PRACTICAL MOVEMENTS INDICATING NEW LIFE.
Jean Paul has wittily said of the providential distribution of the earth
that the land was assigned to the French, the sea to the English, and
the air to the Germans. Popular opinion is not much at variance with
this sentiment as far as the last proprietorship is concerned. But
Germany has been practical withal. Shade of Jean Paul! What if thy
countrymen do live in the air; they have not therefore flown so far away
from the gross nether earth as to lose sight of its misery, nor become
deaf to its wail of sorrow.
German Protestantism has given birth to some of the greatest charities
of the present age, whether we take into the account the number of the
beneficiaries or the faith and self-sacrifice of the founders and their
successors. Even during the period of religious indifference there were
here and there celebrated institutions designed for the amelioration of
the suffering classes. They contended against great opposition, but like
a few stars amid surrounding clouds, their light appeared to all the
greater advantage. Modern philanthropy has received a great impulse by
the labors of Howard and Wilberforce. But the charitable institutions we
speak of were in progress east of the Rhine years before the former
commenced "his voyage of discovery, his circumnavigation of charity, to
collate distresses, to gauge wretchedness, to take dimensions of human
misery;" or before the latter could write in 1807, after so many labors
for the extinction of the Slave Trade, "Oh what thanks do I owe to the
Giver of all good for bringing me in his gracious providence to this
great cause, which at length, after almost nineteen years, labor, is
successful."
Philanthropy stands in intimate relations to revived christian faith.
Sometimes it is its forerunner, at others its co-operator, and always
its follower. Whenever a land is morally prostrate and helpless, the
ministry skeptical or indifferent, and the sects arrayed against each
other, if humane efforts can be discovered, there is hope of better
times. Love of the body of man is the unfailing Baptist-herald
announcing the speedy care of his soul. The only indications of
evangelical faith in Germany at the closing period of the eighteenth
century were the quiet labors of such devoted friends of humanity as
Oberlin, Hamann, Lavater, and Claudius. And philanthropy assumed a more
stalwart form in the same ratio as religion gained strength over the
popular mind.
We have already spoken of the celebrities of Weimar. Students and
aspirants to fame from all parts of the Continent went thither, hoping
to enjoy at least a few conversations or perhaps a subsequent
correspondence with one of the ruling literary divinities. To have a
word of advice from Goethe, and to hear Schiller read an ode in his own
study was a memory of life-long value. Among the most venturesome of
this class was John Falk, once the humble son of a poor wig-maker of
Dantzic, but afterwards the Halle student, the novelist, satirist, and
poet.[85] He received high compliments from Wieland, and was admitted
into an intimacy with Goethe which resulted in his publication of the
latter's _Conversations_. He gradually gained public favor, and his
elevation to the society and attention of the literary regency of Weimar
was no ordinary testimonial to capacity and prospects.
By and by the sound of war was heard in that town, and with war came its
many evils. Napoleon having proved victorious at Jena, his legions were
quartered on the poor and rich through all the surrounding country. The
Duchy of Weimar, with its population of only one hundred thousand, were
required to support for five months nine hundred thousand of the enemy's
soldiers, and five hundred thousand horses. The air was rent with the
cries of orphans and poverty-stricken widows. Sorrow reigned in every
household, and the town of Weimar became a prominent part of the funeral
scene. But, unaccountable as it may appear, the resident literati were
not much disturbed. Living so near the top of Parnassus, they would not
listen to the storms below. Goethe, the acknowledged prince, wrote as
zealously as ever in his villa-garden, and it will be a lasting stigma
on his fame in his own fatherland that he chose "the moment of his
country's deepest ruin to write an exquisite classic story."
But Falk was touched by what he saw. He could not be contented with
literary dreams while widows were dying around him of starvation, and
children were growing up in wickedness. He remembered some words said to
him by the burgomasters of Dantzic when they met one day in the town
hall, and an old member arose and told him that they had concluded to
send him to the University and pay his own expenses, adding at the close
of his remarks: "One thing only, if a poor child should ever knock at
your door, think it is we, the dead, the old, gray-headed burgomasters
and councilors of Dantzic, and do not turn us away." At last the poor
child was at his door. Henceforth Falk's life was spent in reforming
criminal youth. "Come in," said he to the vagrants, "come in; God has
taken my four angels, and spared me that I might be your father."
