The life of Nicholas Lewis Count Zinsendorf

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Preface

The following pages contain an Abridged Translation of a Memoir of Count Zinzendorf, which appeared in Germany between the years 1772 and 1775, from the pen of the Rev. August Gottlieb Spangenberg, Bishop of the Church of the United Brethren.* In the Preface to the original work, the venerable author describes, with characteristic simplicity, the object which he had in view in its compilation, the reasons which induced him to undertake it, and the sources whence his materials were principally derived. An extract from that Preface can therefore hardly fail to be interesting and acceptable to the reader.

" I here present to the public, the true character and course of life of a man, of whom I may affirm, without hesitation, that his like is hardly to be met with in the history of more than one century. In saying this, I have respect, not so much to his great and distinguished talents, — for I am aware, that from time to time men have appeared, whom the Creator has been pleased to endow with extraordinary mental powers and qualifications,— but rather to the use to which those talents were applied, and the consequences of such application. These lay open to us his heart, and reveal the spirit by which he was animated. From his childhood to his departure, he had but one great object in view — to serve our Lord Jesus Christ with soul and body. The eternal truth,

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that God was manifest in the flesh,— the history of the Lord of glory, who became man that he might die for sinners, and redeem them to himself with his precious blood,— made so deep an impression on him, even in his earliest years, that he was determined to know nothing higher or more important, throughout the whole of his future life. Because he was captivated with this subject, and his heart was full of it, he spake, wrote, and sang of it, with an emotion, which placed the fervour and sincerity of his faith beyond a doubt. His resolution was taken, — and he adhered to it firmly and immovably, — to testify of this truth before the whole world, and to venture all for the sake of it. In a private or a public station, at home or abroad, in his intercourse with friends or with enemies, with persons of high or of low estate, with the learned or the unlearned, herein he was always the same. This good confession was his bond of union with many thousand friends, who loved him tenderly, and to whoin he was indeed invaluable ; and it was, at the same time, the cause of much of that animosity which was displayed towards him by a host of enemies, who painted him in viler colours, and persecuted him with more untiring ardotlr, than if he had been the worst of heretics. His writings, which certainly contain much that is peculiar and original, are highly prized by some persons, whUe others denounce them with a zeal bordering on madness. Between these extremes, a mean position is occupied by thousands, who are neither for him nor against him. By none, however, can it be denied, that he was the instrument in the hand of God, for planting the church of the Brethren in almost every quarter of the globe. He was a man of lively disposition, quick perception, penetrating judgment, extended views, extraordinary zeal, unwearied diligence, incomparable genius, great experience, and, notwithstanding a degree of timidity and difiidence

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Inherent in his character, of very lofty courage and cheerful confidence. The issue of the transactions in which he was engaged, rendered it manifest that God was with him, and that he was supported hy the Divine hand in his various undertakings for the good of his fellow men, -vvhose temporal and eternal well-being he was unceasingly solicitous to promote. To the church of Christ at large he was enabled to render essential service ; and at length, after beholding much fruit from his labours, and laying all at the feet of his gracious Lord and Master, he was permitted to finish his course with joy.

" In the hearts and consciences of those who truly knew him, he had the clearest and most undoubted witness, that he was a worthy man of God, and a faithful servant of Jesus Christ.

" The individual whose character I have attempted thus briefly to pourtray, was Nicolas Lewis, Count and Lord of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf, Lord of the Baronies of Freydeck, Schoneck, Thiirnstein, and the Vale of Wachovia, Lord of the Manor of Upper, Middle, and Lower Bertholdsdorf, Hereditary Warden of the Chace to his Imperial Roman Majesty, in the Duchy of Austria, below the Ens, and at one time Aulic and Justicial Counsellor to the Elector of Saxony.*

* " I enumerate all the titles of the Count, because he not unfrequently availed himself of one or other of them, when he found it expedient to travel, or to labour for a season incognito. Thus at one time he assumed the name of Von Freydeck, at another, of Von Thiirnstein, &c."

