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
at any opposition, and disposed to treat with contempt the advice of
others. For example, when the financial crisis arose at Herrnhaag,
Spangenberg advised him to raise funds by weekly collections; but
Zinzendorf brushed the advice aside, and retorted, "It is my affair." He
was rather short-tempered, and would stamp his foot like an angry child
if a bench in the church was not placed exactly as he desired. He
was superstitious in his use of the Lot, and damaged the cause of the
Brethren immensely by teaching them to trust implicitly to its guidance.
He was reckless in his use of extravagant language; and he forgot that
public men should consider, not only what they mean themselves, but also
what impression their words are likely to make upon others. He was
not always strictly truthful; and in one of his pamphlets he actually
asserted that he himself was in no way responsible for the scandals
at Herrnhaag. For these reasons the Count made many enemies. He was
criticized severely, and sometimes justly, by men of such exalted
character as Bengel, the famous German commentator, and honest John
Wesley in England; he was reviled by vulgar scribblers like Rimius; and
thus, like his great contemporary, Whitefield, he
Stood pilloried on Infamy's high stage,
And bore the pelting scorn of half an age;
The very butt of slander and the blot
For every dart that malice ever shot.
But serious though his failings were, they were far outshone by his
virtues. Of all the religious leaders of the eighteenth century, he
was the most original in genius and the most varied in talent; and,
therefore, he was the most misunderstood, the most fiercely hated, the
most foully libelled, the most shamefully attacked, and the most fondly
adored. In his love for Christ he was like St. Bernard, in his mystic
devotion like Madame Guyon; and Herder, the German poet, described him
as "a conqueror in the spiritual world." It was those who knew him best
who admired him most. By the world at large he was despised, by orthodox
critics abused, by the Brethren honoured, by his intimate friends almost
worshipped. According to many orthodox Lutherans he was an atheist;
but the Brethren commonly called him "the Lord's disciple." He was
abstemious in diet, cared little for wine, and drank chiefly tea and
lemonade. He was broad and Catholic in his views, refused to speak of
the Pope as Antichrist, and referred to members of the Church of Rome as
"Brethren"; and, while he remained a Lutheran to the end, he had friends
in every branch of the Church of Christ. He had not a drop of malice in
his blood. He never learned the art of bearing a grudge, and when he was
reviled, he never reviled again. He was free with his money, and could
never refuse a beggar. He was a thoughtful and suggestive theological
writer, and holds a high place in the history of dogma; and no thinker
expounded more beautifully than he the grand doctrine that the innermost
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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