Falk established his Reformatory from a pure love of humanity, and of
Him who came to seek and save the lost. His method was simple. The lads
whom he sought out and who came to him were desperately wicked. No
sooner were they within his institute than he treated them as his own
children. The two words so often on his lips reveal the principle of his
discipline: "Love overcometh." He used no harshness, and would have no
locks on his doors. He said, "We forge all our chains on the heart, and
scorn those that are laid on the body; for it is written 'If the Son
shall make you free ye shall be free indeed.'" "His mind was hung all
around with pictures," says Mr. Stevenson, who has furnished us with the
following beautiful specimen of Falk's picturesque manner of teaching
great truths to those who fell under his care.
When one of the boys, on a certain evening, had invoked this divine
blessing on their supper, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and bless
what thou hast provided," another boy looked up and asked,
"Do tell me why the Lord Jesus never comes? We ask Him every day to sit
with us, and he never comes."
"Dear child," replied Father Falk, "only believe and you may be sure he
will come, for he does not despise our invitation."
"I shall set him a seat," said the boy; and just then, a knock being
heard at the door, a poor apprentice came for admission. He was
received, and invited to take the vacant chair at the table.
Then said the inquiring boy again, "Jesus could not come, and so he sent
this poor man in his place: is that it?"
"Yes, dear child, that is just it. Every piece of bread and every drink
of water that we give to the poor, or the sick, or the prisoners, for
Jesus' sake, we give to Him. 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'"
Falk's benefactions were of varied character. He organized a system for
the cessation of beggary in Weimar; established a training institute,
the _Johanneum_, for instructors of the youth under his charge; sent
forth many hundreds of the inmates of his _Reformatory_ to become useful
members of society; wrote earnest religious songs which the people will
sing for generations; died uttering the words,
"God,--popular,--faith,--short,--Christ,--end;" and was borne to the
grave by the children whom he had blessed. His resting-place is now
marked by words which his own pen had written:
"Underneath this linden tree
Lies John Falk; a sinner he,
Saved by Christ's blood and mercy.
Born upon the East Sea strand,
Yet he left home, friends, and land,
Led to Weimar by God's hand.
When the little children round
Stand beside this grassy mound,
Asking, who lies underground?--
Heavenly Father, let them say,
Thou hast taken him away;
In the grave is only clay."
Other philanthropists followed in the footsteps of Falk. What he did for
children has been succeeded by greater humanitarian movements in behalf
of the criminal youth, and abandoned and helpless adults. Theodore
Fliedner was pastor of a congregation of operatives in Kaiserswerth, in
1826. Very soon after his installation they were reduced almost to
beggary by the bankruptcy of their employers. He refused to leave them
in their distress, and devised plans for their relief. One step led to
another. He became the friend of not only the poor of that town, but of
all the adjacent country. To become more useful at home he traveled
through foreign countries. He described his visit to London in the
following brief but characteristic words, "_I have seen Newgate and many
other prisons._"
At last he matured a settled plan. It was the amelioration of the sick
poor. The largest house in the town being for sale, he secured its
possession, and on the 13th October, 1836, opened his _Deaconess
Institute_. The enemies of Fliedner called it a hospital, and looked
with aversion upon it. The beginning was very unpromising. But the
founder never hesitated, and the close of the first year of the history
of the _Institute_ revealed the fact that it had received forty sick
persons, and that these were nursed by seven deaconesses. Every day gave
new strength to the enterprise; and soon there were more of a similar
character springing up in Holland, Switzerland, France, and other
countries, but all dependent upon the parent at Kaiserswerth for
properly trained nurses and instructors. The organization of new
institutes at a great distance, imposed severe labor on Fliedner, but it
was cheerfully undergone for the sake of the great cause so dear to him.
It was to advance its interests that he came to America, and afterwards
went to Jerusalem, to superintend the establishment of branch Institutes
of Deaconesses. They are now in prosperous existence in Constantinople,
Smyrna, Alexandria, Bucharest, and Florence,--not to mention many more
in the Protestant lands of the Continent.
