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COUNT ZINZENDORF was born on  the 26th. May, 1700 in Dresden and  was descended from one of the most  ancient noble families of the Archduchy  of Austria. His father and Zinzendorf  was brought up by his grandmother,  Henrietta Catherine von Gersdorf on  her estate of Hennersdorf.  

Zinzendorf believed that true  Christianity consisted in a personal  relationship with God or, as he  expressed it “Christianity of the heart”.  He would have liked to study theology,  but his family wished him to prepare  for State service. 

After having finished his study of  law in 1719, he travelled in Holland  and France. He felt himself at home  wherever he found personal faith  which he named, “pure religion”.  

While working for the Government at  Dresden Zinzendorf held meetings in  his own house and edited his first four  collections of hymns in 1725-1731.  

In 1722 Zinzendorf had allowed  persecuted believers from Moravia  to move to his estate and this  began a steady flow of immigrants  seeking religious freedom from all  over Germany. Doctrinal differences  between the various groups at the village of Herrnhut had to be settled  and Zinzendorf in 1727, gave up his post  in Dresden to help settle differences. 

In the year 1738, Count Zinzendorf  was exiled from Saxony. The Count,  accompanied by his family and some  of his most able fellow labourers,  left Saxony and sought refuge with  a friend, the Count of Budingen in  Wetteravia and the Moravian Church  continued to grow.  

The story of the Moravian Church is the  story of modern missions. Wherever  the persecuted believers went they  preached Christ crucified and people  were converted. Their ministry  reached across the world and was the  forerunner of the great revivals under  Wesley, Whitfield, Moody, Hudson  Taylor etc. 

Christian communities were  established in Germany, England  and America from which they sent  missionaries to Labrador, West  Indies, South Africa and beyond.  They continued this missionary effort  for over 100 years with up to 1,000  missionaries on the field. 

While quite young, Zinzendorf wrote  hymns. He is reputed to have written  about two thousand and John Wesley translated some of these into English.  Two of these were: 

Jesus the Lord our righteousness  and,  

O come, thou stricken Lamb of God. 

J E Hutton in his book, The Moravian  Church described the Christ-centred  message of the Moravians as follows: 

“Christ had done three marvellous  things for the sons of men.  

  1. He had given His life as a “ransom”  for sin, and had thereby reconciled  them to God;  
  2. He had set the perfect example  for them to follow;  
  3. He was present with them now as  Head of the Church;  

Thus, when they went out to preach,  they made His Sacrificial Death, His  Holy Life, and His abiding presence  the main substance of their Gospel  message.” 

The Moravians had a great love for the  Jews and this is illustrated from the  life of Count Zinzendorf as told by J E  Hutton: 

BOHEMIA MORAVIA

“For some years the Brethren conducted a mission to the Jews. For Jews the Count had special sympathy. He had vowed in his youth to do all he could for their conversion; he had met a good many Jews at Herrnhut and at Frankfurt-on the-Main; he made a practice of speaking about them in public on the Great Day of Atonement. In their Sunday morning litany the Brethren uttered the prayer,  

“Deliver Thy people Israel from their  blindness; bring many of them to  know Thee, till the fulness of the  Gentiles is come and all Israel is  saved.” 

The Moravians loved the unlovely and  cared for the downtrodden as told by  Hutton: 

“The Count and his brethren  began their new labours among  the degraded rabble that lived in  filth and poverty round the castle.  They conducted free schools for  the children. They held meetings for  men and women in the vaults of the  castle. They visited the miserable  gipsies in their dirty homes. They  invited the dirty little ragamuffins  to tea, and the gipsies’ children  sat down at the table with the sons  and daughters of the Count. They  issued an order forbidding begging,  and twice a week, on Tuesdays and  Fridays, they distributed food and  clothing to the poor.”

Zinzendorf and the Rabbi  

Among the motley medley that lived  about the castle was an old grey-haired  Jew, named Rabbi Abraham. One  bright June evening, Zinzendorf met  him, stretched out his hand, and said:  “Grey hairs are a crown of glory. I can  see from your head and the expression  of your eyes that you have had much  experience both of heart and life. In  the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac  and Jacob, let us be friends.” 

The old man was struck dumb with  wonder. Such a greeting from a  Christian he had never heard before.  He had usually been saluted with  the words, ‘Begone, Jew!’ His lips  trembled; his voice failed; and big  tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks  upon his flowing beard. 

‘Enough, father,’ said the Count; ‘we  understand each other.’ And from that  moment the two were friends. The  Count went to see him in his dirty  home, and ate black bread at his table.  

One morning, before dawn, as the  two walked out, the old patriarch  opened his heart. ‘My heart,’ said he,  ‘is longing for the dawn. I am sick, yet  know not what is the matter with me.  I am looking for something, yet know  not what I seek. I am like one who is  chased, yet I see no enemy, except the  one within me, my old evil heart.’ 

The Count opened his lips, and  preached the Gospel of Christ.  He painted Love on the Cross. He  described that Love coming down  from holiness and heaven. He told the  old Jew, in burning words, how Christ  had met corrupted mankind, that man  might become like God.  

As the old man wept and wrung  his hands, the two ascended a hill, whereon stood a lonely church. And  the sun rose, and its rays fell on the  golden cross on the church spire, and  the cross glittered brightly in the light  of heaven. 

‘See there, Abraham,’ said Zinzendorf,  ‘a sign from heaven for you. The God  of your fathers has placed the cross in  your sight, and now the rising sun from  on high has tinged it with heavenly  splendour. Believe on Him whose  blood was shed by your fathers, that  God’s purpose of mercy might be  fulfilled, that you might be free from all  sin, and find in Him all your salvation.’ 

‘So be it,’ said the Jew, as a new light  flashed on his soul. ‘Blessed be the  Lord who has had mercy upon me.’ 

The Philadelphia Church -1700- 1900 

The story of the Moravian Church is  the story of the Philadelphia Church  era (Rev.3:7-13) from 1700 to 1900  described in M. A. Butler’s book  entitled, The BIG Picture of Church  History and available free from Herald  of Hope.  

For a detailed history of this period we  recommend J.E.Hutton’s book entitled,  The Moravian Church. It may be freely  downloaded from the internet. 

The movement that would develop  into the Moravian Church was started  by a Catholic priest named John Hus  in the early 15th century. Hus wanted  to return the Church in Bohemia and  Moravia to the practices of the early  Church eliminating Papal indulgences  and the idea of purgatory. Within fifty  years of Hus’s death, the movement  had become independently organized  as the ‘Bohemian Brethren’ or ‘Unity  of the Brethren’ and was founded in  Kunvald, Bohemia, in 1457.