

Halle Hymnal, see Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch.

Harris, Francis, pious merchant, procures calendar, 59, 155

sends letter, 269

sends sack cloth, 271, 300 n. 13.

Haus-Tafel, see Luther.

Held, Condrit, Pal., servant at orphanage, 26

reverts to Trustees, 92

dies at St. Augustine, 7, 214, 274, 284 n. 25.

Held, Hans Michael, son of Condrit, servant at orphanage, 26

reverts to Trustees, 92

at St. Augustine, 7

returns, 231.

Helfenstein, (Anna) Dorothea, Swiss widow, requests son from orphanage, 29

prepares leather, 49, 142

receives syrup, 117

needs utensils, 164

burglarized, 229; 292 n. 41.

Helfenstein, (Johann) Friedrich, son of Dorothea, needed at home, 29

has good voice, 50.

Herdsmen, supported by orphanage and congregation, a great blessing, 138; see Held, Nett, Schartner, H.M. Schneider.

Hernberger, Anna Justina, ne Unselt, wife of Franz Sigismund, has hard labor, 68

cheerful, 147.

Hernberger, Franz Sigismund, tailor, cheerful, 147

leaves, 246.

Herzog, Martin, Salz., is of good cheer, 16

has malaria, 42

very weak, 87, 189

always sick, 224

understands milling, 264.

Hildebrand, deacon in Augsburg, benefactor, 47.

Holtzendorf, (Johann) Friedrich, Prussian gentleman of Purysburg, visits Ebenezer, 139, 140

requests medicine, 149, 150, 291 n. 40.

Hoslin (Hesslin), Frau von, benefactress in Augsburg, 120, 285 n. 12.

Hossler (Hessler), Christian, Salz., wishes letter written, 48.

Horses, acquired in S.C., 57, 256.

Hunter, Patrick, doctor at Bethesda, 19, 220, 282 n. 8, 297 n. 12.

Hymns, sung polyphonically, 9, 76; 282 n. 12, see appended list.

India, see Cuddalore.

Indians, visit Ebenezer, 223, 228, 229, 234, 256

leave body unburied, 224

cause fires, 260

steal crops, 172, 289 n. 15

Creeks pass through Ebenezer.

Introduction to the Reading of Holy Scripture, see A.H. Francke.

Jones, Thomas, keeper of the stores in Savannah, quoted, 2

replaces Causton, 20

prominent man, 73

permits stocking weaver to remain in Ebenezer, 102

gives iron work, 214

still in Frederica, 263

letter from, 103

gifts, 117, 166.

Kaesemeyer, (Johann) Martin, Pal., farms on shares, 56, 134, 292 n. 6.

Kalcher, Margaretha, wife of Ruprecht, cares for Burgsteiners child, 56.

Kalcher, Ruprecht, Salz., manager of orphanage, intent on doing good, 56

selects pastures, 86

owns cattle, 86

has fever, 223, 224.

Kaltschmidt, benefactor, 47.

Kieffer, (Johann) Jacob, Pal. from Purysburg, marries Anna Elisabeth Depp, 85, 113, 290 n. 5

receives letter, 228

sends letter, 228, 284 n. 10, 298 n. 1.

Kieffer, Theobald, Sr., Pal. in Purysburg, 140

to lose land, 150

has slave, 194

has boat, 205, 284 n. 10.

Kieffer, Theobald, Jr., visits brother, 36, 284 n. 10, 298 n. 1.

Kogler, Georg., Salz., carpenter, has livestock, 3

receives just wages, 4

to build church, 27, 214

builds mill, 178, 222, 225, 235, 247, 249, 263

repairs orphanage, 184

repairs hand mill, 184

sells house, moves to plantation, 201

commended, 296 n. 1.

Kroeher, Maria, widow of Moshammer, wife of Peter Gruber, stepdaughter of Gertraut Boltzius

mother, 299 n. 4.

Krsy, Hans, Swiss carpenter, 104.

Krause, Barbara, ne Einecker, wife of Leonhard, sister of Mrs. Cornberger, 89, 219.

Kurze Answeisung zur wahren, lautern und apostolischen Erkntnis Jesu Christi, 286 n. 27.

Lackner, Martin, Salz., well, 182.

Lackner, Margaretha, wife of Martin, neighbor of Zimmerebner, 82, 124

well, 182

bears child, 271.

Lampton, Mr. Richard, merchant in Charleston, 214.

Landfelder, Ursula, nee Wasserman, wife of Veit, a good Christian, 58, 287 n. 6.

Leimberger, Christian, Salz., to marry Margaretha Staud, 230

cuts boards, 242.

Leimberger, Margaretha, see Staud.

