Auf das Ende hin!
4.
Ordne unsern Gang,
Jesu, lebenslang!
Führst du uns durch rauhe Wege,
Gib uns auch die nöt’ge Pflege.
Tu uns nach dem Lauf
Deine Türe auf!
Entitled, “Following Christ.” The hymn has become a great favorite in Germany, especially as a children’s hymn. Stanzas 1, 3 and 4 are from Zinzendorf’s “Seelenbräutigam, O du Gotteslamm,” a poem of 11 stanzas, written September 1721. The second stanza is from “Glanz der Ewigkeit,” a 15-stanza poem, dated Berlin, May 1721.
Nicolaus Ludwig, Graf von Zinzendorf, was born at Dresden of a noble, wealthy and religious family. Early in life he came under the teaching of influential Pietists, having Philipp Spener for his godfather and Augustus Francke for his tutor. From his earliest years he had strong religious impressions. As a child his favorite play was “preaching;” as a boy in school he organized the “Order of the Mustard Seed,” the members of which bound themselves in a special manner to the service of Christ, and above all to promote the conversion of the heathen. Upon the insistence of non-pietistic relatives, he attended the University of Wittenberg to study law and to acquire such accomplishments as dancing, fencing, and shooting, but he himself would have preferred the study of theology.