The family of Zinzendorf appears to be of very remote antiquity in the Duchy of Austria. As early as the eleventhi centuty, it was numbered among the twelve noble houses, which were the chief support of the Austrian dynasty. From its founder Ehrenhold, to his descendant the subject of this Memoir, were reckoned twenty-two generations. The dignity of Count of the Holy Roman Empire was confeired on it by the Emperor Leopold in the year 1662. The first member of the family who embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, was John, the second of the name, who died in 1552. Of his descendants, several families remained in the Austrian

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" His ecclesiastical functions were those of Bishop; Advocate, Ordinary, and Representative with full powers, of the Church of the Bohemian aiid Moravian Brethren, adhering to the Confession of Augsburg-

" The following considerations have induced me to hecome the biographer of the late Count. For more than thirty years, it was my privilege to live with him in a state of the closest and most cordial intimacy. A gracious Providence so ordered it, that I had occasion not imfrequently to spend half a year at a time in his house, and near his person. I had thus abundant and almost daily opportunities of making myself thorotighly acquainted with his views, the objects to which they were directed, and the means which he employed for their attainment; of scrutinizing the principles and maxims by which his conduct was governed, the tone and temper of his mind, and the nature of his intercourse with persons of all classes and under every variety of circumstances;— in short, of becoming an eye and ear-witness

dominions, and weire distinguished ty their adherence to the Protestant faith, not less than by their civil and military services; It is a remarkable fact, that Luke Bakmeister, Doctor and Professor of Theology, who in the reign of the'Emperor Rudolph II., held a visitation of the churches in Austria, adhering to the Augsburg Confession, found four flourishing Protestant congregations, duly provided with pastors, established on the estates of the Zinzendorf family at Lunz, Carlstetten, Pottendorf, and Orth near Markfeld. The grandfather of the Count, Maximilian Erasmus, emigrated from his native land, and settled at Oberberg,near Nuremberg, esteeming the loss of all ■ his estates more than counterbalanced, by the superior liberty o^ conscience which he thus obtained. His son, George Lewis, the father of the Count, having removed to Dresden, entered into the service of the Elector of Saxony, and died, as stated in the narrative, in the year 1700. The headship of the family, which fell to the Count in 1756, on the decease of his elder brother, he ceded *fth all its rights and immunities to his nephevf, as soon as the necessary forms could be gone through. The motto of the house of Zihzendorf, derived from Count Albert, the prime minister of the Emperor Leopold, was, " I yield to no one, not even to the whole world." See a Note to a Poem by Count Zinzendorf on his brother Frederick Christian's second marriage, German Poems, No. LXIII. p. 176 ; in which he makes a striking allusion to this motto. Also Spangenberg's Memoir,p. 11.

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of whatever ooeurred or transpired, in his daily life and conversation. Whenever the nature of my official incumbencies led to our separation from each other, the most confidential correspondence was maintained between us. The communications with which he favoured me at such times, supplied me with the Most inteiresting details of his personal and domestic history, to an extent that I could never have expected from him. Ten years previous to his translation to eternal rest, the commission was given me to collect the numerous accusations made against him and the Briethren's dhurch, out of the various controversial writings of the day, in order that he might have an opportunity of answering them himself; and the execution of this task was the occasion of my obtaining light upon many particulars affecting his person and character, of which I had previously been ignorant, or which I had understood but imperfectly. Hereby I was more than ever convinced of the necessity of vsriting a memoir of this distinguished man."

The venerable biographer proceeds to explain the principles which he had endeavoured to keep in view, throughout the progress of his work.

" My first and chief object," he observes, " was to write nothing, but what I knew or believed in my conscience to be consistent with truth. I have therefore taken all possible ,pains, to obtain correct information relative to the facts which I have recorded; and this information I have derived, either from the testimony of my own eyes, or from the verbal or written statements of credible persons, who had been present at the transactions referred to, or else from relations of the Count himself.

