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magistrates, or how they entered
Frankfort on the
Maine, two by two, in solemn procession, singing spiritual songs.
As they floated down the
Maine, and
between the castled crags, the vineyards, and the white-walled towns that adorn the banks of the
Rhine, their conversation, amidst hymns and prayers, was of
I'm standlicher Vorbericht, 16 Nov. 27. |
justification, and of sanctification, and of standing fast in the
Lord.
At
Rotterdam, they were joined by two preachers, Bolzius and Gronau, both disciplined in charity at the
Orphan House in
Halle.
A passage of
six days carried them from
Rotterdam to
Dover, where several of the trustees visited them and provided considerately for their wants.
In January, 1734, they set sail for their new homes.
The majesty of the ocean
quickened their sense of God's omnipotence and wisdom; and, as they lost sight of land, they broke out into a hymn to his glory.
The setting sun, after a calm, so kindled the sea and the sky, that words could not express their rapture; and they cried out, ‘How lovely the creation!
How infinitely lovely the Creator!’
When the wind was adverse, they prayed; and, as it changed, one opened his mind to the other on the power of prayer, even the prayer ‘of a man subject to like passions as we are.’
As the voyage excited weariness, a devout listener confessed himself to be an unconverted man; and they reminded him of the promise to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at the word.
As they sailed pleasantly, with a favoring breeze, at the hour of evening prayer, they made a covenant with each other, like Jacob of old, and resolved, by the grace of
Christ, to cast all the strange gods which were in their hearts into the depths of the sea. A storm grew so high, that not a sail could
be set; and they raised their voices in prayer and song
