Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America . . .: Volume Fifteen, 1751-1752
Detailed Reports on theSalzburger EmigrantsWho Settled in America ...Edited by Samuel Urlsperger


Plan of Bethany, by William Gerard De Brahm.COURTESY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

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

VOLUME FIFTEEN, 1751-1752

Translated and Edited byGEORGE FENWICK JONES


THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESSATHENS AND LONDON

1990 by the University of Georgia PressAthens, Georgia 30602All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

(Revised for vol. 15)

Urlsperger, Samuel, 1685-1772.

Detailed reports on the Salzburger emigrants who settled in America.

(Wormsloe Foundation. Publications, no. 9)

Vol. 6 translated and edited by George Fenwick Jones and Renate Wilson.

Vols. 7, 9-10 translated and edited by George Fenwick Jones and Don Savelle.

Vol. 8 translated by Maria Magdalena Hoffmann-Loerzer, Renate Wilson, and George Fenwick Jones.

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

Vols. 15 issued in series: Publications (Wormsloe Foundation)

Vol. 15 Translated and edited by George Fenwick Jones.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Contents: v. 1. 17331734.v. 2. 17341735.[etc.]v. 15. 17511752.

1. SalzburgersGeorgiaHistorySources. 2. German AmericansGeorgiaHistory-Sources. 3. Lutherans-Georgia-History-Sources. 4. Stockbridge IndiansMissionsHistorySources. 5. Indians of North AmericaGeorgiaMissionsHistorySources. 6. Ebenezer (Ga.)HistorySources. 7. Georgia HistoryColonial period. ca. 16001775Sources. I. Jones, George Fenwick, 1916. II. Wilson, Renate, 1930. III. Savelle, Don. IV. Title. V. Series. VI. Series: Publications (Wormsloe Foundation); no. 9, etc.

F295.S1U813975.8′0043667-27137

ISBN 0-8203-1191-X (alk. paper) (v. 15)

British Library Cataloging in Publication Data available

Volumes 15 were published as part of the Wormsloe FoundationPublications Series.

Reissue published in 2021

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

Printed digitally

ISBN 9780820361475 (Hardcover)ISBN 9780820361468 (Paperback)ISBN 9780820361451 (Ebook)

Contents


Foreword to the Reissue


ix


Introductionby George Fenwick Jones


xiii


Daily Reports of the Year 1751


1


Daily Reports of the Year 1752


141


Hymns Sung by the Salzburgers


291


Notesfor the Year 1751


295


Notesfor the Year 1752


305


Index


315

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

In the year 1751 Samuel Urlsperger continued with his edition of the Ausfhrliche Nachrichten, from which these Detailed Reports are translated. However, beginning in April of that year, for reasons unknown, he abruptly changed the title of the edition to Das Americanische Ackerwerck Gottes, or Gods American Husbandry. The symbolism is clear: in John 15:1 Christ says, I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. In other words, Gods American husbandry is His spreading of His word in North America through the Halle missionaries. Despite the change in the title of the original, the Detailed Reports continue almost unchanged, unless Urlsperger has taken even more license in abridging the work.

This and the following four paragraphs are taken from the introduction to a previous volume of this series and may therefore be passed over by those who have already read them or who are otherwise familiar with the history of the Georgia Salzburgers. For those who come new to the field, the following resume should suffice. Those who wish more detail may consult the Salzburger Saga.1

When the Lutherans were expelled from Salzburg in 1731, not all the exiles went to East Prussia and other Protestant lands in Europe: a small number, some two hundred, were taken to the colony of Georgia, then in its second year. Georgia, the last of Britains thirteen North American colonies, was founded according to the grandiose schemes of a group of benevolent gentlemen in London, called the Trustees, who wished to provide homes for impoverished Englishmen and persecuted foreign Protestants, to protect the more northerly colonies from the Spaniards in Florida, and to provide raw materials for English industry.

The first Salzburger transport, or traveling party, consisted of recent exiles who had been recruited in and around Augsburg, a Swabian city just northwest of Salzburg. This group arrived in Georgia in 1734 and settled some twenty-five miles northwest of Savannah, where they founded a settlement which they named Ebenezer. By the time the second transport arrived a year later, the land that had been chosen had proved infertile and the stream on which it was built, Ebenezer Creek, had proved unnavigable. When a third transport arrived in 1736, composed mostly of Upper Austrian exiles, the survivors at Ebenezer joined them on the Red Bluff on the Savannah River, bringing the name of the earlier settlement with them. The original site, which became the Trustees cowpen or cattle ranch, was henceforth called Old Ebenezer.

A fourth and last transport, consisting of Salzburger exiles who had been sojourning in Augsburg and other Swabian cities, arrived in 1741. The Salzburgers were joined by Swiss and Palatine settlers from Purysburg, a Swiss settlement a short way down the Savannah River on the Carolina side, and also by some Palatine servants donated by the Trustees. Finding insufficient fertile land on the Red Bluff, many Salzburgers moved their plantations to an area along Abercorn Creek where the lowland was flooded and enriched each winter by the Savannah River. This explains the terms the town and the plantations. After some gristmills and sawmills were built on Abercorn Creek, it was usually called the Mill River (Mhl-Fluss).

Despite appalling sickness and mortality and the hardships incident to settlement in a wilderness, the Salzburgers were the most successful community in Georgia. This relative success was largely due to the skill, devotion, and diligence of their spiritual leader, Johann Martin Boltzius, the author of most of these reports. This young divine had been trained at the University of Halle in eastern Germany and had taught in that city at the Francke Foundation, a charitable institution that was to have great influence on the development of Ebenezer. Although Boltzius was at heart a minister, his secular responsibilities in Georgia moulded him into a skillful administrator, economist, and diplomat. A few of the reports were written by Boltzius admiring younger colleague, Christian Israel Gronau, who officiated whenever Boltzius was away, in Savannah or elsewhere, until his untimely death in 1745. After that, some of the reports were written by Gronaus successor, Hermann Heinrich Lemke.

Boltzius journals were edited contemporaneously by Samuel Urlsperger, the Senior of the Lutheran clergy in Augsburg. Comparison of the original manuscripts surviving in Halle with Urlspergers published edition shows that he took considerable liberty in deleting unpleasant reports and suppressing proper names, which he replaced with N. or N.N. So far as we know, the original documents for 1751 and 1752 no longer exist, so there is no way to know how much Urlsperger changed or deleted; but there is reason to believe that Boltzius made an entry for every day, as he had been instructed to, and that Urlsperger made major deletions for both diplomatic and economic reasons. In some cases he simply consolidated the material for two or more days into one. Urlspergers deletions are very illogical: he often deletes a name in one passage even though it appears in another and can be easily recognized.

The years 1751 and 1752 were a turning point in Ebenezers history. Despite their tragic mortality rate in their malarial climate, the populace of Ebenezer maintained their number by accepting Palatine servants and German Swiss settlers, for no more Salzburgers were available. In 1750 a new and important addition began, that of settlers from the territory of the free Imperial City of Ulm on the Danube, who had been recruited for Urlsperger by Lutheran ministers. These immigrants had been carefully screened as suitable for Ebenezer, and time was to prove that the recruiters did their job well. When the year 1751 began, the first Swabian transport had been well housed and assimilated, yet, being still unseasoned, many of them contracted malaria that summer and several died. In fact, although the initial hardships at Ebenezer had been largely overcome, sickness and death continued; and the death rate for 1751 and 1752 greatly exceeded the birth rate.

A few other settlers came with the Swabians, among these being the Schubdreins of Weiher in Nassau-Saarbrcken, now Weyer in Alsace. Three bothers, Daniel, Joseph, and Johann Peter arrived in 1749 with a transport of Palatines on the Charles Town Galley with Capt. Peter Bogg. They had succeed in leaving home by being auf Wanderung, or on their travels as journeymen apprentices; and thus they appeared on their parish records. These three young men were such pious and diligent carpenters that Boltzius arranged for Johann Peter to return to Germany to bring back other members of his family. This he did in 1751, bringing his parents, his younger brother Nikolaus, a sister, and apparently several other persons, for several new surnames appear in Georgia soon thereafter, surnames identical to some of the Schubdreins kinsmen and gossips in Weiher. The reports for 1751 and 1752 reveal how the family fared.

Fundamental changes began in 1751 in the economy and goals of the people of Ebenezer. The Trustees had wished a colony of self-sufficient small landowners able to defend their homes and to supply raw materials for England, and the Salzburgers had been their only proof that this was possible and that slavery was not necessary. The Salzburgers, who had seen slavery first hand at Old Ebenezer, were generally opposed to it and backed up Boltzius in his petitions against it. Because they had lost most of their children, the Salzburgers were desperate for servants; and the Trustees tried to oblige them with Palatines, even though few were willing to work for others where land was free for the asking. This labor shortage was the reason the Trustees bore the expense of bringing the Swabians, but the Swabians, too, preferred to work for themselves. Meanwhile, despite the Salzburgers disapproval, slavery was permitted in Georgia, even Boltzius having reluctantly acquiesced. As these reports show, the Salzburgers themselves soon began to buy slaves to replace the labor of their lost children. The Salzburgers were now being urged to cultivate less land and to raise more silk and to prepare more lumber for export; and Boltzius, urged by the merchant James Habersham, was declaring it Gods will that the Salzburgers do so.

I wish at this time to express my sincere thanks to Alice R. Ferrell for kindly proofreading this volume and to the Reverends Hartmut Beck and Raymond Davis for help with hymnology.

FUNDING OF THIS VOLUME

This volume has been funded by the current members of the board of Ebenezer Trustees, which was originally created when the pastors turned over their TRUST to seven members of the Ebenezer congregation. From the beginning, the pastors recognized and used the lay leadership within the congregation(s). In turn, the laymen trustees of 1987 wish to honor those first pastors from Germany who laid the groundwork for the ecclesiastical and secular operation of the church and town, all of whom died in service to God, church, and Ebenezer.

Johann Martin Boltzius, 17031765

Israel Christian Gronau, 17141745

Hermann Heinrich Lemke, 17201768

Christian Rabenhorst, 17281776

Christoph Friedrich Triebner, 17401818

Johann Ernst Bergmann, 17551825

The 1987 Trustees are:

Albert H. Allen, Chairman

Calvin Seckinger

Charles F. Gnann

Ralph Zeigler

John Henry Zipperer

Charles Heidt

Arte P. Heidt

Franklin Edwards

Walter Groover

During the eighteenth-century, when an artist or scholar wished to publish a book but was unable to obtain a grant from the crown, he would turn to the prominent gentlemen of his city and ask them to subscribe to his publication, that is, to take out a subscription. In that way the burden was shared by those who subscribed. It is fortunate that such cultural interest still survives, as is indicated by the above list of subscribers.

George Fenwick Jones

1George F. Jones, Salzburger Saga. Athens, Ga.: U. of Ga. Press, 1983.

Daily Reports Of the Year 1751

JANUARY 1751

The 1st of January. With the new year, starting today, we at Ebenezer have also learned that the grace of God is everlasting and His mercy is new every morning. He has granted us new strength, a new and earnest intent to devote ourselves to Him alone, a new opportunity for edification, and a new enthusiasm for public worship. The weather was warm and pleasant and the listeners assembled in large numbers and piously at Jerusalem Church for prayer, sermon, and listening to the word of God as well as for singing melodious religious songs.

My fellow-minister went to Savannah yesterday morning to preach to the German people there and to administer the Sacraments. In the morning I preached to my dear, eager audience about Matthew 5:4, the way, nature, and happiness of Christians. In the afternoon we discussed the gospel according to Luke 2:21 about the comfort of Christians through the circumcision of Christ.

The 2nd of January. The little son of the upright Hanns Schmid had scabies and the purples that quickly vanished but after that he suffered from epilepsy for several days1. Today the father informs me that his health improved after taking essentia dulcis2. Kalcher, however, came up with sad news about the unexpected death of Adrian Krsy, a well-behaved and upright young man, whose father (an old Swiss from Appenzell) had died a few years ago as a fellow believer.3 If a case of death, second only to that of our Samuel Leberecht,4 has grieved me, it is this one; therefore my heart bows down to God. It is not that I have any doubt or sorrow because of this young mans state of grace or of his peaceful departure from this world, but that we now have to do without such a fine, skilful, diligent, and promising young man and worker in our community, Because (as I see it) he died of an apparently mild sickness, whereby the necessary medications were not used in time. Six days ago he worked outside with his horse on a cold, windy day, whereupon he caught a sore throat (which is a special sickness right now). For that he only used throat-wash from Mr. Meyer; and, when he asked for Mr. Thilos help, it was already too late.

He learned carpentry and rip-sawing from our most skilled master-carpenter Kogler; and before long he certainly would have been of good use. He was loved and held high in general esteem because of his sincere, simple, quiet, and serviceable character; and he was a great lover of the word of God and prayer. His late father, on his death-bed, recommended him to my spiritual and physical care. Later on he was prepared for Holy Communion and admitted to the Lords table on 6 June 1747 for the first time together with other children. The fourth Sunday of Advent he went together with our congregation to Holy Communion for the last time. Holy Christmas he also celebrated together with us. His legacy, including cattle, tools, and some money, will be safely kept for his relatives.

The 3rd of JanuaryLast night my dear colleague, Mr. Lemke, came home in rainy weather but happy and healthy; and I heard from him that, by request of the Council,5 at the time the President was the Salzburgers friend, James Habersham. I should go down to them promptly because, before sending their letters to the Trustees, they want to discuss something with me, also matters concerning our community. Therefore, I have to travel this morning, though Sunday is near, which I would rather spend in Ebenezer than elsewhere. May God be with me and with my mouthas He has promised by His word.

The 70-year-old schoolmaster Ortmann wrote to me from Vernonburg near Savannah, telling me that it seems as if Vernonburg will become a wilderness again and that he will have little opportunity to do his job as a schoolmaster there.6 Therefore he wants me to ask the favor of the Trustees to let him be the schoolmaster at Abercorn.

My journey to Savannah did not take placeeven though it seemed important; but, if I had traveled, I would have endangered my rowers and myself to loss of health, for which I have no call or inclination.

This afternoon two babies were baptized: one of them was born here and the other one at Old Ebenezer. Because of the raw weather, the latter was later brought down here on horseback. The parents and friends suffered some burden rather than wait longer for Holy Baptism; all the more since they were already hindered by the rainy weather yesterday from bringing the baby down for baptism.

The 4th of January. During my absence some changes have taken place in our community. Several children were born, but one child and Mrs. Kocher died unexpectedly. She was an honest, quiet, and diligent worker. May God have mercy on her husband and their two delicate children.

A well-qualified young Englishman /Pickering Robinson/, who was sent to Savannah by the Lord Trustees, is well experienced in silk-manufacturing. He is supposed to develop it in this colony, too; and for this he possesses intelligence, skill, and activity. He has no lack of ability to exert himself through example and encouragement for others. He has delivered to me very friendly and pleasing letters from two Trustees, Mr. Cloyd7 and Mr. Vernon, and another one for Secretary Martyn, wherein the good intentions of this newly arrived gentleman were emphasized and I was asked to help him by word and deed. I answered these letters in Savannah because at this time the Councils general packet was being sent to the Lord Trustees. In it there were some bundles with letters and diaries from me also, some of which have waited since August of last year for a safe opportunity to be sent to London.

I do not doubt that our Fathers and friends will understand it if our letters and news arrive out of sequence. If we lived nearer to Charleston, everything would be in better order. But thus we have to be patient when our friends in this country are not very diligent in the delivery of our letter parcels.

The 13th of January. After my journey I felt a little sick and had some motus febriles.8 God, however, has so strengthened me on this First Sunday after Epiphany that I could preach in the fore- and afternoon. My dear colleague held public worship at the plantations. Praise to God, who still acts mercifully toward us even though He visits us with all sorts of afflictions.

Today, it is six years since we buried our dear Israel Christian Gronau, my late assistant; and I have remembered him anew. I have praised God in public that He has granted me a period of grace until now.

The 14th of January. The shoemaker Zettler has earned so much money by making and spinning silk, for which his wife is especially qualified, that he bought a female Negro slave in Carolina last summer, who was brought down here pregnant and has now borne a little girl. The said married couple has asked me to let this baby have Holy Baptism, to which I readily consented, since the married couple, as the owners of mother and child, promised with mouth and hand at the ceremony of baptism to represent father and mother and to bring it up to all the good in the dogma of Christ and not to dismiss it from their care. They named it Sulamith, since the heavenly Solomon brought this heathen child, like Solomon his bride, from the heathen Egypt to the spiritual Jerusalem and the spiritual Zion.

Unfortunately most people in this country are only little concerned about childrens baptism, even less about the baptism of Negro children; yea, what is more, they have some unfounded and foolish objections against baptism: therefore I have informed the persons who brought the child to baptism that, by the dogma of Christ and the practice of the Apostles and first Christians, the baptism of children is as firmly grounded in the New Testament as circumcision is in the Old Testament.

Today the Assembly of the prominent inhabitants of this colony starts in Savannah, it being similar to a small parliament. Every place in the country sends off one or more formally elected deputies. Our Ebenezer has sent two honorable men at the direction of the Lord Trustees. May God bless their efforts.

The 16th of January. Today Johann Peter Schubdrein left, in the name of God, to bring his family to Ebenezer from Nassau-Saarbrcken, which is the birthplace of him and his two brothers /Daniel and Josef/.9 He is an honest man, well-liked by the whole community: therefore his farewell was accompanied with many tears and Christian wishes by other members of the community. Some people accompanied him up to the mill, others to the new milldam, and some as far as Abercorn.

The departure has been as hard for him as when he was separated from his parents, sisters, and brother in his fatherland! From myself and my dear colleague he has a good testimony, also some letters to the Lord Trustees, Court Chaplain Albinus, Senior Urlsperger, and Pastor Kleinknecht10 in which he and his project were accompanied with love. By many members of the community and the inhabitants of Goshen he received a whole pile of letters; and he promised to comply with their wishes and deliver them personally at the respective places, wherefore he will have to make a great roundabout trip. He is very serviceable. I hope he will be a good deputy of Christ and of our community.

Today in the fore- and afternoon I took time to visit our women now in childbed and other patients, to talk to them about the word of God and active Christianity, and to pray with them. Most of them like very much to be visited, edified, exhorted, and consoled by ministers. We are glad to hear their spiritual and physical concerns, which they present simply and confidentially. With our patients and lying-in women it becomes known what God has done to their souls in their healthy days and where they may have been faithless: therefore we get rich material to talk to them for a good purpose. Also wishing to visit a sick woman near the mill, I arranged to do some business at the mill and found out some things which caused great joy and praise of God:

1. All the mills were in full swing; and, although we had to shut down the gristmill, ricemill, and sawmill because of the inundation, the water was high for only a few days. Since this time they have always been able to grind, stamp, and saw, which was a great blessing for both residents and strangers.

2. The skilled Mr. /Johann Philip/ Paulitsch, who came to us with the last transport, has installed a new mechanism at one of the water courses so that it is now possible to roll barley or to make pearl-barley out of it, which has been our desire for a long time. In a few days he will make the test and show our diligent miller how common and fine pot-barley should be rolled and prepared at the mill. This will encourage our inhabitants to sow barley again. They have neglected it, since they had no possibility of brewing beer here and could not prepare it right for eating.

3. With our advance of money and food, the tanner Neidlinger, with his sons, is installing his workshop near the mill at a very well-situated place, and the whole arrangement, except the dwelling-house, is almost fully completed. He had a tanning mill built with three stamps, which are driven by water and which stamp the oak-bark almost as fine as dust or flour (as was demonstrated to me today). He did not even have such a thing in Germany, as he himself admitted. In this country and in Carolina the tanners break only the harshest barks with a wheel or hammer; therefore the leather is so bad and shoes are expensive. Not far away from this almost-completed and well-constructed tanning mill a spacious hut is being erected as his workshop, with leather pits and vats, which are manufactured from strong cypress boards. In front of the workshop he is building a long 14 or 16 foot wide bridge, constructed of piles, beams, and boards, out into the Mill River and over the dam, where the leather is being dressed.

In front of the bridge two piles are planted, on which hides are bound for softening. The mill channels or broad open gutters serve, if desired, for watering the skins after they are taken out of the chalk. The carpenters work will probably be finished this week, and after that the new mill building will be taken in hand again. It was interrupted for love of the tanner.

4. On the day that the sawmillers assistant died, a young, skilled, diligent, and pious journeyman-locksmith engaged himself as apprentice and assistant to the sawmiller for board-cutting; and we regard this as a remarkable testimony of Gods loving care, since good, young people who can do such work are rare and not to be got or held without great expenses. Our sawmill is being built very ingeniously and expensively by some engineers at the cost of the Lord Trustees in London; therefore, it is rather different from the simple machines of this kind in Germany. One needs skill and caution if no damage is to be done and if one is to saw with good success. The boards are becoming more beautiful all the time, so that ours are the best here and in the West Indies, as is confirmed by all experts on good boards.

Today I met the young man alone at the sawmill. In the absence of his master (who has accompanied the mentioned Schubdrein down to Abercorn) he has sawn such very fine and straight boards that I was astonished and delighted. He has been employed at the mill only since New Year. He has sense and ability and will be of good use in the future, too, especially when God presents us with the other sawmill.

5. Towards evening our skilled Rottenberger showed me the model of a light and simple sawmill, invented and constructed by him, according to which the new sawmill shall be built. It has pleased me very much, and I hope that we will attain our aim with little cost.

6. We have had many difficulties from the lack of qualified and steadily working day-laborers for preparing logs in the pine forest; therefore the sawmiller has been displeased and the boards have been damaged. Now, however, God has also helped us in this case in that, with the last transport, He has sent us a true and reliable servant, who does this work satisfactorily together with another man who has redeemed himself and is our permanent worker. Another servant, who was of no use before, is incited by their good example and Kalchers leadership to do a good job now with the carting and other mill activities, so that he, as I hope, will become a useful person to his own benefit.

7. Ever since the obliging Mrs. Kalcher came to the well-installed public house near the mill, bread is being baked and beer is being brewed from syrup from the West Indies and Indian corn etc. This is quite similar to Lobeginer and other sorts of white beer and is quite cheap and therefore refreshing to poor and sick people. There is nothing missing in this spacious house but a prayer-closet for the constantly praying woman, where she can hide and which will be built for her soon.

8. Formerly the round outside slabs at the sawmill had to be burnt with great effort, since nobody wanted them; but now the owners of the neighboring plantations will, according to our example, make them into garden fences and stalls; and they will not cost anything but for hauling them away. I had our great mulberry orchard fenced in with those slabs; and the fence around the kitchen-garden will also be made in the same manner. Thus we can find a better use for the good trees, from which we are accustomed to make stakes and shingles.

9. Respecting the tannery, I must bring up one more testimony of Gods care. Before the tanners arrival much oak-bark was peeled from the trees last spring on our advice and was stored safely at the mill, since two men were intending to learn this productive handicraft with an advance from us. For various reasons this did not work out, and therefore the bark and hides are already prepared for the tanner who has arrived so that he can start his trade right away. Otherwise, he would be unable to start before next spring for lack of bark. He is also a tawer. There is no want of alum in the country as well as of fish-oil, chalk, green and dry hides, and deer skins; and there is bark enough in our forests and for nothing.

10. Court Chaplain Albinus has done us a pleasant favor in advancing the traveling expenses for the young carpenter Fetzer, who is now doing a good job for the mills under the supervision of the reasonable and diligent Joseph Schubdrein. On the other hand, we do not know yet how to use the young Neidlinger, for whom the Court Chaplain in London also paid.

11. Near the mill we have the best possibility to plant mulberry trees, which we also need.

12. To ten families of the last colonists I have handed over some useful implements and farming utensils, which we think will be a great help for them. To six families, who paid for their own passage in London or for whom it was paid by Court Chaplain Albinus, the Lord Trustees have sent over such tools. For four other poor families, who came on shore as servants and are going to settle in the country (among them a well-mannered German boatman who came over free as a ship-hand) I have requested some urgently needed implements from the Councilmen.

The above-mentioned matters are indeed only physical and negligible things; but still they are testimonies of the divine care for all of us, and far be it from me to disregard something that concerns the mercy of God and His power and not to praise Him for it. The wisdom of God has found it necessary to include many outward and trifling things into the best book, the Holy Writ; and it wishes thus to give us a broad hint not to scorn anything that God doeth.

At the end of this report I wish to say something more about the second daughter of Mrs. Kalcher. She has been very sick several times over; but God has helped her up again, contrary to our expectations, and He has made true His dear words in her and her piously praying parents: The prayer of faith shall save the sick.11 He has also shown great mercy to her soul, so that she is a pious girl now and is also becoming useful to her sisters.

Once she was lying down without feeling anything; her senses were (as she reported) turned to eternity, and she felt clearly that the gates to heaven and to hell were opened for her by an angel in order for her to see how it goes with the souls in heaven and hell. In heaven she saw many children from Ebenezer in ineffable grace; but also in the torments of hell she saw some (though surely fewer) children from our congregation. This made a deep impression on her and others, whom she told about it. Oh sweet Jesus Christ, born as a man, save us from hell!

While I was writing that, I heard that an honest and diligent young man will be transferred, for a certain amount of money, as a servant from his severe master at Purysburg to our pious miller, which is a great benefit for the young man and for the miller. Already sometime ago he wanted to come to our place, to his religion, and to his ministers. I did not, however expect his master to let him go. Our miller has so many duties with his plantation, his household, and the mill, which he cannot carry on alone; so this well-behaved young man will be of great help to him and our mills, which are running day and night. I believe our heartily pious miller has asked God to send him this helper.

The 17th of January. Valentin Deppe and his young wife /Maria Margaretha/ lead a peaceable and, for other people, exemplary married life. Since, however, much has intervened that is contrary to the beneficial teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, our true Savior has contributed, not only to him but also to her, a real purification and a greater seriousness in Christianity by means of grace and chastisement. A short time ago she was brought to child-bed under very difficult circumstances, and after that she became seriously ill with the purples and sore throat. There is also poverty and great unrest in her heart because of faithlessness committed against the grace of the Holy Spirit. She urgently admonishes her husband to take care of his salvation more than before and to fulfil his often-made pledge to the Lord.

She especially claimed that he is too shy to pray straight from his heart and with his own words together with her. The same claim I also heard yesterday from a man who said about his pious wife that he hears her praying alone heartily and diligently. However, when he prays together with her, she leaves the praying up to him alone. I have instructed both married couples. The remarkable verses I found this morning during my house prayer-hour in the third chapter of Proverbs I have made useful for some married couples: The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.12

The 18th of January. This week, in the name of God, I have started, as a basis for the weekly prayers and the evening prayer hours, the often mentioned very beautiful and edifying confessional and communion booklet of the late Ambrosius Wirth and the therein contained examinations of the heart according to the Ten Commandments.13 I intend to acquaint my listeners with Gods wishes by every single point and to test their internal and external behavior in regard to them so that they may learn to know God, His revealed wishes, and their own spiritual condition for the benefit of real repentance and real blessedness. Every family in our congregation owns this golden booklet, therefore they can prepare for my sermon and easily repeat words they learn. The gospel or the grace-sermon of Christ will not be forgotten in any hour.

Christoph Rottenbergers wife contracted the prevalent disease of the purples and swollen throat very badly the other day, but by Gods grace she was cured again. However, some days ago she had a severe attack again; and today we found her in a fit of epilepsy. The first time I visited her she did not recognize me from my person but by the manner of my speaking; and she probably understood my prayers for her with her and her family. When I came to her the second time I found her husband on his knees near her sick-bed praying with many tears so fervently and zealously that he did not hear me enter the room. Undisturbed, he prayed so very simply, innocently, and confidently that I prayed with him with surprise and joy. May God hear him and grant grace. He is drawing this man to Himself through great tribulation.

The 19th of January. Mrs. Schweiger took Holy Communion this forenoon in her lodging, because her constant weakness did not allow her to take it together with the congregation. She regretted very much that she had not esteemed the preaching of the word of God highly enough during the past years or that she had sometimes let herself be unnecessarily hindered from participating in public worship. Now she has a great desire for it but cannot share in it because of her sickness. She means well with God and His word; but something in her temper and habit makes her a burden to herself and others. I showed her from the example of the Savior and some Bible verses how her behavior in a certain point in her married state should be, if it is to please God and edify her neighbor.

A pious young man, Philip Ports, has a very good plantation at Goshen. Since, however, God has given him the grace of conversion during his period of indenture at our place, he feels on his own land away from Ebenezer, like a child that is weaned from its mothers breasts. He will find no peace until he is again in our community and near to the word of God. He has bought a plantation here below the mill; and I found out today that he is well established and gives a good example to everybody by his diligence and good economy. The grace of God is with him and his work. In other respects a cross is laden on him; but I have consoled him from the word of God and from other examples known to me and prayed for him. It is said, as we shall hear tomorrow in the gospel story of the wedding of Cana: verily, thou art a secret God, etc.14 If he remains steadfast in his faith he will see the glory of God. Some years ago he did not wish to come to our place as a servant and had to be forced. Now he has known for a long why God did it.

The 20th of January. God has shown a new miracle of His grace and omnipotence to the mortally sick Mrs. Rottenberger and Mrs. Deppe by starting to release them both from their very dangerous sickness; and He has also had mercy upon their two very little children. They should remember the important verse: Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits he lays a burden upon us, but He saveth us from death.15 I remembered the words in the Book of Wisdom 16:12: It healeth neither herb nor poultice (which as a gift of God is not to be despised either) but only thy word, Lord, which healeth all. Because thou hast power, both upon life and death, and thou leadest down to the gates of hell and out again.

The second Sunday after Epiphany I preached about the gospel of the hidden ways of God with His children; and I started with the words of Isaiah 45: Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. Among other things I warned our new inhabitants not to take offence at the secret of the cross, by which our Savior shows that He is the hidden God, but also is our ally and Savior.

The 21st of January. I visited the sickly young Mrs. Arnsdorf, who has eaten salt at the orphanage as well as during her married state because of her irregular appetite and has thereby injured her health seriously. She shed tears at my remonstrance. Nobody in the community seems to be as bad off as Thomas Bichler because he feels not only very miserable with a consumptive fever, but also very poor and deep in debt. Therefore he has a bad conscience that bothers him much. In his healthy and well days he was vainglorious, imperious, and refractory; and he was not in good repute in our community and elsewhere. Since God has seen that he could not be won otherwise, He has brought him down from his former well-being to the astonishment of everybody. Now he is earnestly concerned about his salvation and warns others earnestly by his example.

Some of the last colonists understand much too little about farming and would accomplish only little on their own land, all the more since it is too late in the year. Therefore I have ceded them a large already-fenced field near the town, which they divided today among themselves for planting during the year. It belongs among the best pieces of land and has rested about ten years, so that, under the blessing of God, it can bear bountiful crops as a reward for their diligence. I intend to let them plow, one each day, and thus lighten their first difficult start. I will also allow some old inhabitants to plant close to these colonists so that they will learn the right way of planting from them and have some relief from watching over their crops. They may be safe from thieves but not from deer, bears, wild cats,16 and squirrels. I am glad that these new colonists like our arrangements, attach a great importance to our church and school, and take delight in everything.

The 22nd of January. Mr. Thilos wife has been sick in bed for many months, but now God is beginning to help her up again. He too, was very sick for a few days with febris acuta17 and their one little daughter is also quite frail. As a new proof of divine care for their better physical wellbeing, I remembered the dear edifying words of God, which were comforting to them, too, in their present affliction: The vision as yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not be: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.18 The pious Mrs. Riedelsberger, who is often led on dark paths by her Savior, was also comforted by these verses. Likewise from: The Lord hath spoken. He wishes to dwell in the dark.19

The 24th of January. As much as Thomas Bichler was formerly prejudiced against me, so much is he now convinced that I mean well with him and seek his well-being. He thinks himself unworthy that I visit him as often as I can during his present consumptive sickness, talk to him about the word of God, pray with him, and also do some some physical service for him. Many a one among us has heaped, often without my knowledge, coals of fire upon his head, which shall encourage us to go on with this: Let us not be weary in well doing.20

Gabriel Maurer had his house consecrated with the word of God and prayers before it was totally finished. Today she21 was very pleased at my visit because she had wished me to help her and her family, except her husband, who was at work at the new mill, to praise God for His mercy in her very comfortable living-room. She told me with tears of joy about the favor of the Holy Spirit upon her three-and-a-half year old child, who died a short time ago, softly and blessedly on her lap. It had learned short verses and liked to pray as soon as it was able to babble. As much as I now remember, one can see the grace of the Holy Spirit in even the smallest children if their parents bring them up in a Christian way and dont let them see and hear any offences. We miss no opportunity to impress on the parents their duty from the word of God distinctly and clearly, as was also done on the Second Sunday after Epiphany both in the introit at the beginning and in the sermon in both the fore- and afternoon.

The 25th of January. In my solitude some days ago after the evening prayers I read the Formula Concordiae in our Libri Symbolici22 with great pleasure and edification of my heart; and I intend to go on with it as soon as I can for my own new strengthening in the evangelical truth, which is highly proved by the word of God. While I was reading this, a friend sent me back the journals of the well-known John Wesley that I had received a short time ago from him personally from London together with a friendly letter and which I had lent to this friend. By looking it through I also found something shocking in it quoad Doctrinam & Praxin.23 Most of all I was deeply depressed about his crude and very hard opinion of Gods dear tool, our blessed Luther and his so very profound, edifying, and popular commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians and its preface.

He tells in said journal on the 15th of June, 1741, that during a journey from Markfield to London he had read, to his great embarrassment, the famous book, Martin Luthers Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, since he had thought highly about it because it was praised by others and because he himself had read some excellent passages quoted from it. I will cite his own words on behalf of others who may perhaps admire this leader of the Methodists and his great activity:

But what shall I say, now I judge for myself? Now I see with my own Eyes? Why, not only that the Author makes nothing out, clears up not one considerable Difficulty; that he is quite shallow in his remarks on many Passages, & muddy & confused almost on all: but that he is deeply tinctured with Mysticism throughout, & hence often fundamentally wrong. To instance only in one or two Points: how does he (almost in the Words of Tauler)24.

Thus this witness of the truth is for him a thorn in his eye the same as the German Theology25 of which he writes under the 7 November 1741,

O how was it that I could ever so admire the affected Obscurity of this unscriptural Writer? decay Reason, right or wrong, as an irreconcileable Enemy to the Gospel? Again how blasphemously does he speak of Good Works & of the Law of God? Constantly coupling the Law with Sin, Death, Hell, or the Devil? & teaching, that Christ delivers us from them all alike. Here (I apprehend) is the real Spring of the grand Error of the Moravians. They follow Luther for better, for worse. Hence their, No Works, no Law, no Commandments.

Under the date of 16 June he writes the following impudently and provokingly:

In the Evening I came to London, & preached on those Words, Gal. 5,6 in Christo Jesu neither the circumcision etc. After Reading Luthers miserable Comment upon the Text, I thought it my bounden Duty openly to warn the congregation against that dangerous Treatise, & to retract, whatever Recommendation I might ignorantly have given of it.26

Since he referred to no passage in this glorious treatise except the above-mentioned words of Galatians 5:6, I immediately consulted the interpretation of the same; and I found not only a clear and sufficient refutation of this hard accusation, as if our blessed Luther, along with the Herrnhuters or the so-called Moravian Brothers, thought little of good works, law, and commandments; for law and gospel, faith and commandments are so nervously and edifyingly differentiated that I cannot marvel enough about the blindness of this new reformer John Wesley. Since he so brazenly contradicts the doctrine of faith and love, which is stated here about the said dictum of the blessed Luther, and even warns his listeners against this Commentary, the circumstances of his theological system must be peculiar. May God have mercy on him and on all persons whom he confuses. He has started to correspond with me and I am not averse to remonstrate with him on my thoughts about his attitude.

The 26th of January. I have begun to read again the commentary of our blessed Luther on his Epistle to the Galatians, and in what I read I found such a great blessing and edification for my soul that I praise God with all my heart. However, I am also very much disturbed every day and night about Pastor Wesleys wrong judgment about a thing he does not understand. If only he had kept to himself his opinion about the blessed author and his excellent commentary. However, he is warning his listeners (perhaps in all alleys and public places in and around London) against this book, accuses it of coarse errors, and has his unhealthy judgments about it printed and lets them appear here and there in his journal.

I can assure you that on a single page of this beautiful thorough, edifying, and almost inimitable commentary there is more wisdom, theological experience, and, for me, more edification than in all this journal, or in all journals of Mr. Wesley. I would gladly have suspended my judgment, through love for him and his nature (which do not concern me) if he had not sinned so vexingly against our blessed Luther, his commentary, Tauler, and the German Theology, consequently, against our Evangelical Church. Otherwise he has had a high opinion of Thomas a Kempis and his book of the Imitation of Christ (which he has published in Latin) and of our blessed Arndts True Christianity.27 However, we might well assume that he cannot judge these authors and their blessed writings any better than Luther and Tauler, and that he will probably warn his hearers against them.

He came (as is written in one of his journals) to Halle on his return from Herrnhut. However, he must have looked at everything at the Academy and in the buildings of the Orphanage and have judged them in his heart as a man then tinged with Herrnhut principles, for he does not say a word about it in his journal, while elsewhere Jews and openly worldly people have looked at this work of God and the blessed arrangement in the Orphanage for advancing the kingdom of God among Christians, Jews, heathens, and Turks with amazement and made rational and knowledgeable judgments about them. While diligently reading the said journals, I observed whether he would mention a word about Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen; but there, too, there is an altum Silentium28 concerning him. He is still only half or partly attached to the Herrnhuters and has remonstrated in these journals on some of their theoretical and practical errors.

The 27th of January. On this Second Sunday after Epiphany we had some rain and strong wind, yet nobody was deterred from participating in the public worship. Last week we again had some carpenters and other workers at the sawmill, who produced, in good weather, all the woodwork that is necessary for the mill and the millhouse. Praise to God, who always helps and gives us the ability to construct such an important building to secure our inhabitants subsistence. He will never leave thee nor forsake thee in the future.

A German married couple who work for the English preacher in Savannah29 would like to come to our place, as others have done also, to earn enough to buy themselves out of their service. Their master is willing to let them go if they can offer competent bailsmen at our place who will pay six pounds Sterling for man and wife within three months. I warn, however, against this bail, since I fear, certainly not without reason, that we will get a burden and many inconveniences from these people, however well they may appear. He is a stocking-weaver and of the Catholic religion; she claims to be a Salzburg woman and has learned all sorts of bad practices as a canteen woman with the Imperial army. She also tried that in London, where she cheated charitable people by stimulating their interest through all kinds of pretence.

The wife of the shoemaker Valentin Deppe feels somewhat better; but the little child died at the age of fourteen days and Deppe also has the purples and a swollen throat. God visits this young married couple very severely, whereby He wishes to melt away all their frivolity and security30 and win them to His side. They like us to visit them, tell them about the word of God, and implore to God together with them, which we do frequently. Both Mr. Thilo and Mr. Mayer are somewhat sick so they cannot take care of our patients as much as they would like to.

FEBRUARY 1751

The 3rd of February. This Septuagesima Sunday we held Holy Communion with fifty-five persons. Today in the introit of the forenoon sermon I remembered with joy my text at our first Commemoration and Thanksgiving Festival at Old Ebenezer seventeen years ago, which was from Genesis 32:10; and after that I based my sermon on the mercy and loyalty of God toward us and our congregation. Those of us who still survive from the first transport and all others who have increased our congregation since then can and should now say with me and my dear colleague in recognition of their great unworthiness: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant.1

The 4th of February. This morning I had to travel to Savannah to tend to some very important business for the congregation and for a prominent gentleman in Germany. We had a very strong contrary wind, yet we still reached Savannah safely toward evening.

The 7th of February. After I had completed everything I returned from Savannah with my companion to begin answering the letters received from Europe. The river has risen exceptionally high and it caused heavy work for the rowers, so we could come no closer than to Abercorn. This morning I rode home with Mr. Mayer. To cover this route on foot now would be dangerous and injurious to health because of so much water. I had hardly arrived home before a German man informed me that an infant was to be baptized in Goshen, whither I must ride early tomorow morning. If I had known it in Abercorn, I could have baptized it today, because Goshen and Abercorn are located quite close together. In the past nights it has been unusually cold, which one feels especially on a trip.

The 8th of February. This morning I traveled to Goshen; and I did not return until evening because in the house in which the child was baptized a little flock of men, women, and children had gathered to hear the word of God, which I gladly preached to them concerning the beautiful verses: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and all the truth.2 They were all very contented and showed me much love. They also informed me simply of some scruples, which I explained to them.

The 9th of February. In Savannah I was asked whether I had any news of the Protestant people from Lucerne of whom the Lord Trustees secretary, Monsieur Martyn, wrote some time ago that they would soon follow the last transport from the Territory of Ulm to Georgia.3 Neither I, nor the gentlemen in Savannah, know anything about them, since they were not mentioned in the last letters. Perhaps they received an ugly idea of Georgia from the Swiss in London; and they have perhaps been persuaded to go to Nova Scotia. It is said to be a cold country, to be sure, but not unhealthy. Its fertility is not praised. Out of all the reports from Boston that I have read so far in the Charleston newspapers, I can see that the new colonists in Nova Scotia suffer much disquiet and danger from the French and French Indians and that many Germans have sickened and died. Their maladies are fever and dysentery. A good deal of money can be earned by preparing barrel staves and cypress shingles on the good land that lies near the rivers.

The 10th of February. This Septuagesima Sunday we have had warm weather and a gentle fruitful rain. The weather is right fertile, and the lasting frost has hindered the trees from sprouting leaves. At this time of the year the wild plum trees and the peach trees are usually already full of blossoms. Now they are standing without leaves and blossoms, just like broomsticks. This is very good because of the late frosts we are accustomed to have into the middle of March. It gives us hope for much fruit. Our gracious God has again given us much edification and blessing at our divine service through Gods word, song, and prayer. The congregation had this blessing both in the Jerusalem Church and also in the Zion Church.

I preached from the regular gospel, Luke 8, concerning righteous parishioners, what they should avoid and what they should do; and in the introit I contemplated the edifying words of Acts 10:33, Now we are therefore all present before God, to hear ... , etc. At the evening prayer hour we sang the splendid song, Gott ist gegenwrtig, lasset uns anbeten from the Spiritual Flowergarden,4 which was sent to us some years ago in many copies by an unknown benefactor. During song and prayer we felt the gracious presence of God in Christ to our great comfort and encouragement and to the strengthening of our faith.

The 11th of February. Our two delegates have returned from the solemn assembly in Savannah, which is like a parliament; and they have told me that all the deliberations were begun, continued, and ended in good harmony. God be praised for this, since we had invoked Him privately and publicly for His blessing at this assembly.

The 12th of February. A very prominent gentleman in the German Empire, who holds a very important position, recently sent me a most friendly letter and asked for reliable answers to more than sixty questions concerning Carolina and Georgia. He feels a praiseworthy concern to provide physical sustenance for certain families in Carolina (or, if possible, in or near Georgia). I have answered everything as thoroughly and exactly as I could despite many other occupations. This report consists of several folios, which I sent yesterday with letters to the praiseworthy Society, to Mr. Verelst, and to several unknown prominent benefactors in England, and to our worthy Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen. May God let some profit occur from this work!5

The 15th of February. With the new moon we have had warm and wet weather, which is very beneficial for the European crops like wheat, rye, and peas. They now have a very beautiful and lively appearance, and they delight the eyes and minds of us all. We have also heard occasional thunder in the distance; and from that we assume that spring will finally come with might and main after a long, but not very hard, winter. Some peach trees and the wild plum trees are beginning to blossom. When I see these trees in full, lovely, and aromatic bloom, I recall what my late colleague used to say with joyful heart and mouth, Sheer grace is blooming for us now.6

The 16th of February. Among the last letters, we received a written narrative from Halle from the year 1748 as a dear treasure, which informed us of many edifying things from the Kingdom of God, for which we humbly praised our merciful God. I have read them today one after the other with much pleasure and to a great encouragement in my Christianity and ministry; and my dear colleague received the same blessing from it. How comforting and awakening it is to read such edifying news about the servants of God and their blessed work in the vineyard of the Lord at different places inside and outside of Germany. Nor do they lack tribulations and many adversities, which are caused by the flesh, the world, and its prince, mostly, however, by the worldly sect of Herrnhuters, who sneak around in a false spirituality.7

I know how much it hurts when souls are taken away from a righteous minister or corrupted but are seized by God and brought to an earnest achievement of their salvation. Praise be to God for preserving many of His children from this creeping plague, for confirming them in the truth, and for arming them with strength, skill, and joyfulness as witnesses of the truth among his servants to resist this evil both orally and in writing, as I see with joy from the said edifying reports. In a letter that came to our hands a short time ago, one of our dear Fathers fully expressed those peoples intent and manner of propagating their sect and greatly regretted that they had been allowed to deal as they wished with the souls in the Evangelical Church and had been able to take root here and there. Righteous ministers have allowed themselves to be tricked by their beautiful words and good appearance. I hope it will be useful to our friends if I quote here the judgments made by the said person from his own experience verbatim:8

The dear gentleman must not believe ... that the Count9 is making no proselytes with his asseclis10 when we think him quiet, because it is then that he is making the most. It is a essential piece of the sect as well as its duty to win followers at all times; but it is a main method only to bore in at first and undermine everything like moles that throw up a little heap here and a little heap there but connect everything together at the end. This is what he has done in all of Germany. Thus I know him since 1722, and that is how he will continue. He is a great conjurer.

The important words of the Apostle Paul may be rightly applied to these seducers: 2 Timothy 3:8-9. These oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They are men of deranged senses and incapable of belief. But they will not practice it a long time, for their folly will become known to everybody, as in the case of the former.

The 17th of February. We prayed humbly together to our merciful God to let us live the blessed Passion time in peace and health again on this Esto Mihi Sunday, during which we have an occasion to contemplate publicly with our congregation the meritorious life and death of our most meritorious Savior, at which we made a beginning today with His help in the fore- and afternoon at Jerusalem Church. I preached on the gospel of Christs passion, and my dear colleague catechized on the 18th chapter of St. John concerning Christs willingness to suffer for us.

This year we will complete the passion-story according to the order of John the Evangelist. Our parishioners are great lovers of the passion contemplation, which they love to hear and to read. For this purpose they have been supplied for several years through our hands with edifying passion-contemplations by our friends and benefactors in Europe. Especially the Passion and Easter sermons of the blessed Arndt11 are in all families of the old inhabitants of all four transports. We also serve non-resident people, at their request, with the same edifying books, as was done a short time ago for an industrious and eager man in Carolina and his housemates.12 May the Lord now let us taste and see how friendly He is!

Some weeks ago a member of the Council in Savannah gave me the English sermon which Mr. Thomas Franklin had held the previous year before the solemn annual meeting of the Lord Trustees and which was printed at their order. Last night I had time to read it, and to my amazement I found a good testimony of our congregation, of which we need not be ashamed. Rather we will let it serve for our humility and encouragement; and I intend to make it useful for this purpose in our congregation. The English words in the sermon read as follows:

Persecution hath already driven many to Georgia, who deserved a better fate. It is marked to the Honour of the Salzburghers, that they live together in the utmost Harmony & Happiness; an amiable copy of the first Ages of the world; in Godly Love & mutual Charity towards one another; in that Simplicity of Life & Manners, so rarely to be met with in any Age, so very seldom in our own. This is surely a State, which kings might envy them. They have Reason to bless the Hand, which persecuted them, & to look on their Enemies, who drove them to such an Asylum, as their best Friends & Benefactors.

The 19th of February. Peter Schubdrein has sent his brothers a very Christian letter from Port Royal and has told them, among other things, that he will go to London on a ship for L 5 Sterling and hopes, according to the recommendations carried along, to get a tolerable treatment from the captain.13 He will now have been at sea for several days. May God be with him!

Zettlers little son, who was born eight days ago, was suddenly afflicted with epilepsy on Sunday, which has made a piteous sight of the formerly healthy and strong child and did not let off until it gave up the ghost. The father and mother have had especial joy in this child; and a few hours before the attack the mother had complained that her love for this child was too great: God would have to lessen it. She is an upright person who righteously loves Christ and His gospel. She asked me to hold the funeral service in her house so that she might hear it and take part in the communal edification. I did it gladly, although in the small room, which was full of people, we had to do without the comfort that we have in the church. God sent us much edification and comfort. May he let fruit from it last into eternity!

Our almighty and merciful God has helped us so much that the new sawmill could be erected yesterday despite the high water. Because of the thick, long, and heavy timbers many people were needed for it. Our dear God has obviously kept great danger from the workmen and helpers at this dangerous work, for which we rightfully praise Him humbly. It is a large, durable, and impressive construction (as I was told today), which will be useful for our congregation and a thorn in the eye of our enviers and enemies. With these still-continuing high building expenses God has ordained, contrary to all our expectations, that a rather great quantity of cypress and pine boards have been requested by Col. Heron and Mr. Habersham as well as by some other people in Savannah; and these were sent down today in several rafts.

The high river water has fallen so much that both the buyers of our boards and our people could fulfil their wish and raft them down before the water, which is now beginning to rise again, overflows everything. Thus we gained new money to pay back a friend in Savannah who has advanced us credit; otherwise we would have had to borrow something for this purpose. If we had people as in Germany, the profit of a sawmill like ours would be very great. Praise be to God, who always helps us. My dear colleague has much trouble with the business at the old and the new sawmill, which he glady assumes for the sake of the congregation. He performs it promptly, and he noticeably enjoys Gods help and blessing. Now our boards are being requested in Charleston, too; but we do not engage in anything except with our friends and acquaintances in oder to avoid complications and loss. It is also our duty to promote, as much as we can, the trade in Georgia and the loading in the Savannah harbor of the vessels to the West Indies.

The 21st of February. The Savannah River is again so high that it is overflowing its low banks and preventing our mills from grinding and sawing. We are very glad that more than 12,000 feet of boards could be sent away on the waiting vessels before the water rose again. Now it would be impossible. In twice twenty-four hours the biggest rafts can be floated from the mill to Savannah.

Twelve days ago two knowledgeable men of our community were sent on horseback on a two-day journey to the so-called Briar Creek14 to inspect the land that was recommended by the gentlemen in Savannah for future cultivation by certain people from Germany. They returned a couple of days ago and do not care to praise the land. The earth is red sand mixed with good soil, has many red cliffs, lies very high, is poor, has trees which are, to be sure, thick, but unsuitable for fence posts and other wooden things. There is little grass for pasturage, and no rice land. It might bear wheat and rye for a few years and has some convenient places for building mills, but it is very remote from other cultivated places. I must pay these men twenty-four shillings for their effort, which they have well deserved. I hope it will be reimbursed to me by the prominent gentleman who, through me, is looking out for the mentioned people. As soon as it is possible, I shall also have some other regions inspected nearer Savannah; and when I receive sure news I shall not fail to write fully to said prominent gentleman, who is known to our dear Fathers in Europe.

The 23rd of February. We hope that the mulberry trees will soon foliate and that our inhabitants will apply themselves to silk-making, which they call their best harvest. This spring many young trees have again been planted, especially on the plantation by the sawmill.

Arnsdorf had me called to his sick wife, who is, to be sure, very miserable and weak in body but whose soul is glorious and selected before God according to witness of Holy Scripture. She will gladly die according to the will of God, since she knows for certain that her dear Savior has forgiven her all her sins. She is asking Him to reveal to her better and better her wicked heart and former sinful life and to grant her grace to cling always closer to her dear Savior. She shows herself very patient, considers herself unworthy of all benefactions, and worthy of all punishment. I prayed with her and others in the house. She injured her health by the disorderly eating of salt. Therefore, the last time I told her much about the fourth commandment.15

The 24th of February. On this Invocavit Sunday at both Jerusalem and Zion Church we took as a basis for the sermon and the afternoon catechism a piece of the passion-story from the gospel of St. John instead of the gospel. We will continue in this way during the entire lenten season.16 However, whenever the congregation is together in Jerusalem Church, we will preach in the morning from the gospel and in the afternoon from the passion text. It is probably the most important and edifying story, which should rightfully be treated with diligence, earnestness, and perseverance. From it we learn how much it cost for us to be redeemed.

The twenty-fifth of February. I had written to a Godfearing Christian Englishman, who is a good friend of mine, and asked him to look around for some good land for the recently mentioned families, since he has experience in distinguishing between good and bad soil. Yesterday I received an answer that he will serve me in this matter as much as he can, as soon as his domestic affairs will allow. He and other people are of the opinion that the recently inspected land at Briar Creek, which was described to me so badly, is one of the best and most fertile districts in the colony. However, these friends have never seen it but have only heard it praised by others who have passed by; and this does not satisfy me. Our two men, who have a good insight and were gone for six days, have brought me nothing but true information about the nature of the said land. There is better land on the Ogeechee River above Fort Argyle, which is also not far by land, rather only about a half days trip, from our place, as one can see from the special map of Georgia.

The 26th of February. Catherina Holtzer, who was brought up in our orphanage and later married the young Arnsdorf, died last night and was buried this evening. She was only twenty-five years of age and otherwise in good physical health; but she lost her health by improperly satisfying a disorderly appetite. Even though she did indeed refrain from it for some time, she seems to have so corrupted her whole nature that no means would take any effect. But I also fear that the medications were not properly taken. Our merciful God granted her grace for repentance and so assured her of the forgiveness of her sins that she died gladly. I laid as the basis of the funeral oration: O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.17 This was not only a funeral sermon, but also a sermon of repentance and grace.

During the sermon I did not think only of the deceased woman (who, to be sure, brought herself into misfortune but also found salvation from and in Christ) but also of other kinsmen who have brought upon themselves all sorts of misfortunes to their bodies and to their livelihoods through violating divine laws, disobedience to the gospel, persistent impenitence (which is as great a sin as suicide is). They were all heartily asked in the name of Christ to step through true penitence from the way of misfortune and perdition and to turn truly to our friendly Lord, who says, In me is thine help. They heard this unexpected funeral sermon not without emotion. This Catharine Holtzer left no one but her young husband behind. Her mother, who came to this country as a widow, died already some years ago.

Since Thomas Bichler is not only an honest man but also a penitent sinner, he wishes to pay all his debts before he dies, if only his means will suffice. He told me his desire today, and he has made such arrangements with his horses and cattle that his honest wife and children will get something and several creditors will get something. His biggest debt is in Savannah, which the deceitful N. helped cause.18 I hear that this miserable person is in Philadelphia again. If our and the Councils letters, accounts, and his own writings that he left behind, which were sent away last autumn, have not been intercepted, then he can be easily persuaded through legal measures that he owes a rather large sum of money to our congregation and to the said Bichler. Yet it is disturbing that, as long as he and his accomplice have been in Philadelphia, we have received no letters from Pastor Brunnholtz and Mr. Vigera in answer to ours, except once when he had just returned to England.

The 28th of February. For some weeks it seemed as if the mercy of God has taken away the purples and sore throats from our children. But now I hear the contrary, especially of the little ones of six or eight years. Kornbergers little son just died, although we had hardly expected it. I had been at their house a little while before and prayed with the parents and children. I had hardly left before he called to the neighbors little girl and asked her to pick up the crown from the ground for him, and soon thereafter he died. His little sister and Riedelbergers very well-behaved and clever little boy are also sick in this way. After the purples are cured, these and many other children have suffered a swelling and shortness of breath.

MARCH 1751

At the beginning of this month I had to go to Savannah for the sake of the Germans, to preach the word of God to them and to hold Holy Communion with some of them. On Saturday some of them had come in early from the country; and I spoke with them, to some privately and to some in a small group, concerning the inward nature of ones heart before taking Communion. After sunset many people of both confessions assembled, for whom I preached a sermon concerning the words of Hoseah 13: O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, etc. I was weak in body; but our dear Lord strengthened me so that I could preach the law and the gospel to them. On Reminiscere Sunday in the afternoon and again in the evening during the repetition hour I treated the gospel of true faith. In the morning, from the well-known and very important words: He that believeth not shall be damned1 I preached about disbelief as the cause of damnation. Each time I had diligent and attentive listeners; and I could see from the faces and gestures of some of them that the word had penetrated to their hearts.

For some years a young man has requested, through his wife and old mother, to receive Holy Communion; and he was given hope for it if he would learn the catechism and some Bible verses and would conform to Christian order. I tried to make everything as easy as possible for him; yet he learned little or nothing, while excusing himself because of his age, much work, and weak memory. Before the Communion service he came to me again with another2 old man who presented a petition for him so that I would let him attend this time. He put on a good show, and I had to give in to his desire because I was afraid he would follow in the footsteps of his sister, who now respects neither church nor Communion. I showed him how he should properly apply his Sunday and use the word of God for his salvation. May our merciful God, for Christs sake, not blame me if I have sinned by giving in to this man!

Several years ago I did not wish to marry him because he had neither learned the catechism nor attended Holy Communion, but he had himself married by a Reformed minister. This is a dangerous land in which the ministers hands are tied, not as in many places in Germany, but in other ways. I told my listeners from Gods word what a cursed sin and source of other sins spiritual ignorance is and how necessary it is for them to rear their children to salvation through the recognition of truth if they did not wish to experience, too late, the irreparable damage and bring a heavy responsibility down upon them.

The young German people in all the English colonies in America (as is well enough known) degenerate entirely and fall into the most horrible errors; and such disorder is already beginning in our colony. Most of the German people are concerned only with their physical fortune (as they call it in their heathen way). Therefore they do not ask where the ministry and the word of God are, but where there is good land and good living. Afterwards the spiritual judgments come upon them and their children. Some of the Reformed people at Vernonburg and Acton are now moving to Augusta and are thereby plunging themselves and their children into complete spiritual perdition.

I have petitioned in writing for a fifty foot broad lot on the shore of the Savannah River next to the watch house in Savannah in order to build a wharf or storage place for our boards and other woodwork that has been prepared for sale. They willingly gave us for this purpose not fifty but eighty feet, indeed, at the place most convenient and safest because of the watch. Messrs. Habersham and Harris have their wharf next to it. The gentlemen of the Council were just about to send a packet to the Lord Trustees, and therefore I had a good opportunity to add to it the letters and diary that I had brought with me. My former packet, which contained my answers to the letter and questions of Mr. von N.,3 was still lying in Savannah and will now be forwarded, too.

The water in the rivers has been very high and has flooded all the low lands. Now it has fallen far enough for one of the mills to begin operating again. It is very good that we must do without the use of the gristmills once in the winter and another time in the summer for two or three weeks (for there is too much or too little water that often each year) so that we will not become too accustomed to this blessing, but rather heartily thank our merciful and almighty God for it as a worthy gift and pray for our dear benefactors who have loyally contributed their means for the building and maintenance of these important and most useful mills.

The 7th of March. I had an opportunity to say much good from Gods word to Mrs. Waldhauer (the former Mrs. Granewetter); and she herself acknowledged that she was not only accomplishing nothing with her worries and disquieted emotional state that had been awakened by this and that occurrence, but had also sinned and made evil even worse. I told her that our wise and good God had a salutary purpose with this distress also: she should humble herself, suffer, and in all her trouble seek refuge to Him in Christ. He can easily give counsel and help, I said, even if we cannot see it in advance. For He can do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, anything that we can ask or understand.4

In his explication of the dear words of Christ in John 14:1214, our blessed Luther presented very emphatically and convincingly how much a believing person can accomplish through prayer and how much profit he can effect in spiritual and physical matters for himself and for others. In church, while contemplating the infinite characteristics of God, we now sing the important, instructive, and edifying hymn, O meine Seel, erhebe dich, etc., in which it states in v. 7: Thou art full of the highest wisdom, God, no one can fathom it. No matter how heavy our sorrow, Thou knowest to give counsel. Grant that I may remain true to Thee and throw my sorrows upon Thee, etc.

For some time I have noticed in our schoolmaster, the young /Georg/ Meyer, a greater steadfastness and attention at our public divine services than previously. Today he called on me and told me with tears of joy that the Lord God had showed mercy to his soul. I rejoiced heartily at that and admonished him to watch and pray; and with him I praised the Father of all mercy in the name of Christ for the mercy that had been shown him, which is greater than if a kingdom had been given him. His wife /Magdalena/ is a Christian who has been tried by sorrow, a quiet and honest soul, who takes great joy in the conversion of this her young husband. She formerly had her sorrow with him because of his excesses, but now she has all the more joy and advancement in Christianity.

The 11th of March. This morning Thomas Bichler received Holy Communion on his sickbed. In his eyes he is a great sinner, who is heartily humbling himself before God and his Savior and is seeking His mercy with many tears. His penitent, humble, and grace-hungry behavior before, during, and after Holy Communion made no little impression on me and awakened me to joy and the praise of God. He let me sing to him the song Die Seele Christi heilige mich,, etc., during which he wept movingly, as he almost always does when he reads, or has read to him, of the great love of God in Christ for such a great sinner as he is.

Since her conversion to God, Mrs. Riedelsperger bears a heavy cross, because of which she is becoming ever more honest5 and sincere. She is always sickly, suffers many temptations6 and sometimes pangs of conscience. She also has a couple of tender, and at the same time sick, children, with whom she not only has little rest but also a great obstacle in visiting the public divine services, which she regards highly. For her comfort I told her that He who loves her soul is near her everywhere and accepts as a divine service the least practical business if it is performed in faith and obedience. It stands, indeed, in a lovely hymn: Suffering is my gain. That is now our Fathers will; Him I worship soft and still, suffering is my divine service.7

The 12th of March. A certain unknown benefactor in Germany has sent us a fine number of copies of an edifying and useful booklet whose title is: The Christian Praying in Time of Storm, Arranged according to the Popular Weather Booklet of the late Boniface Stlzlin8. In it, in large and legible print, there are contemplations and prayers concerning various occurring weather conditions and seasons, which are very useful for a simple and Christianly minded house father to use. Unfortunately, people get all too used to the various kinds of weather in which our great God reveals His majesty in an almost visible way; and therefore I am heartily pleased that such a booklet has been put into the hands of our inhabitants, through which they have received occasion and instruction to recognize the great works of the Allhighest, to understand His salutary final purpose in them, and to recognize their Christian duty in all sorts of occurrences.

May our loving and almighty God remember this worthy benefactor, who is known to Him, for this estimable benefaction and let new spiritual blessings always flow to him and his family as often as he sends us and our parishioners a blessing for our edification from the meditations, prayers, and hymns. Recently a German man from Purysburg, who sometimes visits our divine services, praised our merciful God in my study for having granted His word so abundantly in this land through the service of the ministers and in good books so that we have a noticeable advantage in this regard over thousands of our co-religionists not only in America but also in Europe. He knew from experience how rare good and edifying books were in his fatherland, and here we have them in superfluity through the rich kindness of God that we have been able to serve, and still serve, other Germans in Georgia and Carolina, both Lutheran and Reformed, with such useful writings as Bibles, testaments, catechisms, Arndts books of True Christianity, and many others.9

In this respect Ebenezer has been like a conduit to which our wise, merciful, and almighty God has let these and many other blessings flow from time to time so that not only our dear parishioners but also many other people near and far have been, so to say, watered and made fruitful. May God grant that all of us remember that, since much has been entrusted to us, much will also be demanded of us at some time.

The 13th of March. Today our loving God and Father gave us the pleasure that the chest from Halle, which had been sent already last year, was brought safely and undamaged into my house. May God be cordially and humbly praised for this very great blessing, in which our eyes and hands have been presented with edifying books for me, my dear colleague, and the members of the congregation, also with medications for our families and for Mr. Mayer. There was not the least damage to anything. An unknown and very worthy benefactor in Halle, who sincerely loves our congregation, has sent us in this same chest through the good offices of our fatherly-minded Pastor Majer all sorts of medicines and also seeds for our kitchen-garden with a detailed description of their planting and use, along with annotations concerning some points of our diary and some serviceable suggestions for the improvement of our subsistence, through which a very pleasing favor has likewise been done for us. It is only to be regretted that several vessels of serpentine earthenware containers and glasses were broken by the small iron instruments laid between them and that the seeds got mixed together.

That there is nothing lasting in the world, rather happiness and unhappiness, joy and sorrow alternate, I have experienced today, too; for, in the midst of the joy at the blessings we had received my dear colleague came home from the the new sawmill, to which he had been called with the master-builder and told me that, to be sure, the costly construction was completed and that everything had been arranged in the best possible way, but that the waterwheel (whose diameter is only four feet) is too small and too light for such a great quantity of water and that therefore an alteration will have to be made, which will consist of a high waterwheel and a proportionate camwheel or cogwheel, the last of which was also lacking.

Because of the expenditures we had had it was very necessary for us to be able to saw boards for sale in this mill also; but we must accept the wise counsel and providence of the allhighest Ruler of all things and await His goodness and help. He can do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think10, and therefore He will be able to save us from our present trials, as He has formerly done according to His unlimited power, wisdom, and goodness. In expectation of boards from this mill and for the great expenses for construction, which we had not expected at first, we had to buy from a merchant in Savannah all sorts of necessary wares for our congregation, which amount to over a hundred pounds, in addition to what we had already paid with boards and money. We will entrust the sale of the boards to Riedelsberger. He is willing to accept it, and by this our work will be greatly lightened and many unkind judgments of unknowledgeable and malicious people will be averted.

As a rule I almost fear that I will arouse a disgust in some friends who read this with the so frequent accounts of our external circumstances. However, I consider them very necessary for our sake so that our worthy Fathers and patrons in Europe will know in detail how we are faring and to what difficulties our physical support is subjected and how much we need their intercession, good advice, and loving help. I have seen, both in former times and again at this time from the letters of our friends and patrons, that the reports of our external circumstances and well-being are not unpleasant but are too short rather than too long and that they can apply them to our advantage.11

To be sure, I have no special permission at this time to borrow any money for our present needs with a bill of exchange; however, in past times our dearest Fathers and benefactors have given us permission in time of need to risk something, trusting in our almighty, omniscient, and merciful God and Father, as we shall do this time also in His name so that we will not be indebted in Savannah to the harm of our mills and congregation. The funds that must be expended for the construction of our new sawmill we look upon almost as alms for the poor members of our congregation and at the same time as God-given capital, from which in the future a great blessing will flow as an abundant interest to the congregation.

In our opinion it is better to establish certain useful public institutions with the money received than to distribute them as alms because the latter will be useful for only a short time and for the present inhabitants, while the former will be useful for many years and for our descendants; and even the poorest and weakest members of the community will have an occasion to earn something in money or in goods, which some find preferable to alms. The accounts that we have submitted from time to time show that the widows, orphans, and others who are suffering want are not left helpless; and we are giving them especial consideration with the construction of the mills and the establishment of our institutions. When the dear benefactors of Ebenezer visualize this, I hope they will not become tired in assisting us with word and deed. In due time they and we will harvest without cease.

The 14th of March. N.s wife complained to me that her husband is still restless because of certain matters and cannot protect himself from such restless thoughts even in church. She asked me to speak with him; but I thought it better for her to speak with him as I would tell her. Now he has registered for Holy Communion and has thereby given me a calling and opportunity to speak with him about his continued unrest. He not only accepted this but also assured me that he was not angry with anyone but himself and that he was resolved to let this incident serve for his conversion and that, in the future, he will avoid all opportunity to sin. His sins and especially his often repeated disloyalty towards Gods word are causing him much unrest, and he was afraid he belonged among those whom God has left to their perverted minds.12 I instructed him and prayed with him.

The 16th of March. The sick Bichler is sincerely pleased when I visit him, speak to him from Gods word, and pray with him. He is also in great need of encouragement and help in prayer. Today he complained to me very movingly that he had been overwhelmed during the night by a great physical weakness in which he saw himself close to death. At the same time he feels many doubts about the truth of his repentance or state of grace and of his salvation, and this arouses great fear in him. It suits his Savior well, he said, to reveal to him properly his sins and the great perdition of his heart and to give him faith and to bring him to a certainty of the forgiveness of sins. However, he feels, he said, no hearing; and this troubles and depresses him. It has also come to his mind that true Christians and believers have many temptations13; yet he knows nothing of this, and therefore his condition must be very serious.

I presented to him from Gods word the characteristics of a penitent person; and, when he testified that he felt that way, I showed him clearly from clear gospel verses that he could certainly believe in the forgiveness of those sins that Christ had exactly joined with repentance. He should not await and trust in feeling but merely hold to the word of the gospel as the infallible voice of Christ, then he would be entirely safe. The forgiveness of sins that one can feel will also come, I said, if God finds it right. I also explained to him the different kinds of those temptations, and I could convince him from his experience that he was not lacking therein. However, the fact that His Savior has spared him greater temptations is due to His pastoral loyalty that cares for each and every little sheep as is right, and which attacks and chastises each, as is right.

When I was praying with him after that, he almost dissolved in tears and became well contented in his heart. For me he is a new proof that Jesus has come to seek and save what has been lost. But this example is also teaching me to warn our parishioners loyally against the common, but at the same time dangerous, postponement of conversion to ones sickbed or deathbed, since it is often difficult to come to a certainty of the forgiveness of sins and the state of grace, especially in places where the law and the gospel are preached in their order and with emphasis. Disloyalty finally slays its own master.

The 17th of March. On this Laetare Sunday in both the Jerusalem and Zion churches we preached to our parishioners penitence and preparation sermons from the Passion text in John 19: 1 ff. for the next days celebration, on which Holy Communion is to be held. Because the days have become long again, we are beginning to hold the Sunday prayer and preparation hour in the day, namely, from five to six oclock, which is convenient also for those who live on the neighboring plantations. Tomorrow, Monday, we will hold our annual Commemoration and Thanksgiving Festival, which is the seventeenth on this our pilgrimage. May God let us celebrate it in blessing to His glory and to our preparation for a blessed eternity, where we will celebrate an everlasting Commemoration and Thanksgiving Festival, in communion with those who are perfectly righteous, for so many many spiritual and physical blessings, which our Triune God has shown us in this pilgrimage.

It was not without the counsel and providence of our omniscient and loving God that we arrived during the time of Passion in this land, first at Old, and two years later at New Ebenezer, and that consequently our Commemoration and Thanksgiving Festival always falls in the edifying and blessed time of the Passion. Accordingly, this is the first main blessing for which we must humbly and sincerely praise our merciful God as always, and therefore also on this our joyful festival, our inestimable reconciliation with God through Christs suffering and active obedience, about which at this time all Passion sermons rightly treat. We never forget to show from the gospel, indeed we carefully instill, in what order (which is surely a wise, blessed and right convenient order for us fallen sinners) we should and can receive the reconciliation He has merited. And the second blessing that our God has shown us in this solitude is that He has established and so far maintained among us the office that preaches reconciliation and justification.

In the congregation we are supplied with almost an excess of good evangelical books for public and private use in churches, schools, and houses; and we receive more and more of them every year from the dear Augsburg, London, and Halle, as we did some months ago in a large chest from Augsburg and in a small chest from Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen, and a few days ago in a chest from Halle. For using these useful and edifying books, our dear parishioners receive guidance enough in the sermons and prayer hours, which they attend gladly and regularly. Also, it is no small thing that our merciful God has strengthened both of us ministers in health and strength so marvelously all this year that we have been able to perform our office entirely unhindered with both adults and children and also to take the necessary trips to serve other members of our confession with our office. Whether our good Lord has let us work entirely without blessing is shown by the reports in the diaries from the last Commemoration and Thanksgiving Festival until now.

To be sure, our schoolmasters have been somewhat afflicted with bodily weakness; but our dear Lord has again given them complete health and strength so that they can profitably perform their office with the children. The praiseworthy English society de promovenda Christi cognitione14 has been steadfastly inclined toward us so far through divine direction, as is sufficiently evidenced by the secretarys friendly and edifying letters and also by the salaries for us two ministers and for the town schoolmaster, which they still continue to pay most willingly in advance. Our kind God has generously granted the salary for the schoolmaster on the plantations through our most worthy benefactors in Europe, for which blessings we rightfully praise Him.

Accordingly, we count among these divine and unmerited blessings 3)15 the still lasting life and the continuing affection of our dear Fathers and benefactors in England and Germany as well as the fact that our merciful God has graciously averted sad incidences of death and serious illnesses from them and their families, has strengthened their bodies and minds in their many works, sufferings, and tribulations and has granted them means and willingness to care for our spiritual and physical wellbeing. May He keep them for many more years in health, life, and blessing and keep us in their affection and trusting intercession. 4) We rightfully remember with grateful minds the noble physical peace and the complete freedom of religion and conscience which we have enjoyed in this land under the protection of God and his anointed, our most gracious king and also under the gentle and paternal government of our beneficent provincial authorities, the Lord Trustees. So far, our inhabitants have not been burdened with any taxes at all, nor have they had the least molestation from soldiers, Indians, Negroes, or other disorderly and wicked people. This, too, my Lord, comes from Thee.

5) We must also praise our merciful God for many other proofs of His gracious, wise, and mighty care over us, e.g., that He has let the harvest of both our European and local crops turn out well in the past year, has graciously protected our mills from all danger despite a double flood, and has let us use them for the great profit of both our inhabitants and of strangers more than in former years in that we have had continuous suitable water for grinding and for sawmilling. Also, according to His great kindness, He has granted our poor a right great opportunity, as well as time and strength, to earn a considerable sum of money for their and their families needs from the construction of the new sawmill.

To be sure, this new mill is not yet (as recently mentioned) in a condition to cut boards, as we migh wish; but, as far as the dam and major parts are concerned, it is so well and durably built and lies at such a convenient spot because of the abundant and beautiful lumber and the ease of transporting the boards that we promise ourselves a great advantage for advancing the support of our community down to our descendants with the blessing of God. The alteration that must be made with a larger waterwheel and camwheel will not, we hope, cost much. Among the specimens of divine providence also belong the silk culture that has prospered and increased so far with the increased growth of white mulberry trees.

