Christian life in Germany : as seen in the state and the church

tihxaxy of ^he t:heolo0ical ^emmarjp

PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY
PRESENTED BY

The Library
of
Benjamin Breckinridge War field

EX 8063 .G4 W5 1896
Williams, Edward F. 1832-

1919.
Christian life in Germany

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2009 with funding from

Princeton Theological Seminary Library

http://www.archive.org/details/christianlifeingOOwill

CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

AS SEEN IN THE

STATE AND THE CHURCH

CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

AS SEEN IN THE

STATE AND THE CHURCH

BY EDWARD F. WILLIAMS, D. D.

Western Editor of The Congregationalist.

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

NEW YORK .-. CHICAGO .-. TORONTO

Publishers of Evangelical Literature

Copyrighted 1896, by Fleming H. Reveu Company.

PREFACE.

The number of English speaking youth in the
Universities and Technical Schools in Germany is in-
creasing every year. It is interesting to know what
kind of religious influences are within their reach even
if in their student life they do not yield to these influ-
ences. Great Britain and America owe a debt of
gratitude to Germany for the literature she has fur-
nished their people, for the contributions she has
made to Christian song, and for her devotion to
higher Christian learning. In the attention given to
the results of special studies, particularly to the re-
sults of the BO=called Higher Criticism, both countries
are in danger of overlooking equally important con-
tributions in practical Christian work. Few people
either in Great Britain or in America realize the ex-
tent and importance of the Foreign Missionary work
which the German Churches are carrying on, or of
that still more wonderful home work which is em-
braced under the general term Inner Mission (die
innere Mission).

In the present work no attempt has been made to
describe unchristian Germany. There is such a
Germany. Some of its features are necessarily
sketched in this volume. No special emphasis has
been laid on the effect of critical studies on Christian
faith and life. Not much has been said about the rela-
tion of Church and State. It has been assumed that

6

e CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GEttMANY

one familiar with tlie blessings which grow out of com-
plete separation between Church and State would
recognize the difficulties under which the German
Churches exist, and make allowance for them. It has
been assumed also that anyone who might be inter-
ested in these pages would be familiar with the fact
that the Churches, while Lutheran in doctrine, and
enjoying considerable liberty in certain directions,
are yet closely allied to the State, and must render
their final reports and make their ultimate appeals to
officers whom the State appoints. The purpose of
this book is to set forth in as few words as possible,
the real condition of the Protestant Churches in
Germany, to describe their present spiritual condi-
tion, and to furnish data on which to form an opinion
of their probable future. What is here said is the re-
sult of careful study of these Churches in their own
land, and of reports which those who are familiar
with their condition have made. Loosely defined, the
plan of the book may be said to be fourfold: first to
describe some of the methods by which the German
people are trained for their duties in Church and
State, and to show how the character of the govern-
ment, the military and aristocratic spirit of the na-
tion, affect Christian activity; secondly to furnish
material for determining the actual condition of the
spiritual life of the National Churches by setting
forth in some detail what their members are doing,
through Foreign Missions, for the world at large, and,
through the Inner Mission, for the needy at home;
thirdly to describe the forces, and their training, by
which this home work is carried on; and finally to
sketch the social and moral conditions of the country

PREFACE 1

and to point out their effect on Christian life,
and upon the influence of the Church, from the year
1860, or from the time when William I. became a
prominent figure in Prussian politics, to the latest
accessible data under his grandson William II.

CONTENTS.
Chapter I. — General Survey*

Germany a Christian nation — This the universal belief — Bible
instruction in schools — Baptism and confirmation the privilege
of every child — Regeneration an individual afiEair — Forme of
government influence — Forms Christianity takes — The parish
the unit of the National Church — The Cultus Minister — Relation
of Emperor to the Church — The military spirit and the Church —
The Church chiefly an institution for the clergy — Love of forma
and order — Social distinctions — Marriage — Honor paid to merit
— Rare intellectual ability — Poverty of Germany — General con-
dition of the wage=earner — Less favorable than in America —
Lack of neatness in villages — The homes of the poor — Friendliness
of the laboring classes — Socialists — Education in poorer classes
— Character of their reading — Public meetings of Socialists —
Discontent not a bad sign — Promise in Socialism — False notions
of dignitaries — Inability of the higher classes to understand the
lower — The middle class — Its influence — Its general condition —
The difficulty of Christian work 19

Chapter II. — The Intellectttal Trainingf of the People.

Standards of intellectual attainment — The character of period-
ical literature — The newspapers — Their character and circula-
tion— Honor shown to authors — Advantage of university men —
Specialists — Duties of Cultus Minister — Relation of the Church
and the School to the State — Kinds of schools — Volksschule —
Realschule — Gymnasia — Schools for girls — Technical schools
— Grade of instruction in the Public schools — Buildings — Rooms
— Teachers — Hours — Religion — Apprentice schools — Seminaries
for teachers — Course of study in the Gymnasium — Realschule —
University — Faculties — Examination of professional students,
law, medicine, ministry — The Preachers' Seminary — Candidates

9

10 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

— Settlement— Salary— Present condition of German schools—-
System of education criticized— Girls' schools inadequate. . . S8

Chapter III. — The Moral and Religious Life of Germany*

Difficulty of obtaining accurate estimates of moral and religious
life in a foreign country — Difiference in moral standards- Effect
of tradition, of birth, and of education, on religious belief — Few
confessed Atheists — Nominal Christians — Relative numbers of
Roman Catholics and Protestants— Toleration of sects— Their
influence— Confirmation the natural order — Intellectual appre-
hension of religious truth — Christian duty — The word Christian
partially defined — Prominence of the intellectual in Christian
experience— Emotion distrusted — Theological professors and
students and attendance at Church — Sunday — Lack of Church
accommodation in the larger cities — Recent zeal in Church
building in Berlin — Example of the royal family in the honor
shown to the Church — Burials without religious rites — Poverty
— Indifference — Socialism — The Church neither dead nor indif-
ferent— Zeal of Romanism — Influence on Protestantism — The
pastor and his parish — Sunday-schools and Young Peoples' So-
cieties— The relation of the sexes prior to marriage — Influence of
other countries on religious life in Germany — Diversity of opin-
ion, with substantial agreement as to fundamentals — Intellectual
activity demands fields for criticism — Moral life and its problems
— Intemperance — The Social Evil — Illegitimate children — Influ-
ence of the Army on morals — Respect for law — OfiScial honesty
— Patriotism ■. . 52

Chapter IV. — Social and Industrial Movements.

Social and industrial life as related to religion — Faith in God
simplifies problems in Government — The majority of social
democrats not revolutionary — German character — Willing recog-
nition of divine authority — Habits of life — In the country, cat-
tle and the family often under the same roof— Character of the
dwellings in the city — Rents — Cost of living — Tendency to dis-
play— Restraints on the free association of young men and
women of marriageable age — An engagement— Large families —
Love of parents and children — Birthdays — Easter — Christmas —

CONTENDS 11

National games — Beer gardens and music — Manufactures and
congested populations — Strikes — Government ownership of rail-
ways and employment of labor — Emigration — Population as
compared with the size and nature of the country — Religion and
the settlement of industrial problems — Experiments in religion
— Laborers classified — Causes of the present depression — The
Church and public opinion 61

Chapter V. — Stimolatingf and Modifying Influences on
Christian Life*

Formalism at the beginning of the century — Attitude toward the
Scriptures and the Church — Themes for the pulpit taken from
Natural rather than from Revealed Theology — Reasons for this
— Causes of reaction — Pietism and the Moravians — Wars of in-
dependence— The writings of Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Schelling,
Schleiermacher, Goethe, Schiller, and Lessing — The historical and
critical scholars of the last half«century — Union of the Reformed
and Lutheran Churches, 1817 — Christian journalism — Continua-
tion of intellectual and spiritual forces set in motion early in
the century — Berlin in 1818 — Constitutional Government — Inner
Mission and Wittenberg — New responsibility with victories of
1866 and 1870-71 — Ritschl and his school — Principles— Genesis
— Future — Church building movement through Gustav Adolphus
Verein, 1832 — The Luther celebration, 1867 — Dedication of the
restored Schlosskirche at Wittenberg, Oct. 31, 1892 — Scepticism
among scholars — Real condition of the Church — Hope for the
future 71

Chapter VI. — Foreign Missions*

The charge that the German Church is destitute of spiritual
life — Tests of Spirituality — Benevolence — Consecrated lives —
Two great missions of the Church, Outer and Inner — Author-
ities for Outer or Foreign Missions — Origin of Foreign Mis-
sions in Germany — Franoke — Frederick IV. of Denmark — The
Danish^Halle Society — Scene and results of its work — Zinzendorf
and the Moravians — Report of Moravian Missionary work at
Herrnhut, 1882 — Origin of the present interest in missions —

12 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Formation of Missionary Societies — Control and support — In-
dependent of State and Church authority — Voluntary move-
ments— Persons sent out — Selection and training — Number of
societies — Total income — Number of missionaries — Number of
persons gathered in Christian communities in foreign lands.

History of societies according to the order of organization —
Moravian Missionary Society — The Basel Society — The Berlin
Missionary Society or Berlin I — Society of the Rhine and West-
phalia, or the Barmen Society — The North Dutch, or Bremer
Society — The Leipzig Evangelical Society, the heir to the Dan-
ish'Halle Society — The Gossner Missionary Union, or Berlin II
— East Friesland Missionary Society, a helper of the foregoing
Society — Hermannsburg Mission, or "The Peasants' Mission" —
The Pilgrim Mission — The Jerusalem Mission — The Schleswig'
Holstein Missionary Society, or the Breklumer Society — The
Neuendettelsau Missionary Establishment — The General Evan-
gelical Missionary Union (liberal) for work among cultured peo-
ples— Society for Evangelical Lutheran Missions in East Africa —
Evangelical Society for Dutch East Africa, Berlin III,

Women's Societies — Berlin Women's Mission for China —
Women's Union for the education of women in the East —
Kaiserswerth Missions for the support of deaconesses — Growing
interest in missions — Principles upon which missions are con-
ducted— Preaching — Translation of the Scriptures — Creation of
a Christian literature in the vernacular — Training of children-
Establishment of self=supporting communities — Training of na-
tive pastors and teachers — Methods of procedure in the foreign
field — A call to missionary service — Management of missionary
societies — Sacrifices demanded in foreign fields — Missionary
literature — Why missionary work did not begin earlier — History
of missionary enterprise in Germany — Why not one great mis-
sionary society — Present plan best — More income needed. . . 84

Chapter VIL — Sketch of Events Leading: to the Or gfan-
ization and Establishment of the INNER MISSION.

Profitless doctrinal discussions after the death of Luther —
Pietism — Spener and Francke — Rationalism — Condition of the
Church during the eighteenth century and through the first

CONTENTS 13

quarter of the nineteenth century — Revival of spiritual religion
and its causes — Effect of this revival on home work — Exampla
of William I. and Bismarck — The Halle Orphan Asylum — Benev-
olence from A. D. 1650 to 1835 — Fraucke at Leipzig and at
Halle — Rationalism follows Pietism — The ministry and benevo-
lence— Study of previous attempts to alleviate human suffering
— The New Testament in the primitive Church — The Martyr
Church — From the fourth to the end of the sixth century — Be-
nevolence in the Middle Ages.

Charles the Great — Benevolence at the time of the Reforma-
tion— Merit in begging — Instances of rare benevolence — Efforts
through education and personal help to destroy the cause of pov-
erty— Halle — Beata Sturm at Stuttgart — Zahn and the Wolters-
dorf Brothers — Urlsperger of Augsburg — Kiessling of Nuremberg
— Christian Henry Zeller — Christian Frederick Spittler — Baron
von Kottwitz — Volmarstein — Amalie Sieveking, the Hamburg
Tabitha — Gossner — Christian Gottlob Barth — Wichern — Fliedner
— William LOhe of Neuendettelsau — Charles Kapff — Werner —
Scope of the Inner Mission 114

Chapter VIIL — Preventive Methods Employed by the

Inner Mission.

