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	IX. Zinzendorf’s Last Years
	X. Recovery through     zinzendorf

X. RECOVERY THROUGH ZINZENDORF

Finally, we need to consider what the Lord recovered through Zinzendorf.

A. The Oneness of All Christians

Firstly, Zinzendorf saw clearly that oneness is a matter of the divine life shared by all believers. We can experience oneness with the brothers and sisters, but not with the unsaved. He said that the true church was a matter of life and must correspond to the Word of God. He felt, however, that we could have fellowship with all Christians, even with those that have an unscriptural position through their ignorance. Lack of understanding should not hinder Christian fellowship. Zinzendorf felt that believers should refer to one another only as brother or sister, as Spangenberg wrote:

They will not cast away the names of brother and sister, for they are simple and scriptural; but the addition of Bohemian or Moravian are to be regarded as epithets productive of sectarianism and division. [14]

B. Holding the Divine Truths

The Moravians also were not content with blindly imitating the traditions of their fathers. They felt that each generation had to live the Christian life in a renewed way. Spangenberg said:

…they are not satisfied because their forefathers have been good people, but lay the foundation for themselves in their own justification and renewal, and seek to be conscious that they are passed from death unto life. [15]

Zinzendorf and the others with him, even when slandered and misunderstood, were strong to maintain spiritual truths. They felt they should not be political just to save their lives.

…they will not love their own lives more than any single divine truth; for it is better to lay down our lives than to deny such a divine truth; and…denying it, though with the intention of doing good, is improper and sinful. [16]

Zinzendorf was concerned with presenting the truths, and to accomplish this he often coined new expressions to convey his meaning. As a result he was misunderstood and received many attacks and criticisms. Spangenberg gave this account of the opposition and of Zinzendorf’s reaction:

He had himself put weapons into the hands of his adversaries, by some expressions respecting the Trinity: besides which, the Count used many very uncommon terms, because he regarded it necessary to excite attention, and cause reflection. In his writings he made use of a language, to which divines were unaccustomed; and it would have been well if his opponents had first ascertained the Count’s true meaning: but this was not the case, and therefore much contradiction was excited.

Under such circumstances, the Count felt induced frequently to seek retirement, and converse with his Lord and Saviour upon the subject. He then became assured, that the evil one had his hand in the matter, and intended much injury to the church. It also became equally clear to him, that God would, eventually, accomplish the object which the adversary was opposing. Hence he was courageous in every adverse season; and when his fellow-labourers were often much distressed on account of the attacks made upon him and their evil consequences, he encouraged them, and assured them that God would in due time set bounds to the evil. [17]

C. Fellowship with the Lord

We have seen that Zinzendorf had a close relationship with the Lord and that he lived day after day in living communion with Christ. He fellowshipped with Christ day after day as one would with a close friend.

In order to make this apparent to the members of the church [what fellowship we can have with Christ], the Count went through the Old and New Testaments, quoted all the passages which speak of God's friendly, kind, and gracious [fellowship] with man, compared and confirmed the one with the other, and founded upon them the unwearied exhortation to the brethren and sisters, to maintain a confidential [fellowship] with the Saviour, who has given us His word that He will be with us, even to the end of the world. “Nothing,” he said, “ought to be so valuable to them as the consciousness, that He was always near them, that they could tell Him everything, and that He Himself could look into their hearts. They ought to regard and listen to Him above all things; and believe, to a certainty, that He alone was their best, and dearest, and most faithful friend. He ought to be their first thought, when they awoke in the morning; they ought to spend the whole day in His presence, bring all their complaints before Him, expect all assistance from Him, conclude their labours with Him, and in His company retire to rest.” [18]

In his preaching he emphasized the death of Christ, especially in the preaching of the gospel. Christ’s death was a matter very close to Zinzendorf. He composed a hymn which began this way:

Day by day Zinzendorf sought the Lord’s guidance, the Lord’s mind. He expressed his attitude this way:

In order that we may go forward in our simplicity, the Saviour does not suffer us to know beforehand much of what He is about to do with us. He guides us gently from one day to another, and when He perceives that a matter must be brought up out of the depth of His providence, for which we naturally could not prepare ourselves, He conceals the thing from us, and does not suffer the idea of it to occur to us. [20]

Zinzendorf was one who lived in the constant expectancy of the Lord’s return. He longed for the Lord to come back. He said:

If we are always hoping that the Saviour will soon come, and receive us into His rest, it is a noble, blissful, tender, captivating thought. Where this hope and longing becomes habitual and natural to a people, it makes them in reality the people of God, it gives them the character of a family of Christ, which every year approaches nearer to Him, and meanwhile feasts upon His merits, until they depart, to see Him in whom they have believed, and to whom they have joined themselves. [21]

D. The Vision of the Church

Although Zinzendorf did not see the practical ground of the church, he did have some vision concerning the universal church.