The courage, experience, and skill of our female inhabitants are growing just like the beautiful trees, for which the worthy Lord Trustees have not failed to give encouragement. The weather is now as desired, the mulberry trees are sprouting powerfully, there is enough silkworm seed on hand this year, and therefore everything is favorable. Also, it is no little evidence of the fatherly care of our heavenly Father that He he has turned the affection of President and his Assistants to us more than ever before and turned their hearts to every possible assistance. Our inhabitants have through their care a beautiful fruitful district of land at Goshen and all the good land on the Blue Bluff, which will be very useful to them in time.

6) Our community has been increased this year with newcomers of our confession from the Territory of Ulm, who are honest and industrious people, who gladly conform to Christian order among us. The few servants whom we have received among them are the first who are as we wish them, the kind of whom we would like to have more. This would be useful not only for us but also for them. Those men and women servants whom we received almost a year and a half ago and were at first a great burden for us have changed greatly, have learned to love our place, and have accepted good instruction from Gods word for their improvement. May our merciful God continue to care for us!

The 18th of March. This Monday was a very comfortable day in the realm of nature and a joyful day in the realm of grace of our God, to whom we have celebrated our yearly Commemoration and Thanksgiving Festival. At the same time Holy Communion was held for one hundred and twenty-one people. In the morning the introit verse was from Habakkuk 3:2, When tribulation is there, think on mercy16 and the text from Genesis 35:3, And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. During this we presented proof of Gods divine mercy in time of tribulation, I) the tribulation that occurs not only to others but also to us, II) the divine mercy, and with it III) our duty because of the divine mercy we have experienced.

On this occasion I was freshly reminded of the manifold tribulations that occurred to our congregation and, at the same time and chiefly, to my family last year through sickness and death. However, during this contemplation the Lord renewed His mercy in me, in my family, and I hope in others of the congregation so that we are assured that what has happened occurred not in wrath but in grace and for a very salutary purpose. In this pilgrimage we can look forward to nothing more certain than all sorts of tribulation, of which, however, we should not be afraid because our heavenly Father shows, in addition to many tribulations, also much mercy, as we very cleary recognized from the introit and the text and as we know and from our seventeen-year experience in this land. If our compatriots at other places in this or the neighboring colony boast that they do not have so many tribulations, sicknesses, deaths, etc. as we have in Ebenezer, then we can boast in return that the Lord has been with us in our tribulation and has shown much mercy in them and also many spiritual and physical advantages.

In the afternoon my dear colleague had as his introit Philippians 4:19, May my God supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus;17 and for a text he had 2 Corinthians 8:9, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, etc. and he presented the grace of Christ as the blessed source of all true wealth: 1) of what this grace consists, and 2) of what the true wealth flowing from it consists. In the application it was shown what most people in general seek, but especially what those seek who migrate from Europe to America, namely worldly wealth. It was also shown what Gods gracious purpose was in bringing so many people together from such different regions, namely, to acquaint them through the preaching of the gospel with the true wealth of Christ and to bring them into His order of grace. Praised be God for His help and assistance!

The 19th of March. Yesterday, Monday, we celebrated our Commemoration and Thanksgiving Festival with Gods help and with pleasure and blessing and desirable weather. I have given a short report of this in the diary that I sent off today so that our worthy friends and benefactors will know what great blessings of the Lord were the driving force for celebrating this joyful festival. To be sure, He has chastised us so that it still causes us pain; but He has also been good to us and refreshed us. Indeed, one might say, His punishments, His blows, even though they are bitter for me, still, when I consider it rightly, they are signs that my Friend, who loves me, is thinking. ... 18

It was all the more impressive for me, and will, God willing, remain steadfast in me that our marvelous God has guided the minds of both of us to such introit verses and texts that so well fit our circumstances, such as Habakkuk 3:2. When tribulation is there, then thou thinkest, etc., Genesis 35:3, Philippians 4:19, and Corinthians 8:9. I was driven by a certain need, of which I made some mention in the previous part of the diary, to write a letter to the worthy Court Chaplain Albinus and to send it, along with the diary from the 1st to the 18th of March and also with an essay about the lumber and board trade we are arranging, to Savannah for further forwarding to London. After my little packet had been readied for sending, I finally finished the answers to the questions and observations that an unknown patron in Halle recently sent me along with many kinds of seeds and other useful things.19 They fill six folios, but they were very easy to compose. May God lay a blessing on them! Such questions are useful for me, too; for they remind me of many works and blessings of God that I would not easily recall or that I would not consider so carefully.

The 20th of March. The sick Bichler is waiting for the salvation of God and is making himself more and more ready through his faith in Jesus for his departure from the world. He is very content with everything, if only his Savior will save him. Among other things I said to him, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth and Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.20 He again apologized with many tears, sobs, and reaching of his hand for everything he had done against me. In healthy days he was not my friend, even though I always exerted myself to seek his and his familys spiritual and physical welfare. But all this has long since been forgotten. He also told me with great emotion that some people in the congregation have shown him much kindness and given him all sorts of things for his need and refreshment. He wished for me to give his thanks to them at his funeral sermon at his burial. He also asked whether we would pray for him in church, and he wished that many pious Christians might think of him in their prayers. On the other hand he finds it onerous when people visit him who bring no profit to his soul. He made a few more external arrangements, which concerned his wife and his daughter out of his previous marriage, and also a certain monetary debt.

Some months ago I had to write one of our prominent benefactors in Germany a detailed description of silk culture in our colony; and, because God has again let us live in the time of spring in which almost all the female persons are occupied with this pleasant and useful work, I have undertaken to enter here as a report for this above-mentioned gentleman and perhaps for other benefactors and friends the observations which I will make this year. I have already seen from several letters sent to me, both to shame me and to encourage me, that these things from American Georgia, which appear to me and to others at our place as familiar, common, and of little importance, receive a better appreciation and greater respect in the eyes and minds of our European, and especially scholarly, friends. Therefore I can not heed the very different taste of those readers of our diary, some of whom look upon much of it as bagatelles.

Concerning the culture of silk, I now observe the following: On the 7th, 8th, and 9th of March we saw young and tender leaves on the white mulberry trees; and the women brought their silk seed out of the cool linen21 in the chests or from other cool, and at the same time, dry containers and exposed them to warmth, whereupon the little worms began to come forth in droves, and they need no forced heat in beds, at the oven, or on the hearth. A couple of people spoiled their seed. It is better to scrape the seed from the cloth than to let the little worms hatch on the cloth, to which the seed is firmly bound. In this way they come much more rapidly one after the other. If one wishes to help the very tender little worms along without danger, one leaves them lying close together and on each other in the first week while they are so small. Then they quickly devour the tender leaves that become wilted very swiftly in the warm rooms. On the other hand, if the worms lie far apart, they cannot devour their tender fodder so swiftly, but it becomes hard; and, because one must give them fresh leaves again, that is not only harmful for the leaves but also for the worms, which smother under the leaves or grow unequally. Therefore it is good in a place where many people are making only a little silk in their first beginnings if two or four skilful women hatch out all the silkworms and every morning (for that is the time that most of the worms crawl out of their eggs) give some families as much as they need at the time.

This is useful to them because 1) They receive many worms at one time of one age that sleep at one time. 2) They can be kept close together, as said previously. 3) Seven or eight days later they can get a quantity of worms that have come from their eggs later, and they can feed these, when they grow larger, with the leaves from the trees that have been plucked first and have grown back. For one can hold the worms back from hatching for eight more days if one does not let them come to air or to heat. Afterwards, when they begin to spin, such late worms take no other place than where the first ones, which are now finished with their work, have spun themselves in their cocoons. The poor people, who have and need little seed, have a lot of trouble if a part hatch out today and the rest in the following days. This year our inhabitants have received many hatched worms from my, Mr. Lemkes, and Kalchers houses. For several days the weather has been very warm for sprouting leaves; but we are lacking a fruitful rain.

The 22nd of March. The heat by day is extraordinarily great, almost as it is accustomed to be in summer. The wind first came from the south, and now from the west. Rain is much needed. Everyone is now busy planting Indian corn. Not only the great heat of the sun but also the dry wind are parching the soil. It is peculiar to this month that there has been little rain in it and that in the gardens and fields there are many worms that are devouring the leafplants, salad, and the young sprouting corn. The mulberry trees have nothing to suffer from the worms or other insects, neither the trunks nor the leaves. Horses and cattle like to eat the leaves and spoil the trees for many years if they can get to them. Many such trees have been planted here along the streets and in front of the houses, which, however, have been trained so high that the cattle cannot reach any branches. They grow very thick and high in a few years.

I have just measured a couple of mulberry trees (I mean not the wild ones but domestic that are used only as fodder for the silkworms) with respect to their thickness, not out of mere curiosity but for a better reason. They are standing along the street near the parsonage. One of them has a circumference of three feet eight and a half inches and the other somewhat less, namely three feet seven and a half inches. Neither of them is more than ten years old. My colleague showed me one that was planted four years ago as a one-year-old sapling whose trunk was two feet in circumference.

Last year, and again this year, I saw that young cedar trees have been planted in rows on some streets in Savannah; but the profit is greater from mulberry trees which, as I believe, grow here just as quickly and thick and also give more shade than the cedars. I have seen no cedar trees that are thicker than our previously mentioned mulberries. Our first inhabitants did not know what to do with the planted mulberry trees. Because their fruit did not please them as much as those of the wild trees, they cut them down in their most beautiful growth, which they have subsequently deeply regretted, just like those who preferred to plant peach trees instead of mulberries. Since our house lots are only one eighth of an acre, almost all of us planted our mulberry trees too close together, which greatly hindered their growth. On one mill plantation I had them placed sixteen feet apart; but now I see that even these are standing too close together. Because there are so many wild mulberry trees here, I had some of them grafted this spring.

The 23rd of March. The pious widow Bacher told me with joy that the effects of the Holy Ghost on her two grandchildren, a tender little boy and girl, are already being revealed, of which she gave me details that treated of her willing and childlike prayer, her love for our dear Savior and His word, and admiration and respect for His physical works and gifts in the realm of nature. To be sure, it is a great joy for a pious heart when the grace of baptism is revealed in the children. This happens enough if one just does his Christian duty by them and observes the work of God. It is right laudable that the parents, and especially the mothers, take the trouble to lead even their smallest children to pray and to learn short Bible verses, which they like to recite to us when we visit them or they come to us. From the smallest children, who can hardly babble, I often hear: Gods spring has an abundance of water.22

The 25th of March. This afternoon I had to speak to a married couple and warn them against sin.23 Some time ago certain people bought a Negro woman who bore a little child at our place who was baptized here at the request of its owners and at their promise to rear it as a Christian. She is said to be a defiant and very angry person; and therefore she was told that her master (a shoemaker) wished to sell her and keep back her child. This Negro woman begged me with many tears to prevent her childs being torn away from her: she could not live without the child. In Carolina and in all other colonies this kind of cruelty is quite usual, namely, that man and woman and parents and children are separated and one of them is sold here and the other one there so that they never see each other again.

This un-Christian matter is prevented by a law in our colony, as I let the owners of this Negress know; and I read to them what the worthy Court Chaplain Albinus wrote in answer to my question toward the end of last year as to how one could buy and use Negroes with a clear conscience. If the Negroes are kept as he so wisely and thoroughly advises, then I have no reason to complain of their purchase and use. However, if contrary treatment in spiritual and physical matters is a sin (as is certain), then the usual way of keeping Negroes is a highly dangerous matter, and I do not know whether they could be any worse off in that regard in their own country.

There are three families among us who belong to the large Kieffer family of Purysburg, who have acquired slaves. The little Negro child who was baptized a couple of years ago they are bringing up in a Christian way along with their children. I also hear that there are Christian and conscientious people who would like to keep their Negroes better if they had the means and if they were not compelled to punish them seriously because of their wickedness and obstinacy. As a rule they are very disloyal and disobedient and also so hardened that they think nothing a gentle punishment. The previously mentioned Negress is sometimes angry to a high degree, utters the most desperate words, and, challenging her masters in a most insolent way, she offers her bare body for punishment. It is all the same to her whether she lives or dies, and she would rather be killed than to give in. The audacity of the Negroes at the public sales of such as have been born in Carolina and have been in the country for some time is very great. In such an auction in Charleston they are put on a raised platform before all the gathered people. Then they ask those who wish to buy them who they are and where they live. If the buyers and the place of their residence does not please them, they tell them right out with accompanying threats: I will not go with you. You will lose your money if you buy me.

The 26th of March. Our inhabitants have noticed that those mulberry trees that are standing on loose rather sandy soil produce earlier and more leaves than those that stand on low and rich land. This soil is soon hardened by the lasting heat of the sun, and therefore neither dew nor the warmth of the day can penetrate as easily as on light soil.

The 27th of March. We have received the sad news from Augusta that the hostile northern (presumably French) Indians found some Creek Indians at an English traders station above Augusta who were trading with the Englishmen and who sought refuge in the Englishmans house against their enemies. Because they did not let a couple of white people into the storeroom or give over the hidden Indians, they shot two white people and set the trading station on fire and burned up all the stores along with the hidden Indians.24 This morning I was called to the honest Georg Glaner to help consecrate his newly built house in the company of some Christian friends with the word of God, hymns, and prayer. Our loving God gave much edification from the contemplation of the rules of life regarding the first commandment from the late Wirths Confession and Holy Communion Booklet25 whose very thorough and edifying rules of life I began some time ago to lay as a basis of my consecration sermons. The life rule we contemplated today reads thus: Busy yourself with nothing more than with loving God and your Savior with a pure heart and a clear conscience beyond everything that is in the world, then you will always be of good cheer and content in all things. The accompanying verses from Deuteronomy 10:12, Judges 5:31, Matthew 22:37, John 14:21,23, and Ephesians 6:24 served partly as proof, partly for the clarification and proper application of this dear truth.

The 31st of March. In the chest we received from Halle are various very worthy writings of the late and very dear Dr. Anton and of Senior Fresenius Pastoral Collections from the 1st to the 5th Part.26 Arndts Books of True Christianity27 were not among them, which we greatly wished for our parishioners and other German people in the land. May God be heartily praised for granting us His word and good writings so abundantly!

APRIL 1751

The 1st of April. To continue in my diary in the manner as has been done so far, the following occurs to me first to report in this month of April. A young person sent me a letter of the following content:

My special concern is that I am not progressing in my Christianity and I am often overcome. I am faring like those Israelites who could not stand before their enemies (Joshua 7). May God let me know what accursed thing is lying on me.1 May He receive me according to His great mercy and free me from all things so that I may be his warrior and live to His glory here in time and there in eternity. I also thank you many times for the love and loyalty that you have shown me until now and I beg you not to remember my previous misbehavior. Surely you do not wish to turn your heart from me, for, as you know, I have no one among mankind who cares for me; therefore I wish you much good and will request it of God.

Before evening I had an opportunity to speak with him what was necessary for his condition, and he seemed content with that.

The 2nd of April. Today after the weekday sermon I received news that Thomas Bichler had cast off his fragile tabernacle through a temporal and blessed death. I had spoken to him yesterday concerning the dear words of Christ: It is finished and Verily I say unto thee. Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.2 From them I presented to him not only our complete redemption and reconciliation, but also the friendly heart of our Lord Jesus toward sinners, even against the greatest ones. He did not chastise and judge this great sinner because of his sins, because the latter had chastised and judged himself. That means that all the sins that he has committed will be forgotten. He understood all this to his comfort.

Because Christ had been presented to us last Sunday, namely the day before yesterday, from Isaiah 25:9 and from the gospel on Palm Sunday, as our God, as our Helper, and as our Salvation, the content of my last prayer with this patient was aimed at that, and I left for his wife to read to him the lovely hymn Liebes Herz bedenke doch deines Jesu grosse Gte, in which it is explained very comfortingly that Christ is our helper. In his last conversation he remembered his great spiritual blindness after his departure from his Salzburg fatherland and how badly his and other Salzburgers preparation for Holy Communion had been at a certain place. He complained of the bad examples that had been given him by sometimes prominent people, among them vestrymen, when they were entertained.

While he was lying on his long-lasting sickbed without complaining with the least impatience of the pain and burning of his sore and chafed skin, I reminded him of the scourging of the bloody body of Christ, on which, to increase the pain, His clothes were pulled on and off. In this regard it is written: Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities, and after that it is also written, I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, etc.3 He was a very clever man and armed with many natural gifts, but he possessed them with great self-love. And, since he planned to be ahead of all the other inhabitants in the arrangement of his physical household but did not undertake it with God, he gradually so declined that he became the poorest in the community and left considerable debts behind. God often let him get into difficult circumstances and dangerous sicknesses, and he always came to a true recognition and feeling of his sins and sought grace from his Savior humbly and with many tears. However, afterwards he did not remain loyal but sinned gravely against me, who could not condone his selfishness and will to dominate; and for this he apologized to me several times with many tears in this last sickness.

When I mentioned to him in a prayer that in serious sicknesses he had promised our dear God an improvement in his life but had not kept his promise, I asked God to bless in him the use of the means to health only as far as He saw that it was serving for the salvation of his soul. He wept a great deal again and approved the content of the prayer. Yesterday he yearned for a blessed solution, even though he did not refuse to use further medicines. He is leaving a pious helpmeet, who is well trained under the cross, and three well-behaved children: one girl from his former marriage and two from the last. In my presence he made a distribution of his limited legacy that pleased me very much. I have visited him often, which was very pleasing for him. Profitless visits were burdensome and disgusting for him.

The 3rd of April. At first the tradesmen apprentices who were sent to us as servants were very ill-behaved and did not wish to conform to work at all. But God has known how to tame them through sickness; and Gods word, which they hear diligently, has not been in vain. It is now evident that the servants are serving greatly to lighten the burden of the Salzburgers; and every householder would like to have one.

If our inhabitants had followed the advice to plant mulberry trees and make silk nine or ten years ago, when the beginning was made in the orphanage, then every householder would be able to easily earn twenty pounds in five weeks (for only so much time is required here for well tended silkworms from the beginning to the end). Likewise, other useful and practicable suggestions were made to earn a good sum of money more easily than with agriculture (which brings in only little if they cannot raise a lot of rice). I am now thinking of the manufacture of barrel staves and shingles for trade with the West Indies, which is an altogether useful and easy work that is pleasing to the merchants.

In the following I will show how easily they could acquire Negroes in this way with Gods blessing (without which all effort, work, and good suggestions are in vain). We advise them to desire and use Negroes with a Christian mind. They, like all men, have a body and soul: for their bodies they need food and clothes, or necessary covering for the body by day and night, and the soul must have nurture and instruction from Gods word. And a Christian house-father must be no more concerned in the case of these black people with their willingness or unwillingness than in the case of his own children or white servants, but continue with instruction, prayer, and good example, also with other Christian means of help and discipline as long as he has the Negro in his power; otherwise, he cannot look forward with joy to the future grave judgment or have an uninjured conscience.

That is just the way the thoughts and wise counsel of our worthy Court Chaplain go in his letter to me of the 11th of July of last year:

If God shows no other ways and means to get along without Negroes, then one should rather do so (for which basic reasons are cited in the letter), and consequently one should not proceed to acquiring them without dire necessity. And it would, indeed, be a great consolation for us if Ebenezer could have and hold the prerogative of being occupied by only white people. Meanwhile, if that cannot be done without physical ruin, then one can reassure oneself, etc. (Here the reasons are cited). The third reason is that a greater kindness is done to these people (the Negroes) if they, nota bene, are kept in a Christian manner than if they had remained in their fatherland. For they have their physical subsistence. They have an opportunity to be brought to a true recognition of God and Jesus Christ and also to Life. 4) Through their service and help some honest and hard-pressed members of Christ are kept in life and well-being. This can be not only a blessing for the slaves but also for an entire place and for an entire land. Also, if even one member of Christ were comforted and kept by it, then that would be no little thing. Therefore, if the need is there and one can find no other counsel, then let one take slaves in faith and for the purpose to lead them to Christ. Then such a deed will not be sin, but it can lead to blessing.

The 4th of April. On this Maundy Thursday the dogma of Holy Communion was treated in both churches as is done every year; and I had as an exordium, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,4 which was applied to the opponents of our dogma of Holy Communion and to those who use it unworthily. There are such Germans in this country who would like to confuse one or the other of our congregation concerning our churchs dogma of Holy Communion and come with the coarse old reproaches which are also cited in the Concordien Book5 and thoroughly refuted. We must seek meekly to strengthen our parishioners in our well founded dogma and to defend the truth against all apparent objections of perverted reason (for thus it is when it wishes to be smarter in religious matters than the mouth of truth) and against all false interpretation of scripture. The sermon will be repeated in the evening prayer meeting; and the remainder, which cannot be preached all at once, will be added. I dealt with the rightful use and the misuse of Holy Communion. 1) What Holy Communion is and its nature, and 2) that it is rightfully used by some but misused by many. Today will be half, and tomorrow entirely, celebrated among us as the death day of our divine Intercessor.

The 5th of April. This, the day of Christs death, as the day of reconciliation of the New Testament, is a remarkable and blessed day for us every year. Even though there is much work with silk manufacture in almost all houses as if it were in the harvest, still the church was just as full as at other times. They show such great devotion during the prayer, singing, and preaching of the divine word that it is a very special pleasure for a minister to have such parishioners. To be sure, that is not the thing that the Lord God is actually seeking in men through His gracious granting of the means of grace; yet it is something laudable that was cited previously, and we request and hope that He will convert the sinners through His powerful and living word, toward which everyone is showing such great love and respect, and will strengthen His children in goodness so that they will ever become more complete in it.

Hardly a Sunday or holy day passes that we do not present the parishioners with clear signs in the sermons, catechisations, and repetitions from Gods word and judge their Christianity accordingly and show them simply and clearly the way that they must not only know (we do, to be sure, insist strongly upon knowledge and a literal and basic recognition) but also follow through the grace of the Holy Ghost if they wish to be righteously converted and to be assured of their state of grace. We have, God be praised!, no lack of souls who have become and are becoming heartily obedient to the voice of Christ in the gospel, and they are our joy. Also among the children we note many blessings, from which I have had a hearty awakening both today and yesterday in private conversation. It is a sorrow for good souls that in this year (and it happens almost every year) most of the work of feeding the silkworms falls at Holy Eastertide. (As I hear in my neighborhood) only a few have begun to spin their cocoons since the first of this month; and most of them need more fodder from domestic mulberry leaves in one day than previously in three weeks. Because of the lack of rain and because of the soil that has been much dried out by the winds, the leaves have not grown very large; yet there is no dearth of them, even though gathering them is somewhat more difficult. We have now again noticed that, if they have been supplied with sufficient fodder and constant warmth, the silkworms begin to spin their thread and make their cocoons right at the end of the fourth week and that one has the most trouble with them for not more than eight days.

The 9th of April. May praise and thanks be given to our loving God for letting us celebrate our Holy Eastertide in health and blessing and good weather. Our dear parishioners have again gathered in large numbers for the preaching of the gospel of the Resurrection of Christ and other religious practices. God gave us the grace to present to them to the best of our ability the motherly-minded heart of our resurrected Savior to awaken and strengthen their faith and to further a true godliness. Several German people from other places were with us during these days, and may our gracious God bless His word in them too! The deceased Thomas Bichler left behind a little nine-year-old daughter from his previous marriage with the daughter of Kieffer of Purysburg, whom the old Mrs. Kieffer, as grandmother, wished to fetch today to bring her up on her plantation.6 However, on his sick- and deathbed the said Bichler asked me to keep his little girl here and, if she could not remain with her stepmother, to give her to Christian people; and this I told old Mrs. Kieffer today. The pious widow Bichler is living in the house of her pious mother, where this girl is well provided for and is near to both school and church; and she would have to do without this benefaction on the Kieffers plantation, which lies deep in the woods in the Purysburg area. To be sure, the stepmother is poor and unable to provide this girl and her own two children with food and clothing: but God will take care of this widow and her children, as is written in the 23rd Psalm. While contemplating the motherly-minded heart of the Lord Jesus these days, I have been much comforted by what we sing: Thou art always in my eyes, Thou liest in my bosom, like the sucklings who still suckle: my faith in Thee is great, etc.7

The 10th of April. Those men of the transport from the district of Ulm who have paid for their voyage from London to Ebenezer came to me together and complained that they spent their money in London and are now unable to establish themselves on their land by the next harvest. They had been promised in London that they would receive provisions for a year and that every family would get a cow. The others had received such support. In South Carolina, too, the new colonists were given provisions or money to get established. I gave these men the following answer: 1. I am surprised that they were promised provisions and cattle in London. As soon as they arrived in this country the President and Assistants of the Council wrote me that the Lord Trustees had sent this express order to them to give them tools and farm utensils, but no provisions. 2. If they were, indeed, sure of the Lord Trustees promise, then they could send them a petition. The gentlemen of the Council do not have the plenipotentiary power to give them provisions and cattle, this authorisation would have to come from London. I am also afraid that the Lord Trustees do not have the means to continue doing for the colonists what they did at first. Yet (as far as I know) they have never given provisions and cattle gratis to those colonists who paid their own passage but only to those who were sent over as poor people at the expense of the Lord Trustees. The Lord Trustees were informed that the people of this transport would pay for their passage themselves, otherwise they would not have got involved with them. However, when they arrived in London, only a few could pay; and it cost no little effort to move the Lord Trustees to pay the passage for those who were entirely without means. 3. In Carolina the new colonists receive some money at first, but they must go to Congarees and settle there because this region is to be settled with many inhabitants against the Indians, etc.

Some of these people have earned a good sum of money among us and are settling down well. To some of them I have had to advance considerable provisions and money beyond my means; and I will not be able to stop doing it in the future, just because they are there. If, after they have arranged their households, they wish to devote themselves to preparing the suggested woodwork such as barrel staves, shingles, and dressed boards, they would soon come to some means. However, at present they seem to have neither the idea nor any inclination for it. At least we cannot expect anything in this work from them or from our other inhabitants before next August.

The 11th of April. Last week and this week I have written to Savannah to learn how, in this year, we should manage the silk that is now being made in Ebenezer. Today I received a letter from the secretary of the Lord Trustees in Savannah /Habersham/ in which he requests me to come down to receive an oral report. God willing, I plan to go to Savannah tomorrow, even though I would prefer to be spared from travel of this sort. In Savannah a house is being built in which six machines for spinning off silk are to operate.8 Because there is now a lack of skilful spinning women there, three of ours are to go down and enjoy the instruction of Mr. Robinson, who was sent here last fall as a skilful young gentleman by the Lord Trustees, in order to perfect their skill in this art. Probably not much silk will be made in Savannah because there is a lack of mulberry trees and inclination. For that reason it is assumed that most of our silk will have to be sent to Savannah to be spun off. Our Rottenberger is to prepare five machines for spinning off the silk, and for each he will receive thirty shillings Sterling. The one that we had made in Savannah two years ago cost three pounds and therefore twice as much. I hope that this year we will come to such an arrangement in the entire silk business that I will not find it necessary to to trouble myself with it any more in the future. This I would sincerely prefer. May God let us advance as far in all sorts of woodwork, such as making shingles and barrel staves, as we have advanced in silk manufacture through His blessing. Then I shall rejoice, thank God for it, and devote my modest efforts to performing my ministerial office. Once a useful work has got underway, then it needs no one to urge or push it.

The 15th of April. After I finished my business in Savannah I traveled to the German people in Goshen, where I preached and held Holy Communion yesterday. I held for them a short preparation concerning the words, But let a man examine himself, etc.9 and preached from the gospel for Low Sunday10 concerning the true nature of Christianity, which consists of a true recognition of Christ in the enjoyment of His grace and in the practice of godliness. The people showed much desire for the word of God and much love for me; yet much has happened among them that is contrary to wholesome teaching and about which we have had to admonish them publicly and privately, which they accepted well. An honest woman was in extreme mortal danger in her labor; but God graciously heard our prayers for her and proved Himself to be one who helps and saves from death. She finally bore a dead child into the world.

In this spring the people in and around Savannah have been very busy making silk, and now a spacious house with six cauldrons has been built for spinning it off. This year all the silk is to be spun off there so that our and other spinning women may learn this art under Mr. Robinsons guidance. Therefore this year our and other peoples cocoons will be bought at a certain price and spun off at the expense of the Lord Trustees, which well pleases our inhabitants. In Savannah I received from a worthy member of the Lord Trustees a couple of very friendly letters in which he showed a great pleasure at our efforts to gain more experience in silk manufacture. His name is Mr. Lloyd and he has the famous machine on which the silk is prepared for weaving. He considers our climate to be one of the best for producing silk as good as any in Italy, as he has recognized from the silk that has reached his hands from our place.

I sincerely wish that this noble and useful matter may someday reach such a state and order that everyone of us can make his silk in quiet and, when it is spun off, send it to Savannah for sale, without my having to occupy myself further in the way I have so far. If I had remained distant from it in past years or if I should do so now and not concern myself with it, then (as is known to everyone) most of our inhabitants would have let their courage and hands fall in this so useful work, which is being urged from England, because they still look upon themselves as weak beginners and need counsel, encouragement, and some aid, as well as good examples.

To be sure, I have had some disquiet and struggle in my soul about having let my helpmeet keep silkworms in my house for some years and prepare the cocoons;11 but more than one important reason has moved me to do so: 1) It was the expressed and often repeated desire of our beneficent provincial authorities, the Lord Trustees, that all colonists, and therefore also our inhabitants, should plant and cultivate mulberry trees. Now, because from the very beginning I have had to be an authority for our community in physical matters, too, according to Gods ordinance and the will of the Lord Trustees, my duty has demanded that I be a good example for our inhabitants by planting such trees and thus encourage them.

2) After the trees had acquired a substantial size and much foliage in four years, my wife began, as an example and encouragement for other people, to keep some silkworms and to spin off the silk entirely secretly on a very imperfect machine. During this simply begun work her courage and experience grew so that in the following years she devoted herself with greater industry to this so pleasant and useful occupation and acquired better experience every year to the advantage of our family and of our congregation. Because I used the assistance of several women in this rather extensive matter (especially because she was often sick), the experience learned in our house as to how to rear the worms in a safe, easy, and advantageous way soon became common in the community. Indeed, she tries new methods every year to reach the right certainty and best advantages in all details. Even if I knew of no other profit from the silk made in my house, it would be useful enough if our inhabitants would gain not only courage but also experience in making silk. 3) Contrary to my thoughts and expectations, the providence of God has led me into such paths because He has wished to grant me through silk a means for my and my dear familys better support, since in this country my salary, which I receive from a praiseworthy Society12 is not adequate for our meager support. It is the same with my industrious and worthy colleague, who is having a good deal of silk processed in his house for the same reason.

Because we have the trees nearby and because it is demanded by the circumstances of our physical support and because our helpmeets are willing and capable of performing such work, we have let it take place in our houses so far, and we hope that no one will take offense at it. We do not desire to save anything from our salaries for later years but merely to live abstemiously from the beginning of the year to its end. If our merciful God wishes to ordain for us to obtain otherwise from the community (which has been unable up to now) or from the Lord Trustees or from the praiseworthy Society our meager but adequate support without incurring debts, then we would gladly leave the use of our mulberry trees to the members of the congregation and spare our families from making silk. Mr. Whitefield is also having many silkworms raised in his orphanage this year; and in Savannah I was requested to travel to the orphanage13 to tell the inexperienced people of our way of achieving a good goal in this matter. God granted me much edification with two vestrymen.

The 17th of April. Mr. Pickering Robinson, who was sent to this colony by the Lord Trustees for the furtherance of silk manufacture, came at my request to our mill by boat and gave himself trouble yesterday and today to arrange this or that for the improvement of sericulture, whereby he learned much from the experience of our people that was unknown to him before. Because we wish our young women to learn silkspinning thoroughly, all the silk produced here will be sent to the new house in Savannah, which was built so that the silk can be spun off with six machines. This gentleman will have supervision and will give the spinners as much instruction as they might need. In this one matter they still need a bit of instruction. To be sure, this time our inhabitants silk will not be paid according to the orders of the Lord Trustees because it cannot be spun off at our place; yet such a price will be set that they will be content. Two shillings Sterling will be paid for each pound, and the spinners will receive a very fair wage for the spinning in Savannah. This year God is granting us a great blessing in silk.

The 18th of April. We have had very little rain in this spring, and therefore the soil is much dried out. Yet on Good Friday we had a very penetrating rain that did not reach Purysburg, Abercorn, and other regions in the direction of Savannah. The Savannah River is becoming very small, the rye and peas are flourishing, and the wheat also has a good appearance. On Tuesday afternoon (it was 16 April) a little rain fell and at the same time a very cold weather began, which is a sign that there was hail at other places. Last night and this morning it was almost as cold as sometimes in November. The dry and cold weather so far has been very advantageous for the silk manufacture, for in the last fourteen days the silkworms required cool air day and night and very many leaves, which cannot be picked in rainy weather. We have had no thunderstorms except on Good Friday, by which the worms (as it seems to us) are harmed. I hear that the silk has turned out better this year than in any past year.

The 19th of April. The President and Assistants of the Council in Savannah are requesting me by letter to have Dr. Graham helped on his journey to the Indians by our people who have bought the Lord Trustees cowpen. And thus one thing comes after another, because there is no one else in the community to whom prominent and humble people can turn. Formerly the Indians came to Savannah for their gifts, which caused expense and trouble. For, when they come in large numbers, they generally cause trouble here and there be they sober or drunk. To prevent their coming here, the said doctor is traveling with the yearly gifts far up among the Indian nations, for which he needs many horses and men.

He also has as a purpose of his trip to buy from the entire Creek nation the very fertile and well situated land not far from Savannah on the bank of the Savannah River so that it can be occupied by some prominent Englishmen who have been desiring it for a long time. The Indians have reserved for themselves large districts of the best land along the Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers, as well as some very fertile and well situated islands, which the Lord Trustees do not wish to take from them by force but hope to acquire from them by contract through fair and gentle means. In this they are not only acting according to rules of natural and Christian fairness but also seeking to avert the discontent of the Indians, war, and bloodshed.

The 26th of April. Before the weekday sermon on the plantations this Friday I received the joyful news that the construction of the new sawmill was fully completed today and that the construction had turned out as wished. Therefore the builders asked me to come out there this morning, God willing, in order to consecrate this important work with the word of God and prayer. I have not thought so often and diligently of the consecration as I detected in our inhabitants but merely waited with longing to see how the entire construction would turn out. We had postponed our Commemoration and Thanksgiving festival, which falls every year on the 8th of March or some day soon thereafter, to the 18th of March with the intention of thanking our dear Lord also for the blessing of the new sawmill because we hoped it would be completed by then. However, things went very slowly with the small waterwheel, and this required the builders to fabricate a large waterwheel and a camwheel in order to make the two saws operate more rapidly.

The most difficult and dangerous task in this was that they had to move the large millhouse, which consists of very heavy timbers, columns, beams, and much other woodwork under and with the roof, fifty five feet long, twenty-four feet wide. This caused us the greatest concern. However, it turned out well with the combined strength of our workers. In this we recognize it as the wise and kind Providence of God that during the building of the house the master builder was hindered by the very high river water at that time to set the posts of the house very deep in the ground and was forced to place the whole house on beams, which later did not hinder its removal as would have occurred if the corner and middle posts had been buried deep as they were at the old sawmill.

Now that the undertaking has turned out so well with divine assistance, it is very pleasant and comforting for me and my dear colleague that our workers and inhabitants are yearning for the Christian consecration14 that is customary among us and have invited me for tomorrow. A sawmill may seem a minor matter in Germany, but it is a great blessing for the Ebenezer congregation and a major item of our physical support; and therefore no one will hold it against us if we do as the king and prophet David did (Sirach 47:9): for every work he thanked the Holy and Highest with a song. Cf. with 1 Timothy 4:4-5.

The 27th of April. This morning many of our inhabitants, both adults and children, had assembled at the sawmill to attend the consecration sermon. After we had seen the entire and very well built work and the long ditch in which the water runs off from the millwheel and in which the boards must be brought to the large Mill River, and after both saws had made a trial of board cutting to our great satisfaction, we all sat down in the large millhouse before God and sang Meine Hoffnung stehet veste auf den lebendigen Gott, etc. After the prayer was over a sermon was preached about 1 Timothy 4:4-5: For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, etc. By this I gave my listeners an opportunity for Christian thoughts by the consecration 11 of the new sawmill at Ebenezer. I showed: 1) For what we recognize and respect it. 2) How we should use it properly. We must recognize it as a creature of God, indeed, as a good creation that has been granted to us by our good God and which (as has already occurred during the building) is to be for the benefit of the whole community.

Its proper use is shown to us in that we are receiving it as a good creation of God with thanksgiving and that we are sanctifying it now and in the future through the word of God and prayer. Since at other consecrations of new houses I am accustomed to use the life duties according to the Tenth Commandment from the late Wirths Confession and Communion Booklet,15 I read at last the seventh duty according to the Second Commandment, which our merciful God likewise blessed for our awakening and which especially suited this occasion. At last we all praised God for this and all His good creations that He has granted us so far for our use and enjoyment. We begged Him for the forgiveness of sins and for His further help and assistance; and we also prayed for our king, the Lord Trustees, the Society, and all known and unknown worthy benefactors, and we closed with the verses The Lord is not yet, and never, parted from His people and likewise So come before His countenance with joyful dancing.16 Thus, before Jublilate Sunday, God granted us a blessed Jubilate.17

The 29th of April. Yesterday, Sunday, our merciful God again did us much spiritual and physical good. He granted us His holy word abundantly and for much edification; and Holy Communion was held with sixty persons in good order, for which we had had all last week for a blessed preparation in the prayer meetings and weekday sermon. After the repetition hour we received a right fruitful and long desired rain, which lasted late into the night and thoroughly drenched our fields, which have been very parched since Good Friday.

MAY 1751

The 3rd of May. Today I wrote in detail to Secretary Martyn and to our worthy patron Mr. Samuel Lloyd (a prominent member of the Lord Trustees and a zealous furtherer of our silk manufacture in Georgia) of what a rich blessing in silk our merciful God has graciously granted us and at the same time of the newly built and successfully completed sawmill. This gentleman not only mentioned me in a letter to Mr. Habersham with very friendly and Christian expressions but also sent me such evidence of his love and affection in two letters to me that I can clearly see his honest feelings toward us.

The Sunday and weekday sermons are visited regularly by our inhabitants, even by those who live furthest from the church. Our servants have an advantage over those who live at other places in that their masters do not hinder them in the least from attending the public divine services on Sundays and weekdays, but rather steadfastly urge them to it. They should recognize this properly, thank God for His gracious dispensation, and show all the more loyalty in their service. We are now content with both our old and new servants.1

The 4th of May. Hans Flerl and his wife are a godly couple, who take great care with their and their childrens souls and let Gods word dwell abundantly among them. They have Gods blessing, but also Christs cross; and they know how to find themselves in it. He is a knowledgeable and skillful man, who can be used in many ways in the community. He now seems to have some ailment in his lungs.

The 6th of May. For several days we have been receiving right fruitful weather: there is no lack of rain and sunshine, and the air is very temperate. God is letting another tribulation afflict our wheat: it has scarcely sprouted its ears, and the rust has begun again and has spoiled stalks and ears. A couple of men sowed their wheat in August and September, and it ripened before the rust came. I have often heard that early sowing is the best preservative against the rust and mildew in this country; yet most people among us plant their wheat not long before Christmas, and some of them even later. There is much work, and there are still few workers. Therefore the householders cannot do what they wish.

The 7th of May. Now that the larger children in the congregation have received the necessary instruction in Christian dogma in school and have come to the proper age to be prepared for Holy Communion, I have made a beginning this week in Gods name in this so useful and blessed work, which is so pleasing for me. In the preparation hour I lay our church catechism (it is Luthers small catechism) as a basis of the catechization, while leading them more and more into Holy Scripture, I familiarize them with the important Bible verses as far as the words and their correct understanding are concerned, and I apply everything to examine and touch their hearts, after introducing the heart examinations of the late Ambrosius Wirth concerning the holy Ten Commandments.2

Some children are already in service with Christian people at our place and are willingly sent to this lesson, which is held four times each week in my house. There are also some grown children on the plantations who should attend the preparation for Holy Communion. They come to me in school on Tuesdays and Fridays, and afterwards they hear the word of God in the sermon. However, I wish that the parents could make it possible to send them to me in addition to these two school hours; I would like to devote four afternoon hours to this.

The 9th of May. A pious widow /Christina Bacher/ asked my advice in a certain matter and mentioned at the same time the physical poverty of her pious daughter, who is also a widow. She told me of the marvelous destiny of her deceased son-in-law,3 how he and all his household had hastened right visibly to ruin, even though he was a man of good understanding, indeed, all too clever in his own eyes. The details that she cited were disquieting. God had surely humbled him in his longlasting sickness and brought him to a recognition of his sins and to a faith in Christ so that we can hope that he departed in peace. God will certainly look out for this righteous woman and and her tender children and bring joy to her at the right time after her many tribulations. However much I would like, I am unable to come to her help in physical matters.

In Heinle and his wife we have right loyal servants at the mill, of which we would like to have many. They love Gods word and are glad to be at our place. She told me that her oldest son, who is in Glaners service, told her that he liked being in Ebenezer. He likes the solitude and the good opportunity to hear the word of God, which other young people might sometimes consider a yoke. The word of God is heard by all the servants regularly and with an apparent devotion, and their hearts are touched by this. However, disloyalty and frivolity are very great in some of them. Gods ways are marvelous; and I hope that still more young apprentices, who, as it were, have come here as servants by chance, will open their eyes to recognize why God has done it. Our plantation schoolmaster, Caspar Wirtsch,4 a baker apprentice from Ansbach, is proving to be Christian and diligent in his calling so that we hope that he has won grace.

The 12th of May. Friday morning my dear colleague traveled to Savannah to serve the German people there with his office, and therefore I had to look out for our congregation alone this Rogate Sunday. Thanks be to God, who strengthened me in body and spirit through His powerful word and let me preach His word again today with joy. As an introit I had the comforting words of Christ, John 14:2-3, In my Fathers house are, etc.; and in the gospel I presented the chief comfort of Christians from the departure of Christ to the Father. I had very devout hearers, and I do not doubt that our dear Savior has blessed His gospel in many.

Our people are losing their desire for Negroes because they are uncommonly expensive and very dangerous to keep, as we are being more and more convinced through experience. Last year the shoemaker Zettler bought a Negro woman and concealed as long as he could the very great inconveniences and danger that he suffered from her. I would not have expected such defiance, malice, and desperation as I have now learned of and as Zettler himself has told me. He is tired of her service, and he wishes to advise no one to get involved with such black people if he can get along in any other way. He also told me of some deeds of cruelty that he saw practiced on some Negroes, at which my hair stood on end. May God not let us experience such miserable times in our community as we hear of here and there.

The 14th of May. It is marvelous that young little worms are already coming out again in great numbers from the just laid silkworm eggs, which Mr. Lloyd considers impossible. Therefore people are hurrying to lay the little eggs, or the silkworm seed, as quickly as possible into cool vessels and into cool places. The mulberry leaves are too hard now and the heat too great, and there are too many flies and other harmful insects. Therefore the advantage would be slight if we wished to make silk for a second time. It is also harmful for the trees, which are sprouting new little branches again all summer, which would freeze in winter unless they had become somewhat strong and hard.

The 15th of May. Yesterday, on her way back from the weekday sermon, an honest woman, in the company of her husband, was thrown dangerously from her horse; but our merciful God averted any greater damage. Both of these married people have profited from this incident, as I learned today from his mouth. Because horses are very common here and can be raised by every householder without effort, they are used for riding frequently by men, women, and children; and, although very great misfortunes could often have happened, they have always been averted through Gods providence, which He wields over those men who are accustomed to round up and catch the cows, oxen, and horses that have become wild. This is done with much mortal peril in a forest, where much wood is standing and lying and there are many pits. Still, we hear little of any misfortune. The people who perform this work are generally not much better than the sailors of ships who fear no danger and, after being miraculously saved, scarcely thank their great Benefactor, in whom they live, breathe, and have their being.

The 16th of May. Today we celebrated the Ascension of Christ festively, which is a blessing that not all in this country enjoy, for little attention, unfortunately, is given to holy days. My dear colleague preached in the Zion Church and I preached in the Jerusalem Church; and before evening we held the joint prayer meeting. Shortly before that I received a letter from Savannah dated yesterday, in which I was given an extract of a letter by Dr. Graham, who traveled two weeks ago with gifts to the Upper Creeks. It was not joyful. Namely, he reported that the Cherokee Indians had killed four white people and were intending to kill all the English traders among them and in that region, and this caused all of them to retire to the church in Augusta. Nevertheless, Dr. Graham dared to travel with his gifts to the above-mentioned Indians, and he probably supplied himself with a bodyguard. There is a small garrison at Augusta. We have also commended this danger in prayer to our Prince and Savior, who has been exalted to the right hand of God. He rules amongst His enemies; and, as a true High Priest, He carries His people not only on His shoulders, but also in His heart. I would be seized by fear and dread if I did not know what the prayer of righteous people to God can do and that God has often spared an entire country for the sake of a few righteous people and does good for their sake (or rather, for the sake of Christ, who stands in His favor) even to the godless and to sinners.

The 17th of May. Because no weekday sermon was held today on account of yesterdays Ascension celebration and because other business kept me from it, I traveled this morning to Goshen to preach a sermon for the inhabitants there. They assembled very willingly at a given signal from a horn; and I do not doubt that God granted them, like me, a blessing from the comforting gospel of our reconciliation merited by Christ and of faith as the only means at our disposal to participate in it. Our glebe land lies in this vicinity, where I was before the assembly and where I saw with pleasure the beautiful mulberry trees which I had planted last year and this. In a few years a large amount of silk can be made in this region, too, if the trees are cared for. This year our inhabitants have sent nearly 1500 pounds of cocoons to Savannah to be spun off and have held back many pounds as seeds for future years, as is meet and right, so that they will not lack seed as they did this year.

Last week and this week we had to perform a very necessary work at the sawmill in digging a ditch by which the water flows into the regular Mill River, and I found the workers almost at the end of their work. This ditch will also serve to carry the boards from the new sawmill in little rafts to a certain landing on the regular Mill River, from where they can be taken to Savannah with little cost and without the least danger, along with the large rafts from the old mill. Praise be to God, who has helped us bring to a final end all important works in the construction of the new sawmill. May He also grant His blessing so that we will achieve the purpose of both sawmills, which is the furtherance of our inhabitants welfare.

The 19th of May. We are still hearing sad news of the hostilities perpetrated by and feared from the Indians. At Edisto, or Orangeburg, in South Carolina they shot a man and woman; and, not only have all planters and traders around Augusta fled to the church with their families, but others, who do not wish to abandon their property, are digging in and wish to defend themselves. A woman and her children turned to our place for safety. May God, through these dreadful rumors, awaken all secure 5 and spiritually sleeping and dead sinners among us so that they will pray in this danger and retire through faith to the fortress lying at Ebenezer, which is the Name of the Lord. About Him it is said that He is a mighty Fortress. May the righteous man run to it, and he will be protected.

The 22nd of May. I sincerely praise God, who has again deemed me worthy to give some grown children instruction from Gods word for their preparation for a worthy use of Holy Communion. During this He has granted me much edification and blessing through His spirit by means of His holy inestimable word. I would like to have some such hours every day, during them I forget all my desires and worries that I have because of the congregation and am entirely in His word, in the heart of God, and in eternity. For me, the longer the catechism is, the better; and I learn to value all the more the grace of God that God showed His chosen tool, our blessed Dr. Luther, while he was composing this little book. The parents on the plantations who have grown children considered themselves and their children unfortunate when they could not visit this preparation hour, therefore they have begun to send them a long way of almost two hours to me here. However, because this causes a great loss of time and tires the children too much and because we do not know what kind of people they might meet on the way, I will see to it that I am able to hold this preparation hour on the plantations, too.

After the silk that our inhabitants produced this spring with much industry was sent to Savannah, we at once supplied Mr. Mayer with money to pay cash for this silk without delay. By this means a considerable sum of money has again come to our place, for which many thanks are being brought to our loving God from Christian hearts. Those people among us are being much pitied who made little or no silk through lack of mulberry trees; for, if they had wished to follow my advice and my many admonitions and also the example of a few people, they would now be able to earn some pounds Sterling in six weeks with little effort.

Our place, which was assigned to us through Gods special providence as our dwelling place, is not so convenient for agriculture as for cattle raising, silkculture, honey and wax manufacture and especially for trade with masts, spars, rudders, dressed boards of pine and cypress, for barrel staves, hoops, cypress shingles, and many other things much desired in the West Indies, for which there is a superabundance of all materials everywhere gratis. A few days ago a new colonist said that there are more beautiful trees lying here in the forest than stand in many places in Germany, which is quite true. Four sailors, who recently came to our place from Goshen, told one of our people that they had seen more wood in a half day than previously in all their lives.

Now, because Gods providence has set us at such a place, those are acting against Gods providence, in my humble opinion, who wish to arrange their agriculture, work, cattle raising, and whole way of life according to the customs of their fatherland and their forefathers and neglect that which this climate really offers. They must all concede to me that an industrious man earns no more than four pence per day with field work; on the other hand in lumber work he would earn at least twenty-four pence, that is, two shillings per day. May our dear Savior, as the Lord over everything and the High Priest, who is tempted everywhere like us, but without sin, let this important matter that serves to spread his kingdom be commended to His loving heart and let Him hear the many ardent prayers of the servants and children of God for us.

The 23rd of May. Yesterday in my letter to our dear S.U.6 I let flow some of the distress of my heart which is pressing on me because few of our grown parishioners recognize the blessings in their Christianity, but in the evening prayer meeting I was both shamed and encouraged.7 I was made acquainted with a couple of people in whom the Lord has recently effected much good. I also saw a letter in which a beautiful testimony was written as to what good our dear God had wrought just since Ascension Day in an otherwise ill-behaved man, which he wrote to his wife who was living in Savannah. Yesterday evening a woman was in great mortal danger in which she proved exceedingly resigned and comforted; and, when I heard of her and her familys great poverty, I was amazed that she had never complained but was always well content with Gods guidance and had, indeed, praised God. Concerning a sick girl who must suffer much pain I also heard a very edifying testimony that she is very patient in her suffering, is always praying and ardently yearning for her dear Savior and a blessed dissolution and that she had had a great longing for me a few days ago.

The 25th of May. An old Swiss widow has received a call for a good service at N., but she told me that she already knew how things were there because she had already served there several years ago. She did not have much longer to live, she said, she needed the quiet for preparing for holy eternity, and she did not wish to withdraw from the word of God, which she could hear daily. God is daily letting her recognize better the perdition of her heart, and no sermon is preached in which she does not feel the power of the divine word. Our dear God will continue to give her necessary support, since His goodness extends over all His creatures. I strengthened her in this good attitude. The Lord Trustees prescribe every year a notable sum of money for the support of widows in this colony, which also extends to the German widows in and around Savannah; but we must look out for our widows and orphans, for whom our merciful God has always granted something so far. They are content with a little help. We now have four widows and several orphans who are worthy of and need help. If God were to awaken some benefactors to donate two pounds Sterling annually, which amounts in German money to somewhat more than ten Reichstaler, then a very Christian work would be established.

The 27th of May. Our merciful God has not only let us live to another Holy Whitsuntide, but He has also let us live it with much edification and in good health. This should rightly arouse us to the praise of His name, especially if we remember that He has granted us in this matter so many more spiritual advantages than to so many of our compatriots in this and other colonies. The rumor of a war feared from the Indians has vanished again; and God has fulfilled our wish and prayer that our congregation will progress in this lasting time of peace, live in the fear of God, and be filled with the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

The pious widow B. /Bacher/ told me on Saturday about her pious daughter, the widow B. /Bichler/ that she is sick in body and spirit and is in need of my encouragement from the word of God. I went without delay to her plantation, gave her instruction for her physical and spiritual circumstances and prayed with her to our almighty and kind Lord for help; and He began to show her such help that she was able to visit the public divine service in town on this second holy day. She is an honest soul and a true bride of Christ, who has marked her with the sign of His holy cross. I gave her something for her physical refreshment. If our almighty God would so bless our mills that we had a good income from them, the widows and orphans would enjoy it particularly.

The 29th of May. After many invitations from Mr. Habersham and Mr. Robinson I traveled down to Savannah yesterday in hope of arranging something good for the glory of God and for the service of my neighbor. When it became known that I would preach Gods word in the evening after finishing work and would hold a prayer meeting, various German people, including our spinners, gathered. I adapted myself to the time, said something about the importance and the purpose of Holy Whitsuntide, and began to preach about the important and edifying matter of the Holy Ghost and its office and work, namely the sanctification or correction of fallen mankind. I am planning to continue in this at the next meeting. In general the people are ignorant in this article of the Christian religion that is so important for salvation; and they think they can be Christians without the Holy Ghost and sanctification. Therefore I consider it my duty to give witness to it as often as the opportunity arises.

In Savannah, at the expense of the Trustees, a lovely institution has been erected for spinning off or reeling this years silk by the six regular spinners and an equal number of helpers. For this they will receive very good pay. A new and imposing house has been built that is furnished with six cauldrons and three chimneys (i.e., two cauldrons to each chimney) and also with open windows and doors. Mr. Habersham and Mr. Robinson are going to much trouble to achieve the purpose of bringing the manufacture of silk into operation according to the wish of the Lord Trustees and of the entire English nation. They hope to do this if the Lord Trustees or Parliament will encourage this important now-started work for ten or twelve years and give good bounty or premium.

JUNE 1751

The 1st of June.1 Yesterday, the 31st of May, I returned home hale and hearty from Savannah. I again had to see and hear very many distressing and unpleasant things; and, with all honest subjects, I wish from my heart that one thing may be unfounded, namely, the extremely sad news of the death of our dear and promising Crown Prince, the Prince of Whales (sic), which has arrived from Barbados and Antigua. Among the pitiable sights that I saw with my own eyes was a German child of ten years who drowned in the river, and a very malicious German wheelwright or wainwright apprentice, who preferred to be punished very severely rather than to give a good word to his kind and gentle master, from whom he had run away three times entirely without reason, or to promise him improvement or loyalty. I and the minister in Savannah /Zouberbuhler/ spoke with him the best we could, but we accomplished nothing.

The only joy I had in Savannah was in contemplating the word of God, which I had an opportunity to preach to our spinning women and my traveling companions, as well as to a few well-disposed German people in the evening hours. May God let a fruit remain from that until blessed eternity! When I came home I was told that a party of Uchee Indians had come to our place the day before yesterday and gotten very drunk and had made a lot of noise. Just as they are usually accustomed to stop at my house as often as they come here, they took the opportunity this time also. We gave them some food and drink but we did not do them such a favor as we would have done if we had given them rum and cinnabar to color their faces and other parts of their bodies. They are in flight from other Indians; and, because we lie somewhat apart or remote, they will presumably wish to remain here for a while, but this does not please us. We lie near the river, and therefore they can escape quickly to Carolina if they notice danger. One of them brought a bundle of scalps, which they are accustomed to pull off along with the hair from the enemies they have shot, into my room to show me. However, because I showed my displeasure at that, another 2 understanding Creek Indian, who seems to be the chief of this party, spoke seriously to him, so he packed up his disgusting wares.

A young Salzburger who has business at our cowpen or ranch at Old Ebenezer was bitten in the foot by a rattlesnake, which he tied twice without delay over the wound and thereby kept the poison from his body and heart. He was brought to Mr. Mayer for treatment and is now out of danger. It often happens that people who walk in the grass in the forest are bitten, just like dogs and cattle; and against it we use a certain snakeroot that grows here abundantly (and is quite different from that in Virginia) with the success we desire. One chews a little piece of the green, or better of the dried, root and swallows the juice; and another piece is chewed and put on the wound. Because of that the greatest swelling subsides in a half an hour; and the man or beast (to which the root is given in a vehicle) is completely well in a similarly short time. It purges gently.

These rattlesnakes are most poisonous in the summer. When they are three years old they get a rattle, which consists of a thin hornlike material, by which men and animals are warned, as if it meant noli propius accedere or me tangere.3 Some of them have from fifteen to twenty rattles and are about three years older. The largest of which I have heard are from twenty-one to twenty-two feet long and as thick as a mans thigh.4 They are very fat and move very slowly; they sleep in the warm sun, whereupon one steps on them unwarned and is wounded. Their poison is fatal unless help is given at once. They are said, however, to die soon from the blood of the person they have bitten. Indeed, a persons spit is said to be their death. An experiment has been made with a long thin stick, the thin end of which was chewed and wet with spit and put into the mouth of the snake, which bit it and soon died. The deer fight with them and stab them with their feet and antlers.5 They also have a mortal danger in the blacksnakes, which are also long and thick but not poisonous.6

What amazes me most is that some people cut off the head of the rattlesnake and roast and eat the flesh, which looks snow-white and is said to have the flavor of the best veal.7 But it must be killed before it gets angry or has bitten.8 Those people who feel a disgust after eating such a snake have become a little bit sick. In Savannah two ships had come from the West Indian sugar islands, which brought some coconuts with them, of which I was able to taste the milk water in them and the snow-white meat. This is the very fruit of which we read so much in the East Indian reports.9 It is an excellent fruit, whose very hard interior shell is worthy of note and can be well used for making drinking vessels. With its exterior green shell, which was cut off with an ax, it was as thick as a mans head; afterwards it cost a lot of sawing before the actual black shell could be separated. Before that was done for the sake of the meat, a hole was bored at one end of the nut, from which the pleasantly tasting juice was let out into two drinking glasses. The bone-hard nut was about four inches long and three inches thick in diameter.

The 2nd of June. On this Trinity Sunday the Indians behaved quiet and sober. A few of them stood at the church doors and watched how we sang, prayed, and preached. They know of no difference in the days, also know of no change of clothes. Rather, what they wear on one day they wear every day. However, when the sun shines too hot, they go mostly naked and are not ashamed. In our prayer meeting we have implored God to have mercy on these and other blind heathens and to control the vexations in this land. We have also remembered together the dear blessing of God that he already showed our heathen, wild, and idolatrous ancestors through the preaching of the gospel and that He is still showing us this grace until now and is granting us complete freedom of conscience in this land.

The 4th of June. Straubes oldest little girl is weak in her mind because of the paroxysms she has had.10 However, she has a great love for Gods word and has gradually learned a very large number of basic verses of Holy Scripture. She is sick and sincerely distressed that she cannot visit the preparation lessons for Holy Communion like the other children in town and on the plantations. To be sure, her recognition is weak; but her love for Christ is ardent, and her yearning for a blessed death is sincere and edifying. I have given her hope of receiving Holy Communion before her departure from this world, which we have always had to postpone because of her natural simplicity. I told her parents that many thousands of Christians go to Holy Communion who do not even have as much recognition and even less faith and love than this little girl and that I had not the least doubt that she would be a welcome guest at the Lords table. The mother is a sincerely pious woman who has shown much diligence with her children to lead them to Christ. She greatly respects Holy Communion and is worried because of this little girls great simplicity and therefore did not wish to be too hasty about her Holy Communion.

I have now begun in Gods name to prepare the children on the plantations for Holy Communion in the very same way as the town children through Christian instruction, to wit, four times a week from eight to nine in the morning, whereas in my house I have them from eleven to twelve oclock.

The 6th of June. Almost all of the colonists who arrived last11 now have the regular fever, which some of them do not accept patiently. We wish to be patient with them and cherish the hope that in the future they will recognize that our dear God means well with them and is seeking their souls through this trial.

I received a letter from Mr. Habersham in which he announces that a little piece of very fine silk damask was sent to him from London that was produced from the silk that was raised in Georgia and was presented to the King. The latter had such pleasure in it that he had a certain garment made of it. This report gives new hope that the English nation will further encourage silk manufacture in Georgia, even though it will require a great sum of money again this year.

The 8th of June. We are now having very hot and dry weather from which the little brooks and swampy areas are entirely dried up. The Savannah River is also very low. If it continues to fall as until now, then no mills will be able to run any more. We have enjoyed them for a long time; and it cannot hurt if we must sometimes do without them for a while. Yet this loss lasts only a short time.

Mrs. Lechner, who lives on the glebe land in Goshen with her husband and children, has borne a little daughter safely. My dear colleague and the sponsors in baptism were requested there yesterday to baptize the little child, at which opportunity he also held a sermon for the German people there. They enjoy such a blessing as often as one of us comes to this region. Some members of our congregation live on this good land, but for this they must do without many spiritual advantages for themselves and their children. It is also difficult for them that they belong to Savannah and must sometimes exercise there under arms, for which they were summoned on the 11th of this month.12

The 9th of June. On this first Sunday after Trinity ninety-five of our people were at Holy Communion; several had registered who were kept away by illness or other causes unknown to me. The holding of Holy Communion is always announced two weeks ahead, and the parishioners in the weekday sermons and prayer meetings receive instruction for a righteous preparation. It can well happen that some get to know themselves better and are not too hasty in taking Communion. Before the noonday sermon a pious woman called on me and complained with tears of her sins and great unworthiness, which left her no rest day or night. In the preparation sermon and in yesterdays confessional, she said, her entire perdition became alive in her again. I raised her up through gospel verses and through friendly encouragement. In previous weekday sermons and prayer meetings we have contemplated those highly comforting traits of God that the Holy Ghost has given Him because He is love, such as grace, goodness, love, and condescension. At the same time I warned against the so common and highly harmful misuse of these so comforting characteristics of God, which this woman, who is so seriously concerned with her salvation, again recognized.

The 12th of June. The Salzburger Hessler asked me with tears this morning to come out to his wife, who had been bitten by a snake yesterday near her home as she was coming out of Zion Church. The women in the neighborhood took loyal care of her and God blessed their sighs and efforts so much that this mother of a very tender child appears to be out of danger. She can hardly describe the pain that she felt in her leg until the greatly swollen blisters were cut open. She speaks very edifyingly. We praised God together for the abundance of His goodness, patience, and forbearance, which He has again shown in this matter; and we asked Him for further spiritual and physical help.

The 14th of June. Yesterday before evening our dear God unexpectedly granted us the pleasure of having a packet of letters from England and Germany come to our hands via Charleston and Savannah. From it we see much for the praise of God, for our joy, and for the intercession we owe. The Lord Trustees show their pleasure at our arrangement and payment of our last years silk; and they have given orders to the Council in Savannah to pay me two hundred pounds Sterling to pay for our silk this year, which is not necessary now because it was already paid soon after its delivery.

One of the Lord Trustees, Mr. Lloyd, who is a righteous gentleman and a great friend of Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen, has again written to me in a very friendly manner and has offered himself for all sorts of services. He is a great, indeed, probably the most prominent, champion of silk making, who is highly regarded by the Lord Trustees for that reason. I believe that much good can be accomplished through him. He insists with most emphatic words that I continue the correspondence, if not with him then with the Lord Trustees, and that I make all sorts of observations and suggestions for our and the colonys improvement.

From a report from our worthy Court Chaplain Albinus I see to my joy and to the strengthening of my faith that, through an unexpected confluence of His physical blessing, our miraculous and merciful God has all at once fully freed me of the worry that I have had because of a certain necessary bill of exchange I had drawn upon and because of another debt to a prominent benefactor in Germany and has thus reminded me of the beautiful words, Cast all your care upon him; for he careth for you.13 Our worthy Mr. Albinus will marvel with us at Gods goodness and will sincerely help praise Him for it after he receives the last letter I wrote him, in which I disclosed to him the troubled spirit I had because of the bill of exchange that I had drawn. We had to incur a debt because of the new sawmill that we could pay only through a bill of exchange; and for that God granted the money before the bill of exchange reached London.

From our dear Mr. N. not I, but Mr. Mayer, received a very important letter which was aimed exactly according to his spiritual and physical good and which I read with Mr. Mayers permission with much blessing and new encouragement to persevere through all tribulations through His grace and to learn to bear everything better. This wise and beneficent gentleman enclosed a detailed report on silk manufacture in Italy, in which the authors experiences do no concur with ours. It is good that we in this climate do not have such complications with hatching and feeding the worms and in other ways as must be done in Italy according to this essay. From my reliable report on silk manufacture in Ebenezer that was based on our experience, which I composed at the command of this gentleman and sent to him on the 13th of September of last year, he will see how the Italian and Georgian treatment of the silkworms differ and how they agree. We have it easier and receive better payment especially because Parliament has withdrawn the great tariff from the silk that is made in the English plantations in America. What the author of this essay says at the end, I again remember that (when producing silk) everything depends upon luck and the good and temperate seasonal weather, also holds to a certain extent in our climate, too, except that by luck we understand the blessing and care of God, which includes the good industry and caution of the people. The worms also wish to have spacious and clean dwellings, warm at first and cool enough in the last two weeks.

A prominent and at the same time godly benefactress from our dear Wurttemberg has sent a very edifying letter to our Salzburgers and inhabitants, which was forwarded to us and will soon be made profitable to us all. It is also a right worthy letter of comfort that leads us right movingly and luringly to the right living Source of all temporal and eternal comfort, namely, the triune God-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. What was comforting for me in this beautiful and right arousing letter and will be, I hope, for our parishioners who are bowed under the cross, consists 1) in that this dear friend of God and His children wishes the Salzburger congregation at Ebenezer (in which we ministers include ourselves) all spiritual and physical well-being and that she is praying (as the expression reads) on the knees of her heart and body for the living recognition of Christ and the highly useful love of the cross and the imitation of Jesus Christ, our dearest Chief, with all her heart and is being prayed for. Oh, how dear is this blessing of intercession of believers that is unknown to the world! 2) that eternal rest is surely awaiting the honest pilgrims and workers who must earn their crust of bread with much sweat. It is not enough, she says, to claim that one loves Jesus and to praise patience under suffering as a beautiful Christian virtue; through the spirit of Christ, one must show himself willing to prove his love for Christ and patience in his willing imitation.

3) Through suffering and the imitation of Christ, she writes, one is enabled better to recognize, experience, and comprehend celestial things, for our goodness and our increase of knowledge do not consist of great comfort and sweetness, but in the patient bearing of great difficulties and adversities. Had something been better and more useful for the salvation of man, Jesus would doubtless have shown it with words and example. For He publicly admonishes the Disciples, and all those who wish to become disciples, to bear the cross, etc.

This dear letter says much more about the necessity and usefulness of the cross of Christians, and it sincerely encourages our physically poor and suffering Salzburgers to bear it. This anointed letter ends with the following very ardent and moving prayer.

Holy Jesus, our eternal High Priest, grasp us all on body and soul with Thy holy hands, all of whom Thou hast redeemed and saved so dearly with Thy holy blood. Lay us upon the fiery coals of Thy love, sprinkle us all with Thy holy blood, and bear us today, and every day, as an eternal High Priest to Thy heavenly Father in His all-highest so that we will dissolve before Him in Thy holy prayer like a sweet and pleasant odor so that He will forgive us our sins and bless our souls and bodies according to His holy will and pleasure.

Our worthy Doctor and Professor Francke has written both to me and to Mr. Lemke, and also to Mr. Thilo and Mr. Mayer, in a right paternal and affectionate letter; and he has extended the most emphatic blessings to us ministers and parishioners at Ebenezer and to our institutions and business. May our merciful God graciously deign to fulfil them abundantly. It is a right major blessing for Ebenezer that so many dear souls of both sexes are caring, praying, and praising God for Ebenezer as if its inhabitants were their children, brothers, and sisters.

Our dear S. U. /Senior Urlsperger/ did not write to us this time; and from Court Chaplain Albinus letter and from an enclosed note we see with sighs that not only Mrs. S., our mother whom we all love in God, but also this dear old servant of Jesus Christ, our dear Father in God, were sick at the beginning of this year. May God raise them both up and keep them in life and well-being for a long time for the good of us and His church.

Our dear Court Chaplain Albinus wrote his letter to me at the beginning of this year and sent us hearty wishes for the New Year that it might be a true year of grace, salvation, and blessing for us all; and in addition he called to us the two important and comforting verses John 15:17 and Psalms 102:18-19.

The 15th of June. The very great heat has abated, and God has begun to give us rain and fruitful weather. The Indian corn is now beginning to grow cobs or ears, and therefore the rain was granted us at the right time. People who have never seen the Indian, or local14 corn in the fields imagine that the ears grow on the top as in the case of other15 German crops such as wheat, barley, oats, etc.; and they are amazed that the thick cobs or ears, which contain hundreds of kernels, grow out from the sides of the green cornstalk, which grows over an inch in diameter and seven to nine feet in height, and have, as it were, a pennant at their tips. It is in every way a nice and good plant. One becomes too accustomed to Gods miracles and gradually respects them no more. This was the sin of the ancient Israelites, against which we gladly warn ourselves and others. These thick and long cornstalks have a hard green shell on the outside like the local reeds, but inside they are filled with a sweet-tasting marrow like elderberry bushes. The stalk is also provided on all sides, from the bottom to the tip, with three inch wide and two to three foot long leaves.

The 16th of June. Mr. Mayer has a knowledgeable and skilful youth whom he uses in his business.16 We would have liked to be helpful to him in getting a good piece of land next to his brother /Friedrich/ at Goshen, but it was granted to another. Today he sent me the following little letter.

I humbly request that you will not hold it against me for imposing on you again. My brother sent me word that the land I wanted was already gone. Perhaps this is a dispensation of God for me not to go out there. I shall resign myself entirely to the merciful governance of my God: may He do with me as He pleases. It always seems to me that I could not live if I had to leave Ebenezer. Oh, I ask you humbly for the sake of God and for my immortal soul, which has been entrusted to you, to look out for me. I have no one among mankind to whom I can complain or speak. I shall be obliged to you all my life. I am also asking you to let me know if you see anything in me or hear anything about me that is not right.

This youth is a brother of the young and gifted person named Treutlen, who was well known to Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen, who reported only a few months ago that he perished in the water at Gosport in England with his master, Mr. Carver.

The 19th of June. The wife of a cashiered soldier (Dod), who moved here with her husband from Frederica and is a true lover of the good, is lying dangerously sick. My dear colleague visited her yesterday, and I visited her today. Soon after her sickness began she told her husband that she was no longer for this present life but was yearning for a better one. She complained of N.17 and suffered greatly in her conscience because of the sins she had committed there. She maintains a true faith in her Savior and wishes to hear nothing more of worldly things, rather she admonishes her neighbors who visit her to pray with her and for her. She refreshes herself from the words of the Lord Jesus, Yet there is room18 namely, in His wounds and in His heaven.

I told another19 family of the preciousness and proper application of our short period of grace; and I told the very sick boy that he had been a naughty and wicked child; if he died as he was he would come into hells fire, but he could come into heaven if he would recognize and regret his sins, some of which I cited, and turn to his savior. He said that he could well feel his sins and was praying to the Lord Jesus. I admonished him to continue in prayer for a recognition and feeling of sin; and I gave him the little verse, Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.20 Thereupon I prayed with him and his sick parents and presented to God in the name of Christ their spiritual and physical need, so that He might wish not the death but the life of the Godless, but in the order of conversion from an inwardly and outwardly evil nature.

Today Eigels second daughter, sixteen years old, was buried, having died of dropsy. I continued with the contemplation and application of the very edifying biography of the blessed six year old Helmershausen and had an excellent opportunity to present the important office and dear duty of the parents, who should stand in Gods stead with their children. The mercy of God, which had revealed itself so clearly in this dear little son Gotthold and his then fourteen year old brother, redounded to our great awakening, and I especially tried to incite the children to imitate them. In the Eigels oldest son and their daughter there is a true beginning of good; and these are the two whom the parents sent to me for instruction and preparation for Holy Communion; and this will be profitable to these children all their life long. As I observe, God has also given them a blessing. If funeral sermons are properly composed, spirits are generally aroused and attentive, and something can be accomplished through Gods goodness.

The 20th of June. Yesterday I found the sixty-six year old Mrs. Neidlinger, the wife of the old tanner from Ulm, in great weakness but otherwise in a devout frame of mind and desirous of salvation. I made profitable to her the beautiful words, For me to live is Christ, and to die is my gain21 Her voice was, to be sure, very weak; yet she pronounced the said words joyfully and clearly, and to everything that was prayed for her from God in the name of Christ she said a frequent and believing Amen. I blessed her and resolved to visit her again today, but I was hindered in my resolution.

In the meanwhile I traveled to our nearer patients along Ebenezer Creek, especially to the soldiers wife I mentioned yesterday. I was much impressed by what I saw in her and her husband and what I heard from both of them. She is a German woman and he is a Scot. He belongs to our church along with her, and he has a very great love and respect for this industrious and pious wife of his. She said that her husband had sung a couple of songs at night and that it had seemed to her as if the holy angels had sung along with him and that she had sincerely wished to be able to sing along with him, too. Her heart has become filled with joy and yearning. Her Bible verse,22 which she still held on to today when repeating yesterdays verse, reads This is a worthy saying; and worthy of all acceptation, etc.23 She recited it in her great bodily weakness loudly and very earnestly. She is much concerned that her only little son be reared in a Christian manner. He24 assured her that he would never leave Ebenezer but would move from his plantation nearer to Ebenezer after the harvest. At her request the little boy had to recite to me some Bible verses he had learned. Thereupon he fetched his supply of short printed little rhymed prayers that the venerable old Pastor Sommer had sent us some months ago. The mother had taught the boy many of them diligently and had also received much profit from them herself. It is very edifying to consort with these two people, and my encouragement and prayer is blessed in them.

