LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary

THREINEN: FRIEDRICH MICHAEL ZIEGENHAGEN 87
Ziegenhagen also demonstrated his love for the Georgia congregation and
the colony’s pastors in other special ways. In 1750, for example, he donated
to the Jerusalem church a five foot by four foot painting of the Last Supper.
Calling it “exceedingly beautiful and costly”, Boltzius mentioned in his
journal that it was placed “very imposingly above the table against the wall
between two windows where Holy Communion is always held.” 110 On
another occasion, Ziegenhagen sent Boltzius a new pocket watch described
by Boltzius as “a valuable and very cherished gift”. 111
Because of their roles in establishing the Georgia Salzburg colony,
Ziegenhagen, Urlsperger, and Gotthilf Francke were viewed as “fathers” to
the colonists. Not only did they look to these three men for material help, but
they also asked their advice in the many difficulties which they faced in
Georgia.
One of the subjects about which they sought advice had to do with
slavery. On 16 March 1746, Benjamin Martyn, the secretary of the Londonbased
trustees of the Georgian colony, wrote that the trustees would never
permit slavery in the colony. He looked to the industry of the Salzburgers to
demonstrate that slavery was not necessary. Yet the pressure to introduce
slaves to Georgia was so great that by 10 January 1749, even Boltzius
reluctantly agreed to sign a petition to allow slaves to be imported. 112 The
matter still troubled Boltzius, and he asked for advice from Ziegenhagen.
With no personal experience of slavery either in Germany or in England,
Ziegenhagen responded on 11 July 1750. While the letter is not extant,
Boltzius quoted part of it in his journal. Ziegenhagen had not ruled out
slavery entirely. He approved of it “if God shows no other way or means to
get along without Negroes”, if “through their service and help some honest
and hardworking members of Christ are kept in life and well-being”, “if the
need is there and one can find no other counsel.” “One should not proceed to
acquire them without dire necessity”, he wrote.
Rationalizing the acceptance of slavery as a deed by which one does not
inherently commit sin, Ziegenhagen pointed out that
a greater kindness is done to these people [the Negroes] if they … are kept in
a Christian manner than if they had remained in their homeland. For they
have their physical subsistence. They have an opportunity to be brought to a
true recognition of God and Jesus Christ and also of life.
As well, helping some honest and hard-pressed member of Christ to be kept
in life and well-being would be “a blessing for the slaves” as well as a
blessing for “an entire place and for an entire land”. So then the basic
110 Jones 14:192.
111 Jones 15:96.
112 Jones, Salzburger Saga 103.