But it is in Kaiserswerth that the Deaconesses are trained for their
humanitarian life-work. Of this institution Mr. Stevenson says: "It
consists of an Hospital for men, women, and children; a Lunatic Asylum
for females; an Orphanage for girls; a Refuge for discharged female
convicts; a Magdalen Asylum; a Normal Seminary for governesses; an
Infant School; a Chapel; two shops; a publishing office; a museum;
residence for the Deaconesses; and a Home for the infirm. Besides, as
the property of the Institution, there are a home for maid-servants in
Berlin; an Orphanage at Altdorf; the Deaconess Home at Jerusalem; the
Seminary at Smyrna; the Hospital at Alexandria; and the Seminary at
Bucharest. The number of these Christian women is about three hundred
and twenty, of whom upwards of one hundred are at Kaiserswerth, or at
private service, and the rest scattered over seventy-four stations in
Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Upwards of eight hundred teachers
have been sent out to educate many thousand children. The number
annually in hospital is over six hundred, and upwards of fifty families
are supplied with sick-nurses; in the Asylum there are twenty-four; in
the Orphanage, thirty; in the Infant School, fifty; in the Refuge,
twenty; in the Seminary, fifty. The number dependent on the Institution
for daily bread is between seven and eight hundred."[86]
In addition to the enterprises of Falk and Fliedner there has recently
arisen another, which, by virtue of the character of its organization
and the number of its supporters, has not only promoted humanitarian
movements, but has contributed largely to the restoration of a vigorous
evangelical faith, the suppression of sectarian hostility, the stability
of the civil government, and the decrease of the power of the state over
the church. We refer to the Evangelical Church Diet which held its first
session in 1848, and now occupies a wide field of operations.
While political revolution was imminent and no one knew when or where it
would burst in violence, and while the atheistic and socialistic views
of the living generation of skeptics were imbuing the minds of many of
the young and gifted, it became a matter of serious concern whether or
not the tide of religious and political destruction could be stayed. The
prospect was forbidding. The state had its full burden in watching its
own vitality; the church was already sore with the stripes of
skepticism. The crisis was upon the land. The work of written apologies
for Christianity had been faithfully discharged, and no one could find
fault with those heroes who had rushed to the rescue of the evangelical
and apostolic oracles. But the time for writing books was now past, and
important concerted practical measures were necessary to be taken, or
the day would be lost and generations might be required to repair the
damage.
For a number of years the Pastoral Conferences, composed of small
circles of devoted ministers and laymen, had been in existence, and kept
their attention carefully directed to the necessities of the times. The
increased danger made the members doubly watchful. In view of the
exigency, some of the leaders arrived at the conclusion to call a church
assembly of all the leading evangelical sects, to take such action as
the peculiar condition of theology, religion, and politics might
require. During the first six months of the revolutionary year of 1848,
three of these pastoral conferences held their sessions, during which
the propriety of convening a general assembly was discussed. The
conference at Sandhof, on the 21st June, was the occasion of serious
embarrassment. It was well nigh concluded that the whole enterprise
would prove a failure, but Dr. Bethmann-Hollweg arose, and by a few
stirring words infused hope and zeal into every member. "It is the Lord,
my friends," he said, "who builds the church. Never forget this. Whether
the assembly spoken of will accomplish what we desire and hope, no one
can tell. Our resolution must be an act of faith. Like Peter, we shall
have to walk on the sea; but we know also that the Lord does not suffer
any one to perish who trusts in him. If we look merely upon ourselves
and upon the scattered, distracted, and weak members of the church, we
would have indeed to despair. But if we raise our eyes in faith to him
who is the Lord, we will venture it."
The conference yielded to this earnest appeal, and a general assembly
was called, to convene at Wittenberg, in the following autumn. On the
21st of September, the appointed day, five hundred of the leading
evangelical theologians and laymen of Germany were present, to adopt
whatever measures might be thought best to avert existing and impending
evils. They met in the same old gothic temple on whose door, three
centuries previously, Luther had nailed his ninety-five theses. The
exercises opened with prayer, and the singing of Luther's hymn, "Eine
feste Burg ist unser Gott," which has been thus translated by Carlyle:
"A safe stronghold our God is still,
A trusty shield and weapon;
He'll help us clear from all the ill
That hath us now o'ertaken.
