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| Artifact of Colonial Williamsburg |
“I'd love the chance to read someone else’s diary but I'm sure they'd hate me for it!”
That is what one person said about the fantasy of finding someone's diary - and reading it.
This edition of Moravian Ruminations features a diary - one that you can read - guilt free. Let me set the stage with historical context.
The Moravians in Bethlehem, PA had as a goal the acquisition of a large tract of land in America. They sought territory on which to build a central town for administration, with trades, industries, and schools. The town, they hoped, would be a leaping off point from which to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Indians. These were Gospel people who wanted to share what God had given them by His grace.
Happily, land was comparatively cheap in North Carolina. Lord Granville, the proprietor, made an attractive offer to the Moravians. Bishop Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg, superintendent of Moravian affairs in Pennsylvania, was commissioned to select a suitable site. With five of the brethren he set out from Bethlehem the 25th of August, 1752. Late in December a site was selected. A tract of 98,985 acres was surveyed, purchased and named Wachovia.
A party of twelve single men set out from Bethlehem in October of 1753. They had six horses and a wagon loaded with their effects. The party included a minister, a business manager, a physician, multiple carpenters, a gardener, several farmers, a baker, a tanner and a shoemaker.
It is the account of their journey that is given in this diary which was written most likely by Brother Grube. The original document is preserved in the Archives of the Moravian Church at Winston-Salem, North Carolina; the translation which is here printed is by Adelaide L. Fries.
Notice as you read the diary how much time was given to communal prayer. Also note the overarching sense of well-being and joy in the midst of a daunting journey. Indeed, from the beginning Moravians in America were numbered among the Savior's happy people.
