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Count Zinzendorf
Nikolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf (1700–1760). Born on May 26, 1700, in Dresden, Saxony, to an aristocratic Austrian family, Nikolaus Zinzendorf was a German Pietist, bishop, and founder of the renewed Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum). His father died weeks after his birth, leaving him to be raised by his Pietist grandmother, Henriette von Gersdorf, whose influence, along with godfather Philipp Spener’s, shaped his early faith. Educated at Francke’s Paedagogium in Halle (1710–1716) and law at Wittenberg (1716–1719), he served briefly as a Dresden councilor before buying the Berthelsdorf estate in 1722, where he welcomed Moravian refugees, founding Herrnhut (“Lord’s Watch”). His preaching emphasized a “religion of the heart,” focusing on personal devotion to Christ over doctrine, and sparked the 1727 Moravian revival, marked by a 100-year prayer chain. Ordained a Lutheran pastor in 1734 and Moravian bishop in 1737, Zinzendorf faced exile from Saxony (1736–1748) for his nonconformity, traveling to London, the West Indies, and America, where he met Native American leaders and Benjamin Franklin, planting missions from Greenland to South Africa. He authored over 2,000 hymns, including “Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness,” and works like The Socrates of Dresden (1725), though some criticized his emotionalism during the 1740s “Sifting Time.” Married to Erdmuth Dorothea von Reuss in 1722, with 12 children (four surviving), and later Anna Nitschmann in 1757, he died on May 9, 1760, in Herrnhut, saying, “I only asked for first fruits among the heathen, and thousands have been granted me.”
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Count Zinzendorf preaches about the gathering of believers to the place where Christ has gone, emphasizing that our true home is where our heart and treasure lie, hidden in high places. Despite our human desire to hold on to loved ones, the Lord's will is perfect, and we are called to rest in silence and trust His plan. Even though we may deeply miss those who have passed on, it is the love of Christ that sustains us and will ultimately be our all in all.
Christ Will Gather in His Own
Christ will gather in His own To the place where He is gone, Where their heart and treasure lie, Where our life is hid on high. Day by day the voice saith, Come, Enter thine eternal home; Asking not if we can spare This dear soul it summons there. Had He asked us, well we know We should cry, O spare this blow! Yes, with streaming tears should pray, Lord, we love him, let him stay. [substitute her if appropriate] But the Lord doth naught amiss, And, since He hath ordered this, We have naught to do but still Rest in silence on His will. Many a heart no longer here, Ah! was all too inly dear, Yet, O Love, ’tis Thou dost call, Thou wilt be our all in all.
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Nikolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf (1700–1760). Born on May 26, 1700, in Dresden, Saxony, to an aristocratic Austrian family, Nikolaus Zinzendorf was a German Pietist, bishop, and founder of the renewed Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum). His father died weeks after his birth, leaving him to be raised by his Pietist grandmother, Henriette von Gersdorf, whose influence, along with godfather Philipp Spener’s, shaped his early faith. Educated at Francke’s Paedagogium in Halle (1710–1716) and law at Wittenberg (1716–1719), he served briefly as a Dresden councilor before buying the Berthelsdorf estate in 1722, where he welcomed Moravian refugees, founding Herrnhut (“Lord’s Watch”). His preaching emphasized a “religion of the heart,” focusing on personal devotion to Christ over doctrine, and sparked the 1727 Moravian revival, marked by a 100-year prayer chain. Ordained a Lutheran pastor in 1734 and Moravian bishop in 1737, Zinzendorf faced exile from Saxony (1736–1748) for his nonconformity, traveling to London, the West Indies, and America, where he met Native American leaders and Benjamin Franklin, planting missions from Greenland to South Africa. He authored over 2,000 hymns, including “Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness,” and works like The Socrates of Dresden (1725), though some criticized his emotionalism during the 1740s “Sifting Time.” Married to Erdmuth Dorothea von Reuss in 1722, with 12 children (four surviving), and later Anna Nitschmann in 1757, he died on May 9, 1760, in Herrnhut, saying, “I only asked for first fruits among the heathen, and thousands have been granted me.”