Personal care of little children — Schools for little children —
Sunday=schools — Orphan Houses — Special establishments for
the education and preservation of youth — Servants' training
schools and homes — Homes for factory girls and other industrial
workers — Sunday and Young Women's Societies — Homes for
boys away from school — Inns for homes, chiefly for working men
— Education Societies — Supplemental afternoon manual training
schools for boys — Young Peoples' Societies 140

Chapter IX* — The Preservation of th<»e who are in

Danger.

The building of Churches and the formation of parishes
through the Gustav Adolphus Verein — Origin of the name — Aim
and growth — The Lutheran Gotteskasten, less liberal thanG.A. V.
— Methods of work — Summary of results — Societies for the sup-

U CHRISTIAN LIFE W GERMANY

port of children while preparing for Confirmation — The diaspora,
or work among Germans in other countries — Paris, Lyons,
Spain, Florence, Rome, Scandinavia, Low Countries, Southeast-
ern Europe, Constantinople — Other large cities in the East — In
South America — Chief work in North America — Influence of
Lutheran Churches in the United States.

Work among German wage=earners in Holland — Harvest hands
in various sections of Germany — Laborers on public works —
Canal and river boats — Sailors — Emigrants — Arrangements to
meet and care for them in New York 163

Chapter X. — Care of Defectives and the Sick.

The State not wholly neglectful — Work among the deaf and
dumb — History of eflforts for this class — Work among the blind
— Idiots and epileptics — Cripples — Special efforts to help bow»
legged, scrofulous children — Hospitals — The insane — The sys-
tematic care with which German Christians visit hospitals and
minister to the inmates 173

Chapter XI. — Saving the Lost.

Prostitution in Berlin — Temptations to sinful life — Fliedner —
Pastor Heldring of Holland — Conditions of a successful Magda-
lenium — DiflSculties of reaching its inmates — Drunkenness —
Temperance movements in Germany — Hindrances to the progress
of temperance — Homes for inebriates — Care for those with-
out work — Two classes to be aided — Provision for lodging and
food — Purpose to provide steady employment for those willing
to work — The Arbeitercolonien, or colonies for working men —
Character, aim, and management — Results — Work in the prisons
— Methods — Help for discharged prisoners 187

Chapter XII. — The Grculation of Christian Literature.

The Scriptures in the schools — Influence of Luther — The Can-
steiu Bible Society — Other and later societies — Version in use —
Methods of work — Tract societies — The place a tract fills — What
makes a tract? Influence of the London Tract Society on Ger-
many— German societies — Methods of distribution and the use
of tracts — Peoples' libraries — Character and management. . 203

CONTENTS 16

Qiapter XIIL— The Social Needs of the People.

Social Congresses— The Evangelical Bund, or League— The
city and its dangers — City missions — Three main objects — Se-
lection and training of laborers — Relation to the Church — Cities
in which found— Methods of work— Special Church work— Work
through unions or societies — Factors in caring for the poor —
Care for the sick and wounded, and those suffering from pesti-
lence— Work during the Schleswig'Holstein war — Selection and
training of workers — Sunday rest — Different purposes for which
rest is desired — Legislation — Relation of the Church to the
school — Dwellings for the poor 209

Chapter XIV.— The Special Forces by which the "Work

of the Inner Mission is Carried On.

Deaconesses and Brothers — The Deaconess' movement — Flied-
ner — Personal history — Beginning of the establishment at
Kaiserswerth — Mother houses — Number of laborers — Fliedner's
main object — History of Kaiserswerth — Organization and man-
agement — Daily life — Prob ationers — Dress — Departments —
Growth of Kaiserswerth by periods of ten years — Health resorts
— Orphan house at Altdorf — Girls school at Hilden, near Dflssel-
dorf — Marthashof, Berlin, Marian nensstift, Erefeld — Asylum for
erring women— Brandenburg — Work abroad — Jerusalem, Smyr-
na, Alexandria, Beirut, Cairo, Florence — Summary — Associate Sis-
ters— Deacons — The New Testament use of word — Brotherhoods
and Sisterhoods of the Middle Ages — Wichern's purpose in re-
viving the order of deacons — Service rendered — Brother Houses
already founded — Training of deacons — No permanent homes
as for deaconesses — Kind of work undertaken — Results. . . . 225

Chapter XV. — The Social and Moral Condition of
Germany since J 860.

Pessimistic views — Optimistic views — The probable truth —
Efforts of Social Democracy — Unbelief in the higher classes —
Earnestness of pastors — Character of the Church as a whole
— Condition of the people described— The home and its foes

16 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

— Economic Bituation — Teachings of the social democrats — Il-
legal marriages — The separation of families — Tendency to cities
— Difficulty of making a home in the city — Moral dangers con-
nected with frequent change of place — Efforts to meet these dan-
gers— Influence of the wife in the home — Hold which the home
has on the German people — Influence of the higher classes on
Christian life — Effect on people of the payment of the French
Indemnity — Anti=Semitism — Growth of Social Democracy —
Character and conduct of the rich — Effect of too exclusive at-
tention to natural science — The philosophy of Schopenhauer,
Edward von Hartmann, Nietzsche — Ethical culture — Reaction —
Science more modest — Study of mental and moral Science more
fashionable — Superficial studies — Criticism of Scriptures —
Strauss's "Life of Christ "—Party division in the Church — Re-
union in the presence of common dangers — These dangers pos-
sibly a new bond of union — Roman Catholics — Their gains as
the result of legislation against them — The Protestant position
in Germany.

Peculiar problems growing out of the present economic condi-
tions— Position of the middle classes in Germany — Tendency
downward — Agricultural depression — Effect on small farmers,
artisans, day laborers — Immorality among the latter — Its causes
— Competition with contract labor — Labor saving machines —
Hopelessness of poverty — Favorable conditions in the country
and smaller towns — Independent workers — Danger to morals and
religion from life in cities and large manufacturing towns — The
Bebel=Leibknecht movement — Geneva Manifesto 260

Qiaptef XVI. — Efforts and Measures to Meet the
New Dangers of the Times.

City Missions — The Social Congress — Interest of laity in
Christian work — Special efforts to win men back to the Church
— Defense of Anti=Semitism — General tendencies — Causes of
alienation from Church not permanent — Sunday-schools — Soci-
eties for young people — Need of laymen in various branches of
Christian work — The personal element in this work — Tendency
of the Press to publish the evil rather than the good — Earnest-
ness with which the Church is meeting the evils of the times —

CONTENTS 17

Methods of meeting infidelity and indifference to religion —
Dangers and tendencies of the times clearly seen — Insufficiency
of Darwinism and related scientific theories. — Science and
the Word of God not inconsistent — Revival of former the-
ories of man's nature and needs — New methods of Christian
activity — Wichern and the Inner Mission — Feeling of responsi-
bility growing out of the establishment of the Empire — Relig-
ions instruction in schools — Sunday legislation — Activity of
Christian love — Illustrated by the Inner Mission — David von
Augsburg — Wichern at Wittenberg — Fields covered by the
Inner Mission — Real aim of the Inner Mission — Care of body a
means to an end — The Church as a source of pure doctrine for
the people — A fellowship of believers — A conscience for the
people — Truer estimate of the meaning of Confirmation —
Influence of England and America on Germany— Pearsall Smith
— Woodruff and Sunday-schools — Von Bodelschwingh and the
Y. M. C. A. — Real desire of pastors for the Church and its
Theological Seminaries — Liberalism and benevolence — Survey of
the present condition of State Churches in Germany — The
Church of Prussia, of Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria, Wiirttemberg,
Baden, Hesse, Schlsswig^Holstein, Mecklenburg, Hamburg,
Oldenburgh, and Bremen — Anhalt and the Thuringian States —
Complaints growing out of the condition of these Churches —
Relation of pastors and laymen to Church work— Brutalizing
influence of materialistic philosophj?^ on the people — Efforts to
withstand this influence — Roman Catholic aggression and the
Evangelical League — Social questions and the Social Congress
— The Church the only real ground of hope 285

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL SURVEY.

Germany claims to be a Christian nation. In the
minds of the people, the State is as truly a Christian
State as the Church is a Christian Church. The laws
which are enacted and enforced are Christian laws.
The institutions of the country, whether educational,
military or benevolent, are thought to rest on the
principles which underlie the Christian religion.
Neither peasant nor prince will admit that his gov-
ernment is unchristian, or that the parishes, into
which the country is divided, are composed of un-
christian people, or that religious sects, whose cardi-
nal doctrine is that to be a Christian, regeneration by
the Spirit of God is essential, are justified in pursu-
ing their work within the Empire. Every German
citizen, however far he may have wandered from the
faith of his fathers, however skeptical he may have
become as to the authority of the Scriptures, or the
deity of Christ, however ready he may be to declare
himself an unbeliever in a revealed religion, however
earnest he may be as an idealist, or as an advocate of
ethics as the proper foundation of true piety, still
maintains that his country is Christian. It is there-
fore a matter of no small interest to learn in what
sense the word Christian is used in Germany, what
Christian faith and life in this land of the reformers

19

20 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

really are. This will appear in the pages that fol-
low.

In every German school, from the first year in the
lower grades to the last year in the Gymnasium, the
Scriptures form a part of the daily curriculum of
study. No man is looked upon as an educated man
unless he has been carefully instructed in the Bible,
unless he knows what the fundamental principles of
the Christian religion are as expressed in the creeds
either of the Roman Catholic or of the Protestant
church. It is a theory of the nation that every child
born within its limits, unless of Jewish parentage,
shall be baptized into the church either by a Protes-
tant pastor or by a Roman Catholic priest. Nor is
this a full discharge of the duties of the State. The
law requires that the baptized child be faithfully
taught the principles of the Christian religion, that
at the proper age, after a special preparation for the
step which is taken, of his own free will, and as an
expression of his own conscientious convictions of
duty, he be confirmed as a member of the Chris-
tian Church. While no one, probably, would affirm
that a majority, or even a large minority, of those
thus admitted to the Church, are " regenerate," nearly
every one seems to approve of the customs hitherto
observed, and to do what is possible to retain them.
Although confirmation is often looked upon as the
beginning of a social career rather than of a spiritual
life, and is celebrated with anything rather than the
solemnity which ought to mark entrance into the
church of God, even the more spiritual of the Ger-
man clergy utter no protest against it, and take no
steps to change the custom which has come down to

GENERAL SURVEY 21

them. They say that it is impossible to decide who
are, and who are not, regenerate persons, that this is
a matter they are not called upon to decide, that it
is something which concerns the individual soul and
its Maker, and that the reality of regeneration can be
inferred only from subsequent life and character. If
a man is true to his calling, if he shows by his
actions that he loves God supremely, and his neigh-
bor as himself, he is to be looked upon as a real
Christian, whatever his theories as to the ''new
birth."

The form of the German government has a very
decided influence upon the form of religion prevail-
ing in the territory under its control. Christianity
cannot wear the dress in a monarchical country which
it wears in a republican State. Nor will its dress be
quite the same in a country where monarchy is be-
lieved in as a God^given form of government, to be
sustained at all hazards, as in a country like England,
where the people are practically as free as in the
United States. To a greater extent than in England
or in America, will religion in Germany be identified
with certain traditional or legal forms, which offi-
cers of the State, whatever their duties, are required
to observe. To a far greater extent than we deem
desirable, religion in Germany is a matter of attend-
ance at certain services, the filling out of reports, the
discharge of certain prescribed duties. Even a min-
ister is made through the completion of a certain
course of study, the committing to memory of certain
formulae of faith, and the passing of an examination
which satisfies those appointed to conduct it, of in-
tellectual ability sufficient to meet the demands of

23 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

the ministerial office. There appears to be no exami-
nation whatever into the motives which lead to tho
choice of the ministry as a profession, no attempt to
learn anything about the spiritual life of those who
propose to preach. As the union between Church
and State, especially in Prussia, is a vital one, at
least on the part of Protestants, it follows that be-
tween the obedience rendered to superior officers in
the Church, and that rendered to officers in other de-
partments of public service, there is little perceptible
difference.