Leitner, Josef, Salz., at St. Augustine, 7

at Augusta, 94

buries Bach, 227.

Lemmenhofer, Veit, Salz., displeased with servant, 26

a sinner, 132.

Lewenberger, Christian, Pal., farms on shares, 4, 56, 134.

Lewenberger, Margaretha, wife of Christian, 4.

Little Garden of Paradise, see Arnd.

Lotter, Tobias Conrad, engraver at Augsburg, 3.

Luther, Martin, German reformer, quoted, 62

author of Haus-Tafel (Tabula Oeconomica) and Little Catechism.

Malcontents, faction in Savannah opposing Trustees policies, 4.

Marriages, 7 in all, 274. See Bach-Staud, Bischoff-Unselt, Kieffer-Depp, Sanftleben-Arnsdorf, Schneider-Sanftleben, Zimmerebner-Berenberger. See also Leimberger-Staud.

Masig, see Mazzique.

Maurer, Apollonia, Salz., girl, 68, 287 n. 14.

Maurer, Gabriel, Salz., has plantation, 102.

Maurer, Hans, Salz., 219.

Mazzique, Joseph Anthony, Spanish spy, 238, 277, 297 n. 14, 298 n. 1.

McLeod, John, Presbyterian minister at Darien, 191.

Medicines and Medical treatment: china de china, 243

chinchona bark, 30

cortex Peruviana, 128

snake oil, 115

Schauer Balm, 116, 124, 149, 150

bloodletting, 102, 108, 111, 181, 259.

Mills: grist mill first in Georgia, 3

Oglethorpe donates stones, 93

plans made, 169

Boltzius urges low wages, 179, 277

construction proceeds, 205, 225, 238, 240

functions well, 264. Sawmill, see Parkers mill.

Memmingen, town in southwestern Germany, domicile of Salzburgers, 46.

Montaigut, Mrs. Samuel, widow of Purysburg merchant, 150, 293 n. 4.

Moosa, British defeat in siege of St. Augustine, 191.

Mueller, Friedrich Wilhelm, clockmaker, engages share-cropper, 4, 56

a skillful man, 44

would like to read music, 50.

Mueller, (Johann) Paul, son of above, helps share-cropper, 4, 56, 57.

Muggitzer, Hans Michael, renegade Salz., a sinner, 132.

Musgroves Cowpen, cattle ranch belonging to Mary Musgrove, half-breed interpreter, 93.

Musical notes, 66, 244.

The Necessary Examination..., see A.H. Francke.

Nett, Friedrich Ludwig, Pal. herdsman, requests leave to fight, 94

fires shot, 229.

New Windsor, Swiss settlement on Savannah River, 44.

Ogeechy, river near Ebenezer, 30, 277.

Oglethorpe, James Edward, founder of Georgia, allows Salzburgers to move, 1

still affectionate, 91

visits Ebenezer, 92

donates millstones and cannon, 93

money, 204

urges planting of grain, 3, 97, 139

and brickmaking, 97

needs soldiers, 91

captures forts, 36, 148

seizes island, 175

raises siege, 199

ill, 252

recovers, 278

still in Frederica, 262

letter to, 96

from, 217.

Old Ebenezer, first Salzburger settlement, abandoned, 71.

Orangeburg, district in South Carolina inhabited by Swiss and Germans, 228.

Orphanage, overcrowded, 22

servants leave, 95

cowshed burned, 71

reconstruction begun, 183

completed, 202.

Ortmann, Christopher, schoolmaster, mentioned, 274.

Ortmann, Juliana, wife of schoolmaster, receives house, 201.

Paedagogium, school for gentry in Halle, 211.

Paradies-Grtlein, see Arnd.

Palatinate, region in southwestern Germany, 1.

Palatines, immigrants from Palatinate and surrounding areas, 1, 8

books for, 206.

Parkers Mill, abandoned sawmill on Abercorn Creek, 204, 231, 233, 294 n. 22.

Peaches, see Fruit.

Pichler, Thomas, Salz., daughter eats clay, 84

daughter has fever-clot, 127

has servant, 223

runs mill, 276.

Pletter, Elisabeth, ne Wasserman, wife of Johann, a good Christian, 58, 287 n. 6.

Pletter, Johann, Austrian, victim of theft, 7.

Ploss, Dr., physician in Augsburg, 128, 243.

Plows, greatly needed, 137.

Plums, see Fruit.

Preu, Lutheran pastor, patron of Salzburgers, 128, 243.

Port Royal, small city in S.C., 165.

Prussia, goal of many Salzburgers, 65.

Purry, Jean, founder of Purysburg, 150.

Purry, Charles, son of above, merchant in Purysburg, 212.