The 21st of June. After I had heard a sad report, my dear Savior refreshed me again from the recently mentioned letter from an unknown pious benefactress, which she had written to the whole congregation with zealous love and which I made profitable to my parishioners, both adults and children, in todays weekday sermon. She showed very beautifully that the way of the cross on which He is leading the members of our congregation is the best and safest way because Christ our Lord walked it Himself and guided his followers to it, and that the very best people who have lived since the beginning of the world have passed into the Kingdom of God through much tribulation. The world would gladly be saved, if only ...25

Our loving God granted me another refreshment at the mill. Kalcher and other workers there have made do with river water. However, because it is very warm in summer, some of them joined together and dug a well that is giving very abundant and cool wellwater in this dry season. The dear people were sincerely happy about it, and one person recited to me the beautiful words that our smallest children are wont to recite, Gods springs have an abundance of water.26

I brought Mrs. Schweighoffer ten shillings Sterling that I give her every quarter for her subsistence in her son-in-laws house from the money received from the Hand of the Lord. She again has much pain in her sick feet; and, because she cannot go out, it is a great cross for her to have to miss the church and public edification. I told her something from the above-mentioned letter and raised her up with the example of David, who, as a great lover of public divine service, had to do without this blessing for a long time, and with these beautiful words: Suffering is my divine service.27

The 22nd of June. This morning the young tanner Neidlinger brought me the news that his old sixty-six year old mother had died at sunrise this morning. I was still with her yesterday morning and found her more cheerful than two days ago. Her speech was also clearer. She took great pleasure in what I told her from Gods word, and she prayed sincerely and devoutly with me. What I instilled in her last was that one lives and dies well if one can only win Jesus and be found in him28. The old Neidlinger, a knowledgeable and honest man, who is six years younger than his wife and therefore sixty years of age, is also sick with fever. She had more than just fever.

The 24th of June. While I was speaking with a young woman about the Christian conduct of mothers towards their little children, she told me with a cheerful countenance that she blessed her little child diligently as often as she laid it on her breast or gave it something to eat and that she offered it to her Savior. I reminded her of the verse, Suffer little children to come unto me.29 The old Neidlinger is lying sick in the very same house in which this woman and her husband live. When she heard that I was beginning to pray with him, she brought her little child in, too, and knelt down with us as one who is filled with desire for the blessing of the Lord. This dear old man is very weak in his body, but very calm in his spirit; and he is entirely content with the will of God, be it for death or for life. He holds firmly in faith to his Savior and he quoted, among other things, the beautiful words of Ephesians 1:4-5. He also praised the Salzburgers in his neighborhood for showing him very much kindness. In healthy days he proved very industrious in establishing a tannery at the mill, which he developed so far that much leather was almost prepared or ready for sale. If God should raise him up again, he would bring everything to completion through His blessing.

I found the boy whom I mentioned under the 19th of this month very sick. I told him that he would soon die and asked whether he wished to die. He answered that he would like to die. I said, You dear child, you wish to die! Dont you know that you have been a naughty child? and such do not come to a good place. He said, Alas, I well know that I have been a wicked child. I asked, What will you do so as not to come to hell? He replied, I will ask my dear Savior to accept me in mercy. His father said that he had always prayed (as I recently admonished him) and called diligently on the dear Savior for a recognition of his sins. After I had prayed for him on my knees with his parents, having already spoken with him about the willingness of the Lord Jesus to receive sinners, I asked him whether he wished to accept the blessing of the Lord, I would leave it behind for him. He said Yes and added an Amen. As I was leaving I asked him whether he thought that he would see me again; and he answered, Yes, here or somewhere else, and this deeply impressed me. He is ten years old.

On Saturday, the 22nd of this month, the surveyor came to us at the order of the authorities to survey a hundred acres of land on the island in the Mill River for each of our old inhabitants; and he made a start in this today. He brought me a letter that a friend in Charleston had sent me, in which he revealed his pleasure at our inhabitants intention to prepare all sorts of wood products for trade with the West Indies; and he asked me to send him a number of roof shingles. He also reports that sugar, rum, and wine and other European wares are very cheap and that the boards and other wood products bring a much better price than in Savannah.

The 25th of June. The ten year old boy who was mentioned yesterday died blessedly last night.

The 26th of June. When I entered the dwelling of the often mentioned soldiers wife, her husband told me that God had heard his prayer and given him hope that his dear wife will recover. She is amazed that her husband could have so much concern and great patience with her. Likewise she told me that it had seemed to her in the previous night as if someone said to her, This time you will not yet come into heaven. Gods word and prayer are always her nourishment, and she praises her neighbors for not only serving her but also praying diligently with her. We edified ourselves from the verse, I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him.30 When we arose from our prayer, she said to me that I had again helped lift a burden from her heart. Her husband explained it and said that the day before yesterday I was hardly out of the hut before she assured him that a great burden had been removed from her heart. That is done by God, who heareth prayer!

The 28th of June. We often show our parishioners from Gods word what a dear means of grace holy baptism is and what a high nobility baptized children achieve through the grace of Christ by means of holy baptism. To incite the children to keep the baptismal covenant loyally and to arouse the adults to renew it sincerely, I let the children, even the little ones, learn the beautiful and precious words of Isaiah 61, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul, etc., and at the same time I tell them that they and all baptized children, if they could speak and if they knew how to appreciate the granted treasure rightly, would call out immediately after holy baptism. They should do that now and respect their baptism and sincerely rejoice at the dear grace that has been granted them through it according to the fourth main article of the catechism.

I did some mothers a pleasant favor by acquainting them with the very edifying ode of our dear Count N., which is found on page 82 of the first collection of spiritual poems31 and treats of the rapturously great blessedness of baptized children. It can be sung according to the melody of Wie wohl ist mir, o Freund der Seelen, etc. A pious widow was present when I mentioned this melody, and she immediately remembered the edifying song Jehova ist mein Hirt, und Hter, etc., which followed it. She asked me whether I still remembered that several years ago she had asked me to have this so important and comforting hymn sung at her funeral, if she, N.B., died in faith.

The 29th of June. The surveyor is with us this week and is doing our people great and good service. He is put entirely under my orders, and he acts willingly according to them; and this redounds to our inhabitants great advantage. He is surveying for every householder who wishes it a hundred acres of good and useful land on the island in the Mill River; and whatever marsh or deep wet areas there are they receive as an extra, and they do not have to pay any ground rent or surveyors fee. Here grow the most beautiful cypresses for boards and building material and roof shingles; and the land itself, even though it is low and often stands under water, is exceedingly convenient for meadows or hayfields, which can be mowed three times a year. I had not imagined it to be so advantageous as I now find it; and I see it as a new testimony of the paternal providence of God over our congregation. Therefore it has not harmed us that the previous surveyor did not wish to survey this land that is overgrown with trees, bushes, thick and thin reeds, and thorns.

Meanwhile God has inclined the hearts of the Lord Trustees to give our old inhabitants one hundred instead of fifty acres of land and, to be sure, near their dwellings. Perhaps He will also incline them and make them able to let their dried-out and exhausted land lie as pasturage and set out their plantations on this excellent land, where one acre bears three or four times what others bear. The greatest difficulty is in guarding the crops on this island at night because of the many wild cats (called racoons, possums, and tigers or lynxes), bears, and deer32 and in the day because of the squirrels. But this difficulty would be much lessened if six, eight, or ten neighbors (who, according to our arrangement, live together very near to the Mill River) would make a part of this forest near their plantations into fields communally; for ten householders could plant at least twenty to twenty-five acres in the first year and could spell each other in guarding with good dogs. However, if each wishes to plant on his own land with so little help, then each of them will get stuck in his own forest and get little from it.

A young man of our community had some business a few years ago with the Indians far above Augusta;33 and, because he told me about a certain salt that the Indians boil from a certain grass, I asked him to bring me a piece of such salt when he went up there again. He has now brought me a piece that we are planning to send to our worthy patrons in Germany. Up there among the Indians a long grass without leaves grows under water on the rocky bottom of the Savannah River. Horses, cattle, deer, and beavers like to eat it and fetch it out themselves; and they are shot in large numbers at night while grazing. The Indians take it out, burn it to ashes, and boil the ashes. The salt floats to the top of the pot and is skimmed off; and, when it is cold, it coagulates into a firm mass. Afterwards it is used like other salts. If this salt-grass is in the shallow river water, or if it is taken out and gets dry, then there is no more salt.

JULY 1751

The 1st of July. Our merciful God has let us pass the first month of summer in peace and health (with the exception of some members of the community, particularly of the last arrivals,1 and he has shown us much blessing in spiritual and physical matters. For this we brought praise and honor to His great and glorious name in our public assembly yesterday, the Fourth Sunday after Trinity; and we again prayed for His fatherly assistance, protection, and blessing for our remaining and short pilgrimage. On this first of July I am traveling in Christs name with Mr. Mayer to Savannah to perform some necessary business with the Council and especially with the secretary of the Lord Trustees /Habersham/, who is very inclined to us.

When we had gone ashore in Savannah, many of the most prominent inhabitants came on horseback from the forest, where they wish to search for certain Indians, whom one calls Nottawegs, and give them a scare. However, they had not found anything, for it is difficult to find these vagabonds in the forest among the trees, bushes, and reeds. They can see other people, but are not so easily seen by others. The said Nottawegs are now allied with the Cherokees against the Creeks and Uchees and kill them whereever they meet them. A few days ago they killed a Uchee Indian in Savannah with shots and knives: the killer (a young Cherokee Indian) was wounded then and ran into the forest but he was found and locked up by the Englishmen who followed the spoor of his copiously shed blood. He is now in the care of a surgeon, and he will be kept until his countrymen give the Englishmen satisfaction for the white people they have killed.

Many complaints have come to Savannah that the Indians are harming the goods, cattle, and crops of the white people around Savannah and the Ogeechee River and threaten to kill them if they do not wish to give them what they demand. They did not behave much better at our place. Things are leading up to a dangerous war between the Englishmen and some tribes of Indians, which may our merciful God graciously avert! The oldest inhabitants of Carolina cannot describe enough the misery that they and other inhabitants have had to experience in an Indian war. For, 1) they are all unusually bloodthirsty, and it is as easy for them to kill people as deer or dogs. 2) If they capture one of their enemies, they torture him in the most inhuman and almost unheard of manner and have their greatest joy in it. 3) They do not fight in the open field but fall upon people at midnight when they are sound asleep. Also, they lurk behind trees and bushes on the paths and roads and shoot them down unobserved. For that reason no people can live on their plantations in war time but must gather together in town or in a fortress made of wood, where they must suffer hunger and worry if it lasts a long time.

The plantations are laid waste, the cattle and horses are shot or stolen, and there is an end to all trade and traffic. Soldiers cannot catch them because they hide by day in the deepest bushes, forests, and canebrakes. They can also find their way at night wherever they wish. The leader ties a little piece of decayed luminous wood on his forehead and turns around often while walking so that those following will know the direction. It is presumed that the French have incited the Nottawegs (who are pro-French and partially French-speaking Indians) as well as the Cherokees against the Creeks and Uchees so that, when these have been eliminated, they can attack Carolina and Georgia all the more easily and spoil their trade with the Indians. The Nottawegs and Cherokees consider themselves allies and friends of the English.

The 4th of July. This morning I returned hale and hearty from Savannah. When I was in Savannah at the end of May, two friends told me about very long rattlesnakes, as if someone had killed some that were seven yards long. Because I doubted the astonishing length, especially after I had entered something about it in the diary under the first of June, I asked them again about the actual length and learned that the longest that had been killed and skinned was not seven yards long but over seven feet long, which I now feel obligated to correct.2 Dr. Graham distributed presents to the Creek Indians above Savannah Town and brought back some curiosities from there. For my friends in Europe he gave me a tobacco pipe that the Indians make out of a serpentine-like stone, also a little piece of sugar that they boil from the juice of a certain tree. It looks just like other kitchen sugar and has a sweet, pleasant taste.3

Our spinning women and some other German people gathered in the evening; and I preached to them from the last Sunday gospel, Luke 6:36 ff., something about the dogma and life-duties of the Christian religion; and I prayed with them. I also had some things to arrange with the Council for the sake of our congregation, and I found the President and Assistants very inclined to me and our inhabitants.

The 6th of July. Today Carl Ott reported that his only six and a half year old little daughter had gotten epilepsy unexpectedly and had died of it. She was a pious, well behaved, and promising child on which the grace of the Holy Spirit had had very noticeable effect. She had often spoken of death, heaven, and salvation; and she rejoiced at the beautiful crown that she would receive there. When her parents went to work, she spent her time with prayer and singing, especially intoning Hallelujah and Victoria very diligently. She humbly showed her displeasure when her parents spoke incautiously, and she used such words as caused them to reflect. When the parents were concerned about her clothes, she was heard to say that one should not worry about the next day, for they did not know whether she would be alive tomorrow. She would soon die and go to heaven, which she would rather do than live. She asked her parents such grave questions about everlasting life that they could not answer them completely. The last little verse that she had learned was Remain pious and behave righteously, for thus all will turn out for the best.4 She had always made a great deal of these last words.

The 9th of July. Yesterday evening a Creek Indian called on me with an interpretor and asked about the hostilities the Nottawegs and Cherokees had perpetrated in Savannah. He had let himself be persuaded to come into this area in hope of shooting many deer and bears in order to buy all sorts of necessities with their skins more cheaply. He had a woman and several horses with him and is now going to Carolina through fear of his enemies. He knows that there is no safety here: the hostile Indians would kill him even if he were in my house. If I would not surrender him, then they would set fire to the house and cause much damage. He had no provisions, so I gave him some; and thus he took courteous leave. He seemed to be a decent young man who did not wish for us to have difficulty because of him; and he also disapproved of what the Uchee Indians had perpetrated here.

I learned that the Creek Indians keep rather good order in their villages, honor the old men who have distinguished themselves through bravery, and show love among one another and also toward strangers. Rum and brandy corrupt them and make them inhuman. In one or two weeks, when the Indian corn is beginning to ripen, they will hold their annual festival (the men separate and the women separate) with eating, drinking, and smoking tobaco. During the first days they drink the decoction of a certain herb, by which they are purged. They all bathe in the river and scratch themselves with the teeth of a certain long-snouted fish until their blood drips to the ground. In their council hall, which has no windows and is therefore very dark, they make a large fire that they consider holy. Those people in the neighborhood who worship this fire also come to this festival. Other people celebrate in the same way in their towns along with those who have come from this fire. They may not eat from the new crops until they celebrate this festival with the said ceremonies. They cannot give any other reason than that their forebears have done so and that otherwise they would get sick from the new crops.

Every morning the men gather in this dark council house made of clay, sit around the fire in good order on benches and stools made of wicker, drink their cossina tea, and discuss what is good for their tribe. This tea grows copiously not only on the coast but also among these Indians. This tea is collected for the community by certain chosen people and is boiled by the women in large earthenware pots in the council house and is filled up and boiled three more times. It is said to be very healthy; but, when it is drunk too strong, it is said to cause a trembling of the limbs. Whoever is once accustomed to it can hardly give it up. First it is roasted in the pot and then brought to a boil with water, then the Indians drink it without sugar from large oyster shells or small drinking gourds. The women may not be present, except for those who do the job of boiling.

When all the tea in a town has run out, every head of family lays ten musketballs down in the council house. When all have done this (for no one may exclude himself) they send a couple of deputies to other towns to buy such tea for their community with the musketballs. They take nothing secretly or publicly by force. They have large fields around their towns, which they have prepared by communal work. Every man has his own garden, which he plants with Indian corn, beans, gourds, peanuts, sweet potatoes, mellons, and rice. The grass is chopped out by all the men collectively. If anyone is absent from this work and is not sick, they take everything he has in his house as a punishment. Afterwards each harvests from his own garden.

The land bears much more abundantly than here and does not require so much work. The Indian corn is also taller and richer in meal than ours. They plant two kinds of corn: one for meal that has a very thin shell and gives tender white meal, the other is for boiling grits and has the nature of flintstones. This kind is planted in our area, presumably because it lasts longer in this warm area and because the planters use it not for meal but as grits for their Negroes and servants and as feed for horses and chickens. Yet I have also seen the first sort of corn in our region.

These Indians have many superstitions: among other things they labor under the delusion that some of their old people can cause it to rain enough for their crops to grow, and they give them certain baskets full of corn during the harvest. They cannot be dissuaded from that. However, it has happened that, if they get too much rain and lose their crops, they kill the rainmakers. They are accustomed to prognosticate their fortune or misfortune from the flight of a bird. There is no trace of any divine service among them. They build their houses like the poor people in Germany of wood and clay and cover them with shingles. All men help in building a house and complete it very quickly. They make and bake their earthenware of clay themselves; and it is said to be more durable than that which is made down here, even if they cannot glaze it at once. A woman who has been blind for more than ten years makes very good pots and other utensils. They do not use a wheel as potters do, and they rub them very smooth and clean with a certain stone.

From the bark of the roots of mulberry trees, which grow copiously up there, they produce the strong and, according to their nature, decorative table cloths and bedclothes, which consist of various colors. The councilmen in Savannah have such a blanket as a table cloth on the table in the council room; and we have a traveling bag of this kind, which we hope to send to Europe with some other curiosities. May God send his light to these blind people!

The 10th of July. I found the pious wife of the soldier /Dod/ at a simple work and therefore much better than at my last visit. She said that she would have gladly died if it had been Gods will. However, since He had given her this period of grace, she had resolved to have herself better prepared for His service and her salvation. For this purpose she had resolved to read through the psalms of David. She showed me her mind and desire in the verse, One thing I have desired of the Lord.5 She also showed me the beautiful crops in her fields, which the Lord had allowed to grow so well during her sickness. Nothing there had been damaged by men or animals even though her husband had not been able to guard them. They both attributed this to the protective kindness of God and praised him for it.

The 14th of July. The locksmith Schrempff brought me a plate full of grapes that grew on a wild vine by his house on the Savannah River. There are surely two hundred grapes on this single vine, which have the appearance of the blue grapes in Germany but have a little bit less flavor. No doubt this is because they grow without care between the other trees and bushes. There are many kinds of grapevines in this country; and some are almost as sweet as the sweetest in Germany, even though they grow wild and without care.

I believe that I am not wrong in my judgment when I often report that our colony could become an excellent wine country if only we had knowledgeable people who would devote themselves to viticulture. They should also conform to the nature of the country and not do everything according to their old customs, through which my promising vineyard was ruined in two years, especially when the people used in it began to cut the vines too short and too often and to build arches. They need to be led up high and to stand in wet places. Also, one should plant only the local vines. Through lack of money and knowledgeable people many useful experiments must be left unmade. In this month some kinds of grapes are beginning to ripen, the others will ripen at the beginning of August. This year there is a great quantity of peaches; but, because we are having a lot of rain, they are rotting on the trees.

The 16th of July. Shortly before evening I received the sad news that an orphan child, Ludwig Ernst, had been bitten by a snake. Something was taken at once. The bite was from a common snake that is not so poisonous as a rattlesnake and therefore not as dangerous. Praise be to God, who has so far averted harm and misfortune from the members of our community. May he make us grateful and lead us to repentance through His chastisements as well as through all other blessings.

The 17th of July. Late yesterday afternoon our spinning women returned from Savannah after completing their work fortunately and in health and to everyones satisfaction. From them I received some letters from Europe, for which we humbly praise divine goodness. In them I find many very joyful testimonies of the paternal providence of our merciful God over our worthy Fathers, patrons, and friends, and also over us and our congregation. This time, along with the letters, we have received some useful, important, and edifying written and printed reports, which we plan to make profitable with Gods help for the furtherance of the spiritual and physical well-being of our parishioners.

Our worthy Senior Urlsperger has composed the preface to the continuations of the Ebenezer Reports6 as an epistle to the Ebenezer congregation and has expounded and dedicated to them Gods words of admonition and comfort, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, etc.7 This epistle was printed especially for us and sent here. I thank my God and, under Him, this His faithful servant, my esteemed Father so dear to me in Christ, for this comforting verse and the contemplation composed about it. It comes to my aid in my manifold burdens, which concern me, my office, family, congregation, and the colony. God will help me not only to accomplish loyally and steadfastly the evangelical duties demanded in it, but also to believe in the word of promise even after longlasting petitions.

About the unending mercy of God, with which He follows arrogant sinners stained with many other abominations for many years, we now have a right noteworthy and edifying example in the child-murderess of high rank in Hildesheim, which I read with much emotion and made profitable in the public assembly his week with Gods help.8 I must especially say to the praise of our miraculous and gracious God that the very vivid, thorough, and edifying speech of our dear Senior Urlsperger in the Oberkirchen Convent of the blessed A. /Augsburg/ before such a prominent and venerable assemblage so deeply impressed my heart with the end of all things and with the everlasting duration of the divine word that I consider it great fortune, yea, an inestimable blessing, to have read it in quiet before God in my study. What must have passed through the hearts of the prominent and venerable listeners in the sacristry, where it was held with the lively voice of an old, experienced, venerable, and beloved servant of God? They will doubtless keep a salutary impression from it till their blessed death. May God give it to me and them!9

This was not all that our loving God let come to us from Europe this time for our edification for our blessed eternity: rather, I must mention a printed and very edifying letter, whose entire title is, The Letter of an Anonymous Person from Berlin to his Friend Concerning the Last Edifying Hours of their Mutual Friend, printed 1751.10 The awakening and edification that my Savior granted me from this little, excellently composed writing, I gladly wish for my neighbors in all Christendom, but especially for those who like to edify themselves from the last hours of the children and servants of God. It cannot be paid for with gold, at least that is the way it seems to me. Now may our merciful God be sincerely and humbly praised for everything: for the edifying and useful letters, for the just-mentioned blessed news, for the monetary charities, for medicines, books, and millstones, and for what He has let come to us from London, Holland, and Germany through His undeserved kindness.

The 21st of July. We praise our merciful God for the many spiritual blessings which He has shown us through His dear word and the holy sacrament of the body and blood of Christ on this Seventh Sunday after Trinity. He has especially blessed the two of us, whom He has placed here as ministers, in soul and body and has granted us rich edification from the word of life that we have been dignified to preach. In the last days of last week in both churches we profited from the very noteworthy example of the pardoned sinner who was executed for her misdeed in Hildesheim; and from it we learned, among other things, what a blessing it is to live in a land where one can have complete freedom of religion and an opportunity to edify oneself in both good and bad days. We must always remind our parishioners of these and other great blessings in order that they will not forget to bring our merciful God the thanks due to Him for them. From the gospel Mark 8:1 ff. we dealt with the duties and the comfort of suffering Christians; and in the introit we contemplated the dear verse Psalms 55:23, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, etc. and also the duty as well as the splendid comfort of righteous sufferers.

Thus through Gods gracious providence our hearts were prepared for our dear Senior Urlspergers instructive and comforting epistle to our Ebenezer congregation, in which the above-mentioned basic and powerful verse11 is treated very edifyingly. I plan to go through it this week in the prayer meetings and weekday sermon. May the worthy Holy Ghost grant me much wisdom and strength for this! This time fifty-two persons attended Holy Communion. It has happened that in our very edifying Little Treasure Chest,12 which has been blessed in many souls, a most edifying meditation concerning the Holy Communion is scheduled for today, the 21st of July, on which Holy Communion was held for the above-mentioned people. For this reason I not only made it useful for my family but also recommended it to all communicants after the sermon.

The 22nd of July. Yesterday toward evening I received two letters, one from our worthy and affectionately inclined Mr. Broughton, the secretary of the praiseworthy Society, in which, in the name of the beneficent Society he declared his pleasure at our performance of our ministerial duty and the godly behavior of our congregation and also recommended very warmly to me a learned man who is armed with natural and spiritual gifts and was sent by the other Society for the Propagation of the Gospel of Christ for the work of the Lord in America, Joseph Ottolenghe by name.13 The second letter was from a ships captain who was requesting many boards for the West Indies, which, unfortunately, was still addressed to me!14 I often feel downcast not only because I am presumed upon for all sorts of external affairs but also because great necessity drives me to care for the congregation in physical matters, in which the thoughts that our worthy Mr. N. has now written to me are animating me again,

I well realize that these are not the proper business for clergymen, whose greatest concern should be the care of the spiritual condition of their charges. However, a better subsistence also has its influence in such ministry if many can be brought from grief and hardship to a greater praise of God. And, with regard to Your Worship, I am convinced that you are glad to be for everyone what his need and circumstance require. To save from grief and hardship is a great work. Nothing is done any more by miracles, but through human counsel and deed. And therefore care for physical need can stand alongside care of souls.

The 23rd of July. Although, according to the dictum of the Lord, every day has its own afflictions among us, it also has its own blessings according to His gracious governance. Among those are 1) that in the Zion Church we were dignified to read and contemplate Senior Urlspergers instructive and comforting epistle to the Ebenezer congregation for our especial mutual edification and to the strengthening of our faith. From it our parishioners could clearly observe that they had been loyally led by us ministers to the very basis and the very order of salvation in which this our dear Father has pointed so powerfully and so evangelically according to the directions of the divine word and our Lutheran symbolic books. The word of the Lord is well distributed in it, and it gives each individual what he needs for the nurture and edification of his soul. From the conclusion of this beautiful epistle the very special sincere love of this dearest Father shines from every line; and it greatly pleased me that I had so many and such attentive listeners. Among other things, we were refreshed by the comforting expression,

My dear Ebenezer, from the very beginning of thy settlement, thou hast already been cast on the Lord with all thy burdens so many countless times by so many righteous people in both the old and the new world.15 Continue to cast thine own burden upon Him, etc.

2. Among the blessings of this day also belong the safe arrival of a moderate chest which the Court Chaplain has forwarded to us. Mr. Habersham assumes that some of the things found in it have been damaged on the sea voyage, as were some of his wares, because the lid was somewhat broken; but books, medicines, and my watch were in good condition. Our dear Court Chaplain has sent us a pleasing gift of several copies of an important sermon on the Holy Ghost and of an edifying poem rich in scripture that he composed at the beginning of the year to refresh himself and other grace-seeking souls.

We likewise received a large number of very edifying contemplations in songs concerning Sunday and holy day gospels which a godly Imperial count, the author of the spiritual poems that have been provided with a foreword by Dr. Baumgarten, and which were bound in this chest by the Count himself as a very worthy gift. With divine assistance we will make good use of them in our spiritual assemblies, just as with the selected songs, in which various very emphatic and comforting hymns by this wellborn author are found.16 Their melodies are already known to us and our parishioners, especially to those who have good voices, except for a few which I could not teach them because the songs stand only in the second part of Freylinghausens songbook17 and therefore could not be sung because of the lack of this part. For example, Mein Gott, du bist sehr schn, etc. and Wie lechzet doch mein Geist, etc., likewise Jesus ist das schnste Licht,, which stands only in the first part (which is not in many hands) and not in the extract, which is actually used here. In the entire little songbook there is only one hymn, on p. 36, Wer Ohren hat dein Wort zu hren, etc. that we will not be able to sing because we lack a melody, unless we compose one ourselves.

3) In this very same chest, through the loving care of our worthy Court Chaplain and of the godly and very affectionate baroness and the wife of a Privy Counselor, we have found some choice simples and medications, partly for my sick helpmeet and partly for the use of the congregation, also something for the midwife and a new pocket watch for me as a valuable and very cherished gift from our dear Court Chaplain. May our merciful God be a rich rewarder for everything!

4) God so strengthened me during my many visits and other business this afternoon that I could make a part of the beautiful above-mentioned letter from our dearest Senior profitable to my listeners in town during the evening prayer meeting. God be praised!

The 25th of July. After further search I found the melody to the above-mentioned hymn, Wer Ohren hat dein Wort zu hren, etc. in the second part of Freylinghausens songbook.18 It follows the very important and edifying penitential song, Wie lang schlagt ihr mich ihr Gedanken, etc., which song and melody our loving God had already especially blessed in my heart in Halle, particularly the fifth and sixth verses, I crawl, Redeemer, to Thy feet, raise me up through grace again. If I may kiss Thy wounds, then the heap and pile of sins, even though they are still blood red, will become as white as snow or wool. Do not reject me like ash and earth, Thou who art the sinners Savior. There is still room in Thy wounds for me, who am burdened, etc.19 I detect a great joy in our parishioners at this little songbook,20 which a person of the rank of count has produced to the glory of God and the edification of his neighbor and has sent over to us as a gift. There are 168 little songbooks, which are neatly bound in leather; and therefore it is gift that amounts to many florins. May our merciful God be a richer Rewarder for it!

The 27th of July. On the trees that did not freeze there are again many figs this year, both black and yellow, that have a very good flavor. One should plant them in such a way that they are protected by high trees or buildings against the cold northwest wind, and then they would not freeze so easily. There was an unusual quantity of peaches this year, but most of them are rotten on or under the trees, even though many were distilled, many were fed to the cattle, and many were dried in the sun and in the oven. It is a shame about this so sweetly tasting gift of God. For (as I have already mentioned) there is no comparison between these and our German peaches. The trees require no effort at all. They are neither pruned nor fertilized any more than the trees in the forest, even though it cannot be denied that their fruit would be larger and tastier if one gave the trees their due. Apples grow swiftly and large, grafted or ungrafted; and vines of all kinds are a pleasant food for birds and other creatures. Our colony is without a doubt a fertile and blessed land; and it is regrettable that there are so few people who enjoy it through their industry and the blessing of God.

The 28th of July. On this Eighth Sunday after Trinity our merciful God has granted us, along with good weather and the enjoyment of many other blessings, much edification from His word and from the recently received hymns. From the little Wernigerode Songbook21 we sang the edifying Sunday hymn that stands in front and afterwards the one that the wellborn author composed on todays gosepel Matthew 7:15-23. In the prayer hour we learned the melody to the song of our dear Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen, O heilger Gott! wir alle beten an, etc.; and, after I tired of singing the lead, we sang the equally important and moving hymn according to our familiar melody Sey hochgelobt! barmherziger Gott, etc., which our dear parishioners sang very edifyingly. It begins, My Father, Thou hast chosen me, etc. God be praised for this edification! May he bless His dearest tools whom He chose to advance it! We pray for them, too, in our public church prayer every Sunday after the sermon in these words, among others: Forget not, oh Father of Mercy, our patrons, benefactors, and benefactresses, along with all those who help maintain the divine service. Be Thou their rewarder on high, let them inherit Thy temporal and eternal blessing for it.

The 29th of July. For a long time the German people in Goshen wished for me to visit them, and that was done today. Already yesterday they had learned from someone that I was coming to them, and therefore I found a fine flock gathered and waiting for me. I shared with them the good that our dear God had granted us last week from the verse, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, etc. Later I brought this comforting verse to a widow in the neighborhood, whose honest and industrious husband died a week ago.22 She has a manifold suffering, for she is not only a widow but is also dangerously sick and has a sick child; and she lacks care, is poor, and has debts. No widow in Ebenezer has ever been so miserable. I am planning to report her pitiable conditions both orally and in writing to the Council in Savannah, which receives a certain sum of money every year from the Lord Trustees from which necessities are to be given to widows and the sick.

The 30th of July. The old tanner Neidlinger has been sick with fever for a long time and has lost so much strength that he can speak only a little and is yearning for a blessed dissolution. I recited for him several times the dear words which he should remember in his great thirst that he quenches with cool water, As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?23 He let me know with a weak nod that he understood the words, and he said, If only my Savior would soon come! We knelt down and brought him and his need to the Saviors throne of grace.

The 31st of July. On this last day of the month our dear God refreshed and strengthened me in a double manner in my present weakness. In the morning I married /Philip/ Paulitschs son /Martin/ to an orphan who was reared here, whose three sisters have been happily married here.24 At marriages I lay as a basis a Christian duty according to the 10th Commandment from the late Wirths Communion Booklet25 and today I had the 5th concerning the 1st Commandment, during which I treated of the duties and the comfort of the children of God, 1) who are true children of God, 2) how they are accustomed to fare in the world, 3) what their duties are, and 4) what their comfort is. The instructive and comforting verses under them I recommended to the bridal couple and their friends for reading later and discussing them at meals. The booklet is in all hands. The other refreshment and strengthening I found in the gathering of some Christian women in my house from two to half-past three, who had me instruct them in the new melodies and who wish to continue with it every Wednesday and Saturday evening. From Freylinghausens songbook26 we learned, Mein Gott! du bist sehr schn, etc. and repeated O heilger Gott! wir alle bethen an, etc.

AUGUST 1751

The 1st of August. The first thing I have to report on this first day of the month is the very composed and keenly desired departure of the old tanner Neidlinger from this world, which occurred this morning between ten and twelve oclock soon after our prayer at his deathbed and after he had received our blessing. From the very beginning of his sickbed to the last moment of his life, for ten whole weeks, he proved himself so Christian, so humble, grateful, and patient that I can conclude nothing else but that he lived in trust in the Son of God (of whose dear merits for him he could speak most emphatically) and that he died trusting in Him. Yesterday he still understood my dear colleagues words of encouragement and prayer, but today he no longer understood anything. Soon after his arrival in Ebenezer he said that he wished to establish a tannery in Ebenezer before his death; and he established it with money advanced by us, and his son is still continuing it.

The 2nd of August. Our almighty Lord has granted our inhabitants a good grape harvest in this year, too, even if they themselves did not plant any vines. Grapevines of various kinds in the forest have so many ripe, sweet grapes that we cannot marvel enough at their great quantity and sweetness. The grapes are blue, as in Germany, many bunches are small but some are as long as a human hand. The vines climb up the bushes and both the low and the high trees; and it is all the more amazing that they are so plentiful and sweet and that they were already ripe at the end of last month and at the beginning of this one. There is also a kind of blue grape that is as sour as vinegar, but most kinds are sweet. The sweet blue grapes are healthy even if one eats many of them. On the other hand the fox grapes (which appear to be called that because their strength makes one drunk)1 cause diarrhea and stomach ache. They grow exceptionally plentiful along large and small rivers; and, when they are ripe and black, the grapes are as large as large cherries in Germany and taste very sweet and pleasant.

Some of our inhabitants have gathered very many of the above-mentioned blue grapes, partly for making vinegar and partly for distilling brandy. A man brought me a quart, or measure full, of pressed grape juice, which was blood-red and sweet. I put it into a bottle in order to see what would become of it. From this experiment of ours I have drawn the following conclusion: 1) that this colony of ours is naturally suitable for growing grapes and could become one of the best wine countries if only there were knowledgeable people here who had the means, industry, and patience to devote themselves properly to viticulture not in the German manner but ad ductum naturae2 of our climate.

Most of the people who come into this country are poor and have to worry about food and clothing rather than about wine. Then they remain with what they have once become accustomed to and what they consider the most certain means of subsistence. Also, they have enough to do all their lives to support themselves and their families, since the necessary trade goods are so very expensive. Also, most of them have lost all courage to lay out vineyards because for several years nothing has come of those that were laid out by the Lord Trustees, by a Spanish Jew in and around Savannah,3 by Col. Stephens,4 and by me and other Germans with European vines in the European manner, even though they had made an excellent start. Rich people in the country who have Negroes apply themselves only to rice, indigo, and other local crops, for which they do not have to make uncertain experiments or to worry about an immediate sale.

2) That it is not necessary to plant European vines, rather one could plant the local and natural ones in vineyards, let us hope with better success. To be sure, European things, like wheat, etc., grow here, too, but not so readily, certainly, and abundantly as what is proper to this country, as one sees in the case of Indian corn, beans, rice, and sweet potatoes. I also believe that it would be the same with the local wild grapes. They receive not the least care; they grow between the bushes and trees and reach very high and spread out, yet they bear such abundant and tasty fruit. What could we not expect if they grew at the right place and enjoyed the care of a vintner?

3) Because all the previously mentioned vines (with the exception of a certain kind on poor soil, which run along the ground) grow very high and climb up in the trees, it seems to us that nature herself, so to speak, is indicating the manner in which one should lay out a vineyard, not with stakes five or six feet high (as has always been done so far) but in either the Italian or Madeiran manner. Someone has written us several times from Italy that they plant the vines between the mulberry trees and let them grow into the trees. General Oglethorpe told me that the inhabitants of Madeira lead the vines nine feet high and make avenues5 of them into which the grapes hang and are thus not overcome by the heat from above or from below, as would happen if they hung on low stakes or on the ground as occurs in Germany and as I have experienced in the loss of my promising vineyard. The heat reflected from the ground was doubtless to blame that the grapes, the blue ones more than the white ones, spoiled and gradually died on the vines. In Madeira it is said that people tried it at first with foreign grapes: however, because they would not grow, they began to plant the so-called wild grapes.

4) That one should plant the natural wild vines in the same soil in which they readily grow by nature and that therefore each individual species should be rightly assigned to its natural soil. For example: those that are found on dry land should be transplanted into similar soil; on the other hand, they should do differently with those that prefer to grow next to water, in the low, moist areas, and on the land that is sometimes inundated because one may presume that they would not flourish as well on dry ground as the former ones. In Madeira, General Oglethorpe saw that in the summer, when the grapes were about to ripen, they let water flow through especially prepared canals to the above-mentioned avenues of grapevines so that they stood entirely under water, as some well-established rice-planters do with their ricefields in order to impede the weeds with water and to advance the growth of the rice.6

5) When I and others laid out vineyards, all the soil had to be turned over a foot and a half deep so that the top soil went to the bottom and the bottom soil came to the top, as is customary in Germany. This caused much expense and might well have been more harmful than useful. The wild grapes here grow excellently on their own ground, and this gives us a clear hint that we should continue to plant them without the above-mentioned toilsome digging up of the soil. Yet, I would like to learn how they do it in this regard in Italy. Experience will teach us whether we will need much or little manure, and of what kind, for these grapes. In the forest they have nothing but what arises from the rotting of the leaves. Dressing the vines so that they are neither too long nor too short is perhaps the greatest art, which demands a knowledgeable and thoughtful man.

6) Our Germans have told me that one could not lay out a vineyard before large districts of forest had been cleared as in Germany, otherwise one would have too much fog, which spoils the blossoms. This claim, however, has no basis because a) the wild grapevines grow between the bushes and trees in the forest and have enough grapes every year; b) because the vines along the rivers and in low, swampy areas, where there is usually more fog than on high, dry ground, also hang full of sweet grapes every year. Even if the fog in Germany is harmful at the time of the blossoms, it is not harmful to the natural local grapes here. At least we know nothing about it yet. In addition, c) the blossoms in my vineyard never dropped off because of fog. Yet, since it failed, like many in this country, the fog must have harmed the vines rather than the blossoms. However, this is contradicted by the beautiful growth of the wild grapes here. Also, that is a meaningless objection that our land is inadequate for vine-growing because there are no mountains but only small hills.7 None of the wild grapes here grow on hills, but on flat areas and low soil. Consequently, our land is most suitable for the local native grapes, just as other species do better on mountains.

7) Some people have taken the trouble to graft domestic or European vines onto wild vinestocks, which then sprouted much wood for a year. I have not seen any profit from that but have heard the complaint that many wild sprouts have always grown out from the roots or low down on the vine and that therefore this method of planting has ceased. Nor do I see why one would wish to take this trouble since one can get there more easily and certainly if one turns the wild vines into domestic ones by transplanting and cultivating them.

8) I have perceived with amazement how readily the grapevines grow on old fences and bear abundant fruit; and this convinces me that they would readily grow on such avenues and covered arbors as has been cited about Madeira. What could the farmer do more useful than to plant grapevines of the local variety on all the fences on his plantation, especially on the fences around it, since these would help preserve the fences.

9) Since I know of no year in which there have been no grapes on the vines in the forest, I presume that the late frosts do not harm the blossoms, unless, perhaps, they would cause more harm if they were planted in an open garden. I remember that the blossoms in my vineyard, which had come out too early because of the early warmth in the spring, had been frozen, but afterwards others came out in the place of those that had frozen off. It is certain that the grapes become ripe long before a frost comes, for they are ripe already at the end of July and at the beginning of August. This is a different thing in Germany and some other wine lands, where, because of the autumnal frosts that have come too quickly, people have gathered unripe sour grapes instead of ripe, sweet ones.

A prominent and dear benefactor from Germany, who bears Ebenezer especially in his heart, encouraged us in his last worthy letter with a sizeable monetary gift to lay out a mulberry orchard and vineyard as an example for our inhabitants, which we accepted as a nod from God and for which we wish to buy a piece of land near our mills. We have there both high and low good land to make all sorts of experiments as we wish. We have hope of divine success in that for the good of our congregation and to the joy of our highly respected dear tool of God, just as we felt when first undertaking the manufacture of silk in the orphanage. This served the entire community later both to shame them and to make them regret their negligence and also to encourage them to emulation.8 God will cause ...9

The 4th of August. Yesterday my dear colleague Lemke went to the German people in Goshen to hold for them a preparation sermon and confessional yesterday and Holy Communion today. From the new songbooks10 which a blessed person of rank composed for all Sunday and Holy Day gospels and gave to us nicely bound in leather I sang for the first time before the whole assembled congregation the Sunday hymn that stands first and the hymn that was composed for today, the Ninth Sunday after Trinity: Mein Heiland mach du mich in Gross- und Kleinem treu. Some of our womenfolk learned the beautiful melody to it: Mein Gott du bist sehr schn, etc.11 in my house on Wednesday and repeated it yesterday, and they also learned the melody Jesus ist das schnste Licht, etc., to which a beautiful hymn is to be sung. A few of them have suckling children and other necessary business, yet they do not let themselves be kept away from our hymn and song hour. Such steadfastness and inclination to learn hymns makes the matter very easy. This morning they sang the above-mentioned hymn in the church all alone and, to be sure, entirely in time and devoutly, and all the others listened quietly.

During the evening prayer meeting, which is held in the summer from five to six oclock, my fellow worshipers joined in singing fluently and edifyingly and devoutly the beautiful hymn of our dear Court Chaplain: O heilger Gott! wir alle bethen an, etc. We shall often rejoice at our assemblies through the aid of the Holy Ghost in this and the following hymn: Mein Vater, du hast mich erwhlt, etc. Finally, I allowed the parents and the leading children each to take a copy of these hymns; and I asked them to teach their children at home the Bible verses which stand printed above these songs and under each and every verse from word to word and which they are to recite in church sometime in the future. There are fifty-seven such strength-giving verses,12 and therefore it is a beautiful treasure that the parents and children will learn together and store in their memory and hearts on this occasion. This morning I reminded the listeners to consult at home, and to familiarize themselves with, those Bible passages that stand under the verses of the new hymns in the above-mentioned Wernigerode hymnal, for this would be of great value.

The 8th of August. A few days ago I traveled to Savannah on account of my weakness and business, from where I returned today safely and somewhat healthier. We had the so-called spring-tide, with which we came from Savannah to our mill in something more than six hours and, indeed, with a fully loaded boat; and en route we had to stop for a while at Josephs Town and also Abercorn because of some business. When the ebb and flood do not reach our mill because of the strong river current, one must spend some hours more on the journey back from Savannah. Our Mill River is a very great blessing for us in many ways.13

In his last very friendly letter, the secretary of the praiseworthy Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Mr. Broughton, recommended to me a certain man, Joseph Ottolenghe, who has been sent here to our colony for a certain work by the Society for Propagating the Gospel of Christ.14 Through him the worthy Society has sent me some sermons and little tractates; and I would have welcomed this friend sooner if certain circumstances had allowed it. Now I have had the pleasure of spending some hours with him and his wife in Christian conversation. He and she appear to be honest and godfearing people; and I have trust in them that they will be able to accomplish something good in this colony according to the purpose for which they were sent here. He was born and raised in Halten15 and, because his parents practiced silk manufacture, he, too, appears to have had good experience in this useful business. He is planning to apply himself to it here as much as possible. However, his chief calling is to instruct the Negroes, or Moorish slaves, in the Christian religion. He is not ordained, nor does he have the theological studies demanded for the ministerial office; yet he has enough talent to serve as a good catechist among the black and ignorant people. Whether his parents were Jews or papists, I cannot report with certainty.16 He speaks very good English, has a good library, is a zealous member of the Anglican Church, and is well versed in Oriental languages, as he says and as I observed. He also knew of the splendid Institute of our dear Dr. Callenberg for bringing the blind Jews to a recognition of the Messiah.17 I wished him Gods blessing from my heart for his important mission; and I wished myself ability and means to assist him with counsel and deed according to his and the worthy Mr. Broughtons desires.

The 9th of August. When I have been away for several days and come again to our Christian assembly in order to sing with my dear parishioners, to pray, and to preach Gods word in the church and school, I feel exceedingly happy in my heart, and I rightly consider it among the greatest blessings of my life that I am a member and teacher of this congregation. Today in the Zion Church I began, by using Psalms 119:96, to lay as a basis for edification the remarkable and edifying speech of our dearest Father, Senior Urlsperger, concerning the vision of the end of all things and the lasting nature of Gods commandment18. With this speech I shall pass several hours of this month, in which this old servant of Christ and Father of our congregation has reached his sixty-sixth year. We shall all have an opportunity in the Jerusalem and Zion churches to remember him before the Lord in our common prayers and, in the name of Christ, to petition for him and his worthy family what stood in the second part of last introit verse that we have contemplated: He blesseth the habitation of the just. Proverbs 3:33.

The 11th of August. Today the entire congregation was gathered in Jerusalem Church, where I preached to them the important material concerning the domestic and foreign work of the Lord Jesus with and among sinners, based on the gospel for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity. In the introit we contemplated the dear words of Hosea 11:8-9, How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?, etc. Whenever one of us is hindered by sickness from holding the Sunday divine service, then I am again reminded of Gods gracious care for our congregation, from which it comes that there are two ministers in Ebenezer. If only one were here, then the public divine services on Sundays and holy days could be held only in the town church and the people on the plantations would have to do without the great convenience of hearing the sermon and catechisation every two weeks in Zion Church. Oh, may God make everyone grateful for His abundant grace! In the evening hour today we also thanked our dear God for this great benefaction. On this Sunday, as happens in the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in many places, we are accustomed to read aloud the story of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and of the Jewish land. It would be a great favor to our congregation if we could receive a good number of such little books in which the story of Christs passion and the destruction of Jerusalem appeared together.

The 13th of August. Because of the continuing rain I did not have as many hearers today as usual. For this reason I did not continue with our worthy Senior Urlspergers important sermon concerning the end of all things, rather I repeated what I had read and also preached on Friday. This dealt 1) with our experience with the end of all things in our pilgrimage to Ebenezer, and 2) with our incentives to prepare ourselves without delay for our end, and 3) with the daily penitence of believers, as a condition in which they can always die blessedly.

The 14th of August. The widow B. /Bacher/ as well as her daughter, the widow B. /Bichler/ who lives with her in her house, are sick with fever and are not without danger. They are both sincerely pious women, who are concerned only with Christ and His kingdom. To be sure, as widows they bear many a cross; yet, Gods grace and providence are revealed gloriously in and over them; and it redounds to my own great edification to converse and pray with them. Mrs. Bacher is the communitys midwife, whom our merciful God has noticeably blessed so far in her office; therefore she is loved and respected by all the married women for this reason, too. Her departure from this world would be, to be sure, a gain for her, but a great loss for the community. Our singing hour, which is held on Wednesdays and Saturdays in my house, is very blessed for me, especially since I have an opportunity in it to bend my knee with these honest and salvation-seeking women before God in the name of Jesus. Thus it is both a song and a prayer hour. After they had both learned and repeated the new melodies to the new and very instructive and edifying hymns of the little Wernigerode Hymnal for the next Sundays after Trinity (which is to be continued with the help of God), I began this very beautiful songbook with them from the beginning today in order to learn or to repeat these somewhat unknown melodies. This time they were the hymns for the three first Sundays of Advent. Oh, what a treasure of edification!

The 15th of August. Yesterday, to my spiritual strengthening, I had read to my sick helpmeet on her sickbed the pleasing and dear words scheduled for yesterday from the so very edifying Little Treasure Chest19 of our dear Mr. von Bogatzky, which stood me, too, in good stead in these circumstances. They read thus:

Be comforted and undaunted. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.20 Behold, I have commanded thee that thou be comforted and joyful. Fear not, and be not affrighted, for the Lord, thy God, is with thee in all things that thou doeth. (Oh, great promise!)

God demands only faith, He lifts up and doeth everything. He giveth courage and strength and maketh everything easy. Therefore, trust all to Him and fear naught. He is with thee in all things. He who hath no other care and fear than that he might displease Him, he need have no other care or fear. The Lord will hold him guiltless in all things.

The 17th of August. The pious wife of the soldier /Dod/ is again dangerously sick, which I did not know but only learned in the neighborhood. She is very bowed down by her former sins; but she is seeking through faith for forgiveness in the blood of her Savior, whom she greatly loves as did that great sinner.21 She also yearns soon to be in heaven with her Savior and her seven children, whom she lost to temporal death one after the other at Frederica and in South Carolina.22 She was very pleased with my encouragement from Gods word and with my aid in prayer.

The 18th of August. Todays gospel for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity gave us a beautiful opportunity to treat of divine order in which the sinner can achieve grace. And, because our worthy Court Chaplain Ziegenhagens first printed hymn, O heilger Gott! wir alle bethen an, etc. treats entirely of that, it was sung in the afternoon before the congregation, indeed, as accurately as if the melody had long been known, even though we learned it only a short time ago. Pleasure and love for a thing makes everything easy and pleasant. The Bible verses written under the hymn verses23 were recited out loud with good ability by both small and grown children, who had learned them partly in school and partly at home. For this reason we have lent them this little hymnal for a time.

The 18th of August. Yesterday evening the new and very heavy millstones, which we received from Mr. Verelst at our request and which we consider a very worthy gift of the Lord Trustees, were brought in a large boat from Savannah to our mill, and for this we should rightly thank God. It was dangerous to carry such large stones in a moderate sized boat that can go up the Mill River with this low water.

The 19th of August. A mother complained with sorrow that her little child, which she is still nursing, eats all sorts of dirty things if she just turns her back to it and leaves it alone while working. A larger child, she said, has already brought on a premature death by doing it.24 Raising their children causes the good people much trouble and worry and also hindrance in their work; and when they lose them so soon, they are also losing their help in their work, which, because of the lack of loyal servants, they might expect in their approaching old age and as they lose their strength. A few days ago an orphan girl confessed to me that her desire for salt was so great that she could not keep from eating salt whenever she saw it. God have mercy on this plight! We give the children who can understand it the most emphatic arguments from reason and scripture to dissuade them from this harmful appetite and its gratification. We also make them material promises and give gifts of clothing to those who do not do it or who promise not to do it; but none of this does any good. The poor parents, who have to make a living, cannot possibly keep the children under constant supervision. Indeed, even when they do it, the children know how to do this harmful eating so secretly that it is not discovered until one sees it in their faces, in the pale color, in the distended stomachs, and in the very rapid beating of the arteries under the throat. We have loyally communicated to our medico and surgeon the advice our friends in Germany have sent us about it.

The 20th of August. From this edifying speech of the worthy Senior Urlsperger25 concerning the vision of the end of all things we have had much blessing up to now in Jerusalem and Zion Church during the weekday sermon and the evening prayer meeting; and we felt this spiritual blessing especially today, it being the birthday of this our dear Father, intercessor, and benefactor. Today he is beginning his sixty-seventh year; and this gives us an opportunity to bring our common thank offering to our merciful God on our knees in our church for all the good He has shown to this His servant and, through him, to many others and especially to our congregation for now seventeen years and to petition for him from the Lover of Life new vital strength and new blessings for his future years. May He find pleasure in our weak praise, which is based on Christs intercession, and our prayer and petition. To make this so joyful birthday of our dear Senior right edifying, we sang in the prayer hour the devotional hymn of our dear Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen, which has as its caption: Sincere Thanksgiving of a Believing Soul for the Gracious Blessings He has Received from God. It begins with My Father, thou hast chosen me even before the beginning of my days.26 If a superscription did not state that it was composed for the New Year, I would believe that it was composed for the birthday of a servant and child of God because it so admirably suits such an important time. If our dear Senior should read it, he would doubtless rejoice with us that the wise and wonderful providence of our heavenly Father let such an edifying hymn come to our eyes a short while ago through which we could celebrate his sixty-seventh birthday, or rather the memory of the same, ceremoniously with blessing and edification and with cordial wishes for everything good that is printed in it.

The 24th of August. Yesterday in the Zion and Jerusalem Church we completed the often-mentioned edifying speech of our worthy Senior concerning the vision of the end of all things and concerning the lasting nature of the word of God; and we rightfully thank our gracious God for all the blessing we have received from it. The initial and concluding words of this speech we will often sing as a conclusion in the prayer hours and in school:

A and O, Beginning and End, Take my heart in Thy hands, As a potter his clay. Master, let thy work not lie; Help me pray, watch, and conquer, Until I stand before Thy throne.

The 25th of August. Hans Flerls servant has come very close to death in his feverous sickness, in which he will not follow any diet. However, God has looked mercifully at the sighing, imploring, and efforts of this pious householder and his wife for the soul of this miserable person and has made him whole again contrary to all human expectation and hope. The servants and maids in our place enjoy more advantages in spiritual and physical matters than they would in Germany. With moderate work from six in the morning to six in the evening (excepting the noon period from eleven to one) they have their regular and hearty food, their divine service at home, and enough sleep and rest time; and they are sent regularly to attend public divine services both during the week and on Sundays and holy days. They nevertheless cause much unrest to the Salzburgers, who are not used to such unwilling servants; they prefer to dismiss them rather than to torture themselves with them.

The 27th of August. Today we again strengthened ourselves in the Lord our God by contemplating the work of creation, which we need especially in this sad time. Both day and night unusually great rains are falling, which are harmful for the field crops such as beans and squash. The main river is rising noticeably; and, because it is said to have rained a great deal upstream, we must fear an early inundation, which would do great damage to our poor peoples rice. The Indians are still threatening with a war and are said to be lurking secretly with two hundred men in the forest between the Ogeechee and Savannah Rivers. A dead man was found on the way between Old Ebenezer and Savannah; and no one knows whether he was killed or whether he died of some other cause. Some wolves, which have become mad or rabid, have done damage to calves and to a dog at Old Ebenezer, which also became rabid. The same thing is said to have happened at other places. Yesterday during a marriage I was greatly strengthened by the sixth Christian Duty according to the first commandment found in B. Wirths Confession and Communion Booklet27 which treats of the cross of believers and how during it they should look upon divine reconciliation, Gods ever-present fatherly good will, and the salutary final purpose of the cross.

The 29th of August. Some men have found stone points on their land from Indian arrows and have brought them to us to send off. From them one can see what the Indians here used as arrows for their bows before they received flints, powder, and lead from the Europeans. They are only two to three inches long and have almost the shape of a heart in front. Presumably they stuck them onto a cane and tied them on firmly; but with them they could not accomplish as much as the young Indians can now accomplish with their present arrows that are tipped in front with sheet iron. Adult Indians use neither arrow nor bow, but rather flintlocks, hatchets, and knives, with which they are supplied by the English, French, and Spanish.

The 31st of August. May God be sincerely and humbly praised for having helped us bring this last summer month, too, to an end through His blessing. To be sure, in the past summer He has chastised us; yet He has not given us to death but has rather let the many physical weaknesses gradually disappear again and has even saved some people from very dangerous circumstances. For the good of our patients an arrangement was made some two years ago with Mr. Thilo and Mr. Mayer such that they both have received adequate salaries, riding horses, and fodder for visiting the sick, partly from contributions from the community and partly from the blessings of God given us from Europe, and such that they do not demand any further medical fees from the members of the community.

To be sure, the new milldam had received a large gap, but it has been fortunately repaired and is all the better strengthened. The copious rain has ceased, and God has granted us cool nights and tolerably warm days for ripening the grain, and we are beginning to have a good harvest. Gods goodness has also granted us external and internal peace, abundant opportunity for edification, necessary support, the blessing of the mills and public cowpen, physical means to do good for our widows and orphans, and other good arrangements in the churches, schools, and community. He will continue to do it.

OCTOBER 1751

The 14th of October.1 This morning I was called to Abercorn and Goshen in order to baptize two Evangelical Lutheran children of German parents. On this occasion I also held an edification hour for several people concerning the last words of the sermon of Solomon, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.2 A neighboring woman was asked to stand as godmother, of whom I knew that she neither understands nor practices the Christian religion. I explained to her the important duty of sponsors and said that she would not be suitable as a sponsor until she were better instructed in Christian dogma and lead a life appropriate to it. She did not seem to take it badly; but she really did take it badly, as I learned later. Mrs. N., who lives in this region with her husband and three children, awakened much joy in me through evidence of a genuine fear of God. Almost the greatest cross for her is that she lives so far from the church. The late pastor Freylinghausens Gospel Postill3 is a blessed book for her and her husband; and, when reading it devoutly, she is reminded of the good things that she has heard in our church. God has blessed this dear mans sermons and righteous life in me abundantly.

The 15th of October. Before four oclock this morning Kronberger4 called me to his wife, who appeared to be close to death. She has been sick and bedridden for some weeks; and in this painful and dangerous sickness God has revealed to her much that she did not rightly recognize or take seriously. Before our prayer I let her profit from the wise and kind conduct of our Lord Jesus toward the man with the palsy, whom He helped first in his spirit and then in his body. She had received and retained a great blessing when she contemplated the story of the great sinner in Luke 7 shortly before the recent attack of her sickness, and this gave us a welcome opportunity this afternoon for an edifying conversation. I hope that our great Savior will mercifully hear our prayer for the life of a mother of so many little children. When I was praying with this trusting patient and her husband, father, mother-in-law (who is also a gracehungry soul), and six small children, we held up to Him His own words in Matthew 18:19-20 in humility and trust.

The 18th of October. God has visited Bruckner with a painful sickness; yet he finds this quite bearable because his soul lives in the peace of God. He has been very close to death and is ready for his journey into his heavenly fatherland; but now he is regaining some strength; and it appears that God wishes to give him back to our community once again. He is, to be sure, a weak but very useful and blessed, man. Our dear Kalchers convalescence and recovery are proceeding very slowly because he cannot always keep himself as he should. Mrs. Kronberger is still dangerously sick, and this sickness is redounding to her spiritual recovery. She has transferred her children from her heart to the heart of Jesus; and she is awaiting in quietude what God in Christ has resolved concerning her life or death.

The 22nd of October. This afternoon I received news that Peter Schubdrein, who journeyed this February to his fatherland in order to bring his parents and siblings here, has arrived in the Savannah River safely in six weeks with a transport of German people5. He wrote to his brother and asked that steps be taken to fetch and shelter so many people quickly. A certain noble gentleman6 had enclosed a few lines in which he urged me to come down as soon as possible. I am planning to set out in a few hours in order to receive these colonists, who are our coreligionists,7 and to arrange to have them brought up here.

The 31st of October. When I came to Savannah on the 31st of this month, I found no one of this transport there.8 However, in the evening I had the pleasure of receiving both Capt. von Brahm and Mr. Kraft9 in Mr. Habershams house and of holding my first conversation with them about what the Lord had done for them and for us. On the next day a boat full of colonists, and after them the remainder, were assigned both to the spacious silk filature and to other houses. I preached to them on the words from 1 Peter 2: Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, to which they listened with longing and reverence.

At the next gathering (which, because of the many people, had to be held in the courthouse, which was formerly the church), I had to give these new parishioners some necessary admonitions concerning this land, the local customs, seductive people, and their physical arrangements. In accord with the opinion of the Council, I especially advised them that it would be better for them to settle as a separate congregation elsewhere rather than in Ebenezer because there is not much good land left here. The most fertile land on the island10 is too low and is flooded from time to time, and therefore one can have neither dwellings nor cattle on it. Otherwise it is excellent land.

Concerning the Uchee land or the Blue Bluff11 the gentlemen of the Council, as well as I, were of the opinion that five hundred families could settle there. However, we later learned with some certainty that it was mostly pine forest that will no longer bear in the third and later years without manure. For all land that will not bear without manure is considered as bad land here, although it would certainly be considered good land in Germany. I also told them that I did not consider this idea and inclination of the authorities to be by chance, especially since they wish to send out knowledgeable men, Mr. von Brahm among them, to seek out good land for them. If they form a congregation on the new land and stick together as Christians should, I would petition our worthy Fathers and patrons in Europe to help them get ministers and teachers for their churches and schools. If they were not settled too far from Ebenezer, my dear colleague and I would be glad to serve them with our office, as we do for other German people.

In the following days I noticed that most of them would rather be settled in Ebenezer than elsewhere. They also asked me to permit them to come to Ebenezer to their countrymen, acquaintances, and kinsmen and to look around for good land. On Saturday I laid as a basis of my sermon Exodus 20:12, which is a very important lesson for our Germans in this free land. In two evening prayer meetings after Sunday I repeated the matter I had preached concerning the Sabbath and keeping it holy, as the Lord has commanded; and I also declared that they will have no excuse if they follow the Sabbath violators of this land. Oh, how much blessing the poor people forfeit who desecrate this blessed day both privately and publicly!

On the Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity, the first after their arrival, I preached both morning and afternoon on the gospel John 4:47 concerning the God-pleasing behavior of Christians in their suffering. I took as my introit Sirach 51:10-11, I sought help from men and found none. Then I thought, oh Lord, of thy mercy and how Thou hast always helped. In addition, I was deeply impressed by two other Bible verses, of which I made use now and then: Praised be the Lord daily. God lays a burden on us, but he helpeth also. Likewise, He desireth me, therefore I shall help him. He knoweth my name, therefore he will ... Psalms 68:20-21, Psalms 91:14-16.13

Mr. Whitefield came with this transport from London to Savannah and showed much kindness to the people, especially to the sick and lying-in women, for which I thanked him. They also enjoyed the benevolence of a well-disposed ship captain,14 a very short and not especially difficult voyage, and zealous practice of Gods word and prayer on the entire journey. Thus they had reason to praise God sincerely and to trust in Him in Christ through the Holy Ghost that He will let all turn out well.

NOVEMBER 1751

The 1st of November. When I think back on my life and ministry, I surely have many causes to spend these two days, yesterday and today, as days of penitence, prayer, and thanksgiving; and for this may our loyal God grant me His Holy Ghost! About this time last year a transport of German people came to our congregation, with whom I received many important and comforting letters and, at the same time, received much additional work. The same has occurred this time. At that time I was richly comforted by the blessed letters after the unexpected death of my oldest son, who was soon followed by my youngest daughter.1 May God not let me be without comfort this time!

The 2nd of November. To be sure, because of lack of time and heaped up work our worthy Senior Urlsperger has not written me anything this time. However, his worthy letters to our Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen have come to us, all of which we can use through divine goodness. Today I read what he had written in his own hand on the margin of the letter written to us by Peter Schubdrein in Augsburg, especially the Recept2 in our tribulations, which were known to him, from Psalms 119:52, I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord; and have comforted myself. God especially blessed these dear words to my peace of mind and comfort; and this brought me to the similarity of old and modern times down to our period. God has always tried His people, but He has also always helped them splendidly if they have remained faithful. With these words and a lightened heart, I went to the pious, sick Bruckner, who wept with joy at my arrival. He told me of the magnalia dei3 he had experienced; and God granted grace that heart and eyes flowed over with tears of love and joy in the contemplation of the boundless goodness of the Lord, which He has shown us in Christ and which He daily lets us see in His governance and guidance.

I not only read it in the letters but also perceive it in the oral reports of dear Schubdrein and of Captain von Brahm that the people of Ebenezer stand in the unalterable love, affection, and intercession of many inhabitants of all classes in Augsburg. And these friends can also say that, to the praise of the servants and children of God in other places in the Empire, from whom they have received immeasurable kindness in spiritual and physical matters. May our merciful God be a rich Rewarder for this in time and eternity! From the beneficent cities of Augsburg and Halle, to which others have sent their gifts, we have now received a great blessing in good books for use in the church, in home devotions, and in our studies as well as in medications, linen, and other things pertaining to clothing. Our aged and most worthy benefactor has rejoiced my dear colleague, Mr. Mayer, our church, and me with so many benefactions that we must rightfully marvel at it, rejoice, and heartily praise the goodness of the Lord. In particular, our merciful God has inclined the heart of this dear and prominent benefactor to free me all at once of a certain worry, as has been made known to me now by his very worthy letter to me at the time of my tribulation. (May He keep him for many years in life and health for the benefit of his illustrious house, his subjects,4 and our Ebenezer). May the Lord think of him and bless him, likewise of all our known and unknown Fathers and benefactors in Europe! And for this we invoke Him in confidence.

The 3rd of November. On this 22nd Sunday after Trinity we would gladly have preached to our newly arrived people in Savannah, for which I had also given them some hope. But I did not come home until late in the evening on Thursday; and we both had so much work that neither I nor my worthy colleague could journey down there. He preached in Zion and I in Jerusalem; and I gave my listeners a word of warning to avoid the abuse of divine mercy, which is a very common, yet at the same time highly punishable sin, as one can also recognize from the third commandment.5 Some families of the new transport are at our place and have attended the public divine service devoutly. They lack Bibles and especially the kind of hymnals that are used in our churches. But our dear Lord has already taken care even of that by letting us receive a lovely number of Bibles and extracts of Freylinghausens edifying hymnals6 in the newly arrived chests. This chest,7 as well as the one from Augsburg, was brought into my house from the mill last evening, and we have not yet been able to open it. Both in my house and in the evening assembly in the church we have praised our gracious God for all the spiritual and physical blessings we have received this time; but especially for having preserved our worthy Fathers and benefactors in Europe for our and our churchs benefit in life and health so far and for having kept us in their affection.

The 4th of November. Praise be to God, who has let us receive the great blessing in books, medications, Schauers Balm, Venetian theriac, linen, stockings, neckerchiefs and handkerchiefs, and also some dishware, which we have now unpacked. Everything was as undamaged and fresh as if it had been put in the chests only a few days ago. Our gracious God will give us wisdom (for which we humbly invoke Him according to James 1:5) to apply everything to the good purpose that our most worthy Fathers and benefactors had when they sent us these charitable gifts! Our most worthy Senior Urlsperger has given us, among other valuable gifts, one hundred copies of his thorough and edifying book Scriptural Instruction for the Sick and Dying,8 which was published again last year. Every head of household will receive a copy, but there will not be enough for the recently arrived colonists.

The 5th of November. On his long sickbed our dear Kalcher is a Lazarus and a Job, both in suffering and in patience; but our gracious God does not leave him without comfort from His word and from prayer. I brought him the beautiful words I the Lord am thy physician,9 primarily, to be sure, of the soul (which Christians, like the man with the palsy in Matthew 9, desire first) but also of the poor body; for He is speaking to the entire man, consisting of soul and body. And thus He showed himself in the days of His incarnation, as we read to our instruction and comfort in the gospel story. At that time He gave examples of how He wished to show Himself until the end of the world to all corrupt people (corrupt in both soul and body), especially toward all who turn to Him in their spiritual and physical need, namely, as the true Physician in spiritual and physical sickness. It is stated very beautifully in the hymn for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, let man persevere, Thy power will be revealed even in hardship. The greater our misery becomes, the more and the sooner help arrives.10

After I had let our dear Kalcher profit from the previously mentioned words of comfort, I am the lord thy physician, I wished to read something to him before the prayer from the Little Treasure Chest11 that was lying in front of him. In searching for it, the first thing my eyes fell upon was what is written on p. 119. There, in answer to the prayer, Heal me. O Lord, and I shall be healed ?12 there appears the divine answer from Exodus 15, I am the Lord thy physician. On the same page follows an exceedingly edifying presentation of our spiritual and physical misery, of the behavior demanded of us toward Christ the Physician, and of His loving conduct towards His patients. This was especially appropriate for Kalchers present circumstances; and it encouraged us to a new trust in this our all-mighty and faithful Physician and Helper. I hope that God will grant him to us again.

Before my journey we implored our merciful God for the recovery of Mrs. Kronberger, who is the mother of six unreared children; and we held up to Him and especially to ourselves the words from Psalm 91, He desireth me, therefore I shall ... likewise Psalm 68, Praised be the Lord daily! He layeth a burden on us, etc.13 After He had done for her more than we could request or understand, we praised His glorious name again today in her house for the great mercy He has shown to her soul and body; and we again sacrificed ourselves entirely to Him. Her oldest little girl of almost eight years was then lying sick near her. She wished to die and reached for the crown from the hand of Jesus, yea, for Jesus Himself; and she told her brothers and sisters that she would receive clothes as beautiful as the sun. During my absence this dear child was granted her wish and was requested by her Savior. She was so fond of singing at the crib, Little Jesus should be and remain my comfort and Savior.14

The 6th of November. We have now had right warm weather for several successive weeks, as we are accustomed to have in March and April. The young grass is coming out again and some flowers are beginning to sprout. I have also seen a couple of peach trees full of blossoms, which is something very unusual. A man in Savannah showed me in his garden an apple tree that had ripe fruit last summer and also sprouted blossoms again, from which its branches are now hanging full of small apples that are now having good growing weather. He does not doubt that they will ripen in winter. In Mr. Whitefields orphanage I saw the first orange tree full of fine looking fruit, some of them ripe and some of them green, the likes of which I have never seen in this colony. Because I consider the desire expressed by our worthy patrons and friends in Europe to be a call made upon me, I have paid closer attention to the plants in this land than in previous years; and I am entirely convinced that native and foreign plants and fruits of all kinds could be grown here if we had knowledgeable and loyal people. If something fails, it is not the fault of the climate, rather the fault lies in the peoples ignorance, faithlessness, and desire to enjoy immediate profit from all garden work. This must be desired by poor workers because clothes and many other things are very expensive in this land.

The 12th of November. Without my knowledge the newly arrived people have journeyed to Ebenezer via Abercorn and Purysburg in several large boats in order to settle here even though I had given them sufficient and clear instruction in a public assembly concerning the nature of our soil, the causes of our former difficulties of subsistence, and the advantages they could achieve on right good land with Gods blessing. Thus, on the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity I had very few listeners among the people.

My presently severely restricted time will not allow me to add anything more regarding the journey I finished yesterday. Now that the new people are at our place, we are arranging for them to find shelter with the abundant preaching of the divine word, to be guided to useful work, and to be able to settle soon on their own land. They cause me many expenses. May God grant them!

The 14th of November. This Thursday was chosen for holding our annual Harvest and Thanksgiving sermon, which is to be held, God willing, in the Zion Church on the plantations. Since our wise and miraculous God has so disposed that the new transport of German people of our confession has come to our congregation, they had the opportunity to laud and praise our gracious God for all the spiritual and physical good that they have experienced on the long journey by land and by water and also at our place.

Our text was from the beautiful words of Job 22:21-30, Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up thy words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of thy brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then thou shalt have thy delight in the All-mighty, and shall lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thy hands.

From these words, both our old and our new parishioners were shown how they must act according to the governance of God if they wish to become fortunate people in time and eternity, which the apostle summarized briefly in the words, Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.15 We have given the reasons why many Europeans find misfortune and perdition instead of the fortune or luck (as they call it) that they are seeking in the New World. Sin is the peoples perdition. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself,16 and therefore it is no little sin when they later lay the blame on secondary causes, as was also done by the ancient Israelites, against whose footsteps we are warned. Before and after the sermon we prayed on our knees to God in the name of Jesus Christ, asked for remission of our sins, praised Him for the blessings He has shown in the harvest we have received and in other ways. We invoked Him for further spiritual and physical blessings and prayed for our benefactors.

After the conclusion of the divine service, widows and orphans came to my study at my invitation to receive those physical blessings in the chest from the beneficent Augsburg that our kind God had granted for them and other poor in the congregation. Before the distribution, my dear colleague prayed with them sincerely to God that this gift might be received with humble and grateful hearts and applied according to the intentions of God and His dear tools. Other poor people received something, and others will do so in the future. Also, our doctors and our own families were remembered, as accorded with the frequently expressed intention of our worthy benefactors, some of whom are familiar with our domestic circumstances.

Something was set aside for those men and women who, to be sure, are not counted among the poor but have shown good service to the community, as well as for the school children who have given us joy through their diligence and good behavior. This will be given to them from time to time. May our gracious God be a rich Rewarder for this great gift of linen, neckerchiefs and handkerchiefs, stockings, colored and white caps for men and boys, Schauers balm, theriac, and medication! Our worthy Senior Urlsperger has sent us a hundred bound copies of his beautiful and edifying book The Health of the Sick and the Life of the Dying.17 This he did through his more than fatherly love for us and his care for spiritual and physical well-being, and every family will receive a copy.

Thus the God of all Grace and the Father of all Mercy thinks of us and blesses us. May He graciously and mercifully remember this dear benefactor, the worthy Mrs. S. (Ebenezers true mother), their dear family, all His chosen servants and maid servants in and outside of our dear Augsburg and other places, and may He bless them here in time and there in eternity! Amen. May He also pour forth upon them and their families all the good which we have presented today from the previously quoted beautiful words of the text, and may He let good and mercy follow them into old age and into blessed eternity, Amen.

The 16th of November. This week some of our carpenters have been occupied in repairing our very useful rice polisher and rice stamp, which have done good service so far and have been worn out. Both local and outside people are waiting with great longing to polish and stamp their new rice, partly for their own use, which will also stand our new colonists in good stead. In our harvest sermon I told them that they should rightfully celebrate this thanksgiving day with us because our dear God has not only let them harvest much spiritual and physical good on their journey but has also granted our inhabitants a good harvest for their benefit, even though we did not know of them. Contrary to all our expectations, it came about that somewhat more than two hundred bushels of corn was brought down today from Augusta and stored in the otherwise full barn of the orphanage for a tolerable price. We are glad to buy it because the corn in some places did not turn out well and will therefore be scarce and expensive. If these new colonists in the congregation receive enough corn for bread, grits, and seed corn, then we will make it into meal for sale in Savannah.

