LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary

84 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XII
British subjects. To aid in the immigration, the Trustees received a grant of
10 000 pounds from the British parliament. To guide the immigrants to their
new home, Urlsperger enlisted the services of Philipp George Friedrich von
Reck, whose uncle was in the employ of George II.
By the middle of 1732, the main wave of emigration had passed and
Urlsperger was only able to gather a group of 42 families—78 persons in
all—in Augsburg. Assuming that their experiences in Georgia would
encourage others to come, the SPCK decided to send the group, even though
the number was smaller than anticipated. Aware of the role which Halle had
played in the East India mission effort, Urlsperger turned to Gotthilf August
Francke for help in identifying pastors for the Georgia colonists. Halle had
already provided young pastors to about twenty thousand Salzburgers whom
Prussian authorities had marched through Franconia and Saxony en route to
East Prussia, 93 but Francke was also able to locate two pastors for Georgia.
Both of them were already serving in Halle: John Martin Boltzius, the
deputy director of the Latin School; and Israel Christian Gronau, a preceptor
at the orphanage. They were ordained on 11 November 1733 in Wernigerode
and arrived in Rotterdam to meet their new congregation on 26 November.
On 3 December they set sail for England
In England, Heinrich Alard Butjenter, Ziegenhagen’s associate chaplain,
was given special responsibility for the spiritual care of the Salzburgers. He
not only checked out the theological understanding of the Salzburgers, but
also took the two colonial pastors under his wing. He went over the church
agenda of the German Court Chaplain in London with them and showed
them how they might best arrange their worship services. 94 Ziegenhagen also
spent time with the emigrants. The colonial pastors recorded in their journal
on 22 December, “We were no less pleased with the inspiring message from
the court chaplain Mr Ziegenhagen, in which he added some instructions
regarding our future church establishment.” 95
A second group of Salzburgers followed on 23 September 1734.
Ziegenhagen again took the trouble of coming to visit them on the ship,
Prince Frederick, as it lay at anchor awaiting favourable winds. After
addressing the group based on Psalm 45, he baptized a new-born baby, had
food and drink brought to the ship for all of the Salzburgers, and gave each
of them some money. 96 A third group of Georgia-bound persons was later
arranged for and financially supported by the SPCK even though many were
93 Walker 88.
94 Jones 1:34.
95 Jones 1:33.
96 Jones 1:17.