Power from on High –
the Moravians and Count Zinzendorf
“No
one present could tell exactly what happened on that
Wednesday morning, 13 August 1727 at the specially called
Communion service. They hardly knew if they had been on
earth or in heaven”.
A modern Pentecost
A
Moravian historian wrote that Church history abounds in
records of special outpourings of the Holy Ghost, and
verily the thirteenth of August 1727, was a day of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We saw the hand of God and
His wonders, and we were all under the cloud of our
fathers baptized with their Spirit. The Holy Ghost came
upon us and in those days great signs and wonders took
place in our midst. From that time scarcely a day passed
but what we beheld His almighty workings amongst us. A
great hunger after the Word of God took possession of us
so that we had to have three services every day, viz. 5.0
and 7.30 a.m. and 9.0 p.m. Everyone desired above
everything else that the Holy Spirit might have full
control. Self love and self will, as well as all
disobedience, disappeared and an overwhelming flood of
graces wept us all out into the great ocean of Divine Love
(1927:14).
No one
present could tell exactly what happened on that Wednesday
morning, 13 August 1727 at the specially called Communion
service. They hardly knew if they had been on earth or in
heaven. Count Nicholas Zinzendorf, the young leader of
that community, gave this account many years later: We
needed to come to the Communion with a sense of the loving
nearness of the Saviour. This was the great comfort which
has made this day a generation ago to be a festival,
because on this day twenty seven years ago the
Congregation o Herrnhut, assembled for communion (at the
Berthelsdorf church) were all dissatisfied with
themselves. They had quit judging each other because they
had become convinced, each one, of his lack of worth in
the sight of God and each felt himself at this Communion
to be in view of the noble countenance of the Saviour. O
head so full of bruises, So full of pain and scorn. In
this view of the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,
their hearts told them that He would be their patron and
their priest who was at once changing their tears into
oilof gladness and their misery into happiness.
This firm
confidence changed them in a single moment into a happy
people which they are to this day, and into their
happiness they have since led many thousands of others
through the memory and help which the heavenly grace once
given to themselves, so many thousand times confirmed to
them since then. Zinzendorf described it as 'a sense of
the nearness of Christ' given to everyone present, and
also to others of their community who were working
elsewhere at the time. The congregation was young.
Zinzendorf, the human leader, was 27, which was about the
average age of the group.
Out of
persecution..
The
Moravian brethren had sprung from the labours and
martyrdom of the Bohemian Reformer, John Hus. They had
experienced centuries of persecution. Many had been
killed, imprisoned, tortured or banished from their
homeland. This group had fled for refuge to Germany where
the young Christian nobleman, Count Zinzendorf, offered
them asylum on his estates in Saxony. They named their new
home Herrnhut, 'the Lord's Watch'. From there, after their
baptism in the Holy Spirit, they became evangelists and
missionaries. Fifty years before the beginning of modern
Foreign Missions by William Carey, the Moravian Church had
sent out over 100 missionaries. Their English missionary
magazine, Periodical Accounts, inspired William Carey. He
threw a copy of the paper on a table at a Baptist meeting,
saying, 'See what the Moravians have done! Cannot we
follow their example and in obedience to our Heavenly
Master go out into the world, and preach the Gospel to the
heathen?'
That
missionary zeal began with the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. Count Zinzendorf observed: 'The Saviour permitted
to come upon us a Spirit of whom we had hitherto not had
any experience or knowledge. ... Hitherto we had been the
leaders and helpers. Now the Holy Spirit Himself took full
control of everything and everybody' (1927:21). When the
Spirit came Prayer precedes Pentecost. The disgruntled
community at Herrnhut early in 1727 was deeply divided and
critical of one another. Heated controversies threatened
to disrupt the community. The majority were from the
ancient Moravian Church of the Brethren. Other believers
attracted to Herrnhut included Lutherans, Reformed, and
Baptists. They argued about predestination, holiness, and
baptism.
The young
German nobleman, Count Zinzendorf, pleaded for unity, love
and repentance. Converted in early childhood, at four
years of age he composed and signed a covenant: 'Dear
Saviour, do Thou be mine, and I will be Thine.' His life
motto was, 'I have one passion: it is Jesus, Jesus only.
'Count Zinzendorf learned the secret of prevailing prayer.
