He was off to Halle to attend the Paedagogium of the staunch Pietist disciple, August Francke. He was tutored and trained, disciplined and cultured for future service in the court.Īt age 10 Zinzendorf said farewell to childhood. Young “Lutz,” as he was called, was not allowed to “forget that he was a count” even though growing up in this Pietist environment. “They were awed as they heard the boy speak and pray … the incident was prophetic of the way the count was to move others with the depths of his religious experience the rest of his sixty years.” When Swedish soldiers overran Saxony, they entered the castle at Gross-Hennersdorf and burst “into the room where the six-year-old count happened to be at his customary devotions,” notes John Weinlick in Count Zinzendorf. In childlike sincerity he wrote love letters to Jesus and tossed them out of the window of the castle tower. His dearest treasure next to the Bible was Luther’s Smaller Catechism. The young count grew up in an atmosphere bathed in prayer, Bible reading and hymn-singing. He would know scores of moves in his lifetime, but few would be more crucial to his destiny than this one. Zinzendorf went to live with Aunt Henrietta and Lady Gersdorf on the latter’s estate, Gross-Hennersdorf, 60 miles east of Dresden. Only the latter two were close to him in his childhood for his mother remarried when he was three. Six weeks after young Ludwig’s birth, his father died of tuberculosis, leaving him to be raised by three women-his mother her sister, Aunt Henrietta and his grandmother. Their spiritual founder, Philip Jacob Spener, was the godfather of young Ludwig and a beloved friend of the count’s remarkable grandmother, Baroness Henriette Katherina van Gersdorf. It meant living in obedience to Christ in his Word and loving him with the heart in song and prayer. For them, walking with the Savior meant being separate from the world, shunning the dance and theater and idle talk. The Pietists sought to know Christ in a personal way. Zinzendorf’s inheritance, spiritually speaking, was that particular brand of Lutheranism influenced by Pietism. Perhaps the first churchman to use the term “ecumenism” in speaking of the church, this man-ahead-of-his-time had one obsession-the spiritual unity of Christian believers-Lutherans, Moravians, all. Yet, if he were alive today he would probably be satisfied with neither. But history would know him as a Moravian. This child inherited, as is evident, a godly parentage within Lutheranism, and he would remain a Lutheran throughout his sixty years. His mother recorded his birth in the family Bible, noting on in Dresden the “gift of my first-born son, Nicolaus Ludwig,” asking “the Father of mercy” to “govern the heart of this child that he may walk blamelessly in the path of virtue … may his path be fortified in his Word.” Since 1662 all males in the Zinzendorf clan bore the title of count in the Holy Roman Empire thus young Nicolaus Ludwig became at birth Count Zinzendorf. But Jesus responded again and *said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 ( I)It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were even more astonished, and said to Him, “ Then who can be saved?” 27 Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ ( J)With people it is impossible, but not with God for all things are possible with God.Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, heir to one of Europe’s leading families, was destined for high duties in 18th Century Europe. 19 You know the commandments: ‘ ( D) Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept ( E)all these things from my youth.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have ( F)treasure in heaven and come, follow Me.” 22 But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property.Ģ3 And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, “ ( G)How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples ( H)were amazed at His words. 17 ( A)As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and ( B)knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may ( C)inherit eternal life?” 18 But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
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