Our peoples cowpen18 requires much corn both as food and as horse fodder. I consider the purchase of this said cowpen as an especial evidence of divine providence for both our old and our new inhabitants. This is because they will be able to eat meat from there and, for very reasonable payment and work, to acquire cows and calves for breeding, and, if they behave well, on credit. Most of them have no money. During this week three men (among them an old and knowledgeable inhabitant of our place) have found very good, indeed the very best, land on the Uchee land or on the Blue Bluff, which lies near us, more than these new colonists need, and this has caused me much joy. By land it is two or three hours away from our land, but what is that?

The 17th of November. After the afternoon divine service, the new colonists who were in the town church today registered in my study for Holy Communion, which will be held in a week, that being the last Sunday of this church year. I distributed New Testaments and some very edifying sermons by our worthy Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen for those who had none, and they accepted them with humility and thanks. For our old inhabitants our dear Senior Urlspergers golden book Scriptural Instruction for the Sick and Dying19 is a very pleasant gift and deserving of thanks, which they fetched with joy. A certain report gave me an opportunity to admonish our people 1) that they should recognize humbly and gratefully what advantages the Lord is showing us all, especially the newly arrived, 2) that they should be, to be sure, content with Gods guidance and not increase their burden of sin through ingratitude, disobedience, and grumbling, but let Gods goodness lead them to penitence. 3) It was my main purpose in our common prayer to present to the Father of Mercy, in the name of His beloved Son, the great spiritual and physical suffering of the Germans who are scattered in America; and this was done. Today, from the gospel Matthew 9:18 ff., we heard much about Jesus, the only and best Helper in all troubles. May He accept the sufferings of these and all other people!

The 18th of November. A friend in Carolina,20 who also composes calendars,20 wrote me the following about this gradually ending year.

In regard to crop-raising, last spring and summer were the worst that I have ever experienced in this country. The winter was not so very cold, and without snow. However, the spring had many cold dry winds, so that the early crops such as wheat, rye, etc. turned out badly; indeed, the best land produced almost nothing because of the rust that occurred. Some people set fire to their wheatfields and burned the crops that were spoiled, afterwards they planted Indian corn on them. On poor land the wheat turned out better. Nearly all the Indian corn that was planted early died because of the drought; the later crops turned out better because in July the weather became fruitful and good. However, because in November21 there was much wetness and cold days for this season, not all the late crops ripened. On the 15th and 16th of September it rained hard with strong storm winds; and, because it had rained seven days upcountry, the Savannah River rose so high that it was seventeen inches higher than I have ever experienced in the fourteen years I have been in this country. Up among the Choctaw Indians a French fortress is said to have been inundated with all its people. Here the main damage was to the corn, and there was also much sickness. There was little summer weather in the early summer but more in the late summer.

The 23rd of November. Since the 19th of this month I have had to remain again in Savannah because there was no one else present to do so. The main purpose of this trip was 1) to announce to the President that all the new colonists had come to Ebenezer at their own initiative, that they have found enough good land on the Uchee land or Blue Bluff, that they wish to settle on it. Their desire to be in Ebenezer quickly was so keen that they were exposed to the greatest mortal danger between Purysburg and Ebenezer through lack of caution, or rather through the helmsmans lack of skill; yet the Lord miraculously saved them from it. 2) to request the said gentlemen to provide these poor people with some tools and farm equipment, as the Lord Trustees had kindly promised them. They should get it from the storehouse in Frederica; but, because everything there was sold before the arrival of these people in Savannah and the Lord Trustees have a great lack of money, it will be difficult for these people to acquire adequate tools. 3) I informed them that these new colonists (with very few exceptions) spent their money in London for their passage and the remainder in Savannah for food and that they are now asking me for food because they cannot go out on their land without it. If the gentlemen of the Council will lend me the money we owe to the Lord Trustees for the cowpen we purchased, I will apply it to purchasing the food they need. They wish to consider both this and the previous point further and to let me know the answer. They are quite pleased that these people will settle on the Blue Bluff in our vicinity, if they find good land.

I had an opportunity to preach Gods word twice to the Germans. An important and reliable report that was written to me caused me, in the fear of the Lord, to try to warn my countrymen loyally against such a dangerous and questionable journey to America, unless 1) they have a legitimate calling for it, 2) they are sent over here by the Lord Trustees, who have always made excellent arrangements for the safe transportation of their colonists, 3) they have, for establishing their plantations, some help in food, tools, and cattle, provided they can pay their passage across the sea themselves. For those who cannot do it must rightfully serve at low wages or else they serve for the passage money that has been paid for them.

The 28th of November. An honest Salzburger has suddenly fallen sick and is inwardly and outwardly calm because he has peace with God in Christ. Johann Heinle, a married and industrious servant of the former transport from the Territory of Ulm, has died after a long and hard sickness. Such sick people do not like to take medicine and wish to help themselves, and thus they spoil things. Many in this land are to blame for their sickly bodies and their premature deaths, and often ignorance, good intentions, and bad advisers play a role. I hope that this man died well prepared. His death is a great loss for us at the mills. As a skilled and industrious man he should have instructed and led our new servants, who are starting the work here rather unskillfully.

The recently arrived people do not wish to leave Ebenezer, and they take up their land as nearby as possible because they believe that this will turn out best for their souls and bodies. One should just remain quiet and learn to wait for what the Lord will do: and behold, He does it and will do it well.

The 30th of November. The new tanner22 had got lost in the forest on his way back from Abercorn; and, tired, thirsty, and full of fear, he crawled through mud, thorns, and bushes before he could find out where he was. The same thing happened to a couple of servants, who were not on their professional paths.23 In the first two years of our sojourn in Old Ebenezer, two simple Salzburgers forfeited their lives in the forest like lost sheep; but since then our Good Shepherd has mercifully preserved us from such sorrowful occurrences.

The floor of our dear Jerusalem Church has become rotten and dilapidated and needs repair. Indeed, since its construction had only been proposed as a spacious schoolhouse and as a dwelling for the schoolmaster and for holding two school classes, it became too small after the arrival of the last transport; and it should now be enlarged. God has granted us some money from some dear benefactors in Germany for undertaking the repairs, but it would by no means suffice for new construction. We have now received several brickmakers, through whom we could gradually have bricks baked in hopes of greater means to build a brick church in town. May God further this!24

DECEMBER 1751

Sunday, the 1st of December, was the First Sunday in Advent, on which 161 persons received Holy Communion in Jerusalem Church. God granted us exceptionally pleasant, dry, and warm weather, which contributed greatly to holding the public divine service comfortably. The church was completely full, yet we all had room and therefore we did not have to see to an enlargement of our Jerusalem Church but only to its repair, for which the threshholds and the thick floorboards are now to be sawn.

The 2nd of December. God has granted the righteous and very industrious Hans Flerl a new and well-built house, which he had consecrated this morning with the word of God, song, and prayer, at which Christian friends from the neighborhood were present. My sermon dealt with the sixth duty according to the second commandment in the late Wirths Confession and Communion Booklet1 (which I lay as a basis at weddings and house consecrations) concerning the cross of Christians and also their conduct and comfort in them. God granted us much edification and blessing, as was witnessed by the tears of some of the listeners. Finally, Flerl prayed very sincerely and movingly; and we could notice that this matter of the cross impressed him especially. He has received the calling to become our householder and overseer at the mills that have now become so extensive; and it is no little self-denial through love of God, to His work and to us, that he is relinquishing his comfortable dwelling and well-situated plantation for a small rent and moving to the mill, for he must take on much work and difficulty with all sorts of people. God has already armed his mind with the thought of the cross.

The 4th of December. Our dear Kalcher is still lying on his sickbed; and he has a lingering fever, a very deep cough, and fatigue. Before noon today he received Holy Communion with a right grace-hungry and thirsty heart, and he was certainly satisfied and refreshed by Christ himself through His gospel and the dear sacrament of His body and blood with the blessed bread and wine. Old Mrs. Schubdrein was also waiting with yearning to participate at the table of the Lord, as was done soon after Kalcher.

The 5th of December. Among the young single people there are some high-spirited lads who like to drink and who, however, have been warned publicly and privately against vexing behavior. In this land we must use all possible leniency and grades of admonition towards such people, who are like birds in ones hand, if we do not wish to make evil worse. I thank God for the method I used toward the young artisans who came here two years ago2: the word of God, sickness, benefactions, and good examples made them all tame; and, while none of them wished to remain here at first, they gradually began to love our place and good order so much that they all wish to remain here. Now they are having their land surveyed on the Blue Bluff (but some of them at Goshen and not far from our glebe land), which is said to be very excellent and well-situated land.3 I regret that the people of the last transport do not wish to move as far up as where the good land on the Blue Bluff is. I hear that, contrary to all the warning they have received, they are having poor land surveyed only because they wish to be near Ebenezer. I have admonished them many times not to fear the remoteness, and I have said that I wished to build a bridge over Ebenezer Creek with their and the older inhabitants help.

The 6th of December. This evening our honest Johann Peter Schubdrein brought me a long catalogue of his dear and praiseworthy benefactors in our dear Augsburg with the request that I write them a letter of thanks in his name for all the many benefactions he received from them. I see it as a divine and gracious reward for his faithfulness and honesty that, quite contrary to my expectations, several hundred acres of excellent and well-situated land on the Blue Bluff have been allotted to him and all his family. At the mill he heard that I was having several logs of our valuable wood sawed into boards in order to send them in a chest of moderate size to Germany as samples,4 and he wished to add a few sticks of cedar wood to them if it was possible. His walking stick of cedar wood struck several of his patrons as a rarity. We could serve with many boards of costly wood if the freight were not so expensive.

The 7th of December. Scheraus, who came here last year from the area of Nimisch5 has established himself so well that he is not only very contented but also wishes the benefits of this country for all his relatives. He considers it a great blessing (as it actually is, even though not recognized) if his friends could come over even as servants and serve several years for their passage. The letter that he sent to his kinsmen by Peter Schubdrein was not only copied by more than ten people in his fatherland but was also memorized from constant reading by his sister, who has come to him along with her husband among the last transport.6 According to his and other peoples descriptions, the people have found, to be sure, a land of much work but also of much rest, good nourishment, and all the freedom they wish. He will help his cousin, a man with seven children, to come here even if he would have to help with work and money to pay for the passage. I cannot contribute to another transport because a great burden has fallen upon me with this one in caring for these mostly poor people.

In addition I and others have made the following observations: 1) We cannot rightly feed ourselves as long as only farmers and no burghers, artisans, and propertied people are here. If well situated house-lots and gardens were vacant, then industrious artisans could well support themselves in town with a little planting and cattle raising, especially because by law no Negro may learn or practice a trade. The farmers would serve the tradesman with their crops, meat, lard, etc.; and the latter would serve the former with his work. What he could produce in addition would go to Savannah, to the West Indian sugar islands, and, in peacetime, to the Spaniards.

Many rich people in Germany yearn (as I know) for quietude and religious freedom. If they could live here in a well-arranged town among industrious burghers and artisans and have a garden nearby for silk manufacture, how contentedly they could live, and how happy they could make the burghers and farmers with their necessary expenses and temporal wealth. However, as long as the house lots and gardens remain in the unprofitable possession of the present people on the plantations, the entire place as well as future people will be harmed.7

As long as there are not enough inhabitants in town, we cannot begin such a school as we would like for the local and the outside children. The children have a long way even from the nearest plantations and can come here only in the forenoon, with the result that the time is much too short to teach them all sorts of useful things other than the catechism, Bible stories and verses, and reading and writing. If our planters or people from other places wished to send their children to our town school or to preparation for Holy Communion, then there would not even be an opportunity to lodge them or care for them in view of the small number of townsmen. If we could establish a good school for local and outside children, that would not only serve for better physical sustenance but would especially serve to rear up many a good subject for the service of God and ones neighbor.

3) If the tradesmen could practice their trades regularly in town (because on the plantations either their trade or their agriculture must suffer), then they would contribute much to the preservation and increase of our good establishments and also to the progress of many households; but now much remains undone, or else it is proceeding exceedingly slowly because we cannot get the tradsmen who have become too involved in their plantation affairs. Indeed, they would take on apprentices; and thus expert tradesmen would be reared among us to replace those who die.

4) The more inhabitants there are in town, the better it serves the common defense in case God should visit the land with a Spanish or Indian war. All the bushes around the town would be cleared away for the gardens that would be set out, so that they could not be a shelter for wolves, foxes, raccoons, and other harmful beasts, or for hostile and harmful men. In case of danger, the people on the plantations could retire and take common defensive measures. Means and good measures also belong to divine providence, but to depend upon them is idolatry. 5) If the high and low areas around the town were freed of wild trees and bushes, then this beautiful change would also be right conducive to health, because fresh air could blow through; and through the cultivation of all these surrounding areas we could prevent all unhealthy exhalations from the earth.8 I will not mention now all the many details of the utility of advancing the development of the town or of the harm if it is hindered.

I do not doubt that the recently arrived tradesmen as well as some old inhabitants would move into town if the plantation people would surrender their convenient house lots and gardens and if some assistance were advanced to them. The gardens would be excellent for silk culture; and we would surely find means to encourage this productive activity in this way or that. If God grants us the means to accomplish this project for advancing a spiritual and physical good,9 there would be nothing more in the way than the retention of the house lots and gardens. However, if the old inhabitants who live on the plantations and have no trade would let themselves be persuaded to surrender both, then four acres instead of two would have to be surveyed around the town for gardens, and every garden would have to be so incorporated with its house lot that neither could be sold without the other; and thus a full number of town inhabitants would be maintained. If some of them did not always have work in their trades, they would have work in their gardens and always find service in town. So far there has been more work than workers. The useful and profitable wood business is open to everyone.

Today I had the leaders10 of the community with me for other reasons, and I presented this matter to them. They were well pleased with it, and they will announce it to their neighbors in their districts. So far, experience has taught us that, if silk culture should flourish, then the townsmen, who have more time and opportunity for it than the women and children in the country, would involve themselves in it, as they would also do if they received four acres for gardens in the vicinity. If several people live together, then it is worth the effort to have a herdsman guard their cattle, which are driven out in the morning and back in the evening. Then they would be put in a position to make even the poorest gardens around the town productive with manure. May God incline the hearts of our worthy benefactors in all Europe to further such a necessary and useful matter through their God-given means and intercession.

The 8th of December. So far we have had no winter but only spring weather, from which young grass is growing, the rose bushes are sprouting leaves and roses, and the jasmine bushes are getting sweet-smelling flowers. We have never yet had such a gentle winter.

The 10th of December. Kalcher is calm and is resting in the will of his Savior, and he is expecting His help for this or for a better life. Before our prayer I let him profit from the comforting words we contemplated last Sunday: The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever.11

The 13th of December. I have seen from a letter which a prominent benefactor sent here that costly boards from our mill would not be unwelcome if we sent a moderate-sized chest full to Europe. Since the ship that brought the last transport of German people to Georgia has taken on a cargo at Port Royal and is sailing back to London, I have had a crate three feet long, two feet wide, and one and a half feet high made of our cedar wood and filled with all sorts of beautiful boards sawed at our mill as well as with some naturalia like seeds, herbs, stones, etc. The boards are of laurel poplar wood, cedar, laurel (or red bay), wild cherry and mulberry trees, and possimento or local medlar, likewise a few pieces of live oak, local hornbeam, dogwood, and furled bay, which is the hardest.12 The little chest with the naturalia and a few lovely boards is of cypress wood, and there is also a cypress board stashed in the large crate. To be sure, black nutwood is not rare in Germany, yet we have wished to send a few boards as samples. From my report and description of the wild and domestic trees here one will see how many rare and costly trees are in this land, which, to be sure, cause some expense before they can be brought to the sawmill and be sawn; but we would like to serve our friends with them if they are wanted.

The 15th of December. Kalcher and Bruckner are both still very weak from their long-lasting sickness and cannot attend at all to their work. Yet they are quite happy and content with Gods ways. Prayer and the word of God are their refreshment, and our worthy Senior Urlspergers beautiful book Instruction for the Sick and Dying gives them much edification and comfort through divine blessing. I have heard from several parishioners that they consider this book to be a valuable gift, for which I rightly give them sincere thanks from me and the congregation. Bruckner told me that he had been in great spiritual pain and was torturing himself with many anxious thoughts. He told me that he had found a prayer in this book in which the desires of his heart were clearly expressed. This had lifted him up no little bit when he learned that the worthy author of this prayer had also experienced such sorrow and that God, through His far-reaching Wisdom, had also let this experience serve for his good.

A soapmakers apprentice from Stuttgart, who came to Carolina two years ago, had heard of Ebenezer on the furthest frontier of Carolina; and this moved him to come here. He was with me this morning; and he testified that he had received much spiritual profit from yesterdays sermons. He was also very happy that he again had come to his countrymen and coreligionists. He also acknowledged that, if he had remained longer in his former irregular life, he would have lost his soul and all the good instruction he had received from Pastor Rieger. He would like to settle here if we will accept him, as we will gladly do provided he will conform to good order. Unfortunately, he is very uncultured, for he was a canteen man for some years with the army in Bohemia; and for the last two years he has filled the miserable office of slave driver in Carolina. He is well known to our locksmith Schrempf, to whom he is attached. I hope that Schrempf will be useful to him, because God has seized and awakened him.

The 17th of December. I have heard from our honest Hans Flerl, who is our manager at the mill, that our new servants are all conforming to good order, are working gladly, and are accepting good advice, and that they are content with little. I am pleased that I can hope they will become useful people under the leadership of the pious and experienced man. It does not matter if we do not immediately gain great profit from their work even for a handsome wage. We look upon the mills as a means by which the members of the congregation can be helped physically. If anything remains from the proceeds, it will be applied to paying off an old and benevolently arranged debt and for other necessary things.

We rightfully see it as especial evidence of divine providence over our old and new inhabitants that almost two years ago we bought the Trustees cowpen at Old Ebenezer, from which the recently arrived transport can now be supplied with both fresh and salted beef. In the spring they will perhaps be able to receive cows and calves for breeding. Our means will, to be sure, not allow us to give them the meat and cattle, but the advance until the time of payment is a great blessing, especially since it will all be given to them at a low price. Our good God, who has provided for these strangers in this and in many other ways since their arrival, will surely care for them further, provided they first contemplate the instructions given them and aspire to the kingdom of God and to His righteousness. Some of them show a good disposition and give me joy.

The 20th of December. Our righteous Kalcher greatly needs our intercession. He appears to be getting ever weaker in his body; and it seems to him and his dear family that he will even take his departure from them. To be sure, this will be good for him as a righteous servant of God; but it would be a bitter cup for his family, namely, for his pious wife and his four mostly ungrown daughters. Also, the congregation would lose in him a trusting supplicant, an exemplary Christian, and very useful supervisor and worker. He belongs among the truly poor to whom the gospel should be preached, the gospel which penetrates even in to him like the rain in dry soil and refreshes the soul and brings much fruit for the edification of others. May our loyal Savior have mercy upon him, upon his dear family, and upon the entire congregation; and, if it is His will, may He leave us this pious and useful Salzburger for some time longer.

We have still had little winter weather, but mostly spring weather. At noon today a thunderstorm arose with heavy warm rain. Our mills always have enough water; and the gristmill and rice stamp are doing great service for both residents and strangers.

The 21st of December. It has become very cold since the thunderstorm and rain, with which there were hailstones. I was called to our congregations cowpen behind Abercorn to baptize a child that was born yesterday. The people around Ebenezer, Abercorn, and Goshen have the good fortune to be able to have a minister at once to baptize their children, and that is why they do not wish to move to either Newport or Briar Creek but have begun to settle mostly on the Blue Bluff, some in Ebenezer, and a few in Goshen. If they will learn to fear the Lord and follow in His ways, then they will nourish themselves with the work of their hands and fare well.

The 24th of December. Old Mrs. Schubdrein arrived at our place sick and miserable, but God has so blessed the use of medicine that she can now stand up again and perform some tasks. Indeed, God gave her the pleasure today of holding a wedding for her second daughter, who came here as a widow, for she saw her grown sons, daughters, and a couple of grandchildren together and could enjoy herself at this christianly conducted banquet, which was also a great joy for her old husband. Before the marriage, which was held in Zion Church, I visited our dear Kalcher and preached the gospel to him with the strength-giving and pithy verse13 If God be for us, who can be against us? ... He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?14 In recent days he has remembered, to his new comfort, what I called out to him some years ago on the road, I will ...15 In our prayer we again humbly presented his and our sorrow to this almighty and faithful Savior in trusting confidence that He will show mercy in soul and body to this His righteous servant and to his very bowed-down wife, who is an upright maidservant of the Lord. For Him nothing is impossible.

The 25th of December. Our gracious God has again shown us the blessing that we have experienced a Holy Christmas again in good health and quiet. To be sure, after the last rain, hail, and thunder a great cold has begun, yet the church was as full as it is accustomed to be when lovely weather has come. We find both old and new parishioners as devout as we could wish at their praying, singing, and listening to the divine word; and we do not doubt that God will have granted a gift to each of the diligent listeners. Indeed, the dear Savior has come to bless us so that each one will turn from wickedness and achieve Life and full joy through Him.

The 27th of December. During our festivities our sick Kalcher refreshed himself with the dear words God delivered his own Son for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?16 ... Today I edified myself with him concerning an equally comforting verse, The Lord overall is rich unto all who call upon him, likewise, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Romans 10.17 The content of these two gospel verses was also the content of my conversation with the sick Bruckner, which we sealed with sincere and humble prayer. It has been a great sorrow for both pious men that they could not attend the Christmas sermons. However, I told them among other things to their comfort that they still had it better than their Lord and Savior: they could be sick and suffer in houses, in a quiet place, and among Christian people according to the will of God. In contrast, according to the will of the Father, our dear Savior had to flee the wrath of enemies already in His tenderest years and leave His country and go to a heathen people, as the Egyptians were; and this was surely no minor suffering for Jesus parents. These are Gods old and customary ways to lead His children into the kingdom of God in and through much tribulation. In suffering, it is no small honor to resemble the camp of believers and its Chief Commander. Therefore it is written to their superabundant comfort in 1 Peter 4:12-13, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. During the longlasting sickness of her dear husband, dear Mrs. Kalcher is experiencing inwardly much heat of tribulation, which costs her many tears and prayers.

The 28th of December. A couple of our inhabitants have found a creek, or arm of the Savannah River, in Carolina across from Ebenezer which flows from the Savannah River into the land upstream across from the Blue Bluff and flows back into the Savannah River below our Mill River and thereby makes a large island of thousands of very useful acres. According to the law that the King has issued to the Lord Trustees and this colony, all the islands made by the Savannah River belong to the province of Georgia and, consequently so does this large and fertile piece of land. The creek is as large as our Mill River and can be navigated by boats all year.

Some time ago I reported this matter to the Council in Savannah with the humble request to have this creek investigated by a sworn surveyor and by some knowledgeable and impartial men and, if it belongs to Georgia, to appropriate this so fertile island to our town. This could contribute a great deal to the growth of the town and to its nourishment. Like all fertile land on both sides of the Savannah River, this island is occasionally flooded and fertilized by the river; and, since there is no highland on it, no one can settle on it or build houses or barns. But it would be well situated for us, for our town site and the plantations down as far as the Mill River are high, and therefore the owners of the island could live on our side and have their plantations across from them. The gentlemen in Savannah wished to find a time to have this creek investigated. This has now been done, and they have found the matter and also affirmed by oath before our judge, as I have written above. We must wait to see what will become of this.

The 29th of December. In the last chests of books and medicines from Halle were several very fundamental books which our dear Mr. von Bogatzky composed and published with Gods help. With my dear family I am now reading the splendid Tractate on the Freedom of Believers from the Law18 from which our dear Savior offers and gives a great blessing; and I can well say that a single page gives me (and this all grace-hungry souls will discover) more edification, comfort, and encouragement than many pages in many other books. If anyone reads this book with quiet meditation, prayer, and vigil; and he will make a remarkable advance to true Christianity in recognition of the gospel, in faith, and in righteous behavior and will become stronger and also a blessed tool for the improvement of his neighbor.

I regretted several times, also in the public service, that so few people in Christendom rightly understand the gospel and their Christianity and thereby cause great harm to themselves and to others and also give Christianity an evil name by legalistic and servile natures.19 In this inestimable book the gospel is preached as gospel in true purity, yet with such divine wisdom that it prevents all subtle and coarse misuse very convincingly.

It seems to me that even the most practiced and experienced minister (in whom is found true poverty of the spirit and daily new hunger and thirst for the grace of God in Christ) could achieve from this intellectual book not only rich edification but also growth in recognition if one wished to use it rightly in the above-mentioned way.

The sincere desire to give the readers of this diary the blessing that lies in this book has driven me to mention it here. It is an exceptionally great pleasure for the true knowers and appreciators of the blessed writings of Luther, Arndt, Spener, Scriver, Breithaupt, Francke, Anton,20 and others that very edifying and important excerpts from their writings are cited in this often lively book at the right time and in the right place and that it clarifies and emphasizes the dear material it quotes. God be praised for His unending mercy in that he has shown me a major blessing in it, a true taste for the dearest writings of these blessed men, who are now triumphant in heaven. Their memory is a great blessing for me. I only regret that my time and strength will not allow me to read in it as much as I would like. The reading of Holy Scripture goes before all else.

The 30th of December. The tanner Neidlinger told me that on his way back from Savannah he had come into mortal danger but that our merciful God had saved him and had again granted him life and a period of grace. Near Abercorn he fell out of the boat and into the deep water; but under the water he grabbed the boats chain, and another man came to his help. During this accident he lost the value of one pound Sterling, which is a small loss in preserving ones physical existence even though it is a rather great loss for him as a beginner. God is working mightily on him and his wife, and this rescue by God is serving him for a new awakening. A couple of men had gotten lost in the forest, and our dear God miraculously brought them to the right path and to Ebenezer. On their first trip from Savannah to here a large boat full of men, women, and children was so badly conducted by an unskilled helmsman at a dangerous spot on the Savannah River that almost all of them would have lost their lives if God had not miraculously maintained the boat with a hidden power. Thus, during this year, God has shown the wealth of His goodness, patience, and forbearance to many among us in almost the same way; yet to many we must call out Despiseth thou the riches of his goodness; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?21 However, many of the new colonists are beginning to recognize that their former behavior will not do and that they must become different people if they wish to please God with their Christianity. This will surely improve through the grace of God.

The 31st of December. Our gracious God has now let us live through the last day of this year, which, like all others, has had its blessings and its tribulations, of which I shall cite only a few examples. 1) A young German man from N. reported to me in a little letter brought by his ... some very vexing things about his ... and requested help against such vexations.22 With Gods help we do not let vexations get the upper hand. If anyone knows the burden of the many secular affairs that are laid upon me from time to time despite all that I have said, written, and struggled against it, he has pity on me, especially if he also knows my very great longing to perform only my ministerial office and to serve Gods Salzburger congregation during the short remainder of my life.

If I could concern myself privately more with souls, then my official diary would not be so meager, as it appears to me to be. If I did not have to worry about great harm and did not have to fear that I would be acting against the will of my Lord and Master, and also of His dear servants, my most worthy superiors and benefactors, I would like to lay aside all the congregations secular matters and give them over to Mr. Mayer. My tending to the secular matters creates no obstacle to my regular official duties: only one thing suffers, namely, a diligent house visitation, which, however, could be replaced by daily prayer meetings and the many edifying writings I distribute. To be frank, the pleasantest and most useful thing would be for me to have nothing to do with the congregations secular affairs. With divine aid I would restrict myself as much as could be done without harm to the congregation. May God give Mr. Mayer much strength to relieve me of much.

The weekday sermons on Thursdays and Fridays and the school and preparation for Holy Communion with the children on the plantations and the preparation lesson in town also take much of my time away from visiting my parishioners. I will not mention the singing lesson as a blessed means of public edification, the consecration of newly built huts and houses, the private encouragement of both local people and strangers, my heavy correspondence in the English and German languages, and all of it in my own hand. As gladly as I can do all this and many other tasks while strong in body and mind, and never be idle, it would still be the most desirable thing for me if I could always do just my own work and, as a minister, prepare those souls entrusted to me for a blessed eternity. Yet I must hear not only what some of my parishioners say, but also what my Fathers and superiors say about my present mixed official duties.

In conclusion I will set here some impressive words from a letter of one of my highly esteemed benefactors, both a wise and an experienced gentleman, who wrote to me from Germany on the 27th of February of this year: I well see that all this (namely, what has been suggested in the preceding paragraphs for the good of the congregation) is no proper business for clergymen, whose greatest care should be for the spiritual condition of those for whom they are responsible. However, a better economic condition also has an influence in such care of souls when many, saved from misery and hardship, can be brought to a greater praise of God. And from experience I am already convinced that Your Worship is for each that which his need and circumstances demand. Saving people from misery and hardship is a great work! Nothing more is done through miracles, rather through human counsel and action; and therefore care for physical hardship can well stand with care for souls.

Praise be to God who hath helped so far right noticeably to strengthen me and my wise and true collaborators and helpers physically in the secular affairs of the congregation. He has graciously turned from us and the congregation all spiritual and physical harm and has turned all the wealth of His goodness nearby and from afar and has granted us health, nourishment for the body, and edification of the soul. He has kept us in unity and in the diligent use of the means of salvation and has again saved some from the prince of darkness and set them in the kingdom of His dear Son. May He be ever praised for all His spiritual and physical blessings and for His very modest chastisements, for ever and ever, Amen!

Daily Reports Of the Year 1752

JANUARY 1752

The 1st of January. During the last evening prayer meeting of the old year I applied the main material of the gospel Luke 2: 33 ff. partly to our past lives and partly to an awakening in regard to the present and future times; and we concluded the year with praise of God and prayer. It is now unusually cold; and this prevented many from attending the last evening prayer hour. However, because of the spiritual blessing they received, those who were present at the preaching of the dear gospel will regret, as little as I, having suffered a brief discomfort for a great blessing. If, according to the said gospel, Mary and Joseph had been as casual about visiting divine services, they would have robbed themselves and other people who were then alive, who now live, or who will live of a very great blessing.

Our merciful God has granted us abundant aid for the preaching of the dear gospel of Christ and has made our congregations in both churches willing to hear it devoutly despite the great cold. The introit verse was taken from 1 Timothy 2:5-6, There is one God, and one Mediator, etc.; and the first sermon on the New Years gospel dealt with our redemption through Christ. This led us to the golden exegesis of the second article of our catechism.

I imparted to the pious, sick Bruckner some of the rich comfort that our loving God granted us today from the gospel, especially that our dear Savior shows the same merciful heart as Mediator to poor sinners in His state of elevation as He showed in His state of humiliation. We now call Him the Man Jesus Christ because we do not fear him slavishly but trustingly expect all good from Him, as Mediator between God and men. If we could see into heaven and into His heart, we would see to our joy and surprise that He is still the same: just and pious and eternally true, and that, on the Throne of Joy, He is still as kindly disposed to sinners and sick ones as He was in humiliation and suffering. After all, He reveals His entire heart in the gospel as the word of truth. It is much easier for Him to grant the salvation He has merited than to earn it through a whole life of deeds and suffering. If He did not wish to grant it, why would He have merited it?

During this time Bruckner told me with great humility, to the praise of his Savior, things that gave witness to his faith, to his inner tribulations, to his adherence to Christ with all his feeling of misery, to his contentment with Gods well-meant guidance, and to the superiority of the spiritual and physical blessings over his sufferings, etc. This caused me hearty joy; and I praised God with him and his family. U. E.1 came into his house, where she does much good and where she receives much good especially for her soul. She brought with her a good basis and true fear of God; and she is as thirsty for the rational milk as is her newly born infant.

The 2nd of January. I baptized an Englishmans child that had been brought from Mount Pleasant2 to the Blue Bluff. It was already three months old. This man related that there is a German Anabaptist in his neighborhood whose children are of adult size but not yet baptized. He is also a Sabbatarian, who celebrates Saturday instead of Sunday. Once, when I was speaking with this Anabaptist about his great error, he referred to a certain man from whose writings he said he could prove that his Anabaptist dogma was the teaching of the first Christians. This otherwise skilful man has, to be sure, caused great harm to the church of Christ by writing so shallowly and groundlessly of infant baptism. I hope that, before his departure from this world, he regretted this error of dogma among others.

After returning from the baptismal ceremony on the Blue Bluff and having properly arranged with Mr. Mayer3 the things that must be presented in writing to the Council, I went to the sick Kalcher at the mill to speak with him for his edification about his Homeward Journey and to pray with him and to take leave from him until a joyful reunion in the Lord in heaven, since it is assumed from all circumstances that he will soon be taken from us by temporal death. He is now resting quietly, is bearing his suffering with great patience, and has a hearty desire to be released soon and to be with Jesus. He gave his dear wife the comfort that she will soon follow him: meanwhile the true Father will care abundantly for her and her children.

To be sure, the whole world belongs to the Lord, yet he wishes, if it is possible, to be buried in the town cemetery because he thinks she will move from the mill to her own house and die in it and consequently be buried near him. He said that in heaven he will be with God and all Gods children for all time. I made the following words profitable to him: If any man sin, there is (God be praised that we have Him) one God and one Mediator between God (with whom He has reconciled us) and man, the man Christ Jesus, who is just (and awakens us for the sake of our justification) and is (even at this moment) the Reconciliation for our sins, not only for ours but for the whole world.4 I recited these comforting words to him several times with the request that he wrap himself in them in faith, so to say, and to hold to them in all temptations, struggle, and death.

The 6th of January. This afternoon I returned hale and hearty and not at all tired from Savannah. I visited the dying Kalcher, who welcomed me with his hand in his feebleness. I told him that he was now on the boundary of his heavenly fatherland and that the whole entrance into the eternal glorious Kingdom of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would be opened. I told him that it was a glorious Kingdom not only of our Lord but also of our Savior Jesus Christ, which is very comforting for poor sinners. I prayed with him and his family and gave him the blessing in the name of the Triune God. He sighed constantly for a blessed release, which his Savior will soon grant him.

On Saturday in Savannah I preached in the preparation lesson about the verse: As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men.5 What is necessary concerning the great misuse and the correct use of our precious period of grace which we now have but soon will have no more I explained in such a manner as my listeners circumstances demanded. This I did with inculcation and explanation of the important verses: Whoever does not get along with God during his period of grace will remain entirely excluded from Gods house of joy for ever, even though he were to weep a sea of tears.6

On Sunday, the first Sunday of the new year, I laid the regular epistle 1 Peter 4 as the basis of the sermon; and in the forenoon I showed that we poor fallen sinners can and should achieve in divine order from Christ 1) Comfort, 2) Strength, to wit, for Christian life, for patient suffering, and for blessed death. In the afternoon I added to the instructive and comforting epistle also the gospel of the flight of Christ and his parents to Egypt; and I dealt with the blessed sufferings of Christians with Christ. Holy Communion was held with fourteen persons; and after the divine service I visited Mr. and Mrs. von Brahm and sang and prayed with them; and I spoke with some German families in their homes. In my absence two children were born and baptized in Ebenezer; and this morning in Zion Church and in the evening in Jerusalem Church my dear colleague held a sermon from the gospel of the Epiphany. May God let all this redound to the glory of His holy name and to true edification of souls!

The 8th of January. Today, for the first time in this new year, I was able to hold the very useful singing lesson, which, together with the final common prayer, brought me great blessing, comfort, and awakening. I would consider myself the most fortunate man in the New World if I could perform only my spiritual office and were not saddled with so much traveling and secular business, which I find to be no slight cross. Local and outside people, especially Germans, wish to use me for all sorts of purposes; and I cannot disengage myself from many things because they are included in the words of the Savior: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.7

The 10th of January. Last night our dear and righteous Kalcher died like a quiet and patient lamb, full of faith in his dearest Savior. It was between Thursday and Friday, at which time our dearest Savior underwent His great suffering and mortal struggle with violent blood and sweat. He retained his understanding and the use of his external senses (excepting speech) until the last moment of his life and took moving leave of his wife and children; and he gave one of his girls such a remarkable admonition that I hope it made a wholesome impression on her. He has had a longlasting sickbed and suffered greatly. However, just as in the seventeen years that he has been an inhabitant of Ebenezer and an exemplary member of the congregation, so too in this last period of living and suffering he has shown himself so patient, quiet, and content with Gods ways and dispensation that he has revealed here, too, the good basis of his heart and has given everyone an example of faith, patience, and hope. Gods word and prayer were his food, medicine, and refreshment; and therefore his period of sickness did not seem long.

At the beginning of his sickness he still felt no real willingness to die, as he complained to me. He tenderly loved his dear, frail wife and his four unreared children, who would gladly have kept him longer as a very loving husband and father. He would have gladly recovered if it had been the will of his heavenly Father. From the very beginning of his sickness to its end he followed the advice of Mr. Thilo. For several weeks everything of the world, even the dearest, was absent from his heart, and his desire to be released from the world and to be with Jesus increased noticeably. In the night before his blessed release he laid his two hands on his breast, nodded to his grieving wife, and raised his two hands towards heaven. By this he doubtless wished to indicate that his heart was in heaven and that his spirit would now rise to heaven from the collapsed tabernacle of his wasted body.

As the father in the orphanage and as vestryman and leader of the congregation and manager of the mills he showed me and the community very great service. In him we have lost not only a great lover of the divine word and the holy sacraments, a man of prayer and an exemplary Christian, but also a very useful and profitable man, who served the entire community untiringly and impartially with his well-constructed wagon, with good advice, and in many other ways. Yea, in him we have lost a true jewel. He was my dear gossip8 and he was one to many honest people in the community, for whom his early departure will be very painful, as it is for me. However, God, according to His incomprehensible and always good counsel, made this gap.

Also, at the funeral, which was held in town on the death and burial day of our most meritorious Savior, God threatened us with lightning and thunder to punish our ingratitude and disloyalty if we will not let ourselves be led to repentance through His goodness and chastisements, among which we count this death, which is so disadvantageous to us. I was very much impressed that it lightened and thundered only a little during the funeral sermon but very violently at the cemetery and that it rained very severely during the hymn Nun lasst uns den Leib begraben, etc.9 Because of the cold weather, we had expected neither rain nor strong thunder. Unusually many people had assembled as pallbearers, which was a sign of their love and respect for the blessed man.

My dear colleague based the funeral sermon on Hebrews 10:36-39, He that endureth to the end.10 I also found it noteworthy that this Ruprecht Kalcher died only one day before my dear colleague, Mr. Gronau. To wit, Mr. Gronau died seven years ago on the eleventh of January and Kalcher on the tenth of January, the former on Friday evening before the first Sunday after the Epiphany of Christ and the latter during the night before Friday, likewise before the first Sunday after the Epiphany of Christ. They both loved each other greatly in this life, they had similarly righteous, simple, and humble dispositions. During Kalchers sickness and from his face, which was, to be sure, wasted yet steadfastly turned toward God, I was very often reminded of the worthy person, the longlasting sickness, and the edifying demeanor of my late colleague. Think what will happen when they are joined in the house of the Father! Dear Kalcher was looking forward to that fondly; and with that he comforted his dear helpmeet and true nurse. During my last two visits I made these words useful to him, which he greatly enjoyed: Now I rest, oh my salvation, in Thy arms, Thou shalt be my eternal peace; I wrap myself in Thy mercy; let my element be only (and for ever) Thy mercy.11

The 11th of January. The violent and entirely unusual thunder weather, which was joined by lightning and rain, was followed by an unusual cold, which was as biting as in Germany for the new settlers on the Blue Bluff,12 who have not yet built any warm dwellings and kitchens. In both churches I had to be brief in the sermons preparing for the confession so that the edification and devotion would not be hindered. In the Zion Church I spoke about the right nature, use, and purpose, also about the importance, of the practice of confession that we have introduced here. This does not consist merely of saying the confession and hearing the absolution: rather, everyone is examined before the countenance of the living God and with the witness of his own conscience from the word of God whether he is correct with regard to his recognition and feeling of original sin and what arises from it in the way of real sins in thoughts, desires, demeanor, words, and works, also with regard to his faith in Christ and to his resolution for a godly life. For God has promised to grant absolution and forgiveness only in this order and in no other way.

In Jerusalem Church I laid as a basis for the preparation sermon The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.13 This I compared with the important words of Romans 2:4. The Lord has indeed shown me and my parishioners an abundance of such longsuffering that aims at salvation; for He fetched my first dear colleague home very early and has let me remain seven more years. Until now I have often read and heard that our marvelous God has let many ministers of my age and even younger die in Europe, Asia, and America; and He has borne with me without my having merited it. May He make me grateful from my heart and loyal, and may He free me from the many physical tasks for my congregation in order for me to perform my real office during the last part of my life. I reminded my parishioners that our miraculous God took from our congregation both children and adults last year, and our dear Kalcher yesterday, through temporal death. On the other hand, they are still living in their period of grace and with the means of grace through divine forbearance. This, I said, was a certain indication that they could all be saved but that they should not confuse the means of salvation with the order of salvation but rather use the means, to which prayer also belongs, in such a way that they can enter into and persist in the order of salvation, which is repentence, faith, and godliness.

The 12th of January. Today the cold was as severe as yesterday; yet it was quite bearable in our well-protected town church, which was entirely filled. We had eighty-eight communicants. Last night the honest and useful Joseph Schubdrein brought me sad news. His dear helpmeet, Gschwandls only daughter14 was afflicted a few days ago with a sore throat and fever and also seized by epilepsy, which quickly put an end to her life. Added to this was the sad occurrence that the fruit of her body, which she had hoped to bear a few days ago, died along with her. This was a new thunderbolt that penetrated ear and heart; and I admonished the congregation to take to heart the unusual thunder at the burial of our dear Kalcher as the voice of God for their warning and encouragement so that our holy God will not be required to do something among us that would resound in our ears.

The 14th of January. The cold is still increasing, and we have never seen such thick ice indoors and out in this land. Therefore we had to hold our weekly sermon and meeting on the plantations today in the schoolhouse, in which there is an iron stove. Thus our edification was not hindered by the cold. I repeated and inculcated in detail the words of the introit, Ephesians 6:1-4, which we had contemplated briefly on the first Sunday after Epiphany, and also the material which had been partly presented about the gospel: Concerning the godly intentions of the Parents and the Child Jesus as an edifying example for all parents and children.15

The 15th of January. N.N. has become dangerously sick. I visited him immediately on his plantation and found him in sighs, distress, and disquiet not only because he had sinned grievously as a soldier and in his entire previous life against God and his neighbor and also against the sixth commandment16 through grievous injustice, but also because he had, until now, rejected all divine admonitions and guidance to repentance. In his conscience he felt the bitterness of sin and the judgment of death. Also, without my admonition, he is ridding himself very willingly of the unjust wealth with a head of cattle of equal value. He is not seeking any merit through this, rather he considers it a duty according to the will of God.17 He left the cow to my disposition: however, at the same time he mentioned a poor sickly orphan child, who received a Bible yesterday at her request and today, without her request, this physical gift as a bonus for her striving for the Kingdom of God.

I was pleased that she was of one mind with this man and would rather suffer physical loss than see her soul in danger. He is sincerely concerned with his soul, for the Lord has already been working mightily on his soul. However, because some sins, especially his rashness in anger, had become almost second nature during long practice in his rough life as a soldier, he has often been overhasty and has not loyally applied the grace he has received. Now, thank God!, he seems to have come to a breakthrough;18 and from Ephesians 3:14-16 and Matthew 11:28 I held the gospel before him profitably for an awakening of his faith in Christ and sealed everything with a prayer. Both parents, who have usually vexed their little children through their wicked behavior, are using great diligence in raising them in the fear of the Lord. I was pleased with their pious recitation of the verses and prayers they had learned. Their poverty is still great; and, because of their frequent changing of their plantation, their dwelling is not protected against the great cold. Without secure rooms and stoves the people cannot get along in winter here any better than in Germany.

I also visited a new colonist in the neighborhood, who came here from Saxony with the last transport.19 The good people wished to honor me with food and drink, because they considered it something great and unusual for a minister to visit healthy people unsummoned.

The 16th of January. For a long time during his sad period as a widower, honest Ruprecht Steiner has had to suffer much harm to his health, childraising, and housekeeping. This week he engaged himself to Mr. Krafts maid, Ursula Eckert; and for her benefit he has made a very favorable arrangement in case he should die before her. The engagement took place in my house after careful consideration and hearty prayer. When I visited the dear Mrs. Kalcher this morning at the mill, I learned to my sad surprise that last night this dear godfearing man had suddenly contracted the dangerous throat ailment with a violent fever; and this required me to hurry to him and to notify the doctor, Mr. Thilo. He thought that he would hardly survive this. After our prayer he gave me his hand and said, Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.20 May He treat us with mercy and accomplish his salutary purpose in all of us by such means of chastisement! These visitations do not distress us as much as those when we have to learn that people among us are continuing in their unrepentence and revealing the wicked basis of their hearts through vexatious behavior.

The 18th of January. In this new year we are having a hard winter and great tribulations, dangerous sicknesses, and painful cases of death. Yesterday a cold rain fell, and we could hear thunder far away. The very cold rain continued intermittently all night, and today it snowed deeply. Fever with the dangerous sore throat and side stitches are very common; and my dear colleague, Mr. Lemke, and our only son have been graciously visited with them and must lie abed. The righteous Ruprecht Steiner, whose sickness was mentioned under the 16th of this month, was in great pain but very patient when I visited him yesterday morning. Toward noon he had side stitches and the swelling in his throat had increased, until finally at about 4 p.m. he commended his pardoned soul into the hands of his Savior and died. The last passage that his bride had read to him for his refreshment was, I will even betroth thee unto me for ever.

Steiner had requested me to publish the bans tomorrow on the second Sunday after the Epiphany of Christ for him and his earthly bride (who, like him, is an honest soul); and, already before that Sunday, namely on the death day of Christ, our heavenly Bridegroom has led his soul into the wedding house of our heavenly Father, where he will fare well for eternity. Like the late Kalcher, he was a true Israelite, in whom there was no guile.21 He would have liked to speak much, but he could not because of his almost closed throat; otherwise a great deal of edifying matter would have come out from the good treasure in his heart. He is leaving a plantation, a good house, a horse and some cattle, which must now be applied for the welfare of his three sons, of whom the oldest is about fourteen and the youngest seven years old.

The 19th of January. The public divine service had to be held again with the entire congregation in the town church because of the indisposition of my dear colleage, Mr. Lemke. It treated of the gospel for the second Sunday after Epiphany concerning the importance of Christian marriage, and before that I preached on the introit from Genesis 6:1-4 as a warning and examination. Mrs. /Barbara/ Mayer was churched with her little son; and for this service she, like us all, had temperate and dry weather. The congregation indicated that this afternoon, at the burial of our dear Steiner, they wished me to give the funeral sermon for the edification of the living in the Zion Church on the plantations. This was done, treating Isaiah 57:1-2, The righteous perisheth, and no man ..., etc.; and I presented the meaning of the world and the judgment of God at the death of His children. A large congregation from town and from the plantations had assembled out of love for the word of God and love for the blessed man, and they were able to hear much for their edification from this important text.

In my study this dear man had been heartily pleased that the bans had been published for him and the honest Eva Eckert on this Sunday on which the gospel about the wedding feast at Cana falls and that they were to be married on the following Monday (which would have been tomorrow). But Gods thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. How very incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unfathomable His ways? We know, however, that those who love God are served for the best in all things, as this now very much humbled bride, Ursula Ecker, will experience on her part.22

The 20th of January. Next to Mrs. Schweighoffer, N.N. is the oldest person at our place. She has married off all her children here well and has become the grandmother of a number of grandchildren. For several days she has been dangerously ill; and with the complete decrease in her strength she can expect nothing more than her approaching death. We have had a lot to suffer with her, yet we cannot deny that she has some good points, even though there could have been more in her heart and her behavior while she was diligently using the means of salvation and if she had practiced more loyalty in praying, watching, and conquering. I heard that she is becoming weaker; and this moved me, despite my own physical weakness, to go to her and to call a word of grace to her again and pray with her and impart Gods blessing to her.

I was also told that N., who has a disposition similar to that of the said N., was also dangerously sick. As soon as God strengthens me, I wish to go to her on her plantation: she greatly needs the word of repentance and faith. Her husband has built a new house, into which she has hardly moved, and from which she will, it appears, move soon again. He knocks (we sing), and you must come out. There is nothing else you can do.23

The 21st of January. This morning the old widow N. died after having made a very proper division of her legacy, stating what each of her children and grandchildren was to have. She also named some orphans. The three children left by the late Steiner are well lodged with two Christian Salzburgers. Burgsteiner, as godfather of the oldest and youngest boy, will nourish and educate these two, while Gschwandl will take the middle one on as his child, since he has a good fortune but no children. The tanner Ulrich Neidlinger will take, for six years, the house, plantation, and some cattle and what is needed for the household and farm. He promises to keep them in good condition and will pay as interest two pounds annually, and the mulberry trees will stand him in good stead.

The late Steiners fiance is provided for in such a way that she is content and grateful. She lives with Brueckner and his wife in town and will do good service for modest wages until God cares for her further.

The 22nd of January. I found the pious Mrs. Glaner, who was married first to the righteous Piltz, also sick in her childbed. God showed great help and mercy to her at the birth of her little son, who out of a Benoni became a Benjamin.24 We edified ourselves, as far as my weakness allowed, with conversation about our Savior as the eternal High Priest in heaven; and we bent our knees before His throne of grace. She said that both yesterday and today N. had shown her the order of salvation most simply, through which she can still be saved.

The 24th of January. Yesterday evening on the horizon we had a gentle thunderstorm with rain, which continued gently this morning, too. This morning I received news that N. had died. During the last period of her life I once again presented her very simply the way to Life in the order of true repentance and faith from German Bible verses and well known hymns. I also showed her nurse what to read to her from Senior Urlspergers beautiful book Instruction for the Sick and Dying according to her spiritual condition. Despite the diligent use of good books, of which we have a superabundance at our place, many people lack a correct use of them because, although they hear and read them, they do not recognize the condition of their souls and therefore do not apply the contemplations and prayers correctly to themselves; and this distresses me greatly.

Many people have a good literal recognition, good natural gifts, love for edifying books, and many apparent virtues and good works. If, in addition, they have brought good recommendations from other pious people or even ministers, they so stiffen themselves in their self-love and false justification that they not only look down on other simple and true Christians, who have more strength than appearance, but also get angry with their ministers and even get bitter against them when they examine them according to Gods word and when, by virtue of their office, conscience, and love for such deceived souls, they reveal their dangerous condition to them both publicly and in private. However, the world, even the Christian one, wishes to be deceived, be it epicurean or pharisaic.

The 25th of January. The leaders of the community called on me today and helped me make a good arrangement for the benefit of the entire community. Another Salzburger has been recommended in the place of the deceased Kalcher; and two dependable men have been set over the colonists on the Blue Bluff, which they need because they live rather far apart and some of them do not keep good order, especially on Sundays. Also, in the future a better arrangement should be made for the orphans, for which purpose certain Christian guardians are to be appointed, since some of them no longer have any godparents or sponsors among us.

Because, with the increase in our community of both inhabitants and strangers, so much has to be ground that the two mill courses cannot handle it all, a third course will have to be built next summer, in fact in such a way25 that we can grind even when the water is low. May God grant the means for it from His rich treasure!

Also, our only rice polishing and stamping mill is insufficient to handle all the raw rice that is brought to it from our community and from other places. And thus a new establishment will have to be made for it, too. Such entirely indispensable waterworks cost a great deal, and we would thank our dear Lord heartily if generous benefactors in Europe could continue to offer us their hands. I again made valuable suggestions for the improvement of our physical nourishment and for the advance of trade with all sorts of lumber and woodwork. However, there are still all kinds of obstacles. May God remove them through His wisdom, omnipotence, and goodness! In conclusion we called upon our merciful God in Christ for His blessing in these considerations and in the suggestions we have agreed upon. These dear men wished a contribution from me for paying their herdsmen, but this is no longer possible because of so many expenses. May God help us!

The 26th of January. Some seven years ago a young man, Conrad Rahn, who came to our place with the first transport from the territory of Ulm and married Paulitschs oldest daughter, journeyed to Pennsylvania to visit his parents. He had a very difficult trip to and from and was close to death several times on land and water. Now he has returned with his only brother and has brought back letters from our most worthy brothers Mr. Muhlenberg and Mr. Brunnholtz,26 which are of important, even if largely sad, content. All these dear and worthy men, who are doing the Lords work loyally with willing sacrifice of their health, bodies, lives, honor, and wealth, are bearing unusual and unheard of suffering yet are unable to achieve their purpose with word, deed, and all good institutes in church and school. As a result they are becoming old, weakened, and already martyrs during their lifetime.

The worst is borne by the loyal and proven Mr. Muhlenberg. I am heartily sorry for him; and I have not been able to read the description of his uncommon internal and external tribulations without tears. Such a great burden rests on these three servants of Christ27 and on their two assistants, Mr. Kurtz and Mr. Schaum, that they will have to succumb to it unless the Lord Shabaoth be their especial protector, aid, and helper. He is indeed their God, in whom they trust. He will not let them be defeated or be brought to shame by the enemies of His invincible Kingdom, which they so gladly wish to build. They deserve to be helped by counsel, comfort, and support from the friends of God and Christ, as, indeed, a beautiful beginning has been made, according to the brief printed reports. For this the name of the Lord our God should be heartily praised and the blessings of the Lord on High should be wished as a gracious compensation for their benefactors.

During the autumn two new pious co-workers arrived safely, and this will serve them and lighten their load through divine goodness. Alas! Until now we have recognized much too little what spiritual and physical advantages our merciful God has given us in Ebenezer. Therefore this letter from our worthy Mr. Muhlenberg serves us very well to shame us and to awaken us to gratitude toward God and our dear Fathers and benefactors and to a careful application of our period, and means, of grace and to a suppression of incipient vexations and to intercession for these our brothers.

At the end of this letter, which consisted of three folios, our worthy Mr. Muhlenberg called to us,

Oh dear Ebenezer, how many advantages you have above many other places! There is one religion there, one church, and one constitution! The shepherds and sheep there are close together! There one practices cura generalis, specialis, and specialissima!28 There body and soul are cared for with spiritual and physical medications! Right and justice are meted out there, and evil is punished and good is rewarded! The youth there hears only what is good and sees examples worthy of emulation, etc., etc. There there is a Pniel,29 a heavenly ladder where the angels journey up and down! Oh congregation, you little flock, fear not, yet think at this time what will serve your peace. Proceed while you still have light! The souls among us who know the Lord and call him Father from their hearts call to you, Go forth, go forth, Zion go forth in light. Alas, let everything that heaven and earth contain be greeted by us ten thousand times.

Soon the voice will resound,

Arise, the Bridegroom is there!30 Hold your lamps and vessels ready, and never let them be without oil. Let no one remain behind, and do not neglect everlasting rest. Behold, see that you fight the good fight, finish the race, and retain your faith. There is a crown of glory, of life, and of splendor! Also remember us in your faithful prayer, and let us call to each other, Holy, holy, holy is God, with dogma and life. Amen.

In addition, I wished to warn you that no one should stray away from the rich and green meadow of the divine word and out of blessed Ebenezer through willfulness and false purposes. Those who have gone away for such purpose have mostly perished unfortunately and have suffered shipwreck.

The 27th of January. N.N.s wife had business in my house and called on me in my study. She has a sickly body but a healed and sound soul. Her constant physical weaknesses and her frequently very dangerous attacks have been very salutary disciplinary aids for her to seek and find her salvation in Christ. Oh, how she prays to God for His marvelous and blessed ways which He has gone with her since she was a child and for having chosen her from the world and having deemed her worthy of entering the Kingdom of God through much tribulation. Her heart was full of the great deeds of God, and her mouth flowed with witness of her nothingness and of Gods glory. We talked and prayed with blessing.

The 28th of January. The leader of the German people in Goshen informed me in a letter that the English and Germans in their district wish to recruit a teacher first through the English and German preacher in Savannah and through him even further, and for this I was asked for advice. A Christian schoolmaster who speaks both languages would be good and necessary; but it is difficult to get and to keep such a one.

For the past two years I have been planting mulberry trees on our glebe land by Goshen behind Abercorn; and I plan to continue in this until three or four hundred of these useful trees have been planted and have grown up. If sericulture in this colony is to be organized and conducted properly so that something steady will become of it, then a useful silk manufacture could be established on this unusually fertile glebe land for maintaining a schoolmaster and especially for the ministers and schoolmasters widows. Indeed, if a minister became an emeritus because his strength was worn out or used up, or if he could othewise not perform his office, he would have here a quiet retreat and could be useful to children and adults in this very fertile and well-situated district in his own house. When a worn out minister can no longer fill his office with riding back and forth and in other ways and another comes, then he loses his salary and his sustenance because the congregation is too poor to maintain a minister themselves. It would be even worse for the widows and orphans of the ministers.

In this poor land where one must ride a great deal and expose oneself to so many changes in the weather, an industrious minister soon becomes dulled and either works beyond his strength to his very end or else neglects his congregation. Or, if he leaves his office to another through love for his congregation, he would have to suffer hunger and hardship without a salary, if he were not aided by benefactions from Europe. However, if our dear Lord granted means to establish a good plantation on the glebe land, to plant many mulberry trees, and to build a spacious house and a few necessary outhouses, I do not doubt that on the said land such an establishment could be built for caring for the retired ministers and schoolmasters as well as for their widows and orphans.

Not only the Lutheran ministers of Ebenezer but also those of Pennsylvania, our dear brothers, could take part in this to the glory of God. With the help of the children of the neighborhood whom they are instructing they could, with divine blessing, make a good quantity of silk, which would greatly contribute to the maintenance of this institution. There is a most beautiful opportunity here for cattle raising; and, if God granted the means to purchase a few families of Negroes, a small Negro school could be begun here. Nothing is impossible for God; His providence spreads out to cashiered soldiers, who have their upkeep in special institutions. What might His servants expect?

The 29th of January. My frequent visits are like a balm on the head of the mortally sick Kieffer, indeed, for his heart so thirsty for grace. And it is the very same with Bruckner, who has lain sick for so long. It is very edifying to converse with them, and Jesus blesses His dear gospel and their prayer superabundantly in their thirsty souls. Our marvelous God is visiting many members of the congregation with poverty and sickness, yet they reveal themselves, as fits Christians, to be very patient and entirely resigned to Gods guidance. Indeed, they well recognize that He must go such ways with them if they are not to be harmed in their souls and Christianity. Good days would not be good for them, as they know from experience in themselves and other examples.

I find such Christian behavior very comforting in my spiritual distress, especially when such trials of suffering reveal what a great treasure of grace God has put in their hearts, how the dross falls off, and how splendidly the gospel of our dear Christ penetrates. To be sure, for our part we may overlook the fact that many are bad off with regard to health and nourishment. Yet I see better and better the Hand of the Lord, who does everything for the best of his children.

I sometimes think that God is love and therefore of unlimited power. Heaven and earth are His. Everything He wishes, He does in heaven and on earth. He does not willingly plague and vex mankind, rather His will is to do and to plant well with all His heart. Also, so many friends of God among all nations are our friends and intercessors: Christ as our eternal High Priest prays for us in heaven, and we pray with many servants and children of God in His name on earth. Therefore our suffering is a salutary suffering.

The 31st of January. Our dear Bruckner is becoming ever weaker in his body, but in his faith he holds firmly to his Lord and Savior and finds in Him life, comfort, and bliss. In his prayer early this morning he wished that he might often enjoy beneficent words of encouragement from his ministers; and, to the strengthening of his faith, he received a hearing, for my dear colleague came to him, and I called on him this afternoon. But neither of us knew anything about the contents of his prayer. He is like parched soil, and therefore a true Zion, in which the rain of the gospel lovingly penetrates to awaken him. His words come from much experience; they are very edifying and at the same time give witness that we have not worked in vain on him and other Salzburgers, even if the blessing of the preached word has long lain hidden in some of them. God be praised for the boundless mercy which He has shown to this dear mans soul, especially in the last years of his life through His word and the Holy Sacraments. We could still use him well in the community. But the Lords will be done!

FEBRUARY 1752

The 1st of February. On this first day of the month Bruckner was in pain and debilitated, yet during it all he showed right Christian patience. I recited to him the sigh of faith that Jesus so much liked to hear and which He put into words for the good of us and all miserable people in the world, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me,1 along with the dear words of Psalms 103, Like as a father pitieth his children (even the most miserable who are in the greatest need), so the Lord pitieth them that fear him (in the present, for it happens all at once). For he knoweth our frames, etc., he remembereth that we are dust, etc. To be sure, because of pain and weakness Bruckner could not speak much; yet he said that the above-mentioned sigh suited him well, for it had always lain in his mind. After the prayer he offered me his hand, thanked me, and wished Gods blessings for me and my family.

A few days ago N., a youth of twenty-five years, became sick with a dangerous colic; and, because he did not use good remedies soon, he died of it this morning. Yesterday before evening my dear colleague had spoken with him those things that could serve the salvation of his soul. He was raised in N. and was bad enough, since his parents were evilly inclined and vexatious people. Here he let himself be instructed and confirmed, adapted himself to good order, heard Gods word gladly, and sought to support himself honorably on his newly begun plantation. I hope that the Lord Jesus has received him in mercy and brought him to everlasting rest. He was bashful and did not come out with what God had wrought in him through His word. However, from his behavior we noticed that he disliked all the sinfulness of other young people.

My God is now chastising us greatly with sickness and death; may He again have mercy on us according to His great goodness! Both of us feel weaknesses, too; yet they do not keep us from performing our office. Despite the chest pains that I had last night, I was able to preach twice on this Sexagesima Sunday through the power of God and to hold the evening prayer meeting. When I arose, the chest pains were gone but a lassitude was still there. However, God strengthened me so much that in the evening I was healthy and in good spirits. And He is proceeding the same with my dear colleague. May he be praised!

We hear that all sorts of intense suffering is befalling our brothers in the world; and this, along with our own, is driving us to prayer. In particular, we have been very much concerned that our dear and blessed Wernigeroda,2 in which we have very many true friends, has suffered a twenty-four hour fire, as we have recently seen from the Pennsylvania papers. In our Sunday public prayer hour we have also lamented this hardship to the Lord, from whom all help comes. I consider it an inestimable blessing that both on weekdays, and especially on Sundays in church, that we have such good opportunity to bend our knees with the members of the congregation and to bring to His throne of grace our and our neighbors hardship and to praise Him for His goodness.

The 3rd of February. Yesterday evening at seven oclock a thunderstorm arose, which lasted a couple of hours with heavy rain. Between ten and eleven oclock a right frightful stormwind arose, which lasted almost all night, although not always with the same violence. Since then it has become very cold. This year we have had an unusually cold winter, which is also much dryer than it usually is. Nevertheless, there are many serious sicknesses. It is the hand of the Lord.

Theobald Kieffer told me, to the praise of God, that he has felt a lessening of his sickness. We thanked God for the small beginning of an improvement; and we edified ourselves with the dear words, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.3 Our dear Bruckner is, to be sure, still very weak of body; yet the great pains have somewhat abated. We refreshed ourselves with the sweet words: We have been given a physician who is life itself. Christ died for us and merited salvation for us.4

God willing, tomorrow I must go to Savannah because of a written summons from the members of the Council; and therefore I took leave until a joyful reunion in eternity. I told him in a few words that the President and his Assistants wished to speak with me about the right arrangement of the silk business in the colony and at our place, and this pleased him. From his own experience he thought that this work would advance prosperity in Ebenezer; and this pleased him even though he would meanwhile go to his true home. What we read in the Halle newspapers about the great advantages of the mulberry groves and the silk manufacture of the institutions of the orphanage in Halle also serves to encourage us. Here the trees grow much more readily and more swiftly than there. Therefore their usefulness could be, and will be, much greater with time, when more people come to this land and workers wages become cheaper.

The 7th of February. Because of necessary business at the Council, I could not return from Savannah until this morning. Already in Abercorn I learned that the often mentioned Bruckner, who had been sick for a long time, as well as Burgsteiner, who, like the late Steiner had been sick for only a short time with fever and sore throat, had gone to their rest. Shortly before his dissolution Bruckner had called his death day a wedding day, to which he was looking with joy. Burgsteiner also showed himself as a Christian in his life, suffering, and death. Both were honest Salzburgers and useful in the community, and the one died only a few hours after the other. They are both leaving very Christian widows, and each is leaving only one child behind. It is amazing that in these two first months only adult men and women, and no children, have died.

The 8th of February. The two gentlemen Harris and Habersham are now showing themselves so kind toward the widow Bichler that, at my behest, they are cancelling her entire debt, which amounts to some twenty pounds. With this joyful news and with sufficient assurance of the same, I rejoiced her today and encouraged her to the praise of God. So far her widowhood has been a happy one, her marriage, on the other hand, an especial period of suffering and sorrow, through which God has purified her. His hand has no end of help, no matter how great the harm.

The 9th of February. Six years ago today on this same Esto mihi Sunday, my dear colleague /Hermann Lemke/ assumed his ministerial office in the community. Because I preached today on the gospel of Jesus our Savior and used in my introit the dear words of Sirach 17:28, Oh, how great is the mercy of the Lord!, I rightfully presented to the congregation as an especial proof of the great, marvelous, and still lasting mercy of God that He has not, to be sure, failed to send salutary tribulations to the community; yet He has kept us two in health, life, and unity of spirit and has granted rich edification and comfort to the true members of the congregation.

Our congregation is a congregation assembled by God. It should be a congregation in Christ Jesus and consequently a congregation of the cross, whose direction should not be judged according to reason but according to dogma and the life of Jesus, its head. Whoever wishes to do that must go into the sanctuary with the holy author of the 73rd Psalm. If everything went well according to the wish of the body in favor, health, and great wealth, then you would soon turn cool. That is the reason that God sends tribulations, etc. Our place is respected precisely because of the cross and the many trials that our congregation experiences in all sorts of ways, including sickness and death. This also serves to keep useless people away from us. Revelations 7:13 ff.

The 10th of February. Before my last journey to Savannah a native Spaniard, who now lives in our district with his English wife, brought me his two children, namely, a two-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl, to have them baptized here. He had to leave Spain, and he married in Carolina. He and his wife had the older child there and the second one here in this colony. I did not wish to perform the baptism until I had conferred about it with the English minister in Savannah, who preferred for me to baptize the children here rather than send them and their parents down to Savannah.

Today he fetched me in his boat to the Blue Bluff, where he is staying with a German planter. He had sponsors from the community who understand English, so I imparted holy baptism to the children in the English language in the presence of the parents and the sponsors. The sponsors had to assure me before God and their conscience 1) that the children were not yet baptized, 2) that they would not go over to the Spaniards, and 3) that they would raise the children in the Protestant religion. The man is now planting someone elses soil; but he has the promise to receive his own land, which he has lacked elsewhere, if he and his wife conform to good order.

Yesterday a German man of the Lutheran religion from Congarees in Carolina came to me and asked for private Communion. He is named Johann Georg Ebner and hails from Strassburg. He lived with his wife and children for six years in Philadelphia and three years in Congarees. He is looking for land in this colony for himself and for several others of his confession, who would like to live near a church and school. Religious matters there are in great confusion, and the children are in especially great danger. He seemed to me to be an honest man, so I scheduled him for today. After I spoke with him from Gods word, I held the confessional and Holy Communion with him in my study, during which he was not without good emotions. I also gave him several books.

Another German man came to me here from Charleston and wished to attend divine services. He came to this land very poor, has a wife and children in Wurttemberg, and wishes to earn something in this colony so that he can return and fetch his family. He also seems to be an honest man.

The 11th of February. This morning Mr. Krafft journeyed by land to Charleston with a guide for the sake of his business because in this way one can get there most rapidly, namely in three days. Beforehand we prayed in his house and commended the travelers and ourselves to the eternal mercy of God in Christ. He took from me and from many members of the congregation two large and one small packet of letters, along with our diary from the middle of December up to yesterday for forwarding to Europe. May God rule with His fatherly providence over both the person and the business of this dear person, as well as over these packets, in which there is much important news.

The 12th of February. As long as daily wages, as well as flax, hemp, and wool spinners are so expensive, there is not much hope for spinning and weaving. What some housewives spin and weave is durable and is of great help to them. Because of the recent deaths and sicknesses a Salzburgers conscience has been so awakened and has made him feel so heavily the sins of his youth and his apprentice years and his impurity in Ebenezer in his use of the means of salvation that he counts himself among the lost and thinks he would have fared badly if death had taken him like others. He purloined something from his master, which he would gladly replace if he had the opportunity, which I will give him. However, comfort would not stay with him.

Our merciful God has helped young /Theobald/ Kieffer out of a dangerous sickness and has thereby done his soul much good. In his violent temperatures it was written in his heart, Burn away the evil that has hindered my soul so far and has lessened the feeling of love that I often have from Thee.5 Also the dear words from Hebrews 12:7 were blessed in his heart. His wife said that she had well deserved for the Lord to take away her dear husband through a premature death; but He had spared the five small children and left them their father.

This brought us in our conversation to the high value of the children who still stand in the grace of baptism, about which several Biblical passages treat, such as: Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, ... Suffer the little children to come unto me, etc.,... Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, etc. ... Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, etc.6 From these one can recognize what an important factor the parents hand is. I made especially valuable both to them and to myself the lovely words: I desire nothing, oh Lord, but Thy free grace.7 After that we prayed and thanked the Lord for His blessings.

The 13th of February. Margaretha Huber, an orphan of twenty-three years, is visited by God with constant bodily weakness and is therefore quite incapable of work. She well recognizes that she is frivolous and dissolute by nature and that she would not have come to Christ her Savior if God had not afflicted her so sorely. She is content with Gods disposition and is making herself ready for the journey to blessed eternity. Today she told me to what persons she is leaving her few cattle out of gratitude for kindnesses she has received. She has all her family in heaven, namely father, mother, two sisters, and a brother, all of whom died blessedly already in Old Ebenezer; and this moved her to tears.

The 14th of February. We have had a long and cold winter, which brought with it, to be sure, much wind, but little rain. However, it must have rained much more in the mountains, because of which the Savannah River has kept its normal level and all of our mills have been able to function. This has been a great blessing both for our inhabitants and for strangers, which, however, is not recognized sufficiently by all of them. Yet the All-highest gives sunshine and rain to the ungrateful and wicked, too,8 also water and mills. By such common, and at the same time indispensable, blessings He wishes to lure them to repentance. The mills are an extraordinary blessing in this land, however numerous they may be in other lands, where rivers and high banks are found.

Through incaution or out of a desire for young grass for the cattle someone set fire to the dry grass in the forest at some distance, which the wind has driven very rapidly in all directions. This caused danger and loss to some people, and the fence of our cemetery outside of town was in danger. Towards the spring of every year the old dry grass in the piny woods is burned away; and the young sweet grass lures the wild and runaway cattle from the swampy regions that people here call canebrakes or bay swamps, where there are warm lairs and winter forage. Then good riders on strong horses drive the cattle home for slaughter or for domestication. The fire does the forest trees much damage.

The 16th of February. On this Invocation Sunday we were delighted by some letters from Europe which, through divine mercy, have served to awaken me again and to strengthen my faith and to comfort me in our tribulations, as well as to cause me to praise God and request intercession for these and other dear friends and benefactors of Ebenezer. We wish to present them, and their circumstances, in which there is much suffering, to our Lord in the name of Jesus Christ in our public prayer meeting this evening humbly and confidently and, through the assistance of the Holy Ghost, to do that which comes with the name of this Sunday with reference to the inestimable verse 15 of the 91st Psalm: He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

Here I cannot but mention what was especially comforting for me in our worthy Mr. Albinuss friendly letter, I remember the late Inspector Sarganecks serious and most impressive speech to me when, according to Gods will, I had resolved to go to the Paedagogium regium9 in Halle. He said, Be welcome to us in our great hardship. But do not think that we have only great hardship: no, we also have a great God who helpeth. If you feel the hardship, then flee to God and say, Dear God, thou hast led me here and laid this heavy burden on my weak shoulders, so trudge along with me. Help me so that I not succumb. Then he will always help, factum est.10 Halleluhah! In view of our work, which has been increased by the arrival of the new transport, this very worthy friend sent the following confortatorium:11 Through the arrival of the new transport your work has been noticeably increased, yet at the same time also the aid and assistance of the Lord. No hardship is so great, no burden is so heavy but that the Lord is still greater and always has ways and means enough to help. The more the work, the more the assistance: the greater the suffering, the greater the comfort. To that we add our trusting Amen!

The 17th of February. I visited the recently deceased Burgsteiners widow, who told me many edifying things about the blessed death of her husband. Among other things, she said he spent his last time with constant prayer and the word of God and wished to die rather than to live. After Steiners blessed death he had taken two of his children to rear, and at his deathbed he ordered that they should remain with his wife. For their raising we will willingly give something. She has only one little son. I spoke movingly to the three children and the hired hand from Gods word and added the promise that is so abundantly given to the obedient. This Mrs. Burgsteiner is industrious in spinning cotton, of which she had a good amount woven for shirts, and she still had some thread left. She said that on a little piece of land that bears about a bushel of corn she had raised at least fifty pounds of cotton, which still had its seeds. A bushel of corn costs at most two shillings; and, if one prices one pound of cotton at only twopence, then the profit is four times as great as with corn.

The 18th of February. Young N.s wife has just been afflicted by the violent fever and sore throat of which the two honest Salzburgers, Steiner and Burgsteiner, recently died. Today she has somewhat improved, for which she, and also we, thanked God. She regrets with tears that she did not rightly apply the valuable period of grace to the recognition, love, and service of her Savior; and therefore it was necessary, she said, to arouse her through this sudden illness. I reminded her that she had already had several such awakenings to a true seriousness in her Christianity and that she did not know how soon it would be the last one. The encouragement was well received, and we said our prayer with bowed and confident hearts. She has her righteous and experienced mother as a nurse in her sickness, and this is profitable for her soul. From often hearing the lovely morning hymn Danck sey GOTT in der Hhe, etc., her four-year-old only son had learned the comforting words, We are the tender grapes, Thou art the vinestock on which we grow and cling.12 He often said on his own, I am a tender grape, and this greatly pleased his grandmother.