" In his intercourse with his brethren, whether public or private, it was his invariable practice to seek to make viii PREFACE.

them acquainted with his faults and failings, as well as with the good which Divine grace had wrought within him ; and in general, it was his wish to appear to every one in his true character. It is owing to this cause, that in his various hymns, discourses, letters, and other writings, both published and unpublished, so many passages are to be met with, having a reference to his own person,* and that these may justly be reckoned among the main sources, whence an authentic history of his life and labours is to be drawn.

" I have further endeavoured to present a faithful portraiture of the views and motives which influenced his conduct, in the various transactions in which he was engaged. The great object which he set before his eyes, in all his discourses and proceedings, is evident: — he was a lover of Jesus, and a friend of man; hereof I am fully convinced ; and equally so, that the mind and will of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ were the rule, by which he wished at all times to be guided. Nevertheless, since a variety of reasons may occasionally exist for a partictdar course of action, — which has often occurred in the history of the Count, — I have been sometimes under the necessity of relating what is probable, rather than what is absolutely certain on this head.

" The third point to which my efibrts have been directed in the progress of this Work, is the maintenance of strict impartiahty. Notwithstanding my friendship for the deceased, I have endeavoured, through the grace of God> so to write, that the good and the evil, the true and the false, may appear in their genuine colours. Many of

' " In answer to the question, What had induced him to give so many particulars respecting himself and his undertakings ? he observed, ' The numberless false reports which have been circulated to my prejudice throughout the wprld, compel me to say a little on these subjects, yet so little, that nine out of ten of their number a,re commonly passed over in silence.' "

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my brethren will be ready to bear me witness, that on various occasions during the lifetime of the Count, I held an opinion different from his own ; and that I made no scruple of stating this difference both to himself and to our fellow-labourers. At the same time, I am well aware, that it must be left to the intelligent reader to decide, in how far I have succeeded in meriting the praise of impartiality."

The author enumerates, in conclusion, the various documentary sources of information to which he had access, in the compilation of his memoir. Among these, the most valuable appear to have been, a number of diaries of early date ; a kind of journal kept by the Count during several years of his life ; and a large collection of letters, written either by himself or by brethren in attendance upon him ; — all which are deposited in the Archives of the Unity. He had also derived much information from the Count's printed works ; the written statements of various brethren and friends, concerning particular facts ; the private journal of brother David Nitschman, who from the year 1729 was generally near his person ;* and the diaries of various congregations and individuals, detailing transactions of greater or less moment in which he had been engaged. Obligations are also expressed to the adversaries of the Count, for the explanations of many circumstances connected with his opinions and proceedings, which their charges against him had tended to elicit, and which had proved of essential service in the compilation of this Memoir.

The preceding paragraphs, derived from Spangenberg's own Preface, explain with sufficient clearness the iscope and character of his work, and a portion at least

• The three years, from 1738 to 1741, during which he was engaged in a Mission to Ceylon, form the principal exception. ^ A3

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of the qualifications which he possessedj when, in compliance with the wishes of the Synod of 1764^ he undertook to be the biographer of his honoured friend and fellow-servant. An individual more competent to the task, and altogether more worthy to execute it, could certainly not have been selected^ With the exception of Zinzendorf himself, no name is mord distinguished than that of Spangenberg in the records of the renewed Brethren's church, and none more highly reverenced by its members. He was indeed a man of primitive piety and patriarchal simphcity, of extensive eruditidUj of unwearied diligence, and of unimpeachable veracity. The soundness and sobriety of his theological views are sufficiently proved by his well-known " Exposition of Christian Doctrine;"* and the variety and extent of his experience, as a labourer iii the vineyard of his Master, both at home and abroad, by his valuable Tracts on subjects connected with the Missionary calling ; while the annals of the Brethren's Unity, during a period of nearly sixty years, bear abundant testimony to the blessing vouchsafed to his truly apostolic labours.