The ancient Prince of Hell
Hath risen with purpose fell;
Strong mail of craft and power
He weareth in this hour,--
On earth is not his fellow.
With force of arms we nothing can,
Full soon were we down-ridden;
But for us fights the proper man,
Whom God himself hath bidden.
Ask ye, Who is this same?
_Christ Jesus_ is his name,
The Lord Zebaoth's Son;
He, and no other one,
Shall conquer in the battle.
And were the world all devils o'er
And watching to devour us,
We lay it not to heart so sore,
Not they can overpow'r us.
And let the prince of ill
Look grim as e'er he will,
He harms us not a whit,
For why? His doom is writ--
A word shall quickly slay him.
God's word for all their craft and force,
One moment will not linger,
But spite of hell shall have its course,
'Tis written by His finger.
And though they take our life,
Goods, honor, children, wife,
Yet is their profit small;
These things shall vanish all,
The Church of God remaineth."
The Church Diet, now in its first session, was in direct contrast with
the revolutionary outbreaks in Frankfort and other cities. True and firm
hearts were within the walls of the Schlosskirche. Earnestness,
seriousness, humility, and faith were depicted on the countenances of
the members. Those men had been steadfast in the past, and were now
intent upon the immediate and utter destruction of the worship of
reason. Doctrinal differences were laid aside and apparently forgotten.
Men who had been contending with pen and paper for many years now
grasped each other's hand in friendship, and, burying their doctrinal
animosities, stood close together in a common effort to reconstruct the
temple of evangelical faith for the benefit of their countrymen. The
Lutheran could not be distinguished from his Reformed brother, nor the
member of the United Church from the Moravian. That denominational union
and fraternal intercourse which had been foreshadowed in 1817, were now
thoroughly consummated for the first time.
Without, the heavens were dark with the portents of impending social
convulsions. The signs were unmistakable. The masses were intoxicated
with a wild frenzy seldom, if ever, surpassed. They were intent upon the
destruction of all constitutional authority. Freedom from the restraints
of law and religion, the ruling thought of the Continent during 1848,
was their sole object. It was clear that if the populace could overthrow
the governments they would not be long in putting an end to all the
outward and traditional observances of religion. For the middle and
lower classes had not as yet become permeated by the healthful leaven
which had been introduced into the theological circles by the apologetic
antagonists of Strauss and his compeers. The wisest statesman could not
foresee one day's deeds of that skeptical, revolutionary rabble, which
had already lost its self-control. Blood had actually been shed.
Barricades had been reared in the streets of the larger cities. The
universities were pouring forth their hundreds of students and
professors, to take part in the conflict. The revolutionary crowds were
choosing their leaders; the royalist forces were everywhere fortifying;
princes were concealing their plate and strengthening their
hiding-places. This was the social and political scene while the five
hundred were praying, singing, counseling, and comforting each other
over the sleeping dust of Luther and Melanchthon.
In the days of the imprisoned Peter, fetters were strong, prison doors
well-barred, and the four quaternions of soldier guards faithful; but
all these safeguards could not resist the force which lay in the
unceasing prayers of the church. So with the revolutionary movements of
the people in 1848, as opposed to the Christian faith of the members of
the Church Diet. That assembly contributed more than all other human
agencies to save the German states from utter political and social ruin,
and the German church from a longer night and a fiercer storm than any
through which it had passed.
The practical result of the session was an invitation to all the
Protestant churches of Germany to observe the fifth of the coming
November, the Sunday following the anniversary of the Reformation, as a
day of humiliation for past unfaithfulness and prayer for the revival
of true religion throughout the land. It was resolved to form a
confederation of all the German churches adhering to the confessions of
the Reformation, in order to promote denominational unity, be a mutual
defense against Rationalism and indifference, advance social reforms,
protect the rights of the church against the encroachments of civil
authority, and secure a more intimate fellowship with evangelical bodies
outside of Germany.