Beginning with the simple Church, which is the
unit in the department of religion, the pastor and his
presbyters, who are chosen by ballot by the male
members of the parish, represent the Church at the
gatherings of the pastors and representatives of other
Churches in the district w^iere the local Church exists.
At these gatherings, persons are chosen to represent
these various churches in the provincial synod, by
w^hose members other persons are selected to perform
a similar service in the higher Church assemblies.
As the Church is a part of the State, and as the State
exists to conserve the interests of the Church equally
with those of education, industry or trade, it is evi-
dent that the forms of the Church, whether ecclesias-
tical or dogmatic, will be determined, to a very con-
siderable extent, by those of the government which
protects and defends it. Naturally enough, the Church
and the school, or Christianity and education, are rep-
resented in the imperial cabinet by a minister, called
the Cultus Minister, whose time and labors are devot-
ed to their interests. The Emperor himself, the con-
stitutional head of the Nation, is the head also of the

GENERAL SURVEY is

Church. Not that he can force conscience, not that
he has the right to dictate as to matters of religious
faith, not that he seeks to prevent anyone from be-
longing to any particular body of Christians, for all
religions which are moral are tolerated in Germany,
even if they do not receive the imperial sanction; but
that he is the official head of a body of believers in
Christ whose faith is as much a part of their patriot-
ism as service in the army or the payment of taxes
is part of the public duty of the citizen. As the courts
of the realm are monarchical in their forms and
methods of procedure, so, as a matter of necessity, are
the relations they assume to the doctrine and dis-
cipline of the Church. This monarchical spirit shows
itself in those who serve the Church in an official ca-
pacity. The liturgy, simple though it is, has in it a
suggestion of monarchy. Abstract truths of theology
cannot be stated precisely in the form they would as-
sume in a republic like our own. One cannot con-
tinually breathe a monarchical atmosphere without
having both thought and expression more or less in-
fluenced by it.

If we would understand aright the Protestantism of
Germany, it is equally important to remember that
Germany is a great military camp, and that all her
institutions are colored by their relation to the Army
or Navy. Without her military defences Germany
could not exist. It is rare to find a German citizen
who believes that the Army can with safety be dimin-
ished in numbers, or that its efficiency can be main-
tained at much less than the present cost, or by
methods of discipline less severe than those now em-
ployed. The theory which is almost universally ac-

24 CHniSTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

cepted is, that every able bodied male subject of the
Empire owes at least three of the best years of his life
to the service of his country in the Army. In certain
circumstances the time of service may be somewhat
shortened, but the debt remains and must be cancelled
by some sort of payment. As every officer in the
Army is a member of the Church, and by a law of the
Empire must partake of the sacrament not less than
once a year, very naturally the soldier learns to look
upon his religious duties as closely connected with
his military duties. The private soldier regards the
chaplain who conducts religious services, and who
seeks to prove himself a friend, as a superior officer
to whom strict and immediate obedience is due.
Something of this military spirit is seen even in the
smallest village Church. The pastor is treated as a
person of superior rank. His word is law. His author-
ity cannot be resisted except in accordance with cer-
tain fixed customs or forms of law which magnify his
importance. While the authority of a patron, or a
man of wealth or of high social standing may be very
great, there is something about the pastoral office
which gives its possessor a commanding influence.
The Lutheran Church in Germany is not a Church in
which laymen have much opportunity for the exercise
of their gifts. In this respect, a change is now tak-
ing place ; but hitherto the Church has largely been a
Church of clergymen. Reverence and obedience to
the minister's wishes have often been regarded as
tests of fidelity in a religious life. Among the clergy,
too, respect for the law and order of the Church, with
exactness and promptitude in filling out reports, have

GENERAL SURVEV 25

furnished reasons for promotion quite as often as ef-
ficiency in the pastoral office or in the pulpit.

Germany is a country where social distinctions ex-
ist, and are very much thought of. Rank is highly
prized. Much as the people think of money, and in
no country in the world is it more eagerly sought
after, social position is sought even more eagerly. A
woman of wealth and culture will often consent to
marry a man in whose society she cannot have any
real pleasure, or whom she knows to be inferior to
her in mental and moral worth, if the marriage will
give her access to social circles to which neither her
own merits nor the rank in which she was born will
secure her admission. Where the laws of the Army
and of the country require an officer, before he is
permitted to marry, to prove to his suj)eriors, that
he possesses, either in his own right, or through the
woman he proposes to make his wife, an income
which will render his family independent, it is not
strange that love should often fail to occupy the
prominent place it occupies in America or in Eng-
land. The would-be husband seeks wealth: the
would-be wife seeks social position. Each obtains
what is sought, and apparently each is satisfied.

These social lines are drawn very sharply. With
the exception of army officers, who are admitted to
Court by virtue of their importance as defenders of
the Empire, and as a reward for their services, it is
expected that people will form matrimonial alliances
within the circle to which they belong. As a rule,
farmers associate with farmers, or with small trades-
men, bankers with bankers, merchants with merchants,

26 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

those cf any particular occupation with others of the
same occupation. Within these limits social life is
free and delightful. But it is difficult to rise out of
the circle in which one is born. Should a foreigner,
when he first reaches the country, enter a certain social
rank, he will almost necessarily be compelled to re-
main in it. He cannot to-day attend Court and to=
morrow be on intimate terms with a banker or a mer-
chant. Still there is a growing tendency in Germany
to reward merit with social honors. The mechanical
ability of a Krupp, or a Siemens, secures a title which
brings with it social standing. But honors bestowed
on the head of a family do not lift up the entire fami-
ly to the position which the favored one occupies.

As a rule, intellectual ability means more in Ger-
many than in America. Outside Court circles, there
is no better social position than that which the Uni-
versity professor possesses. Of equal rank with him
are pastors, the rectors of the gymnasia, officers in the
civil service, and men of great intellectual gifts. A
scholar of rare attainments, an author of exceptional
brilliancy, a distinguished explorer, may be received
at Court. But this honor, coveted as it is even by
the family of the one who receives it, does not take
the wife or the children to Court, nor give them, save
indirectly, any advantage after the death of the person
to whom the distinction has been paid. It can easily
be seen that among a people thus socially divided,
Church work cannot be carried on as in a country
where social lines are not observed. It is difficult to
preach as faithfully and earnestly on the practical
obligations we owe to each other, when the Emjjeror
is present in his seat, or when princes and nobles are

GENERAL SURVEY 27

in their ijlaces, as when the congregation are all on
the same social level. Of course there are parishes
in which this is done, but they are not often
found. To judge of the spiritual life of the Church
in Germany, one must not forget that its members
aro not of the same rank socially, that they do not
meet together freely, that among them it would be
impracticable to establish prayer and conference
meetings, like those with which we are familiar in
the United States, and which are indispensable to our
Christian life. Individuals of the same rank might
meet together for religious conversation, and perhaps
they sometimes do, but any effort to bring all classes
together, would be futile and increase the sense of infe-
riority which the lower classes manifest in the pres-
ence of their social superiors. Such facts as these
determine to a much greater extent than would at
first be thought possible, the Christian life and ac-
tivity of the German Church.

Germany is a poor country. Although its wealth
has rapidly increased within the last twenty years,
neither in the variety of its productions, nor in its
accumulations of capital, can it be favorably com-
pared wnth England, with France, or with the United
States. Its climate is harsh, its soil thin and poor,
at least in the north, and its sea coast is compara-
tively limited. While there is in the aggregate a
good deal of wealth in Germany, the people, as a rule,
have small means at their disposal. They cannot
build churches out of surplus earnings or savings, as
English and American Christians are constantly
doing. If new churches are needed, the State must
secure their erection. It is hard for the people to

28 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

spare even the amount collected in taxes for the
maintenance of the local Church.

The condition of the wage^earner in Germany, if
one of comparative comfort, is less tolerable than in
America. An eight=hour day is unknown. The
peasant goes to his toil at daylight, and in winter
does not return from it until the stars appear. Ma-
sons, carpenters, tradesmen of every kind, have an
almost equally long day. With all their industry
and thrift there is little chance of rising into a posi-
tion of independence, although in favored circum-
stances this is sometimes done. In general, food is
poor and scant. Meat is not eaten every day. Beer
and black bread are the staple articles of food and
drink among the people. In such circumstances we
cannot look for moral or spiritual aggressiveness, or
for many or raxoid social changes. The tendency is
to keep things as they are. As they say in West-
phalia, " What has been must be." To bring together
into a Church edifice once every week a spiritually^
minded congregation, eager for Christian service, is
difficult. Out of such a congregation to gather a suf-
ficient number for a mid=^week prayer=meeting would
be even more difficult. Probably the majority of
those who attend Church think that the church or its
authorities ought to do something for them, rather
than expect them to do for others.

That the condition of the laboring classes in Ger-
many is as good as in the United States cannot be
affirmed. Although it costs the wage-earner much
less to live than it costs to live in this country, his
income is far below that which he would receive here.
His long day's work brings him a very small return.

GENERAL SURVEY 29

Common workmen, hod carriers, cabmen, draymen,
would be independent on wages equal to those paid
in this country. In harvest time, good hands receive
about four marks, or one dollar a day, and board.
This sum is obtained, however, only by those who are
so fortunate as to work by the piece, and for this they
are content to work from sunrise to sunset. Carpen-
ters, butchers, masons, plumbers, printers, and book=
binders, all receive small pay. The profits looked for
by bankers, shop=keepers of various kinds, and great
merchants, are less than would be satisfactory in
America. Yet German peasants appear to live com-
fortably. Their houses are small and poor. But the
people who occupy them do not seem, except in cer-
tain localities, to go hungry, nor do they often show
themselves on the streets or at church save in neat
attire. In the city, families are not crowded together
as in London or in New York. First impressions
might suggest less regard for cleanliness and the con-
ditions of health, especially in some of the country
villages, than is usual in America, but a closer scru-
tiny would show that this is not true. What dirt the
German makes is visible. If it be unpleasant to ride
through the principal streets of some of the larger
country towns, in Westphalia, for instance, and see
the waste of the barn heaped in front of almost
every house, and close by the main entrance, it is a
comfort to learn that back of the house, is a welhkejjt
garden, where the family spend many happy hours,
and from which they derive no small part of their
enjoyment and their food.

In the larger cities, the very poor do not congre-
gate in any single section, but occupy either the top

30 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

stories, or the lower floors, of houses which contain
the homes of people who are comfortably off. The
laboring people are always on good terms with each
other. From their ranks come many of the soldiers
in the Army. These laborers are very largely social-
ists, or as they are now generally called, Social Dem-
ocrats. But, if we except some of their leaders, they
are not the dangerous persons we often imagine.
They are not anarchists, save to a limited extent in
the larger cities. They do not seek to overthrow the
government. Nor are they republicans, as opposed
to monarchists. They are in the main satisfied with
the government they have, so far as its form is con-
cerned. They desire, and earnestly seek better condi-
tions of life. They want better opportunities for
their wives and children. For this no one can blame
them. The changes which will bring about these
opportunities are sought through the ballot, in peace-
able, legal ways, not as in some other countries through
violence and dynamite. It is for this reason, doubtless,
that the Emperor has been in sympathy with this
class, although recently his attitude has been less fav-
orable toward it than formerly, perhaps because those
who compose it are becoming less friendly to law as
their numbers increase. A few years since he sought to
improve their condition through legislation in their be-
half. Up to a certain point these socialists are fairly
well educated. They can read and write. They can
make out a bill for their work as accurately as if they
had been trained in a good American Business Col-
lege. Common washerwomen are no less proficient.
Their hand writing is neat and legible, and their ac-
counts are nearly always correct. Dishonesty is not

GENERAL SURVEY 31

one of their traits. Yet as a whole the people are not
great readers, even of daily papers. They do not
patronize public libraries. There are few, if any
magazines, in Germany to be compared with Harper's
or the Century. If there were, the laboring classes
would not read them. Perhaps they could not afPord
to buy them, even if interested in them. Still there
is a kind of reading which is furnished them freely.
It is partly religious, partly socialistic. Sermons of
such men as Dr. Adolph Stoecker, formerly Court
preacher, now the head of the Berlin City Missionary
Society, and a Member of Parliament, and tracts full
of sound advice well calculated to produce a content-
ed mind, are largely circulated. Papers and tracts of
an opposite tendency have also a wide circulation.
Of the people's libraries we shall speak later.

