Page 81 - Pilgrims in Georgia

R Johann Martin Boltzius

The love between Boltzius and his people grew strong, “My congregation, to
which the wonderful God has led me, is indeed still small but consists mainly of
such people who already have suffered much for Christ's sake and therefore
have their Christianity not in the mouth but in the heart and demonstrate it in
deed. For that reason I not only have love for these upright people with my
heart and with joy want to live and die with them in America, but they also love

me more than I am worthy and would share their heart with me if they could”.
To increase their financial security he promoted their development of a sawmill,
rice mill, and grist mill along with the development of silk production and was
involved in planting, building, purchasing and recording keeping for the
settlement. For this he kept a journal and said in it, ““I hope that our
descendants, insofar as they fear God, will find much material for the
recognition of the wonderful and blessed ways that He has gone with us from
the beginning from the printed reports of Ebenezer, . . . and that they will be
Statue of Johann Martin Boltzius thereby awakened to the praise of God and to faith in Him..”

On issues in the larger colony that also effected his people he was outspoken. He
originally opposed the attack on the Spanish in 1740 as being unnecessary and was a
strong proponent the Trustees’ ban on slavery pointing to the Salzburgers as an
examples that agriculture in Georgia could be successful using just free labor. With others
in the colony he was friends with George Whitfield and had discussions over church

doctrine with John Wesley and said of his neighbors “Oh, may the Lord never let us, nor
our descendants, forget what spiritual and material benefits we have received in this
wilderness through Christian hearts and hands.” In 1741 he founded what is now the
Lutheran Church of the ascension in Savannah, and in 1756 members of the congregation
purchased the lot upon which the present church building stands, but Boltzius generally
sought to maintain New Ebenezer in spiritually semi-independent relationship within the
colony. Over time as Boltzius aged his malaria and loss of eyesight began to plague him
and he was forced to hand over his responsibilities to others. Finally in November of 1765
he died at New Ebenezer.
Lutheran Church of the Ascension