He actively established prayer groups as a teenager, and
on leaving the college at Halle at sixteen he gave the
famous Professor Francke a list of seven praying societies
he had established. After he finished university his
education was furthered by travel to foreign countries.
Everywhere he went, his passion for Jesus controlled him.
In the Dusseldorf Gallery of paintings he was deeply moved
by a painting of the crucifixion over which were the
words: Hoc feci pro te; Quid facis pro me? This have I
done for thee; What hast thou done for me?
A covenant and a 100 Year
Prayer meeting!
At
Herrnhut, Zinzendorf visited all the adult members of the
deeply divided community. He drew up a covenant calling
upon them 'to seek out and emphasise the points in which
they agreed' rather than stressing their differences.
On 12 May
1727 they all signed an agreement to dedicate their lives,
as he dedicated his, to the service of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Moravian revival of 1727 was thus preceded and
then sustained by extraordinary praying. A spirit of
grace, unity and supplications grew among them. On 16 July
the Count poured out his soul in a prayer accompanied with
a flood of tears. This prayer produced an extraordinary
effect. The whole community began praying as never before.
On 22 July many of the community covenanted together on
their own accord to meet often to pour out their hearts in
prayer and hymns.
On 5
August the Count spent the whole night in prayer with
about twelve or fourteen others following a large meeting
for prayer at midnight where great emotion prevailed. On
Sunday, 10 August, Pastor Rothe, while leading the service
at Herrnhut, was overwhelmed by the power of the Lord
about noon. He sank down into the dust before God. So did
the whole congregation. They continued till midnight in
prayer and singing, weeping and praying.
On
Wednesday, 13 August 1727, the Holy Spirit was poured out
on them all. Their prayers were answered in ways far
beyond anyone's expectations. Many of them decided to set
aside certain times for continued earnest prayer. On 26
August, twenty four men and twenty four women covenanted
together to continue praying in intervals of one hour
each, day and night, each hour allocated by lots to
different people. On 27 August, this new regulation began.
Others joined the intercessors and the number involved
increased to seventy seven. They all carefully observed
the hour which had been appointed for them. The
intercessors had a weekly meeting where prayer needs were
given to them.
The
children, also touched powerfully by God, began a similar
plan among themselves. Those who heard their infant
supplications were deeply moved. The children's prayers
and supplications had a powerful effect on the whole
community.
That
astonishing prayer meeting beginning in 1727 went on for
one hundred years. It was unique. Known as the Hourly
Intercession, it involved relays of men and women in
prayer without ceasing made to God. That prayer also led
to action, especially evangelism. More than one hundred
missionaries left that village community in the next
twenty five years, all constantly supported in prayer. The
Spirit's witness One result of their baptism in the Holy
Spirit was a joyful assurance of their pardon and
salvation. This made a strong impact on people in many
countries, including the Wesleys.
John and Charles Wesley
In 1736
John and Charles Wesley sailed to America as Anglican
missionaries. A company of Moravian immigrants were also
on the vessel. During a terrible storm they all faced the
danger of shipwreck. John Wesley wrote in his journal: At
seven I went to the Germans. I had long before observed
the great seriousness of their behaviour. Of their
humility they had given a continual proof by performing
those servile offices for the other passengers which none
of the English would undertake; for which they desired and
would receive no pay, saying, 'It was good for their proud
hearts,' and 'their loving Saviour had done more for
them.' And every day had given them occasion of showing a
meekness, which no injury could move. If they were pushed,
struck or thrown down, they rose again and went away; but
no complaint was found in their mouth. Here was now an
opportunity of trying whether they were delivered from the
spirit of fear, as well as from that of pride, anger and
revenge. In the midst of the Psalm wherewith their service
began, the sea broke over, split the mainsail in pieces,
covered the ship and poured in between the decks, as if
the great deep had already swallowed us up .A terrible
screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung
on. I asked one of them afterwards: 'Were you not afraid?'
He answered, 'I thank God, no.' I asked: 'But were not
your women and children afraid?' He replied mildly: 'No,
our women and children are not afraid to die'.