Although no gatherings are allowed except under
the eye of the police, many are held at which the doc-
trines of socialism are freely discussed, together with
the wrongs, real and imaginary, from which the peo-
I)le suffer. These meetings are usually held in beer-
gardens, and although in general there is not very
much drunkeness, still far more beer is consumed
than is good for those who use it. It is said by com-
petent judges that the poorer classes are learning to
drink, with far greater relish than formerly, a cheap
kind of liquor, known as Brantwein, which is intoxi-
cating and very hurtful. The government is desirous
that these classes should continue to use beer. This
is one reason why an increase in the tax on malt liquors
has been so sturdily opposed.

Discontent in the poorer classes is not a bad sign.
It has been a source of discouragement to many who

32 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

have had their welfare at heart that but few among
them seem to care to improve their condition. Equal-
ly disappointing is it to find that after leaving school,
few manifest an interest in books, or in public affairs,
while the mass are content with what they already
know, and desire to have things continue as they are.
In view of these facts, one ought to feel grateful that
discontent has begun to show itself. It is a discon-
tent which will need a great deal of enlightenment and
patient leadership, though both, no doubt, in time, will
come. The day cannot be far off when better wages
will be paid for labor, when the lower classes will not
be willing to live as they do now; when many among
them will insist upon better opportunities for educa-
tion and self=improvement. Just how this will be
brought about, few would care to predict. Perhaps
through Socialism, or the discussion of its principles.
Certainly not by laws which muzzle the press, or de-
prive the people of any of their rights as freemen.
The rapid increase in the number of those who pro-
claim themselves Socialists, indicates a degree of
thoughtfulness which will certainly produce fruit.

The social life of the people, as has been said, is
confined to the rank to which they belong. The
workman is not admitted to the table of his em-
ployer, nor invited to his parties, not even to his
out-of-door parties. He may not aspire to the hand
of his employer's daughter. Nor may a son of a
manufacturer or contractor stoop to a matrimonial
alliance with a woman from the ranks of labor.
Nevertheless, such alliances are sometimes made.
Nor is it as rare as it once was for a bright boy to
push his way from servile conditions to those of

GENERAL SURVEY 88

honor and wealth. Socialism has created a desire
for better conditions than those which now prevail.
It has taught the people the advantage of a trained
intellect, of co-operation, of unity in aim. If these
better conditions are sought within the law, as tliey
probably will be, we cannot withhold our sympathy
from the movement which promises to secure them.
Why should taxes be levied on the beggarly v/ages of
a little child, and the great possessions of a prince
pay no revenue to the gov(irnment? To ask the
question is to answer it. That religion should flour-
ish among a people v/ho can scarcely secure enough
by unremitting toil, and the utmost frugality to keep
body and soul together, is hardly to be expected.
True, they need its consolations, and its stimulus,
more than those who are in better temporal condi-
tions, yet they rarely receive it in any such way as to
make it a source of moral and spiritual j)ower in their
lives. With many of these poorer people attendance
at Church is merely formal, and from habit, rather
than from a desire to worship God and enter into
communion with Him. Their thoughts of God are
determined by their thoughts of the rich manufac-
turer, the high=born prince or the Emperor. God is a
being to be honored, feared, obeyed, rather than
loved and trusted.

It is hard to put one's self into the condition of
the German peasant, or wage-earner. Each retains
his traditional love for personal liberty, his sense of
IDcrsonal importance, and yet cherishes a x^assionate
love for his fatherland. Even his pastor hardly un-
derstands him, or descends to his level. He often
gpeaks to him in language which is several grades

H CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

above his thought. His appeals from the pulpit, or
in private life, although not entirely rejected, have
less effect than they might have, were they fully un-
derstood. Very frequently they do not touch the
person to vrhom they are addressed. Nor is this
strange. A university man cannot easily think along
lines which are familiar to those of the laboring
classes who hear him preach, though there are some
exceptions. Not a few pastors have studied the con-
ditions of their parishes, and learned how to use the
language of common life in their sermons. Not a
few of the more conspicuous preachers, while fully
convinced that a change in the conditions of living
ought to be brought about, are persuaded that
nothing will improve these conditions like the Gos-
pel of Christ presented in a simple, spiritual way,
and accepted in faith and love. A far larger number
of men and women than is generally believed are
seeking to reach the humbler classes by means which
the Gospel sanctions, and which cannot fail to ele-
vate those among whom they are laboring.

Even in Germany there is a middle class which
exerts great influence. It is composed of energetic
men of business, of men who, having served in the
army, find the humdrum life of a peasant unendura-
ble; of men who are in the service of the State
either as conductors on the railways, as telegrajph
operators, or as employees in the post-office; of men who
enter the learned professions, are employed as teachers
in private or public schools, or fill positions of import-
ance in philanthropic institutions. If few of those who
belong to this middle class are socially recognized by
those belonging to the higher circles, their opinions

GENERAL SURVEY 85

on many questions of the day command attention
and respect, In this middle class are found the men
who pay the bills of the nation, v/ho have the brains
of the nation, who edit the papers and write the
books of the nation, and, above all, those Avho train
the youth of the nation.

To stimulate effort, and to prevent the more suc-
cessful from being jealous of those who by birth out-
rank them, a few of the more distinguished middle
class men, as previously stated, are ennobled, or
given decorations which admit them to Court circles.
A great farmer ranks as high as the rich manufacturer,
the successful banker, the speculator, or the mer-
chant prince of a city like Hamburg or Bremen.
Yet none of these men would be willing that a mem-
ber of his family should form an alliance with any of
those whom they regard as socially beneath them;
hence they have little expectation of being allied
with those who are socially above them. Through
their wealth their sons sometimes become oflScers in
the army, while by marriage their daughters may be
brought into court circles, but, as a rule, the mem-
bers of very wealthy and highly respectable families
are obliged to be socially content with the rank in
which they are born.

Commissioned officers, both in the Army and in the
Navy, are in the main selected from families that belong
to the nobility. In some regiments the officers already
in service have the privilege of deciding who may,
and who may not, be admitted to their fellowship.
However great his valor, a poor man's son has little
hope of attaining a higher rank than that of a non-
commissioned officer. There are of course exceptions.

36 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

for unusual merit generally compels recognition, but
for the most part it is those who are favored by birth
who Vv'in the prizes in life. Yet the noble born are
brought into competition with the base born, and can
keep their position year after year only by real merit,
and can rise in it, only as high as their merit shows
that they are worthy to rise. Hence not infrequently
it comes to pass, yet not often enough to set aside
the rule, that barriers of rank are broken, and that
men from the lower strata of society reach the
higher levels.

From what has been said it must not be inferred
that members of differing social ranks are not con-
stantly thrown together, and are not on familiar and
friendly terms with each other. Nevertheless the so-
cial lines between them are so strong as to render
their obliteration practically impossible. The life of
a man of wealth, be he banker, merchant, manufactur-
er, or speculator on the Bourse, has little in common
with the interests of the learned class, still less with
those of the common people. The university profes-
sor, the director of the gymnasium, the head of a pub-
lic school, the manager of an asylum or a prison, find
their social affinities among those whose thoughts are
given to educational, philanthropic or literary sub-
jects. The pastor, hard as he may try to reach the
common people with friendly and Christian advice,
has little real sympathy with them. He goes else-
where for society. Yet far more frequently than in
former j^ears do we meet iDersons in the ministry who
are studying the social conditions of their parishes,
and are seeking to bring about such changes in law
and popular sentiment as will give everyone an ec^ual

GENERAL SURVEY 37

chance in life, aud enable everyone to make the
most of it.

It need hardly be said that in conditions like these,
it is very difficult to carry forvv^ard Christian work on
the broad, generous scale of the Gospel, to give every
man what he considers his just due, and yet to treat
all as equal in the sight of God. This is the problem
which aristocratic Germany is trying to solve. The
difficulties of the solution are immensely increased by
the intensely monarchical and military spirit which
prevails, and by the feeling that whatever is, is right,
and that toward v/ealth, birth, education and position,
every less fortunate person ought to cherish a rever-
ent regard. Many of these general statements will
be more fully illustrated in the chapters which fol-
low. In spite of the difficulties with which her peo-
ple are contending, it will be our aim to show that
Germany is indeed a Christian nation, and that Chris-
tian life within her limits is far more general and in-
fluential than is sometimes thought.

CHAPTER II.

THE INTELLECTUAL TRAINING OF THE PEOPLE.

Nowhere in the world is intellectual power prized
more highly than in Germany. The standards of at-
tainment in the professions are as high as they can
well be made. In mental equipment, the pastors,
laymen, physicians, teachers, and scientists of Ger-
many have few, if any, rivals. Yet owing to the ex-
istence of the peasant class, and the large number of
mere wage earners of the social rank of the peasant
the average intelligence of the people is not up to
that which i)i'evailed in New England jprior to the
Civil War of 1861-G5. Germany has no such news-
paper press as ours. Nor is it free to criticize the
government or existing institutions as is the press
among English=speaking peoples. The German
magazines, though numerous, are not widely circu-
lated. The German journals and magazines are for
special classes of readers, and for special objects.
While admirably conducted, and exceedingly able,
they do not, like the magazines and reviews with
which we are familiar, appeal to the popular heart, or
convey information on topics which interest everyone.

Among the children of working people there is
neither the desire for, nor the hope of, obtaining such
an education as prevails v/ith us. This is due partly
to the difficulty of obtaining it, and partly to the
fact that, in general, the sons of university men

38

INTELLECTUAL TRAINING 89

are most anxious for learning, and so monopolize and
crowd the professions. Others are content to tread in
the paternal footsteps. With the increase of wealth
there is an increase in the number of those who pat-
ronize the Universities. Denominational periodicals,
like those published in this country, are unknown in
Germany. Those devoted to the interests of some
particular phase of faith, or which represent the views
of a wing of the Church, the right, the center, or the
left, have but a limited circulation. Political journalg,
which advocate measures vdiich the people can do lit-
tle to bring about, do not attract many readers, al-
though radical papers, like the Vorwdrls, of Berlin,
are increasing in number and influence. Still, nearly
everyone manages to keep informed on the general
news of the day, to know what the government is pro-
IDosing to do, whether the Army is to be increased, or
diminished, and what are the prospects for better
times in agricultural or industrial districts. But
while this true, it is also true that wage^earners, as a
class, whether in the city or the country, do not
seem to have the interest in reading which is observed
among wage^earners in America. Members of the
burgher class, well educated as most of them are, do
not care for books or papers, as those of correspond-
ing rank do here. Nevertheless, great respect is ev-
erywhere shown to men of learning. Peasants honor
them, as do the burghers, from whose ranks the in-
tellectual army receives many recruits. Outside the
Army, in times of peace, the roads which lead to dis-
tinction are by authorship, eloquence, scientific dis-
covery, success in some department of art, in geo-
graphical explorations, or through some rare and pe-

40 CHtilSTIAN LIFE IN GEHMANY

culiar intellectual gift. Distinction on the stage, or
in music, brings substantial returns and honor.
Statesmen acquire as much reputation for what they
write, as for their ability in debate, or in leading a
party. The men who obtain wealth are honored for
their supposed mental power, quite as much as for
the wealth they acquire. Intellect is a deity at whose
shrine not a few worship.

A university man starts in life with a broad and
thorough training. He is fitted to enter almost any
vocation or field of study or research to which his
tastes may attract him. He begins his active life
as a scholar of no mean attainments. A little labor
suffices to keep him informed as to the additions
made to knowledge in the various departments of
learning. Yet Germany is pre-eminently the coun-
try of the specialist. Few who seek the highest
honors in scholarship venture to cultivate more than
a small portion of the wide field to which their atten-
tion is drawn. Hence Germany is a country of au-
thorities. Would one read the last word in any
branch of learning it must be found in a German
book. In practical affairs, like those connected with
engineering, mining, agriculture, the apiolications of
chemical principles, one cannot afford to disregard the
theories or the methods which have found approval in
Germany.