The 19th of February. Only a few people now live in town; most of them have moved to the newly established plantations on the Blue Bluff. Consequently, they cannot attend the daily edification in the evening prayer meetings. In order that they may not lack a public opportunity to prepare for a worthy participation in the Holy Communion, I announced on Sunday that today, Wednesday, I would give a preparation sermon in Jerusalem Church, and this was done this morning from eight to ten oclock. In it I gave them directions for a salutary contemplation and application of the story of all stories, that of the suffering and death of Christ.

One can now thank only oneself if one remains in spiritual blindness despite the bright light of the gospel and in hypocrisy and wickedness despite such abundantly offered grace. The people from town and from the plantations on both sides of it had assembled in large numbers to hear the word. May our merciful God bless His word, which He himself has granted and has first blessed in my own soul, in all listeners such that they may attain a living recognition of Christ and the enjoyment of salvation!

The 20th of February. At the order of the Lord Trustees a parliament is again to be held in Savannah on the 2nd of March, for which deputies from every district in the colony are to be elected per plurima voca.13 Yesterday afternoon we had an election of two deputies at our place; and today there will be one at Josephs Town between Abercorn and Savannah. My dear colleague and I were invited in a letter from Dr. Graham because we have some still undeveloped land in the district near the area of Goshen. My sickness and other circumstances kept me from this journey, and therefore Mr. Lemke undertook it. Unfortunately, there are in this country, as in England, two parties; and I am learning in a small way what a great effort it must cost in England to have a favorable parliament.

Dr. G. wrote me a few days ago that he and his neighbors were going to vote for a certain otherwise skillful and experienced captain and that he hoped the same from me and from Mr. Lemke and from some other Germans who have land around there. To be sure, in my absence my vote is not valid, yet for Mr. Lemkes sake I wrote him a letter in which I did not exactly disapprove his grounds for electing the said captain but modestly showed him that we had equally important, if not more important, reasons to give our vote to another prominent planter, who fears God from his heart and has an honest interest in the colony. He would find these reasons well grounded, I wrote, when I revealed them to him at our next meeting.

At the end of the letter I announced that today, the 20th of February, had the beautiful name Concordia in the calendar, which reminded me of what stands on the Dutch ducat: Concordia res parvae crescunt, Discordia dilabuntur).14 Unity in these serious and dangerous times would advance our fortune, but disunity would advance our ruin. At the close of the letter I wished that holy unity might rule among us all. I gave the name Good Harmony to my 500 acre plantation that lies in the neighborhood but has not yet been developed because of lack of means. Every owner of such a piece of land must give it a name, which is recorded in the colonys protocol.

The 21st of February. My dear colleague returned safely last evening from the previously mentioned election and said that everything had, to be sure, passed very amicably and peacefully but that all the English had elected the captain to the parliament per plurima vota.15 We think of the words: Nothing can happen to us but what God has foreseen and what is good for us. I shall accept it as He gives it. What He pleases to do with me, I have already chosen.16

The 22nd of February. A young man came to me today at the confessional and told me humbly that he had been in especial danger in N. of injuring his conscience but that the Lord had greatly strengthened him to overcome not only all temptations, which were almost stronger and more disgraceful than in the story of Joseph, but also to speak the truth from the word of God to the godless people. I told him that he had as much reason as Lot and the three men in the fiery furnace to praise God for His protecting and beneficent goodness and mercy and to guard himself all his life long from such people. Flee from sin as from a serpent, etc.17 I need this news, however distressing it is.

After this victory, which from the circumstances known to me seemed to me to be a great victory, God not only granted this chaste young Joseph a virtuous and skillful helpmeet but also crowned him with such spiritual and physical blessings, and especially since that same time, that he has changed from a poor day laborer into a man of means who is pleasing to God and men. Not all the circumstances can be related exactly, otherwise one would more clearly recognize this youths blessed obedience.

The 23rd of February. On this Reminiscere Sunday, Holy Communion was held for one hundred and twenty-four members of the congregation; and with it our kind God granted us His holy word from morning to evening with blessing and to the rich edification of our souls. Praised be His holy name for ever and ever!

After the cold and dry winter we are having a warm and dry spring. It has suddenly become warmer than is customary in May. In the last few days and today it has thundered and appeared ready to rain, but none fell. A fruitful rain is greatly needed by the plentifully planted young mulberry trees, the European grains, and the kitchen vegetables in the gardens. Plum and peach trees and some unknown wild trees and bushes are in full yellow, white, red, and brown blossoms,18 which delight the eye and rejoice the heart. If anyone had the means he could plant far more enjoyable and useful gardens here than is possible in Germany. Because of lack of workers and all-too-costly wages we must desist from much good.

The 27th of February. This evening we received a large quantity of silkworm seed to distribute among those who have none of their own or who wish to exchange theirs for some foreign seed. The mulberry leaves are beginning to sprout, and this would occur still more if God would grant us a fruitful rain.

Mr. Krafft has now returned from Charleston, indeed in good health and after successful conclusion of his business.

The 28th of February. It is well known that the godless and hypocrites in Christendom want only to draw Gods grace and, against Gods order, vainly appropriate for themselves the forgiveness of sins without repentance and faith and consequently to their frightful harm; and therefore we have made every effort in our power to protect our dear parishioners from self-deception, hypocritical confession, selfmade faith, imagined forgiveness of sins, and false comfort from Gods mercy and Christs merits. For that purpose we always show them from Gods word that the only means of justification and forgiveness of sins is the faith in Jesus Christ and His inestimable ransom, which he offered up through His perfect obedience, shedding of blood, and death for all sinners and sins for our fully valid reconciliation. This faith, I said, is wrought in a penitent, contrite, and crushed heart and it reveals itself in such souls partly through desire and partly through the reception of Christ.

Just as there is a power of justification in this faith that has been wrought in a penitent heart by the Holy Ghost through the gospel, this faith also reveals a saving power, purifies the heart, and unites with Christ. Step by step in such believing and pardoned sinners there occurs what stands in Ezekiel 36:26 ff.; and thus justification leads to sanctification; or the justification in life is exactly connected with the justification through faith. Where the former is lacking and the opposite is found, there is neither repentance nor faith nor justification nor the forgiveness of sins. Many are so blind that they desire nothing more from the gospel than just the forgiveness of sins so that they will come not into hell, but into heaven. This sometimes requires me to tell the parishioners what I once heard in this matter from the mouth of the late Abbot Breithaupt, who compared the forgiveness of sins with the removal of the window casement so that the sun might shine into the room. Thus, in a penitent and believing person the sins, as a separation between God and men, are taken away so that later the participation in the remaining treasures of salvation is connected with it in order that the pardoned sinner will achieve not a half, but a full, salvation. On the other hand it causes unutterable harm when blind and persistent sinners demand the forgiveness of sins yet do not wish to hear of true repentance or sanctification or renewal.

Our godfearing miller has suddenly contracted the genuine side stitches with a violent fever. He is a man highly respected by both inhabitants and strangers and is a jewel of our mills, who consecrates all business with Gods word and prayer. Therefore his premature departure from the world would be a great loss for Ebenezer. We hope that God will grant him to us again. His only little daughter has also been dangerously sick but has now become fully well through Gods goodness. Her mother admonished her to recite the Bible verse that she had enjoyed during her sickness. It reads: I will be glad in the Lord, and my soul is joyful, etc.19 She also recited the words Return unto thy rest, O my soul: for the Lord hath dealt, etc.20

MARCH 1752

The 1st of March. On this first day of March, being Sunday Oculi, I preached to the German people in Savannah and held Holy Communion with some of them. In the preparation I gave them directions how to profit properly from the present period of fasting and the Passion story of our Savior. Eight days ago in the evening there was a severe thunderstorm in Savannah which suddenly struck a little Negro girl and burned the flesh on her whole body along with her clothes. Before receiving the deadly stroke she had placed a bowl full of milk on the ground; and, because of the rain, she had wished to put some of her clothing over the bowl. But then she was killed by the lightning and the milk was changed to pure hydrogen sulfide. A Frenchman who was bringing rice to Savannah with his brother suddenly became sick during the night and died. Thus our wise and good God wishes to awaken secure people1 in all sorts of ways. These words impress me deeply: What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.2

The 4th of March. During my trip things have become worse rather than better with the sick Zimmerebner. He is certain of his state of grace, has no fear of death, and is willing to live or die according to the will of God. Our conversation concerned the beautiful words of Christ: Because I live, ye shall live also.3

The 5th of March. I visited some people on Ebenezer Creek, from whose Christian behavior and love for the good I had great joy. The children gave me pleasure through their merry and well behaved nature and through their diligence in learning, but my joy was greatly lessened by the sad memory that in previous years so many children born here had sickened and died. Whether or not a natural cause with respect to weather or the behavior of the parents and children can be adequately cited or whether it is only the hand of God that strikes us, of that I cannot judge.

The 6th of March. This week the schoolmaster on the plantations is letting the children sing the very beautiful song Mein Vater, du hast mich erwhlt, etc.4 Because I arrived at the school promptly and could sing it with them, our merciful God granted me much edification and joy of heart from it. After I had concluded with the children the earlier instructive song: O heiliger Gott, wir alle beten an from our supply of grace for salvation, I plan during the next catechistic lesson to lead the children through the first mentioned song of thanksgiving for the gracious blessings we have received from God, which well suits this time when the celebration of our annual commemoration and thanksgiving feast is gradually approaching.

The 7th of March. Today on the glebe land by Goshen there was a child to baptize, at which opportunity I also visited old Mrs. Lackner, whom I found in great suffering, to be sure, but, to my edification, also in great faith and great patience. God has visited her with longlasting suffering, which has been blessed for the salvation of her soul by divine mercy. Grace has made a great change. The inhabitants of Goshen had assembled in a house to hear Gods word, which I preached to them from the Passion story in accordance with the nature of the times in which we live. It was an evangelical sermon on repentance and preparation for their pending use of Holy Communion, which is to be held with them on this coming Monday or the ninth of this month.

The 9th of March. In a paternal way God averted a great danger and misfortune from our pious Mrs. Bacher on her way home from work as midwife in Goshen. We rightfully praised Him for this and edified ourselves from the comforting verses: It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed.5 Our dear God has very clearly blessed her office in Goshen in very dangerous circumstances into which other people had brought a lying-in woman, as He has often graciously done before. For this reason we rightfully consider this pious and blessed woman to be a jewel among us. Through divine providence we have in our congregation several jewels in Christian and very useful persons and indispensable institutions and benefactions, which, however, are not recognized by all.

The 10th of March. Our dear God has visited the two Salzburgers Zimmerebner and Zittrauer with severe and dangerous sicknesses, but He has also begun to show His help so that we have good hope for their early recovery. On the other hand, yesterday evening Lackner sent us word from his plantation in Goshen that his wife is coming ever closer to her end and that she is showing a great desire to speak again with one of her ministers and to receive Holy Communion. My dear colleague journeyed to her this morning.

Today, for the seventeenth time, our merciful God showed us in Ebenezer the blessing of being able to conduct our annual commemoration and thanksgiving feast in good tranquility, order, and edification with the hearing of the divine word, with singing and praying both morning and afternoon, as well as in the regular repetition and prayer hours. The texts about which we preached were Psalms 116:12-14 and Isaiah 64:7-10. Because we have many new parishioners, they were instructed in the introit from Sirach 47:9-12 concerning the necessity and value of such a celebration.

Instead of reading a Biblical text between the two hymns preceding the sermon, the children recited the arousing hymn composed by Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen: Mein Vater, du hast mich erwhlt, which especially suits such an occasion as we had today and which concurs with the materials that were preached. Because we have only a few copies of this beautiful hymn, we cannot sing it in the numerous congregation, but only in the repetition and prayer hour. The same is true of another song composed for Ebenezer: Auf Ebenezer, werde heut zu GOttes Lob erwecket, etc.6 I would gladly have sung it in church today (as I was requested to by someone); but it was not possible, because only a few people possess written copies and because reading it aloud in a large assembly is inconvenient and not very edifying. I mention this lack in such detail because I wish and hope that we will someday receive printed copies of these hymns from Europe.

For several weeks there has been a great drought that has badly hindered the growth of the European crops and has prevented the mulberry trees from sprouting the leaves for the silkworms fodder. This afternoon during the sermon our dear God granted us a penetrating rain and thus a new and very great blessing, for which we had first invoked Him and then praised him.

The 13th of March. After the rain we had cold wind and a frost, and people were worried that it might destroy the tender mulberry leaves; however, our dear God graciously averted this feared harm, for which we rightly praise Him. Today in school as an introduction to the contemplation of the edifying hymn Mein Vater, du hast mich erwaehlt, etc. I contemplated the two dear passages from Psalms 92: 5 ff. that were placed over them: Thou lettest me sing joyfully of thy works, and I praise the works of thy hands7 and Isaiah 12:5, Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. If only the inhabitants were in Gods favor or strove for His grace, all would turn out better.

The 14th of March. There are only a few Negroes or Moorish slaves here, yet they cause us no little trouble, for which, however, they are not to blame. It is too vexatious to tell of all the distressing things; and I greatly pity those who have caused the vexation. Here, too, it is true: Greed is the root of all evil.8 A Negro woman of this country said of her master that she knew of no difference between him and the Negroes except that he could read. Because she was accused of something against natural law and propriety and was compelled to do it, she said that she wished to accuse her master and mistress of it before Gods judgment. Oh, terrible things occur in this country among and with the Negroes; and therefore I fear the severe judgments of God. In this I do my office as well as I can; may God give my words and representations the proper emphasis.

The 16th of March. Old Schubdrein is always merry, works industriously as a carpenter with his sons, and is a needed and useful worker among us. I visited him and his sick wife, spoke to them from Gods word, and prayed with them; and this pleased them very much. His son /Johann Peter/ showed me his travel diary from here to his fatherland and from there back to Ebenezer, which I read not without edifying emotions and from which I recognized the difficulties and dangers of human life, Gods fatherly providence over his children, the righteous and godly intentions of this young man, and his and Ebenezers friends and benefactors. He is a humble and grateful man and has brought back from his journey a good treasure of grace; and we have noticed his increase in good. He shines as a light amongst us.

The 17th of March. Our pious, blessed, and universally beloved miller, Zimmerebner, has, to be sure, recovered from his dangerous attack of side stitches, yet he now has a serious illness in his chest and can therefore not manage the mill. He is afraid that his recovery will be slow in coming; and he wishes the community to appoint another miller in his place, but in this we will go slowly. We would rather try to lighten his load and to keep him even though sick. The mills are increasing as the community increases. The dams, millruns, and mill houses, and everything that remains in the weather have become very dilapidated; and already last summer they were in need of repair. Now we must plan not only for a hasty repair but also for the construction of a new millrun, for the only course that has water in the dry summer cannot provide for so many inhabitants and strangers.

Because pine wood rots quickly in the weather, we have had an adequate supply of cypress wood prepared by the Schubdreins and our servants in order to build right durably with it. Things have not yet been built this way among us or even in the whole country. The long millraces or canals to the waterwheels, likewise the lost water chute, consist of whole cypresses and are of unusual length. From the very beginning we have had little experience and just as few knowledgeable builders, and therefore, to our harm, much has been built on the mills with considerable loss of money. Indeed, every year we have had to patch the watercourse and the millruns at no small cost. Had God not provided it, we would have been long without a mill, our nourishment would have been much worse, and the inhabitants could hardly have subsisted here.9 We are again asking God to move the hearts and hands of our worthy Fathers, benefactors, and friends and set us in a position through their generous contributions to carry out this important construction, which we will have to begin with debts. Afterwards, through divine goodness, we will have all the more rest and be able to apply the income from the grist and sawmills for a good purpose.

The 21st of March. Shortly before my departure from Savannah the sad news was brought from the gardens and the plantations that during the night from the 18th to the 19th of this month a heavy frost had, as it were, scorched and spoiled the mulberry leaves. I heard this news, in a somewhat gentler form, while coming up past Dr. Grahams. Because our Ebenezer district lies somewhat further toward the northwest than Savannah, I assumed that the cold frost must have caused much greater damage to our mulberry trees and their leaves than in Savannah. However, I heard to my joy, and not without amazement, that our dear God had graciously spared us everywhere this time. This is a new and very great blessing for our inhabitants (our families included).10 We have also had much more rain than in Savannah, yet there is still too little of it. The soil and air are cold; and therefore the leaves, the only proper food for the silkworms, will not grow rightly as they would do if it rained and if some days and nights were warm.

The 22nd of March. God has visited N.N. with a severe and dangerous sickness, which he himself considers a necessary and salutary kind of discipline, if he were not to fall further into perdition. In him I have an example of how harmful wealth and good days are for many people and that it takes strong legs to carry good days and how necessary is the prayer: Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.11 In his profession, which he first learned here, he earned so much in a short time that he could establish his household better than others. With his wealth grew his pride, which was all the more repugnant because everyone knows how poor a man he had formerly been. He had me called to him and gave me an opportunity to discuss many necessary things and to pray with him.

The 24th of March. For several days we have had a fruitful rain, cool nights, and warm sunshine. It is beginning to be a fruitful year. The water in the river has risen rapidly, which comes either from rain (which we have not had here) or from snow.

The 25th of March. An old widow, a Dutch woman whose husband died in Carolina, has come to our place and is expressing a desire to spend the remainder of her life here if she can support herself here modestly. I would like to provide for her shelter, but for her work or a small service I directed her to the merchants Mr. Krafft and Mr. Mayer. We have had widows, orphans, and other needy people at our place before; and it gives me no little pain to be unable to contribute as much as I would like to their physical support. Nevertheless, to the best of my knowledge, no one has any lack of food, clothes, and shelter in healthy days and care in sick ones.

The two transports of Lutheran people from the Territory of Ulm, their provisioning and first installation on their plantations and in their trades, likewise the purchase of the cowpen in Old Ebenezer, the construction of the new sawmill, and the highly necessary repairs that have been begun on the gristmills, etc. have made us poorer than we have been in a long time. What we have advanced the people they cannot pay back. I shall not mention other tribulations by which we were prevented from receiving the hoped-for income through the help of the sawmills and by which, on the other hand, we had to incur all sorts of heavy expenses. Our merciful God will not withdraw His hand from us but rather show us His help in this distressing time also, as He has often done! It would have been of sad consequence in both spiritual and physical matters if we had not accepted the two said transports from Ulm but had merely provided them with some provisions and advanced them some money when they received nothing from the gentlemen of the Council in Savannah because of their and the Lord Trustees great lack of means.

The 27th of March. Yesterday my dear colleague Mr. Lemke was in Goshen to baptize a child, to preach, and to hold Holy Communion. Meanwhile, yesterday being Maunday Thursday, I preached in the morning in Zion Church and in the evening in Jerusalem Church about the dear and important dogma of Holy Communion according to the introduction of our catechism, which I find especially pleasant and edifying. Today in both churches we celebrated the blessed memory of the death and burial of Christ and we concluded the Passion sermons, which were held this time on the 27th and 28th chapters of Matthew. May our loyal Savior be praised for the rich edification which He has granted us today and in previous days from the most important story of His willing and innocent suffering and death. May He give us loyalty to apply the grace we have received to a Christian life, patient suffering, and blessed death!

The 30th of March. Today we celebrated the Holy Eastertide in health and tranquility and with edification for our hearts, for which may the name of the Lord be heartily praised.

Since for a very short time I have been unable to find any Indian corn either here or in the neighborhood for the new people (and because I had no money to look around for it), I heard with sorrow that some of them have sinned no little with hard and impatient words, on the other hand others have offered various clothes and linen in Purysburg for corn. Yet we have enough rice (because two weeks ago I bought more than five thousand pounds of lovely rice), just as I bought the fresh meat of four oxen last week, which they themselves can salt down. Therefore they could have been patient about the corn. Corn is rather scarce, yet I have now unexpectedly obtained a hundred bushels from a captain, for which, however, I had to pay with a bill of exchange for L 10 Sterling, otherwise he would not have let me have it.

No other transports provisioning has been so difficult for me as the present ones, because the setting up of the household at the mill, the repairs to the old mill, the construction of a new millcourse, and the payment for the cowpen bought from the Trustees caused a lot of expense all at one time. To be sure, the old sawmill brought in something, but it could have been a great deal more if the sawmiller had been more industrious and more regular. The new sawmill has not yet sawed as much as we hoped. This winter and spring have been unusually dry, and that has made the water in the little river flowing to the mill very slight and weak, etc. I greatly need letters from Europe in order to learn whether a physical blessing has flowed together for us in Germany and London through the heartsteering power of God, which would right specially rejoice me and encourage me to the praise of God, the Giver of all good and perfect gifts.

APRIL 1752

The 1st. On this first day of the month I was in Savannah because of some practical matters. I edified myself with some friends with regard to the words, It is finished.1 I performed my business, discussed some useful things with some honest Englishmen, and prepared myself for the return trip, which followed on the 2nd at four oclock in the morning.

The 3rd. So far the winds have been very strong, dry, and cold, as a result of which the soil is unusually parched and almost as hard as iron. The little bit of corn that has sprouted miserably is being eaten away by the black worms, of which there are a great multitude in the earth and in the grass. The seeds of the German crops like wheat and rye are suffering greatly because the earth is so cold and dry. The mulberry leaves, too, do not wish to sprout and grow properly.

The 4th. It redounds to my great joy and the strengthening of my faith that our almighty and merciful God has so shown Himself in several notable examples, as was recently presented to us from the hymn: Warum betruebst du dich, mein Hertz. Unexpectedly a boat arrived here full of corn, which Mr. Krafft bought cheaply for resale. Thus the last colonists shortage of corn was averted even before the hundred bushels arrived that I had bought from a captain. Quite contrary to my expectation, God has shown a good opportunity for procuring ten cows and so many calves for the new colonists without my being further burdened in our present lack of money. They may pay for them in two years without interest or return other cows and calves instead of payment. They were delivered to them on the Blue Bluff. Oh, if only they could kiss with faith and humility the hand which is so blessing them!

A certain friend has given our Jerusalem Church a beautiful pewter basin and a well-wrought pitcher for use at Holy Baptism. Because we have lacked such a beautiful vessel until now in the Zion Church, the pitcher and basin that have been used until now in Jerusalem Church will be given to Zion Church. Today two things impressed and comforted me: namely, in our morning prayer hour at home the verse: He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.2 In the evening, when I was visiting the sick Zettler and his sickly and pious helpmeet, our good and pious Savior blessed in us the dear words: Thou art ever before mine eyes, thou liest in my bosom, like babes that still suckle, my love for thee is great. No time, no need, no peril or strife, indeed, Satan himself, will not part us. Remain true in all thy suffering.3 When we prayed, the little four-year-old boy laid his little crust of bread down and prayed to the end with devout gestures along with us. This pleased me very much and reminded me of the words of God and of the great Friend of Children, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, etc.4

The 5th. Late in the afternoon yesterday God moistened our very much dried out soil with a rain, which was accompanied by a thunderstorm that soon passed on. Today, Quasimodogeneti Sunday,5 N.N. sent a young person from her plantation in the neighborhood of Purysburg to me and requested me to ask for Christian intercession for her at our meeting, which was done for her.6 She is dangerously ill; and she is old and destitute of her temporal wealth, of which she brought much into this country, because most of her Negroes have died, the high water spoiled her rice, and her husband fell into debt through two vain attempts to build mills.

The 6th. God has again visited N.N. with a dangerous illness, which is redounding to his spiritual health and life. God has already done great things to his soul during his recent illness; but now He has brought him completely to a certainty of the forgiveness of his sins and to a living hope for salvation. Some sins, which, unfortunately, are very common among so-called Christians, still lay on his conscience from his time in Germany; and he confessed them humbly. A few years ago he was blamed for a certain injustice here, about which I asked him on this occasion. However, he assured me that he was innocent of this. Therefore I shall talk his neighbor out of his suspicion, which is a sin against the 6th and 9th commandments.7

He also regrets the grievous sin of taking Holy Communion unworthily, and he has an ardent desire to receive it again before his death in faith and with wholesome effect. We prayed together, and I praised God with him and his wife for the great mercy shown to this formerly wild and malicious man. In Germany he was a true Belial and neer-do-well among the apprentices and soldiers, and also for several years at our place. However, at his own frequent request, God let him not only come to Ebenezer but also be reduced to poverty and sickness. This tamed him and brought him to a recognition and feeling of his sins and to a true recognition of Christ and an experience of His mercy. Dancing, which is so senseless and common, and the course and subtile impurity that accompanies it is lying on his conscience like a stone but also driving him to Christ the Savior of poor sinners, who accepts all who believe in Him. Oh, how great is His shepherd-like loyalty, how long He follows after the most miserable sinners with such zeal!

Mrs. Kronberger (a woman concerned with her salvation) has suddenly become sick and bedridden. I told her something for her awakening and the comforting of her soul, using the beautiful words of the Lord: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent,8 namely, that the chastening and chastising of believers has an excellent purpose, to wit, they come from the love of Christ and are aimed at the salutary purpose of encouraging us to diligent repentance and change of mind. She and her family have been spared from sickness for several years; but for some time God has visited her along with her children with all sorts of sickness. He is also proceeding just as marvelously and mercifully with her sister, Mrs. Zettler, and her brother, Kieffer, who are all honest people who love God and His word.9

The 7th. Because of their distance and the lack of a bridge across Ebenezer Creek, the new colonists who live on the Blue Bluff cannot visit the evening prayer hours. Also, because of their great work, it has not been suitable for us to preach a sermon to them each week. Now that some of them wish to attend Holy Communion next Sunday, I held a preparation sermon this Monday for their benefit and set the 5th article of Holy Communion as its basis. I wish that all of them had been present; because in it God showed me, and I hope the parishioners who were present, much good.

The 9th. Old Mrs. Schubdrein is sick with fever and old age, but at the same time patient. Her children show her all possible love. Her husband is also old, yet very vigorous, and does good service as a carpenter with his children and richly earns his keep. All the Schubdreins are right Christian, laborious, domestic, contented, and useful people, whom God blesses in their profession.

To be sure, we now have sufficient rain, but to our surprise the cold is continuing unusually long. At night there is still hoar frost, which, however, does no other harm than slowing the crops in their growth. The soil is very cold. This is also the cause that there are so few and such small mulberry leaves this spring, for which reason no more silk will be made this year than last year, even though there are more and larger trees. For some of them silkmaking is already coming to an end this week. Whoever can heat his rooms is soon finished, on the other hand other peoples worms are greatly delayed from spinning by the cold days and nights, in fact some are harmed by it. Christians accept even this from the hand of God and are content with His guidance and providence.

The 12th. On this Sunday of Mercy, or Misere Dominica, one hundred and seven members of our congregation attended Holy Communion. In preparation for this holy action we had contemplated something from the catechism of Holy Communion in our weekly sermons and prayer hours. It is necessary in this dangerous land for the parishioners, both adults and children, to be instructed carefully in the holy and salutary dogma of their church concerning baptism and Holy Communion of the Lord. For both sacraments of the New Testament have many enemies here, who scorn them in theory and practice or sometimes attribute false meaning to them. We must not only confirm the dogma of our church with clear and certain grounds from Gods words, but also when necessary present and contradict that which others, in keeping with the free thinking in the Old and New Worlds, are accustomed to use in overthrowing our dogma, which is well grounded in Gods infallible word, and in affirming their own. This requires no great detail, rather it can be done very briefly.

I have noticed that such people who own all kinds of incorrect writings appear to be able to prove their tenets. They are often so certain of their opinions that they seek to spread them directly and indirectly among other religious parties. Now, if our people are not thoroughly grounded, they are easily taken advantage of by false words and by the seemingly pious but really incorrect life of sectarian people, and also by their helpfulness.10 If a father and mother have gone over to a sect, then truth is dead for the latest generation. Indeed, generally such people later become the bitterest blasphemers of the church in which they were born and from which they have received much spiritual and physical good but which they have left.

The 13th. Yesterday Lackners helpmeet had something fetched from us for her physical refreshment and at the same time to request our intercession because she still appears to be approaching her end. This morning I traveled to her plantation behind Abercorn; and through my visit, Christian encouragement, and prayer I gave her much joy, which she otherwise no longer has in the world. I communicated to her something from yesterdays comforting introit verses: And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.11 At the same time I also made profitable to her the beautiful page in the Little Treasure Chest:12 O satisfy us early with thy mercy, along with the edifying verses standing under it. She is very weak physically, her breathing is very difficult, she can swallow neither food nor drink. One must give her a little water or other liquid with a little spoon as to a weak child. Despite that, she is patient at heart and content with Gods guidance, considers herself unworthy of all gifts, and thanks God for the great mercy He has shown her in making her believe in and assuring her of His mercy in Christ.

Not long before my arrival she had to experience a difficult hour of temptation;13 however, the Lord granted her aid and victory. She composed herself for many things and was comforted in Christ. Finally, I read her the last verse of the hymn Zion klagt mit Angst una Schmerzen twice and Du bist mir stets vor den Augen, du liegst mir in meinem Schoos, etc. This pleased her so well that she asked her husband to write it down for her.

The gentlemen of the Council in Savannah have urgently insisted that our Salzburgers, who have lived close together in Ebenezer, should move from each other and to good land for their better nourishment. For that reason they have promised each of them 100 instead of 50 acres of land; and therefore a few of them have moved to Goshen or into the same region. Among these are this Lackner Lechner,14 Balthasar Bacher, Scheraus, and some new colonists. These good people now have, to be sure, much good land, but more hardship and inconvenience than previously. For they live far from the river, far from the church and school, far from the encouragement of their ministers in healthy and sick days, from the hearing of the Sunday and weekday sermons, and from participation in the holy sacraments; and they must bury their dead in quiet without song, music, and funeral oration. The sick ones feel the distance from Ebenezer most of all, for they cannot make use of the ministers and the doctors as much as if they were still at their old place. Today I learned that they will not be able to progress merely in farming on this good land, indeed, even less than in Ebenezer, because they cannot earn anything. Therefore they must resolve to prepare all sorts of lumber for the West Indies or they will be reduced to hardship and debts. If they had wished to perform such labor according to the advice so often given them, then they could have supported themselves better in Ebenezer than on better land at some other place. I hope that they will eventually perform such labor.

The 26th. From the older Lackner, who has moved to a new plantation behind Abercorn, I learned this morning that his wife had been freed last week from all her very severe sufferings through a blessed death. She had suffered a great deal on her long-lasting sickbed, yet she had boasted to the very end how well she was with her dear Savior, whose mercy had sweetened all her suffering. I was away at the time, and my dear colleague had double work and the Tuesday sermon; and therefore neither of us could attend the burial, which took place on his plantation. The good people who have moved to the good land in Goshen and behind Abercorn at the request of the authorities must do without much good that they formerly enjoyed among us, and this frightens them. They lack any opportunity to earn, and they especially lack the service of the ministers.

What was preached today, Sunday Dominica Cantate, concerning the beautiful gospel of the effect of grace of the Spirit on the soul of man is to be repeated in the coming evening prayer hours and in the Tuesday sermon in Zion Church with the help of the Holy Ghost. Today I repeated the principal elements of the comforting verse that we contemplated last week; and the last part of the hour was given to praying communally on our knees. We imploringly presented to our merciful God in the name of Jesus Christ especially the extraordinarily great drought, which both people and cattle must suffer; and we begged Him to forgive us, by virtue of the fully valid sacrifice of reconciliation merited by Christ, the sins we have committed knowingly and unknowingly while enjoying so many blessings. The poor nourishment in this colony up to the present time has been attributed to all kinds of things; but we know the true cause from Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which are now being read publicly.

The 27th. Before evening an Irishman came to me with a Scots woman and wished to be married, which, however, is not my duty, unless such people bring a license from the minister in Savannah. To be sure, they will continue their disorder without marriage, and it would be better for them to be given to each other according to church law. Nevertheless, I will not perform such things for strange people unless permission is sought and obtained from the place in question. There is no minister around there. The young English minister who was sent to Augusta by the Society for Propagating the Gospel has moved to South Carolina. Several German families live up there. It is said that many Quakers, Seventhday Adventists, and Anabaptists from Virginia will come to the region of Augusta and Savannah Town because there is very good land there.

A woman of the last transport from the Territory of Ulm, who still has a husband in Germany, moved to Palachocola with a single brickmaker who came here with her, and thus revealed her mind. She urgently tried both in London and here with me to get married to this person, who is a tiler and potter, but this was refused her. Her own brother, the saddler Happacher, gives such a bad testimony of her behavior in Germany that one can well see that she is chiefly to blame that her husband left her. May God guide all wickedness in this country!

The 28th. The young cartwright /Georg/ Mayer reported to me that his wife had borne a son, which he wished to have baptized at his plantation on the Blue Bluff. I traveled up there this morning with the sponsors and at the same time visited a couple of families of these new colonists at their new plantations, and this pleased them greatly. They are settling down very well and are contented with their initial difficulties. Since God is holding back the rain, their crops look bad in the fields. They are heartily grateful for an advance of provisions and some cattle. I wish it were in my means to do more for them; it would, I hope, be well applied. They have, God be praised, no lack of foodstuffs, they are lacking only money to be able to do something in their bodily debilities.

The 29th. Now that some order has been brought into the household of the new sawmill, we have begun to hold a sermon every Wednesday for the housefather, his family, and the servants, which is begun with a hymn and concluded with a prayer on our knees. Until now my dear colleague has held it, but today I had the pleasure for the first time to edify myself in the new house with the above-mentioned people. Here too I lay as a basis the examinations of the heart according to the Ten Commandments from the late Ambrosius Wirths Confession and Communion booklet,15 as we have been doing for some time in the prayer hours and weekly sermons. The intelligent readers of this booklet will know how important these are; and many of us know from experience how blessed they are. I would like to have more copies of this little book because our new parishioners express a great desire for them. They would gladly pay one or two shilling for them.

Our righteous Hans Flerl is our housefather and overseer here and has settled down here very nicely. A spacious and durable house of wood, clay, and lime has been built for him, in which it is cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Such construction requires no great expense, yet it is neat and durable. He supervises the new sawmill, is in charge of expediting the boards, and directs the labor of the servants, who consist of seven single men, a maid, and a boy. He also raises cattle and plants, for which purpose we have here a plantation of one hundred acres. It is a laudable institution, in which the young and inexperienced people are instructed not only in the work of this country but also in godliness, and are kept in good order and also receive good food and good wages. Today I gave each of them the late Johann Arndts Informatorium biblicum16 and recommended its most important contents. In it the content of the dogma of our church from the dear word of God, which is also our dogma in Ebenezer, stands briefly and thoroughly. Anyone who becomes properly acquainted with it and accepts it as from Gods word and heartily approves it cannot say that we are too demanding or that we expect too much from people, that we give too little comfort, and other blather from the Old Adam. I found N.N. at the mill; and, because he was especially in my mind during the reading of this Informatorium biblicum because of his miserable objections and excuses against sanctification, and because I had a pocket full of such dear booklets, I gave him one. Oh, may God grant that he read it in such a way as one is instructed at the end of this new edition from the 119th Psalm. Then the scales will fall from his eyes.

The 30th. Because the dam and races at the old mill are decayed and we are in danger of even losing the mill in case of severe flooding, we have had to begin a new construction now that the water in the river is very low, even though we are quite out of money. Because of the continuing very dry weather in the winter and this spring, the new sawmill has not been able to cut as much as it could for lack of water. However, we hope for more use from it in the future, with divine blessing. May God let a new blessing fall to us in our present lack and our many expenses! For several days I have been greatly strengthened by the dear words The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth, etc., etc.17 The Scheffler woman told me with much emotion that at the birth of her daughter she had been in mortal danger and without any human help; but in her greatest weakness she remembered the pithy verse that she had recently heard in the sermon: I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.18 Then it seemed to her as if someone had given her a sturdy staff into her hand so that she could support and strengthen herself. And right after that God helped her out of her birth pains. God has entered their house with much tribulation, but also with much mercy and blessing.

MAY 1752

The 1st. From the beginning until now Kronbergers family has been the healthiest at our place, but for some time God has visited here, too, with much sickness in both parents and children. A little boy of three and a half years died yesterday and was buried on this first day of the month. Not very long ago they sent a well behaved little girl on ahead into blessed eternity through temporal death; and, because both parents fear God, at the funeral sermon I cited from the comforting source of Holy Scripture some comforting arguments against an all-too-great sorrow at premature death of our loved ones, in which the following Bible verse appeared: Baruch 4:23, I sent you out with sorrow and weeping; but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness for ever. Mark 10, Suffer the little children to come unto me (even through a temporal death). 2 Kings 22:20, cf. Isaiah 57:1 and Wisdom 3:1-4 and 4:7-14. They still have four children, all of whom, even the smallest, are sickly. Therefore they well need this comfort from Gods word, since it appears that some more of them will die prematurely. God goes the way of the cross with our children as with the adults.

The 3rd. My dear colleague Mr. Lemke had official duties today, Rogate Sunday, with the Germans in Savannah. They enjoy this blessing every second Sunday, which some recognize with gratitude.

The cobbler Zettler has been lying sick already for some seven weeks. To be sure, he has been using the prescribed remedies diligently, but he has not improved but has come rather close to death. He likes my visits and encouragement, listens to Gods word, follows the directions given him from it and prays zealously with me. Some time ago we received an edifying tractate by the late Mrs. Dr. Goetz,1 which she presumably wrote not very long before her blessed death and in which she proved herself to be such a dear bride of the Lamb who managed her house well and looked trustingly and contemplatively toward her last sickness and her departure from the world. I read this lovely tractate to this patient and his believing wife. Among other things in it I was pleased that this cautious and godly person had marked those texts and hymns which she should remember diligently in her last struggle. She also prayed heartily to God that in her last hours He might grant her friends and attendants who are Christian an understanding and know-how to accept in Christian love and patience the weaknesses that appear in sick and dying people.

The 5th. The dry weather, with which there are also very cool and dry winds, does not wish to change; and this hinders the crops from growing. Barley, wheat, and rye have no rust or mildew this year and would turn out well if only our dear God wished to grant a penetrating rain.

This afternoon at the request of the gentlemen in Savannah our spinners and their assistants traveled down there to spin off the silk. They all have a great desire to perfect themselves in this art, for which purpose they have a good opportunity under the instruction of Mr. Robinson and also some pay. The large house that is being constructed in our town at the expense of the Lord Trustees for the advancement of the silk industry is almost ready; and it is being provided with all conveniences to achieve its intended purpose.

The 8th. Carl Ott from Memmingen2 has built a new dwelling on his plantation, which he had consecrated today with Gods word, prayer, and song and with some neighbors in attendance. We contemplated the splendid comforting words of the Lord Jesus, which He left behind at His ascencion for all pious pilgrims and with which they can and should comfort themselves until the last day, Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the world.3

The 11th. Catharina Graef has been dangerously sick. God has done much good to her soul during the sickness and has also made her body well again, for which His goodness should be praised. She married a well-meaning, to be sure, but very ignorant4 husband, who was formerly a soldier at Frederica and for whose instruction and conversion she is a diligent and blessed tool. Today he received an A.B.C. book from me in order to learn German. This woman has three sisters at our place, all of whom are heartily concerned with the one necessary thing, namely, with saving their souls. Her only brother stuck with the Englishmen in great ignorance and prejudice against our community; but through the influence of his sisters he has let himself be moved to take instruction at our place. He now has his plantation in Goshen.

The 14th. For some time Peter Schubdreins helpmeet has had tertian fever; and she still has it, even if not so severely as at first. I visited her today in the late Mrs. Lemmenhofers house near the mill, where she is living this year with her husband. She is a knowledgeable and honest soul, who has devoted her heart to Christ and is pleased with His ways. To be sure, she has never been sick in her life, yet she knows how to resign herself to it. She considers such chastisements to be necessary and salutary and knows how to instruct and comfort herself with Gods word. She feels sorrow and sheds tears because until now sickness has prevented her from visiting the public divine service and hearing the sermons (which God has blessed in her). She is a true lover of the divine word, and in this she is edifying for her neighbors. She has read at times in Arndts True Christianity,5 and she has received a great respect for this book that has been so blessed by God; and therefore she wishes to have one for herself. Several people among us are yearning for one, but we have not received any such books for a long time. May God help us to get them!

The 15th. This afternoon God gave us a penetrating rain after our long waiting. It has not come too late, for the Indian corn on the plowed and well worked land is still green. The wheat has suffered no other harm from the long drought than that it is standing thin and has short stalks. However, the kernels are large and no rust can be seen on them. We must wait to see how the barley and rye will turn out. At present they have a good appearance. On the low rich land many people have not been able to plow and plant corn, for which there is still time. It has likewise been too dry for planting rice; and it is the same with the sweet potatoes that were planted: they were unable to grow. And therefore this penetrating rain has been a great blessing for our entire district and presumably for others, too. To be sure, there is no great lack of corn for some people here now, but there could be before the harvest, which is almost nine months away; and therefore God has ordained for a large boat with almost two hundred bushels to be brought here from Augusta for sale, and indeed at a tolerable price. He knows what we need.

The 17th. On this Holy Whitsuntide a Negro woman brought me her complaint, which I did not like to hear, because it brought no honor to Christendom. I was shocked at the discipline used with a thumbscrew as is done elsewhere in torture, also that a baptized Negro boys tongue was pressed into a long split reed, which he must carry on his mouth. I marveled at the good understanding of the Negress and how skilfully she could present her case. I expressed my sincerest sympathy for her not only because she was born a slave and can hope for little good in the world but also because, if she remains a heathen, she cannot enter heaven. I have already offered to instruct these poor people willingly if only they are made to learn the German language, which would also be useful to them in the sermons and catechization. May God have mercy on these and other poor heathens and let us recognize with hearty verbal and active thanks the great advantages that He has given us over them.

The 19th. Today, because of having celebrated Holy Whitsuntide, I had no weekday sermon and catechization of those being prepared for Holy Communion; and therefore I applied this day to visiting some of our people behind Abercorn. With Gods help I also held a Whitsuntide sermon for the inhabitants of Goshen, which I had also given yesterday in our Jerusalem Church about John 3:16 ff. concerning faith as the only means of salvation and unbelief as the only cause of damnation. The introductory words were taken from Hebrews 10, last verse, We are not of them who draw back into perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. As soon as it was known that I would give a sermon, the people from all the plantations gathered and listened with hungry hearts. They consider it a great blessing that they occasionally have a minister of their confession to preach the divine word, to hold Holy Communion, and to baptize their children. Ebenezer is useful to many people in spiritual and material ways.

The 20th. From the very beginning I have noticed that in our peoples sicknesses, which consist mostly of fever, they overlook many things and are thereby brought into mortal danger. Then the country and climate, which are not to blame, must bear the guilt. Some neglect much through ignorance, others out of obstinacy and impatience, and still others through poverty. In addition there are unknowledgeable advisors with house cures, wine or other strong soups and foods, etc. With the formerly young and strong Zettler things are almost drawing to an end; and it would be a miracle if he should become well again. Everyone sighs for this because of his highly pregnant wife and his unreared children.

The 21st. Yesterday afternoon and after sunset we had very strong rain and thunderstorms. Today we received the sad news that unusually large hail stones had fallen in great quantity on some of the plantations of the new colonists on the Blue Bluff so that the Indian corn was beaten to the ground and the leaves were knocked off the trees. The hail stones lay more than a foot high on the ground and have not all melted yet today.6 If this dangerous storm (which we could see in the distance over the Blue Bluff) had struck our village and plantations, there would have been indescribable harm to the mulberry trees, fruit trees, wheat, rye, and barley that are still standing in the fields. On the other hand, up there it could not damage anything more than the fields planted in Indian corn, because they have neither domestic trees nor European grains. God be heartily praised for the moderation in our well deserved chastisement! What is spoiled in this month cannot be replanted, for which I would be glad to give them corn seed. Thus I hope that there will be no more loss than the previous work of planting and cultivating.

The 23rd. If God had allowed it, a great damage could have been inflicted on our boards that were sent down in several rafts to Savannah for a public construction. Because of the flood tide the three mill servants were unable to reach Savannah; and, because they wished to spend the night in Savannah, they tied the rafts four miles above Savannah and left them there. The next morning they found no sign of them but had to seek back and forth in the tributaries. When they finally found them, a couple of chains were missing; and from that we can clearly see that an unconscionable person in that region had loosened the rafts and let them float away through greed for these chains. The men will let this serve as a warning. We just lack right industrious and cautious sawmillers, otherwise the communitys sawmills would bring in much more than they do. Their boards are always sought after, and a good price is offered for them. In this country a clever and loyal worker is a great and rare thing.

The 24th. God be heartily and humbly praised for letting us complete the first half of this present church year in health and blessing on this Trinity Sunday and for letting us begin the second half in a similar manner! Today Holy Communion was held with one hundred and five persons.

The 27th. The cobbler Zettler is still always very sick; but, since God has shown mercy to his soul during the sickness, he thanks Him heartily for this severe but well-meant chastisement. He lets his Christian and knowledgeable wife read to him diligently from Senior Urlspergers beautiful book, Instructions for the Sick and Dying,7 and is edified abundantly from it. It is now very edifying to consort with him. Previously, this was not so. Here one could say, How unsearchable are his judgments.8

The 29th. A pious woman in the neighborhood complained to me with sorrow that the orphan girl that she has in her service and care has absorbed from her family many strange opinions and seductive teachings that are simply shocking. They were people who sullied their consciences in other places and here with many witting sins and have covered them with the appearance of religious practice but have never wished to convert themselves to God. Therefore they have not only remained in spiritual blindness but have even fallen more deeply into it.

JUNE 1752

The 1st. At the end of the month all the vestrymen of the congregation were with me to discuss some things that redound to good order and nourishment and also to the care of the sick. We would like to advance much good in the community if only our means were such, which, to be sure, our almighty and kind God can give in His time. Finally we thanked God on bended knees for all the good He has shown us and others in the past month and spring, and we poured forth to His bosom our and our neighbors needs.

N.N.s wife is gaining noticeably in her Christianity, both as concerns recognition of truth and also true godliness; and at the same time she is showing true poverty of spirit. Today I had a pleasant and useful conversation with her; and I was especially pleased that she made simple and true use of the imperishable seed of the eternal word of God from the sermons. God is showing her husband more and more mercy; and he has become a different and useful man since he has had the useful work.1

The 2nd. Today Christoph Kraemer was married to the widow Bruckner. Both are right fine Christian and useful people. The young man came miraculously to our place as an orphan, was instructed here, and quickly conformed to Christian order. He first learned the locksmiths trade and afterwards boardsawing and has now done good service as locksmith and sawmill worker; and for that God has blessed him noticeably and granted him a righteous helpmeet, who has a blessing in her and the homestead she inherited from her pious husband.

The 3rd. With the boat that departed today I sent a little packet of letters to our worthy Fathers and benefactors in London, Augsburg, and Halle. We greatly desire letters and reports from them since we have received and heard nothing from them in a rather long while. May God hear our prayer for them for Jesus sake and preserve them for our and others benefit for many more years!

After her industrious and very understanding husbands departure from this vale of tears, our good Mrs. Kalcher has had not only many physical weaknesses but also difficult housekeeping. In the house built for her by the mill she is continuing the drayage and the management of the inn. However, because we here in the country so greatly lack faithful servants, she suffers much loss and vexation. Her house in town is occupied by Mr. Kraft: when he evacuates it she would well like to move back into it. Perhaps in the meanwhile our dear God will grant some means for us to contribute substantially to her and her four childrens support, something that is now impossible for us. This week Mr. Kraft has workers in the forest who are preparing an unusual quantity of wood for his dwelling and storehouse. He is very serious about supporting himself in an honest and Christian way, and I do not doubt that he will be a very useful man for us.

The 5th. This morning as I was going to the weekday service at the Zion Church, I called on the young Mrs. Lackner, of whom I heard yesterday and today that she was sick. I spoke with her a bit about the fragility of human life and about the grace of the Lord, which lasts from eternity to eternity among those who fear him. She is honestly seeking her salvation in Christ and is profiting well, among other things, from the edifying life and believing death of the late Kalcher, her godfather. She has all sorts of heavy tribulations to bear, which I would gladly try to bear with her, or rather to lighten for her, if it were in my power. It is a part of my cross that I would gladly help our dear Ebenezer and find such great inability and so many obstacles.

This morning I had an edifying and blessed little conversation before the Lord with Mr. Kraft and his honest wife; and I was pleased with their Christian disposition, because of which they are conforming more and more to Ebenezers circumstances and are getting very well settled.

The 6th. Yesterday evening our loving God gave us the unexpected pleasure of receiving very pleasant and enjoyable letters from our worthy Fathers and friends. I find them all the more enjoyable and impressive because they are full of beautiful witness of Gods miraculous providence over our Salzburgers. From these letters I also recognize the loyalty of my God in rebuking my often offended heart and in convincing me anew that my handling of external matters is also a piece of the office entrusted to me, which I cannot very well neglect without harming my conscience, even if it is not customary elsewhere in Christendom to take on the physical needs of ones parishioners as of ones own children because other people are appointed for that.

I clearly recall the letters about this matter that were written to me several years ago by General Oglethorpe, then my civil authority, and by Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen. In them I was presented with various Argumenta a necessario & ab utili2 to persuade me to take on the congregation in physical affairs as well as in spiritual ones. The paternal expressions in our dear Senior Urlspergers letters concurred with them so well that I could not have wished them better for they served the purpose perfectly. For example, it is written in his paternal letter of 10 February of last year, Just compose yourself in God, and do not worry if you are looked at askance by this or that person. The servant is no greater than his master. It is written correctly in St. Paul, to become something for everyone. The master was of the same mind. You are called to it. He who called you to it will protect, strengthen, bless, and comfort you. Just do not let yourself be driven out of your patience. Gods faithful servants must have people who confuse them. It is part of the antidote if other people perhaps praise you too much.

I will not mention other fatherly and comforting expressions in this letter and others that we have now received from our worthy Court Chaplain Albinus and from other German friends. Something else has consoled me and my dear colleague no little bit and strengthened us in our faith during the present lack of money for the repair of the old milldam and the millraces and also for the construction of a second low course for the benefit of both inhabitants and strangers. Namely, it is written in the letter of 24 February from our dear father, Senior Urlsperger:

After I read the extract of Boltzius letter of 2 October of last year to Mr. Albinus as to what happened to the ruined dam of the one sawmill, it occurred to me that He hath delivered Ebenezer in six troubles,4 he will deliver her from this one, yea, from all. Have I not told you, have I not told you (it must be repeated) so that you would, should, and must believe, etc. These verses one learns best not when the dam is still remaining whole but when it suffers damage; not when there is money for repairs, but when there is none and yet it still gets repaired. God always remains greater than all great tribulations; otherwise one could not say, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.5

In the three letters we have just received from this dear Father there are other signs that our true God was present in his heart, mouth, and pen when he wrote them, partly to strengthen us in what is good and partly to shame us and rebuke us, but also to warn others in a friendly way if perhaps this true servant of Jesus Christ was not familiar with the special circumstances of the congregation. May our merciful and omniscient God be praised for everything He has done until now, both spiritually and physically, for this His dear servant, his worthy family, and our other beloved Fathers, friends, and benefactors. May He also be heartily praised for the footsteps of His fatherly providence over us ministers and our dear parishioners, and may He give us and everyone at our place grace to apply them to His glory, to the awakening and strengthening of our faith, and to zeal in true godliness so that we may give joy in this order to our God and to the holy angels in heaven and to our Fathers and friends in this world!

The 7th. This mornings sermon on the Second Sunday after Trinity treated of the dear and entirely unmerited grace of God in Christ; in its introit I called to the ears and hearts of the numerous congregation assembled there from 2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. With this I had a right good opportunity to remember our dear Mr. N.N. as a coworker of God and a chosen helper and to read aloud those powerful words that he wrote for the benefit of the last colonists in one of the letters that we have now received. They were these:

With letters from London we learned a few days ago that the transport had arrived safely before Savannah on the 20th of October old style. Oh God let all these little people achieve their salvation in America with childlike fear and trembling, Oh God, let them cling firmly to Thee, Thy word, and Thy mercy! Oh God, let them highly respect the means of grace, love Thy servants, and give no one vexation! Oh God, let them live in love, peace, and unity! Protect the hearts of the parishioners from all sinful self-love and selfishness. Oh, grant that they may work hand in hand, protect them all from spiritual and physical pestilence!

It was further written in this fatherly letter:

All those who were here last year and departed from here are reminded 1) what good God has done for them on the journey and already in America, 2) they are all admonished by the splendid mercy of God to be mindful of what they have been directed to do and of how dearly they have given their word.

In the lovely letters of this dear man of God, as well as in the letters of others of our worthy friends, there are very pithy and edifying ideas, warnings, admonitions, and comforts that I plan to put to my and my parishioners use simply in the next assemblies in Jerusalem and Zion Church. What the God of all grace is granting both near and far we like to apply to our listeners, too. Through His grace I love Ebenezer so much that, if I had a kingdom, I would gladly and joyfully apply it to Ebenezers spiritual and physical welfare. I told them today in the sermon that, if they would not reject the hundred-weight of grace that God has granted to them like those bidden to the wedding in the gospel6 but would apply them in faith they would receive the farthing of physical subsistence from the providence of our loving, omnipotent, omniscient, and veracious God. This we know from clear verses and noteworthy examples in scripture. However, if they reject the hundred-weight through disbelief and love of the world, then they are not worthy of the farthing. Indeed, even if they had oxen, fields, wives, and all other temporal advantages and yet, as scorners of grace, had the wrath of our holy God with them (as stands in the gospel), how would it help them?

I must think of a great benefaction that our merciful God has unexpectedly shown us with this packet of letters. Because our worthy Court Chaplain Albinus had seen from my letters how blessed the printed instructive and spiritual writings of our dear Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen are for us, he has now forwarded to us a recently printed booklet by this enlightened and experienced theologian, the title of which already shows its importance and usefulness: The Great and Severe Spiritual Passion which our Lord Jesus Suffered on the Mount of Olives as Mediator of the World.7 May God bless this most important bit of the meritorious Passion of Christ, indeed, the entire Christian dogma in my heart and in the hearts of all its readers. This time we received only the first sermon concerning this highly important material, but we are eagerly requesting the remaining also when they are published. They have been preached this year, as I have read with amazement and joy; and I have heartily praised God, who has brought back this so faithful and wise servant from the portals of death and strengthened his very vacilating health so that he might still serve his church with his office and useful writings. May He keep him and other worthy Fathers of ours for many more years in life and health!

The 9th. The new inhabitants on the Blue Bluff have requested me, through one of their vestrymen, to help them get a schoolmaster for their children and a bridge across Ebenezer Creek. Without a bridge we have no communication other than by water in boats or canoes, which is, of course, a blessing but not adequate; and it requires more time than if one could go back and forth on foot or on horseback. It would be very possible to build a bridge over the said very gently flowing river,8 but it would have to be very long because of the adjacent swamp or low land subject to flooding; besides, the whole community has neither the time nor the will, and we do not have the means.

Fifty pounds Sterling have been spent in construction, yet one hardly notices it because tradesmen and day laborers receive too high a wage. With communal labor without pay and only out of love for the community not so much can be done now as in previous years because many honest and willing Salzburgers have died and those who are still living are partly old and partly feeble and consequently invalid for heavy work.

The people who have gradually come to the Salzburger community have shared, to be sure, in the benefactions to the Salzburgers; but, as far as communal work is concerned, they show an entirely different mind. Yet there are still honest people among them. We would most gladly provide the people on the Blue Bluff with a Christian and skillful schoolmaster, if only the means were there. They cannot support one themselves. Indeed, in the first years they will not even be able to contribute anything to his support, rather it would all fall upon me. The diligent schoolmaster Wertsch on the plantations above and below the mill has no other salary than what we can give him from the blessings that we receive from Europe. As previously, God has now once again let a fine blessing flow from our dear German fatherland through the hands of his dear servant Mr. N. to the community in general and to several people in particular. From this, many needy people have been refreshed and some communal expenses have been covered, or rather, the debts incurred through necessity could be paid in part.

Our most worthy benefactors would be amazed at how many expenses are required throughout the year for the good of our community, if I were to specify them. So far our dear God has granted everything, even if there have sometimes been very hard and long tribulations. My heart was especially blessed by the edifying and comforting words of our dear Senior Urlsperger in his paternal letter which I made profitable to myself and to my salvation-hungry and mostly cross-laden parishioners today at the assembly on the plantations, Amid the great suffering (when all human help failed) Job said, I know that my redeemer liveth. And Paul, when he spoke of his sufferings, concluded with, We must enter through much tribulation into the kingdom of God. God always remains greater than any tribulation.9

The 10th. The inhabitants of Goshen have requested Holy Communion, which will soon be held for them. Because they are now in especially great need of instruction for a Christian preparation, I traveled to them today in the company of Mr. Kraft and held for them a sermon on the Sunday gospel of the invitation to the last supper, for which they all gladly and joyfully gathered. God gave me grace to preach to them simply the right evangelical way and also the necessity of preparation for the Supper of the Lord in time and eternity and to contradict from Gods word the false opinions of mouth-Christians and hypocrites.

The 15th. In the first half of this month we have again had very dry weather, yet not so much around the town as on the plantations below the mill. For some days it has been raining strongly enough with severe thunder and lightning, during which God has graciously ruled over us so that, as far as we know, the lightning did no harm.

Peter Hammer, who came to us with his family with the last transport from the area of Chemintz in Saxony, gave me much joy with his wife and children. They love and diligently practice the word of God and reveal themselves as good Christians and industrious workers. Our dear God has now afflicted him, her, and the oldest very well-intentioned daughter with sickness and other physical debilities, by which they are being greatly hindered in their field work, which they otherwise perform with joy. But in this they see the hand of God and are patient. Their field stands full of lovely crops and gives good hope for a good harvest. I wish that all the colonists of the last transport were so well established.

The 16th. N. has returned from N. and tells no good tales about N.N. But I do not believe that the one is any better than the other. It would be better for young people to remain in Europe under the supervision and preparation of true ministers and superiors than for them to come to such places in America that have little fear of God and just as little of Gods word and where there is only civil order. Ebenezer is too quiet for such people, and the good order that has been introduced here is for them a yoke. Also, one can not live here in leisure, one must eat his bread by the sweat of his brow. I have just recently experienced again how worried Christian people feel, and how yearningly they wish to return to our quietude, when they have to sojourn even a short while at another place where things are frivolous and restless.

I have again been impressed, edified, and comforted by the dear words, My soul is quiet in God, who helpeth,10 and the same is true of the funeral sermon by our worthy Master Burry, which he preached at the beginning of last year in Augsburg. I became familiar with his blessed ministerial gifts for the first time from this and from his inaugural sermon. God bless him.

The 17th. Since last week I have had a weak chest, therefore my dear colleague held the weekday sermon both yesterday in Zion Church and today in Jerusalem Church. The latter is held chiefly for the benefit of the inhabitants on Ebenezer Creek and on the Blue Bluff, who cannot visit the evening prayer hours. This afternoon I went to our mill establishment, where we have our overseer with the servants, and held for them the edification hour that is usual every Wednesday afternoon. Through divine goodness I returned healthier than when I departed.

Mrs. /Hans/ Floerl, who is in charge of this establishment along with her husband, told me that her well behaved little girl had died a year ago today and that she had been comforted again by the verse in the Little Treasure Chest11 under todays date, which had been comforting to her a year ago at the departure of her child, Ye are come to the Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, etc.12 Everything is gradually becoming excellently arranged at this new and entirely indispensable mill establishment and household, and house services are held in them diligently.

Zimmerebner, our gristmiller, is somewhat sickly again, must stay at home, and so applies his tranquility and solitude in such a way that they are an unspeakably great blessing for him. He always leads a patriarchal life, walks with God, never loses his composure, and is pleasing to God and respected by men. His profession is entirely directed and blessed by his righteous Christianity. Because he is always more in heaven than on earth, he might well wish to take leave of us before we wished it. For he is almost indispensable for us.

The 18th. Our dear God has so blessed the charitable deeds of Christian friends in Augsburg and Lindau that the old Maria Eischberger, nee Riedelsperger, has received twenty-five florins as an inheritance or legacy, at which she heartily rejoices as a new witness of divine providence; and she gave humble thanks to our merciful God with me today in her dwelling. She told me of more examples of divine goodness. In addition to the lovely blessing from the silk, God has let the wheat and rye in her field turn out beautifully, and she showed me the snow white flour from them. The Indian crops such as corn, beans, rice, and squash also stand in our place so green and merry that one could ask for nothing better.

The 24th. The righteous widow Kalcher is always sickly in her widowhood. She has lost most of her strength, and the housekeeping, which is quite extensive, is too hard for her so that I fear she may die prematurely if she does not come into more bearable circumstances. I strengthened her from the word of God, and we poured forth our need into the bosom of our heavenly Father in prayer. I also gave her some of the physical blessing which our loving God recently granted. Her late husband remains with her in unforgettable and blessed memory. This time she told me in particular that he and she had promised each other that, if our merciful God would bring them together in heaven, they would both let the first thing be to kneel before the throne of Christ and thank Him that our marvelous, wise, and gracious God had brought them together and here to Ebenezer, where their souls had received much mercy.

I also had an edifying discussion with the sawmillers wife, Mrs. Kogler, to comfort her on the premature departure of her very well behaved youngest daughter, who was suddenly torn by a violent paroxism from the arms and eyes of her dear parents, and at the same time from all suffering and all danger. Her resignation in Gods will and her contentedness with His ways pleased me greatly. I plan to give both her and Mrs. Kalcher as a present the thorough, rousing, and comforting funeral oration of our worthy Master Burry concerning Davids beautiful words, My soul is quiet in God, who helpeth me.13 We received it in many copies so that we can serve many people with it. May God be a gracious compensator for it and also lay a rich blessing on us when we read it!

The 24th. With Gods blessing and help I preached in Goshen on this St. Johns Day and held Holy Communion with some thirty persons. He blessed His word and will continue to bless it. Toward evening I held the regular Wednesday edification hour at the new sawmill, to which some neighbors also came. My dear colleague held the recently begun Wednesday sermon for the people of the town and the planters around the town and on the Blue Bluff. Oh, if only all the people in and around Ebenezer gratefully and obediently recognize the great blessing of the good opportunity to save their souls! Each of them should be more concerned with this than with obtaining the whole world. In Goshen I received some very pleasant English letters from Mr. Martyn, the secretary of the Lord Trustees, from Mr. Lloyd,14 (a very special friend of our colony and community), and from Mr. Verelst. They advise me that from now on the Lords of Trade and Plantations will be our government at least for a time and will have much more zeal and means than the Lord Trustees to advance the good of the colony; it will all depend on the industry of the colonists.

Secretary Martyn is giving right emphatic reasons to incite our inhabitants to a new zeal in making and spinning off silk. He tells that the plentiful silk prepared in the colony last year has met with general approval and was sold to the highest bidders in London. A great number of merchants and silkweavers had gathered there and bought every pound of sixteen ounces for twenty shillings Sterling or more. Therefore, if the colonists would learn how to spin off the silk themselves, they could earn at least one shilling threepence for each ounce of silk. The total of that would amount to a large sum of money, since a person can spin off twenty ounces in one day. Under the new government the bounty will be continued for a time, since people in England, just as here, are convinced that this climate is more suitable for this useful work even than that in Italy.

Mr. Lloyd writes me that Mr. Martyn will remain secretary of the Lords of Trade and Plantations also and will thus continue his old correspondence for the benefit of this colony, which I am glad to hear. Among the boards that we sent to London for Mr. N.N. this Mr. Lloyd found a thick and broad board from a mulberry tree and therefore asked whether there were many such trees, and he advised that we leave them standing because the leaves from them are better than from the young mulberry trees. I am reporting to him that this was a wild mulberry tree, of which there are few at our place, whereas there are entire forests in the direction of the Indians around Augusta and Savannah Town. On the other hand, one finds enough such young trees on low good land, but they use the leaves, which are too rough, only in necessity. Even the domestic mulberry trees grow in twelve or fourteen years to such a thickness that one can cut ten inch wide boards from them. Mr. Martyn assures me that the Lords of Trade and Plantations are making arrangements that all German people who wish to come here will be supplied with all necessities and that the Carolinians will be brought to a better understanding with Georgia. They have more power than the Lord Trustees.

The 26th. Both Secretary Martyn and also our worthy Mr. Samuel Lloyd (as partially mentioned in the preceding pages) have written me several important points to announce to our inhabitants to encourage them to be industrious from now on in planting mulberry trees, in producing and spinning off the silk, and in preparing all sorts of woodwork. As gladly as I would like to delegate this worldly matter to others, there is no opportunity for that, unless I passed it on to my dear colleague, who is so zealous for the welfare of our inhabitants. Today I had most of the people on the plantations together in Zion Church; after we had sung the song Man lobt dich in der Stille, etc.15 and said our prayer, I told them that, according to the will of God and of our King and the kind provision of the Lord Trustees, we had received the Lords of Trade & Plantations as our regional authority. I said that this was a very eminent committee appointed by the king from prominent gentlemen in London, whose duty and purpose it is to advance the true good of the plantations in the East and West Indies and thereby the trade and navigation between the mother and her daughters, i.e., between England and the English colonies, of which Englands wealth and power consists.

If our inhabitants wish to enjoy the favor and help of these prominent governors and fathers, they must, according to the external purpose of their being sent here, not only farm and raise cattle for their own needs, but also devote themselves to those things that advance trade and navigation; and for this, silk and indigo cultivation and preparation of all sorts of woodwork are recommended, for which we have the best opportunities one could wish for. The old and weak inhabitants make all sorts of excuses regarding this point, which, however, cannot be made by the young adults and the servants and colonists who have come here in the past three years. I promise the industrious ones all possible assistance in silk manufacture and wood production, and I will gladly help bear and prevent the initial difficulties and advance the last colonists more provisions and beef only under this condition.

All in all I will contribute everything possible for the advancement of such things that are required of us for our and our countrys good (not outside, but only inside our community). This will avert much harm and a great defamation of the good of our community. They have before them the example of the people in Goshen, even of those in Augusta, who bring their barrel staves the long way to Savannah with great cost and loss. I will not mention the other points made known to them in the letters. During this I briefly showed from the gospel for next Sunday in the example of Peter and his co-workers that, to be sure, God crowns with blessing chiefly spiritual, but also physical, obedience (or obedience in material matters).

The 28th. On this Fifth Sunday after Trinity my dear colleague Mr. Lemke preached and held Holy Communion in Savannah. Here I showed our congregation from the regular gospel what they should do if they wish to have the Lords blessing in their work and external professional matters. In the fore- and afternoon I dealt with the order in which one should work and also with the blessing one should achieve in this order. In this first month of summer we have had temperate weather, but today it has become very hot.

The 30th. Yesterday my dear colleague returned safe and sound again from Savannah. Among the communicants there were also Mr. von Brahm and his wife, who showed great love for us.

Today in the assembly I again had an opportunity to recommend to our inhabitants, including those who were absent from the previous assembly, the cultivation of silk, the planting of Indigo, and the production of all sorts of wood products for export to the West Indies, as suggested in the letters of the Lord Trustees. The last was especially emphasized, through which trade and navigation are advanced, for our new regional governors, the Lords of Trade & Plantations, have the furtherance of this as their chief purpose in this and other colonies. Our obedience to their ordinances will, with Gods blessing, be to our interest. I asked them all cordially to do so much through their love to God and to the whole community that each householder might make every year at least four thousand cypress shingles (each 22 inches long and 4 to 6 inches wide, simply cut without knots) and a thousand red- or white oak barrel staves, all of which could be made in six months at most by a single man. Since we have almost a hundred householders, we would produce four hundred thousand roof shingles and a hundred thousand staves, which would bring at least five hundred pounds into the community. Our enemies and calumniators would be silenced by that and our new authorities would be pleased by such a considerable contribution toward advancing navigation; and we would win their favor to our own advantage. The hardest thing in this is that they lack a man who would receive and sell the wood products. Dominus providebit.16

JULY 1752

The 1st. On this first day of the month I made the present change in date useful to myself and my parishioners in the Wednesday sermon in town, to wit, by contemplating the divine kindness, our sins, and our duties to one another. At each point I laid a little memory verse as a basis, principally Thy loving-kindness is better than life, I do remember my faults today, knowest thou not that Gods lovingkindness leadeth thee to repentance?1

The 2nd. This morning I had the pleasure for the first time of helping consecrate a new house on the Blue Bluff with Gods word, song, and prayer, for which many of the new colonists from the neighborhood had gathered with their children. For the sake of unknowing people I found it necessary to show them from the verse Every creature of God is good, etc. It is sanctified by the word of God and prayer and from the practice of consecrating churches that this practice that we have introduced here (although entirely voluntary) is entirely Christian and useful even if it is not customary in all places, at least as far as private houses are concerned. Christians must distinguish themselves from non-believers by accepting all creatures and gifts of God with thanksgiving and sanctifying them with Gods word and prayer, just as is rightly done every day before and after meals.

Christians are spiritual priests and should offer their God and Savior a true New Testament service in spirit and in truth, for which reason they should rightly dedicate their dwellings to God as His temple and thus, through the omnipotent power of the Holy Ghost, lead such a life both day and night before His countenance as if they were in His temple and in a public house especially dedicated to His service. This contemplation can serve Christian people who enjoy the blessing of a house consecration for their awakening and comfort. One can well call this practice that we have introduced here consecration, or whatever one wishes; it is without question mete and right that a housefather, whom God has helped to acquire a new house and has kept all harm away from it and has given His blessing to its construction, should praise his dear God along with his minister and some pious or at least well-disposed neighbors in recognition of his great unworthiness and to ask Him for a new blessing on his Christianity and on his particular profession.

After these arguments I laid as a basis of our edification the ninth duty of life according to the First Commandment in B. Wirths Confession and Communion Booklet,2 and this gave me an opportunity to speak of the mind of the children of the world and the mind of the children of God. The love of these dear people for the word of God and their devotion during it have awakened a new love for them in my heart so that I sincerely wish I had the means to assist them with adequate help until they can eat their own bread. They have a good, well-situated, healthy land, on which they will easily find their nourishment with Gods blessing if only they will accept good advice and let themselves be persuaded to take up, in addition to their agriculture, such work as was recommended to them again yesterday with important reasons according to the intentions of our dear authorities. For that they have the best opportunity one could wish for.

Now that various members of the last transport are sick with fever, a few of our servants are also afflicted with it. Already a week ago in the edification hour I called to their and other servants minds what a blessing the Lord has shown them above many others of their kind in that, along with their physical needs, they have such a good opportunity to save their souls under good direction and supervision. Even the sick enjoy this blessing, as an old widow who serves in the mill acknowledged today. I reminded these patients of much for their awakening in the examples of patients in the time of Christ; and I prayed with them and with all who were at home.

On the way home at the old sawmill I had something to attend to with the widow Kalcher, when I received the sad news that the honest Johann Peter Schubdrein had accidentally suffered a serious fall at the present mill construction so that he had been carried in as if dead. To be sure, he regained consciousness, but we fear that he has had an internal injury. May our merciful God graciously avert this! He is an honest, industrious, and rightliving man. His father, the very old /Daniel/ Schubdrein, is dangerously sick with fever and appears to be approaching his end. God has let his soul experience mercy for the sake of Christs merits, and therefore death will be his gain. His wife /Margaretha/3 has had violent fever for a long time and has, to my great amazement, improved again. I put into their hearts the beautiful words: With God nothing shall be impossible.4

The 3rd. This morning I visited the old, almost seventy-year old, Schubdrein for the last time. He could well understand everything that was spoken to him and prayed with him from Gods word; and he sealed his final consecration with a double Amen. I was afraid he would still have to suffer much before coming to his departure; and I was surprised later on when I heard that he had died an hour after our prayer. He was an honest man who heartily loved Gods word and prayer, worked gladly, and proved himself patient in all suffering. He preferred to die here with his children rather than in Germany. He lived with his old wife and his youngest son with the older son Joseph; and very appropriate here was the moving story of the old Jacob, who wished to go to Joseph before he died. He received much love and respect from his many children in Ebenezer: indeed, everyone had great respect for this honest old man. His wife is also very old and weak. To be sure, she is busy in the house but not entirely free of fever: it is not improbable that she will soon follow her old husband.

The 4th. We have been asked by the people on the Blue Bluff not to hold the confessional any more at noon on Saturday but between nine and eleven in the morning as is done at Zion Church on the plantations because they have much household business to do toward evening. Also, it is easy to hold it (as today for the first time) in this way because the congregation has two ministers. In Jerusalem church I laid as a basis of the preparation sermon the well known words of the Egyptian chief butler: I do remember my faults this day,5 and I showed them the great difference between the acknowledgment of sins by an Egyptian or heathen and by a Christian.

After the confessional a well known trader from Augusta was with me; and, in accordance with the letter I had received from Mr. Lloyd, one of the Trustees, I posed the question of whether many thick wild mulberry trees grew around Augusta. He said that these were the most common and thickest trees there, some of them measure three shoes in diameter and, if they have room, their branches spread out so far that a hundred men could enjoy the shade of a single tree at one time. On one acre of low land (which is the richest) there stand some thousand young and old mulberry trees; last spring he picked about ten bushels of black mulberries for eating from a single thick tree as previously described.