In
Georgia, John Wesley sought spiritual counsel from the
Moravian Bishop, A. G. Spangenberg. Back in England in
1738 the Wesley brothers became intimately acquainted with
the Moravians, especially Peter Boehler who later became a
leading Moravian bishop. On 4 March, 1738, Wesley wrote in
his diary: I found my brother at Oxford recovering from
his pleurisy; and with him Peter Boehler: by whom (in the
hand of the great God) I was, on Sunday, the 5th, clearly
convicted of unbelief; of the want of that faith whereby
alone we are saved. Immediately it struck into my mind,
'Leave off preaching. How can you preach to others who
have not faith yourself?' I asked Boehler whether he
thought I should leave it off, or not. He answered, 'By no
means.' I asked: 'But what can I preach? He said: 'Preach
faith till you have faith.' Accordingly, Monday, 6, I
began preaching this new doctrine, though my soul started
back from the work. The first person to whom I offered
salvation by faith alone, was a prisoner under sentence of
death..
Eventually
John Wesley came to assurance of salvation. His own
testimony reads:
Wednesday,
May 3, 1738. My brother had a long and particular
conversation with Peter Boehler. And it now
pleased God to open his eyes; so that he also saw
clearly, what was the nature of that one true
living faith, whereby alone 'through grace' we are
saved. Wednesday, May 24. In the evening I went
very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate
Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to
the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before
nine, while he was describing the change which God
works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt
my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in
Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an
assurance was given me, that He had taken away my
sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin
and death. Friday, May 26. My soul continued in
peace, but yet in heaviness, because of manifold
temptations. I asked Mr.Telchig, the Moravian,
what to do. He said: 'You must not fight with them
as you did before, but flee from them the moment
they appear, and take shelter in the wounds
ofJesus”. |
The
Methodists and Moravians often met together then for Bible
study and prayer. George Whitefield's biographer wrote:
Whitefield began the New Year (1739) as gloriously as he
ended that which had just expired. He received Sacrament,
preached twice, expounded twice, attended a Moravian love
feast in Fetter Lane, where he spent the whole night in
prayer to God, psalms and thanksgivings; and then
pronounced 'this to be the happiest New Year's Day he had
ever seen .'This love feast at Fetter Lane was a memorable
one. Besides about sixty Moravians, there were present not
fewer than seven of the Oxford Methodists, namely John and
Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, Wesley Hall, Benjamin
Ingham, Charles Kinchin and Richards Hitchins, all of them
ordained clergymen of the Church of England. Wesley
writes: 'About three in the morning, as we were continuing
instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us,
insomuch that many cried for exceeding joy, and many fell
to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from
that awe and amazement at the presence of His Majesty, we
broke out with one voice 'We praise Thee, O God; we
acknowledge Thee to be the Lord!' (1927)
What the
Moravians imparted to John Wesley is summarised by one of
his biographers, W. H. Fitchett: In substance it was three
things which lie in the very alphabet of Christianity, but
which somehow the teachings of a godly home, of a great
University, and of an ancient Church, and of famous books,
had not taught Wesley. These are:
- that
salvation is through Christ's Atonement alone, and not
through our own works;
- that
its sole condition is faith; and
- that
it is attested to the spiritual consciousness by the
Holy Spirit.
These
truths today are platitudes; to Wesley they were, at this
stage of his life, discoveries. Wesley's
estimate of the Moravian revival which resulted in his own
conversion was prophetic. When Peter Boehler, nine years
his junior, left England for America after several months,
Wesley recorded in his journal: Peter Boehler left London
to embark for Carolina. Oh what a work hath God begun
since his coming into England! Such an one as shall never
come to an end, till Heaven and earth pass away!
Peter Boehler wrote to Count Zinzendorf, saying:
'The English people made a wonderful to do about me; and
though I could not speak much English they were always
wanting me to tell them about the Saviour, His blood and
wounds, and the forgiveness of sins'.
Impacting
all sections of Society
Zinzendorf's
speaking, preaching and letters were full of Christ.
