The
Rev. John Greenfield, an American Moravian evangelist, published his book
"Power On High" in 1927 on the 200th anniversary of the Moravian revival.
The information in this article is from that book, now out of print.
The Moravians, a refugee colony from Bohemia, settled on the estates of
Count Nicholas Zinzendorf in Herrnhut, Germany, where a powerful revival
began in 1727. It launched 100 years of continuous prayer and within
25 years 100 Moravians were missionaries, more than the rest of the Protestant
church had sent out in two centuries.
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 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.
Every one desired above everything else that the Holy Spirit might have
full control. Selflove and selfwill, as well as all disobedience,
disappeared and an overwhelming flood of grace swept us all out into the
great ocean of Divine Love.
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 twentyseven years
ago the Congregation of 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
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 oil of gladness
and their misery into happiness. This firm confidence changed them
in a single moment into happy people which they are to this day, and into
their happiness they have since led may 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.
The
Moravian brethren had sprung from the labours and martyrdom of the Bohemian
Reformer, John Huss. 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'.
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 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?
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
emphasize 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, 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, 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, twentyfour men and twentyfour 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 seventyseven. 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 twentyfive 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.
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' (1927:3536).
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 Boechler. 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 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
of Jesus."
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 the 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!"
What
the Moravians imparted to John Wesley is summarized 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.
There are that salvation is through Christ's Atonement alone, and not through
our own works; that it's sole condition is faith; and that it is attested
to the spiritual consciousness by the Holy Spirit. There 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 a 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."
Witnesses
unto Me
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
that 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 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 er amusements and recreations satisfied her any longer. A humble
Moravian shoemaker came into her presence and she was struck with his 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 of sacred songs. 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.
Maravian
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 HolySpirit who glorified Christ.
A truly
converted Catholic or Protestant, Calvanist or Lutheran, Moravian or Armenian,
Baptist or Quaker, when baptized 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 Hernhut. 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 became 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 canceled sin,
He
sets the prisoner free;
His
blood can make the foulest clean,
His
blood availed for me.
Fruit
That Abides
A traveler
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 baptized 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 Maravian 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, 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 crowed out." Then the Spirit
came in great power. Then the entire company experienced the blessing
at once 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.
The
day of revivals is not past. The Holy Spirit still waits to fill
believers with power from on high.
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