These trees are of two kinds: the common kind that is known in Europe (in English, white mulberry) with rough leaves and another not so common kind with smoother and softer leaves. I have written this report especially for Mr. Lloyd, and I hope our worthy Court Chaplain Albinus will advise him of this when the occasion arises. In answer to a letter another friend has sent me twice, I had to give answer today from my wifes mouth: Two pounds of our kind of cocoons, or the worms found in them, give somewhat more than three and three quarter ounces of silkworm eggs or seeds. Every ounce of such good seed will produce worms for one hundred pounds of cocoons if one has understanding and practice in handling them. Two hundred such cocoons (or 180 or 190 if the worms are well cared for from the beginning to the end with enough domestic leaves and temperate warmth) amount to a pound of sixteen ounces; and twenty-five medium mulberry trees have enough leaves for a hundred pounds of cocoons, if care and frugality are practiced in gathering the leaves and feeding the worms. In his last letter Secretary Martyn informed me that the Italian silkworms are not as productive in producing seed and silk; and this indicates that the worms here are stronger, the mulberry leaves more nourishing, and our climate more convenient for silk culture.

The 5th. On this Sixth Sunday after Trinity, Holy Communion was held with ninety-nine persons. Three important points of the Christian religion were treated from the gospel, to wit, justification valid before the Lord, the right understanding of divine law, and of Christian reconciliation. In the afternoon I catechized concerning the dogma of Holy Baptism.

The 6th. With the last letters I received news that all our letters and reports of last year have arrived safely. Today I found Peter Schubdrein in a better condition after his hard and dangerous fall than I could have imagined. He was in a perilous way, but God blessed him right noticeably in the external bandages and the internal use of medicine; and for this we praised together our merciful God who chastises us, to be sure, but does not give us death, even if He does sometimes let us come very close to death. When I had almost reached home I saw to my amazement a flaming fire behind the town; and afterwards I heard that they had had a very strong wind with some hailstones and with stormwinds and thunderbolts, which had struck a thick, green, inwardly rotten cypress tree near Mr. Krafts house and near Mr. Mayers house, where Mr. Kraft has his store and trade goods, and had immediately set it in fire and flames. It burned with frightful racket until late in the evening. God be praised for sparing us!

The 8th. The good people on the Blue Bluff lack a bridge, enough boats, and time to come to the weekday sermons, as they would gladly do. Traveling up and down by boat in this hot weather is not only tiresome but also a great loss of time, and not all of them can leave home. At the last house consecration I noted much desire for and devotion to the word of God, and this moved me to offer them my services. I wished, namely, to hold the weekday sermon, which we had arranged for them every Wednesday morning, in whatever dwelling among them that they considered best located and most convenient for them.

Today, God be praised, the first sermon was preached with much blessing and enjoyment. As its basis I used the late Johann Arndts Informatorium biblicum,6 which our most dearly loved friend and patron, Master Hildebrand,7 has had reprinted in Augsburg and has sent to us in many copies. I gave each of them a copy, as far as they went, which will be useful to them for their preparation and repetition. Today we chiefly contemplated the two verses 1 Corinthians 11:16 and Ephesians 4:2, which the two editors had placed in front with good reason; and thus the new inhabitants of this beautiful, healthy, and well situated land received much wholesome instruction.

The young and very skillful N.N. and his wife are making room for grace in their conversation and are setting down well on their land. He now understands better and recognizes with thanks the admonitions given him by a pious apprentice cartwright in Nurnberg, whom he would like to have with him and to whom he wishes to write. All the new colonists are showing great industry on their plantations, and God is looking at their land especially with such fruitful weather that they can expect a good harvest. They also show themselves to be very contented. For such people the beginning is always difficult, and I cannot help but aid them even beyond my means with necessary provisions, even if I must incur debts thereby. The first year is always the most difficult for newcomers, also for the reason that they contract fever.

The 9th. All the mill buildings are now receiving not only a very beautiful, but also a very durable, appearance; and we will not have to repair as much as in past years, when much was built without experience. The construction costs run very high, and the members of the community cannot contribute anything to them. Oh God, Thou art so mighty today as Thou hast been for ever; our trust stands entirely in Thee.8 Let the fountains of Thy inexhaustible goodness flow to us to cover these costs to the praise of Thy glorious name, to our joy and the strengthening of our faith, and to the furtherance of our good nourishment. Amen.

The 10th. The crops look hopeful everywhere and awaken Christian hearts to the praise of the great Creator. This month the heat is greater and more burning than in several years. In such a hot time the fresh watermelons are a great refreshment. Our friends can hardly imagine their size, abundant juice, and good taste. Everyone who comes to this country and understands how to make a correct judgment about the crops must admit that it is a blessed country in which almost nothing fails if only the proper time for sowing and planting is kept in mind and the proper industry and intelligence are applied.

The 11th. Mr. Kraft and his wife have enjoyed good health ever since their arrival, but now they both have fever. Mr. Kraft has a tolerable case of tertian fever, but with his seven year old chest ailment he is greatly weakened by his daily fever; and I am in no little worry because of this honest and hardworking man, especially since he wishes to be his own doctor and has begun to use an anti-fever remedy that he brought with him, in which china de china is a major ingredient.9 One of the Lord Trustees, namely Mr. Samuel Lloyd, who got to know Mr. Kraft very well in London, sent the following serious observations in his recent letter: If only God would restore Mr. Krafts health again! With regard to that, I gladly admit that I am not without fearful worry that the all too hot climate here may gradually advance his premature death through excessive perspiration.10 He is well content with God and His dispensations and wishes to live and die according to His will.

The 12th. Today, the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, in the contemplation of the gospel we made especial use of the gracious commandment and the loving promise of the Lord our God, Exodus 23:24, Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. In the public prayer hour we implored our Lord God to grant and strengthen our faith in His dear promises, whereby, in the fulfillment of the same, we will see His glory and be able to say to His praise, He hath made all things well.11 We also thanked Him jointly for the new and entirely undeserved proof of His goodness in letting us complete, safely and as we wished, the construction of the house which has been established at the expense of the Lord Trustees for winding off the silk prepared here and in the neighborhood and also for learning and spreading the art of spinning off the silk.

I believe it will not displease our patrons and friends if I add a little description of the house that has been given to the Ebenezer congregation and dedicated to silk manufacture. It stands on a large market place across from the parsonage on the other side of the street. The entire lot belonging to this house is 196 feet long and 98 feet wide, it is entirely level, dry, and fertile. A rather large number of mulberry trees are already standing on it, which I planted a few years ago because I did not wish the beautiful public square to be left unused. The building site on which the silk manufactory now stands remained unplanted. Frankly, the idea never came into my mind that such a house was ever to be built here, but now that these many trees have been planted and have grown so well and the house has been built right there, I recognize from this a loving providence of our heavenly Father, which predicts still more good for us.

The house itself is 42 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 26 feet 3 inches high. It is built of durable pine wood and neatly covered on the walls with boards from our mill instead of with stones or clay (according to the building method of this country); and it is provided with an imposing and firm roof of cypress shingles. It has two floors and two stairs, which are built on a very convenient spot. The lower chamber is 9 feet high, has twelve windows (each 4 feet 6 inches high an 2 feet 6 inches wide) and two high and broad doors opposite each other right in the middle of the long walls of the house. In the walls on both sides of this lower chamber are embedded four kettles and two chimneys, and therefore all together eight kettles with eight machines that are built in such a way that the spinners have enough light and air from the doors and windows. Every window is provided with a window frame covered with canvas so that (if it is necessary) the too strong wind and sunlight can be held off.

The floor is made of boards; but where the kettles stand there is masonry from one wall to the other. The house itself stands on a stone foundation.13 Above this chamber there is another one of the same size, but one foot lower, which consists partly of a second floor and partly of an attic. The light and air enter through four large roof windows and two gable windows. On both sides of this lower chamber there are four cauldrons set in the walls and two chimneys; and therefore there are all together eight cauldrons with eight machines that are so built that the spinners receive enough light and air from the doors and windows. Every window is provided with a canvas-covered window frame so that (when necessary) the excessive breeze and sunlight can be prevented.

Along both the long walls and along one of the short walls in this room there have been built nothing but stands and containers from the floor almost to the ceiling for storing silkballs of all kinds and keeping them cool. For this purpose on the second story above the first floor and along both the short and the long walls and between some attached boards some hidden airholes have been left, through which neither rain nor moisture but only air can penetrate.

The chimneys have been built outside of the house; thus both floors can remain entire in order to contain more silkballs and other things, and it will be cooler both above and below. For every two cauldrons there is an ovenhole, which must be tended from within.14 All eight cauldrons and ovenholes are opposite each other. Through the second staircase, which stands along the left short wall above the first one, one goes to the uppermost floor under the roof, which is well protected by the good roof, is provided with two gabled windows, and is very useful.

Before the house, immediately opposite the door yet several feet from it, a well has been dug, which is twenty-one feet deep and six feet in diameter and has been lined and protected from the bottom to the top with thickly sawed and durable cypress wood like a large barrel. The builder has set a pretty little house over it, which is ten feet high and seven feet on each side and well protected by walls as high as a mans chest; and a little vane of sheet metal that shows the direction of the wind has been set on it as a decoration. The bucket hangs on a thirty-three foot chain, which is firmly fastened to a windlass and easily descends into the well of its own accord. For drawing the water up easily, a wooden wheel like a little millwheel has been made, which can easily be jammed with a wooden peg when the bucket full of water is up. The water wells up abundantly from several holes, since the well was dug in the driest summer season and gave from nine to ten feet of water from the very beginning; and therefore it will give enough water all year for all the neighbors. This a blessing worthy of gratitude, especially in summer when some wells are without water.

In order that nothing necessary be lacking in this house, behind it a baking oven nine and a half feet long and nine feet wide has been set, under a good roof and side walls, in which the silk-balls, or rather the worms still living in them, must be killed if the balls cannot be spun off in time; and for this purpose certain little chests of thin boards with holes in them have been prepared. The house, with the well, ovens, trees, and the 196 by 98 foot lot belonging to it, are enclosed by a strong fence of cypress posts and narrow split cypress boards and provided with a front and back door. With Gods help more mulberry trees are to be planted in it, and every year young trees are to be raised from the seeds for other people in and outside of our community. For this the water-abundant well can be useful, without undue effort, in furthering their growth through diligent watering, as is necessary here. Actually, it is entirely indispensable because of the great amount of water required for spinning off the silk.

During the spinning off, the more often the cauldrons are filled with pure well and spring water, the purer and brighter the silk remains and the greater is its value. River water does not suit for this because it carries with it slime and other subtle impurities with it, and it is also too distant from the house. The entire construction cost has somewhat more than a hundred pounds Sterling, which large sum of money was earned by the inhabitants of our place, who have shown all possible industry and loyalty. May our merciful God repay the dear Lord Trustees for this and all other signs of their upright love and affection for our community in time and eternity for the sake of Christ!

The 14th. Today in both churches I treated of Gods great loyalty in granting us the means and opportunity for adults and children to grasp a true recognition of God and to grow in it and of the disloyalty of men, through which they either learn nothing or forget what they have learned. The former should encourage us to a heartfelt gratitude and true loyalty, while the latter should move us to a penitent humility and improvement. During this I could not leave unmentioned that those of us were to be pitied who, through their obstinacy and human purposes, kept better arrangements from being made for basic instruction of our youth at our and other places.

The suggestion was made some time ago in our entire congregation that, if the plantation owners would give up their unbuilt houselots and their two-acre gardens near the town, we hoped that more people could support themselves in town and thus develop the town if such townfolk were given instead of two acres just one for planting mulberry trees and for cultivating some crops.15 They would also have more time than the farmers on the plantations for busying themselves with the preparing of all sorts of woodwork. Therefore, if there were more people near town, it would be easier to lodge the children people would like to send here for instruction in Christianity and useful external matters. The house that was built for advancing silk culture, I said, was giving me new hope that God, who gave it, will also know how to arrange everything else so that our town be built up. We hope that silk culture will also be set in motion and that many people will learn how to spin off the silk.

The 15th. Some of the new people are causing me much joy with their Christian behavior; and some give us good hope that, with Gods blessing, they will be able to find their physical nourishment among us and especially to believe and save their souls. Mrs. Glaners children cause me much joy. To be sure, they are very young and tender; yet they show a zeal in reading, praying, and learning Bible verses. They also ask their pious and industrious mother such questions that we can recognize from them their well-disposed minds. The parents love Christ and the souls of their children and give themselves praiseworthy trouble in rearing them for the good; and God is graciously repaying them for this with His blessing and giving them much joy in their children. Out of love for her little brother, who is still lying in his cradle, the little eight-year-old girl has learned by heart the lullaby that is found at the end of the extract from Freylinghausens hymnal: Schlaf sanft una wohl, which she repeated to me almost without hesitation.

The 16th. On Monday the people on our plantations heard the cannons in Savannah firing every minute from early evening into the night, which indicated something extraordinary. Today I received the news that the President of the Council and highest judge of the land, Henry Parker, had died. His brother, who has been manager on Mr. Whitefields plantation, also died recently. This President was a man in his best years and has been a judge in this land since the beginning of the colony and, for somewhat more than a year, President. He had very good talents, a sharp understanding, and an exceptionally good memory; he was impartial and neither angry nor vengeful.

Yesterday evening three gentlemen from Carolina lodged in my house; and from them I learned that people are worried about an Indian war if the governor, Mr. Glen, cannot be persuaded to renounce his resolution. Two months ago the Creek Indians found some of their enemies, the Cherokees, in Charleston and were, to be sure, reconciled with them publicly through the efforts of the governor. However, afterwards on the way home they killed them not far from Charleston, while they themselves beat a hasty retreat, leaving their gifts behind them. The governor wished the militia to pursue them but met opposition from their colonel. Now he is violently insisting that the Creek Nation surrender the murderers so that they can be punished according to English law.

Because the royal soldiers did not wish to let themselves be used for that either, the governor appointed Mrs. Musgrove as an ambassadress to the Indians for this purpose and promised her a hundred pounds Sterling and, if she succeeds and can persuade the Creeks to make peace with the Cherokees and extradite the murderers, two hundred pounds. The Indians consider themselves free people and allies of the English and let no one prescribe how they should act among themselves and against their enemies. If one wished to force them to extradite the Indians who killed the others (as the governor is insisting), they would break with the English and desert to the French. This would be a very great loss because until now they have been the Englishmens most loyal allies and have had the greatest trade with them.

The shoemaker Zettler has promised our dear God to praise Him, along with me, for His mercy if He will free him from his painful, dangerous, and longlasting sickness. Yesterday he called for me, but I preferred to come to his house this afternoon so that all his housemates would have an opportunity to recognize and praise Gods goodness. After I had read the 103rd Psalm to them, we knelt down and thanked the Lord, who is very loving and whose goodness lasts forever.

The 18th. If our merciful God has resolved to help our town and its support with a certain tract of land, then no enemy will be able to prevent us from acquiring and possessing it. If He hasnt, then we will also be content. In regard to this I remember some expressions of a prominent and learned patron in a letter to me:

God, who rules the world with His eye on its entirety, can, to be sure, not let everything happen as we wish and as would be useful for us. Even rulers who advance the common good cannot always advance the particular good of a private person to the detriment of the whole. It is enough that not having something is often as much proof of divine goodness as receiving it and advances our happiness more than receiving something at the wrong time.

In no summer have we ever experienced such great and lasting heat and drought as we have had in this month and seem to be having in the highest degree at this time. Grass, crops, and vegetables are becoming limp and dry; and it is beginning to appear that our holy and just God wishes to punish our land with a drought and an Indian war, which would be worse than the pestilence with which God visited David and his subjects. His titles of honor stand in the 103rd Psalm among other places, and we are humbly imploring Him not to treat us according to our sins and not to repay us for our misdeeds, but rather to let mercy go before justice.

The 20th. An official ordinance obliges our inhabitants to make new roads or repair the old ones this week from Monday to Saturday, which is a very necessary and useful work. Every male between the age of sixteen and sixty must lend a hand, be he servant or freeman, prominent or common, or he must pay two shillings Sterling as punishment for his absence. Only ministers and the sick are excepted. The commissioners of roads have resolved to build a bridge across Ebenezer Creek for walking or riding; and this will be a great and urgently desired benefaction for the colonists on the Blue Bluff as an aid to their divine services and their physical support. For that purpose they have found a very convenient spot near the town that we did not know of previously, for which reason we had imagined the building of a bridge to be almost impossible. The land on both sides of the creeks is mostly very low and is flooded when the water is high; and this would have made the bridge useless, unless they had found a convenient spot for it.

This afternoon our merciful God has begun to grant us rain and cool weather, for which we rightfully bring Him our humble and grateful praise and thanks. To be sure, the rain has not entirely softened the earth and has also fallen very scantily on the plantations, yet despite that it is a blessing worthy of thanks. I often remember that last spring, because of the longlasting drought, one expected neither wheat nor rye harvest; yet our marvelous God let both of them turn out very well to our great amazement. Thus our almighty Lord can also do the same with our Indian corn, rice, squash, and sweet potatoes, which still have a poor appearance. It is a great comfort for the children of God that it is written in Gods word: We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.16

The 21st. Because all the grown men are working on the roads and the bridge that is to be built, I had at the weekday sermon on the plantations mostly women and children as an audience. The content of my sermon stands in the important and serious words of our blessed Luther in his catechism: Let each one learn his lesson, then all will be well in the home. The recently preached material from the often-mentioned Heart Examinations17 gave me an opportunity for that. If all the men and women also learned in their domestic state the lessons belonging to their Christianity and external professions, there would not be so many very poor and totally impecunious people in Christendom (even to the harm of the kingdom of God). With this I again told my listeners much for their examination, caution, and Christian behavior towards themselves and their children; for it is apparent that things go badly in the homes of many of our inhabitants because they have not learned the assigned lessons. It would be a sin to attribute the blame to our dear God, the country, or secondary causes, as many are ready to do. Oh, Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, Sin is a reproach to any people, and Israel, upon my ways, etc.18

The 22nd. News has come from Savannah that letters from London have arrived there for the Council, the content of which is not yet known. An English merchant vessel was stranded on the coast of Florida; and the crew aboard it had the misfortune to fall into the cruel hands of the Florida Indians, who devoured them all according to their inhumane practice.19 All together there are only about five hundred such cruel Indians left, who lurk in ambush for booty on the islands of the seacoast and are encouraged by wicked Europeans to capture the heretics and to eat them.

In Savannah everything is so dry and parched that they have almost no spring or well water left. The crops also look very bad. The price of rice has also risen from five to ten shillings and can not be had; and it is the same with Indian corn. May God have mercy on his people, the poor, for Christs sake and send them help.

The Commissioners for Roads asked me to preach a sermon to the working men at noon from Gods word, which I gladly did, and, indeed, to our mutual edification, concerning the words of our blessed Luther at the end of his Table Talk:20 Let each learn his lesson, and all will be well in the home. A couple of hours later I had the opportunity to travel to Savannah to bring order to some necessary, even if only external, things. God granted us bearable weather, even if the journey went rather slowly.

The 25th. After I had departed from Savannah yesterday afternoon, a strong thunderstorm and a very strong and lasting rain began, which was equally strong in our and in the Purysburg region. We hope that many crops will be resuscitated by it. God be praised for this great blessing. In Savannah I had an opportunity to preach a sermon to the assembled German people about the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount and to present briefly the right nature of Christianity. Many avoid our place and congregation, which the Lord has visited until now with many tribulations, but also with much grace and mercy.

The 26th. After church in the afternoon our dear Mr. Kraft requested private Communion on his sickbed. Beforehand I tried to awaken his heart and strengthen him toward the good by singing the hymn Die Seele Christi heilige mich, etc., through a short contemplation of the 23rd Psalm, and through Christian conversation; and with it our chief business was a devout prayer that was repeated several times. He is contented at heart with Gods providence and with whatever He does with him; and through his faith he lies on his dear Savior quiet and resigned like a pious child on its mothers lap. At his request Mr. Thilo told him today that he saw no grounds for his physical recovery but that he would serve him to his end with his best knowledge and means.

Mr. Krafts condition seemed dangerous to me not only now but also at the beginning of his sickness. We have aimed our poor prayer in the name of Christ at restoring his health if it is pleasing to God and useful, physically and spiritually, to this man. There is no doubt but what in time we and the congregation would have had a very useful man in him. He has a good Christian foundation and he has gotten to know himself better with his diligent use of the means of salvation and he has laid aside many of the frailties that still clung to him. He and she enjoyed our encouragement and help in prayer, and we have been not without blessing at their house.

The 30th. God is now giving us abundant rain and is graciously averting all damage from the great thunderstorm and severe lightning. The air is becoming cooler, and this serves to refresh both the well and the sick.

Mr. Kraft is becoming weaker and weaker, and he is yearning in his heart for a speedy death. Of him it could be said. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?21 At daybreak I was called to Mr. Kraft because it appeared that he was about to die. When I came to him, I reminded him of the words I had left behind yesterday: Come thou beautiful crown of joy, stay not long; I am awaiting thee with yearning,22 and he answered me with a weak voice, :Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, etc.23 He spoke with a friendly mouth and an almost angelic countenance, for he had already been permitted to have a peek into heaven and to see Jesus in His glory. I read to him the 21st chapter of Revelations as the city of his eternal, sojourn to which he was now hurrying. Likewise, I read what stands in the 19th chapter about the bride of the lamb, that she is clad in pure and beautiful silk, i.e., with the justification of the saints. There it is written, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.24 Thereupon we knelt around his bed and commended the circumstances of his soul and body to the Lord his Savior and Redeemer.

After my departure, Mr. Thilo came to him and prepared something for his refreshment, which, however, he no longer needed in this life. When I came to him between eight and nine oclock, he stretched out his weak hand to me again and also said, Christs blood and justice are my adorning,25 etc. Then we knelt down and laid this little sheep into the arms, into the bosom, and into the wounds of our good and great Shepherd; and this prayer was concluded with the blessing of the Lord which God had commanded to be laid on his people. After the prayer I asked Mr. Thilo not to let himself be hindered by my presence, speaking, praying, etc. from doing what he wished to do with the patient; and I asked Mr. Kraft whether I might sing him a lovely song. With his consent I sang Alle Menschen mssen sterben, etc. with the words of the fourth stanza; and he unexpectedly gave up the ghost during the words of the fourth stanza: Holy, holy, holy, is God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.26

Like me, Mrs. Kraft had not expected this departure so soon and could hardly be comforted. They loved each other tenderly, and it is no wonder that this separation drew from her sighs, pains, and tears. Already yesterday I had made profitable to her the words If only I have thee, then I shall ask nothing for the comfort of my heart.27 At this painful parting I again reminded her, and assured her, that I would look after her in both spiritual and physical matters to the best of my ability in accordance with the desire of her husband. In his spirit he had freed himself from all temporal things since his sickness became more serious; and he complained to me several times that people often disquieted him with things for which others could give them no answer. He prayed gladly and heartily, commended himself often to our intercession; and he complained bitterly that he was so weak in his praying. His own good works and virtuous ways were nothing in his eyes; on the other hand it is said The works of the Lord Jesus alone cause me to be saved, to whom I cling in faith.28

God spared him from all violent bodily pains and serious doubts,29 even though he well assumed that they would not be lacking. During the entire sickness I did not hear a single word of complaint except that he sometimes could not catch his breath because of his serious seven-year-old chest affliction. There are probably few who, with all the advantages of this life and in the prime of life, have revealed such a great desire to die as did this Mr. Kraft. This was always true of him: I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ. Likewise, Behold, I come quickly. Come Lord Jesus,30 also Psalms 42:3. He let himself be led astray from his desire for blessed eternity as little by the laments and tears of his dearly beloved wife as by other temporal things; indeed, he was entirely indifferent in these matters.

While he lay there last night as a dying man, Mrs. Kraft rubbed him down with vinegar to bring him back to himself; but he was not at all pleased by this and said, Now I have wished to depart in peace, and you wake me up again. My eyes, like Simeon, have seen my Savior. Both my dear colleague and I visited him daily during his last sickness, spoke with him from Gods word, and prayed, which he did kneeling as long as it was possible. Even in the greatest weakness he showed a great zeal in praying; and he regretted greatly that he was sometimes overtaken by exhaustion. For his constitution was so debilitated that he almost always slumbered and became all the weaker while doing so. He sincerely loved his ministers, Gods word, and the Holy Sacraments; and he visited Gods house diligently both on Sundays and on weekdays, as often as divine services were held. Despite his fever he participated in Holy Communion publicly with the congregation on Sunday three weeks ago (it was July 12); and he enjoyed this love-feast last Sunday, therefore three weeks later, again with heartfelt desire.

In his external business he was, as merchant, as skillful as he was diligent; and he spared himself too little during the first two weeks of his last sickness because he had no merchant helper. He observed that he would not live long in this pilgrimage, and therefore he yearned for the quiet rural life on his plantation, where, to the advantage of his soul, he would have less distraction. For this purpose he had already begun to purchase some Negroes. In the hope that his brother would still come, he would have continued with the intended house construction and in his well-begun trade until his actual arrival according to the Lords will, or else he would have devoted himself to silk culture with his servants. He had revealed a great interest in this; and his wife had already made a good start in this last spring with bought leaves.

The construction of his house was especially aimed at silk manufacture. After his arrival in Georgia and Ebenezer he remained in all labors as healthy and lively as in Europe; but some five weeks ago he contracted a hectic fever, which, against my advice, he wished to cure with a certain powder he had brought with him from Ravensburg, of which the chief ingredient was the well-known China de China. A week ago, at my advice, he engaged our medico, Mr. Thilo, who did not fail to show diligence and care. However, for several days he has had Diarrhea Colliquativa31 and became feebler and weaker every day and finally (as already reported) at 10 oclock in the morning today he gave up his spirit, which had been adorned with Christs blood and the gifts of the Holy Ghost; and, indeed, so softly and quietly that he hardly moved a limb and felt little of a death-struggle. This our merciful God surely did for the benefit of the dear and greatly distressed Mrs. Kraft to lighten this departure and the pain caused by it. This blessed man can now sing in a higher throne what we sing in our weakness: So now I rest in thy arms, oh Savior; Thou Thyself shalt be my eternal peace; I shall wrap me up in Thy grace, my element shall be Thy mercy alone. And because Thou art my One and All, it is enough that my soul enjoy Thee.32

The 31st day of July (This was the death and burial day of our dearest Savior) was already chosen for the burial because of the great summer heat, and many people from town and from the plantations gathered for it at 10 oclock in the morning. The corpse was set in a black coffin in Jerusalem Church between the pulpit and the parishioners pews; and after the congregation had sung the hymn Welt, ade, ich bin dein muede, ich will nach dem Himmel zu, etc., I held the funeral oration about the following words, which were so comforting for the blessed man: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Savior.29 This gave me the desired opportunity to present the blessed end of the servants of God for our general edification and as a well-grounded comfort for our distressed widow. After I had read the largest part of the present sermon instead of the personal data and we had all said the final prayer on our knees, the children and adults, ministers, schoolmasters, and congregation went in a regular procession to the cemetery and buried the bones of the dear Mr. Kraft into the restful chamber chosen for him by God, while singing the hymn Alle Menschen mssen sterben, etc.

AUGUST 1752

The 1st. In the appendix to last months diary I reported briefly that on the day before yesterday our marvelous God had taken from us our righteous and industrious Mr. Kraft through a, to be sure premature, yet blessed death and that we interred his bones in the earth yesterday in town with Christian ceremonies after holding a funeral oration. In him we have lost a useful man; and by this a deep wound has been struck in his dear wife, which may our Lord and Physician bind up and heal!

Most of the people of the last transport have fever (which all new colonists are accustomed to get in the first year); yet I believe that scarcely one of them will die of it if only they will take medicine and keep the necessary diet. However, very few of them will, rather later on they will contract worse sicknesses than the fever. I am not surprised that many die in this country, rather I am surprised that most of them recover and remain alive, even though their behavior is so bad. Not a few will appear before Christs seat of judgment, who will be convicted as sinners against the sixth commandment1 or as murderers of themselves and of others; and I loyally warn them against this.

On this first day of August we surely have had the greatest heat of this already exceptionally hot summer, in which we can feel almost no breeze. The rains we have had so far (excepting a single one a week ago) have not hit all our plantations, and therefore many will have a bad harvest and can expect 20 instead of 100 bushels of corn. The new people on the Blue Bluff and the few plantation owners on Ebenezer Creek have had the most rain, and therefore their crops are growing best. Some of them have just planted too little because they came to the country too late and were occupied for a long time with building their dwellings and making their fences.

The 5th. It is no small joy for me that most of the people on the Blue Bluff love Gods word, gladly fetch me in their boat to preach the weekday sermon, and show proper attention during the sermon. I go to them with much joy despite the great heat, and our merciful God grants me much grace and strength to proclaim His word to them in the blessed Arndts Informatorium biblicum2 simply and with blessing. Some, to be sure, are industrious workers but not diligent listeners; and through such behavior and through their lives in general they make themselves incapable of divine blessing and physical support.

In the afternoon I visited our sick servants in the institution at the new sawmill: the manager and his family assembled with the healthy servants in the patients chamber; and we edified ourselves with the words of James 1, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, etc.3 and prayed together for ourselves and others. Manager Flerl told me that he hoped that God will bless this sermon in his often distressed and bowed-down helpmeet, at whose condition it had been aimed without my intention. Mrs. Kalcher related to me a new proof of Gods fatherly care for her household and support, which awakened me, too, to joy and praise of God. The repair of the mill has advanced so far that we will be able to use the one course in a few days, for which both our inhabitants and strangers are painfully waiting. Our construction is going slowly through a lack of industrious carpenters.

Last week a strong young Englishman came to our place and began cutting boards by hand, for which we gladly advanced him everything because we would like to see such activity introduced here. The price of five shillings for one hundred feet is too low for him, especially because he is used to a higher price in Carolina, and therefore his sawing will cease.

The 7th. Mr. Mayer brought the news from Savannah that the price of Indian corn and rice have risen unusually high because all crops in South and North Carolina have been burned up by the lasting drought. Since our merciful God has begun to give us rain, our corn and rice have somewhat recovered. The plantations on Ebenezer Creek and on the Blue Bluff have hardly felt the drought at all and have the best crops. If the Lord Sabaoth had not let a little bit remain for us, then we would be like Sodom and Gomorrha.

The 8th. In her sickness N.N. shows a great desire for the word of God and for prayer, and therefore she is very pleased when we visit her. From her words and demeanor I conclude that she recognizes and feels her sins and hungers and thirsts for grace in Christ. Her husband is still far from the kingdom of God yet hopes to be saved in this condition.

The pious N.N. gave her maid a right good testimony in that she abhors the sins in which young people are accustomed to live according to the course of the world. She likes to pray, she learns and repeats, edifies the children, tends loyally and industriously to her calling, and accepts advice. N.N. is going to marry her, and he receives in her a virtuous housewife and loyal mother for his three children. N. said that if N. will observe the duties of a Christian husband, then she believes that this N., as his future wife, will become a righteous Christian.

The 10th. We hear from Savannah that, since the Lord Trustees gave up the government, many people from Carolina and other colonies are coming into our Georgia and wish to settle here. They are bringing many Negroes with them. No one can settle in our neighborhood because of a lack of good land.

The 14th. I visited some of our parishioners behind Abercorn4 and traveled at the same time to Goshen, where the inhabitants assembled at the signal of a horn to hear the word of God, which I preached to them concerning the last gospel for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity; and I treated the God-pleasing prayer of a penitent Sinner. Formerly I have had to settle all sorts of quarrels at this place; but this time I was spared from such distressing work. Concerning a young married couple, I knew that they did not live according to Gods word; I spoke with them privately and prayed with them. I particularly instilled in them the well known and at the same time important words of Sirach, There are three beautiful things that please both God and men. When brothers are one, when neighbors love each other, and when man and wife live in harmony.

The 15th. Sebastian Fetzer (one of the new colonists) had me called to him. God has visited him with fever and other bad luck, also his wife and children. However, they are all beginning to recover, even though they have not taken any medicine. In addition to their sickness, they have also had another severe tribulation in their rather well established plantation in that lack of rain has spoiled the rice completely and the Indian corn partly, also the beans and the squash have been eaten away by the deer in the night. Despite that, one finds in both marriage partners, especially in the husband, a complete resignation in the will of God and Christian contentment with His guidance; and they are grateful for the least thing. They strengthen their faith from Gods promises and from the beautiful examples in Holy Scripture.

The deceased Bichler left a pious and righteous widow /Maria/, a well-gifted daughter of the pious Thomas Bacher of about twenty-seven years of age, who so far has shown herself blameless and edifying in her widowhood, as is fitting for Christian widows. Now our Lord is providing her with a young, industrious, and well mannered carpenter, Balthasar Rieser. They reported to me their plans to publish their bans and gave me the opportunity (as all of them among us do in such cases) to present them from Gods word what can be useful and blessed for them all their life long. We also prayed with each other. These two persons are among the first children of our congregation who have been prepared for Holy Communion through my and my late colleagues service and who have also given us much joy so far through their Christian behavior and industry in their callings. I hope they will become blessed marriage partners in spiritual and physical matters.

The 16th. On this Twelfth Sunday after Trinity there were ninety-four persons at our Holy Communion, of whom two were from Purysburg. With good weather our merciful God granted us his blessing abundantly for the edification of our souls. May He give us grace to keep it in a fine and good heart and to bring forth fruit in patience!

A few months ago N.N. was mortally sick; and afterwards he became contract5 through the use of unsuitable medicines, which someone gave him with good intentions. The sickness drove him to God, and we visited him diligently, spoke and prayed with him from Gods word, which our dear God graciously heard; and to our great amazement He let him recover gradually and regain his strength so that today he could go to the Lords table again with the congregation. God has a lot to do in correcting him. So far He has done great things in him.

The 18th. God is now giving us rain more abundantly than in the whole summer. There is said to have been a great lack of water for men and cattle because the springs and all little streams are dried out except for the main rivers. We have had no lack of river and well water. Yet the Savannah River is smaller than it has ever been before. None of our so very useful mills has had water for milling, and this was all the more advantageous for repairing them. We have reason to thank God, who has helped us so far with this new, important, expensive, and very useful construction.

The 20th. Praise be to God, who has let our inhabitants come so far that they are now beginning to enjoy the fruit of the labor in the fields. On some plantations where they planted right early or very late the Indian corn has turned out rather well; but it rained most on the Blue Bluff, and there the crops are best. There are not many sweet potatoes; on the other hand rice, beans, and squash look very good with the present very fruitful weather. Some rice that was planted too early and not in low and watery areas is ruined, but this misfortune has not struck many at our place. We have more cause to praise God than to complain. He has done everything well.6 If only all the crops have turned out so well as with us, we need fear no shortage, unless God were to spoil them with all-too-much rain or in some other way.

The 21st. Some children who were born in Old Ebenezer have advanced so far in their Christian instruction that we plan to confirm them in five or six weeks and to let them go to the table of the Lord for the first time if we find in them the signs of believing and worthy communicants. N. is the only one who causes me distress with his frivolity and misbehavior;7 and to please him I have postponed the confirmation of the other children until now in order to give him thereby more time for his preparation. Our marvelous God has tried, in love and seriousness, through benefactions and severe chastisements, to set him right spiritually. However, through his own fault nothing good has come of him. A short time ago God dragged him right out of death, which made a great impression on him for some time; but he has again been corrupted by young people of Purysburg, whom he likes.

The 24th. Our dear God has graciously spared us old inhabitants of Ebenezer from disease during this now almost ended summer; but among the last colonists there will be few who have not had the quartan or tertian fever or still have it, but many through their own fault.

From my and other peoples experience, also according to the testimony of Mr. Thilo, our climate is one of the healthiest in the world. I have now received a printed description of the tarwater that has been famous for some years, of which it has been confirmed, not only in the Charleston newspapers but also through oral reports of honest people, that it is a highly safe and proved remedy against all fevers, side stitches, and inflamatory sicknesses; indeed, one which has been used in many other sicknesses with great profit. The extract which I received was taken from Mr. Priors Narratives, or news of the fortunate cures with tarwater, which book I had never seen.

To one quart of tar, four quarts of cold water are poured into a glazed earthen vessel, and they are stirred with one another briskly for five or six minutes and afterwards thoroughly mixed. One leaves it standing quietly for three days; afterwards it is skimmed (without stirring it or making it cloudy) and preserved for use in well sealed bottles. The more one makes in one vessel, the more tar and water one must take in proportion and the more one must stir it and mix it together. The patient in bed takes it warm every half hour in certain small portions until the fever subsides, which will happen if not on the next day, then on the fifth or sixth day, to wit, in such a way that, caeteris paribus,8 one need fear few more attacks of the fever. This is the first remedy that finds approval; therefore it should be prepared, the sooner the better. I shall also copy the extract and enclose it here as a report for our worthy friends and patrons. Our inhabitants would rather take drops or decota9 than powder, and therefore the usual cure is not agreeable to them.

The 26th. Among the last transport a man named Peter Hammer came to our congregation from Saxony with his wife and three children, who is an honest man concerned with his salvation. His like-minded wife (a very good housewife) has been visited by God until now with very painful and dangerous sickness and has sometimes come very close to death. She is patient and content with Gods guidance and also conforms to every order prescribed by the medico in physical matters. Her husband, children, and we ministers beg God for her recovery because she is almost indispensable for her unreared children in this strange land.

The 27th. Justiciary /Ludwig/ Mayers only little son, Christian Lebrecht, whom God gave him on December 7 of last year through his dear helpmeet, has been very sick for several weeks with fever, rash, and diarrhea and has finally become a truly piteous sight so that the dear parents themselves have sighed for its blessed release. It departed this morning, but at the same time Mrs. /Barbara/ Mayer (apparently from distress and worry) bore a stillborn child of about five months, which crushed the two dear married people all the more. In our prayer we made the following three verses useful to us in a simple way: We know that for all those who love God all things ..., The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, etc., God has never erred in His regime, no, what He does and lets be done, that will end well.10

The 28th. Despite the extraordinary heat and drought, the likes of which the old inhabitants cannot remember, the thunderstorms have been unbearable this summer; this afternoon it thundered, lightninged, rained, and stormed all together. From the treatise of a knowledgeable man who lives up in the area of Savannah Town,11 I have seen that up there they have had the same kind of weather as we and therefore very few crops, especially further on in Carolina. The Savannah River is so small that a person can cross on foot. The wolves and bears around there have greatly harmed the horses, cattle, and corn.

The 30th. On Friday my dear colleague, Mr. Lemke, traveled to Savannah to preach to the German people on this Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity and to give Holy Communion to some of them. May the Lord strengthen him to preach His word with blessing as He has strengthened me here among our parishioners, to whom I preached two sermons about the sick and their Physician from the gospel about the ten lepers. In the exordium we contemplated the beautiful words from Jeremiah 17:14, Heal me, oh Lord, and I shall be healed, save me, and ...; and from it we recognized our spiritual misery and our Physician and Helper. May He be praised for having graciously and powerfully helped us through this month, indeed, through this entire summer season. I and my family, like many others in the congregation, can again call to one another to the praise of God and to the strengthening of our faith: Praised be the Lord daily. God lays a burden on us, but he helpeth us also, Selah! We have a God who helpeth, and a Lord, who saveth from death!12

Several men and women have been gravely sick, but it came to pass through Gods mercy what we read two weeks ago in the introit verse from James 5:15, The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, etc. Many keep such a bad diet in their sickness that their recovery strikes me almost as a miracle; yet unknowing Christians say that nowadays God performs no more miracles. The old inhabitants have enjoyed good health during the past summer; and I wish for all of them the heart of the believing, obedient, humble, and grateful Samaritan in the gospel Luke 17.13 Among the most recent blessings of God is the fact that He has granted us sufficient crops for our needs, a new and very durable and usefully constructed mill course, and, after a long and unusual drought, enough rain and water for milling. In the next thanksgiving and consecration sermon I hold, I shall call out to the workers and other people who consider the new and thoroughly repaired mill to be a great blessing of God, O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.14 He gives us grace to have childlike trust in His wisdom, goodness, omnipotence, and truth and to believe that He will generously grant us the construction costs in His time, and we are comfortable in this confidence.

The 31st. If we had the means, we would have the newly begun bridge over Ebenezer Creek completed not only to facilitate the new colonists going back and forth but also to prevent all possible harm. A vestryman of the inhabitants of the Blue Bluff wished to swim the horse he had brought from Carolina across Ebenezer Creek, but he lost it in doing so. Elsewhere in this country, in which there are no bridges except at our place, it is very usual for travelers to swim their horses across the Savannah and other rivers from one high bank to the other, and for this purpose they use a canoe in which a man sits and holds the horse with the bridle. Thus much is risked here with people and beasts, especially in searching for the horses, cows, and oxen that have become wild; yet one seldom hears of misfortune. God shows himself as a lover of life even in the case of wild and daring men and gives them time for penitence. Oh, if only everyone among us and in other places would let themselves be led to it before He steps in and tears them away, and there is no longer any Savior there!

SEPTEMBER 1752

The 1st. My dear colleague, who came home safely yesterday, brought me some letters: one of them was from our worthy Pastor Brunnholtz from Philadelphia, who gave me some reports about the receipt of the letters we had written to him and to Pastor Muhlenberg, of his official business in New York, and of their health and much work; and he reported that, after Mr. Vigeras departure,1 Mr. Heinzelmann has been his collaborator. He concludes with these words: Shortly I shall write some more; now I must travel and preach for four weeks.

The 2nd. In the assembly on the Blue Bluff I had few parishioners today because it rained this morning and still more rain appeared to be coming. Meanwhile God granted us much edification from the often mentioned Informatorium biblicum2 of the blessed Arndt. Most of the people are very poor and need more aid in physical matters. This should be done for them, but only if they devote themselves to the timber business for trade with the West Indies, for which reason we will give them suggestions and offer them all sorts of advantages that other Germans at other places do not have.3 There will be few who will not be convinced that this is a good land for poor people, in which they can easily come to a position to support themselves with complete freedom and with Gods blessing, if only they will make use of the wealth of the land.

The 14th. Last night it rained a great deal, and from it the water in the streams rose so swiftly that the sawmill can operate after having had to stand idle almost all summer because of the extraordinarily dry weather. This new sawmill is a beautiful and well built work, which also stands on a very good spot. All around here, far and wide, there are not only the most beautiful pine trees but also stately cypress trees, even in the low areas right in the middle of the pine forests. God has already tested our faith, obedience, and patience in many ways, but He has also always helped marvelously and thus showed Himself toward this work as toward all His works. I hope we have overcome the most and the hardest trials; and we do not doubt that our loyal God will give much physical blessing to our congregation through this means, and we also hope for this from our first mill.

Yesterday was the 2nd and today is already the 14th of September because, at the command of Parliament, the new and improved Gregorian calendar has been accepted in all England.4 This is very convenient and pleasing for us that we now agree with our German fatherland in this matter, too, and can celebrate Sundays and holy days at the same time with them. May our merciful God let us soon experience the blessed time when there will be only one flock with one Shepherd and all harmful divisions will cease in matters of church and policy! Isaiah 2:4.

The 15th. Last night and today we have not only had much rain but also very strong storm winds that have not only torn down many fences and uprooted many young and strong trees in the gardens and in the woods, or at least has torn off some limbs. Who knows what other damage this extraordinarily strong wind has done. Here with us it was still bearable. The new colonists, and some of the earlier ones, still live in poor huts and must suffer much discomfort in such weather. They have enough building wood everywhere on their plantations and in the woods to warm themselves and build firm dwellings. The high daily wages make everything very expensive.

The 16th. Yesterdays strong wind (as I hear) has done great damage on the Blue Bluff. It has torn down the recently built house of the tailor Weinkauf, yet it did no harm to his sick wife and children, who were lying in bed. It damaged other huts and beat the still standing corn to the ground or broke it off. This is a great tribulation for those who planted late and whose corn is now ripening. Our old inhabitants planted earlier, and their corn was not bent over; and therefore the wind could not do them so much damage

The 17th. Now that the new calendar has been introduced in the entire English territory, on this Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity I fondly remember that we will contemplate the same texts from the gospels and the epistles as in our worthy Mother Church in our dear Augsburg,5 indeed, as in all Evangelical Lutheran churches and congregations and will stand in harmony in this regard. God has a quite indescribable love for unity and unification, as one can recognize from the high-priestly prayer in John 17. For the sake of this meritorious intercession may He unite the hearts of all Christian of all estates in all Christendom through His spirit so that they will honor the dogma of Christ in all regards even to the winning of disbelievers!

The 18th. This morning our parishioners, especially from the plantations by the mill, assembled to attend the consecration of the new mill with Gods word and prayer. My text was, Taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.6 If we have previously had reason to praise our almighty God for the kindness He has shown us in the mills and to encourage each other to a spiritual joy and a strengthening of our faith, then this time we have especially strong reasons, because, through His gracious government, the mills have been put into better, more useful, and more durable condition than ever before. Here too one could say plus ultra.7

Now on one spot we have three mills for grinding, one for shelling and stamping rice, and one for sawing, in addition to the sawmill at the extreme end of our plantations. All my worries as to where we will find the construction costs have been taken away by the last words of our consecration verse: Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord.8 It is just written, Be not afraid, only believe;9 and then you will taste and see how friendly the Lord is. On this occasion I again remembered with joy the words of trust and comfort of our dear Father, Senior Urlsperger, in his fatherly letter to us of the 24th of February of this year: He hath delivered Ebenezer in six troubles, He will deliver her also from this (because of the ruined new sawmill dam), yea, from all troubles. Have I not told you that, if you believe, you would, should, and must see the glory of God.10 These verses one learns best not when the dam remains intact, but when it suffers damage, not when there is enough money there for repairs but when there is none, and when it is nevertheless repaired. God remains greater than any great trouble: otherwise one could not say, In all these things we are more than conquerors, etc.11

The 19th. Mrs. Zittrauer (a pious woman to the depth of her heart) has miscarried and come into mortal danger. She had me called to her so she could hear a word of comfort and to enjoy the blessing of prayer. God blessed them both in her. She is certain of her salvation in Christ. With Mary she has chosen or selected the better part, and that shall not be taken away from her. In her humble and grace-hungry nature I can imagine to some extent the Maria who was loved and respected by God.

The 22nd. Because, in addition to the Salzburgers, all sorts of people have come to our congregation from the Empire12 since the very beginning, they have brought with them all sorts of books that are scattered around by all sorts of sects without the names of the authors, publishers, or place of publication. Our time is so short and precious that we cannot advise anyone to apply it to the reading of such meager and partly erroneous writings, since we have so many splendid and holy evangelical books and tractates, which, however, cannot all be read because of the shortness of time and life. From the beginning divine providence has presented us with so many large and small writings, in which we find an entirely healthy pasture and therefore do not need others to teach us, especially if they do not like the Evangelical Church. We not only warn our parishioners against all suspicious or unedifying books but also, with their permission or at their request, peruse their supply of books, as we did yesterday for one of the families.

Through our dear Dr. Spener13 and others of his dear servants God has now blessed the famous city of Frankfurt on the Main; and it can only be pitied that in the same area, and to be sure also in others, so many sects and sectarian writings have unfortunately appeared. May our merciful God protect our land and place from such seductions in the name of God, and may He keep us first of all from disloyalty to the dear jewel of the gospel, and may He allow us, through the right use of the same, to achieve senses exercised to discern both good and evil! Hebrews 5:14.

The 29th. Two weeks ago (as I learned yesterday evening) the extraordinary stormwind in Charleston, the capital of South Carolina, caused almost unspeakable damage to houses, trade-goods, ships, and people. It came from the southwest14 and drove the sea with the greatest violence six feet over the wall and battery, put a great part of the city, not only the cellars but also the merchant stores, under water, and filled them with water almost up to the attics and ruined almost the entire first row of large and high rise brick houses. It partially destroyed the many merchant vessels and some warships and drove some onto the battery and the sand and drowned more than a hundred people.

Corn and rice are said to have been greatly damaged because the high-growing crops were bent to the ground partly by the wind and partly by the heavy rain that came with the storm. In the low-lying areas (which is the actual rice land) they were covered by sand from the nearby hills and the earth that was washed down on them.

The 30th. Yesterday and last night it rained heavily, and at the same time there was a very violent south and southeast wind. The Savannah River is beginning to rise, and we are afraid that it will rise so high this time that the rice on our and other places will be flooded, thrown over, and spoiled. The crops that were not spoiled by the summer heat have been beaten to the ground by the recent strong wind; and what is left or what has later somewhat recovered seems now to be spoiled by the water. May God not treat us according to our sins, and may He not repay us according to our misdeeds!

OCTOBER 1752

The 1st. We spent this Sunday, the first one of this month, with much edification and praise of God, especially because we consecrated our Jerusalem Church eleven years ago today and because God has graciously preserved this and the church on the plantations so far and has shown our souls much mercy through the regular means of salvation. The violent stormwind and rain continued without interruption from Friday morning until last night but subsided towards morning. Today in the realm of nature we had a very pleasant and enlightened day, and in the realm of grace we fared the same; After the storm thou lettest the sun shine again, and after our weeping and wailing thou show-rest us with joy.1 That has always been Gods way with the people of His covenant; also in Tobit, just before the cited words, I know for sure, if any man serve God, he will be comforted after temptation and released from trouble, and after his chastisement he will find grace. How necessary this comforting lesson is in our present tribulations!

The 2nd. Mr. Mayer traveled to Savannah; and with him I sent to a friend, for forwarding to Port Royal or Charleston, a little packet with the diary, the account of Ebenezers receipts and expenditures, and some letters to our worthy Fathers and friends in Europe. It is uncertain whether ships will be able to leave from Charleston very soon, since the storm or extraordinary hurricane (as the English call it) of the 22nd of last month destroyed some of the ships there, damaged some, and hurled some onto the land and caused lamentable destruction in the city. Yesterdays news reported that over three hundred people were drowned. The storm on the 30th of September was almost as violent as the one just mentioned; and, since it broke loose at midday directly on Charleston, it is more than presumable that great damage has again been caused. The day before yesterday the water in our Savannah River rose five feet high in twenty-four hours; and it is continuing such that we fear an entirely unusual flood. Psalms 46.

The 4th. A pious mother complained to me with tears that she is not seeing such earnestness in her oldest daughters prayer and Christianity as she saw a few years ago in the children in the orphanage, who were found both praying and weeping at night in their bedrooms and in the day on their knees. This gave me the opportunity to speak with the little girl from Gods word and to pray for her heartily in the presence of her mother, which, God be praised, made a good impression on her. May our merciful Savior, who has promised as a good and great Shepherd to reach out His hand toward little children, have mercy on this and other children in our congregation and let it come to what is said of them in Sirach 39:17, Hearken to me, ye holy children, and grow like the roses planted on the brooks, and give forth sweet odor like incense; blossom like the lilies, and smell sweet.

The 6th. When we have a lot of rain and wind as we had last month, then thick and thin trees fall into the Mill River and afterwards cause no little work and expense. On both sides of the river stand almost innumerable trees of all kinds, which cannot be chopped away until the owners of the plantations extend their plantations to the island in the Mill River. Because our inhabitants as well as strangers often travel to the mill in boats and because the rafts of boards are sent to Savannah on this river, the passage must be kept open. Our inhabitants have less and less desire to lay out fields on the island for corn and rice not only because it was flooded a year ago very early in the fall, thereby greatly harming the rice and entirely destroying some, but also because the same thing is expected now. The Savannah River needs to rise only a foot more, then the whole island and all the surrounding land will be under water. Some rice is now being cut, but the remainder is not yet ripe. If the water comes in, the standing rice falls down, and what remains standing is eaten by the ricebirds, which are a kind of small sparrow. This low land is incomparably fertile; but, since poor people cannot bear the cost of protecting it from inundation, they can hardly risk planting crops but have to use it for cattle pasture and the beautiful wood for trade.

The 7th. Mr. Mayer brought the news from Savannah that two ships full of German people had arrived in Charleston and that a ship with people from the Duchy of Wurttemberg had come to Savannah. Only a few in the last ship are said to have come over at their own expense, most of them will have to earn their pasage.

More than a year ago our inhabitants wrote to one of our most prominent benefactors for some able-bodied and loyal servants, who are to be used chiefly in the lumber business, which earns ten times as much as agriculture and which is healthier. There is scarcely any place more convenient than the said island for processing barrel staves, shingles, boards, and panels for export. Already for several months an old Carolina planter named Hugh or Hugo Bryan, a very experienced and Godfearing man, has been using his many Negroes on his low-lying land along the Savannah River in Carolina opposite this island for no other work than preparing roof-shingles and boards, which can be brought to Savannah for sale just as easily as from our island; and from that he earns a lot of money. In previous years he had incurred heavy debts as a planter on his very fertile land, which is some distance from the river; and it seems that he found no better means to get out of debt than with this very profitable business.

His brother Jonathan once told me that, if he did not have to plant rice and corn for his many Negroes and white people and also for his cattle, he would rather use all his Negroes (of which he has at least a hundred) for making shingles, which would bring him much more than planting. I do not know whether anyone in the colony has such a good opportunity for such work as the inhabitants of Ebenezer; and for that the said island serves them especially well. Therefore, they should not be disgusted even though the water sometimes spoils the rice. This year it would have been cut and harvested before the inundation if the great summer heat had not hindered its growth.

The 8th. On this 18th Sunday after Trinity one hundred and sixteen members of the congregation were at the Table of the Lord, among them one boy and five girls, who had been examined yesterday in front of the congregation at the confessional concerning the two important articles of Christ and the order of salvation and had then been confirmed. Their names are 1) Johann Martin Rheinlaender, who was born and baptized in Old Ebenezer. His parents and siblings have died, some here and some in other places.

2) Ursula Kalcher, the oldest daughter of the late Ruprecht Kalcher. She was also born in Old Ebenezer in 1735. Her pious mother, a widow, shines as a lamp among us.

3) Maria Brandner, the daughter of a pious Salzburger of this place, who was also born in Old Ebenezer in 1736. Both of her parents are still alive.

4) Susanna Catharina Ernst, an orphan, was born about the end of March in a place near Regensburg, the name of which she does not know. The baptismal certificate was burnt some years ago along with other documents.

5) Catharina Grimmiger, an orphan, was born in Frankfurt on the Main in 1735. Her mother died here and her father moved to Pennsylvania.

6) Maria Dorothea Haefner, 20 years old, the oldest daughter of a deceased inhabitant of Vernonburg, whose mother moved to our place some years ago with her second husband.2 This girl has a weak mind but is honest at heart, dearly loves her Savior and His word, and is therefore well suited for Holy Communion.

The remaining children, who have well understood Christian dogma, give me reason and cause to hope that, since they have again dedicated themselves to the Lord and His service through a renewal of their baptismal covenant, they will also remain the property of their Lord Jesus. May He seal them to it more and more through the Holy Ghost! In the exordium of the sermon I called to them and to all others of todays communicants and parishioners from Sirach 1, See to it that thy fear of the Lord be not hypocrisy, and serve him not with a false heart. God be praised for all the good that He has shown us today.

My correspondent in Charleston confirmed the sad reports about the badly devastated Charleston; and he announced that in the memory of man Charleston had never experienced such a drought and such a storm. I hope I will receive in a newspaper some details of this great misfortune, which I would like to impart. In the last stormwind nine days ago a French carpenter in Savannah was struck dead with his Negroes by a felled tree. He was a skillful, useful, and orderly man.

The 9th. Mr. Habersham sent me a packet of letters that he had received for us from Europe. They were from our dear Senior Urlsperger and another prominent benefactor and contained nothing but important and mostly pleasant reports, which I shall mention at some other opportunity.

The last unusual storm did great damage in the pine forests but especially in the oak forests; and as I rode by the thickest trees that had been torn from the earth I regretted that they would have to rot. In this land wood is still in excess; and therefore, unfortunately, people pay no attention when the trees spoil by the hundreds, especially if they are at some distance. Some time ago a new colonist told me what he wanted to write to a carpenter acquaintance who was afraid that there might not be much wood here, namely, that he had seen more thick and long trees lying on the ground here in Georgia than standing in Germany. The lack of faithful servants, inadequate experience in good economy, and the excessively great daily wages cause unspeakable loss in this beautiful land that is so blessed by nature.

I learned in Goshen with certainty that the German people in the ship (who were recently mentioned) are mostly indentured servants and that very few are free. The ships captain has orders from a merchant in Rotterdam to deliver these servants and maids to Charleston; but, because he learned that two other ships full of German servants had come to Charleston before him, he was afraid he might not be able to dispose of them and recoup his money. For this reason he sailed into the Savannah River until he would receive orders as to whether he should leave them in Savannah or take them there. In Georgia he would be able to sell few of them for five or six pounds Sterling (which is the usual price for a servant or maid with four years to serve). I have previously mentioned the reasons for this.

The 10th. In the weekday sermon I informed our inhabitants from the letters we have received that, 1) we must thank God that He has not only kept his dear servants, our worthy Fathers and benefactors in Europe such as Mr. N., Mr. N., and Mr. N (This time we have heard nothing from Pastor Francke), in health and life but also kept us and our congregation in their fatherly affection, even though they experience little joy and absolutely no profit from us, but rather trouble, annoyance, and ingratitude on our part.

The 13th. A pious planter in Carolina named Mr. Hugh Bryan, who was mentioned recently in this diary, sent me the following sad news from Charleston in his boat, which had brought some barrels of wheat to the mill:

This year the hand of God seems to be very heavy over our land with floods and storms, in that nearly all the provisions in the fields lying near the city have been destroyed. As a result, there is great shortage in the city; the bridges and ramparts of the city are lying entirely under water, and a great number of houses, especially in the suburbs and in the country, are lying on the ground. Indeed, the rice-fields themselves are spoiled, even though they lie in the midst of the land.

May God bless these great misfortunes in us by letting them teach us about His justice.

The 14th. Riedelspergers oldest little boy, a child of six years, has become dangerously sick. His mother told me that in his fever he often recited from his Christian faith the beautiful words: I believe in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, Amen. Help me watch, pray, and sing until I stand before Thy throne.3 When she asked him what he was doing, he answered that he was praying; and he continued with the quoted words. This pious couple already have several pious children in heaven, which means more to them than if they possessed empires and kingdoms.

The 15th. Our pious schoolmaster, Caspar Wirtsch, is almost at the end of his term of service.4 When he was at my house today I asked him whether he would remain here and continue holding school, as I and others wished. He said that his heart always tells him that he should remain here; otherwise he might again lose the good that our dear God grants him from His word. He could not trust himself to resist the temptations and enticements of the world from outside and from inside; thereupon he wept and said nothing more. I hear that he also deplores his sinful condition in the presence of his master.

The 17th. I met a woman of the last transport with a load of corn and sweet potatoes, who asked me to come into her house and see the blessing that God had granted her in the field. During her fever in the summer she had, she said, prayed on her knees for Him to give her a healthy body and the necessities of life, and He had done both. Now she often remembers the little verse I had inculcated: Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay ..., etc.5 She is as diligent in spiritual matters as in physical ones and receives the blessings of the Lord for her soul and body; and she is also very useful both spiritually and physically to her husband, who was formerly very dissolute. Such people are suitable for this country; but she is too pious for some of her countrymen, such as N. and N. I also came to the plantation of our righteous and industrious Hans Schmid and found him and his family at the harvest. Here, too, I found in the field and the dwelling nothing but blessing in corn, beans, squash, the likes of which I had not expected this year. We thanked our merciful and almighty God for it.

The water in the rivers has not risen this time as high as we feared, and therefore the rice at our place has not suffered any damage. Even if not everything has turned out so well this year as at other times, still, our dear God has granted us enough so that no one at our place will suffer any lack. He will also care for our new colonists when He brings them safely to land, if they will fear Him in their hearts.

The 18th. For some time a Spaniard has sojourned here, who has gradually caused much harm. The last thing he did was to take a canoe from a poor man from the new transport and make his way to Frederica in it. From there he brought back a horse, clothes, and musket to our place; and, because people did nothing more to him than to hold back his presumably stolen horse as a pledge that he would pay back the boat and other debts, he came last night to honest Hans Schmids plantation and took away his best horse. Mr. Mayer, as judge, did, to be sure, send the constable and Schmids servant after him, but he was not found.

For the sake of good order, good subsistence, and security I would like to see the following useful things introduced into our colony: 1) that the good restrictions that have been made regarding the Negroes, which are surely still known to our worthy Fathers and friends, be changed into a parliamentary act and the law of the land; 2) that vagabonds and tramps not be allowed to pass, and that passes be issued; and that any stranger on foot or horseback who cannot show a pass be carefully examined or put under arrest. It can hardly be told how many vagabonds are found here and there, some of whom, if they commit some evil in Carolina or here, desert to the Spaniards in St. Augustine. These are very dangerous for this colony. 3) in all the colonies there are jails and workhouses, only there are none in ours, where such punishment is almost the most necessary. 4) both colonies should unite to extradite runaway redemptioners; however, this has not yet taken place on the side of the Carolinians; and much harm has arisen as a result of this. 5) that one should find means to prevent the Indians from shooting any more cattle in the woods, from taking away the horses, and robbing the planters of their crops and fruit, which disorder does not happen often but from time to time. 6) that serious efforts should be made to instruct and convert the Indians, of which we still hear and see nothing. The godless life of many traders among them does unspeakable harm to their souls. May God awaken all His children to a trusting prayer and intercession to postpone our well-deserved divine judgments!

The 20th. Yesterday I had business in Goshen, where I also took the opportunity, using Isaiah 55:6-7, to preach to the inhabitants the gospel of the mercy of God in Christ and of the forgiveness of sins in the order of true conversion. Upon reaching home I found in my study a very pleasant letter written to me by Mr. Whitefield, which was dated in London on the 3rd of July of this year; and in it I read an especially beautiful testimony of our dear Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen. May our merciful God repay this His faithful servant, our Father whom we honor in Christ, for this and many other testimonies of his fatherly love and affection; and may He hear our poor sighs for him and for his faithful Timothy, the worthy court Chaplain Albinus! I immediately answered Mr. Whitefields very friendly and edifying letter with joy, since I am now planning to send my answers to the last letters received from Germany to Charleston with the first opportunity. I am most anxious for a prominent benefactor to receive an answer soon to his last important letters.

The 21st. Last night the news came to our place from Old Ebenezer that the recently mentioned Spaniard, who had stolen a boat and horse here, had taken a saddle and horse from a traveling man and at the same time beat him nearly to death and forced him to an oath not to betray him. Some men who know the woods set out at once on horseback and pursued this harmful man, but they returned without any success. He and his kind who are in this country can not go to St. Augustine or other Spanish plantations because they have forfeited their lives there. However, it may be presumed that he is going to North Carolina or Virginia. He had to leave his pistols and a horse behind, which are, however, just stolen property. Today men from the area of Frederica came in pursuit of him because he robbed a planter there. They will follow him on horseback to Carolina, for which the men have full power and warrants from the authorities in Savannah.

The 24th. The young Mrs. Eischberger is applying praiseworthy diligence in rearing her tender children well. She is not only keeping them in an orderly way in external matters but is also teaching them Bible verses, prayers, and the catechism. They recited to me in an orderly way what they had learned; and they caused me much joy in doing so. Their father is very ignorant6 and does not take the time to have himself instructed. He is learning the catechism and the Bible verses through his children. Both parents attend the public divine services but the man is not very diligent. Their farming and occupations hinder them in this like those invited souls in Matthew 22.

For their later devout reading I found them Book I, Chapter 18 in Arndts Christianity,7 which tells how highly angry God becomes when one prefers the temporal to the eternal and how, and why, we should not cling to the world with our hearts. Because of his ruined health he does not expect to live much longer, and yet he is not concerned with his immortal soul. Worldly minds are a snare for many, yet it is so difficult to convince them of it. Both of these people have enough wealth and therefore cannot make poverty the cause of their often neglected divine service.

The 26th. Before evening a young man came to my study; and the first thing he did was to fall on his knees and to pray to God very heartily and with tears. He then complained of the preoccupation he was having in his married state. He recognizes and also believes that through all this our wise God is seeking what is best for him. A good friend in Savannah sent me a little tractate of twenty-two folios that a learned Englishman, Dr. George Berkley, Bishop of Cloyne, had written about tar water as a safe and healthy medication.

This complete description is somewhat different from the extract that I communicated a short time ago to our friends in this diary, yet it agrees in general.8 I am pleased that the author does not demand, like the extract by a manufacturer, that one drink six or eight quarts one after the other, or every half hour a half pint, or three teacups full. To be sure, in the case of well-rooted illnesses, he, too, demands a steady use during several weeks or months, but only a half pint every morning and the same amount when going to bed. This dose can also be divided into four parts. He has written so thoroughly and convincingly of the usefulness of this inexpensive and safe method and has adduced so many examples of a blessed cure from his own experience that I might well wish that our medico and our surgeon, both of whom are practicing, might use it with their patients. It may well be Gods hand that has let this news come to us.

The 28th. Very unpleasant things were told me about the behavior of some young men of the last transport, which still can not be punished by a secular judge because of their annoyance. They were accustomed to such misbehavior already in Germany; and it is hard to convince them that it is completely against the teaching of Christ and therefore sins that cannot escape the judgment of God if they show no repentance or change of mind. Most of the young lads whom we accepted some years ago as servants have caused us more vexation than joy and more disquiet than relief; and they have, against my and Mr. Mayers advice, been set free by their masters although their years of service were not yet at an end. Their masters have had more distress than use from their compulsory and grumbling service.

From the last transport we have accepted some voluntary servants for the mill; we are giving them good wages and good food and drink, yet it is not going much better with them than with those who had to work three years for their passage. Before others they enjoy the blessing of communal prayer and hearing the divine word in the mill establishment, but they are ungrateful and unhelpful. Rather, they cause us much distress through their eye-service and secret wicked tricks and through their ingratitude and discontent. It is the fault of disloyal people that our beautiful mills do not earn as much as they could. Such disloyal white servants can make a beggar out of a man who cannot always be with them. I have always been very prejudiced against the use of Moorish slaves and would have contributed everything possible to have this frontier colony occupied by only industrious Protestants without Negroes; yet I have well discovered that that is impossible because of the lack of loyal white servants. I also find that one can keep the Negroes of both sexes in better order than the white servants and maids, who often ask after neither divine nor human laws and can often take more liberties in this land than the Negroes are allowed to. The masters and householders could demand good order from the Negroes if they wished.

The 31st. Our honest Hans Schmid (like the late Sanftleben formerly) has made many changes in his plantation and economy, through which he has come into loss, debts, and worries. He was in great danger of suffering danger not only to his health but also to his Christianity and righteous nature; and this moved us, at his request, to accept, for thirty-six pounds Sterling, his share of the cowpen in Old Ebenezer that we bought from the Lord Trustees. This has put him in a position to pay all his debts in Savannah and here in an honorable way. He is heartily happy at that and thanks God for this disposition. Our mill establishment already had some head of cattle in Old Ebenezer, and now those just bought are being added; and thus we are acquiring a fine herd for breeding, which in time can be useful for the entire community if God grants His blessing to it. We will not lose anything by it; and, even if it did happen, the loss would be slight compared to the loss of a soul. What will we not risk for righteous parishioners?

NOVEMBER 1752

The 1st. Yesterday, the last of October, was a day of sorrow and humiliation for us. Young Mrs. Fetzer, whose husband serves at the mill, was in most extreme mortal danger and finally bore a dead little daughter. Martin Lackner, who married Elisabeth Pricker from Langenau ten weeks ago,1 lost her again unexpectedly yesterday morning through temporal death; and therefore he has again become a widower and his three little children have become orphans. On the 28th of last month I visited her and her family on their new plantation behind Abercorn, prayed with the whole family, and let the children cite for me some Bible verses that they had learned through the diligence of this godfearing and industrious mother. She had readied herself on the same Saturday afternoon to ride to Ebenezer in order to attend divine services there. During the night she was taken ill and prevented from going to church: soon yellow jaundice2 revealed itself and a great vomiting began, from which she soon lost her understanding and her physical life. Previously she had served the righteous Mrs. Hans Maurer and had collected a good treasure; and now the wisdom of God has so ordained that in her last hours she was able to enjoy this pious sufferers intercession, encouragement, and care.

At my request Mr. Mayer examined this young deceased woman and brought me the report that her entire body was wax yellow and that she had constantly vomitted nothing but gall and black s.h.3 matter, from which a linen cloth had become entirely yellow. Through her urine passed nothing but blood s.v..4 I was afraid that it was a type of the dangerous yellow fever; but Mr. Mayer assured me that it was yellow jaundice in the highest degree. At the burial today I regretted that I had perceived in but very few of our former servants the Christian attitude that I had perceived in this pious person during her life. Their disloyalty in their work, their discontent, and other (at least secret) disorder sufficiently attest that our office has served them in vain. They do not like our sighs. Now that they have received their freedom after three years of service, they are working for other people much more industriously and faithfully for wages than they worked in the so bearable service of the Salzburgers. The householders would rather have seen them leave rather even than have them work just for their board; for with their disloyalty were discontent, grumbling, and loose words. Our Salzburgers cannot use severity. Yet some of the servants are of a better nature.

Good Mrs. Granewetter, who married a stingy old widower /Caspar Waldhauer/ some years ago, suffered from him greatly for some time on her own plantation and finally let him persuade her to move to his own undeveloped property in Goshen. She suffered there for over a year; but she can not stand it any longer with such a tyrant and has therefore taken refuge again in Ebenezer. However, she has come with nothing but her little girl; and she would like me to find a way to help her back to her clothes, household goods, and cattle, but this is not in my or Mr. Mayers power. We have great sympathy for her and direct her to a humble and continuous prayer to God, from whom all help in this world comes. Our remonstrances accomplish nothing with this unscrupulous man. Nor can we give her safe shelter in Ebenezer because the man could cause us trouble from Savannah.

The 2nd. I have received from Mr. von Brahm in Charleston a letter of 12 October in which he requests me to help him obtain a correct map of our Ebenezer district from Abercorn to Mount Pleasant. He is collecting plans of all cities and villages established in Carolina and Georgia in order to have a complete map of both provinces engraved in Germany, which he will dedicate to the Lords of Trade & Plantations.

From a friend in Charleston I have received a printed report of the great damage that was caused by the unusual storm on the 15th of September, old style, in the city and in the country, which I will attach to this diary so that our dear friends in Europe can recognize how glorious, holy, just, powerful, and merciful our God reveals Himself in our region. Oh, if only all sinners would recognize the hand of God and humble themselves under it! Otherwise, He will punish seven times more. Leviticus 26.

A year ago one of the first worn-out Salzburgers bought a Negro man, and now he has bought a Negro woman from Mrs. Kraft because little can be accomplished with white servants because of great vexation. I told him what I have hoped for up until now, namely, that the Christian householders into whose power these black heathens are gradually coming through the providence of God will give them every possible opportunity for Christian instruction and for that reason will teach them the German language by consorting with them at work, at meals, and at daily divine service, which duty God will someday demand of them. After they have learned the language it should be our greatest joy to instruct them privately on Sundays and Holy days.

Most of our servants have not only had complete freedom on Sundays and holy days to do nothing but what God demands publicly and privately in the 4th commandment, rather their work has not kept them from the morning or evening prayer meetings or from visiting the two weekday sermons. The midday pause and the long evenings (which can be called long all year in comparison with Germany) are also left free for them.

If this time were granted, if not entirely then at least in part, to the Negroes for their instruction and if their masters would give them some desire and inclination to learning and to the Christian religion with this or that gift and with limited freedom, e.g., to visit their countrymen on other plantations at certain times, then I would hope that they would grasp the Christian teachings literally in a few months through the diligence of the ministers, their masters, and through their own industry. If they were held to diligent prayer and the word of God, and also to good order and behavior, then many of them would resemble many in Christendom in the external appearance of Christianity, indeed, they would surpass many white servants of this country.

It is surely a great disgrace for many nominal Christians to have advanced no further in recognition and Christian living in many years than an intelligent Negro could be brought to in a few months with divine aid if he were treated according to the method mentioned above. Conversion and change of heart are for God: men must just do what they can do and work on their neighbors according to their calling and, by word and deed, keep to good order and a virtuous life those who are commended to their care and supervision, be they white or black servants. A man can also achieve this through natural power.

If the Negroes once came so far that they considered shameful and praiseworthy what is actually so, then reason and innate decorum would keep them from many vices and bring them to an externally respectable life. This would already be a fine step towards advancing Christianity and would put to shame not a few so-called Christians among all sorts of nations in this country. I am convinced that wicked Christians are mostly to blame that the gate to Christianity is shut to Negroes and Indians, and that this will bring great judgments. To be sure, there are very few Negroes at our place, but more will probably be bought gradually through necessity; and for this I wish a Christian heart for all masters.

The 5th. We are now having a very pleasant and healthy autumn; and, because we have not yet felt any frost, the rice that was spoiled by the extraordinarily long heat and then grew back, has had time to grow and ripen. In the evening the commandant from Augusta called on me at my house on his way to Charleston. He said that everything was very calm among the Indians and that he regretted that Augusta and the entire region around it was without a minister. The young man who was sent to them from London some time ago has taken up another profession in Carolina. The Presbyterian ministers in this country are unusually zealous and orderly in their official duties. The ministerial office is very badly filled in most places in America; and things would look even much more miserable if the two praiseworthy societies de propagando Evangelio and de promovenda Christi cognitione5 did not send as many ministers into the colonies and support them.

We serve all the Germans in this colony with our office, if they have any desire for it. They wish to have it entirely free and without effort or else not at all, and this surely indicates a bad attitude. The German people in and around Savannah should contribute something toward our travel costs in serving them every two months or else fetch one of us in a small boat, but even that is too much. If they were to contribute anything for maintaining a minister or schoolmaster, they still would not respect the office fully and would rather go to another church as the degenerate Germans in Charleston do. Our Fathers and friends should scarcely believe the Germans who are emigrating to America or are already living here when they promise to support their ministers soon or after some time. For the sake of the slightest contribution they would cause them a lot of nuisance.