Everywhere the Moravians went they spoke of their Lord,
sang of him, and witnessed naturally. The Holy Spirit had
filled them, as in the early church, with great love for
their Lord. Their Bishop Spangenberg, for example, told
how Johannes, an Indian chief who had been a very wicked
man, was converted. The chief said that once a preacher
came to their tribe and proved to them that there was a
God. They informed him that they were not ignorant of that
and told him to go away. Another preacher came and told
them not to steal, drink too much, or lie. They regarded
him as a fool because they already knew that, and they
sent him off to preach to his own people who were worse
than the Indians in those vices. Then Christian Henry
Rauch, one of the Moravian Brethren, came to his hut, sat
with him and told him about Jesus. Then fatigued from his
journey, Christian Henry lay down and slept, unafraid of
the chief. Johannes could not get the Moravian's words out
of his mind. He dreamt of the cross. He told his tribe
about Jesus and they repented as the Holy Spirit moved
their hearts. Johannes said to the bishop, 'Thus, through
the grace of God, the awakening among us took place. I
tell you therefore, brethren, preach to the heathen Christ
and His blood and death, if you would wish to produce a
blessing among them.'
In
Europe, a Countess with close friends among kings,
emperors and princes, famous for her brilliant gifts and
witty conversation, found that none of her amusements and
recreations satisfied her any longer. A humble Moravian
shoemaker came into her presence and she was struck with
his remarkable cheerfulness. She asked him why he was so
happy and he replied that 'Jesus has forgiven my sins. He
forgives me every day and He loves me and that makes me
happy through all the hours.' The Countess thought about
that and began to pray. Conviction led her into the same
joyful faith and she became a great witness for Christ
among titled people, especially in the court of the
Emperor of Russia, Alexander I, her close friend.
A
new song
Then,
as now, the baptism in the Holy Spirit upon the Moravians
and then the Methodists, produced a flood sacred song.
Many of the best hymns may be traced to this outpouring of
the Holy Spirit. Moravian hymns were filled with praise to
Christ, adoration of him as God, and proclamation of His
virtues and work. Moravian hymns were generally prayers to
Christ. It was a Moravian characteristic that their
prayers were generally addressed to their Saviour.
Honouring the Son they honoured the Father who had sent
him as well as the Holy Spirit who glorified Christ. A
truly converted Catholic or Protestant, Calvanist or
Lutheran, Moravian or Arminian, Baptist or Quaker, when
baptised in the Holy Spirit and with fire often breaks out
into sacred song that is prayer or praise addressed to
Jesus. This was so in Herrnhut. The chief singer then was
the godly young nobleman Count Zinzendorf. He became the
prince of German hymn writers. England saw similar
developments.
One of
the many spiritual children of Peter Boehler was John
Gambold, a young clergyman of the Church of England, an
Oxford graduate and a friend of the Wesleys. He joined the
Moravian Church and became its first English Bishop. Some
of his hymns and sacred songs became well known. Another
of Peter Boehler's English converts was James Hutton, a
famous book seller. He also wrote some precious hymns. The
best known English Moravian hymn writer during the Great
Revival was John Cennick. At one of Cennick's famous
open-air meetings a young Scottish labourer, John
Montgomery, was converted. He joined the Moravian Church
and John and Mary Montgomery become Moravian missionaries
in the West Indies where they died and were buried. Their
son James was educated in the Moravian school at Fulneck.
James Montgomery ranks with great hymn writers of that
era. Charles Wesley had more than 6,000 hymns published
after his conversion in 1738 through the witness and
prayers of Peter Boehler. The majority of his hymns
testify to his great experience of salvation. Peter
Boehler had told him: 'If I had a thousand tongues I would
praise Jesus with every one of them.' This prompted Wesley
shortly after his conversion to write the immortal lines:
Oh
for a thousand tongues to sing My dear Redeemer's
praise The glories of my God and King The triumphs
of His grace. He breaks the power of cancelled
sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make
the foulest clean, His blood availed for me. |
Fruit
that abides
A
traveller of that period wrote this striking testimony,
'In all my journeys I have found only three objects that
exceeded my expectations, viz.: the ocean, Count
Zinzendorf, and the Herrnhut congregation' . Herrnhut had
become a spiritual centre visited by people from all parts
of Europe seeking to be saved or to be baptised in the
Holy Spirit and with fire. John Wesley's visit to Herrnhut
was typical of thousands of others. 'God has given me at
length,' he wrote to his brother Samuel, 'the desire of my
heart. I am with a Church whose conversation is in Heaven;
in whom is the mind that was in Christ, and who so walk as
He walked'. In his journal he wrote, 'I would gladly have
spent my life here; but my Master called me to labour in
another part of His vineyard. O when shall this
Christianity cover the earth, as the waters cover the
sea?'