But we shall hardly appreciate the honor paid to
cultivated intellect in Germany without carefully
considering her system of education. In no other
European county, Sweden possibly excepted, is ed-
ucation so scientific. It is a system of which its advo-
cates are naturally proud. Perfect as it seems to be,

INTELLECTUAL TRAINING 41

some of the best minds in the Empire are continual-
ly seeking to improve it. The system now followed
in Prussia, and with slight modifications in every
German province, is the result of centuries of thought
and experiment. It is intended to reach every child
in the Empire, to develop his faculties in a way best
adapted to his native gifts, and to meet the demands
of society and the State. In the Cabinet, the school
and the Church are placed upon the same level. A
person of great ability and exalted character, the
Cultus Minister, is charged with their care. The
theory is, that education and religion are of equal im-
portance in the training of the citizen, that neither
can be neglected without serious loss to the State.
In a certain well understood sense, every teacher, as
well as every pastor, is an oflBcer of the government,
belongs to that complicated machine, which not only
controls and defends the country, but uses its resourc-
es, whether they consist of human lives or material
possessions, for the country's good. This system of
education is made efPective by a very large annual ap-
propriation from the public revenues.

The schools may be classified as follows: first, the
schools for the people, the " Volksschulen," which cor-
respond to our primary and grammar schools; second,
the *' Realschulen," which are of a first or second
rank according as they fit youth for business, for oc-
cupations which do not require a university training,
or for those callings which do require it, but do not
demand a knowledge of the classics; third the "Gym-
nasia,'' with the pro=gymnasial schools, in which boys
are prepared in the most thorough manner for every-
thing which the universities teach. There are, in addi-

42 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

tion, separate schools for girls, who are not permitted
to attend either the Realschulen, or the Gymnasia.
There are technical schools, also schools of forestry, for
tliose who are to have the charge of the forests, which
for the most part belong to the government, and are
very carefully guarded, schools of engineering, min-
ing, electricity, the various departments of science, as
well as many private schools for music, painting and
special research. Then there are the schools in
which the science of war, both upon land and sea, is
taught to tliose promising young officers whose so-
cial standing, moral character, and intellectual abil-
ity, recommend them to the government as fit candi-
dates for a three years course at the public expense.

It was the "Volks" Schools for which a law was
designed, that would have given, as was believed, in-
creased influence to the clergy at the expense of the
teachers, which, a few years since, cost a cabinet min-
ister his place, but which after all, would only have
emphasized a little stronger than at present that
moral and religious instruction, which the Protestant
pastor, the Roman Catholic priest, or the Jewish
Rabbi, is required to impart. These primary schools,
which are practically free, at least in Prussia, are at-
tended by pupils of both sexes from the age of six to
fourteen. To a limited extent women are employed
in them as teachers, as they are in girls' schools,
chiefly. The grade of instruction is about the same
as that in our grammar schools. Attendance is com-
pulsory. No instructor is allowed to have more than
ninety pupils in a single room. A larger number
calls for an extra room, and an additional teacher. This
increase continues till the building contains eight

INTELLECTUAL TRAINING 4r{

rooms, or becomes an eight room school. Then an-
other building, and a new school, are made necessary
by law. In towns, cities, or villages, where there are
twenty=five pupils belonging either to Lutheran, Ro-
man Catholic, or Jewish families, a separate parish
school may be opened, in which the pastor, or priest, or
rabbi, gives a prescribed course of instruction. These
schools, although often established by the churches,
or the synagogues, are yet under state inspection and
control, and receive state aid, though not always
enough for their support. That is, the parish school
may be treated as a Volksschule, or, if of a certain
grade, may be regarded as a pro=gymnasial or a burgher
school. In summer these schools open at 7 A. M.
and close at noon. In the rural districts, for the sake
of the older children whose work in the fields is val-
uable, the schools open at G A. M. and close at 9 A.
M. Then the younger children come and remain till
12 M. In the winter, the schools open and close an
hour later. Exce^Dt in the larger towns, there are no
Kindergartens, although there are many private
schools for very young children. There are, also,
supplementary schools, which furnish two hours in-
struction on some week day, and two hours on Sun-
day, for apprentices, or workmen of any sort, whose
mental training has been neglected. Employers are
obliged to see that their employees attend these
schools. Instruction is given in German, book-keep-
ing, correspondence, the art of making out bills, reck-
oning, and drawing. It is given by teachers from
the public schools, and is paid for out of the tax lev-
ies. In some x)laces, as in Berlin, there are supple-
mentary schools for girls, who are taught, in addition

44 CHRISTIAN LIFE iN GERMANY

to the subjects just named, industrial drawing,
womanly handiwork, housekeeping, care for the sick,
and in special instances, French, English, and gym-
nastics. In the larger towns in which there is neither
a Realschule nor a Gymnasium, there may be a
Burgher, or a citizen's school. These are of two
grades, a higher and a lower. They prepare their
puj)ils either for the Realschule, the Gymnasium,
or for business. They often take the place of the
pro-gymnasial schools, in which for three or four
years, the boy is drilled in the elements of education.
Instruction is thorough and systematic. Whatever
is done, is done so well that it need not be done
again. Although a university education is not neces-
sary in order to obtain a teacher's position, unless a
graduate, one must si)end three years in a teachers'
seminary, at the end of that time submit to an exam-
ination, and if approved be content to begin v.'ork
wherever there is an opening. The examination is
repeated after a few years of service, so that no one
who is incompetent may be retained in the schools.
For a male teacher, the minimum salary is $250 a
year, the maximum, $1,500. There are some perquis-
ites as well as some opportunities for extra teaching,
so that with the greater value of money in Germany
than in the United States, the salary is not so small
as at first appears. The Empire abounds in private
schools, as well as in house, or home schools, in
which persons of the highest attainments are often
employed. Private teaching is a favorite occupation
for a young minister while waiting for a parish.

For those boys who are looking forward to the
university, and a professional life, there are, as has

INTELLECTUAL TRAINING 45

been said, the pro-gymnasial schools in which the
pupil remains till he is nine or ten j^ears of age, and
from which he can pass, according to his aim in life,
either to the Bealschiile or to the Gymnasium,
properly so=^called. The Gymnasium is the charac
teristic school of Germany. Here is the place where
the foundations of scholarship are laid, where the hard
work is done which produces the results which we so
much admire as they appear later in life. The course
of study is nearly the same in every one of the hun-
dreds of Gymnasia which Germany supports. It is as
thorough as it can be made, and cannot easily be
shortened, either by hard study or superior ability.
It extends through a period of nine or ten years, or
from the age of nine or ten, to that of eighteen or
nineteen. Many do not complete the course till some
years older. The subjects taught are those which
are taught in our high schools, academies, and
colleges, so that graduation from them is nearly
tantamount, save in the superiority of their discipline,
to graduation from one of our smaller colleges. The
study of the classical tongues, with mathematics, is
made prominent; although other subjects, history
(ancient and modern), philosophy, literature, science,
and modern languages are not neglected. Regular
instruction, for a fixed number of hours each week,
is given in religion and in the Scriptures. To be the
head of a Gymnasium is a great honor. A few of
these Gymnasia are richly endowed and receive a
limited number of pupils without cost. In general,
the cost of tuition is about twenty^five dollars a year.
The Realschule is a Gymnasium for practical life.
Greek and Hebrew are drox^ped from the list of

46 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

studies. The time given to Latin is shortened.
More attention is paid to modern languages, and to
those subjects which we make prominent in our
manual training schools. Those who desire, take a
course of study which prepares them for the scientific
lectures in the University, and for the study of subjects
which do not depend upon a knowledge of the clas-
sics. Some take a course which prepares for busi-
ness, and for those professions whose final training
is obtained in special schools like those in forestry,
mining, metallurgy. The Rcalschide is growing in
favor and is meeting the demand for practical teaching
which prevails among Germans, as well as among
Americans. Special, or technical schools, are numer-
ous and excellent. A course in them usually occui^ies
three years.

But the crown and glory of the German system of
education is the University. When fully equipped it
has four faculties, one for philosophy and the arts,
one for law, one for medicine, and one for theology.
In a few of (he Universities there are both Protestant
and Koman Catholic theological faculties; in others
only a Koman Catholic, or a Protestant faculty. In
recent years provision has been made for thorough
instruction in science, theoretical and experimental.
The University is the finishing school in intellectual
training. Its purpose is to impart knowledge, and to
stimulate a desire for independent research. Pro-
fessors are under no restraint of creed or religion.
They are required to teach the truth as they see it,
and are expected to know all that can be known about
the subjects that fall within the scope of their dej)art-
ments. They receive a certain sum from the govern-

INTELLECTUAL TRAININO 4ff

ment, which makes an annual grant to the universities
of the nation, and also, wholly or in good part, the
fees which come from the students who attend their
lectures. For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
the most coveted of all degrees given by the univer-
sities, a course of four years in Philosophy and the
Arts, is required, with an examination at the end of
the course, which is a real test of merit, and an essay
on a subject which proves one's ability to make
original investigations, and to present their results in
a form suitable for publication. Instruction is usually
given by lectures, of which the student takes full
notes, and in a Seminar, or a gathering of yonng men
from the classes of the professor, who are willing to
do original work under his direction. The lectures,
however, are of a character to excite a desire to read
a great deal upon the topics discussed, and to render
the services of a private teacher {privat Doccnt)
necessary and valuable. From this position of 2^ru
tiat Docent most of the more distinguished German
professors have risen to the chairs they now fill.
Students of law, medicine, and theology are examined
at the end of their university course by a board of
experts in each j)rofession, which has authority to
pronounce upon their fitness or unfitness for the
positions they desire to fill. In Berlin, these exami.
nations are severe. They are lenient nowhere. The
young medical student who has passed his exami-
nation is often sent to a hospital, or if he has
received aid from the state, to the Army, where he is
obliged to remain some years before venturing to
practice on his ov/n account. The young lawyer is
generally required to serve a sort of a^Dprenticeship

48 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

before he is permitted to begin life as an independ-
ent counsellor. On leaving the University, the
young theologian takes his first examination, and if
approved by the board of examiners which the author-
ities of the Church have appointed, may become an
assistant of a city or a country pastor, or a teacher
in some rich man's family, or in a parish school.
Four subjects are assigned him for private study.
These call for about four months' work. At the
end of a year and a half he is ready for his
second examination, which is partly written and part-
ly oral, and occupies three days. If successful, the
young man may preach in vacant pulpits, assist pas-
tors in the public service, and announce himself as a
candidate for settlement. But before this he must
have completed a course of study in a Preacher's Sem-
inary of longer or shorter duration, according to the
attainment of the student. He may wait months,
even years, for a parish. Vacancies are not as numerous
in Germany, as in some other parts of the world,
while for every desirable vacancy there are many ap-
plicants. If the candidate should tire of waiting, he
may continue to teach, become a chaplain in some
benevolent institution or in the army, emigrate to a
German colony, or be assigned to America. As he
does not marry till he has an appointment, the long
period of waiting often becomes very trying. In the
country, where the first settlement is commonly found,
the salary is $450 a year, which is supplemented, or-
dinarily, with a house, rent free, and a garden. Every
five years the salary is increased $125 a year, till it
reaches a maximum of $900. A few parishes are en-
dowed, and in these instances the incumbent receives

INTELLECTUAL TRAINING 49

a very much larger income. While no minister is
obliged to remain in the charge first obtained, he has
the assurance that as long as he behaves himself he
cannot be driven from it at the whim of a parishioner
iivho thinks the minister too pointed in his sermons,
or not pointed enough, and that a change would be
beneficial. The income is increased by fees from
weddings, funerals, bax)tisms, and confirmations.
Although there are special schools for students of the-
ology, and institutions for the training of evangelists
and missionaries, there are no short cuts into the
ministry of the National Churches. Yv^hen recognized
as a pastor, a man has a place of honor, usefulness,
and power, which increases in importance with his
years. Neither in this profession, nor in any other,
do the Germans believe in allowing their men to quit
work while in good health, and in the full possession
of their mental faculties.

The estimate which Germans put upon education is
manifest in the time they devote to its acquisition,
and in the system of schools they have called into ex-
istence in order to impart it. Save in the lower
grades, the schools are not free. Few, however,
who really desire it, are debarred by poverty from
study. There are scholarships, grants for those who
need them, and such other aid as professors know
how to obtain for favorite, or promising students.
Money is sometimes earned by private teaching while
at the University. For young men like Martin Luther,
or the Chevalier von Bunsen, there are always ways
to get on.