Purysburg, Swiss settlement on Savannah River, land claimed by wealthy landlords, 150, 174.

Rauner, Leonhard, Salz., a renegade, 132

buries Bach, 227

dies at St. Augustine, 7, 214, 274.

Rauner, Maria Magdalena, wife of Leonhard, persuaded to go to war, 108.

Reck, Jacob, Pal. shoemaker at Purysburg, non-commissioned officer, 6, 93.

Red Bluff, site of Ebenezer, 1.

Reiter, (Maria) Magdalena, ne Gebhart, wife of Simon, writes to parents, 45

content, 187, 295 n. 10.

Reiter, Simon, Salz., serves at St. Augustine, 7

marries Magdalena Gebhart, 207

writes to Gebhart, 224.

Reverend Fathers, Salzburger patrons in Europe, 273, see Urlsperger, A.H. Francke, Ziegenhagen.

Rheinlaender, Maria Anna, Pal. widow, midwife, complains, 176.

Rhenish Palatinate, see Palatinate.

Rice birds, damage rice, 190.

Rice press, machine for husking rice, 222.

Richard(s), James (Jacques), Swiss officer, recruits 6

letter to 111, 287 n. 4, 289 n. 3.

Richter, Christian Friedrich, author of hymns, 284 n. 8.

Riedelsperger, Adam, Salz., dies an edifying death, 152.

Riedelsperger, Christian, Salz., hired by orphanage, 64, 75, 86, 98, 276

owns cattle, 86.

Riedelsperger, Stephan, renegade Salz., serves at St. Augustine, 94

a sinner, 132

now in Philadephia, 160.

Riesch, Rev. Bonaventura, pastor in Lindau, patron of Salzburgers, 47

letter from, 39, 40, 128; sends letter to Philadelphia.

Robinson, John, Eng. servant, serves at St. Augustine, 7

requests freedom, 29

delivers letter, 218, 289.

Rott (Roth), Bartholomus, Bavarian distiller, previously banished from Ebenezer, 23, 283 n. 18.

Rottenberger, Stephan, Salz., skilled carpenter, 249

proposed as elder, 101

repairs hand mill, 184.

St. Augustine, city in Spanish Florida, besieged by Oglethorpe, 5

non-Salzburgers enlist, 6

recruitment, 57, 91

siege goes badly, 192

raised, 199

to be renewed, 203.

Salt, Boltzius obtains a quantity, 273.

Sammlungen zum Bau, etc., devotional tractate, 282 n. 6.

Sanftleben, Georg, Silesian carpenter, at widow Arnsdorfs house, 153

has sore feet, 182

declares banns, 238, 248

marries, 250

inured by cow, 270.

Sanftleben, Magdalena, ne Arnsdorf, marries Sanftleben, 250.

Santee, S.C., scene of slave uprising, 190.

Sawmill, see Parkers mill.

Schade, Johann Caspar, Pietist author of Christ-Bescherung, 268.

Schaitberger, Josef, Salzburger exile, author of tractate, 128.

Schartner, Jacob, Pal. herdsman at orphanage, pleased, 75, 86

moves to plantations, 277; 288 n. 19.

Schauer, Johann Caspar, Augsburg distiller, donates Schauers Balm, 124.

Schauers Balm, popular cure-all made by above, see Medicines.

Schlatter, merchant in St. Gall, not yet paid, 166, 275, 294 n. 20.

Schmidt, Hans, Austrian, sends letter, 49

has good crop, 161

cuts boards, 186, 294 n. 18.

Schneider, (Hans) Michael, Pal. herdsman, marries Elisabeth Sanftleben, 7, 93, 110

becomes orphanage herdsman, 277

almost took fatal voyage, 277.

Schneller, righteous Salzburger, dies in Augsburg, 37.

Schnmannsgruber, Mrs., widow from Purysburg, now in Philadelphia, 160, 294 n. 6.

Schoppacher, Ruprecht, Salz., of 1st transport, died an edifying death, 197, 296 n. 18.

Schubert, Heinrich, author of sermons, 133, 139.

Schwartzburg, Countess of, pious Christian, 219.

Schweighoffer, Margaretha, widow, 26

owns cattle, 86

enjoys blessing, 90

ill, 186, 218, 225, 232

recovers, 234, 284 n. 22.

Schweighoffer, Maria, daughter of Margaretha, 26, 284 n. 23.

Seuter, Matthus, printer in Augsburg, 3.

Shannon, William, Irish murderer, 276, 296 n. 14.

Share-cropping, introduced at Ebenezer, 4, 56.

Simonds (Simon, Simons), Peter (Pierre), London merchant, 150, 174.