At the
end of his life Count Zinzendorf could triumphantly say:I
am going to my Saviour. I am ready. There is nothing to
hinder me now. I cannot say how much I love you all. Who
would have believed that the prayer of Christ, 'that they
all may be one,' could have been so strikingly fulfilled
among us! I only asked for firstfruits among the heathen,
and thousands have been given me. Are we not as in Heaven!
Do we not live together like the angels! The Lord and His
servants understand each other. I am ready.
Over
four thousand people followed his body to its resting
place on the Hutberg, including Moravian ministers from
Holland, England, Ireland, North America and Greenland.
His tombstone bore this inscription: “Here lie the
remains of the immortal man of God, Nicholas Lewis, Count
and Lord of Zinzendorf and Pattendorf; who through the
grace of God and his own unwearied service, became the
ordinary of the Brethren's Church, renewed in this
eighteenth century. He was born in Dresden on May 26,1700,
and entered into the joy of his Lord at Herrnhut on May 9,
1760. He was appointed to bring forth fruit, and that his
fruit should abide”.
Renew
our days
The
renewal of the Moravian Church can stir our hearts to
pray, 'Renew our days as of old. 'In 1927, 200 years after
the revival in of the Moravian Church, the editor of The
Biblical Review, New York, wrote: No matter whether one is
sympathetic toward the idea of revivals or not, if he
wants to study the question thoroughly, he cannot afford
to overlook the history and teachings of the Moravians.
Theirs has been from the beginning a great Revival Church,
and its service to the general cause of Christianity, and
to foreign missions in particular, is deserving of wide
recognition. The story of their spiritual development and
its influence is one of the most inspiring in the annals
of Christianity.
Their
first great experience which gave the Moravians such
spiritual power was a personal experience of salvation.
The second great experience which gave them such spiritual
power and leadership was the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Dr. J. Kenneth Pfohl, a Moravian pastor, wrote in The
Moravian in 1927:The great Moravian Pentecost was not a
shower of blessing out of a cloudless sky. It did come
suddenly, as suddenly as the blessing of its great
predecessor in Jerusalem, when the Christian Church was
born. Yet, for long there had been signs of abundance of
rain, though many recognized them not. In short the
blessing of the 13th of August, 1727, was diligently and
earnestly prepared for. We know of no annals of Church
history which evidence greater desire for an outpouring of
the Holy Spirit and more patient and persistent effort in
that direction than those of our own Church between the
years 1725 and 1727.
Two
distinct lines of preparation and spiritual effort for the
blessing are evident. One was prayer; the other was
individual work with individuals. We are told that 'men
and women met for prayer and praise at one another's homes
and the Church of Berthelsdorf was crowded out.' Then the
Spirit came in great power. Then the entire company
experienced the blessing at one and the same time. In
another article in The Moravian, Dr E. S. Hagen declared:
The great revival in 1727 in Herrnhut was the normal and
logical result of prayer and the preaching of the Word of
the Cross. 'Christ and Him Crucified' was our brethren's
confession of faith, and 'the inward witness of remission
of sins through faith in His blood' their blessed and
quickening experience.
Lecky
in his History of Morals says of John Wesley's conversion,
May 24, 1738, in the prayer meeting of Moravian Brethren
in Aldersgate Street: 'What happened in that little room
was of more importance to England than all the victories
of Pitt by land or sea.' ...A renewal of our days as of
old involves a return to fervent prayer and to the earnest
and effectual preaching of the remission of sins through
the vicarious sacrifice and the shedding of the blood of
Jesus Christ the Son of God. Revival time is coming. We
cherish a high expectancy of it. Sooner than we dream of,
to God's people, who give themselves to earnest,
persevering prayer, and the Scriptural testimony
concerning the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
windows of Heaven will be opened (1927:9091).
The
day of revivals is not past. The Holy Spirit still waits
to fill believers with power from on high
Adapted
from a reproduction by Geoff Waugh of John Greenfield’s
“Power from on High”. Edingburgh: Marshall, Morgan and
Scott.© Renewal Journal #1 (93:1), Brisbane, Australia.
pp. 2432. http://www.pastornet.net.au/renewal/
Reproduction is
allowed as long as the source and copyright remains intact
with the text.
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