Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf

Zinzendorf, Christian Renatus, Count von, second son of Nicolaus Ludwig Ton Zinzendorf, was born Sept. 19, 1727, at Herrnhut, in Saxony. He received his education from his parents, and from Johann Langguth and others of the Brethren. He was the only son that survived his boyhood, early accompanied his father on his journeys, and was, e.g., in 1743, for sixteen days imprisoned with him at Riga. From 1744 to 1750 he lived mostly at Herrenhaag in Wetteravia, ministering specially to the single Brethren. When the community at Herrenhaag was dissolved in 1750, his father summoned him to London. He brought with him the seeds of consumption, which developed in England. He died in London, May 28, 1752 (Koch, v., 312; Hist. Nachricht (to the Brüder Gesang-Buch, 1778), 1835, p. 192, &c).

C. R. von Zinzendorf’s hymns were principally written during his residence in London. They are by no means free from the faults and mannerisms of that sentimental and fantastic period of Moravian hymn-writing; and their range of subjects is very limited. Their burden is a deep and intense personal devotion to the crucified Saviour; the spirit being that of his favourite saying, "I have but one passion, and that is He, only He." They were collected by his father, and published, (with a preface dated March 18,1755), as the first Appendix to the London Gesang-Buch of 1754, with 53 (54) pieces, 9 of which consist of only one stanza, 2nd ed. 1760. Most of them passed into the Brüder Gesang-Buch of 1778. Few have passed into English use in non-Moravian hymnbooks.

Three of these hymns may here be referred to:—
i. Ach lass auf alien Tritten. Sanctification . Written in 1751. Included in the Kleine Brüder Gesang-Buch, London, 1754. It is No. 64 in the 2nd edition, 1760, of the Appendix of 1755, and repeated as st. ii. of No. 380, in the Brüder Gesang-Buch1778. The translation in common use is:—
Lord Jesus, Thy atonement. This is No. 427 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789 (1849, No. 588), repeated in Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody, 1833.
ii. Für uns ging mein Herr in Todesnöthen. Passiontide. This is included as No. 166 in the Brüder Gesang-Buch, 1778, in 10 stanzas of 8 lines. It is a cento from three hymns in the Appendix of 1755, as above, viz. stanzas 1-5, 8, 9 are stanzas 12-15, 17, 11, 18, of No. 28 (this hymn begins "Ach du unaussprechlich nahes Herze"); stanzas 6, 7 are stanzas 2, 3, of No. 10; while stanza 10 is No. 17. The text of 1778 is in the Berlin Gesitliche Lieder, ed. 1863, No. 230. The translations in common use is:—
My Redeemer, overwhelm'd with anguish. By J. Swertner, in full, from the 1778 text, as No. 78 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789 (1849, No. 93). The translations of stanzas 1, 2, 6-8, were included in Walker's Collection, Cheltenham, 1855. In the Moravian Hymn Book, 1886, No. 82, it begins with st. vi. "Our enraptured hearts shall ne'er be weary."
iii. 0 süsse Seelenweide.
Not including the above the English Moravian Hymn Book, 1886, gives seven hymns with his name, and ascribes portions of four others to him. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)