He was young and enthusiastic, met Zinzendorf's overtures most kindly,
and even visited Herrnhut in the early part of October, 1734, when,
as it happened, nine of the prospective colonists were formally presented
to the Congregation. Baron Reck was very much impressed,
promised to take with him to Georgia any of the Moravians who wished to go,
and even sent to David Nitschmann, who was to conduct the party
as far as London, full authorization to bring as many as desired to come,
promising each man who went at his own expense a fifty-acre freehold
in Georgia, and offering others necessary assistance when they reached London.
This paper was signed at Bautzen, October 22nd, 1734.
But Reck had failed to realize the force of the Halle opposition to Herrnhut,
and soon weakened under the weight of persuasion and command laid upon him
by those whose opinion he felt obliged to respect. On the 4th of November
he wrote from Windhausen to Graf Stolberg Wernigerode, "I have hesitated
and vexed myself in much uncertainty whether or not I should go
with the Herrnhuters to America. And now I know that God has heard our prayer
at Halle and Wernigerode, and your letters have decided me to stay in Germany
this winter, in the first place because my going would be a grief
to my dear Urlsperger, whom I love as a father, secondly because the English
will send over a third transport of Salzburgers in the coming spring
and wish me to take them, and thirdly because I wish to obey
worthy and chosen men of God.
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