The schools of Germany have never been fuller
than they are nov»% The Universities have never beeij

50 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

better patronized, or better manned. The love of
learning, in the heart of what may be called Germany's
scholarly class, has never been stronger than it is to=
day. Parents were never readier to sacrifice their own
comfort in order that their children may obtain the best
possible education. They begin to save for this pur-
pose as soon as the child is born. It is not surprising
that in no other country there should be so large a
class of men whose intellectual discipline has been of
the first order, and who are so competent to act as
teachers for the entire world. Nowhere else is learn-
ing so prized for its own sake, or such pains taken to
find out hov/ best to impart it to others.

It is easy to criticise a system of education like
that which we meet iu Germany. It is vast, compli-
cated, almost unchangeable. At times it seems to
work hardship to the pupil, to fail in furnishing stim-
ulus for the development of individual tastes, to de-
stroy spontaneity; but when we see what this training
machine has accomplished in the hands of those who
have invented it, and who use it, we feel as if silence
were more becoming than criticism. Yet we are war-
ranted in saying that in one respect the German sys-
tem is weak. It has not provided for the girls of the
nation as generously and as carefully as it has pro-
vided for the boys. It has seemed to look upon the
training of girls as of less importance than that of
boys. This is due to the prevailing opinion that wo-
man is inferior to man, or that her education should be
less extensive, and less thorough, than his. A fairly
good education may be obtained in what are known
as Daughter Schools, and Higher Girls' Schools, but
a Vassar or a Wellesley, a Smith, or a South Hadley,

INTELLECTUAL TRAINING 61

cannot be found in the German Empire, With the
exception of the University at Zurich, not a German
speaking university is fully open to women. In dis-
regard of the rules, a few professors have permitted
women to listen to their lectures; but neither in the
Healschule nor in the Gymnasium, nor in the Uni-
versity, can they be received as regular students. Few
German women have as yet availed themselves of the
privilege of attending lectures in the University. The
women one sometimes meets in the lecture rooms
are found, on enquiry, to be from England, or
from the United States. The day of woman's
rights has not yet dawned in the Fatherland. Thanks
to the Empress Frederick, and a few like-minded per-
sons, better schools for young women are now spring-
ing up. In such establishments as the Victoria In-
stitute in Berlin, a woman may pursue her studies to
almost any extent she desires. That Germany will
long remain behind English speaking nations, in pro-
viding for the education of her daughters, is improb-
able. When that provision has been made, the intel-
lectual life of the people will rise to heights hitherto
unknown.

CHAPTER III.

THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE OF GERMANY.

It is never safe for a foreigner to pronounce au-
thoritatively ux3on the moral or religious condition of
a country in which he only temporarily resides.
While there can be no divergence of opinion on fun-
damental principles, on many important matters
standards differ in different countries. What would
be wrong in the judgment of an American may seem
entirely right to a German. Impressions, however,
are made and inferences drawn, for which there may
be more or less justification. Some of these impres-
sions are given in the present chapter.

Both the moral and the religious conditions of the
peox)lo seem to bo inherited. Tradition is a powerful
agent in determining popular views. What the
fathers have believed, the children believe, or hesitate
ojjenly to reject. Birth and education have no
small part in determining one's attitude toward
religion. Not many are willing to confess that
they have no religion. According to the census
of 1890, only a few more than 13,000 people
would permit themselves to bo registered as with-
out faith in God. The majority of the people
are, nominally, members either of the Roman
Catholic, or of the Protestant Church. There are
just about twice as many Protestants as Roman-

52

MORAL LIFE 53

ists. Protestants are to some extent divided into
sects, although the majority are found in the nation-
al or provincial Church. About 1,300,000 Old Luth-
erans are found in the census returns. There are
also a small number of Moravians, perhaps two score
thousand Baptists and Methodists, a still smaller
number of Anglicans, a few thousand Old Catholics,
a few Mennonites, and about three quarters of a mil-
lion Jews. All sects are tolerated by the govern-
ment, although there is really little respect for them
on the part either of the clergy or of the people.
Men like Count Bernstorff do not hesitate to say that
the sects are without much influence, although he
and other generous=minded Lutherans v/ould not
deny that the piety of those who have been gathered
into the Baptist and Methodist churches has reacted
oa the State Church and led its members to place
more stress than formerly upon the " new birth " as a
pre-requisite to receiving the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper.

Very largely, as has been said, is membership in
the Church looked upon as natural and inevitable.
As the parent has the child baptised in infancy, it
follovv's, as a matter of course, that the child, at the
proper age will be confirmed, and enter upon the dis-
charge of his duties as a Church member. There is
no good reason why he should not. The system of
faith he receives is intellectual in its nature, can be
put into a form of v^7ords, is easily committed to mem-
ory, and made to do duty through life. Very few
even of the more spiritually minded among the pas-
tors have any correct understanding of what we mean
by revivals of religion, or of regeneration, as a pre-

54 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

requisite to Church membership. They look upon
those who claim to have been converted in a revival,
or who advocate revivals, as fanatics, who destroy the
intellectual basis of religion, turn it into a mere emo-
tion, and rob it of its power. In such circumstances
it cannot be expected that attendance upon Church
services would be universal, or even regular, though
there be no set purpose to neglect them. If religion
consists, as in so many minds it does, in the intellect-
ual acceptance of certain statements of doctrine, and
in conduct which harmonizes with the requirements
of the State, of society, and of the Word of God,
then, as there is no reason for giving emotion or the
feelings any place in Christian experience, so there
is no reason wdiy one should attend Church in order
to strengthen one's faith, or to persuade one's self to
do one's duty. Duty admits of no delay or excuse.
Duty must be done. The only question is, What is duty ?
The answer of the average Church member would be,
"Believe in God, in His Word, attend His house of
worship a few times each year, go to the communion
at least annually, and, while being true to one's call-
ing in life, love one's neighbor as one's self and God
supremely." To be a Christian, and to emphasize
the principles which Christ brought to light, is to
live as the good of society demands, to obey law, to
act out the principles of one's better nature. Relig-
ion is ethical rather than spiritual, formal rather than
experimental, a matter of deeds, rather than of life
and character. When the claim is made that the na-
tion is Christian, it is meant that its laws, customs,
social and literary institutions, in their ethical basis,
are Christian, rather than heathen; not that its indi-

MORAL LIFE 66

vidual citizens have consciously entered into fellow-
ship with Christ and put themselves under the guid-
ance of the Holy Spirit. More truly, perhaps, than in
any other nation can the claim be maintained that in
Germany, law, literature, the drama, and the every-
day life of the people, are saturated with Christian
principle, have received a Christian flavor, have been
baptised with a Christian name. Not much is made
of religion by way of public service, save on the
Lord's Day, and on great occasions.

In the Universities no theological professor thinks
of opening his lectures with prayer, as in our semi-
naries for the training of ^oung men for the ministry.
Nor in these great schools are there, even for theolog-
ical students, anything like the "prayers" of our col-
leges, or social meetings for the cultivation of one's
spiritual life. There are " unions " of a few students
for the consideration of spiritual topics, but the
larger number of these unions, even among students for
the ministry, are intellectual in their nature. Life in
the other departments of the University, as well as in
professional and technical' schools, though not openly
infidel, is yet practically godless. Neither teacher
nor student expresses his religious faith, if he cher-
ishes any, in religious worship, nor, except on rare
occasions, is he seen in the house of God. The Ger-
man pastor does not count upon their assistance in
his Christian work. Yet neither teacher nor student
would avow himself an unbeliever. Each has re-
ceived a religion which satisfies his intellect, and
thinks it unneccessary to make any provision for the
feelings.

While it is generally true that theological profes-

66 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

sors attend Church with tolerable regularity, as much
cannot be said of theological students. Everyv/here
there seems to be a tendency to identify morality
with religion, and to make little of the forms of
worship. Many do not come to Church till the
liturgy is over. Sunday is a day of pleasure as well
as of worship. It is held in no such reverence as in
Great Britain and her colonies. In Berlin, and
throughout the country, morning service is fairly well
attended, although by a relatively small percentage
of the people, save among Roman Catholics. Yet
the Churches are usually full. In the evening at-
tendance is scant, and is confined more to the work-
ing classes, although popular preachers attract large
audiences in the evening as well as in the morning.
The more popular preachers are, with few exceptions,
strictly evangelical in their belief. The people seem
to want to hear an orthodox gospel, and to care little
for essays or doctrinal discussions.

One of the crying evils in Berlin, and in some
other large cities, has been a lack of Church build-
ings. It has been impossible, even for those who
care to attend Church, to find a seat within the
edifice. Within the last few years this want of
Church accommodation in the capital has, to a con-
siderable extent, been remedied. Thirty or forty new
houses of worship, large and convenient, have been
erected, chiefly through the influence of the Emperor
and the friends he has been able to interest in the
project. Doubtless public moneys have been used to
some extent, although lotteries, fairs, and special
appeals have contributed their quota toward the cost.
The presence of the royal family at the laying of the

MORAL LIFE 67

corner stones of these new structures, and at their
dedication, the well known piety of the Empress, and
the example of the Emperor in attending divine
service, once a Sabbath at least, have had a whole-
some influence on the people.

It is said by persons who have made careful exami-
nation, that only about one= third of those who die in
Berlin in any given year, are buried with religious
services. This may be due, in part, to the cost of these
services. A more decisive reason, however, is indif-
ference. The Socialists, who are in the majority in
Berlin, are avowedly indifferent to religion, although
they are far from being wholly given up to infidelity.
They do not feel kindly toward either the clergy or
the Church, partly because both are connected with
the State, and partly because Sunday is their day of
pleasure, and the day uxoon which they meet, as do so
many labor unions in the United States, for the dis-
cussion of matters which affect them financially or
have relation to their employers.

Nevertheless one would greatly err, were one to
conclude that the Lutheran Church in Germany is
dead or indifferent to the moral and spiritual welfare
of its members. Nowhere in the world is the Eoman
Catholic Church doing better work. Its relation to
Protestantism makes this necessary. The zeal of
Romanism reacts upon Protestants, so that both are
benefited by spiritual competition. Of the Home
and Foreign Mission work of these Churches we shall
speak in subsequent chapters. It may suffice to say
here that one cannot rightly charge Protestant paa-
tors with indifference. Some are more earnest than
others, less perfunctory in the discharge of their du-

58 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

ties. As a rule, all are outwardly faithful. They
shirk no obligations which are laid upon them. Nor
do they hesitate to hold as many religious services,
public and private, as the people will attend. Not a
few pastors in rural districts, during a part of the
year, give up three or four evenings a week to the
religious instruction of their young people. They
strive also to prepare the people, by private conversa-
tion, for the Lord's Supper. As a rule, sermons are
simple, straightforward presentations of Gospel
truth. If there are few Spurgeons or Beechers in the
German puli)it, there are Dryanders, Frommels,
Brauns, and Stoeckors, whom the multitude delight
to hear. But sermons are the smallest part of a
pastor's obligations toward his people. He lives for
them. He is their friend and helper in whatever
direction they need aid or sympathy. Sunday
Schools are coming into vogue, or rather substitutes
for them. As young men and young women, prior to
marriage, are not allowed to mingle freely with each
other, save in the presence of older people, or when
solemnly betrothed, it is difficult to form Sunday
Schools, or Societies of Christian Endeavor. Young
men and young women are therefore compelled to
meet their pastor separately for religious instruction.
Among young men, societies have been multiplying
of late, which may be called Young Men's Christian
Associations. Many faithful women are gathering
the younger children, on Sunday, for Biblical instruc-
tion. Considering the circumstances in which he is
placed, the average pastor does as well as can be ex-
pected of him, at least until there is a spiritual
awakening in other lands of which he shall hear, and

MORAL LIFE 69

of which he and his people shall feel the influence.
From what has been said concerning the intellect-
ual training of the German people, it will be inferred
that there is great diversity of opinion among them
on almost all subjects of human thought. With
such love for intellectual pursuits, such opi^ortunities
for them, such thoroughness of intellectual discipline,
such emphasis laid on the duty of fearlessness and
constancy in the effort to discover truth, there must
inevitably be great differences of theological opinion,
even where there is substantial agreement in funda-
mental princiijles. In nothing is this more clearly
seen than in the variety of views held by members of
the same Church, and by pastors equally zealous and
consecrated, concerning the doctrines of the Chris-
tian religion, the nature, the meaning, and the value
of the Word of God. Few of these critical students
are willing to avow themselves unbelievers or even
agnostics. As Christians they claim the right to
reason upon the data which scholarship furnishes
them. When so=called discoveries of truth are made
they put these discoveries to the severest tests before
accepting them as trustworthy. As criticism of the
government is somewhat dangerous, as the field of
practical statesmanship is substantially closed to the
majority of the thinking men of the nation, and as
the doctrines of the Church and the opinions of its
living teachers are of the deepest interest to all who
proft-ss to believe the revelations of the Christian
religion, it is not strange that these doctrines and
opinions, together with literature, science, art, music
and the drama, should occupy a place in the thought-
ful mind not accorded them in countries where the

60 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

press is free, where the principles of government and
the acts of its representatives are fearlessly discussed
and where the mind can exercise its privilege of
selecting such objects for study or criticism as may
suit it best. Intellectual activity like that in Germany
cannot be repressed. Shut off from its legitimate ex-
ercise in one direction, it will open channels for
itself in another. If criticism of a human govern-
ment is iDroliibited or restricted, greater liberty will
be taken in criticizing the affairs of the kingdom of
heaven.