The 7th. The honest and industrious Christian Riedelsperger can no longer maintain himself in town since he has lost the trade between here and Savannah; therefore he has begun to cultivate his well situated land and is now moving out there. His heartily pious wife took leave from me with sorrow and tears and asked me to visit her and her family from time to time. Their plantation lies between Ebenezer and Abercorn, about two hours from our place. Even though she will not be able to hear the word of God daily, it is still not too far for her to go to the divine services in Zion Church on Sundays and occasionally during the week. Her old seventy-year-old mother is remaining in town in Riedelspergers house and therefore near to the word of God, which is a great joy for her. One can rightly say of this Riedelsperger family (to which the old widow Schweighoffer also belongs) It is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.6

The 9th. Because I had some necessary business on our glebe land, I traveled at the same time to Goshen and held a sermon for the inhabitants, who gathered promptly at a given signal, about the nature and use of prayer from the beautiful words Luke 1, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard. These people are lovers of Gods word and show respect to the ministerial office, and our efforts among them are not in vain. God has ordained that they have received their land not far from Ebenezer; and therefore they also enjoy the good that our dear God has let our congregation experience first in spiritual and then also in material ways.

The 10th. One of the larger schoolboys had behaved disobediently and impudently to the plantation schoolmaster. Because he was afraid that his pious mother would learn about it and be distressed by it, he came to me and asked me to punish him in school as he deserved and not let his mother know anything about it. He wept bitterly and spoke so movingly that I could do nothing other than to change the intended punishment into an apology to the schoolmaster before the children. Gods mercy in Christ toward the sinner who regrets his sin and apologizes for it became quite alive for me. A stranger from Augusta offered us a boat full of Indian corn, which we would have gladly bought partly for some old inhabitants and our mills and partly for the next transport, if the man had been willing to take a just price for it. But, when he heard that in Savannah a bushel is sold for three shillings Sterling, he went down there.

After Mr. Boltzius wrote here in detail about the trouble he is having with many, if not most, among the Swabian transports, he finally writes.

It is, to be sure, very difficult to tell such unedifying things about my neighbors, but I must do it for the following reasons. 1) It will serve to keep our worthy Fathers and friends in Europe from so easily lending an ear to the requests and the running back and forth and the writings of such people asking them to recommend them to the Lord Trustees or other governors of Georgia. 2) All people should now be advised not to move to Ebenezer because no more good land can be found here, because all is occupied. 3) All people who wish to come anyway should be told that they cannot support themselves with farming and cattle-raising alone. If they do not wish to occupy themselves with processing all sorts of timber products for trade with the West Indies, they will hardly earn their keep, especially if they receive poor land and if they do not thoroughly understand agriculture and other economic matters. 4) They cannot rely on hired hands and maids even if they bring the best ones with them, for they change here for the worse. For buying Negroes they must pay more than thirty pounds, i.e. three hundred florins, per head. 5) Those who can, indeed, pay for their passage but have little or nothing in their hands afterwards are almost worse off than those who come as indentured servants and maids. During their period of service they will become accustomed to the country and their work without loss and will gain experience. If they have a bit of money after their period of service for beginning, then they will fare better than those who came as free passengers.

The 12th. It has seemed to some of our inhabitants as if they heard the cannons in Savannah being fired a few days ago; and from this we have concluded that it might be the ship with the German colonists from the Territory of Ulm. However, the supposed cannon firing as well as the arrival of our countrymen were entirely unfounded. We are praying for them publicly and privately that God will bring them safely and lead them to all good through His spirit by means of His word. If they love tranquility and solitude, and if they are more concerned with saving their souls than with physical advantages, they will doubtless be pleased in Georgia. However, if they come here to seek their fortune and win good days according to the flesh (like most of them), then they will grumble and scold other people, as the recently mentioned N.N. and others of his kind do. Pious Christians and industrious workers who know how to adjust themselves to the country live contentedly with complete spiritual and physical freedom; indeed, some who had nothing become rich or at least achieve sufficient wealth. God divides and distributes everything marvelously.

The recently mentioned thieving Spaniard is said to have been at our place again during the night of the twelfth and thirteenth of this month to carry off two Negro girls with whom he had previously conducted himself in a filthy manner. To be sure, people were on guard, but he did not let himself be seen. He is a harmful creature. May God keep him away and prevent him from doing us any harm. Our inhabitants give their few Negroes too much liberty on Sundays and allow them to gather in a vexatious way (as is customary everywhere in Georgia and Carolina), which entirely corrupts their dispositions and is harmful to the advancement of their Christianity.

I advise the owners of these slaves that God will demand their souls from them if they do not apply every possible means to bring them to a recognition of Christ and the way of life. Every housefather and housemother should make a beginning of a reformation of their manners, an observation of decorum, and the learning of the German language, a restriction of harmful liberty on Sundays, and including them in divine services at home, with admonitions, and with encouraging them, etc. They should not wait for them until they desire it themselves.

Last evening I received another unpleasant report. An Indian trader, rather an English merchant who trades with the Indians at and above Augusta, told me that he was traveling to Savannah and Charleston to announce everywhere that nothing is more certain than an Indian war and that we should therefore take measures. I cannot comprehend this report because the commandant of Augusta, Mr. George Cadogan, who traveled past here ten days ago on his way to Charleston, assured me that we had neither war nor other danger to fear from the Indians. God is our refuge, etc.

The 16th. This week the harvest and thanksgiving sermon will be held in both churches, as well as on the Blue Bluff, as is customary every year at our place. In all three sermons I have the same text, namely, 1 Timothy 4:7-9, which treats of the glorious profit of godliness, and during them I recommended Arndts Christianity L. I., chapter 407 for later reading. Today this sermon was held on the Blue Bluff and today in town, for which the parishioners gathered in large numbers. Tomorrow, God willing, it will be held on the plantations in Zion Church. May God lay much blessing on the singing, prayer, and contemplation of His word! Even though some of the inhabitants have had a bad harvest this year, still they will not suffer want and lack, if only they will remain godly and practice godliness. For, to be sure, godliness has the promise especially of future life, but also of this present life. Godliness and contentedness are a great profit.

During this entire autumn we have had desirable weather for growing and harvesting, and we have not had a single freeze; and by this our wise and all-loving God has shown the inhabitants of this land some new blessings. The late planted rice, as well as that which was retarded by the drought, have had enough time to ripen. The squash, sweet potatoes, and Indian beans were able to begin late yet ripen fully. For fattening and for giving milk the cattle have had much fresh pasturage, not only in the forests but especially in the fenced-in fields, much longer than in other years; and this has been of noticeable profit to the households. Also, time was left for cultivating the wheat fields. Only the corn harvest turned out badly.

The 17th. With his helpmeet our good N.N. has a rather great domestic cross, which he suffers with patience but of which he complains to me in private. Almost since her arrival I have noticed her discontent and also heard of it from others. Therefore, when I visited her, I have striven to tell her from the word of God, which is the only rule of our faith and life, that which I have recognized as necessary for her and applicable to her state of mind. So far she has been plagued so much by worldly attitudes, anger, and desires for the flesh pots of Egypt that she has suffered harm to her body, of which I cannot give details. She has a good understanding, loves the public divine service, and also feels the power of the divine word; and therefore I do not doubt that she will gradually let herself be won through grace, as I have told her dear, righteous, and industrious husband for his comfort. After her true change, his joy will be all the greater. He too, like many other men in similar circumstances, will say, The Lord has made all things well.8

The 18th of November. This afternoon two boats with corn and wheat came to our place from Savannah Town9 and sold it all to our mills and for our own use at a fair price, which we had not expected. God be thanked for this His gracious providence! Some time ago I requested two friends from New Windsor near Savannah Town to buy up on my account two or three hundred bushels of Indian corn (or Welschkorn10 as it is called in German) for the now expected colonists. They are willing to do this; but they advise me that the export of some grains from Carolina is prohibited under punishment of confiscation and that therefore they will not be able to risk buying the said corn for us. Now we do not need it because the said transport is to be settled on the Newport River by the council in Savannah and provided with provisions from Savannah.

The last flood water ruined much crops and cattle in Congarees and other places in Carolina; at our place, God be praised, we have known nothing of this. The rice on the lowland on the mill island was not even damaged. Oh, how good it would be if our people wished to plant their crops on this rich and very fertile island! A single acre would bring them some hundred bushels. To be sure, the water sometimes comes at an inopportune time, but it is not always so. In and around Savannah Town they also have to risk it, and they do it every year. Knowledgeable planters are accustomed to say that, if one succeeded with the crop on such low land just every three years, it would be advantageous to plant it. A man from New Windsor writes me that he received a thousand bushels of Indian corn from about seventeen acres, and he would have received five hundred bushels more if the great drought and strong winds had not ruined a great deal. The low land there is no better than the low land on the island, on which rice (the most expensive crop) can be planted, something that is not possible so high up.

The 19th. Yesterday evening I caught a cold fever, from which I was so weak on this 24th Sunday after Trinity that I could neither preach nor hold Holy Communion. My dear colleague performed both and had a hundred and six communicants. Yesterday I was well all day and could hold the preparation sermon and confessions with good strength in Jerusalem Church in the morning and in the Zion Church in the afternoon and also dispose of the strangers who had brought corn and wheat here. Soon thereafter I was seized by a violent chill such as I cannot remember ever having had. Also, in many years I have not been kept by sickness away from holding public divine services. But by this God is seeking what is best for me, and the congregation did not miss out on edification because I have a loyal and diligent colleague.

The 22nd. The son of a Jew from Savannah11 brought me a letter from the schoolmaster of the Negroes, by the name of Joseph Ottolenghe,12 that in church last Sunday he took the place of the English minister,13 who had traveled away, and that he had preached about spiritual rebirth. In this he used expressions that give witness to a humble spirit. He is a born Jew, and was perhaps even a rabbi in Italy; but at the present time I do not know when or how he came to the Christian church, indeed to the Episcopal Church, in England and to an intimate acquaintance with the secretary of the Society, Mr. Broughton. The latter recommended him to me in very emphatic terms, and I can truly number him among my good friends in Georgia. He is an upright, skilled, well-read and well-spoken man, who could well fill the ministers position in Savannah. He has a fine gift of convincing the Jews of their errors and absurdities in religious matters. There are only two families of Jews in Savannah: one maintains a tavern, and the other supports himself with a small retail store. Both of them are German. Even though there are only two families, they still disagree among themselves in some details of their religion. The Jews here enjoy the same privileges as the Christians.

The 24th. There is no basis to what the Englishman from Augusta claimed some time ago about the Indian wars which were to be feared, as we have learned from some people who have come from there. Despite the export of grain from Carolina under the penalty of confiscation and a fine of a hundred pounds of their money, we had an opportunity today to buy a boat full of Indian corn, which was planted up there on our Georgia side. We are still getting it for a tolerable price.

The 25th. Johann Groll, a shoemaker with the last transport, has moved to Savannah because he could not subsist here with wife and child. We have many shoemakers, whereas in Savannah there is only a single young German man, so that this Groll (a well behaved industrious man) will surely be able to find his livelihood there. He was sick for a long time with his wife and had settled on bad land because of his friends, in whose neighborhood he wished to be; and he received almost no harvest. To be sure, I had advanced him all necessities and a cow and calf in the first year; but, because I can no longer continue such advances, he sees no means to develop the plantation he has begun or a better one that has been assigned to him. Also, he does not understand agriculture or cattle raising (as is also true of many German people) and he has neither desire nor strength for the lumber business. Therefore it is best for him to continue his trade.

The righteous widow Schweighoffer was dangerously sick, but our dear God has raised her up again for the good of our congregation. She prays diligently and greatly loves His word, as the aged Hannah once did in Jerusalem. Today she was again in the public prayer meeting, from which she lets neither weakness nor weather keep her. The widow Kalcher, who is of the same mind, has now become sick; I visited her by the mill and had much blessing from her company and prayer. Her four orphans are children of a pious father and a pious mother, which is something rare and dear. This evening I was called to Mrs. Krmer, formerly Bruckner, who had been afflicted by a severe chest ailment. She is also honest, and is content with the will and ways of her Savior.

The 26th. Yesterday by means of our little boat I received a letter from Mr. Habersham in which he gave me news of the arrival of the transport and asked me to come down soon. I was still sickly from the last fever and feared a relapse during the night journey because of the freeze that had come. Also, on this last Sunday of the church year I wished to hold my sermon, which was aimed at the circumstances of my congregation. Therefore I requested our agent, Mr. Mayer, to travel down quickly in a comfortable boat and to help make arrangements for the transport until my arrival next Monday, God willing. Accordingly I wrote to Mr. Habersham what was necessary and promised to be in Savannah as early as possible on Monday. The transport is still on the ship off Tybee, and their minister /Rabenhorst/ is with them. On the other hand, another minister and his wife from Wurttemberg, who are being sent to New York or Pennsylvania, and the commissary of the transport, whom they call Mr. Krauss, are already in Savannah; but none of them has written to me.

The captain of the ship, Mr. Braun, sent me a letter from his merchant in Rotterdam, Mr. Johann Dick, which was written on the 4th of September and in which I was charged with a monetary commission and other things and which also complained that the people of this transport had caused him no slight trouble through their obstinacy and much expense through their hesitation. He is sending me a little chest of books, which a Christian official in Leipzig has sent us as a gift. The little chest is still in the ship, but I have received the friendly and edifying letter from the benefactor. Otherwise at this time I have received no other letters from Europe. May God give me much wisdom to be able to adjust myself correctly to the affairs of this transport and to give good advice. So far as I have learned from the report, the commissary, or the man who has been charged with the care of the transport on the way, is a knowledgeable and upright man, with whom we will be able to accomplish something.

The 27th. Even before sundown I arrived safe in Savannah with some experienced Salzburgers and some people from the last transport from the Territory of Ulm. Dr. Graham, now president of the Council, accompanied me from his plantation to Savannah, and on the way I had an opportunity to talk with him about many necessary things concerning the new transport; and he assured me he would contribute everything in his power for their good. 1) The colonists were still on the ship off Tybee, for which no other reason was given but that they did not wish to do anything with them without me, as if I had called these people here and was to be their provider. 2) Immediately after my arrival I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the minister with this transport, Mr. Rabenhorst, and another dear friend from Augsburg. From their own words I soon received a convincing impression of their honest attitude, which was also attested by their pity for their traveling companions, who were still shut up in the ship and whom they wished to see brought ashore as soon as possible.

3) I received both from them and from Mr. Habersham several packets of letters from our most worthy friends and benefactors in England and Germany. The gentlemen of the local Council expected to receive some news and instructions about these colonists from my packets or letters; but to my and their amazement there was nothing in them. The one heavy packet had been in Mr. Habershams and Mr. Harris ship, /the Success/, two days ago, and therefore two days after this transport, with which ship there were sent some charitable gifts of worn clothes, medical books, and two iron stoves.14 On the other hand, with the transport were sent many things for Mrs. Kraft; and from Leipzig and Augsburg our congregation received useful books for our library and for distribution, as well as medicines for Mr. Thilo and Mr. Mayer. God be praised for this new evidence of His fatherly dispensation! To be sure, no money has come, but our dear God knows our need and embarrassment, especially because of the last crop failure and the serious repairs to the mill; and He can easily grant us something. 5) With this transport a minister by the name of Master Gerack arrived here with his wife and little girl, who has been called to replace our dear Pastor Handschuh at Lancaster in Pennsylvania, to which he will soon travel. He was ordained in Wurttemberg.

The 30th. A few days ago I reported that I had traveled to Savannah at the request of the authorities for the sake of the new transport and how I found things there. And now I must report what has been done for the good of these German people. 1) Mr. Krauss is not (as I thought) the commissary of this transport, but just a passenger on his own. However, he went with me and the four leaders of these people to the gentlemen of the Council to get for them the respective plantations on the good land they desire on Briar Creek. The President and his Assistants are themselves convinced that the land on Newport River is not for poor German people but for such gentlemen as can cultivate it with the help of their Negroes. It is mostly good rice land and unsuitable for the European crops that the Germans are accustomed to plant, and it has little pasturage. Therefore they and everyone else have advised that the people of this transport be settled at Beaver Creek and Briar Creek (which two regions lie close together); and they are inclined to this.

The good land lying nearby has been wholly taken up by the Englishmen of this colony for themselves and partly for their absent kinsmen; and now everyone who wishes to have good land must go further up to the said Briar Creek.15 Several English miles above Mount Pleasant lies a beautiful district of about a thousand acres with the desired opportunity for building a mill, which is only a days journey distant from us. It, too, would have already been taken away long ago if it had not been reserved at our request for a certain gentleman. The President and Assistants of the Council have shown themselves very kind to this transport by giving them good, fertile, and well situated land, one hundred acres for every couple and for every single man who wishes to start his own household soon, and fifty for every child of the male sex. This is to be surveyed soon at the expense of each of them; and the people seem satisfied with this.

2) Because the ship could come only as far as Tybee, the people were expected to bring themselves ashore from the ship at their own expense; but in a kind fashion it was arranged that the landing of the people and their very extensive baggage would occur at the cost of the ships captain. They themselves must see to it how they will come to Ebenezer and from here to Briar Creek (which, according to the desire of the gentlemen of the Council will be named Halifax in Georgia).16 No one in Savannah is accepting them, rather these people look to me for all these things as if I had the vocation and duty to settle this colony with people. Out of Christian love and pity for them I did everything I could from Monday to Thursday and also gave them good advice as to how they should arrange their matters further if things were to go well with them.

During the night between the 28th and the 29th of this year17 Mr. Mayer came down for Mrs. Kraft in matters of her store, and I gave him a pro memoria for providing some necessary things for these new colonists. I had talked myself entirely hoarse and had also exhausted my spirits, and this required me to tear myself away from everything and to travel home last night in my boat. 3) When I told them from our experience how they should conduct their travel, hut-construction, and farming, they complained that they had spent their money and did not now know from where they could get provisions on their new land until the harvest. I told them that last years transport had put me in debt and that I was therefore in no position to advance any one of them money or its equivalent. Whoever had nothing in his hands for buying necessary provisions and could not borrow anything from his traveling companions should not move to the land he had received but try to earn something in Savannah. Some of these people have already gone begging in Savannah, which is a disgrace and causes me not to get more involved with them. If they have no more money, at least they have chests and trunks full of things of money value.

There are many young fellows and girls among them who serve well and can thereby be serviceable and useful to their neighbor; but there seems to be a lack of inclination to that. There are enough householders here without servants, but unfortunately only to the hindrance of their livelihood and to the ruin of many families. 4) Mr. Rabenhorst will remain with these people as long as they are in Savannah, will serve them with the word of God, and will also preach to the Germans in and around Savannah the day after tomorrow, which will be the First Sunday of Advent.

On the last day of my sojourn in Savannah two men of means, father-in-law and son-in-law, came to me after receiving a friendly writing from Court Chaplain Albinus and asked where they could settle most advantageously in Georgia. They also wish to go to Briar Creek but wish to see the region first. They seem to be fine, orderly, and industrious people and have brought a large fortune for buying Negroes. The young man is a very skillful and experienced surgeon as his documents attest; and, because he also understands internal cures, he has brought along many medications and can also prepare them himself. Thus he could serve himself and the new transport if it pleased him to settle among them.18 This surgeon came here with his wife, child, and parents-in-law from Rotterdam not with the new transport but in Mr. Habershams and Mr. Harris ship. Oh, if only everyone could not only know, but also practice in truth the known blessed rules of the Lord Jesus: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, etc.19 But one does this, the other that, but he forgot his poor soul completely.20 Shortly before writing his fatherly letter that has just arrived, our dearest Father, Senior Urlsperger, and his family collected the 146 L and applied them to us. The Lord commanded him to do this, for instruction and comfort flowed not only to me but also several to others among us and especially to our dear and again depressed Mrs. Kraft, to whom I made the content of this fatherly letter useful today after my return.

It is entirely enough for us that we have as friends God and many of his loyal servants and children in Europe who, as we now read to the praise of God and to our joy in the many letters we have received, who are still alive and are inclined to us with-unchanged love and affection. Among them are a couple of famous physicians in Augsburg and Memmingen, also some famous apothecaries, who have endowed our doctor and surgeon with costly and very useful medications and simples. We have also received many kinds of beautiful books for distribution and for the library, also two iron ovens and some very needed iron work for the sawmill, also some beautifully made clothes for men and women and children. May God be a rich rewarder for everything in time and eternity!

DECEMBER 1752

The 1st. Among the physical blessings that our dear God has shown to us and many other people in this land belongs the pleasant and healthy weather that we have had this entire autumn. We have had nothing but lovely, warm spring days; and we have had a little frost only twice. Both people and animals have much profit from this weather; and it is especially good for the people of the recently arrived transport, whereas other new arrivals had to suffer much cold already at the end of October and in November.

N. N. has a pious, patient, industrious wife, with whom, however, he is sometimes quite severe, as she complained to me today with tears. I prayed with her for him and asked that God might change his heart and free him from the slavery of his unbridled emotions. We must take our time if we do not wish to cause harm with our friendly admonitions. He has been dangerously sick several times and regretted and acknowledged his sins with many tears and humbly asked pardon for them. Yet his repentance lasted no longer than his sickness.

On this first Sunday of the new church year we have had much cause for joy in the Lord and for the praise of His glorious name. He has not only let us live this blessed time in health and good peace and given us rich edification through the preaching of His holy word; but yesterday evening, while we were unpacking the chests we had received from London, He let us see with our eyes, in humble and devout amazement, how fatherly and abundantly He has cared for our spiritual and physical well-being. Our dear Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen has given us many copies of his recently held and edifying passion sermons1 and some printed hymns that he had prepared. Indeed, they were of such a number that we will be able to sing them in our public assemblies, whereas previously the copies were insufficient.

From our blessed Wernigerode2 we have received more than a hundred copies of a beautifully bound hymnal with 818 new spiritual songs, along with several edifying books, some in prose and some Ligata. Among them in our library all parts of Dr. Walchs Religious Struggles inside and outside of the Lutheran Church,3 which are indispensable books for us in these regions that are so filled with all sorts of sects. God be praised for these dear and most pleasing gifts, and may He be a rich Rewarder for them!

In the previous part of the Diary I have already mentioned the worthy gift of two double stoves of decorative cast iron, which also came with them.4 For our patients who are afflicted with fever, diarrhea, dysentery, and other sicknesses and physical ailments or who may contract them, the Lord our Physician has also provided richly through Christian people, unknown to us, in Germany, especially in Holstein. He did this by inclining their hearts, presumably through their reading our Ebenezer reports, to send us through Court Chaplain Albinus a lovely quantity of safe and already prepared medications with clear directions for their safe use. Gods providence has ruled so abundantly over these and other charitable gifts that not a single one was broken or damaged.

Also through our dear Court Chaplain Albinus a beneficent and presumably prominent family has had packed and sent to us a chest full of used mens and womens clothes and other articles pertaining to clothing. This has caused a great joy for our families and for widows, orphans, and other needy people, as well as much joy and praise of God. May the Lord remember and bless these most worthy benefactors, who are known to Him. A large sheet-metal box with costly tea has been given separately for me and my colleague, presumably from the same benefactor. This should and will awaken us to the praise of God and to hearty intercession as often as we drink it. Give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever.5

Among these just-mentioned benefactions there were also two long and broad brand-new saws of pure steel for our sawmill, which are likewise very necessary and useful. Oh, how the almighty Creator of heaven and earth, our dear Father in Christ, cares for us unworthy creatures! I shall have to report much more about it when the remaining charitable gifts have been brought up.

The 3rd. Against my admonitions our householders are giving too much freedom to the few Negroes who are at our place. As a result they roam about and cause vexation and disquiet on Sundays, when they have too much liberty. Yesterday they intoxicated themselves with so much strong liquor that a pregnant Negress was beaten bloody. She was kept under arrest until today, during which time she was entirely uncontrollable. They have been used to such disorderly behavior and abuse of the Sabbath under other masters in Carolina, and therefore it is difficult to bring them from such disorder and into better order through love and seriousness. In this the owners of these slaves should be of one mind and use the same means, otherwise the instruction of these heathens and their conversion to Christianity will become not only more and more difficult but even impossible.

In Savannah I visited the Negro school, which is held in the evening from six to seven oclock three times a week by a skilful and industrious man.6 Through the fault of the masters of these Negroes, the good man is not achieving his purpose. They are often absent or come very late, and most of them are not sent to instruction at all. However skilful and industrious the schoolmaster is, it seems to me that he is lacking the correct method to teach these heathens the recognition of the Christian religion.

In the meanwhile I was amazed at the good understanding and native intelligence of the Negroes gathered in the school; and I was again convinced that they have as much good reason and ability as the Europeans to be led to the good and made capable.6 To be sure, the Christians are mainly to blame that yellow and black heathens in this land, I mean Indians and Negroes, cannot be brought to the Christian religion. The Roman Catholics, and perhaps even others who do not belong to any Christian religion, may have more desire to propagate their dogma and false tenets than most of the so-called Protestants in the English colonies are to augment the Christian church with new proselytes in a manner proper to the gospel, for which they would have the means and opportunity. Indeed, many rather hinder such useful work both through the godless and vexatious life they lead before and with these heathens and through atheistic and annoying talk. They also hate and persecute (at least indirectly) those who bemoan the misery7 of these and would like to lend a hand to save their souls. May God look graciously into this!

The 4th. At my request a pious widow, who has been tried and proved under the cross, fetched for herself and for an orphan some of the clothes we have received; and she received them with great humility and gratitude. On our knees we thanked our merciful God for this gift of clothes and begged Him in the name of our faithful, great, and gracious High Priest to clothe the benefactors, who are unknown to us but well-known to Him, in the pure white silk that is the justification of the saints and to set them more and more in a condition to praise with all believers: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, etc; for he hath clothed me ...8 This dear widow brought me the following little verses from her daughters two tender children: Yea, he loved the people, O taste and see that the Lord is good, likewise Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.9 I sent them and their Christian parents the little books that had just been sent from Wernigerode concerning Gods human love for us and our human love for God,10 which had been distributed to the young people in the Orphanage schools already in 1705.11

To the parents I sent the late Court Chaplain Laus gospel sermons concerning the power of Christs blood;12 and I gave this widow the Coethen Hymnal, which is so pleasing to her and was also found among the large supply of books.13 To another pious old widow, who lives here in town, I brought a gift from these clothes and praised with her the Lord, who is providing for her so abundantly from near and far. She considered herself entirely unworthy of these gifts; in her circumstances she comforts herself with the poverty of Christ and said she was not worried about her poverty but about her sins and that, after being so long with Gods word, she is still so blind and sinful. Her daughter, who is an orphan, also received a gift.

This afternoon I had the pleasure of receiving in my house with love a worthy friend, Artillery Captain Krauss, and to praise the Lord with him for all the spiritual and physical benefactions shown to him and to us. He is a right honest man and is practiced and experienced in many things; and he will be useful to me in many ways. He traveled with Pastor Rabenhorst from Augsburg to Georgia by land and sea and recommends him highly.

The clothes we received have now been distributed as far as they would reach, and they were received with many thanks. An old widow told me that this week had been a blessed one for her, for she had received not only some clothing but also some meal and rice from the miller and something for her refreshment in health and sickness from Mrs. Krafft. She bewailed her unworthiness and asked me to help her praise God, the Giver of all good and perfect gifts.

The 6th. This afternoon I visited Kraemers sick wife, for whom I applied some edifying passages from our dear Senior Urlspergers book for the sick.14 Some time ago the man who has been our sawmiller so far at our new sawmill promised to move with wife and children from his house in town to our mills so that he would always be on hand and tend to the sawing as often as there is water there. Today he announced that his and his familys condition would not allow him to undertake such a change. But in a few hours our dear God showed that He had provided for us in this matter, too. For soon after noon a knowledgeable carpenter came up from Savannah with his wife and reported to Captain Krauss to begin his work in accordance with a contract made already in Augsburg, and he promised to fulfil loyally all the conditions found in it. The contract, which the said Mr. Krauss showed me, is very fair, Christian, and wisely arranged not only to the advantage of the master but also to that of this young couple, provided they follow it faithfully. Accordingly, I quickly agreed with my colleague to receive them in the mills and to use him there as carpenter and sawmiller. In this way God has provided not only for our mills but also for this young couple, which, to be sure, they do not yet recognize but will recognize, we hope, with time.

The 7th. This afternoon came the chests from Augsburg, which were filled with edifying books for the ministers and parishioners, with medicines for Mr. Thilo and Mr. Mayer, and with Schauers Balm15 and with copper engravings, and thus with a very great spiritual blessing for our congregation. They arrived in such good condition that nothing was ruined or broken. Likewise, we received in another chest many old and new very useful books, some of them rare, from a worthy benefactor in Leipzig, from where we would not have expected such an imposing gift. Thus our wise and almighty God knows how to awaken benefactors in all regions of His realm to contribute their own so willing for the building of the kingdom of God at Ebenezer. May He be praised heartily for His gracious care over us, and may He reward a thousandfold for these and all other spiritual and physical gifts we have received!

The 8th. Today the first boat arrived here with some families of the new transport with their baggage, and they were soon given shelter. They wish to leave their wives and children, along with their heavy baggage, here and travel by land to the land assigned to them at Briar Creek in order to begin building their huts and cultivating their land. Mr. Rabenhorst is still remaining with the transport in Savannah to serve them with his office. They show great love for him. Today I wrote to him and gave him my advice in certain matters and also asked him to come up here as soon as his situation would allow. Mr. Krauss found it necessary to travel down today, and he may bring him up. Things are already prepared for him here.

In the weekday sermon today in the Zion Church I began to advise our dear parishioners of the good that our all-kind God and Father has caused to fall to us so richly through His pure and unmerited love, partly with the new transport of German people and partly in Mr. Habershams ship,16 from beneficent hearts and hands in London, Augsburg, Leipzig, Wernigerode, and Altona through His miraculous governance. I am planning to continue with this edifying account in the next prayer meetings and weekday sermons in both churches with Gods help. For one should praise Gods work gloriously and publicly.

Among all the dear benefactions that have been reported in regard to our congregation, one of the most prominent is that our dear God has kept His true servants, our dear Fathers in Augsburg, London, and Halle, in health and life and has kept us in their affection and intercession. They are not lacking in suffering and trials, surely for the sake of Ebenezer, too; and the suffering of Ebenezers inhabitants is very slight in comparison, which is not recognized by many of them. The worldly and carnal mind, the discontent and impatience with the tribulations sent by God, is for many people like a dense fog because of which they do not recognize the many spiritual and physical blessings that our dear God has shown us in this quiet wilderness and thus they are becoming like the old and disbelieving Israelites in the wilderness. Yet many also recognize with humble gratitude what the Lord God has done for them and their families.

2)17 I specified the gifts we had received from the said areas of Europe and announced how each and every gift was to be applied. At the same time I warned against another bad habit, namely, looking askance when ones needy neighbor receives something while others do not or being indifferent to the gift of books for our library and of ironware for our mills, etc., as if this did not concern them. The good that is done to the entire community or to the mills is for the good of the whole, and every member will profit from it and should praise our dear God for it just as much as if it were given to him himself. There are many books there which are to be given to those who love them; the remainder, which will come to the library, will be gladly lent to those who wish to read them for their own and their families edification.

The two very beautiful double iron stoves are destined for my dear colleague and for the mill establishment, which will be very pleasing for the community. Such costly stoves are not suitable for simple peoples houses. The medicines from Augsburg and Altona are coming now, as always, for the benefit of the whole congregation, and they, too, are a gift worthy of gratitude.

3) I also announced that a righteous man, Mr. Rabenhorst, has come with the German people to be the third minister in Ebenezer through the care of our dear Father, Senior Urlsperger, who called him from Halle. He is still in Savannah with the transport. If circumstances permitted, he would very much like to move to Briar Creek with the new colonists, especially if they all went there. However, Ebenezer always has and keeps the first right to him, as Senior Urlsperger has written us in detail. This is another special blessing of the Lord.

In the letters received from Halle and Augsburg I find right desirable testimonials about him. I myself got to know him in Savannah as a pious, skilful, humble, and cautious man; and everyone who was in the ship with him and consorted with him in Savannah gives him a good character. Praise be to God!

The 9th. A certain worthy benefactor in a prominent mercantile city in Germany attested in his friendly letter to me his sincere joy at the zeal of the Evangelical missionaries in the East Indies to plant the Christian religion in the hearts of the heathens there;18 and he took pleasure in their praiseworthy method of buying poor children from the heathens with the charities from their European benefactors like the pious matrons at the time of St. Augustine and baptizing and rearing them in a Christian way to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbors. He wished to know whether such a thing is done in our community; to that I willingly answered him and announced that, to be sure, this could not yet be done by us because of a lack of physical means but that we had an opportunity to do so because many Negroes or Moors out of Africa are brought into these English colonies and are sold at various prices according to the slaves nature, his size, strength, and age.

The introduction and use of Negroes has been allowed by the Lord Trustees; and we know from much experience that white people, no matter how poor they are, do not wish to serve or are unfaithful and serve to the harm of their masters; and therefore we have resolved in Gods name, as soon as He sends the means, to buy some Negroes for operating the mill business and for farming for the mill establishment and for our own needs. We will do this with the intention of leading their souls to the Lord Jesus through Christian instruction and through holy baptism. If Christian benefactors of means wished through their charities to put us in a position to buy little Negro children with their mothers (for it would not be Christian to separate them, even though it is common here and there), then they would be a seminary of young branches from heathendom, who would grow up as baptized Christians and afterwards serve as a stimulating example for their mothers and other Negroes for accepting the Christian religion. Ipse faciet19

The 10th. On this Second Sunday of Advent in the introit of the sermon we heard the dear words of Christ that He left behind at the very end in his farewell sermon20 in John 16: In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.21 From that we could learn clearly and convincingly that Christs congregation, too, is a congregation of the cross and that His wisdom and goodness are showing us the right old ways upon which He, the Lord Himself, has trod with His whole family from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant. Those are blind people who stumble on the cross of our community and for that reason flee it and at the same time flee from the spiritually comforting advantages over many other people in America. In the sermon itself on the gospel we treated the wellfounded comfort of believers in their manifold suffering.

After the morning sermon our parishioners from the Blue Bluff, and after the afternoon sermon those who live in town or on the nearby plantations, gathered at my invitation in my house; and I distributed to them the edifying and well-edited new collection of hymns that have come as a right precious gift from our dear Wernigerode. Both times, with people of both sexes, I praised our Father of Mercy on bended knees for these and other recently arrived benefactions and prayed for the worthy benefactors. I was not able to give this hymnal to the people who are accustomed to attend divine services in Zion Church on the plantations because they would not suffice this time.

From now on, for the praise of God and for our common edification, we will sing these very instructive and comforting hymns in the weekly meetings on the Blue Bluff across Ebenezer Creek; however, in the Jerusalem Church we will sing them only in the evening prayer meetings and every two weeks in the Sunday service if services are also being held in the Zion Church. We made a start in this this evening in the Sunday prayer meeting with the comforting song: Zu Gott, wo Rath, ja Rath und That, etc.; and in our common prayer we praised the Lord God for this blessing and prayed publicly for all our worthy benefactors in Europe. To be sure, it has been right cold for some days, but it has not hindered our edification in our well protected little church. It was a lovely and pleasant day in the realms of nature and grace.

In the 17th continuation of the Ebenezer Reports,22 which we have just received, I saw among other things, with pleasure and praise of God, that our wise and fatherly-minded editor /Urlsperger/ had noted, in his own hand with a nota bene on the margin of the continuation, our desire for some necessary things, such as hymnals, Bibles, Dr. Walchs Introduction to the Religious Controversies, the late Arndts Books of True Christianity, and the late Ambrosius Wirths Confession and Communion Booklet.23 To our great amazement and joy our dear God has obviously blessed this, in that all the said books (excepting only the True Christianity) were sent to us most generously by willing and joyful donors, whom God loves, partly from Wernigerode and partly from Augsburg, immediately after the publication of this continuation. God be praised! May He remember them all for it and bless them a thousandfold for Jesus sake. Our worthy Court Chaplain Albinus has sent us the joyful news that chests from Halle are underway via Hamburg, in which we can hope to receive several extracts of Freylinghausens lovely hymnal, Cansteins small and large Bibles, Arnds books of True Christianity, and Luthers Small Catechism, and also ABC books.24 May God take all this under His protection!

The 11th. On this Monday not only Mr. Krauss with the remaining things from his baggage in the ship but also two large boats full of colonists have come up with their many crates and have moved into the spacious and very convenient silk-manufactory until they have built something for themselves at Halifax, i.e., at Briar Creek and Beaver Dam. Here they will have the comfort they wish and will not be a burden to anyone. Those who came last night were the richest among them, and they have rented Riedelspergers house for a time. May God let them gather much good here from which they may draw in the future on their new land! Mr. Rabenhorst sent a friendly answer to the letter I sent him; and he asked my advice in several matters, which I wrote him without delay. He is well cared for in Savannah, and he applies his time well in edifying the new colonists and other German people. It has now become very cold here at night, but the travelers find high bluffs and much wood everywhere for making good fires. At times they can find shelter if there are any inhabitants.

For fear that some obstacle could occur on Wednesday, I held the meeting at the Blue Bluff today. The dear people had waited for me for some hours, but this was not my fault. I spare them their precious time as much as possible and do not spare myself. I also announced to these people how much good the Lord has granted to the congregation, and therefore to them also, from Europe this time and how they should apply it all in a Christian way.

The 12th. Some time ago Mrs. Krafft bought from the local shoemaker, Zettler, an almost two-year-old Negro child, whom I had baptized, It has been sick for some time and has now come close to death. The said woman has a great love for this Christian child of a heathen mother and has not failed with motherly care and adequate medications. The childs heathen mother, a Negress, is serving the Salzburger Leimberger, who bought her for thirty-six pounds Sterling. Not only is she strong and capable of all work, but she also has a very good understanding and a glib tongue so that one would think her a Christian if one heard her speak of God, the soul, virtue and vice, and heaven and hell. She can also distinguish well between nominal and real Christians. With all that, she is a cunning and vicious person, who can reveal her tricks and wickedness; and, to be sure, in this she has, unfortunately, her likes among nominal Christians.

I found her in Mrs. Kraffts chamber with the child; and I presented to her with seriousness and love her godless nature, in which she has been found only recently, also the heaven-wide difference between her and her childs condition. I asked her to turn about and become like this child, otherwise she would not come to the blessed place where the fruit of her body will come after a short suffering. She should remember how dreadful that must be when she, as a mother, will be separated from the little child, whom she especially loves, not only in time but also in eternity and at the same time be thrust into hells fire. To escape that I offered her as minister all Christian help, as I have done before. She wept much but said nothing. We knelt down before God together (the medico was also there), praised Him for the mercy the child had experienced, prayed for its merciful dissolution and, at the same time, for the illumination and conversion of the heathen mother. She knelt before the childs crib; and, when I finally wished to bless it, she hastily lifted it up high.

I saw that the carpenters had erected Mrs. Kraffts new house; and I learned that she wished to praise the Lord with me or my dear colleague on the building lot next to Jerusalem Church for His aid and protection. However, because it was shortly before the prayer meeting, we postponed this Christian practice until then. And thus we thanked our merciful God with Mrs. Kraft, with the builders, and with other old and new parishioners for everything He has done for us, for the workers, for this pious widow, and for everyone. It will become a beautiful and useful house, the likes of which has not yet been built in Ebenezer. We and our parishioners can often say, Ebenezer, the Lord hath helped so far.25

Today I read in the Charleston newspaper from South Carolina for 27 November the following remarkable report, which leads us to the signs of our time:

The last four months may well be called remarkable because they have brought forth more storm winds and hurricanes than otherwise in a whole year, and all of them were accompanied by extreme damage, especially to ships and mariners. In Europe, especially on the coast of Great Britain on the 25th and 26th of August a storm was felt that was stronger than in the year 1739.26 On the 15th and 30th of September there were two dreadful storms and hurricanes in South Carolina. On the 1st and 8th of October there were two great storms on the coast of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New England, and Nova Scotia. From the 30th of October to the 3rd of November on the coasts of Florida between the Balama [sic] Islands, etc. two ships of German people from Rotterdam and Hamburg are missed and presumably drowned. Already this autumn seventeen ships full of German people have come to Philadelphia, and more of them are expected.27

Because I have learned from certain reports from a prominent European benefactor that all sorts of information about our regions are useful and pleasing for some patrons and friends, I will add from the newspaper the prices of some local products:


rice per hundredweight of 100 lbs.


0


10


0


turpentine, per hundredweight


0


3


0


hard resin from the fir trees, per hundredweight


0


2





salted beef, a barrel of 200 lbs


0


18


6


salted pork, per barrel


1


11


6


pitch, per barrel of 25 gallons


0


8


7


tar in such a barrel


0


6


10


good indigo, per lb of 16 oz


0


3


7


deer hides, badly tanned by the Indians28


1


1


8


Indian corn, per bushel


0


2


10


Indian beans, per bushel


0


2


1


wheat flower, per hundredweight


0


11


5

The 13th. This morning Mrs. Krafts Negro child, named Sulamith, died. The heathen mother was very distressed; and, because she wished to get the child again and would have hope of doing so through the Christian religion, she promised me to let herself be instructed and to accept the instruction.

This morning was a sour day for me and greatly impaired my powers of mind and body. The more I try to flee and avoid the secular tasks that do not really belong to me (which is the advice of my dearest Father, Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen and which is demanded by my office and my state of health), the more they fall upon me and follow me as a shadow follows a body. O that I had wings like a dove! for then I would fly away, and be at rest.29 But I love Ebenezer greatly; and there, and no where else, I wish to end my life according to Gods gracious will and pleasure.

The 15th. N.N. thinks himself very clever in all matters, will not accept advice; and he is a severe disciplinarian toward his own children. In sicknesses he uses medicines brought with him or gathered in the forest, and with them he has done irreparable harm to his merry little girl. A fever cure he effected has caused a most violent dysentery, and who knows what medicines he used in it. He finally came to me and wished to have advice and help in his extreme plight. He received something from Mr. Thilo but brought it back in a short time with the news that she had died. I am afraid that it is going to turn out very badly. So far Gods word has profited him but little.

The 16th. On this Third Sunday before Advent Pastor Rabenhorst came up safely to Ebenezer from Savannah with Mr. Mayer and was received by us in cordial love, as was right. The first thing we did was to bend our knees before the Lord in the little heated room that is planned as his museum and to praise Him for His old and new mercy and to implore Him for His divine blessing for the present and the future. May God bless this worthy brother and let him effect much good for blessed eternity through his spiritual work, prayer, and example.

Several families have remained in Savannah and have wandered around the country there; but most of them are coming up to Ebenezer where, to all appearances, they will spend the winter and plant crops here in the spring because the time will be too short for them to go out on their own land. I would have preferred for them to have cultivated their very fertile land right away; but, as they claim, there are too many obstacles.

On this Third Sunday before Advent our dear God has granted us a good and blessed day. The weather was fair and the assembly of the entire congregation in Jerusalem Church was blessed. Now that many of the new transport have come up from Savannah and joined the old inhabitants in divine worship, the town church is becoming too small so that we will well need a spacious church. The present Jerusalem Church was built with the intention that it could be used for holding school and as the residence for the teacher if God should increase our congregation. A spacious and durable church was to be built according to the will of God and from the blessings given before Him.

Now our miraculous God has granted us a third minister, a skilful, righteous, and vigorous man; and we trust in His goodness and wisdom that He will also grant us the means to build a spacious and durable house of God. I remembered what the wise and cautious benefactors said to the men from Pennsylvania who sought collections in Germany six years ago for building an Evangelical-Lutheran church and let them take home with them, namely, that they should first see to getting righteous ministers, then God would surely provide a church. And this is just what happened. After Pastor Muehlenberg, and after him Pastor Brunholtz, were called there, God gathered so many imposing charities through Christian friends and benefactors that they could erect not just one but three churches and could easily establish public worship.

We do not begrudge them this great benefaction and we help them praise our gracious God for it; yet I must also acknowledge that the members of our Salzburger congregation are in much greater need of such beneficent help than the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, as is not unknown to our dear benefactors in Europe from our reports up to now. So far their beneficence toward us has been untiring; indeed, many have wished to know how they could best place their charities in Ebenezer so that they will be useful to the present and future inhabitants of Ebenezer. Therefore it will not be unpleasant for them if I mention here our lack of a durable church. The Lord knows what we need, and He has said, Be careful for nothing (The Lord is near), but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God.30 Once again I have remarkable faith-strengthening proofs that our dear God has blessed our announcement of our lack to the readers of our diaries so that they have been moved by love and pity to relieve our need both through intercession to God and man and with their own contributions.

This almighty and merciful God is still alive, and our worthy Fathers and benefactors are still alive, too, through His goodness; and they are still as ardent and zealous in their love and affection for the ministers and parishioners in Ebenezer as they were at first nineteen years ago. I have seen this joyful fact, with pleasure and praise of God, not only through the many undeniable writings and through factual evidence, but also through the accounts of our dear Pastor Rabenhorst. Indeed, this faithful God has awakened many new benefactors here and there, who have begun to further the spiritual and physical well-being of our congregation with word and deed. May his glorious name be praised for that!

In our present great lack of money we have been especially impressed and comforted by what our dear Father in God, the dear Samuel of our Evangelical Church, wrote in his fatherly letter of 11 July of this year to me and Mr. Lemke.

Nothing further has arrived since the time the announcement was made concerning the fund for a salary for a future minister in Ebenezer. Yet the world belongs to the Lord, and all silver and gold are also his. Just as He gives daily bread, so He gives silver and gold when it is necessary.

The 18th. This afternoon the surveyor came up here and told me that he had orders from the Council in Savannah to survey the plantations, both for the gentlemen31 and for the simple people of the last transport, around Beaver Dam and Briar Creek or (as this area is now called, at Halifax); and in this he was to follow my orders exactly. The less I wish to deal with such things, the more falls unexpectedly on me; and afterwards, if anything does not turn out to the pleasure of the people, I must bear the blame, just as happened to me with the transport last year. I have no calling for the physical welfare of this transport, I also lack time and means. However, because the surveyor is already there, I must do what I can to further a good cause. May God hear my sighs and free me from such matters that take my time and strength yet do not really belong to my office.

The 19th. The surveyor had not wished to leave here for his work before discussing everything with me, for he has to do everything according to my instructions. This could not be other than burdensome for me, since this matter entails either great delay and loss to the new colonists or with and, finally, evil judgments. Yesterday I took all possible measures so that the surveyor could depart this morning with some men to survey the land; but this afternoon, when I returned home from the weekday sermon on the plantations, I found him waiting for me because of the said matter. Thereupon, with my weak chest and much talking, I helped arrange everything so that I hope that this skilful and honest mans work will redound to everyones satisfaction.

As scarce as my money is, I cannot avoid this secular work or expenses for the well-being of these poor people who are here. Some have traveled to the new land in a large boat, others on horseback, to investigate it carefully. The surveyor assured me that, to the best of his ability, he would try not to give the people, be they gentlemen or simple people, a single foot of bad soil. He is not only a skilful and industrious surveyor, but also an experienced planter; and therefore he can advise the people from experience.

The 20th. In the South Carolina newspaper I read that the following strange matter is reported from Cork in Ireland:

In this city there is a boy of 15 years and 11 months by the name of Cornelius Magrath, who is of gigantic size, i.e. 7 ft 9 inches tall, at the same time plump and awkward, who speaks childishly and simply. He came here from Poughal, where he bathed in sea water for a year because of the pain in his limbs that made him almost a cripple. The doctors considered these pains in his limbs to be painful movements of nature as are accustomed to be found in young people who are growing up, especially since this boy grew to such monstrous size in one year. His hand is as thick as a mans thigh; and his shoe last, which he always carries with him, is 15 inches long. He was born in the country near Tipperary 5 miles from the silver mines. The Bishop of Cloyne had him with him for a month and showed him much care.

In this same paper I saw that they are beginning to brew barley beer in Carolina and that a 30 gallon barrel (a gallon is calculated as four English quarts) is offered for 1 2 sh 10 d Sterling and a better kind 1 14 sh 3 d Sterling, and a quart of brewers yeast at sh 8 d. I must marvel at the great quantity of European wares that have been brought from England to Charleston for sale in just the month of November. The things consist of many kinds of linen garments for men and women, for necessity and status, for rich and poor, also in fine and coarse cloth, in silk stuffs, stockings, shoes, household goods, medicines, simples, and in all sorts of things that are demanded by necessity or for elegance. Both the ship captains, and especially the merchants, make these imported wares known to the customers in the newspapers.

I consider it my duty from now on to mention in my diary such physical things that belong in the realm of nature and in the economy and civil life because I have been requested both orally and in writing to do so. My benefactors and friends will be patient with my imperfection and accept the will for the deed.

The 21st. This afternoon a great fire broke out quickly, which, however, God be praised, did not spread far because the fence on both sides was torn down swiftly. It was an empty hut that had been assigned temporarily to a single man of the second Swabian transport by the name of Zweckbrunner. The fire began in his absence and burned everything he had to ashes. I admonished him to make good use of this fire of wrath in a Christian manner. He is, to be sure, an industrious man, but no lover of Gods word and divine services. His desire to gain much physical wealth has misled him even to violate the Sabbath and to care even less for the holy days. I have, to be sure, warned him, but he did not hearken to it, as I learned after the fire from one of his neighbors. May he convert at this severe warning of God and show real repentance. After this judgment may God grant us a blessing. An Englishman offered me 200 bushels of corn for the new colonists, and I gladly bought it.

A worthy friend in Augsburg has sent us a song of eight stanzas that thoroughly presents the highly comforting teaching: Jesus accepts sinners!32 It is one of the most edifying hymns that I have ever read or sung and which I have always regarded highly and from which I promise myself much blessing in the congregation through the grace of the Holy Ghost. It has been given to us in a large number so that every family has received a copy. In yesterdays evening prayer meeting we profited from the comforting content of the first song, or section: Jesus accepts sinners. That is an eternal truth. It serves us excellently as a blessed preparation for Holy Christmas and for the impending participation in Holy Communion, which, God willing, is to be held on the second day of Christmas.

May God bless the dear and to us unknown but to God well known author of this incomparable hymn and also our worthy friend who donated it and many other printed booklets to us some years ago for our common edification, and may He let them garner much blessed fruit in eternity from this seed that has been sown on the field of the Ebenezer church.33 All the verses begin with the confident words Yes, Jesus accepts sinners; and all the verses end with the same (sometimes a little altered) except for the last, which has a good salt.

The 22nd. Today I began, in Gods name, to instruct the Negress who was mentioned recently in this diary. For this she arrived willingly and appeared orderly and as eager as could be hoped for. She cannot yet speak German correctly, and therefore I must speak with her mostly in English, which language she speaks almost as well as a native English woman. She was born and reared in Carolina. I gave the master and his wife some admonitions concerning my good plans for this their weak maid, and they consented to them. The mistress told me that the Negress wished to know the meaning of the German word Gottlos, which she had heard often among Christians. I will tell her in the next lesson that such godless people are not only the heathen Moors but also very many in Christendom, who are not helped by their baptism and sham conversion; rather their advantages over the heathens and other non-believers will cause them all the more responsibility.

The 23rd. I was called to the house of a woman on a plantation on Ebenezer Creek, and I was much pleased by her and her husbands joy at the goodness and providence of the Lord. God has let their household34 develop very well, and therefore they think with pity of their near relations whom they have left behind and wish they could share the good they are enjoying here. They also tell the new colonists that they had suffered many tribulations in the first years but that God had helped them through everything and so blessed the work of their hands that they could now enjoy not only complete freedom but also a well arranged household.

We generally have trouble with the new colonists. They not only find it strange, but they consider it almost impossible to overcome the first difficulties. In general they cannot trust God and would rather help themselves or be helped by other people. However, if this fails or is insufficient, then they despair and do no better than the heathens in Matthew 6:31, indeed, even worse, for they slander innocent people whose spoken or written words they either did not understand or did not wish to understand.

If people among us come to conversion and become children of God through the divine word and achieve a good subsistence through their industry and through the influence of divine blessing, then they will well understand what our dear Senior Urlsperger called to us in his last fatherly letter:

Oh dear Ebenezer, do not forget what good the Lord has done unto you and is still doing especially through the word, nothing else excluded. I who am a hundred, yea a thousand, hours distant from you, see it better than many of your people, yet I do not see it nearly as well as I should.

There are many souls here who thank God and men that they are here.

The 24th. On this Fourth Sunday of Advent our old and new parishioners have again had the word of God abundantly in both churches through divine mercy for their blessed preparation for coming holy celebration, for the worthy partaking of Holy Communion, and for blessed eternity. My two worthy colleagues preached in the Zion Church, which served to lighten the load of our now frail Brother Lemke. However, the Lord strengthened me to hold the preparation sermon in the Jerusalem Church on Psalms 24:7-10 and on the regular gospel.

At this time we made use of the instructive and comforting hymns from the new Wernigerode hymnal, as is always done in the evening prayer meetings and on Sundays and holy days when half of the congregation has divine services in the Zion Church. I still had nineteen copies left over from the last distribution of the new Wernigerode hymn collections, which I lent this morning to the new colonists, who are to use them as long as they are here but are to leave them behind them when they go out on their land. We do not let them take them out of the community. With other good souls in the community I would like for our dear God to make it possible for us to have an adequate number of this very edifying hymnal for all members of our congregation, which would greatly advance our edification, our recognition of Jesus and His treasures of salvation, and our praise of God.

Our miraculous God blessed the hand that is printed on the margin of our diary35 so quickly that our desire for hymnals was fulfilled more promptly and more abundantly than we could request, understand, or hope. His hand has not been shortened,36 rather it is always stretched out and busy, especially in His church. He can easily awaken worthy friends and benefactors who can also fulfil our desire in this matter and further our edification. This morning after the morning and afternoon church I had the pleasure in God during the distribution of the recently mentioned gospel song Yea, Jesus accepts sinners, which I could give to all the families, yet in such a way that some of them received only one.

I could not give any to the new people, but instead of that they received a certain Order of Salvation,38 which was printed in Leipzig and consists of seven folios. A certain worthy benefactor in Leipzig donated these to me in a large number for the congregation and recommended it as a very useful little book, but I have not yet read it because of lack of time. At the distribution this morning and afternoon I and the dear congregation thanked our dear God on our knees for this and other spiritual blessings that He has granted us so abundantly in this solitude, and we implored Him to reward our worthy known and unknown benefactors abundantly with His grace. The man who was burned out is finding many sympathetic benefactors among us.

The 26th. Yesterday and today we celebrated our dear Yuletide in good weather and great peace, and we held Holy Communion with 163 persons. God be praised for all the spiritual blessing that He has graciously granted us from the gospel and from Holy Communion. On this last holy day we had a burial and funeral oration after the afternoon service. On Christmas eve the wainwright Georg Meyer died of a violent fever, and his death touched me and all the righteous members of the congregation. He was a true Christian, loved Gods word, and was very useful to the community because of his dexterity and hard work. He is leaving a pious young widow and a small child behind in this pilgrimage. God strengthened me, for my and this widows comfort, to hold the funeral sermon, at which there were many hearers.

Among other things I also read the following from Senior Urlspergers last letter:

However little I begrudged the temporal death of those souls whom you named in your letter of 28 January of this year (Kalcher, Ruprecht Steiner, Burgsteiner, Gschwandels daughter) and even rejoiced in it, I was just as affected on the other hand because of Ebenezer and because of those who were nearest to them. May the Lord heal the gaps, and may He put in their place other good and proven examples, especially of the kind who work as honestly for the Church of God and for Ebenezer as these did. God can create what he wishes, and therefore He can also raise up those who are cast down, according to the 14th Psalm, which I have just read with my family at our morning prayers.

I have read through with pleasure the Order of Salvation which was written by a minister in Freyberg, Master Sebastian Schutze, and printed at Leipzig in 1745. This was because in it the counsel of God concerning human salvation is presented clearly, thoroughly, and edifyingly pro captu discentium39 and because it greatly facilitates catechisation for the teacher. I am sincerely happy that the truth is shining so brightly in my fatherland, Saxony. May our dear God let His light continue to rise on all the world, and may He send many righteous workers into His harvest!

The 27th. The young and sincerely pious widow of the wainwright Georg Meyer, whom we all greatly respected, called on me at my house, and I spoke with her to her comfort from Gods word and with prayer. She said she could feel the comfort of God in her soul; and she marveled that she could compose herself so well in this great tribulation and that this surely came from the Lord. Among other things she told me that in his fantasy her dear husband had spoken a great deal about me and acted as if he could see and hear me. Doubtless, he had yearned for me in his last hours, for as long as he has been here he has made use of my office with great loyalty, with joy, and with blessing for his soul.

I often regret that we still have no bridge across Ebenezer Creek in order to go and come by foot or by horse. It is slow and difficult to go up against the strongly running current. Our sawmiller, Kogler, was especially distressed by this incident of death and spoke of it with tears. At the same time I heard from him that, as long as God prolongs his life, he wishes to remain as carpenter and sawmiller at our mills. For some time he has begun to love it as a great work, through which our dear God has most gloriously revealed His wisdom, goodness, and power; and we hope that, if we keep faith, we will continue to experience His care over this important work, which is so indispensable for our congregation. If, along with my dear colleague, I could lay aside all other external business, we would still have to keep the supervision of the mills, which does not keep us from performing our spiritual office and which is useful for our congregation in many ways.

The 28th. Since the arrival of the last books from London, Augsburg, and Leipzig our loving God has granted me much blessing from reading some of them and also, during the past holy days, from meditation, preaching, and hearing His word. The greatest and most glorious blessing, however, He reserved for me until the quiet eventide yesterday. He reminded me in my heart, on an apparently unimportant occasion, of the recently arrived Passion sermon40 by our dear Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen concerning the cause of great and heavy spiritual suffering of Jesus Christ as the Mediator of the world; and I became disquieted that I had not yet read it and anxious to read it at once, especially since I had found the first Passion sermon concerning this all-important matter of Christs great and heavy spiritual suffering very impressive and edifying. Our merciful God so blessed this incomparable second sermon in my heart that I shall have cause all my life to thank Him for it.

It seemed to me that I had never so deeply fathomed the incomprehensible perdition of the human heart, and also of my own heart, the abhorrence of spiritual sin, the holiness and divine judgment of God and at the same time His ineffably merciful Love in Christ for lost and damned mankind as our loving God has let me comprehend through this excellent sermon, indeed for an awakening of a new seriousness in my Christianity and office.41 Oh, how necessary it is for ministers, too, between their official duties to read devoutly and thoroughly evangelical books, and especially those that have been written in our and our fathers times by anointed servants of God and not to let themselves be prevented from doing so.

Commentaries and explications of Bible texts will not do it alone; we need fiery awakenings every day if we wish to win salvation for ourselves and for those who listen to us. During and after the reading of this sermon, which impressed me so deeply, I wished from my heart that it might be made known in Christendom because I would not begrudge to all ministers and parishioners in all places the blessing that God granted me from it for seriously achieving my salvation. I have, indeed, such a good hope of a blessing from it also in other people that, if I were a perfect master of the English language, my dearest labor would be to translate it for the use of Englishmen in Europe and America.

This sermon was conceived, preached, and printed in German in the English capital London; and therefore I would heartily wish that the inhabitants of that city and of all the country might also participate in the blessing that has been granted to many Germans. May God arouse a skilled man for it, but a bungler should not undertake it, for it is much more difficult to translate an edifying writing from German into English than from English into German. Just as the late Mr. Boehm, our dear Court Chaplain Ziegenhagens predecessor,42 was best suited for the translation of the late Arnds beautiful Book of True Christianity, I heartily wished that our dear God would graciously grant our dear Court Chaplain Ziegenhagen strength and time to translate these sermons he composed. May God strengthen him and incline him to do it! May He also be praised for granting a German printing-press to this His dear servant in the last years of his life and office, by which splendid means this mans glorious gifts of grace in his well-composed writings can be made known to the Germans in England and other places for their awakening and their advance in the good.

Our dear and miraculous God has formerly blessed many reports in the Diary in its readers, for which I humbly praise His goodness and wisdom. Perhaps through His unforgettable wisdom and grace He will bring it about that all who read these reports about our dear Court Chaplain here will take the trouble to read them. I am sure they would not regret this effort but sincerely praise the Lord with me for the grace that He has shown through the service of this His experienced servant of the Evangelical Church.

In our book collection we also have the following worthy writings of this worthy author, namely:

1. The Explication of the Lords Prayer, which has been reprinted at the expense of good friends in Germany and is esteemed, as is right, by true experts in divine truth.

2. A word of Admonition and Comfort on New Years Day 1750.

3. A Word of Instruction concerning the Right, Genuine Way, Approved by Jesus Christ, to Seek Grace in Him on the 24th Sunday after Trinity.

4. An Earnest Admonition of the Lord Jesus to Ask the Father for the Holy Ghost on the First Day of Pentecost.43

5. At the beginning of the new year 1751 we find two very thorough and edifying hymns composed by him and published by a Christian friend in London, from which God has already granted us much edification and joy and will continue to grant us, since we have now received a large number of them. They begin, O heilger Gott, wir alle beten an, etc. and Mein Vater, du hast mich erwhlt, noch vor dem Anfang meiner Tage, etc., which last song is also printed in the seventeenth continuation of the Ebenezer reports with the melody that is customary among us and corresponds with the conclusion. Once any grace-hungry Christian heart has read one of the Court Chaplains printed writings he will wish to know of others and to read them, and in all simplicity I wish to serve them with this short and well-intentioned report.

The 29th. Today in school our loving God granted me much pleasure with the children and thus richly and graciously repaid me for the slight discomfort of riding out in somewhat cold rainy weather. Our worthy Pastor Sommer of Schortewitz, a friend of children, has sent us all sorts of printed edifying things, among them several hundred rhymed and numbered little verses, each consisting of only two lines, as a very pleasant proof and reminder of the fatherly love he bears for us. I distributed these to the children on the plantations with blessing and pleasure and made them useful in this way: after a hearty prayer to God I read such a verse aloud and let all the children repeat it out loud as if with one voice; and, after having said a little bit to their awakening, I asked who could say it from memory. Whichever of the children could say it without stumbling received it as a gift. I aided the weak and not very capable children along so that every one of them received a little verse.

Afterwards I laid the remaining supply on the table and treated it like an innocent lottery in which each child had to take a little verse out of the pile, read me the number and the verse out loud, and then return quietly to his place. And thus every child received two such instructive, understandable, and devout little verses with instructions to learn them and to note their numbers because later, when I asked, they would have to recite them according to the number. They should also exchange them with one another in my presence so that each child could learn the other childrens verses. They enjoyed this a lot. Another worthy friend has sent our children all sorts of innocent pictures to put in place of the signs44 in their schoolbooks and hymnals which I had also distributed to them. My dear colleague, Mr. Lemke, is also carrying out a similar simple and edifying distribution with the children in the town school. Before the weekday sermon I again had the recently mentioned Negress for instruction, and it appears that she is serious in accepting the instruction. May God grant His blessing to my weak efforts, which are a great joy for me. If the owners of the Negroes (as I do not doubt) undertake this properly, I hope that much good will be accomplished with Gods assistance.

Even though we have had much annoyance and difficulty with the servants who came here somewhat more than three years ago,45 there are some among them who have become obedient to the law of our Lord Jesus and serve as a good example for others. Among them is a young girl of fourteen years who has been able to go to school only twice during the week and to attend the weekday sermon at the same time yet has given me much pleasure through her good behavior. She will be a salt for her family.

The 31st. Since we are concluding this year on this day, I praise our merciful God in the deepest humility of my heart for all the spiritual and physical benefactions He has shown from near and far to us assistant shepherds and to our dear sheep and lambs, both adults and children. Among such dear benefactions we consider also the fact that He has not only kept these worthy old benefactors in life and health and has kept us in their affection and intercession but has also awakened some new ones for us, who have resolved in a Christian way to come to our help in our pilgrimage with intercession, counsel, and deeds. May the Lord Sabaoth graciously reward them for Christs sake both here and there! He will help, Amen!

Appendix I

HYMNS SUNG BY THE GEORGIA SALZBURGERS IN THE YEARS 1751 AND 1752

All identified hymns are reproduced in Albert Friedrich Fischer - W. Tumpel, Das deutsche evangelische Kirchenlied des 17. Jahrhunderts (Gutersloh, 1916, reprinted Hildesheim 1964), and their authors are listed in Friedrich Fischer, Kirchenlieder-Lexikon (Gotha, 1878, reprint Hildesheim 1967).

Alle Menschen mssen sterben) ... (All men must die), by Johann Georg Albinus. pp. 222, 225.

Auf Ebenezer, werde heut zu GOttes Lob erwecket ... (Up, Ebenezer. Be awakened to the praise of God), unidentified. p. 173.

Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit, Das ist mein Schmuck und Ehrenkleid ... (Christs blood and justification are my adornment and garment of honor), by Nikolaus Ludwig, Count Zinzendorf. p. 309.

Danck sey Gott in der Hhe ... (Thanks to God on High), by Johann Muhlmann. p. 166.

Das Jesulein soll doch mein Trost, mein Heyland seyn und bleiben) ... (Little Jesus shall be and remain my Comfort), by Bartholomus Helder. p. 302.

Die Seele Christi heilige mich ... (May the soul of Christ sanctify me), by Johann Scheffler (Angelus Silesius). pp. 30, 131, 221.

Du bist mir stets vor den Augen, unidentified, possibly not a first verse. p. 183.

Gott ist gegenwrtig, lasset uns anbethen ... (God is present, let us worship), by Gerhard Tersteegen. p. 19.

Jehova ist mein Hirt und Hter ... (Jehovah is my shepherd and guardian), by Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen. p. 83.

Jesus ist das schnste Licht ... (Jesus is the loveliest light), by Christian Friedrich Richter. p. 95, 104.

Lasset uns, see Nun lasst uns .

Leiden ist itzt mein Gewinnst. Das ist des Vaters Wille. ... (Suffering is now my gain), unidentified. p. 30.

Liebes Hertz, bedencke doch ... (Dear heart, just consider), by Christoph Jacob Koitsch. p. 47.

Man lobt dich in der Stille ... (We praise thee in quiet), anonymous, often attributed to Joachim Neander. Based on a hymn by Johannes Rist. p. 204.

Meine Hoffnung stehet veste ... (My hope stands fast), by Joachim Neander. p. 59.

Mein Gott, Du bist sehr schn ... (My God, Thou art most beautiful), unidentified, in Freylinghausens hymnal. pp. 95, 99, 104.

Mein Heyland, mach du mich im Gross- und Kleinem treu ... (My Savior, make me loyal in things both great and small), unidentified. p. 104.

Mein Vater, du hast mich erwhlt ... (My Father, thou hast chosen me), by Friedrich Michael Ziegenhagen. pp. 104, 110, 172, 173, 174, 289, 301.

Nun lasst uns den Leib begraben ... (Now let us bury the body), by Michael Weisse. p. 146.

O heilger Gott, wir alle bethen an ... (Oh, Holy God, we all worship), unidentified. pp. 97, 99, 104, 108, 172, 289.

O meine Seel, erhebe dich ... (Oh, my soul, arise), unidentified. p. 29

Schlaf sanft und wohl, schlaf liebes Kind ... (Sleep softly and well, sleep, dear child), by Johann Christoph Ruben. p. 217.

Sey hochgelobet, barmhertzger Gott ... (Be highly praised, merciful God), by Ludwig Andreas Gotter. p. 97.

Warum betrbst du dich, mein Hertz ... (Why doest thou trouble thyself, my heart), possibly by Hans Sachs. p. 179.

Welt, ade, ich bin dein mde ... (Farewell world, I am tired of you), by Johann Georg Albinus. p. 225

Wer Ohren hat, dein Wort zu hren ... (Whoever hath ears to hear thy word), unidentified. pp. 95, 96.

Wie lang schlagt ihr mich, ihr Gedancken? ... (How long will you strike me, you thoughts?), by Wolfgang Christoph Dessler. p. 96.

Wie lechzet doch mein Geist ... (How my heart doth thirst), by Johann Caspar Stegmann. p. 59.

Wie wohl ist mir, o Freund der Seelen ... (How dear to me art Thou, Friend of the soul), by Wolfgang Christoph Dessler. p. 83.

Zion klagt mit Angst und Schmerzen ... (Zion laments with fear and pain), by Johann Heermann. p. 183.

Zu Gott, wo Rath und That ... (To God, where counsel and deed), unidentified. p. 273.

Notes for the Year 1751

JANUARY 1751

1. Friesel is usually rendered as the purples or military fever, but it is possible that the ailment in question was das rote Friesel, or scarlet fever.

2. A medication made at Halle containing gold dust. See Renate Wilson, The Halle Orphanage Medications in Georgia, forthcoming.

3. Being from Appenzell, Krsy had been Reformed (Zwinglian) until becoming Lutheran at Ebenezer.

4. Boltzius older son, who had died in 1750.

5. The local government in the District of Northern Georgia was a Council, which consisted of a President and five Assistants.

6. Ortmann seems to have exaggerated the demise of Vernonburg, which continued for some years more. He had been dismissed from Ebenezer for defying Boltzius by signing a petition to permit slavery.

7. Unfamiliar with Welsh, the typesetters at Halle could not believe that a name could begin with double 1 and therefore chose a C, which looks similar in German script. This was Samuel Lloyd.

8. Paroxysms of fever.

9. Another brother, Nikolaus, returned with him from Germany.

10. Pastor Conrad Daniel Kleinknecht of Leipheim had recruited colonists for Urlsperger. See Feb., note 3.

11. James 5:15.

12. Proverbs 3:33.

13. Ambrosius Wirth, Beicht- und Abendmahlbchlein.

14. Isaiah 45:15.

15. Psalms 68:19.

16. Boltzius consistently used the word Wildkatzen for raccoons.

17. Acute fever.

18. Habakkuk 2:3.

19. Der HERR hat geredt, er wolle im dunckelen wohnen, unidentified.

20. Galatians 6:9.

21. Mrs. Maurer.

22. Formula Concordiae or Concordienbchlein; Libri symbolici, the Lutheran articles of faith.

23. Regarding doctrine and practice.

24. Johannes Tauler, a medieval mystic.

25. A mystical medieval treatise sometimes attributed to a certain Frankfurter and translated by Luther.

26. Wesleys words, which were incredibly mangled by the Halle typesetters, have been reconstructed against the modernized version in The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, ed. F. W. MacDonald. New York 1907, pp. 315-316. Boltzius and Wesley had first been friends, but they broke up when Wesley endorsed the dogma of predestination.

27. Johannes Arndt, VierBcher von Wahrem Christenthum. Halle, 1699, many printings.

28. Deep silence.

29. Boltzius uses the word English in the sense of Anglican, since Zouberbuhler was a Swiss from Appenzell.

30. Among the Pietists, the word Sicherheit meant a false assurance of salvation through good works rather than through a rebirth in Jesus.

FEBRUARY 1751

1. Genesis 32:11

2. See note 1, above.

3. These Swiss colonists never appear in the Georgia records. The last transport from the Territory of Ulm was the third Swabian tranport, which arrived in 1752.

4. aus dem geistlichen Blumengrtlein, unidentified.

5. This voluminous and informative response has been translated as Johann Martin Bolzius Answers a Questionnaire On Carolina and Georgia, trans. Klaus G. Loewald, et al. William and Mary Quarterly, third series, Vols. 14 & 15. The benefactor may have been Graf Schonfeld.

6. Eitel Gnade uns itzt blht, probably from a hymn.

7. Boltzius may have thought that this venomous attack against the Moravians was necessary to persuade orthodox benefactors that he and his flock had not been contaminated by the Moravians during their brief sojourn in Georgia.

8. Boltzius uses the odd legal Latin term verbotenus.

9. Count Ludwig Nikolaus von Zinzendorf, the leader of the Moravians.

10. The word assecla is very derogatory, meaning not only follower but also sycophant.

11. Johannes Arndt, Passions- und Osterpredigten.

12. This was Johannes Tobler of New Windsor, a former governor of Appenzell.

13. One of these recommendations, from James Habersham, is preserved in the Public Record Office (Reference 5 / 643).

14. Boltzius used the older spelling Bryar Creek. The third Swabian transport was supposed to settle there, but they found it too remote.

15. Following Roman Catholic and Lutheran usage, Boltzius calls this the Fifth Commandment. By disobeying her minister, her spiritual father, she was disobeying the injunction to honor father and mother.

16. Boltzius must mean the regular gospel for the day.

17. Hosea 13:9.

18. The swindler Friedrich Curtius.

MARCH 1751

1. Mark 16:16.

2. Boltzius uses the word other oddly. He means that he came with another man, who was older.

3. Until now, the title Herr von N. has mainly referred to Chretien de Mnch of Augsburg. However, in the entry for 19 March we learn that this petitioner was from Halle.

4. This favorite verse of Boltzius sounds somewhat better in Luthers translation Er kan ueberschwenglich thun ber alles, das wir bitten oder verstehen (Ephesians 3:20).

5. For the Pietists, honest (ehrlich) meant holding to Pietist principles.

6. For the Pietists, temptation (Anfechtungen) meant temptation to doubt that Christ, through His merits, can save even the worst sinner.

7. Leiden ist itzt mein Gewinst. Das ist itzt des Vaters Wille; den verehr ich sanft und stille: Leiden ist mein Gottesdienst. From a hymn.

8. Der zur Zeit des Ungewitters betende Christ nach Massgab des beliebten Wetterbchleins des seligen M. Bonifacci Stlzlins.

9. See Jan., note 27.

10. Allusion to Ephesians 3:20.

11. Since many of these friends are clerics, they can use the reports of the Salzburgers in collecting funds for their help.

