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ZINZENDORF, NICOLAUS LUDWIG, COUNT OF...
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See also:ZINZENDORF, NICOLAUS See also:LUDWIG, See also:COUNT OF ZINZENDORF AND POTTENDORF (1700-1760) , See also:German religious and social re-former, was See also:born on the 26th of May 1700 at See also:Dresden. Hisancestors belonged to See also:Lower See also:Austria, but had taken the See also:Protestant See also:side in the See also:Reformation struggle, and settled near See also:Nuremberg. Both his parents belonged to the Pietist circle and the lad had Philipp See also:Jakob Spener for his godfather. His See also:father died six See also:weeks after he was born. His See also:mother married again when he was four years old, and he was educated under the See also:charge of his pious and gifted grandmother,' See also:Catherine von Gersdorf, who did much to shape his See also:character. His school days were spent at See also:Halle amidst Pietist surroundings, and in 1716 he went to the university of See also:Wittenberg, to study See also:law and See also:fit himself for a See also:diplomatic career. Three years later he was sent to travel in See also: His intention was to carry out into practice the Pietist ideas of Spener. He did not mean to found a new See also: He had hard work to bring See also:order out of the confusion. He had to ' A See also:volume of Spiritual Songs, written by Zinzendorf's See also:grand-mother Catherine, was published in 1729 by See also:Paul Anton. satisfy the authorities that his religious community could be brought under the conditions of the peace of See also:Augsburg; he had to quiet the suspicions of the Lutheran See also:clergy; and, hardest of all, he had to See also:rule in some See also:fashion men made fanatical by persecution, who, in spite of his unwearied labours for them, on more than one occasion, it is said, combined in his own house to denounce him as the Beast of the See also:Apocalypse, with Rothe as the False See also:Prophet. See also:Patience had at last its perfect work, and gradually Zinzendorf was able to organize his refugees into something like a See also:militia Christi, based not on monastic but on family life. He was able to establish a See also:common order of worship in 1727, and soon afterwards a common organization, which has been described in the See also:article MORAVIAN BRETHREN. Zinzendorf took the deepest See also:interest in the wonderful missionary enterprises of the Brethren, and saw with delight the spread of this Protestant family order in Germany, See also:Denmark, See also:Russia and See also:England. He travelled widely in its interests, visiting See also:America in 1741-42 and spending a See also:long time in See also:London in 1750. Missionary colonies had by this time been settled in the See also:West Indies (1732), in See also:Greenland (1733), amongst the See also:North See also:American See also:Indians (1735); and before Zinzendorf's See also:death the Brethren had sent from Herrnhut missionary colonies to See also:Livonia and the See also:northern shores of the Baltic, to the slaves of North Carolina, to Surinam, to the See also:Negro slaves in several parts of See also:South America, to See also:Travancore in the See also:East Indies, to the See also:Copts in See also:Egypt and to the west See also:coast of South See also:Africa. The community in Herrnhut, from which almost all these colonies had been sent out, had no See also:money of its own, and its expenses had been almost exclusively furnished by Zinzendorf. His frequent journeyings from See also:home made it almost impossible for him to look after his private affairs; he was compelled from time to time to raise money by loans, and about 1750 was almost reduced to See also:bankruptcy. This led to the See also:establishment of a See also:financial See also:board among the Brethren, on a plan furnished by a lawyer, John See also:Frederick Kober, which worked well. In 1752 Zinzendorf lost his only son, Christian Renatus, whom he had hoped to make his successor; and four years later he lost his wife Erdmute, who had been his counsellor and confidante in all his work. Zinzendorf remained a widower for one See also:year, and then (See also:June 1757) contracted a second marriage with See also:Anna Nitschmann, on the ground that a See also:man in his See also:official position ought to be married. Three years later, overcome with his labours, he fell See also:ill and died (on the 9th of May 176o), leaving John de Wattewille, who had married his eldest daughter Benigna, to take his place at the See also:head of the community. Zinzendorf had a naturally alert and active mind, and an enthusiastic temperament that made his life one of ceaseless planning and executing. Like See also:Luther, he was often carried away by strong and vehement feelings, and he was easily upset both by sorrow and joy. He was an eager seeker after truth, and could not understand men who at all See also:costs kept to the opinions they had once formed; yet he had an exceptional See also:talent for talking on religious subjects even with those who differed from him. Few men have been more solicitous for the happiness and comfort of others, even in little things. His activity and varied gifts sometimes landed him in oddities and contradictions that not infrequently looked like equivocation and dissimulation, and the courtly training of his youth made him susceptible about his authority even when no one disputed it. He was a natural orator, and though his See also:dress was See also:simple his personal See also:appearance gave an impression of distinction and force. His projects were often misunderstood, and in 1736 he was even banished from See also:Saxony, but in 1749 the See also:government rescinded the See also:decree and begged him to establish within its See also:jurisdiction more settlements like that at Herrnhut. He wrote a large number of hymns, of which the best known are " Jesus, Thy See also:blood and righteousness," and " Jesus, still See also:lead on." A selection of his Sermons was published by G. Clemens in to vols., his See also:Diary (1716—1719) by G. Reichel and J. Th. See also: A. See also:Seed, London, 1896) ; B. See also:Becker, Zinzendorf See also:im Verhaltniss z. Philosophic u. Kirchenthum seiner Zeit (Leipzig, 1886) ; H. Romer, Zinzendorf's Leben and Werken (Gnaudau, 1900), and other literature mentioned under MORAVIAN BRETHREN and in the article " Zinzendorf " by J. Th. Muller in Hauck-See also:Herzog's Realencyk. See also:fur Prot. Theologie u. Kirche. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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