His memoir of Count Zinzendorf may be described as a plain unvarnished relation of facts, bearing the stamp of truth, and exhibiting the fruits of a judicious and very careful research. It is however to be regretted, that the author has assumed the character rather of the annalist than of the historian ; the strictly chronological arrangement which he has chosen, and with few exceptions adhered to, being better adapted to secure the accuracy, than to sustain the interest of his narrative.

* The German Edition, published in 1779, bears the title Idea Fidei Fratrum : the English, printed in 1784, with a Preface by the Bev. Benjamin La Trobe, that of An Exposition of Christian DoctHne, as taught in the Protestant Church of the United Brethren. Pp. 485. Translations have also appeared in the Danish, Dutch, Swedish and French languages.

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His style is unadorned and simple, though not devoid of idiomatic peculiarity. The difiiisiveness, with which he handles his subject, can hardly fail to be accounted a defect by the general reader, readily as it wiU be forgiven by members 'of the Brethren's church, to whom the circumstantial details of events closely interwoven with the thread of its history will always be instructive. Not the least valuable portion of Spangenberg's work, are the numerous extracts from Zinzendorf's own writings, both printed and manuscript ; including his extensive correspondence, and his characteristic hymns and poems. By these, " he is permitted to speak for himself," in reference to a variety of passages in his extraordinary life, to unfold his real views, and to " tell all that was in his heart." The writer of these remarks cannot, therefore, refrain from an expression of regret, that in the process of abridgment to which the translator has had recourse, and by which the contents of the work have been reduced to about one-third of the original bulk, it should have been found necessary to sacrifice so large a proportion of matter, calculated to place in the clearest light the character, opinions, and conduct, both personal and official, of so remarkable a man as Count Zinzendorf.

The question may reasonably be asked, why a work of authority so decided, and of merit so various and so generally acknowledged as that of Spangenberg, has not been earlier presented to the public in an English dress ; and further, why the performance of the task should eventually have been left to a comparative stranger to the Brethren's church and its institutions. To these natural inquiries, it is difficult to return a perfectly satisfactory answer. The following remarks may, however, be a'ccepted in apology for the hesitation to publish, xii PREFACEi

manifested by the Brethren in England, and in explanation of a neglect, which, were it as real as it is apparent, would certainly he inexcusable.

The first two parts of Spangenberg's Memoir issued from the press in the year 1772; the eighth, or concluding one, in 1775, A few years after, there appeared an English translation of the first volume, comprising the above-mentioned two parts, with a promise of a continuation, in the event of the work meeting with the desired encouragement. This encouragement being, however, from some cause or other withheld, the idea of proceeding with the publication was gradually abandoned. Meanwhile the press of Germany continued to bring forth books and pamphlets, illustrative of Zinzendorf 's private and public history ;* and the hope was hereby revived, that a memoir of his life and services, at once comprehensive, luminous, and faithful, would in due season make its appearance. The disappointment of this expectation continues to be a subject of unfeigned regret with the English section of the Moravian church ; and may serve to account, in some measure, for the reluctance hitherto shown by its leading members, to originate, or directly to sanction, a compilation like that now given to the public.

Contemporary biography has its peculiar charms ; and it must be confessed, that he who devotes himself to it, possesses advantages for the delineation of individual character, and the record of particular incidents,

• Among these may be particularly noticed, Characteristics of Count Zinzendorf, by Charles Lewis Baron Sohrautenbaoh ; a Sketch of his Life, by Kev. J. Chr. Duvernoy ; a Memoir, by Rev. C. R. Reichel ; Count Lynar's Account of the Brethren's Unity, in Biisohing's Magazine, Vol. XIII. ; and a brief but highly interesting portrait of his character, writings, and labours, in a work published in 1795, by J. G. Miiller, under the title of " Bekenntnisse merkwiirdiger Manner von sich selbst." (Confessions of Remarkable Men, respecting themselves.) The two writers first mentioned were members of the Brethren's church.