The true Church, or communion of saints, it was declared, “is the Congregation of God in the Spirit throughout the whole world constituting that spiritual body whose Head is Christ. But they also constitute a communion of saints who, though outwardly belonging to different Denominations, agree in all essential points of doctrine pertaining to salvation.” [22]

He saw what all believers share in common.

Zinzendorf realized that the church, in general, had become degraded, had become part of the world, and was joined with the political structure. Nevertheless he knew that some genuine believers could still be found within the denominations. To explain this confused situation, Zinzendorf held the teaching of an ecclesiola, a church within a church, made up of the faithful ones who followed the Lord. He visualized the coming together of the Moravian brothers as such an ecclesiola. However, there was not a repudiation of the teachings of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:15) and a holding to the Lord’s name (Rev. 3:8), repudiating all others. He did not give up the Lutheran denomination with its name and doctrines dividing it from other genuine Christians. Zinzendorf and the Moravians did enjoy the Lord’s rich blessing as they met in simple enjoyment of the life they shared with all believers.

E. Hymns

One of the greatest contributions made by Zinzendorf and the others with him was that of their hymns.

As a hymnologist, he [Zinzendorf] claims a distinguished rank, even in Germany, – the land, in which, since the days of Luther, this department of sacred song has been so extensively and so successfully cultivated.… [23]

One of Zinzendorf’ most widely known hymns is Jesus Thy Blood and Righteousness.

The generally received translation of this hymn (or rather translated portion, the original being of great length,) is from the pen of Mr. [John] Wesley, or his brother Charles, to both of whom the Church of Christ is under real obligation, for their admirable versions of a number of excellent German hymns of the 17th and l8th centuries. This debt, the Moravian brethren are forward to acknowledge; nor is their sense of gratitude at all affected by the consideration, that it was at the brilliant flame of German psalmody, that these distinguished hymnologists appear to have kindled their own poetic torch. [24]

The Moravian hymns were a great inspiration to hymn writers including John and Charles Wesley.

This excellent hymn was composed by Zinzendorf on the matter of Christian oneness:

Lewis points out the significance of the hymns among the Moravians themselves:

It was more than a means of worship: it was a main factor in instruction, evangelism, comfort, warning, encouragement and church unity. Zinzendorf once said, “There is more dogma in our canticles than in our prose.” In 1733 the Moravians declared: “Our little children we instruct chiefly by hymns; whereby we find the most important truths most successfully insinuated into their minds.” [26]

Zinzendorf himself took the lead in songwriting, composing more than 2,000 hymns in his lifetime – the first at the age of twelve and the last four days before his death. He also labored to develop this gift in others.

The new hymnal [of 1735] had 972 hymns of which over 200 were of the count’s own composition. At the same time he issued an appendix to the collection, featuring the hymns written by the Brethren themselves. This was the first of twelve such appendixes that appeared within the next fifteen years. The count took special pains to encourage hymn writing on the part of those in whom he sensed the gift for it. One of his methods was to give to several persons themes on which to compose a hymn. Then he would have the group meet with him later to compare the results. Out of this sharing would often come new insights productive of fine hymns.[27]

A new edition of the German hymnal, with 2,368 hymns, hundreds of them by the count himself, appeared in 1753. It was followed by a thousand-hymn supplement the next year. [28]

F. Missions

The Moravians were pioneers in the area of missions. Miller in his Church History said that the Moravians were a missionary church par excellence.

G. Church Life

Finally we have to admire them for the full church life that they had. Zinzendorf felt that the Spirit and the church life are inseparable. He said:

The Holy Spirit is unwearied in two things: first, in daily glorifying the Saviour and His atonement in the souls upon whom He labours; and secondly, in establishing and regulating the ordinances of the sanctuary, and appointing faithful men for this purpose, who may watch over and preserve them, and communicate them to their brethren. [29]

We have seen already how constantly they met together from early morning till late in the evening. The church surely had become their living. We have also seen how many different kinds of meetings they had: prayer meetings, meetings for ministry, song meetings, children meetings, meetings for visitors, meetings of the brothers, meetings of the sisters, all kinds of meetings, all throughout the week. The Moravians were zealous for the distribution of tracts and for the preaching of the gospel, both at home and in foreign countries. They were pioneers in the establishment of foreign missions. We have seen how they cared for the sick, the widows, the fatherless, and the orphans. They had service groups among them. They also had an intense love for one another, a real brotherly love. In their church life they experienced heaven's life on earth. They were responsible for the publication of hymns, hymnals, Bibles, tracts, and spiritual literature. They also had migrations to spread the church life. Such is the history of the Lord’s recovery through Zinzendorf and the Moravian Church.