Having told you what was mistaken amongst the Moravians, it is pleasant to be able to say, on the other hand, that there seems to have been amongst them a great deal of true, earnest love to Christ, and of devotedness to His service. John Wesley talked a good deal to many of them, and was very glad that one, whose name was Christian David, came back to Herrnhuth for a time just after he arrived. He had heard before of Christian David, whose history was a remarkable one. He had lived as a child in Moravia, and had, when very young, read a great many religious books. These books convinced him that Papists were wrong, but he could not make out what was right. He disliked the Lutherans, because they talked so much about Christ. What a sad tale that tells of the heart of man! He did not then believe that Christ was God. Strange to say, he became persuaded that Christ is God by meeting with some Jews, who told him the New Testament was not true. This led him to read the Old Testament carefully, and compare it with the New, to see whether the prophecies about the Messiah came true in the case of Jesus. He could no longer doubt after doing this, who and what Jesus is. He was still by name a Roman Catholic, but soon after this he openly gave up the Popish religion, and called himself a Protestant. But he had no peace in his soul, and tried in vain to get it by reading, praying, and “doing his best.” He became a soldier, thinking he should have time when going about the country to read the Testament and hymn-book he kept in his pocket. But his books were stolen, and then he had a dangerous illness, and could neither read, nor do anything else. It was then that God sent one of His servants to visit him, and through the teaching of this good man he learned the blessed news that Christ saves the ungodly, and, believing it, he was saved.
When he got well he went about preaching Christ, and it was then that Count Zinzendorf heard of him, and sent for him to his castle in Saxony. Christian David was the first Moravian who went there, and it was he who began the building of Herrnhuth.
After this he went to preach in Greenland, then a heathen country; and later, after John Wesley’s visit to Herrnhuth, he sold himself as a slave in the West Indies to preach to the Negroes. Other Moravians had also gone to preach in Greenland, and in other parts of the world.
Christian David preached several times during the fortnight that Wesley spent at Herrnhuth. Wesley was willing to learn from this poor carpenter, as he then was, and has told us about his sermons. Perhaps you would like to hear a little of one of them, it helped Wesley much, and if God gives His blessing, it may help you. I suppose it was preached in the chapel, which was, you remember, the upper room in the orphan house. Perhaps you can imagine the large plain room, with the open windows looking out on the green hills, and the fir-woods, and the ripe corn-fields. The quiet orderly Moravians all in their places, the men and boys on one side, the women and girls on the other, looking like beds of flowers with their various colored ribbons, Christian David standing up in his plain workman’s dress. No doubt many peasants around him from the neighboring villages. John Wesley, who never forgot to dress himself like an English clergyman, sitting amongst them, taking notes.
Christian David said: “The word of reconciliation which the Apostles preached, as the foundation of all they taught was, that we are reconciled to God, not by our own works, nor by our own righteousness, but wholly and solely by the blood of Christ. But you will say, ‘Must I not grieve and mourn for my sins? Is not this just and right? Must I not first do this before I can expect God to be reconciled to me?’ I answer, it is just and right. You must have a broken and contrite heart. But then observe, this is not your own work—this is the work of the Holy Ghost. Observe again, this is not the foundation. It is not this by which you are justified; this is not the righteousness; this is no part of the righteousness by which you are reconciled unto God.
The remission of your sins is not owing to this cause either in whole or in part. Your humiliation and contrition have no influence on that. Nay, observe farther, that it may hinder your justification; that is, if you build anything upon it—if you think, ‘I must be so or so contrite; I must grieve more before I can be justified.’ To think this, is to lay your contrition, your grief, your humiliation, for the foundation of your being justified; at least, for a part of the foundation. Therefore it hinders your justification, and a hindrance it is which must be removed. The right foundation is not your contrition (though that is not your own), not your righteousness—nothing of your own—nothing that is wrought in you by the Holy Ghost, but it is something outside of you—the blood of Christ. For this is the word, ‘To him that believeth on God that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.’ See ye not that the foundation is nothing in us? There is no connection between God and the ungodly. They are altogether separate from each other. They have nothing in common. There is nothing, less or more, in the ungodly, to join them to God. Works, righteousness, repentance? No, ungodliness only. This, then, do—go straight to Christ with all your ungodliness. Tell Him, ‘Thou, whose eyes are as a flame of fire searching my heart, seest that I am ungodly. I plead nothing else. I do not say I am humble or contrite, but I am ungodly; therefore, bring me to Him that justifieth the ungodly: let it be Thy blood that saves me; for there is nothing in me but ungodliness.’ Here the wise men of the world and the learned fail to understand. It is foolishness to them. Sin is the only thing that divides men from God. Sin is also the only plea the sinner has—the only reason he can give why the Lamb of God should have compassion on him, and by His blood bring him near to the Father. This is the foundation which can never be moved. By faith we are built upon this foundation, and this faith also is the gift of God.”
As Christian David preached these blessed words, John wrote them down, thankful and glad to have heard them. Never amongst the learned men who had preached at Oxford, had he heard words which so helped and cheered him, as those of this poor German carpenter. Several others helped him, too, by their conversation and example. “I would gladly,” he says, “have spent my life here, but my Master calling me to labor in another part of His vineyard, I was constrained to take my leave of this happy place.” So he said good-bye to dear old Christian David, and his other Herrnhuth friends.
He went from place to place till he again reached Marienborn. He found in Germany that the laws were in some States even stricter than those in England against meetings for prayer or reading the Word. In one place any number exceeding three were forbidden to read together or to worship God, and, sad to say, the Lutheran clergymen were those who chiefly objected to it.
The Count was not at home when Wesley returned to Marienborn. He only saw the countess and her children, and after a short stay returned to England. He landed in London on Saturday, September 16.