As to moral life in Germany there is a wide diver-
gence of opinion. Some, whose opportunities for
observation have been exceedingly good, report un-
favorably. Others again, whose opinions are entitled
to the highest respect, assert that morals are not low-
er than in the same classes in the United States. In
either country there is a large number of people who
are kept from wrongs doing only by the prevailing
sentiment of society, or by fear of punishment. The
moral problems in the two countries are largely the
same. Intemperance, which in some sections of Ger-
many is said to be increasing, shows itself less than
on this side the Atlantic. The amount of beer and
wine consumed is enormous. Nor is it diminishing
although many wise and earnest men are advocating
total abstinence, and by judicious publications are
striving to show how much better it would be to em-
ploy the money exx^ended for beer and wine for
BomiCthing more nourishing. So long as the staple
article of food for the common people is black bread,
it is hardly probable that the use of beer will be
given up. A grave and pressing danger is the temp-

MORAL LIFE 61

tatioii to substitute for beer a cheap kind of drink,
wliicli is both intoxicating and injurious in its effect
on the system. Earnest efforts are now put forth to
prevent the people from using the wretched beverage
known as Brant v^ein.

The Social Evil, though not licensed, is put under
police inspection and control. It exists everywhere,
certainly in all large towns, and everywhere makes
its baleful effects visible. Although the woman
whose steps take hold on death is not often seen on
the streets, her habitation is known and easily found.
According to the reports published in Berlin, about
one^seventh of all births in the city are illegiti-
mate. This means that many parents who by com-
mon law, in the state of New York, for example,
would be regarded as husband and v/ife, by reason of
non-compliance with legal forms, are treated as if
outside the pale of married life. Hence, while the
number of children born outside the sanctions of
wedlock is large, it is not so large as the police re-
ports make it appear. One of the purposes of the
Berlin City Mission is to persuade persons who have
been, or are, living together, to be legally married,
and thus secure legitimacy for their children. As
these children cannot be confirmed unless baptised,
or married in the Church unless their certificates of
baptism be produced, it is of more importance than
would at first appear that this legitimization for
children be secured. The presence of large bodies of
soldiers near a city always has a malign influence on
large numbers of young women. Nor is the influ-
ence of University students wholly good. Marriages,
long deferred on account of a lack of income, are also

62 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

unfavorable to virtue. Nor can one avoid the feeling
that, for some reason, sins against chastity are less
severely condemned in Germany than in the United
States. Very serious, too, for the morals of the
people are the licensed lotteries, which are so univer-
sally patronized. Government sanctions them, and
obtains a portion of its revenues from them. They
are resorted to for every kind of object. It is not
thought improper to raise money for the building of
a Church by means of a lottery. The amount of
money which goes into the coflPers of lottery estab-
lishments can hardly be estimated. The people are
kept in a state of excitement nearly all the time, and
if they fail to draw, as most do, they are encouraged
to try again, in the hope of better luck. It is impossi-
ble that there should be as healthy a moral tone in a
community where the effort to secure something for
nothing, or for less than its real value, is encouraged,
as there is in a state of society where such an effort
is treated with the condemnation we believe it
deserves.

There is apparently more respect for law in Ger-
many than in America. In Germany laws are made
to be kept. The cities are so governed as to make it
comfortable, convenient, and safe to live in them.
They are governed for the benefit of their inhabitants,
and not for the sake of office-holders. The records
show fewer murders than in the United States, and a
somewhat lower per cent, of crime. This may be
because the population of Germany is so nearly ho-
mogeneous, and because the newspapers are not per-
mitted to publish the sickening details of crime.
Still, even Germany has her epidemics of suicides,

MORAL LIFE 68

murders, thefts, and embezzlements. Her prisons
are v>-ell filled. A good deal of attention is given to
the f)roblems of prison reform, and with encouraging
results. As a rule Germans are honest. One can
safely trust their word. They are, moreover, honest
as public officials. They are afiirmed to be incor-
ruptible. It is affirmed, also, that bribes are un-
known, that courts are places where the law is actu-
ally administered, and where its officers make for
themselves a reputation for integrity and virtue.
The public money is never wasted save by mistake.

Patriotism is intense and universal. It shows itself
no less in the faithful discharge of small duties than
in those which are larger and more conspicuous. If
there are some lapses in Germany from what we
regard as a high and sound moral standard, judged by
other standards, her attainments in virtue are not
inferior to those of other countries, and countries, too,
where Christian life seems to be more vigorous and
self^asserting.

CHAPTER IV.

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL MOVEMENTS IN GERMANY.

The religious condition of a country is determined
very largely by its social and industrial life. Each
acts and reacts upon the other. That the German
people upon the whole are believers in the divine
origin of Christianity tends to produce contentment
and to render the problems of their government sim-
pler than they would be otherwise. While the leaders
of the Social Democracy are looked upon as danger-
ous agitators, v/ho are seeking the overthrow of the
government, or at any rate a change in its form, and
are held to be the enemies of social order, hostile to
any possession of property which is not under their
control, it is not probable that anything like a major-
ity of the rank and file of this Social Democracy, has
any desire to bring about a revolution either in the
forms of society or in government.

The natural conservatism of the German citizen
counterbalances his intense love of personal liberty,
and makes him shrink from any course which will
change customs which have come down to him from
the past, or overthrow a form of government which
has done his country good service. He is fond of an
unbroken tradition. He rejoices in the brave deeds
of his ancestors, and is ready to risk his life, if need
be, to imitate their example. He believes that

61

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL MOVEMENTS 65

through the present union of the German states in
the Empire his people have risen to a great opportu-
nity, are on the threshold of a future which will
eclipse in glory and achievement anything known in
history. If this naturally conservative disposition
leads to a kind of formalism in his piety, it saves him
from any violent break with its doctrines. Even
where his reason, as he imagines, is against him, it
binds him to the use of sound words in the expression
of his religious convictions, which are both deep and
real. It is easy for a German to believe in God.
Against His authority he does not rebel. Nor does
the severity of moral law trouble him; still less does
he shrink from the command which requires him to
love God suiDremely, and his neighbor as himself. He
may have his own opinion about the way in which
this obedience is to be shown; but, as to the com-
mand, there can be, as he thinks, but one opinion. It
is given in order to be obeyed, and he has no inten-
tion to set it aside. This may be due, in part, to his
habit of obeying his official superiors, whether in
military or civil service, to the fact that all his life he
has been used to forms of authority, but its real cause
is more probably to be found in his nature. He is a
person who loves authority, and is willing to recog-
nize it in the divine Being.

In his habits of living, he is simple and frugal.
With wage^earners this is a matter of necessity. In-
come is too small to admit of extravagance. Rents
are low, food and clothing are of the simplest. Those
who belong to what we might properly call the mid-
dle class, many of whom are in business for them-
selves, are very careful in their expenditures. They

ee CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

do not allow themselves to live beyond their income.
They strive to live so as to save a certain portion of
the income every year. In the country, houses are
small and poorly, though comfortably, furnished. In
provinces, like Westphalia and Waldeck, the barn and
the house of the peasant are under the same roof.
The cow and horse occupy the lower story, or one side
of the house, while the family lives above, or across a
dividing way. One may often see hay crowded into
the attic of the house, while children are at the win-
dows of rooms above those set apart for the cattle.
Pigs and hens are not far distant. Yet the people
who thus live, and whose food is chiefly black bread,
a little sausage and beer, do not look untidy, or as if
they had insufficient nourishment. In the city, the
majority, including also the well=to=do, live in flats, or
apartments. In Berlin, a recent census shows that a
single house accommodates fifty=seven persons, while
on an average we find only seven in London. In Lon-
don separate houses for every family are the rule. In
Berlin, save in the suburbs, they are the exception.
If rents for these apartments are rather high, the ag-
gregate household expenses are far less than in Chi-
cago, New York, or Boston. The standard of living
is simijler. Entertainments cost less. Food and
clothing cost less. Carriage hire is inexpensive, and
it costs less to ride on the street cars or in the omni-
buses. Then, too, there seems to be a feeling that
American and English people eat too much, and are
too fond of expensive food. With the conviction that
simi3le ways best befit an honest state of society, are
most healthful, as well as less costly, it is not surpris-
ing that with the same amount of money, a German

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL MOVEMENTS 67

can obtain far more from its expenditure than an
American. Even princes make little display in their
methods of living; some of them, indeed, have little
money to spend, while those who have a great deal do
not throw it away on frivolities. If they live com-
fortably they do not seem to care to live extravagant-
ly. In later years there has been an increasing ten-
dency, among those who have acquired large fortunes,
to increase personal expenses and to introduce stand-
ards of housekeeping and entertainment which have
caused much solicitude among the more thoughtful,
and the lovers of the old simple ways. One of the
causes of the bitter feeling against the Jews is the
reckless manner in which the wealthier among them
are spending their money in fast living.

To an American it seems as if the custom which
prevents young peoi)le of a marriageable age from as-
sociating with each other, save in the presence of their
elders, could not be favorable to good morals. No
one is benefited by being continually watched, by be-
ing treated as if on the point of going astray. Mar-
riages, which in the middle classes are not consum-
mated very early, are less happy, one may believe,
than they would be, were the parties to them allowed
to associate more freely before the marriage contract
is formed. There are too many go-betweens, there is
too much consideration of money or income for un-
ions of real affection. Still these do occur, and more
frequently than one would think possible. An en-
gagement is a great affair. Its solemnity is recog-
nized by everybody. It is not often broken, never
save for the most serious reasons. After an engage-
ment has been ratified at the house of the future

68 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

bride, the young people are permitted to enjoy each
other's society without hindrance. The period be-
tween betrothal and marriage for most young persons
is the happiest period of their lives. This is their
honeymoon. Marriage may be delayed for years, but
hence-forth the two people who have announced their
purpose in the presence of relatives and friends to be-
come husband and wife, are known as bride and bride-
groom, and are received by the relatives of either
party as members of the family. Families as a rule
are large. Germans love children. Parents and
children openly manifest their affection for each
other. They make a great deal of birthdays, of
Christmas, and Easter, and rarely allow these days to
pass without exchanging some little present with one
another. The love for social gatherings which unites
families, or brings them together after the chil-
dren are grown up and settled in homes of their
own, is exceedingly strong.

There are no national games in Germany as in
England and America. The Germans care nothing
for cricket, or base ball. The Universities do not
challenge one another to games of foot ball, or to
boat races. The typical German seems happiest
when in a beer garden, listening to good music,
smoking and drinking beer with his wife and children
around him. For j)hysical exercise, outside of that
which daily labor requires, the people seem to have
little appreciation. No one can deny that the habits
of life ordinarily cultivated are favorable to good
morals, and to a social life into which the discussion
of questions which unsettle religious faith rarely
enters.