Slavery, competition from, 102

uprising in S.C., 190

arguments against, 194

steps against, 227

runaway slaves, 227, 229, 232, 276.

Snakes: girl bitten, 175

dog bitten, 198.

Song hour, 263.

Spaniards, attack British ships, 237.

SPCK, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, missionary society based in London, letter to, 273.

Spielbiegler, Rosina, Salz., 257, 299 n. 7.

Spielbiegler, Johann, Salz., son of Rosina, 257.

Spira, religious sect, 55.

Spy, see Mazzique.

Staud, Margaretha, Pal. from Saarbrcken, does church penance, 31

marries Gabriel Bach, 6, 8, 33, 148

desires instruction, 217

moves into orphanage, 224, 230, 233, 284 n. 6.

Steiner, Ruprecht, his house used as church, 59, 95, 107, 246, 248.

Steiner, Simon, Salz., ill, 234, 260, 261, 267, 269, 272, 275

brought to orphanage, 276.

Steinmetz, Abbott, German theologian, 194.

Stephens, Thomas, son of Col. Stephens, advocates slavery, 194, 296 n. 15.

Stephens, Col. Wm., president of Kings council, quoted, 6, 8

delivers letters, 141

forwards letters, 237, 282 n. 7.

Stocking-maker, found in woods, 67, 72, 73, 74

serves as herdsman, 102.

Stoves, iron, need of, 28, 284 n. 1.

Tail-male, law of inheritance through male line only, rescinded, 151, 284 n. 7.

Thilo, Ernst, physician, lets blood, 102, 181

treats patients, 216, 217, 242, 260, 267

teaches music, 50

his family growing, 182

desires house, 213

daughter dies, 238

visits mill, 242

receives hut, 246

commended, 274.

Thommendorf, town in Silesia, home of Maederjan.

Thomson, Capt. Wm., Irish sea captain, still at Frederica, 19

paid for servants, 274

brings servants, 277.

Tobler, Johann, Swiss settler, former governor, 44, 285 n. 21.

Treasure Chest, see Bogatzky.

True Christianity, see Arnd.

Trustees, see Georgia Trustees.

Ulich, Johann Caspar, deceased, first husband of Margaretha Egger, 271.

Ulm, South German city, 65.

Unselt, Sibylla, Friederica, Pal. girl from Purysburg, marries Henry Bishop, 85, 288 n. 19.

Urlsperger, Samuel, senior of the Lutheran ministry at Augsburg, one of Reverend Fathers, bowdlerizes Boltzius reports, 9

letter from, 37.

Verelst, Harmon, secretary of Trustees, letter from, 220

letter to, 231, 274.

Verzeichnis der vornehmsten Gaben, etc., 301 n. 24.

Wallpurger, Mrs., wealthy widow in Purysburg, visits Ebenezer, 216, 289 n. 18, 296 n. 21.

Wallpurger, son of above, eye injured, 216.

Waysenhaus, orphanage in Halle, sends gifts, 122.

Weaving, 192.

Weise, Pietist missionary in Astrakan, 146.

Whitefield, George, Eng. preacher and philanthropist, quoted, 2, 8

preaches well, 19

arrives in Savannah, 17

at Ebenezer, 162

brings gifts, 4, 13, 18, 23

urges church construction, 18, 213, 273, 297 n. 7

takes up collection, 227, 283 n. 10, 300 n. 9, 14, 19.

Zant, Bartholomus, Swiss, serves at St. Augustine, 7, 107

affected by Grubers death, 255.

Ziegenhagen, Friedrich Michael, court chaplain in London, letter to, 49, 273

letter from, 122, 126, 127, 128, 133

sends books, 206.

Zimmerebner, Ruprecht, Salz., marries Margaretha Berenberger, 81

serious Christian, 82, 128

ill, 235.

Zimmermann, error for Zimmerebner. Zimmermann, Prof. Johann Liborius, author of religious work, Die berschwengliche Erkentniss Jesu Christi, 17, 88, 281 n. 4.

Zittrauer, Anna, ne Leihofer, wife of Ruprecht, 161.

Zittrauer, Ruprecht, Salz., poor Christian, 160

learning to read, 161

sick, 185.

Zuebli, Ambrosius, Swiss from St. Gall, absent, 253, 287 n. 13.

Zuebli, David, Swiss from St. Gall, brother of above, father of Johann Joachim Zubly, puts daughter in orphanage, 199

brings son, 221

visits Ebenezer, 214, 221.

Zuebli, (Johann) Jacob, brother of Ambrosius and David, 16, 67

helps Gruber, 255, 287 n. 13.

Zwiffler, Andreas, former druggist with Salzburgers, writes from Philadelphia, 160

letter to, 174.