12. Just as bekehrt meant converted, or turned towards God, verkehrt meant perverted or turned from God.

13. See note 6, above.

14. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), a missionary society in London that helped the Georgia Salzburgers.

15. Boltzius frequently failed to number the first of two items. Here he appears to have failed to number the first two items, unless Urlsperger has made a deletion.

16. Wenn Truebsal da ist, so denke der Barmherzigkeit. The King James version has In wrath remember mercy.

17. Luthers translation renders this as Gott erflle.., whereas the King James Bible makes it a fact, But my God shall supply ....

18. Seine Strafen, seine Schlge, ob sie mir gleich bitter seynd, dennoch wenn ichs recht erwge, sind es Zeichen, dass mein Freund, der mich liebet, mein gedenke. Apparently from a hymn.

19. See Feb., note 5.

20. Isaiah 45:22; Acts 2:21.

21. Wsche. Apparently the worms are stored all winter in the linens to keep them dry and warm.

22. Gottes Brnnlein hat Wassers die Flle. The King James version renders this quite differently (Psalms 65:10).

23. These were Matthias and Elisabetha Zettler.

24. It is not clear to whom the pronouns in this passage refer.

25. See Jan., note 13.

26. D. Antonius = Dr. Paul Anton, professor at Halle. Des Hern Sen. Fresenii Pastoralsammlungen, unidentified.

27. See Jan., note 27.

APRIL 1751

1. He, surely the young Johann Adam Treutlen, is referring to Josuah 7:13, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

2. John 19:30; Luke 23:43.

3. Isaiah 43:24, 25.

4. Luke 23:34.

5. See Jan., note 22.

6. Bichlers second wife was Margaretha, the daughter of Theobald Kieffer, Sr., of Purysburg.

7. du bist mir stets in den Augen, du ligst mir in meinem Schoos, wie die Kindlein, die noch saugen: meine Treu zu dir is gross, usf. Unidentified.

8. The authorities in Savannah wished to keep a monopoly on the spinning off, or reeling, even though the Salzburgers, with their new machines and greater industry, could do it better. This was a good example of the mercantilism that so hindered progress in Georgia. The Salzburgers were to deliver the raw material, the cocoons, cheaply so that the people in Savannah could do the more profitable processing.

9. 1 Corinthians 11:28.

10. For Low Sunday, Boltzius has Quasimodogeniti from quasi modo geneti infantes (as newborn babes). These are words from the introit for Low Sunday.

11. This is Boltzius first mention of the considerable silk business being conducted by his wife and her sister, Mrs. Lemcke.

12. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in London.

13. George Whitefields orphanage, Bethesda, just south of Savannah.

14. The text says Einwohnung but surely means Einweihung.

15. See Jan., note 13.

16. Der Herr ist noch, und nimmer nicht, von seinem Volk geschieden So kommet vor seinem Angesicht mit Jauchzen-vollen Springen, etc., from a hymn.

17. A cry of joy.

MAY 1751

1. Boltzius is referring to the Palatines who came in 1749 and the Swabians who came in 1750.

2. See Jan., note 13.

3. Obviously Bichler. See entry for 9 April.

4. Later, under the name Wertsch, he became one of Ebenezers two leading citizens.

5. Sicher was a Pietist term meaning falsely assured of salvation because of good behavior and good works instead of through the Merits of Christ. See Jan., note 39.

6. Senior Urlsperger.

7. See Jan., note 30.

JUNE 1751

1. An error for June.

2. See March, note 2.

3. Do not come near me or Do not touch me.

4. As we shall see, Boltzius later corrects this error.

5. It is now agreed that the deer, particularly the does, do kill rattlesnakes with their hooves to protect their fawns.

6. The blacksnake, a type of constrictor, is long and thin; yet it can swallow a rattlesnake much thicker than itself.

7. Rattlesnake meat is now a gourmet item.

8. Since there are no dangerous vipers in Northern Europe, many of these superstitions must have been brought from Africa by the slaves.

9. The regular reports being sent by the Lutheran missionaries in India.

10. Boltzius says Epilepsien, which then referred to any sort of paroxysm. Because most pregnant women had malaria, brain damage was common in colonial Georgia.

11. The last colonists now meant the first Swabian transport of 1750.

12. The militia at Savannah, which drew from Acton and Vernonburg as well as from Goshen, was predominantly German-speaking.

13. 1 Peter 5:7.

14. Perhaps Boltzius is using the word wlsch in the sense of Italian, which would suggest that maize was introduced first to Italy. The word wlsch was also used of the American turkey.

15. For Boltzius use of other, see March, note 2.

16. Boltzius uses the word Handlung, which all scholars have interpreted as medical practice, but here, as elsewhere, he surely means merchandising. Mr. Mayer was a merchant as well as a surgeon, and the youth, Johann Adam Treutlen, became a merchant, not a surgeon.

17. No doubt Frederica.

18. Luke 14:22.

19. For use of other, see March, note 2.

20. John 6:37.

21. Philippians 1:21.

22. Boltzius uses the word Machtspruch (Power-verse), or verse that gives spiritual strength. Two other favorite terms are Kernspruch for a pithy maxim and Hauptspruch for a chief verse.

23. 1 Timothy 1:15.

24. The he must refer to her husband.

25. Gern wollt die Welt auch selig seyn, wenn nur nicht wr, etc., etc. From a hymn.

26. Psalms 65:10. The King James Bible renders this very differently.

27. See Feb., note 7.

28. The art of dying well, the ars bene moriendi (i.e., dying after having lived righteously), was a favorite theme in medieval devotional works.

29. Matthew 19:14.

30. Psalms 91:15.

31. in der ersten Sammlung der geistlichen Gedichte, unidentified, possibly by Bogatzky. See July, note 16.

32. The type-setters rendered this as wegen der vielen wilden Katzen (Kackuus, Passoms, und Tieger oder Luechse genannt). Boltzius generally called racoons wild cats. The spelling passom would be good German phonetics. The Georgians usually used the word tiger for the cougar and the word wild cat for the North American lynx.

33. This must have been Johann Paul Francke of Purysburg, who had attended school at Ebenezer.

JULY 1751

1. The first Swabian transport of 1750.

2. Even this appears to have been an exaggeration.

3. Boltzius had never seen sugar-maple trees, which do not grow on the coast of Georgia.

4. Psalms 37:37 in the Luther translation. The King James version gives something entirely different.

5. Psalms 27:4.

6. Urlspergers Ausfhrliche Nachrichten, the original of the Detailed Reports.

7. Psalms 55:22. Verse 23 in Luthers translation.

8. The Kindermrderin, or unwed mother who kills her child, was a favorite theme in an age that dealt so harshly with fallen women. Goethes Gretchen was only one of many such desperate women.

9. For the nature of Urlspergers speech, see entry for 20 Aug.

10. Eines ungenannten Schreibers aus Berlin an seinen Freund von den letzten erbaulichen Stunden ihres gemeinschaftlichen Freundes, gedruckt 1751.

11. Kern- und Machtspruch, see June, note 22.

12. Die Schatz-Kstlein der Kinder Gottes, a popular devotional work by Heinrich von Bogatzky.

13. In addition to founding the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1698, Thomas Bray also founded the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts in 1701 to support the Church and clergy in the British colonies.

14. Boltzius had frequently requested to be relieved of his secular duties, which so greatly interferred with his ministry. Ludwig Mayer was now supposed to be the justiciar, or manager, of the community; but people still turned to Boltzius.

15. This means that people have been praying for them.

16. Geistliche Gedichte by an imperial count, foreword by Dr. Sigismund Jacob Baumgarten. See June, note 31.

17. Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, Geistreiches Gesangbuch, Halle 1714.

18. See note above.

19. Ich kriech, mein Erlser! dir zun Fssen, richt mich durch Gnade wieder auf; und darf ich deine Wunden kssen, so wird der Snden Meng und Hauf, ob sie gleich noch so blutroth ist, doch so weiss wie Schnee und Wolle werden; verstoss nur nicht mich Asch und Erden, der du der Snder Heiland bist. 6. Es ist noch Raum in deinen Wunden, fr mich, der ich beladen bin, etc.

20. This work, which Boltzius calls here a songbooklet (Gesangbchlein), would appear to be the same as the book of poems (Gedichte) mentioned in the entry for 23 July.

21. aus dem wernigerodischen Gesangbchlein. This appears to be the same as the book described in the previous note.

22. Since no death was reported a week earlier, this suggests that Boltzius, or more probably Urlsperger, sometimes suppressed such reports.

23. Psalms 42:1-2.

24. This bride, who may have been one of the Gephart girls, must not have lived long, for Martin married Ursula Schweighofer in 1754.

25. See Jan., note 13.

AUGUST 1751

1. The text reads Foygrapes, which must be an error, but that still does not explain Boltzius parenthetical remark.

2. adjusting to the nature of the climate.

3. Abraham deLion, a Portuguese Jew, who had arrived during the first summer of the colony.

4. At his estate at Bewlie (now written Beaulieu), ten miles south of Savannah.

5. Boltzius uses the word Alleen, by which he seems to mean arbors.

6. The planters called this the stretch flow.

7. In Germany most vineyards are on mountain slopes, with the result that the word for vineyard is Weinberg, or vine mountain. Vines are mostly on slopes for two reasons. Vines can grow well on steep and rocky slopes where grains cannot be planted; and grapes growing on the south slopes receive the rays of the sun at a better angle than on flat ground.

8. Another example of the Pietists use of shame and encouragement.

9. This is an allusion to the hymn Gott wills machen, dass die Sachen by Johann Daniel Herrnschmidt.

10. See July, note 17.

11. It is not clear whether the melody to the second hymn is the same as to the first.

12. See note June, note 22.

13. For the first several years the people at Ebenezer rowed on the left or main channel of the Savannah River, even against very swift currents. Later they discovered that Abercorn Creek (the Mill River or right channel of the Savannah River) was very sluggish because its northern end, where it flowed from the main channel, was almost wholly silted up.

14. See July, note 14.

15. This must be a typographical error for Italy.

16. He was converted from Judaism.

17. Dr. Johannes Heinrich Callenberg was then proselytizing among the Jews.

18. See entry for 17 July.

19. See July, note 12.

20. Joshua 1:5. The following passage is made up of Biblical verses or parahrases.

21. Allusion to Luke 7:37-50.

22. In her grief this woman had gnawed her forearm almost to the bone after losing her many children in her flight from the Spanish invasion of 1742.

23. See entry for Aug. 4 explaining the subscribed verses.

24. This was another case of pica, a sickness associated with dietary deficiency (and perhaps hookworms), not by eating inedibles.

25. At this point Urlsperger inserts a footnote stating that this and similar speeches can be had in print under the title Ein zweyfaches Neues vom Jahre; oder zwo in einem evangelischen Oberkirchenconvent zu Augsburg den 20. Jan. 1751, und den 10. Jan. 1752, gehaltene Reden von Sam. Urlsperger des Ev. Min. Sen. und Past. bey St. Anna, Augsburg gedruckt und zu finden in der Maschenbaurishen Buchdruckerey.

26. Mein Vater, du hast mich erwhlt noch vor dem Anfang meiner Tage, etc.

27. See Jan., note 13.

OCTOBER 1751

1. Urlsperger appears to have deleted the entries for September and most of October.

2. Ecclesiastes 12:13.

3. Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, Evangelienpostill.

4. The text reads Kroberger. See entry for 5 Nov.

5. These were the second Swabian transport.

6. This was Johann Gerhard Wilhelm von Brahm, an artillery captain.

7. The Swabian transports were recruited for Urlsperger by the Lutheran pastors in the Territory of Ulm.

8. They were still on shipboard at the mouth of the Savannah River.

9. David Kraft of Regensburg, who was to manage von Muenchs interests in Ebenezer, soon died.

10. Abercorn Island in the Savannah River.

11. The land across Ebenezer Creek had been reserved for the Uchee Indians by treaty, but they were now nearly extinct and the survivors had moved up the river.

12. Exodus 20 (Remember the Sabbath).

13. The King James version (Psalms 68:19) differs somewhat in wording.

14. John McClelland.

NOVEMBER 1751

1. Samuel Leberecht and Christina Elisabetha had died the previous year.

2. A prescription or instruction.

3. The great works of God.

4. Because Boltzius uses the word Untertanen (subject), he must have been referring to one of the Salzburgers noble benefactors.

5. Boltzius numbers this as the second commandment, following Lutheran and Roman Catholic usage. See Feb., note 15.

6. See June, note 17.

7. Boltzius fails to mention that this is the chest from Halle.

8. Samuel Urlsperger, Schriftmaessiger Unterricht fuer Kranke und Sterbende.

9. Exodus 15:16. The King James version reads, I am the Lord that healeth thee.

10. Man harre nur, selbst im Gedrnge wird deine Macht gewiss noch offenbar. Je grsser oft das Elend pflegt zu seyn, je mehr und eher bricht die Hlf herein. From a hymn.

11. See June, note 12.

12. Jeremiah 17:14.

13. See Oct., note 13.

14. Das Jesulein soll doch mein Trost, mein Heyland seyn und bleiben, etc. A hymn.

15. 1 Timothy 4:8.

16. Hosea 13:9.

17. Der Kranken Gesundheit und der Sterbenden Leben.

18. The Salzburgers had recently purchased the Trustees cattle ranch.

19. See note 8 above.

20. Johann Tobler, a former governor of Appenzell.

21. Being Swiss, Tobler used the ancient word Herbstmonat, which had been coined for Charlemagne and had long since died out in most dialects.

22. Johann Ulrich Neidlinger.

23. This would appear to be an ironic allusion to their having tried to run away.

24. Boltzius did not live to see the handsome brick church, which was built several years after his death.

DECEMBER 1751

1. See Jan., note 13.

2. In the Palatine transport of 1749 there had been several young journeymen who did not at first conform to Ebenezer standards until chastened by fever.

3. Most of these were indentured and were to be redeemed in 1752.

4. Von Muench, the Augsburg banker and benefactor, appears to have been behind a scheme to import rare woods from Ebenezer.

5. aus dem nimischen Gebieth.

6. While the authorities could censure all printed reports encouraging emigration, they found difficulty in preventing favorable letters, which, as in this case, were copied and distributed. The Schubdrein girl probably memorized the letter so that she could share the content without having the letter found on her. This was Anna Margaretha, who married one of the Freyermuths.

7. The Trustees had granted each family a small lot in town, a two-acre garden on the edge of town, and a plantation at some distance. Being farmers, the Salzburgers preferred to move out to their plantations in order to protect their crops and beasts from both two- and four-footed marauders. Even the tradesmen, such as smiths and carpenters, also preferred to move to the plantations. Consequently, the lots in town and the gardens surrounding it soon reverted to wilderness, thus depriving Ebenezer of any semblance of a city.

8. Boltzius suggestion is justified by the recent discovery of radon.

9. The Halle typesetters set this as Buten instead of as Guten.

10. Boltzius is referring to the tythingmen.

11. 2 Timothy 4:18.

12. Die Bretter sind aus Lorrelpappelholz, Cedern, Lorbeer, wilden Kirsch- und Maulbeerbaum, Sassafrass und Possimento-oder hiesigen Misspelbaum, desgleichen einige Stuecken von Livoak, hiesige Hagebuchen, Hundsholz, und Furledbay, welches das haerteste.

13. Macht- und Kernspruch, one of Boltzius favorite Pietistic expressions. See June, note 22.

14. Romans 8:31-32.

15. Matthew 8:3.

16. See note 14.

17. Romans 5:10-11; 10:12.

18. Tractat von der Freyheit der Glubigen vom Gesetze. This appears to be a title.

19. Boltzius is arguing that legalistic people, those who fear the law more than they trust Christs mercy, spoil Christianity for other people.

20. With the exception of Luther, all these were Pietist authors often quoted by Boltzius in his journal.

21. Romans 2:4.

Notes for the Year 1752

JANUARY 1752

1. This was Ursula Eckert. See entry for 16 Jan.

2. Mount Pleasant was across the Savannah River some miles up stream from Ebenezer.

3. Johann Ludwig Mayer had recently been appointed justiciary, or secular manager, at Ebenezer.

4. Boltzius was fond of commenting on the points of scripture he cites. Here he is alluding to 1 John 1:23.

5. Cf. King James, And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9)

6. Wer in der Gnadenzeit mit Gott sich nicht vertrget, der bleibt in Ewigkeit von Gottes Freudenhaus ganz ganz geschlossen aus, vergss er in dem Weh auch eine Trnensee. From a hymn.

7. Matthew 9:13.

8. A gossip (Gevatter) is someone bound by bonds of baptism, which bonds were very strong, the co-sponsors then becoming kinsmen. It is not stated whether Boltzius was the godfather of one of Kalchers children, or vice-versa, but it was surely the former.

9. Now let us bury the body.

10. This is not from Hebrews but from Matthew 10:22.

11. So ruh ich nun, mein Heil, in deinen Armen, du selbst soll mir mein Ewger Fride seyn; ich wickle mich in deine Gnade ein; mein Element sey einzig (und ewig) dein Erbarmen. From a hymn.

12. Name given to the old Uchee land across Ebenezer Creek, which had recently been given to Salzburgers and was then being settled by members of the second Swabian transport and by some of the people of Ebenezer.

13. 2 Peter 3:15.

14. Thomas Gschwandels only daughter was Margaretha, who was born in 1732. There is no record of her having married Josef Schubdrein.

15. Von dem Gottseligen Sinn der Eltern und des Kindes Jesu allen Eltern und Kindern zum erbaulichen Exempel, unidentified.

16. Following Roman and Lutheran practice, Boltzius numbers this commandment as the seventh, but theft is clearly indicated.

17. Although Boltzius accepted charities from penitent people, he made it clear that they could not buy salvation that way, as the Roman Catholics were accused of doing. Salvation came through faith alone, not through good works.

18. Durchbruch, Pietistic term usually meaning a recognition that even the worst sinner can be saved by faith in our Savior.

19. Peter Hammer from Chemnitz.

20. Isaiah 49:16.

21. John 1:47.

22. Within a few lines Boltzius has called her both Eva and Ursula. Perhaps her name was Eva Ursula. The name appears mostly as Eckhart.

23. Er klopft an, du musst heraus, da wirt nun nichts anders draus, from unidentified hymn.

24. See Genesis 35:18.

25. Wiese must be a typo for Weise.

26. Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg and Pastor Johann Peter Brunnholtz were leaders of the Lutheran community in Philadelphia. Muhlenberg had visited Ebenezer of his way from Europe and was to do so again.

27. Boltzius has named only two.

28. general, special, and most special.

29. Possibly Jacobs ladder in Genesis 28:12. (Pniel)

30. Allusion to Matthew 25:6.

FEBRUARY 1752

1. Matthew 15:22.

2. The city in eastern Germany where Boltzius and Gronau were ordained. It is now spelled Wernigerode.

3. Psalms 23.

4. Ein Arzt ist uns gegeben, der selber ist das Leben, Christus fr uns gestorben, hat uns das Heil erworben. From a hymn.

5. Brenne doch das Bse ab, das den Geist bisher gehindert, das der Liebe Regung mindert, die ich fters von dir hab. From a hymn.

6. Matthew 18:10; 19:14; Mark 10:15; Matthew 21:16.

7. Ich begehre nichts, o HErre, als nur deine freye Gnad. Apparently from a hymn.

8. Allusion to Matthew 5:45.

9. A Lycee for young noblemen, a part of the Francke Foundation.

10. It was done.

11. Probably words of comfort.

12. Wir sind die zarten Reben, der Weinstock selbst bist du, daran wir wachsen und kleben, etc.

13. By majority vote.

14. Small things grow in peace, in discord they fall apart.

15. See note 12 above.

16. Es kann uns nichts geschehen, als was Gott hat ersehen, und was uns heilsam ist. Ich nehme es, wie er es gibet, was ihm von mir beliebet, dasselbe hab ich auch erkiest. From a hymn with typical Pietist theodicy.

17. Fleuch vor der Snde, wie vor einer Schlange, etc. Sirach 21:2.

18. Brown flowers were a favorite of medieval German poets. We would probably call them red.

19. Psalms 104:3.

20. Psalms 116:7.

MARCH 1752

1. In Pietistic parlance, a secure (sicher) person was one who expected to achieve salvation on his own merits rather than through rebirth in Jesus. Such self-made (selbstgemachte) salvation was a sign of pride.

2. James 4:14.

3. John 14:19.

4. Hymn by Court Chaplain Friedrich Ziegenhagen. See entry for 10 March.

5. Lamentations 3:22.

6. It is not clear whether this hymn was actualy composed for Ebenezer in Georgia.

7. The King James version is very different.

8. 1 Timothy 6:10.

9. Inadvertantly, Boltzius is confirming the view of the Malcontents, the disaffected party in Savannah, that the Salzburgers success depended upon support from Europe.

10. Both the Boltzius and Lemke families were heavily engaged in silk manufacture.

11. Proverbs 30:8.

APRIL 1752

1. John 19:30.

2. Isaiah 27:6.

3. Du bist mir stets vor den Augen, du ligst mir in meinem Schoos, wie die Kindlein, die noch saugen: meine Treu zu dir ist gross. Dich und mich soll keine Zeit, keine Noth, Gefahr noch Streit, ja der Satan selbst nicht scheiden! bleib getreu in allen (deinem) Leiden. From a hymn.

4. Psalms 8:2.

5. See 51 April, note 10.

6. This appears to have been Mrs. David Zubly.

7. See 52 Jan., note 16.

8. Revelations 3:19.

9. Theobald Kieffer, Jr.s sister Elisabetha Maria had married Nikolaus Kronberger.

10. This was probably a snide allusion to the Moravians, who had been so helpful to the Salzburgers during their sojourns in Savannah.

11. John 1:16.

12. See 51 July, note 12.

13. See 51 March, note 6.

14. Throughout his reports Boltzius seems confused between the names Lackner and Lechner, since the same family appears to have used both. Here he covers himself by using both forms. In the very next entry he uses the form Lackner.

15. See 51 Jan., note 13.

16. Johannes Arnd, Informatorium biblicum.

17. Psalms 145:18.

18. Hebrews 13:5.

MAY 1752

1. Frau Doctor naturally meant the wife of Dr. Goetz.

2. Ott was a true Salzburger. Boltzius says from Memmingen meaning that he was among those exiles who had sought refuge in Memmingen before going to Georgia.

3. Matthew 28:20.

4. For Boltzius, unwissend (ignorant) meant uninformed in Pietistic dogma.

5. See 51 Jan., note 27.

6. Boltzius is depending upon hearsay, which must have been exaggerated.

7. Samuel Urlsperger, Schriftmssiger Unterricht fr Kranke und Sterbende.

8. Romans 11:33.

JUNE 1752

1. Because Boltzius has not explained this useful work, we can suspect that Urlsperger made some sort of a deletion.

2. Arguments concerning what is necessary and useful.

3. Allusion to 1 Corinthians 9:22.

4. Allusion to Job 5:19.

5. Romans 8:37.

6. Apparently an allusion to the parable in Luke 14:16 ff.

7. Das grosse und schwere Seelenleiden, welches der Herr Jesus als der Mittler der Welt am Oelberg erduldet hat.

8. Ebenezer Creek.

9. Job 19:25; Acts 14:22.

10. The King James Version has nothing similar at this point.

11. See 51 July, note 12.

12. Hebrews 12:22.

13. Psalms 62:2.

14. The Halle typesetters, not knowing Welsh names, set the name as Cloyd.

15. This hymn is based on Psalms 65:2. The King James version is quite different.

16. God will provide.

JULY 1752

1. Psalms 63:4; Genesis 41:9; Romans 2:4.

2. See 51 Jan., note 13.

3. Pascal Hetzel, a Protestant theological student in Alsace, has kindly found this information about the Schubdrein family of Weiher (Weyer) in the Registre des Citoyens.

4. Luke 1:37.

5. See note 1 above.

6. See April, note 16.

7. Master Hildebrand, deacon in Augsburg.

8. Ach Gott, du bist noch heut so reich, als du bist gewesen ewiglich, from a hymn.

9. Remedium antifebrile.

10. An anti-fever remedy in which there is quinine bark.

11. durch allzustarkes Ausdnsten.

12. Allusion to the hymn Got hat alles gut gemacht.

13. Boltzius must mean of bricks (Backsteine), since there are no stones in the area of Ebenezer.

14. In Germany it was not uncommon for ovens to be fueled and emptied from outside the house so as to keep the house clean and not disturb the occupants. The 15th-century Austrian poet Oswald von Wolkenstein tells an amusing (but hardly true) story of how he was able to force the Emperor, who was unavailable in his chamber, to emerge by over-stoking the oven from outside the chamber.

15. The Trustees had allowed each family one lot in town, two acres near the town for a garden, and forty-eight acres further away for a farm. Most of the Salzburgers had moved from town to live on their farms.

16. Romans 8:28.

17. Ambrosius Wirth, Herzensprfungen.

18. Hosea 13:9; Proverbs 14:34; Psalms 81:14.

19. Such cannibalism among the Indians was common folklore.

20. Martin Luther, Haus-Tafel or Tabula Oeconomica.

21. Psalms 43:2.

22. Komm du schoene Freudenkrone, bleib nicht lange; deiner wart ich mit Verlangen, from a hymn.

23. Luke 2:29.

24. See Revelations 19:7.

25. Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit, das ist mein Schmuck, etc., by Ludwig, Count Zinzendorf.

26. Boltzius writes und das hohe Lied anfangen, which is not clear in this context.

27. Wenn ich nur dich habe, so frage ich nichts nach - meines Herzens Trost und mein Theil, probably from a hymn, surely based on Psalms 73:26.

28. Des Herrn Jesu Werk allein, das macht, dass ich kann selig seyn, den ich mit Glauben fasse, from a hymn.

29. Anfechtungen were the temptations to doubt Christs mercy.

30. Philippians 1:23; Revelations 22:20.

31. diarrhea colliquativa, unidentified.

32. Und weil du mir mein Ein und Alles bist, so ists genug, dass dich mein Geist geniesst, from a hymn.

AUGUST 1752

1. Boltzius, following Roman Catholic custom, calls this the fifth commandment. See 51 Feb., note 15.

2. See April, note 16.

3. James 1:12. See 51 March 6.

4. Behind Abercorn means behind the town looking from the river.

5. ist contract worden, not clear.

6. Allusion to the hymn Gott hat alles wohl gemacht.

7. This must have been Johann Martin Rheinlnder because he and Ursula Kalcher and Maria Brandner were the only survivors from all the many children who were born in Old Ebenezer.

8. Other things being equal.

9. Decoctions.

10. Wir wissen, dass denen, die Gott lieben, alle Dinge, etc., unidentified; Job 1:21; Gott hat noch niemals was versehen in seinem Regiment; nein, was er thut und lsst geschehen, das nimmt ein gutes Ende. From a hymn.

11. Johannes Tobler, former governor of Appenzell.

12. Psalms 68:20 in the Luther translation. The wording in the King James version is entirely different.

13. Luke 18:16.

14. Psalms 34:9.

SEPTEMBER 1752

1. Johann Vigera had been the conductor of the fourth Salzburger transport. Failing to find employment in Ebnezer, he had gone to Philadelphia and married an English woman.

2. See April, note 16.

3. In their idealism, the Trustees had wanted a colony of self-sufficient yeoman farmers ready to defend their land.

4. The English had refused to adopt the new calendar because of their inertia and also for fear that, having been introduced by Pope Gregory, it must have some kind of a papal plot. England was then, like the United States now with regard to the metric system, the only civilized country that refused to modernize.

5. The Salzburgers en route to Georgia were organized as a congregtion at St. Annes in Augsburg.

6. Psalms 34:8.

7. Ever onward!

8. Psalms 34:8. Cf. Psalms 2:12.

9. Psalms 34:8.

10. Job 5:19.

11. Romans 8:37.

12. Although, as Voltaire was soon to say, the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire, it still designated a geographic area and commanded a certain romantic love and reverence from its inhabitants.

13. Philipp Jacob Spener, from Alsace, was a leading Pietist at Halle.

14. One might expect a destructive wind to have come to Charleston from the southeast rather than the southwest.

OCTOBER 1752

1. Tobit 3:23.

2. The widow Pieta Clara Haefner married Adam Straube.

3. Ich glaube Vergebung der Snden und ein ewiges Leben, Amen, from the Apostles creed. Hilf mir wachen, bethen, singen, bis ich steh vor deinem Throne, unidentified, possibly from a hymn.

4. Wirtsch soon began writing his name Wertsch. He later became one of the two leading citizens of Ebenezer.

5. Psalms 50:14.

6. i.e., of Pietist dogma.

7. See 51 Jan., 27.

8. See pp. 230-231.

NOVEMBER 1752

1. The name usually appears as Prickel or Prckel.

2. Boltzius calls this sickness Gelbsucht or yellow jaundice, but the black vomit suggests yellow fever, even though the plagues of yellow fever in South Carolina had not yet reached Georgia.

3. S.h., written in Latin letters, would appear to be some circumlocution for a privy (Schaishaus?).

4. The term s.v. probably means salve venia (with your permission).

5. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and the Society for Promoting Christian knowledge, both founded by Thomas Bray.

6. Psalms 73:28.

7. See 51 Jan., note 27.

8. See 52 July, note 12.

9. A trading post up the Savannah River near Augusta, not to be confused with the city of Savannah.

10. This word, like English Welsh, originally meant non-Germanic. In South Germany it meant either French or Italian. Perhaps maize was planted first in Northern Italy, or else Boltizus may have used the word merely in the sense of foreign. It might be noted that a turkey was a welsches Huhn.

11. One of the Sheftal boys.

12. Ottolenghe, a convert, was from Italy, but the name sounds like a derivative of a German name such as Otto Lange.

13. This could have been either Thomas Bosomworth or Bartholomaeus Zouberbuhler.

14. Boltzius failed to mention the arrival on the Success of the Bornemann party from Gttingen.

15. Boltzius explains this as Dornencreek.

16. There was already a Halifax in Nova Scotia and one in North Carolina.

17. He meant to say month.

18. This was Johann Christoph Bornemann, who came with his father-in-law Johann Heinrich Grewe.

19. Matthew 6:33.

20. Aber einer schafft diess, der andere das, seiner armen Seele er ganz vergass, etc, from a hymn.

DECEMBER 1752

1. Ziegenhagen Passionspredigten.

2. Wernigerode (written here in its older form Wernigeroda) was dear to Boltzius because it was there that he and his former colleague Gronau were consecrated on their way from Halle to Amsterdam.

3. Johann Georg Walch, Einleitung in die Religionsstreitigkeiten in und ausser der lutherischen Kirche; see 51 Jan., note 27.

4. Such German stoves, called Franklin stoves in America after the man who popularized them, were far more efficient than fireplaces.

5. Psalms 106:1.

6. No doubt Joseph Ottolenghe.

7. The word tchtig, which had originally been synonymous with its English cognate doughty, had gradually taken on Christian and bourgeois values such as self-sufficiency, capability, industry, and reliability.

8. Elend is used here in its earlier meaning of exile, that is, alienation from God.

9. Isaiah 61:10.

10. Deuteronomy 33:3; Psalms 34:9; Jeremiah 17:14.

11. die itzt von Wernigeroda empfangene Bchlein, von der Menschen-liebe Gottes gegen uns, und von der Menschen-Liebe zu Gott, unidentified.

12. Boltzius and his successors had all taught in the schools of the Halle Orphanage, which were part of the Francke Foundation.

13. Court Chaplain Samuel Lau (or Laue) had consecrated both Boltzius and Gronau at Wernigerode.

14. Coethensches Gesangbchlein.

15. See 51 Nov., note 8.

16. A cure-all distilled by Johann Caspar Schauer of Augsburg.

17. The third Swabian transport had arrived with a captain Brown at almost the same time as Habershams ship, the Success. The latter brought the Bornemann party, which will be discussed. Capt. Browns ship has not been identified.

18. Boltzius often numbers an item as no. 2 without having designated a no. 1.

19. Lutheran ministers from Halle were then serving in Danish missions in India.

20. May it be done!

21. Valetpredigt.

22. John 16:33.

23. Samuel Urlspergers Ausfhrliche Nachrichten (the source of the Detailed Reports) were issued irregularly in continuations.

24. See 52 Dec., note 3; 51 Jan., 27; 51 Jan., note 13.

25. Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, Geistreiches Gesangbuch; Freiherr Carl Hildebrand, Baron von Cannstein, subsidized inexpensive Bibles; see 51 Jan., 27; Martin Luther, Kleiner Catechismus.

26. The Lord hath helped so far was one translation of Ebenezer.

27. In Europa, sonderlich an der Kiste von Grossbritanien alt ist den 25. und 26. August Cap. ein weit heftiger Sturm gefuehlt worden, als Jahr 1739. It is not clear what alt and Cap. mean. It is surprising that the year 1739 was mentioned instead of 1738, when both the Oliver and Whitiers Palatine were wrecked.

28. Balama is, of course Bahama. The whole passage seems to have been rendered poorly.

29. Compared with the other prices, it appears that the English traders paid the Indians well for their deer hides. It was certainly easier to shoot and skin a deer than to raise and harvest two hundredweight of wheat.

30. Psalms 55:6.

31. Philippians 4:6

32. By gentlemen he was probably alluding, among others, to the Bornemann and the Grewe families. Perhaps English gentlemen were settling at Halifax at the same time.

33. Jesus nimmt die Sunder an.

34. Boltzius is alluding to the parable of the sower who went forth to sow (Matthew 13:3). He must have forgotten his grammatical structure, since he uses ihnen instead of sie.

35. The word Hauswesen includes the house, farm, and the entire family economy.

36. It is not clear what this hand was.

37. Allusion to Numbers 11:23, Is the Lords hand waxed short?

38. Identified in next entry.

39. in captu discentium

40. Friedrich Michael Ziegenhagen, Passionspredigt.

41. Such long sentences, which were felt to show transports of religious fervor, were common in sermons.

42. Anselm Wilhelm Boehm, court chaplain before Ziegenhagen.

43. Die Erklrung des Gebeths des Herrn; Ein Wort der Ermahnung und des Trosts Anselm Wilhelm Neujahrstag 1750; Ein Wort des Unterrichts von der rechten, chten, und von dem Herrn Jesu selbst approbierten Art, Gnade bei ihm zu suchen, am 24. nach Trinit.; Eine ernstliche Ermahnung des Herrn Jesu, den Vater zu bitten um den heiligen Geist, am ersten Pfingsttage.

44. It is not clear what these signs (Zeichen) are.

45. The Palatines who arrived in 1749 on the Charles Town Galley.

INDEX

ABC books, donated 274

Abercorn, village near juncture of Abercorn Creek and Savannah River, mentioned, 18, 56, 104, 120, 136

baptism at 112, 134

divine services at 228

behind Abercorn = Goshen.

Abercorn Creek (Mill River), branch of Savannah River, mentioned 64, 239, 51; Aug, n. 13

island being surveyed 84

a great blessing 105

Acton, German and Swiss settlement near Savannah, inhabitants leaving 28

Adventists, settle near Augusta 185

Agriculture, see Crops.

Albinus, Johann Georg, court chaplain in London, letter to 5, 40

letter from 44, 74, 77, 165, 195, 263

advances travel expenses 8

forwards booklets 198

mentioned 110, 246

hymnist 291, 292

forwards medicines 266

Altona, city near Hamburg 270

Anabaptist, visits Ebenezer 142

settle near Augusta 185

Animals, wild: bears 12, 84, 89, 232

beavers 88

deer 12, 84, 85, 88, 229

foxes 130

lynxes 84

possums 84

raccoons 84

squirrels 12, 84

wolves 130, 232

Anton, Paul, Pietist professor, mentioned 46, 137, 51; March, n. 26

Arnsdorf, Peter, Palatine, summons Boltzius 24

Arnsdorf, Catharina, ne Holtzer, Austrian, sick 12, 24

dies 25

Arndt, Johann, Pietist, author 137

author of True Christianity 16, 31, 46, 190, 246, 256, 274, 288, 51 Jan., n. 27

of Easter Sermons 21, 51; Feb., n. 11

of Informatorium biblicum 187, 211, 226, 234, 52 April, n. 16

Assistants, see Council

Augsburg, city in Swabia, benefactors in 194, 202, 282

gifts from 270, 271

books from 286

hymns from 272

chest from 118, 122

letters from 271

mentioned 92, 117

Mother Church of Georgia Salzburgers 235

Augusta, city up the Savannah River, Germans moving there 28

Indian disorder near there 45

has small garrison 64

source of corn 123, 190, 254

attracts sectarians 185

Ausfhrliche Nachrichten, source of Detailed Reports 91, 273, 51; July, n. 6

Bacher, Balthasar, Salz, moved to Goshen 184

Bacher, Christina, Salz, w Matthias, pleased with grandchildren 43, 61

sick with fever 107

successful midwife 172

Baptisms: importance of Baptism 83, 142

two babies baptized 2

Zettlers slave child baptized 4

child baptized at Goshen 18, 73, 112, 172, 177

at Abercorn 134

child from Mount Pleasant 142

two children at Ebenezer 144

Barbara Mayers son 150

Spaniards child 162

son of cartwright Georg Mayer 186

Baumgarten, Dr., provides foreword 95, 51; July, n. 16

Beaver Creek, Beaver Dam, new settlement on the Savannah River 262, 274

to be surveyed 279

Beer, being brewed 7, 281

Beicht- und Communionbchlein, see Confession ...

Beitrge zum Bau ... , see Contributions ...

Benefactions, see Gifts.

Berkley, George, Bishop of Cloyne, writes about tar water 247

Bethesda, Whitefields orphanage near Savannah 120, 51 April, n. 13

Bewlie (now Beaulieu), Wm. Stephens estate 301

Bichler, Maria, ne Bacher, w Thomas, sick 107

marries Balthasar Rieser 228

Bichler, Thomas, Salz, worst off in community 12

sick 13

a penitent sinner 26, 34

receives Communion 30

awaiting salvation 40

dies 46, 47

leaves daughter 50

Blue Bluff, new name of Uchee land across Ebenezer Creek, given to Salzburgers 38

for Swabians 114

good land 123

being surveyed 128

being settled 134, 167

mentioned 136, 142, 146, 162, 203, 233, 274

tythingmen appointed 153

a bridge needed 181, 211

schoolmaster needed 199

baptism at 186

hail causes damage 192

house consecration 207

does not suffer from drought 226, 227, 229

suffers from storm 235

sermon preached 256

members receive hymnals 273

Boards, sent to Germany as samples 128

Boehm, Anselm Wilhelm, court chaplain 288

Bogatzky, Carl Heinrich, Pietist, author of Gldenes Schatz-Kstlein der Kinder Gottes (Treasure Chest), 93, 107, 119, 183, 201, 51; July, n. 12

of Tractate on the Freedom of Believers from the Law 137

Boltzius, Gertraut, w Johann Martin, makes silk 55

Boltzius, Gotthilf Israel, s Johann Martin, sick 150

Boltzius, Johann Martin, pastor at Ebenezer passim

Boltzius, Samuel Leberecht, s Johann Martin, mentioned 1

Books, list of 288

Bornemann, Johann Christoph, surgeon from Gttingen 52; Nov., n. 18

Brahm, Johann Wilhelm Gerhard von, captain from Koblenz, arrives 114, 115

makes report 117

shows great love 206

mentioned 144

letter from 250

Brahm, Wilhelmina von, w Johann, mentioned 144

shows great love 206

Brandner, Maria, Salz, daughter of Matthias, confirmed 241

Breithaupt, Abbot Joachim Justus, Pietist writer, mentioned 137, 170

Briar Creek, area upstream from Ebenezer 24, 25, 134, 262, 264, 270, 271, 274

to be surveyed 279

Broughton, Mr., secretary of SPCK, letter from 94, 105

Bruckner (Brckner), Georg, Salz, dangerously sick 113, 132, 141, 142, 157, 158, 160

dies 161

Bruckner (Brckner), Maria, ne Mller, w Georg, m Christoph Kramer 194

Brunnholtz, Johann Peter, pastor in Pennsylvania, letter from 154

report from 234

no answer from 26, 52 Jan., n. 26

Bryan, Hugh and Jonathan, S.C. planters, have many Negroes 240

Hugh reports on Charleston storm 243

Burgsteiner, Matthias, adopts Ruprecht Steiners child 152

dies 161

Burgsteiner, Agatha, wid Matthias, spinning cotton 166

Burry, Master, preaches at Augsburg 201, 203

Cadogan, Mr. George, commandant at Augusta 256

Callenberg, Johannes Heinrich, missionary to the Jews 105, 51; Aug, n. 17

Canstein, Carl Hildebrand, Baron of, produces Bibles 52 Dec., n. 25

Carver, Mr., merchant in Gosport 78

Catholic man 17

Cattle, fine herd being acquired 248

have much pasturage 256

Cedars, see Trees

Charleston, port in South Carolina, passim

Charleston newspaper 276, 280

Chemnitz, city in Saxony, home of Peter Hammer 200

Cherokees, see Indians.

Chest, from Halle 95, 118, 137

from London 265

from Augsburg 269

Churches, see Jerusalem Church and Zion Church.

Coconuts, described 71

Coethen hymnal 268

Commandments, numbering of 117, 148, 226, 51; Feb., n. 15; 52 Jan., n. 16

Commemoration and Thanksgiving Festival 35, 39, 58

Commissioner of Roads, requests sermon 220

Concordienbuch, Lutheran articles of faith 50, 51 Jan, n. 22

Confession and Holy Communion Booklet (religious tract by Ambrosius Wirth, 45, 59, 111, 127, 186, 207, 273.

See Beichtbchlein

Congarees, Congrees, settlement in South Carolina, refuge of renegades, to be settled against Indians 52

Corn, see Crops.

Council, governing body in Savannah consisting of a President and five Assistants, mentioned 2, 38, 52, 57, 85, 136, 142

to pay for silk 72

summons Boltzius 160

holds parliament 167

promise 100

acres 183

Cowpen, cattle ranch, useful 123, 133

Schmid sells his share 248

Creeks, see Indians.

Crops: barley 189

beans, 89, 202, 228, 230, 244, 256

Indian corn 42, 89, 190, 202, 220, 228, 244, 256

growing cobs 77

brought from Augusta 123, 257

gourds 89

peas 20, 56

rice, 89, 111, 190, 202, 220, 228, 230, 240

rye 20, 56, 189

squash, 202, 228, 230, 244, 256

sweet potatoes, 89, 190, 230, 244, 256

wheat 20, 56, 60, 189

Cypress, see Trees.

Deaths: Mrs. Kochers child 3

Zettler child 22

Catharina Arnsdorf 25, 26

Kornbergers son 26

Thomas Bichler 46

Eigels second daughter 79

Mrs. Neidlinger 81

ten year old boy 82

Carl Otts daughter 87

Johann Ulrich Neidlinger 99

Kronberger child 119

Johann Heinle, Sr., 126

Ruprecht Kalcher 144

Mrs. Joseph Schubdrein 147

Ruprecht Steiner 150

youth of twenty-five 159

Georg Bruckner 161

Matthias Burgsteiner 161

Margaretha Lackner 184

Kronbergers son 188

Georg Koglers child 202

Daniel Schubdrein, Sr. 209

David Kraft 223

Ludwig Mayers son 231

Elisabeth Lackner 249

Sulamith, Negro child 277

George Meyer 285

Deer, see Animals

DeLion, Abraham, Portuguese Jew 301

Deppe, Maria Margaretha, w Valentin, leads exemplary life 9

recuperates 11, 17

Deppe, Valentin, Swiss in Purysburg, leads exemplary life 9

has purples and sore throat 17

Dessler, Wolfgang Christoph, hymnist 293.

Dick, Johann, merchant in Rotterdam 261

Diseases: diarrhea colliquativa 224

dropsy 79

epilepsy (any convulsions) 22, 87, 147, 51; June, n. 10

febris acuta 12

fever 181, 208, 225, 230

Friesel 51 Jan, n. 1

motus febriles 3

pica (clay eating), 109, 51; Aug, n. 24

the purples 9, 10, 17, 26, 51 Jan., n. 1

quartan fever 230

scarlet fever, side stiches 150, 170, 175, 230

sore throat 2, 9, 17, 26, 147, 149, 150, 166

tertian fever 190, 230

yellow jaundice 52; Nov., n. 2

Dod, Scots husband of Wurttemberg woman 78, 79, 80

Dod, Mrs., w of Scot, 82-83, 90

dangerously sick 108

East Indian Reports, reports from Lutheran missionaries in India 71

East India, zealous missionaries there 271

Ebenezer, Salzburger settlement near Savannah passim

Ebenezer Creek, unnavigable waterway from Old to New Ebenezer, mentioned 79, 181. 201

to be bridged 219, 233

received most rain 226, 227

settlers on 283

Ebenezer Reports, see Ausfhrliche Nachrichten 91, 273

Ebner, Johann Georg, from Strassburg, asks for Communion 162

Eckert, Ursula, Mrs. Krafts maid, espoused to Ruprecht Steiner 149, 151; 52 Jan., n. 1; 52 Jan., n. 22

Eigel, Georg, Salz, his second daughter dies 79

Eischberger, Anna Maria, ne Riedelsperger, w Ruprecht, receives legacy 202

Eischberger, young Mrs., rearing children well 246

Empire, see Holy Roman Empire

Englishman comes to Ebenezer 227

Ernst, Ludwig, Salz, his child snakebitten 91

Ernst, Susanna Catharina, Bavarian, daughter of Josef, confirmed 241

Essentia dulcis, see Medications.

European crops (wheat, rye, barley, oats), 173, 179

Fathers, Salzburger patrons 194, 238, 270

see G. A. Francke, Urlsperger, Ziegenhagen.

Febris acuta, see Diseases.

Fetzer, Christian, Swabian carpenter, doing good job 8

Fetzer, Sebastian, in difficulty 228

Fetzer, young Mrs., stillbirth 249

Figs, see Fruit

Filature in Savannah 53, 68-69

in Ebenezer 213-216

Firs, see Trees.

Flax spinning, expensive 163

Flerl (Floerl), Hans, Salz, a godly man 60

his servant close to death, consecrates house 127 110

mill manager 133, 186, 201

assembles with household 226

Flerl, Mrs. Hans, a godly woman 60

Formulae Concordiae, Lutheran articles of faith 13, 51 Jan, n. 22

Fort Argyle, fortress on the Ogeechee River, mentioned 25

Foxes, see Animals

Francke, August Hermann, Pietist writer, mentioned 137

Francke, Gotthilf August, s A. H. Francke, Reverend Father and benefactor, letter from 77

Franklin, Thomas, English clergyman, mentioned 22

Frankfurt am Main, famous city 137

Frenchman in Savannah, dies 171

French carpenter killed in storm 242

Fresenius, Senior, author of Pastoral Collections 47

Freylinghausen, Johann Anastasius, professor at Halle, author of

Friesel, see diseases

Fruit, apples, grow swiftly 97

sprout a second time 120

plum and peach trees beginning to blossom 20

wild grapes 90, 99-103

peaches 91, 96, 97, 120, 169

plums 169

figs 96

method for laying out vineyard 100-103

Geistreiches Gesangbuch, 95, 96, 118, 274, 51; July, n. 17, 52 Dec., n. 25

of Gospel Postil 113, 51; Oct., n. 3

hymns 291

Geistliches Blumengrtlein, relgious tract 51 Feb, n. 4

Geistreiches Gesangbuch, see Freylinghausen.

Gerack, Master, minister en route to Lancaster 261

German boatman, works his way over 8

German crops, see European crops

German man from Charleston, wishes to attend services 163

German people behind Abercorn (at Goshen) 55, 73, 87, 103, 156, 191, 203, 245

Germans in Savannah, 1, 16, 62, 68, 69, 87, 188, 221, 232, 263

German Theology, medieval text edited by Luther 14, 16

Glaner, Georg, Swabian, consecrates house 45

Glaner, Mrs., her children cause joy 216

Glaner, Sibilla, ne Zant, wid Piltz, w Georg, sick 152

Glen, Mr., Governor of South Carolina, mentioned 217

Goetz, Mrs. Dr., benefactress 188

Goshen, fertile land behind Abercorn, child baptized 18, 73, 112, 172

Boltzius preaches there 54, 64, 97, 103, 172, 229, 245, 253

being surveyed 128

mulberry trees being planted on glebe land 156

property there 167

Salzburgers moving there 184

people request Communion 200

Gosport, English port 78

Gotte, Ludwig Andreas, hymnist 292

Graef, Catharina, wife of soldier from Frederica, dangerously sick 189

Graham, Dr., neighbor of Salzburgers, visits Indians 57, 63

letter from 167

President of the Council 261

Granewetter, Anna Catharina, ne Sturmer, Salz, wid Caspar, unhappily married 29, 250

Grapes, see Fruit

Grass, burned 165

The Great and Severe Spiritual Passion ... , tractate by Ziegenhagen 198

Gregorian calendar, adopted 234

Grewe, Johann Heinrich, settler from Gttingen 52; Nov., n. 18

Grimmiger, Catharina, Austrian, daughter of Andreas, confirmed 241

Gristmills, sometimes idled 28

Groll, Johann, Swabian, shoemaker, to move to Savannah 259

Gronau, Christian Israel, deceased colleague of Boltzius, remembered 3, 146

Gschwandl, Thomas, Salz, adopts Ruprecht Steiners child 152

Habersham, James, merchant, member of Council, Trustees secretary, mentioned 2

requests lumber 23

letter from 53, 72, 260

letter to 260

mentioned 60, 95

summons Boltzius 68

furthering silk business 69

inclined to Salzburgers 85

forwards letters 242, 261

Habersham and Harris, mercantile firm, mentioned 28, 161, 264

Hfner, Pieta Clara, widow 52; Oct., n. 2

Hfner, Maria Dorothea, Pal, daughter of Johann Georg, confirmed 241

Hailstones, 57, 192

Halifax, new settlement on the Savannah River 262

to be surveyed 279

Halle, East German city, home of Francke Foundation, letters from 271

source of gifts 46, 137, 194. See Chests

Halle Hymnal, see Freylinghausen.

Halle Orphanage, source of gifts 31

Hammer, Peter, settler from Chemnitz in Saxony 200, 231, 52 Jan., n. 19

Handschuh, minister in Lancaster 261

Happacher, Swabian on Blue Bluff, mentioned 185

Harris, Mr. John, partner of Habersham, his firm mentioned 28

Harvest and Thanksgiving Sermon 121, 256

Heart Examinations, religious tract 220

Heermann, Johann, hymnist 293

Heinle, Johann, Sr., Swabian from Ulm, faithful worker 62

sick 126

Heinle, Johann, Jr., in Glaners service 62

Heinle, Mrs. Johann, faithful worker 62

Heinzelmann, Israel, Muhlenbergs assistant 234

Helder, Bartholomus, hymnist 291

Helmershausen, blessed six year old 79

Heron, Col., English administrator 23

Herrnhuters, religious denomination 15, 16, 20

Hessler, Christian, Salz, summons Boltzius 73

Hessler, Elisabetha, w Christian, bitten by snake 73

Hildebrand, Master, clergyman in Augsburg 211, 52 July, n. 7

Hildesheim, German city, home of child-murderess 92, 93

Holstein, German province, medicines from 266

Holy Roman Empire, mentioned 117, 236

Honey, profitable 66

Horses, very common 63

eat salt 85

House consecrations: Gabriel Maurer 13

Georg Glaner 45

Hans Flerl 127

Carl Ott 189

on Blue Bluff 207

Mrs. Krafft 275

Huber, Margaretha, Salz orphan, writes will 164

Hymns, see Appendix.

Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis, mentioned 16

Indian corn, see Crops

Indians, disorderly and wicked people 37, 64

disturbance near Augusta 45

at Savannah 85, 86

visited by Dr. Graham 57, 63

hostilities by 65

free allies of the English 218

behave well 71

make salt 84

lurking nearby 111

use firearms 112

shoot cattle, should be converted 245

Nottawegs allied with Cherokees 85

Cherokees and Nottawegs fight Creeks and Uchees 85, 86

Creeks asked to sell land 57

a Creek brings scalp 70

Creeks receive gifts from Dr. Graham, Creek man calls on Boltzius 89

Creek busk described 88-89

Creek life 89-90

Creeks kill Cherokees 217

Uchees visit Ebenezer 69

flee from other Indians 70

land reserved for them 51 Oct., n. 11

rainmakers 89

arrowheads found 111

Florida Indians cannibals 228

war expected 256

Informatorium biblicum, see Arndt

Instruction for the Sick and Dying, by S. Urlsperger 132

Introduction to the Religious Struggles ... , tract by Dr. Walch 273

Irishman, wishes to marry 185

Italian viticulture 101, 102

Jerusalem Church, town church in Ebenezer, mentioned 1, 24, 35, 63, 106, 109, 110, 117, 126, 144, 147, 179, 195, 201, 273

Jew from Savannah 258

Jews have same privileges as Christians 259

Josephs Town, moribund village near Abercorn, mentioned 104, 167

Kalcher, Mrs. Margaretha, w Ruprecht, bakes bread 6

second daughter recuperates 8

experiences tribulations 136

mentioned 149, 208

having difficulties 194, 202

praises God 226

sick 259

Kalcher, Ruprecht, Salz, mentioned 1, 80, 142

silk culture in his house 42

a true Job 118, 119, 127, 131, 132, 134, 135

dies 144

praised 144-146

remembered 195

Kalcher, Ursula, Salz, daughter of Ruprecht, confirmed 241

Kieffer, Elisabetha Maria, wife of Nikolaus Kronberger 52 April, n. 9

Kieffer, Margaretha, w Theobald Kieffer, Sr., mentioned 51, April, n. 6

Kieffer, Theobald, Sr., Palatine from Purysburg, his family has slaves 44

Kieffer, Theobald, Jr., mortally sick 157

improves 160, 163

an honest person 181

Kleinknecht, Pastor, Lutheran minister, recruiter for Swabians, letter to 5, 51 Jan, n. 10

Kocher, Appolonia, w Georg, her baby dies 3

Kogler, Barbara, Salz, w Georg, comforted by Boltzius 202

Kogler, Georg, Salz, chief carpenter and sawmiller, mentioned 2

Koitsch, Christoph Jacob, hymnist 292

Kornberger, apparently error for Kronberger

Krmer, Johanna Margaretha, ne Mller, wid. Bruckner, has severe chest ailment 259, 269

Kraft (Krafft), David, Swabian from Ravensburg, arrives 114

goes to Charleston 163

mentioned 177, 195, 200, 211, 269

previously well but now sick 212

requests Communion 221

dies 222

praised 223-224

buried 225

Kraft (Krafft), Anna Barbara, ne Brandt, w David, mentioned 195, 225

now sick 213, 223

receives gifts 261

operates store 263

buys Negro child 275

Krauss, Captain Thomas, artilleryman with third Swabian transport 262, 268, 269, 270, 274

Kronberger family, formerly well, now sick 188

Kronberger, Nikolaus, Palatine from Purysburg, loses son 26, 188

calls Boltzius 113

Kronberger, Maria Elisabetha, w Nikolaus, sick 113, 119, 181

Kronberger girl dies 119

Krsy, Adrian, Swiss youth, dies 1

Kurtz, Mr., assistant to Muhlenberg, mentioned 154

Kurtz (Curtzius), Jacob Friedrich, swindler, mentioned 26

Lackner, Elisabetha, ne Pricker, w Martin, Jr., lives on Glebe land in Goshen 73

visited by Boltzius 172, 183, 194

dies 249

Lackner, Martin, Jr., Salz, sends word 173

moved to Goshen 184

Lau(e), Samuel, court chaplain at Wernigerode 268

Lechner, see Lackner

Leipzig, source of gifts 260, 261, 270, 284, 287

Leimberger, Christian, Salz, buys slave 275

Lemke, Hermann Heinrich, assistant minister in Ebenezer, mentioned 2, 161, 279

silk culture in his house 42, 55

receives letter 77

preaches in Goshen 103

sick 150

attends parliament 167

baptizes child 177

preaches in Savannah 189, 205, 232

Lemmenhofer, Maria, Salz, wid Veit, mentioned 190

Libri simbolici, Lutheran articles of faith, 51 Jan, n. 22

Little Treasure Chest, religious treatise by Carl Heinrich Bogatzky 93, 107, 119, 183, 201

Lloyd, Mr., Trustee, silk expert in London, letter from 3, 74, 204 203, 209

report to 210

knows Kraft 212

mentioned 54, 60, 63

London, source of benefactions, 194, 265, 270, 286

Lord Trustees, see Trustees.

Lords of Trade and Plantations, successors of the Trustees 203, 204

Lucerne (Luzern), Swiss city, exiles from, mentioned 18

Luther, Martin, his writings mentioned 14, 29, 61, 65, 137, 220, 274, 52 July, n. 20

attacked by Wesley 15

Lutherans in Savannah, see Germans in Savannah.

Lynxes, see Animals

Madeira, viticulture there 101, 102

Marriages: Rieser-Bichler 228

Lackner-Pricker 249

Martyn, Benjamin, Trustees secretary, letter from 3, 18, 203

will be secretary to Lords of Trade and Plantations 205

Maurer, Mrs. Hans, mentioned, 249

Maurer, Gabriel, Salz, consecrates house 13

Mayer, Barbara, ne Zorn, w Ludwig, churched 150

(Johann) Georg, brother Johann Ludwig, church attendance improves 29

Mayer, (Johann) Ludwig, physician and justiciary, mentioned 2, 18, 78, 85, 142, 247, 275

sick 17

receives medicines 31, 269

receives benefactions 117, 261

treats snakebite 70

receives letter 75, 77

good arrangements made for 112

Boltzius desires him as justiciary 139, 51 July, n. 13

mentioned 177, 249

loses son 231

goes to Savannah 238

serves as judge 244

appointed justiciary 52 Jan., n. 3

Mayer, Magdalena, w. Georg, a good Christian 29

Medicines: china de china 212, 224

essentia dulcis 1

remedium antifebriles 52 July, n. 9

tar water 230, 231, 247

Venetian theriac 118, 122

Schauers balm 118, 122, 269

medicines from Holstein 266

Memmingen, German city, resort of exiles, physicians in 264

Meyer, Georg, wainwright, his son dies 186

he dies 285

Meyer, ... , wid Georg, greatly respected 286

Militia at Savannah, 51 June, n. 12

Mill River, see Abercorn Creek.

Mills, all in order 212

being repaired 227

Millstones, donated 108

Moravian Brothers, see Herrnhuters.

Motus febriles, see Diseases.

Mount Pleasant, fortress on Savannah River above Ebenezer, mentioned 262, 52 Jan., n. 2

Mr. Priors Narratives, medical treatise 231

Muhlenberg, Heinrich Melchior, pastor from Halle, letter from 154

mentioned 234, 52 Jan., n. 26

Muhlmann, Johann, hymnist 291

Mulberry trees (for silkworms), to foliate soon 24

are sprouting 38

many planted 42, 43

more should have been planted 48

wild mulberry 43, 205, 209

beginning to sprout 169

hindered by drought 173

by frost 176

Mnch, Chrtien de, Augsburg banker, mentioned 51 Dec., n. 4

Musgrove, Mary, Indian interpretor, to prevent Indian war 217

Neander, Joachim, hymnist 292

Negroes, see Slavery.

Neidlinger, Johann Ulrich, Sr., Swabian tanner from Ulm, installs workshop with sons 5

an honest man 81

makes report 138

rents Ruprecht Steiners property 152

Neidlinger, Johann Ulrich, Jr., reports death of mother 81

mentioned 51 Nov., n. 22

Neidlinger, Matthias, Swabian organist, finds no work 8

Neidlinger, Mrs., w Johann, Sr. very weak 79

dies 81

Negroes, see Slaves.

Newport, Newport River, new settlement 134, 257, 258, 262

New Windsor, settlement in South Carolina 257

Nottawegs, see Indians.

Nova Scotia, Germans at, mentioned 18

Oak, see Trees.

Ogeechee, black-water river parallel to lower reaches of the Savannah, mentioned 25, 57, 86, 110

Oglethorpe, James Edward, founder of Georgia, mentioned 101

letters from 195

Orangeburg, German settlement in South Carolina 65

Order of Salvation, religious manual 284, 285

Ortmann, Christoff, former teacher at Ebenezer 2, 51 Jan, n. 6

Ott, Carl, Salz, consecrates house 189

Ottolenghe, Joseph, convert, to teach Negroes 94, 105, 52 Nov., n. 12

Paedigogium Regium, lycee for young noblemen, mentioned 165

Parker, Mr., brother of Henry, manager at Bethesda, dead 217

Paulitsch, Johann Philipp, Swabian, installs mechanism 5

Peaches, see Fruit, Trees

Peas, see Crops

Pica (clay eating), see Diseases.

Pietist parlance, breakthrough 149, 52 Jan., n. 18

temptations 183, 52 July, n. 29

misery 267, 52 Dec., n. 8

security 51 Jan, n. 30, April, n. 5

honest 51; March, n. 5, n. 6

perverted 51 March, n. 12

unwissend 52 May, n. 4

Machtspruch, Kernspruch, Hauptspruch 51 June, n. 22

Piltz, Andreas, deceased Salz from Rastadt, 181

Pines, see Trees.

Plums, see Fruit

Port Royal, small port in South Carolina, mentioned 22, 238

Ports, George Philip, Pal, has good plantation 11

Possums, see Animals

President, see Council.

Purples, see Diseases.

Purysburg, Swiss settlement across and down river from Ebenezer, mentioned 56, 120, 230

Quakers, settling near Augusta 185

Rabenhorst, Christian, pastor with third Swabian transport 260, 261, 268, 271

will remain with them in Savannah 263, 270

comes to Ebenezer 277

Raccoons, see Animals.

Rahn, Anna Barbara, ne Paulitsch, w Conrad, mentioned 154

Rahn, Conrad, Swabian from Ulm, returns from Pennsylvania 145

Rainmakers, see Indians.

Rattlesnakes, see Snakes.

Ravensburg, Swabian city, home of David Kraft 224

Reformed, followers of Calvin and Zwingli, mentioned 28, 31

Religious Struggles, treaties by Walch 265, 273, 52 Dec., n. 3

Reverend Fathers, see Fathers

Rheinlander, Johann Martin, Pal, confirmed 241, 52 Aug, n. 7

Rice, see Crops.

Rice stamp 236

Ricebirds (bobolinks) 240

Rice, see Crops.

Rice polisher and stamp 123, 153

Richter, Christian Friedrich, theologian, doctor, hymnist 291

Riedelsperger, Christian, Salz, has trading business, serves as butcher, his children well behaved 26

to sell boards 32

son is sick 243

will cultivate land 253

Riedelsperger, Mrs., Maria, ne Schweighoffer, comforted 13

bears cross 30

Rieger, Pastor, mentioned 133

Rieser, Balthasar, Salz, married Maria Bichler 228

Rist, Johann, hymnist 292

Robinson, Pickering, English silk expert, mentioned 3, 53, 54, 56, 68

furthering silk culture 69, 189

Rottenberger, Christoph, Salz, designs mill 7

prepares five machines 53

Rottenberger, Elisabetha, w Christoff, contracts purples 10

recuperates 11

Ruben, Johann Christoph, hymnist 292

Rye, see Crops.

Sabbatarian, visits Ebenezer 142

Sachs, Hans, hymnist 292

Sanftleben, Georg, Silesian carpenter, remembered 249

Sarganeck, Inspector, mentioned 165

Savannah, chief city in Georgia passim

Savannah River, river fronting Augusta, Ebenezer, and Savannah passim

Savannah Town, trading station near Augusta, mentioned, 87, 232, 257

Sawmill, being built 16

completed 23, 57

needs repair 32, 33

durably built 37

consecrated 57, 58

waterwheel too small 58

ditch being dug 64

Saxony, German Province, home of Peter Hammer 149

Scarlet fever, see Diseases.

Schatz-Kstlein, see Bogatzky.

Schauer, Johann Caspar, distiller in Augsburg 52 Dec., n. 16

Schauers balm, see Medicines.

Schaum, Mr., assistant to Muhlenberg 154

Scheffler, Anna Maria, ne Ernst, w Johann, has child 187

Scheffler, Johann, Salz, has son 187

Scheffler, Johann (Angelus Silesius), hymnist 291

Scheraus, Johann, Swabian, moved to Goshen 184

Schmid, Johann, Austrian, his son dies 1

his horse stolen 244

has financial difficulties 249

Schrempf, Ruprecht, Salz locksmith, brings grapes 90

mentioned 133

Schubdrein, Anna Margaretha, receives Communion 127

holds family reunion 134

sick with fever 181

memorizes letter 51 Dec., n. 6

Schubdrein, Daniel, Palatine from Nassau-Saarbrcken, mentioned 4

industrious carpenter 174

visited by Boltzius 208

dies 209

Schubdrein, Josef, Palatine carpenter, mentioned 4, 8, 147, 209

Schubdrein, Mrs., ne Gschwandl, w Joseph, dies 147

Schubdrein, Nikolaus, Palatine carpenter, mentioned 51 Jan, n. 9

Schubdrein, (Johann) Peter, to go home to Nassau-Saarbrcken 4

sends letter 22

returns 114

makes report 115

brings list 128

shows travelogue 175

has fall 208

recovers 210

Schubdrein, Margaretha, w Peter, has tertian fever 190, 208

Schubdrein family, all useful people 182

Schutze, Master Sebastian, minister in Freyberg, author of Order of Salvation 284, 285

Schweiger, Eva Regina, ne Unselt, w Georg, receives Communion 10

Schweighoffer, Margaretha, old Salz wid, receives charity 80

mentioned 151

trusts in the Lord 253

dangeously sick 259

Schweighoffer, Ursula, daughter of Margaretha, marries Martin Paulitsch 51 July, n. 24

Scots woman, wishes to marry 185

Scriptural Instructions for the Sick and Dying, tractate by Samuel Urlsperger 118, 123, 193, 269, 51 Nov., n. 8, 52 May, n. 7

Scriver, Christian, Pietist author, mentioned 137

Second Swabian Transport 114

Silk culture, the best harvest 24

enough silkworm seed 38

description of 41, 42, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 63, 65, 203

compared with Italian methods 75, 203

coming to end of season 182

Silk spinners, in Savannah 189

Singing hour, on Wednesdays and Saturdays 107

Slave driver, mentioned 132-133

Slaves and slavery: to be permitted 272

Zettler buys woman 4, 44

keeping Negroes dangerous 44, 62

Kieffer family has many 44

can be easily obtained 48, 157

to be instructed 105, 157, 251

Negro girl struck by lightning 171

few Negroes at Ebenezer 174, 252

Negro woman complains 190

good restrictions 245

old Salzburger buys slave 251

Spaniard steals girls 255

Negroes have too much freedom 255, 266

school to be built 267

Negroes have native intelligence 267

Mrs. Krafft buys child from Zettler 275

Negress to be instructed 282

Small Catechism, by Luther 274

Snakeroot, cure for snakebite 70

Snakes: Salzburger bitten by rattlesnake 70

rattlesnakes killed by deer and blacksnakes 71

Mrs. Hessler bitten 73

Ludwig Ernsts child bitten 91

Society, see SPCK.

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, English missionary society, sends Ottolenghe 94, 105

sends minister to Augusta 185

does good work 252, 51 July, no. 13, 52 Nov., n. 5

Sommer, Pastor of Schortewitz, sends Bible verses 80

sends books 289

Spaniard, resident on Blue Bluff, his child baptized 162

causes trouble 244, 246

steals Negro girls 255

SPCK (Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge), missionary society in London, letter to 19

inclined to Salzburgers 36

supports Boltzius 56

mentioned 94, 252

Spener, Philip Jacob, Pietist leader, writings mentioned 137, 237, 52 Sept., n. 13

Spinning: cotton 166

flax 163

silk 189

wool 163

Squash, see Crops.

Squirrels, see Animals.

Stegmann, Johann Caspar, hymnist 293

Steiner, Ruprecht, Salz, becomes engaged 149

ill 149

dies 150

Stlzlin, Bonifatius, religious writer 30, 51 March, n. 8

Storm, at Charleston 237, 242, 243, 250

Stoves, iron, donated 266, 271, 52 July, n. 14

Straube, Adam, Lutheran from Vernonburg who moved to Ebenezer, his daughter weakminded 71

Straube, Pieta Clara, wid Hfner, w Adam, sincerely pious 72

Success, ship of Habersham and Harris 261, 264, 52 Dec., n. 17

Sulamith, slave child, baptized 4, 44

dies 277

Surveyor, surveys island in Mill River 82

Swabians, see Second Swabian Transport.

Sweet potatoes, see Crops.

Table Talk (Tabula Oeconomica), conversations with Luther 220

Tanner, gets lost 126

Tannery, established 6, 7

Tar water, a medication 230, 231, 247

Tauler, Johannes, medieval mystic, mentioned 16, 51 Jan, n. 24

Tersteegen, Gerhard, hymnist 291

Thilo, Christian Ernst, physician, sick 17

receives letter 75

good arrangements made for 112

gives advice 145

mentioned 147, 221, 222, 224, 230

receives gifts 261

Thilo, Friederica, ne Helfenstein, w Ernst, recuperating 12

Treasure Chest, Pietist tract, see Bogatzky.

Thomas a Kempis, medieval mystic, mentioned 16

Tigers (mountain lions), see Animals.

Tobler, Johannes, calendar maker from Appenzell 51 Feb, n. 12, Nov., n. 20, 52 Aug., n. 11

Trees: cedar 43, 132

cypress 132, 234

dogwood 132

furled bay 132

hornbeam 132

laurel 132

oak 132, 242

peach 43

pine 234, 242

poplar 132

see Mulberry.

Treutlen, Friedrich, Palatine, brother of Johann Adam 78

Treutlen, Johann Adam, Palatine, future governor, letter from 78

mentioned 51 April, n. 1

True Christianity (vom wahren Christenthum), Pietist tract. See Arndt.

Trustees for Establishing a Colony in Georgia, governors of Georgia, mentioned 28, 54, 55

show pleasure 74

donate millstones 108

Tybee, island at mouth of Savannah River 262

Uchee (Uchi) Indians, neighboring natives. See Indians.

Uchee land, see Blue Bluff.

Ulm, Territory of, city-state on Danube, home of Swabian transports, settlers from there industrious 38

need money 52

third transport arrives 255

Urlsperger, Samuel, Senior of Lutheran ministry in Augsburg, letter to 5, 66

mentioned 75, 116

composes preface 91

letter from 94, 199, 236, 275

sermon by 106, 109

author of Scriptural Instructions for the Sick and Dying 118, 132, 152, 51 Nov., n. 8

of The Health of the Sick and the Life of the Dying 122

Venetian theriac, see Medicines.

Verelst, Harman, Trustees accountant, letter from, letter to 19

sends millstones 108

Vernon, James, Georgia Trustee 3

Vernonburg, Swiss and German town on Vernon River, inhabitants leaving 28

Vigera, Johann, of Strassburg, leader of fourth Salz transport, mentioned 26, 234, 52 Sept., n. 1

Walch, Dr., author 265, 273

Walthauer, Johann Caspar, Pal, husband of widow Graniwetter, stingy 250

Walthauer, Mrs., see Granewetter.

Weinkauff, Michael, Swabian on Blue Bluff, his house destroyed by storm 235

Weisse, Michael, hymnist 292

Well, dug at mill 80

Wernigerode, East German city, suffers fire 159

hymnals from 265, 268

gifts from 270

Wernigerode Songbook, very edifying 107

melody from 97, 104

received 265, 273, 274

used 284

Wertsch, Johann Caspar, teacher, diligent in calling 62, 199

approaching end of indenture 243

Wesley, John, English clergyman, sends journal 14; 51 Jan, n. 26

West Indies, market for lumber and woodwork 48, 66, 82, 94 184, 204, 206

Wharf, to be built in Savannah 28

Wheat, see Crops.

Wine growing, Boltzius suggestions 91

Whitefield, George, English evangelist, raises silk 56

comes from London 115

letter from 245, 246

Whitefields orphanage, see Bethesda.

Wirth, Ambrosius, author 10, 45, 59, 61, 111, 127, 186, 207, 273

Wirtsch, see Wertsch.

Wolves, see Animals.

Woodworking, productive 48

barrel staves and shingles profitable 48, 53, 66, 82, 205

made by Bryan slaves 241

masts, spars, hoops, cypress shingles 66, 206

cypress boards 175

Wool spinning, expensive 163

Wolves, see Animals.

Worms, destroying crops 42

Wurttemberg, benefactress in 75

immigrants in Savannah on way to Charleston 240, 242

Zettler, Elisabetha Catharina, ne Kieffer, w Matthias, an honest person 181

reads edifying book 193

mentioned 51 March, n. 23

Zettler, Matthias, Salz. shoemaker, buys slave 4

loses son 22

sick 180, 192, 193, 218

sells Negro child 275

mentioned 51 March, n. 23

Ziegenhagen, Friedrich Michael, Court Chaplain, Reverend Father of Georgia Salzburgers, letters from 195

testimony from 245

letter to 19

justifies slavery 49

mentioned 74, 78, 277

forwards chest 95, 96

author of hymn 104, 108, 292

of sermons 123, 198, 265, 287, 52 Dec., n. 1, n. 40

Zimmerebener, Ruprecht, Salz, sick 171

still ill 175, 201

Zinzendorf, Count Ludwig, leader of Moravians, hymnist 291

Zion Church, church on plantations, mentioned, 19, 35, 63, 73, 94, 106, 109, 110, 117, 144, 146, 150, 179, 197, 201, 204, 273, 284

Zittrauer, Mrs., Salz, miscarries 236

Zouberbuhler (Zuberbiller), Bartholomus, Swiss, Anglican minister, speaks to sinner 69

Zubly, Mrs. David, widow 52 April, n. 6

Zweckbrunner, ... Swabian in Savannah 281