The Church Diet has steadily enlarged its sphere of operation and
gathered strength and influence. Besides attracting great throngs of
spectators from the surrounding states, its members have attained to the
number of two thousand on more than one occasion. The providential
prosperity which has attended its history is the best proof of the real
demand for its institution and for the valuable purposes it has already
served. At every session the most important questions of the day are
discussed with freedom and always with great ability. Among other themes
which have come up for careful attention, we may mention the relation of
church and state, the sanctity of the Sabbath, divorce and the oath, the
relations of Protestantism to Romanism, all forms of skepticism, and the
inner organization of the church,--such as the renewal of the diaconate,
the possession of church estates, and the abrogation or retainment of
ecclesiastical discipline.[87]
During the first session of the Church Diet a man arose to speak, who
indicated by his earnest manner that he had been thinking deeply, and
that the subject of his remarks was a matter of no ordinary importance.
It was John Henry Wichern, founder of the Rough House, near Hamburg. He
had just returned from his laborious tour through the districts of
Silesia, which, in addition to the demoralizing revolutionary
excitement, were stricken by famine and fever. Whole villages were
depopulated, not enough inhabitants being left alive to bury the dead.
Grief and despair reigned everywhere. The number of orphans had grown so
large that Wichern and his few assistants, with all their experience and
organizing power, were unable to remedy their immediate wants. The scene
having made a profound impression upon his mind, he unburdened his heart
to the assembly. He described what he had witnessed, pictured the evils
of his people in their true light, and declared that the church must
either do more Christian missionary work at home, or God's curse would
rest upon it. He therefore called upon the Diet to incorporate the Inner
Mission into its system as a necessary measure to improve the religious
and social prosperity of the country. He spoke as one sent from God. The
assembly was mastered, and the reformer's plan adopted. In all the
subsequent meetings of the Diet, about one half of its session, or two
whole days, have been occupied in the management of the Inner Mission,
and in discussions on the best means to secure its increased
effectiveness.
But Wichern was not a stranger to the members of the assembly. The
beneficial results of his labors at the Rough House had already been
felt throughout Europe. An old thatched cottage, about three miles from
Hamburg, was the nucleus of his work. He sought out wild, abandoned
boys, and aimed to bring them within the fold of domestic Christian
influence. He solicited no contributions, but, adopting the method of
Müller, of Bristol, England, prayed to God that funds necessary for his
great purpose might be forthcoming by voluntary benefactions. An
associate was so struck with the repeated bestowal of the needed supply
that he exclaimed, "Just look! We no sooner make our purchase in faith,
than the Lord stands behind us with the purse to pay the bill."
Gradually the Rough House was surrounded with other buildings, while the
managers and those under their care became very numerous. The
institution was no longer a local but a national charity. It was a
centre of light for the abandoned of all lands. In 1856 there were two
hundred and sixty of its reformatories in existence, and the work of
establishing new ones was going on rapidly in Europe and other parts of
the world.
Of the gratifying results of the training at the Rough House, Wichern
says: "A glance round the circle of those who were children of the House
carries us into every region of the world, even into the heart of
Australia. We find them in every grade and social position; one is a
clergyman, another a student of theology, and a third a student of law;
others are, or were, teaching. We find among them officers in our German
armies, agriculturists, merchants in Germany, and at least in two other
European countries, partners in honorable firms. They are presidents of
industrial institutions, skillful landscape-gardeners, lithographists,
and xylographists; artisans scattered through many towns, and wandering
apprentices in every conceivable craft. One is a sea captain, some are
pilots, others sailors who have taken one voyage after another and seen
all the seas of the world. They are colonists in America and Australia,
and both there and at home there are happy fathers and mothers, training
their children righteously, and building up their family life after the
fashion they have learned here. And there are men-servants and
women-servants and day laborers; and, besides those who are better off,
there are also the poorer, and such as are burdened by care either with
or without their own fault. Besides, a considerable number have died at
home and abroad (very many, in proportion, of its earlier girls); and
some of those who went out to sea have never returned; probably many
have found a sea-grave; some have disappeared; some suddenly turn up
after long years have passed. I recall one who left this House twenty
years ago, and of whom I heard nothing for the last ten years, until he
has now notified himself as a well-doing master-artisan, and a happy
father, in a distant town."
