| In 1732, James
Oglethorpe left England to a new colony in the Americas. It was
located south of the Carolinas and named Georgia, after King George.
It was to serve as a buffer area between the Carolinas and Spanish Florida.
He had originally planned to settle the area with people in debtor's prison,
but when the time came to set sail he handpicked 116
colonists to sail with him on The
Ann. One of the passengers was Rev. Henry Herbert, who was
to be the spiritual leader for the colonists. He is known to have
said a prayer when the ship arrived at South Carolina. A simple chapel
was built on the church lot in the plan of Savannah, site of present-day
Christ Church.
On Feb. 1/12, 1733, the
colonists had made their way inland and disembarked along the river in
an area that would become Savannah.
Oglethorpe set up the guidelines for the new colony, which included a ban
on slavery and liquor. He also set about building several forts for
protection and began recruiting new colonists. He opened the colony
up to settlers of any religion except for Roman Catholics. |
Coastal Georgia, 1741
Click on image for enlargement
|
Newspaper Clipping
|
Rev. Herbert was followed by
Rev. Samuel Quincy. But things didn't work out and Oglethorpe
recruited new clergy for his colony.
Soon after Charles was ordained,
the brothers embarked on the Simmonds in October 1735 and headed
for the New World. They were joined by fellow Holy Club members Benjamin
Ingham and Charles Delamotte.
The voyage across the Atlantic
contributed an important lesson to John Wesley's life. Though the
ship hit rough seas that greatly frightened Wesley, the 25 Moravian
Germans on board were calm and peaceful throughout. That inner
peace would be something Wesley would seek and find upon his return to
England. |
| Their ship arrived on Feb. 6/17
1736. The Wesleys continued to stay on the ship for a time,
and the local Yamacraw chief went on board to present John Wesley with
a gift of milk and honey.
When the Wesleys did disembark,
they stayed with the Moravians, as their predessessor (Rev. Samuel Quincy)
was still in the parsonage. Their stay reaffirmed John Wesley's admiration
of the Moravian's spiritual nature. Finally, in the last week of
March, he moved into the parsonage. |
Click on image for enlargement
|
On April 10/21, Rev. Ingram returned
to Savannah from Frederica with news that Charles was asking for relief.
Charles did leave for Savannah, and later returned to England at the beginning
of August. He carried messages and was to recruit support for evangelizing
the natives. He would have liked to return to America as a missionary
to the native people, but not as a priest to the colonists and secretary.
Due to ill health, he never did return.
John and Delamotte had been initially
stationed at Savannah.
John preached his first sermon at the courthouse on March 7/18. After
spending all day giving services in English and other languages, he would
attend the Moravians' Sunday evening service. He even translated
some of their hymns into English.
When Charles left Frederica,
his brother visited the Fort in the month of May. He found the spiritual
condition of the colonist in a sad state. He returned there in July
and spent three months. He again returned the following January and
visited only one other time. But the colonists rejected his message
just as they had done to Charles. On one occassion, the aforementioned
Beata Hawkins even tried to shoot him. When he took away her weapon
she tried striking him with scissors. When he held both her arms
she bit at them. Finally others arrived to remove her.
John did find comfort in a female
acquaintance in Georgia in Sophy Hopkey. But he was concerned that
settling down would hurt his ministry. He wanted to evangelize the
natives first. After a year, Sophy was getting impatient. Finally,
In March 1737 she made it known that she was going to marry another if
Wesley had no objection. One of the things Wesley did when it was
time to make a decision is to draw lots. During these difficult days
of decision, he wrote 3 slips of paper ... marry, think about it after
a year, think about it no more. He drew the latter slip of paper
and decided that he was correct in not pursuing marriage. When he
later refused Sophy communion on August 7, 1737, he became mired in controversy.
He claimed he did so for valid reasons, but Sophy's new husband brought
him to court for defamation of character. Other charges were levied
against him (concocted by people seeking ill will against Wesley).
After a while, Wesley could take no more and headed back to England. |
The Wesleys' successor in 1737, George Whitefield, seemed
to have a bit more luck with the colonists. But John may have viewed
his time in Georgia as a failure spiritually. As he wrote in his
Journal, he worried "I came to convert the Indians, but, oh, who
will convert me?"
But his experience while traveling stuck with him.
He recalled how a group of Moravian
Germans were calm despite the rough seas. Their peace caused
him to think about his own inner peace. After his return to England,
he continued to visit with Moravians such as Peter Bohler. Their
influence and the workings within led him to a realization on May 24, 1738
at a meeting off of Aldersgate
Street. |
