A History of the Moravian ChurchHutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Religion
A History of the Moravian Church
Hutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Moravian Church -- History
zeal. As the woman who found the lost piece of silver invited her
friends and neighbours to share in her joy, so Zinzendorf wished all
Christians to share in the treasure which he had discovered at Herrnhut.
He believed that the Brethren there were called to a world-wide mission.
He wanted Herrnhut to be a city set on a hill. "I have no sympathy," he
said, "with those comfortable people who sit warming themselves before
the fire of the future life." He did not sit long before the fire
himself. He visited the University of Jena, founded a society among
the students, and so impressed the learned Spangenberg that that great
theological scholar soon became a Brother at Herrnhut himself. He
visited the University of Halle, and founded another society of students
there. He visited Elmsdorf in Vogtland, and founded a society consisting
of members of the family of Count Reuss. He visited Berleburg in
Westphalia, made the acquaintance of John Conrad Dippel, and tried to
lead that straying sheep back to the Lutheran fold. He visited Budingen
in Hesse, discoursed on Christian fellowship to the "French Prophets,"
or "Inspired Ones," and tried to teach their hysterical leader, Rock,
a little wisdom, sobriety and charity. He attended the coronation of
Christian VI., King of Denmark, at Copenhagen, was warmly welcomed
by His Majesty, received the Order of the Danebrog, saw Eskimos from
Greenland and a negro from St. Thomas, and thus opened the door, as we
shall see later on, for the great work of foreign missions. Meanwhile,
he was sending messengers in all directions. He sent two Brethren to
Copenhagen, with a short historical account of Herrnhut. He sent two
others to London to see the Queen, and to open up negotiations with the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He sent another to Sweden;
others to Hungary and Austria; others to Switzerland; others to Moravia;
others to the Baltic Provinces, Livonia and Esthonia. And everywhere his
object was the same--the formation of societies for Christian fellowship
within the National Church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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