The Inner Mission, of which the Rough House was the origin, is not
simply a philanthropic institution. Wichern distinctly discards this
limitation, by saying that its object is to do within the sphere of
Christendom what the church is endeavoring to accomplish in heathen
lands, "the propagation of pure evangelical faith and the relief of
physical suffering,"[88] as far as it may be possible to reach these
ends. "It aims at a relief of all kinds of spiritual and temporal misery
by works of faith and charity; at a revival of nominal Christendom and a
general reform of society on the basis of the gospel and the creed of
the Reformation. It is Christian philanthropy and charity applied to the
various deep-rooted evils of society, as they were brought to light so
fearfully in Germany by the revolutionary outbreaks of 1848. It
comprises the care of the poor, the sick, the captive, and prisoner, the
laboring classes, the traveling journeyman, the emigrants, the
temperance movement, the efforts for the promotion of a better
observance of the Lord's day, and similar reforms, so greatly needed in
the churches of Europe."
But while the German church has been attentive to its work at home, it
has not been negligent of its duty toward those beyond the pale of
Christendom. As long ago as the beginning of the present century there
was a missionary school organized by Janicke at Berlin. Others have been
established at brief intervals since that time, while missionary
societies under the auspices of both the Lutheran and Reformed churches
have arisen in a number of the cities and larger towns.
One of the pioneers of the foreign mission enterprise was Gossner, whose
life, at first full of reverses and disappointment, has lately come to a
triumphant and brilliant close. He was originally a Roman Catholic
priest, but his Pietistic inclination precluded him from the favor of
his less devout brethren. He went from one city to another, tarrying
only a few years in each. From St. Petersburg he went to Berlin, thence
to Hamburg, and afterwards to Leipzig. While in the last city he quietly
left the Romish fold and took orders in the Protestant church. He became
pastor of the Bethlehem chapel in Munich. His effective life began
there, though he was then fifty-six years of age. His ministrations were
fascinating, and the people came from all sides to hear him preach.
On a certain occasion a few young men, who were animated by a missionary
spirit, went to him for counsel. They had been turned away from the
missionary seminary as unfit for the service. He declined to encourage
them in their views. Still they came in increasing numbers. Finally he
asked them, "What shall I do with you? Where shall I send you? I don't
know; I can do nothing for you." Their reply was, "Only pray with us;
that can do no harm; if we can't go we must even stay. But if it is
God's work, and his holy will that we go, he will open the door in his
time."
Gossner yielded, and instructed them. But their number enlarged so
rapidly that he was compelled to secure teachers for them. Though he was
then at that time of life when most men think of bringing their labors
to a close, he laid his plans as if he were exempt from death for
centuries. He founded his first mission when sixty-five years of age. In
1838 he sent out eleven missionaries to Australia. The following year
some were despatched to India; since which time this zealous servant of
God has established missions among the Germans in the American Western
States; on the islands of the Southern seas; in Central India; on
Chatham Island near New Zealand; among the wild Kohls at Chota Nagpore;
on the Gold Coast; and in Java, Macassar, and New Guinea. He employed no
agencies; was his own corresponding secretary; superintended the
instruction of all his missionaries; and died at the age of eighty-five,
as full of youthful feeling and perseverance as when a student at
Augsburg. The instructions he gave to his missionaries declare the
sources of his own success. "Believe," said he, "hope, love, pray, burn,
waken the dead! Hold fast by prayer. Wrestle like Jacob! Up, up, my
brethren! The Lord is coming, and to every one he will say, 'Where hast
thou left the souls of these heathen? with the devil?' Oh, swiftly seek
these souls, and enter not without them into the presence of the Lord."
Gossner's beautiful motto, found in his diary, was, "Pereat Adam! Vivat
Jesus!"
The missionary labors of Louis Harms, of Hermannsburg, kingdom of
Hanover, demand the serious attention of every friend of humanity. The
small beginning of his enterprise, the unexpected and unsolicited means
placed at his disposal, the zeal with which a plain rural parish has
devoted itself to the missionary work, and the remarkable fruits
attending every new step, prove both the power of a single heart when
imbued with a great thought, and the sad truth that the church has
hitherto buried in a napkin some of the most valuable talents committed
to her keeping. Harms labored among his own congregation until every
family became earnest and active in the service of God. By and by their
awakened fervor craved new avenues of usefulness. In 1849 twelve men
presented themselves to their pastor for the missionary work. This was
the beginning, and God has so provided for every emergency that the
entire enterprise has been favored with marked prosperity.
