Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 17, 2025
He attended a service in Zinzendorf's rooms; he thought himself in a choir of angels; he introduced James Hutton to the Count; and thus another link in the chain was forged. We have come to a critical point in English history. As John Wesley returned to England from his three years' stay in America, he found himself in a sorrowful state of mind.
It is a curious feature of Zinzendorf's life that while he won the favour of kings and governments, he could rarely win the favour of learned Churchmen. As long as Zinzendorf reigned supreme, the Brethren were rather despised at the Universities; but now they were treated with marked respect.
He began by criticizing Zinzendorf's theology; and after remarking that Zinzendorf was a liar, he said that the Brethren kept their disgusting principles secret, that they despised good books, that they slighted learning and reason, that they spoke lightly of Confessions of Faith, that they insinuated themselves into people's affections by smiles and soft discourses about the love of Christ, that they took special care to apply to young persons, females and ignorant people.
And thirdly, the Brethren would preach that Gospel to all men, civilized or savage, who had not heard it before. With these three ideals before us, we trace their footsteps in North America. The first impulse sprang from the kindness of Zinzendorf's heart. He opened negotiations with the trustees of the Colony of Georgia. The negotiations were successful.
The birthday of Moravian Missions now drew near. At three o'clock on the morning of August 21st, 1732, the two men stood waiting in front of Zinzendorf's house. The Count had spent the whole night in prayer. He drove them in his carriage as far as Bautzen.
If these figures are dry, they are at least instructive; and the grand point they prove is that the American Moravians, still dazzled by Zinzendorf's "Church within the Church" idea, compelled hundreds who longed to join their ranks as members to remain outside the Church.
He published an edition of the "Ratio Disciplinæ," and this it was that fired Zinzendorf's soul with love for the Brethren's Church. But, thirdly, and most important of all, Comenius kept the old faith burning in the hearts of the "Hidden Seed."
She captivated by her charms, and inspired with reverence for her character, her husband and son. The simple praise with which the husband indicates the religion, the judgment, and the generosity he saw in her, are as satisfying as Count Zinzendorf's more labored eulogium on his "noble consort."
In genius Zinzendorf easily bore the palm; in practical wisdom the Englishman far excelled him. The one was a poet, a dreamer, a thinker, a mystic; the other a practical statesman, who added nothing to religious thought, and yet uplifted millions of his fellow men. At a Synod of the Brethren held at Herrnhut , John Albertini, the eloquent preacher, described the key-note of Zinzendorf's life.
If a man could read Zinzendorf's "Litany of the Wounds of Jesus," and then shed tears of joy, as Cennick tells us he did himself, there must have been an unhealthy taint in his blood. He was present at Herrnhaag at the Sifting-Time, and does not appear to have been shocked. In time his sentimentalism made him morbid.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking