Following a Heavenly Leader Jesus, still lead on, Till our rest be won, And although the way be cheerless, We will follow, calm and fearless. Guide us by Thy hand To our Fatherland! If the way be drear, If the foe be near, Let not faithless fear o'ertake us, Let not faith and hope forsake us; For through many a foe To our home we go! When we seek relief From a long-felt grief, When temptations come alluring, Make us patient and enduring, Show us that bright shore Where we weep no more! Jesus, still lead on, Till our rest be won; Heavenly Leader, still direct us, Still support, console, protect us, Till we safely stand In our Fatherland! Nicolaus Ludwig, Count Zinzendorf, 1721 ZINZENDORF AND MORAVIAN HYMNODY The church of the Moravian Brethren is famous for two things: its missionary zeal and its love for church music. It owes both of these distinguishing characteristics to its great founder and patron leader, Nicolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf. Not only was this very unusual man a gifted writer of hymns, but he was also an ardent exponent of foreign missions. Zinzendorf was only ten years old when his soul was fired with a passionate desire to do something to help win the world for Christ. He was a pupil at the famous Pietist school of Francke at Halle, Germany, at the time, and through his endeavors a mission society known as "The Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed," was organized among the lads of his own age. A few years later he chanced to see a copy of Sternberg's masterpiece, "Ecce Homo," depicting Christ wearing His crown of thorns before Pilate and the Jewish mob. Beneath the famous picture were inscribed the words: This have I done for thee; What hast thou done for Me? From that moment Zinzendorf took as his life motto: "I have but one passion, and that is He and only He." On his wedding day, in 1722, he and his young bride decided to renounce their rank and to dedicate their lives to the task of winning souls for Christ. The Lord took them at their word. In that same year a number of Protestant refugees from Moravia, who had been compelled to leave their homes because of Roman Catholic persecution, arrived in Saxony and found refuge on Zinzendorf's large estate. They were a remnant of the Bohemian Brethren, a heroic religious communion which dated back to the days of the noble martyr, John Huss. Though relentlessly hunted and persecuted for more than three centuries, this early evangelical body had continued to maintain its existence in the form of secret religious circles known as "the hidden seed."