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which are denied to the historian of a subsequent age. But it is not less obvious, that the latter, if his natural abilities are equal to the task, and his materials for its performance are copious and well selected, — among which materials, the researches of contemporary authors naturally hold a prominent place, — is in circvmistances more favourable to the exhibition of the qualities which characterise a great and philosophic historian. It is thus with an edifice of symmetrical form and imposing dimensions. Though a near view may be necessary to give tlie spectator an accurate idea of its architectural details and minuter ornaments, it is only from a moderate and well-chosen distance, that its true proportions, and its graceful and noble outline can be discerned and appreciated. The greater and more majestic the object, the more needful is it to ascertain the point of sight, which best accords with its true character, and with the state of the surrounding atmosphere. There are probably not many individuals, to whom the foregoing remarks are more strictly applicable than the subject of this Memoir. Count Zinzendorf was undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary personages, that have appeared in the church of Christ since the period of the Reformation. Few men have been the object of more sincere and more afiectionate admiration ; few, exposed to greater and more cruel obloquy. In his own country, by turns honoured and despised, caressed and persecuted ; at one time admitted to the friendship of sovereign princes, at another exiled from his native land, and deprived of the rights and privileges of the meanest citizen, — ^he was enabled to pursue his course unmoved, and to demean himself as the humble and devoted servant of that Master, who has declared, that his kingdom is not of this world. The justice which was so often denied him by his countrymen during his life, they have

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willingly rendered him since his death ; and even the fame which he sought not, has been conceded to him, to a greater extent than would have been agreeable to his own feelings, or than is consistent with the views and character of the church, to whose service he was so disinterestly attached. By the worldly-wise, he has been acknowledged as a man of original genius and extensive acquirements; by evangelical divines, as a sound, though occasionally eccentric theologian;* by children of God of every denomination, as a single-minded and fmthful servant of Christ, whose witness of the truth as it is in Jesus was blessed to thousands, both within and without the pale of his own communion, and who by his example, as well as by his testimony, was made instrumental in arousing into action the slumbering energies of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, and directing theffi into the numerous channels, in which they are now exerted for the dissemination of the gospel, both in Christendom and in heathen lands. The vehement accusations and shameless calumnies against the Count and his brethren, with which the press of Germany at one period teemed, have sunk with their authors into merited oblivion;

* Of the christian and friendly spirit, iii which subjects connected with the controversies of a former age are handled at the present day, by divines of the Protestant churches on the continent, a favourable specimen has just been given to the English public, in the Memoir of the Life and Writings of J. Albert Bengel, by Rev. J. C. F. Burk, — a work of the highest interest, and deserving an extensive circulation and diligent perusal. It is well known, that Count Zinzendorf always cherished the sincerest esteem for this luminary of the Wirtemberg church, whom he considered one of the most candid and able of his numerous opponents. See p. 346. The strictures of Bengel were not, however, in every instance well founded. " The author had never visited a congregation of the Brethren ; hence false notions and misapprehensions were unavoidable ; and it must be confessed, even by the admirers of this excellent man, that he had understood many declarations of the Count in too confined a sense, arid confuted them hut superficially." — See MilUer's Bekenntnisse merJcumrdiger Manner, von sich selbst : 3 Band. p. 234.

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lor would any modern writer of reputation, think it sither desirable or becoming to exhibit them again to mblic view.* In England^ on the other hand, the cha- 'acter, writings, and labours of Count Zinzendorf, have jeen comparatively but little known, — a sullen calin laving succeeded to the mingled storm and sunshine, vhich attended his sojourn in this country, and continued ;o mark his connexion with it. For a result so little inticipated at the time, either by his friends or his enenies, various reasons might be assigned, but it may be sufficient here to mention two. The first is, the want of icquaintance with the German language, (in which, with few exceptions, the Count preached and wrote,) which bas prevailed in England up to a very recent date. The second is, the indisposition shown by the Brethren, as a body, to prolong the controversy, occasioned by the malicious slanders of Rimius and Andrew Frey, and the railings of their patron Lavington, the systematic traducer of evangelical religion, as exhibited in the doctrinal teaching and labours of Whitefield and Wesley,f as well as of