Missionaries having been sent out from time to time,--all previously
trained under the careful superintendence of Harms himself,--it was at
last suggested that a missionary ship be built by the Hermannsburg
congregation. The timbers were soon on the stocks, the vessel completed,
and its charge on board. That boat has since become a messenger of light
to many heathen minds. The missionary work of Harms has cost nearly one
hundred and nineteen thousand crowns. It is still in vigorous
prosecution, the parish increasing every year both in its gifts and in
its capacity to give. The stations established in heathen lands,
especially New Hermannsburg in Africa, have been judiciously selected,
successfully conducted, and are now centres of truth to large areas of
unevangelized territory.
The return of spiritual life to the German church is indicated by other
useful agencies than those immediately connected with humanitarian and
missionary work. Societies for the distribution of Bibles and cheap
religious literature have been organized in Berlin, Hamburg,
Frankfort-on-the-Main, and all the larger cities.
The Gustavus Adolphus Union was instituted for the extension of
Protestantism without regard to sectarian differences. Deriving its name
from the illustrious Swedish champion of Protestantism, who died on the
victorious plain of Lützen, its constant object has been to continue
what he began. Its principal scene of labor has been among the dispersed
Protestants who are living in abject poverty and wretchedness throughout
Roman Catholic countries. The Union seeks them out, brings them to the
light, and supplies their necessities. Then it bands them into a
congregation, and, whenever the laws permit, supplies them with the
gospel and religious literature. It goes into every open door,
contributing the renewal of religious vitality both by forming new
churches and strengthening feeble ones. For a time it was seriously
impeded by the participation of radical Rationalists; but they having
been judiciously sifted out, it has since pursued a steady career of
usefulness.
Prelate Zimmermann became superintendent in 1849, since which time its
receipts have increased and its field of operation widened. Its
twenty-second session was held in 1865, in Dresden, Saxony. The receipts
of the previous year amounted to one hundred and ninety-five thousand
thalers, which were expended for the relief of seven hundred and
twenty-three churches or communities. One of the late reports shows that
of the societies benefited by its agency, one was in Portugal, two in
Italy, one in Algiers, four in the United States, four in Switzerland,
sixteen in France, thirty-four in Poland, fifty-six in Hungary, one
hundred and nine in the upper provinces of Austria, and the remainder in
the other German states.
These enterprises do not interfere with each other. Every one has its
own path of duty and its individual attractions. But the amount of good
effected, not only by those we have mentioned, but by others which are
every year taking form, is of incalculable influence upon indifference
and Rationalism. Their ministry is beautiful in the extreme, for they
are restoring what has been nearly destroyed. One night, while John Huss
was awaiting martyrdom in the dungeon at Constance, he dreamed that he
had painted pictures of Christ around the walls of his little Bethlehem
oratory in Prague. By and by he saw them all erased by the violent hands
of the angry pope and his bishops. While in great distress at his ill
fortune, he dreamed again. But this time there entered a large number of
accomplished artists, who restored all the pictures to more than their
original beauty. Then there came a great concourse of people, who,
having surrounded the painters, cried out: "Now let the popes and
bishops come; they shall never efface them more!"
The German church is now using its artist-hand in reproducing the
long-erased images of beauty and faith. Every believer within her own
fold and throughout Christendom should unite in the solemn protest that
no bright color shall be erased again.
FOOTNOTES:
[85] _Praying and Working._ By Rev. W. F. Stevenson, of Dublin. This is
by far the best source of information on the leading charities of
Germany. Our high appreciation of its value is indicated by the use made
of its contents in the preparation of our account of Falk and other
humanitarians treated in this chapter.
[86] _Praying and Working_, pp. 212-213.
[87] Schaff; _Germany, &c._, pp. 200-212.
[88] Herzog's _Real Encyclopædie_. Art. _Inner Mission_.