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.
- He had given His life as a “ransom” for sin, and had thereby reconciled them to God;
- He had set the perfect example for them to follow;
- 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:
“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.