• On the subject of the numerous controversial publications which appeared in Germany between the years 1726 and 1752, and which were directed against Count Zinzendorf, or the Brethren generally, Crantz has some candid and pertinent remarks, in his well-known History of the Brethren's Church, p. 161. '

f It is painful to reflect, that even these distinguished servants of God were so far misled by the slanderous charges against Count Zinzendorf and the Brethren, at this period so confidently preferred and so generally believed, that they joined the ranks of their accusers. The effect on the credit and good name of the Brethren was deeply felt j but the wrong done was soon forgiven, and would ere this time have been forgotten, had not circumstances, beyond the control of the injured party, tended to keep alive the remembrance of it. Can any real advantage attend the revival of these accusations at the present day ? The writer presumes to think not ; and he has therefore perused, with unfeigned regret, a chapter in ^ the recently published Memoir of the Life and Times of Whitefield, treating of the breach between that eminent man and the London Moravians. He would ask the respected author of that very interesting work, if it was really worth while, for the sake of rendering Mr. Whitefleld's " personal history complete," and "supplying a slight fea-

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Zinzendorf and his Moravian coadjutors. Under the peculiar circumstances in v(^hich they were placed, the

turein the true character of his times," to bring forward statements which, uncontradicted or miexplained, could scarcely fail to inflict a severe injury on an unoiFending community, by holding up to ridicule and to reprobation not a few of its most honoured servants in a former age t Is Mr. Philip &ware, that the leading topics of Mr. Whitefield's very unjustifiable letter to Count Zinzendorf, received a distinct answer from the pen of Mr. Hut^ ton, the Secretary of the Brethren's Unity in England ? Probably not ; or else he would hardly have contented himself with giving to the public only one side of the controversy, which he states Mr. Whitefield to have had with the Moravians. Towards the other opponents of that excellent, though not infallible man, he has shown a very commendable measure of candour. But to notice a few features of Mr. W.'s indictment. The charge brought against the Count, that he had permitted incense to be offered to him by his Brethren, must excite a smile in any one acquainted with the German custom, of perfuming a house or a place of worship, on occasion of a domestic or a church-festival. Had fir-trees been as plentiful in the neighbourhood of London as in that of Herrnhut, it is more than probable that the floors and passages might have been strewed with needles of fir on the occasions referred to, in conformity with another festive practice. The musical celebration of the great event of the resurrection of Christ, is surely not deserving of the censure passed upon it.

The trumpets used on the occasion gave no uncertain sound. The strains which they breathed forth, were expressive of gratitude andpraisefor the finished work of redemption, and of triumphant joy in the assured hope of a glorious resurrection; It ought however to be stated, that the most important portion of the ceremonial of Easter-morning, in those early times as at present, was the praying in fellowship of a solemn litany, containing a confession of faith, to which divines of other communions have not scrupled to assign a high rank among compositions of this class. The childish or unbecoming practices which Mr. Whitefield describes, on the authority of persons who probably did not spare exaggeration, were neither introduced nor patronized by Count Zinzendorf; neither were they sanctioned by the majority of his fellow- servants, infectious as was the spirit of extravagance which, as is well known, prevailed in many of the Brethren's congregations at the period referred to, ttiough happily only for a short season. As to the celebration of Anna Nitschman's birthday, of which so ludicrous an account is given, Mr. Hutton positively states, that so far was that excellent and very remarkable person from approving it, that she resented it highly, and from that very day, avoided both the place and the individuals associated in her mind with the remembrance of such improprieties. The story of Bishop Boehler and Mr. William Bell, which rests on the authority of an acquaintance, who had heard it from a person of good reputation, to whom Mr. Bell himself had told it, is declared to be incorrect in a very essential particular; it being untrue that a bishop of the Brethren's chxirch had