Count Zinzendorf & the Sabbath

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God:

Exodus 20:10

 

"Scattered and torn by persecution, the old sect of Moravian Brethren wandered about till about the year 1720 Count Zinzendorf invited them to his estate, later called Herrnhut. He began to keep the Sabbath, and became the leader of these Brethren and the head of a great missionary movement. Bishop A. G. Spangenberg says of him: 

"He loved to stick to the plain text of the Scriptures, believing that rather simplicity than art is required to understand it. When he found anything in the Bible stated in such plain language that a child could understand, he could not well bear to have one depart from it"–"Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf" (Life of Count Zinzendorf), pp. 3, 546, 547, 1774. 

In 1738 Zinzendorf wrote of his keeping the Sabbath thus: "That I

have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and our Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel–that I have done without design, and in simplicity of heart." –"Budingsche Sammlung," Sec. 8, p. 224. Leipzig:1742. 

                

Spangenberg gives some of Zinzendorf's reasons for keeping the seventh day holy: 

"On the one hand, he believed that the seventh day was sanctified and set apart as a rest day immediately after creation; but on the other hand, and principally, because his eyes were directed to the rest of our Savior Jesus Christ in the grave on the seventh day."–"Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf" pp. 5, 1422, note.

In 1741 he journeyed to Bethlehem, Pa., where some Moravian Brethren had settled. Of his work there Spangenberg relates: 

"As a special instance it deserves to be noticed that he is resolved with the church at Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest day. The matter had been previously considered by the church council in all its details, and all the reasons pro and con were carefully weighed, whereby they arrived at the unanimous agreement to keep the said day as Sabbath"–Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422. (See also "Varnhagen yon Ense Biographische Denkmale," pp. 5, 301. Berlin:1846.

The church records of the Bethlehem Moravian Church (now in the Moravian Seminary archives, and dated June 13 O.S., or June 24 N. S., 1742) has this paragraph: "The Sabbath is to be observed in quietness and in fervent communion with the Savior. It is a day that was given to all nations according to the law for rest, for the Jews observed it not so much as Jews as human beings." 

FactsOfFaith by Christian Edwardson