Zinzendorf's Confession After a Storm at Sea by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 9, 1908

Zinzendorf's Confession After a Storm at Sea

By W. A. S.

IN the year 1743, Zinzendorf, the missionary, was returning to Europe from a visit to America. He sailed with a Captain Garrison, of an English ship. Some time later, possibly after Zinzendorf's death, Captain Garrison wrote the Moravian Bishop Spangenberg concerning an experience that he had with the missionary leader while on the voyage.

They were nearing the Scilly Islands, off the southwest coast of England, when a storm made the boat unmanageable. They were being gradually driven toward the rocks. The crew were thoroughly alarmed. The captain prayed, as he felt human power was of no avail. Zinzendorf was also praying. And now he told the captain that in two hours the storm would cease. The captain said he paid no particular attention to the saying, as he thought it beyond human foresight to make such a prediction. He wrote:—

When the two hours were up, he persuaded me to go on deck and watch the weather. I had not been there many minutes when the wind turned southwest, and the danger was past. I had scarcely thought of what he said until that moment, and then it struck me powerfully. I went down into the cabin and told him the storm was over, and we had nothing more to fear. He then asked us to join him in giving thanks to God for our deliverance, and we did so.

I had a great desire to know how it was that the count could prophesy in this way, and I asked him. “I will tell you frankly,” he replied, “for I hope that you will not abuse what I say. For the last twenty years I have lived in close communion with my Saviour. Now, when I find myself in dangerous or unusual circumstances, the first thing I do is to consider very carefully whether it is through any fault of my own. If I discover anything that I am not satisfied with, I immediately throw myself at his feet, and beg his forgiveness. Then my Saviour pardons me, and he generally informs me at once how the matter will end. If, however, he is not pleased to reveal this to me, I wait quietly, in the belief that it is best for me not to know. On this occasion he communicated to me the fact that the storm would last for two hours.”—Bovet's “Banished Count,” page 228.

The fact that Zinzendorf should keep this relationship with the Lord as something too close and sacred to be held forth in any manner of spiritual exaltation, argues well for the genuineness of the experience. He was a man called of God in childhood to be one of the pioneers to prepare the way for the closing work. As a little boy he made his written covenant with the Lord, ‘Be thou mine, dear Saviour, and I will be thine.’ In a time when rationalism was the religion of Europe, he joined the few who sought to promote genuine piety of life, and faith in the living word of God. He led the work of Moravian missions, which was the forerunner of the great missionary revival of these last days. And as he saw the obligations of God's Sabbath, he kept it and urged its claims.

W. A. S.