The Moravians in Georgia [9]
oblige, your most humble servant J. Vernon."
Whether this plea of "no fund" was prompted by indifference, or whether they really considered the money appropriated by Parliament as intended for the Salzburgers alone, is immaterial. Perhaps Zinzendorf's very proposals to consider any assistance as a loan made them think him able to finance the scheme himself.
The Schwenkfelders, being under orders to expatriate themselves, left Berthelsdorf on the 26th of May, 1734, under the leadership of Christopher Wiegner (sometimes called George in Moravian MSS.) and at their request George Boehnisch, one of the Herrnhut Moravians, went with them. Their plan was to go through Holland to England, and thence to Georgia, but in the former country they changed their minds and sailed for Pennsylvania. In December of the same year Spangenberg was in Rotterdam, where he lodged with a Dr. Koker, from whom he learned the reason for their, until then, unexplained behavior. Dr. Koker belonged to a Society calling themselves the "Collegiants", the membership of which was drawn from the Reformed, Lutheran, and various other churches. Their cardinal principles were freedom of speech, freedom of belief, and liberty to retain membership in their own denominations if they desired. The Society was really an offshoot of the Baptist Church, differing, however, in its non-insistance upon a particular form of baptism. Twice a year the members met in the Lord's Supper, to which all were welcomed whose life was beyond reproach. In Holland they enjoyed the same privileges as other sects, and had a following in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Rotterdam, Leyden, etc.
It appeared that the Schwenkfelders had first addressed themselves to these Collegiants, especially to Cornelius van Putten in Haarlem, and Pieter Koker in Rotterdam, but when their need grew more pressing they appealed to Count Zinzendorf. When he was not able to obtain for them all they wanted, they turned again to the Collegiants, and were in conference with them in Rotterdam. The Collegiants were very much opposed to the Georgia Colony, -- "the Dutch intensely disliked anything that would connect them with England," -- and although Thomas Coram, one of the Trustees, who happened to be in Rotterdam, promised the Schwenkfelders free transportation (which had been refused Zinzendorf), the Collegiants persuaded them not to go to Georgia. Their chief argument was that the English Government sent its convicts to Georgia, a proof that it was not a good land, and the Schwenkfelders were also told that the English intended to use them as slaves.
Disturbed by this view of the case, the Schwenkfelders accepted an offer of free transportation to Pennsylvania, where they arrived in safety on the 22nd of September.
Spangenberg had wished to serve as their pastor in Georgia, thinking it would give him opportunity to carry out his cherished wish to bear the gospel message to the heathen, and he felt himself still in a measure bound to them, despite their change of purpose, and at a somewhat later time did visit them in their new home. There was some idea of then taking them to Georgia, but it did not materialize, and they remained permanently in Pennsylvania, settling in the counties of Montgomery, Berks and Lehigh. Their descendents there preserve the customs
of their fathers, and are the only representatives of the Schwenkfelder form of doctrine, the sect having become extinct in Europe.
Preliminary Steps.
While the exile of the Schwenkfelders was the immediate cause which led Zinzendorf to open negotiations with the Trustees of the Colony of Georgia, the impulse which prompted him involved far more than mere assistance to them. Foreign Missions, in the modern sense of the word, were almost unknown in Zinzendorf's boyhood, yet from his earliest days his thoughts turned often to those who lay beyond the reach of gospel light. In 1730, while on a visit to Copenhagen, he heard that the Lutheran Missionary Hans Egede, who for years had been laboring single
Whether this plea of "no fund" was prompted by indifference, or whether they really considered the money appropriated by Parliament as intended for the Salzburgers alone, is immaterial. Perhaps Zinzendorf's very proposals to consider any assistance as a loan made them think him able to finance the scheme himself.
The Schwenkfelders, being under orders to expatriate themselves, left Berthelsdorf on the 26th of May, 1734, under the leadership of Christopher Wiegner (sometimes called George in Moravian MSS.) and at their request George Boehnisch, one of the Herrnhut Moravians, went with them. Their plan was to go through Holland to England, and thence to Georgia, but in the former country they changed their minds and sailed for Pennsylvania. In December of the same year Spangenberg was in Rotterdam, where he lodged with a Dr. Koker, from whom he learned the reason for their, until then, unexplained behavior. Dr. Koker belonged to a Society calling themselves the "Collegiants", the membership of which was drawn from the Reformed, Lutheran, and various other churches. Their cardinal principles were freedom of speech, freedom of belief, and liberty to retain membership in their own denominations if they desired. The Society was really an offshoot of the Baptist Church, differing, however, in its non-insistance upon a particular form of baptism. Twice a year the members met in the Lord's Supper, to which all were welcomed whose life was beyond reproach. In Holland they enjoyed the same privileges as other sects, and had a following in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Rotterdam, Leyden, etc.
It appeared that the Schwenkfelders had first addressed themselves to these Collegiants, especially to Cornelius van Putten in Haarlem, and Pieter Koker in Rotterdam, but when their need grew more pressing they appealed to Count Zinzendorf. When he was not able to obtain for them all they wanted, they turned again to the Collegiants, and were in conference with them in Rotterdam. The Collegiants were very much opposed to the Georgia Colony, -- "the Dutch intensely disliked anything that would connect them with England," -- and although Thomas Coram, one of the Trustees, who happened to be in Rotterdam, promised the Schwenkfelders free transportation (which had been refused Zinzendorf), the Collegiants persuaded them not to go to Georgia. Their chief argument was that the English Government sent its convicts to Georgia, a proof that it was not a good land, and the Schwenkfelders were also told that the English intended to use them as slaves.
Disturbed by this view of the case, the Schwenkfelders accepted an offer of free transportation to Pennsylvania, where they arrived in safety on the 22nd of September.
Spangenberg had wished to serve as their pastor in Georgia, thinking it would give him opportunity to carry out his cherished wish to bear the gospel message to the heathen, and he felt himself still in a measure bound to them, despite their change of purpose, and at a somewhat later time did visit them in their new home. There was some idea of then taking them to Georgia, but it did not materialize, and they remained permanently in Pennsylvania, settling in the counties of Montgomery, Berks and Lehigh. Their descendents there preserve the customs
of their fathers, and are the only representatives of the Schwenkfelder form of doctrine, the sect having become extinct in Europe.
Preliminary Steps.
While the exile of the Schwenkfelders was the immediate cause which led Zinzendorf to open negotiations with the Trustees of the Colony of Georgia, the impulse which prompted him involved far more than mere assistance to them. Foreign Missions, in the modern sense of the word, were almost unknown in Zinzendorf's boyhood, yet from his earliest days his thoughts turned often to those who lay beyond the reach of gospel light. In 1730, while on a visit to Copenhagen, he heard that the Lutheran Missionary Hans Egede, who for years had been laboring single