At the age of 21, Zinzendorf bought an estate in Saxony with the view of gathering a number of truly religious persons into a community, which should be a source of new religious life. He invited a group of Moravian exiles, a religious body which sprang from the work of John Hus, to settle on the estate. Thus was formed, in 1722, the Moravian settlement which took the name Herrnhut, “Shelter of the Lord.” The colony grew rapidly and attracted to its numbers not only immigrants from Moravia but many others. In 1727 Zinzendorf gave up his post as an official at the Court of the King of Saxony, to join the Moravian colony and superintend the growing community. Accusing him of spreading false doctrines, his opponents secured an edict from the king, banishing Zinzendorf from Saxony. During this exile, which lasted 10 years, he was engaged in unceasing missionary efforts, from St. Petersburg to the West Indies.
In 1741, Zinzendorf came to America to visit the Moravians in Pennsylvania to organize them into congregations and encourage them to do missionary work among both whites and Indians. Under his leadership, the Moravians became a famous missionary group. As early as 1731, two of the Brethren were sent to the West Indies and two to Greenland. And in Zinzendorf’s lifetime Moravians were at work in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. In a few years, the little colony at Herrnhut had sent out more missionaries than had gone from all European Protestantism during two centuries. They went to the hardest and most dangerous places and the most unpromising peoples. Everywhere they were strengthened by the joyful, confident faith and loyalty to Christ expressed in Zinzendorf’s hymn, “Jesu geh voran.”
The Moravians had a powerful influence on hymnology. Zinzendorf himself, all the members of his family, and most of the early leaders wrote hymns. Singing was a prominent part of their worship and they early began publishing hymnbooks. Concerning Zinzendorf’s hymns, Catherine Winkworth says in her Christian Singers of Germany:
His hymns, of which he wrote more than two thousand, are of exceedingly different value; some are fantastic and irreverent, some mere rhymed prose, others again have a real sweetness, fervour, and song in them.
She cites “Jesu geh voran” as one of his best hymns.
For comments on the translator, Jane Borthwick, see [Hymn 54].
MUSIC. SEELENBRÄUTIGAM is a tune of a “pleasingly ingenious tinge, very simply constructed.” It is found in many English hymnbooks.
The composer, Adam Drese, 1620-1701, was born in Thuringia. He became director of music at the Court of Count Wilhelm IV of Saxe-Weimar; then was appointed kapellmeister in Weimar, and later at Arnstadt, living meanwhile a life of selfish indulgence in the atmosphere of the courts. Upon reading the works of Spener and Luther’s Introduction to the Epistle to the Romans, Drese experienced a spiritual awakening which led him to aggressive missionary efforts and the organization of prayer meetings in the community. He wrote hymns and tunes which were sung at the meetings of pious persons in his house, before they came into print.
The tune was first published in the Hallesches Gesangbuch, 1695, but it was used in manuscript form as early as 1690, in the composer’s home.