Page:Our Hymns.djvu/127

 THEIK AUTHORS AND ORIGIN. 107

blindly giving the preference to either. In 1719, Zinzendorf quitted Witternberg to enjoy the advantages of travel. He spent a short time in Holland, and then resided for a few months in Paris, meeting with several eminent persons, and especially with Cardinal Noailles, Archbishop of Paris, with whom he had much religious intercourse, and to whom he dedicated his translation of Arndt s work on &quot; True Christianity.&quot; In his subsequent journey ing he was detained by illness at Oberbirg, where he formed a strong attachment to his cousin Theodora, the daughter of the Countess of Castell. But subsequently, under a strong sense of duty, he resigned his place in her affections to his friend Henry XXIX., the reigning Count of Eeuss-Ebersdorf, a young man of similar religious sentiments. Of this surrender he said to Charles Wesley, &quot; From that moment I was freed from all self-seeking, so that for ten years I have not done my own will in anything, great or small. My own will is hell to me. 11

On attaining his majority, in 1721, Zinzendorf yielded to the wish of his relatives, and entered upon his duties as a judge and member of the Aulic Council in the electorate of Saxony. But his heart was still devoted to Christian work ; and at Dresden he took every opportunity of pleading for Christ with his courtier companions, and he held religious meetings in his own house, at which he delivered addresses to all who would come. In 1722, he bought the estate of Bethelsdorf, rebuilt the mansion, and appointed as the pastor, Eothe, a man of earnest piety, and, like his patron, a good hymn-writer. In the same year Ziuzendorf married Ei-dmuth Dorothy, a sister of his friend Count Eeuss. She was a woman of great talent and piety, a true helpmeet for him. Of her he wrote, in 1747, &quot; An experience of twenty-five years has taught me that the help I have had is the only kind of help that touches my vocation at every point.&quot; They had twelve children several of them died in infancy, two of them bore a beautiful Christian testimony. The loss of his son, Christian Beue, at the age of twenty-four, in 1752, was a great grief to the count. Three daughters survived their father, and many of

�� �