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL MOVEMENTS 69

With the increase of manufactures there has come
a congestion of population in manufacturing districts.
Although the population is almost entirely German,
there still arise many disagreements between the em-
ployers and laborers as to wages. There are fewer
of these strifes than in a country like ours, where so
many persons of different nationalities and creeds con-
gregate, and where many assume a menacing or hos-
tile attitude toward those who give them em^Dloyment.
Serious strikes have not infrequently taken place in
these manufacturing districts, but most of them have
been settled without the intervention of the govern-
ment. Others, notably in the mining districts, have
been put down by the heljD of soldiers, and a settle-
ment effected to the disadvantage of labor. Hardly
more frequently in Germany than elsewhere have
strikes really brought advantage to those engaged in
them. It is easier there, than here, or in England, to
compel their settlement by force, even if such a method
of settlement should satisfy no one. The scarcity of
employment, and the knowledge that if one gives up
a place hundreds are waiting to take it, hinder many
of those who are dissatisfied with their pay, from re-
fusing to work because they cannot secure its in-
crease. Upon the whole, whatever be the reason,
there seems to be less complaint of the injustice and
avarice of employers in Germany than in our own
country. Perhaps it is because the haste to become
rich is not quite so feverish and overpowering as here.

The government ownership of railways, telegraphs,
a few breweries, and industrial establishments, and
the employment of a multitude of men in the civil
service, where the tenure of position depends upon

70 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

competence and good behavior, tend to create a
standard as to wages and the length of a day's labor,
which are not without a steadying influence upon the
vast army of wage-earners. Very few who are in
government service would care to risk their position
by a strike or by an agitation v/hich would bear any
resemblance to a strike. Nevertheless, there are too
many people in Germany for its soil and its indus-
tries properly to support. Notwithstanding the ex-
tensive fisheries, the increasing output of the mines,
the strenuous efforts which are made to bring agri-
culture to a higher state of perfection, and to open
lines of trade to every part of the world, emigration
continues to increase. The demands of the Army
and Navy, added to the ordinary demands for labor,
are insufficient to furnish opportunities for earning a
comfortable livelihood to hundreds of thousands of the
population. Hence the immense emigration which
has been going on for years to the United States, and
is now turning toward South Africa and South
America. Letters from those who have prospered in
these regions and especially in the United States
create the desire for emigration in the minds of those
who have remained at home, and so the stream of de-
parture for new countries continues. But in spite of
the drains which have been made on the population,
the census of 1890 gave Germany nearly fifty millions
of people, with a country only 208,425 square miles
in extent. This is a population of a little less than
239 to the square mile, a larger population than is
found in Massachusetts. Massachusetts has the West
to depend upon for her food. Germany cannot pro-
duce enough to feed her people. It may be doubted

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL MOVEMENTS 7l

whether a country, exposed as she is to the hostility
both of France and Kussia, can safely depend on the
products of other countries for any portion of her
food supply. It is estimated that about 92 per cent,
of her territory, including that which is fitted for
grazing purposes, is capable of cultivation; 49 per
cent, of it is arable. Germany is very well wooded;
her forests cover 25 per cent, of her territory, v/hile
those of England cover only 3 per cent., and those of
France 17 per cent. With an abundance of coal, and a
large supply of peat, there is no danger of im-
mediate suffering from lack of fuel. But unless a
stop can be put to the present rapid expansion of the
population, or some new method of increasing agri-
cultural products be discovered, and new channels
opened for trade, it would seem as if the question of
earning enough to meet the home demand for food
would soon become a very pressing one. It is, more-
over, one that may add immensely to the difficulties
which Social Democrats, and a few hot-headed anar-
chists, now and then furnish the government. It is
of no little importance that in such a condition of
things there be a strong faith in eternal verities, and
a wise leadership in the Christian church. That re-
ligion will form an important element in the settle-
ment of the present problems in Germany, the relig-
ious nature and history of the people render evident.
Germany is a land of experiments in religion. She
has tried Materialism. This, as one who writes intel-
ligently in one of the more trustworthy journals says,
is " an old head, weary and worn," whose day is past.
Proud as she has been, Materialism can do nothing
now for the people. The people have discovered that

72 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

they need something spiritual to help them to bear
their earthly burdens. Philosophy has had her day.
She is still powerful with many stalwart thinkers.
From Kant to Hartmann, not a few have looked to
her to suggest a way out of the troubles which sur-
round the laboring class. But Philosophy has no
way to suggest. She can discuss difficulties, can
weave theories together into a system: she cannot
furnish practical and immediate aid to those who
need it. Rationalism, whatever be its form, is une-
qual to the demands of the higher nature of man.
It cannot minister to the spirit. Even the advocates
of an Ethical Religion find no firm ground upon which
to stand, unless they build upon the foundation of
the "apostles and prophets." Only so far as they
present the doctrines which Christ taught can they
really touch the people they desire to influence. A
" new religion," " the religion of the future," in
which we hear much of " reason," " the rights of
man," of " progress," " the advancement of the race,"
has nothing for men and women who are hungry,
who are friendless and hopeless, who want God,
and the help which He alone can bring. Says one
who has considered the question, " Both Catholic
and Protestant must study the question of aid for
the working, or wage class, together." They must be
agreed as to the measures which shall be taken for
the removal of the need which is most pressing.
Wise Christian men are satisfied that nothing short
of religion, earnest, practical, every^day religion, will
lift suffering miners or other toilers out of their de-
pressed condition, or give them courage to try to help
themselves, and thus encourage others to unite to-

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL MOVEMENTS 73

gether to make these attempts successful. It is for
the " fourth, or laboring class," especially, that help is
demanded. It is for this class that the two great
Churches of Germany are trying to work together.
Statistics show that out of every hundred Germans,
forty-seven are farmers, or peasants, thirty- five em-
ployed in the trades, and only nine engaged in stores,
or in the sale of the products of industry. Yet the
laws recently enacted are, it is claimed, chiefly in the
interest of the smallest class, and opposed to all that
concerns the agricultural welfare of the nation.
Economically, it is asserted that the cause of Ger-
many's depression is the inability of her peasant
class to buy and pay for what it needs. Treaties
with Russia, and laws governing trade with other
countries, have discriminated against Germany her-
self, and reduced the power of the farmers to pay
off the debts which, to more than half their value,
have accumulated against their farms, or even to pre-
vent their steady increase. For more than half of
the population the future is dark. In view of this
condition of things, what has been and is the
attitude of the Church in Germany. What is the
Christian life there led? To what extent is the
Church a powerful moulder and director of public
opinion? To these questions answers, more or less
full, will be given in the chapters which follow.

CHAPTER V.

STIMULATING AND MODIFYING INFLUENCES ON
CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY.

No one mourns more sincerely than the intelli-
gently devout German Christian the formalism which
prevailed in the Churches at the close of the last, and
at the beginning of the present century. If Chris-
tianity had a name to live, it did not have much else.
There was little hearty belief in the Scriptures as a
direct revelation from God. Attendance at Church
services was slight. Sermons were cold, unattractive
and lifeless. Philosophic rather than practical topics
formed their themes. To the occupants of the pulpit
the field of Natural Theology seemed more fruitful
than that of Revealed Theology. The doctrines of
sin and grace, outside of certain circles, were almost
entirely neglected. For this condition of things
there were many reasons. Some of them date back
to Luther, and owe their existence to his failure to
draw a sharp distinction between Church and State,
to his comparative indifference to subordinate but
important doctrines of the Gospel, and especially to
his views as to the Sabbath. Nor were his views as
to the Scriptures without effect on those who came
after him. Too much has been made of his claim
for the right of private judgment and perfect free-

74

STIMULATING AND MODIFYING INFLUENCES 75

dom in the interpretation of Scripture; yet it cannot
be denied that extreme radicals are not without a
show of reason in their assertion that he was the
great radical of his time, and that, with his spirit and
methods of interpretation, he would be their leader
to=day. Unfortunately these radicals lack, as a rule,
the piety of Luther. They have none of his con-
viction of sin, none of his desire for its for-
giveness, none of his confidence in the great doc-
trine of justification by faith. Whatever may have
been the failure of Luther, in the way of formulating
dogmas for subsequent ages to receive and defend, his
writings, taken as a whole, are an antidote to the
poison which a few men would extract from them.
Still we cannot fail to regret that the Reformer was
not more consistent with some of his own principles.
He would thus have given his successors less excuse
for the differences of opinion which soon exhibited
themselves in their ranks. The barren disputes in
theology in the seventeenth century, the failure to
start missions in foreign lands, to lay upon the
Churches the entire burden of their support, to con-
fine their membership to regenerate persons, the ir-
regularities connected with the Peasants' War, and
the sufferings attending the Thirty Years' War, pre-
pared the way for the dearth of spiritual life in the
eighteenth century, and for the Rationalism which was
dominant in all spheres of thought at the beginning
and during the early years of the century now
closing.

Some of the causes which led to a reaction in Chris-
tian thought and life may here be briefly mentioned.
In considering them we should not forget that

76 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Pietism and the Moravians were sources of great
spiritual power during all these dark years. Their
influence, often unrecognized, can hardly be over-
estimated. Yet there were also external causes which
influenced the religious life of the people. Prominent
among these, perhaps deserving the first place on
account of their effect upon the entire jjeople, were the
military campaigns of the nation. It was the "War
for Independence which brought the peo^ole to their
knees, and led them to cry unto God for deliverance.
French influence had corrupted everything. It had
corrupted thought, morals, and religion. The political
power of the nation had been trampled under foot.
EfiPorts to throw off the French yoke, to break the
power of Napoleon in one great battle at Jena, in
1806, had signally failed. The darkest day for the
German people had dawned. In the depths of their
humiliation they turned their thoughts unto God.
They cried mightily unto Him. Philosophical theo-
ries were thrown to the winds. What everyone
wanted was divine help. It came. With the defeat
of the French armies at Leipzig, in 1813, and the
waning of Napoleon's influence, a better state of
things, religiously, dawned. Church life revived, and
Chi'istian doctrines were discussed in a more practi-
cal, helpful way.

With this renewal of confidence in the political
importance of the nation was connected an intel-
lectual awakening of the utmost importance. This
was brought about in the main by the writings of
such men as Kant, Fichte, and Hegel. Into the
Church and into the ranks of theologians such think-
ers came as Schelling, Schleiermacher, Neander, and

STIMULATING AND MODIFYING INFLUENCES 77

Tholuck, These men believed in a spiritual religion,
based on doctrines so simple that the common mind
could aj)prehend them. The addresses of Schleier-
macher, brilliant alike as a thinker and XDreacher,
(Reden) to the thinking men of the nation, brought
thousands back to the faith, and confirmed within
them the purpose to lead a Christian life. To the
influence of Schleiermacher, more than to any one
else, is due the revival of confidence in Christianity
as a revelation from God, and of religious earnestness
in the nation. Not without a favorable influence
on the piety of the people were the writings
of the Romanticists. But no writers have ever had
a greater or more beneficent influence, taken as a
whole, than Goethe, Schiller, and Lessing. This
influence was all the stronger since no one of these
men sought to defend Christianity, save indirectly,
or was known in his day as a believer in Christianity.
Out of this intellectual renaissance came such histor-
ical writers as Niebuhr, Ranke, Hase, Dorner,
Kahnis, such critical scholars as Gesenius, Delitzsch,
Tischendorf , with a host of others, engaged in kindred
fields, all contributing, more or less, to a deeper in-
terest in the Scriptures, and in the religion which is
founded upon them. Nor are we to set aside as of
little value in awakening religious thought, the great
army of novel writers, essayists, critics, journalists?
and poets, who, although working chiefly for the day,
have yet done a vast deal to create a new interest in
the principles which underlie the " Sermon on the
Mount."

The discussions which accompanied the efforts of
Frederick William III., king of Prussia, to bring

78 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

about in his dominions a union of the Lutheran and
Keformed Churches, were not without favorable effect
upon the religious life of his subjects. In spite of
the very serious opposition from the proposed amal-
gamation of the two bodies, each retaining to a certain
extent its own confession of faith, into a single body,
to be known as the Union Evangelical Church, and
the refusal of some strong Churches to assent to the
terms of the union, few would now venture to ques-
tion the wisdom of the step which the king and his
ministers were anxious to take. The union was
effected in 1817, and although it embraces within its
fellowship men whose opinions are extremely ortho-
dox, as well as those who are liberal almost to the
verge of unbelief, it has undoubtedly done much to
increase the efficiency of the Church of the realm.

Christian journalism, and such reviews as the
Studien und KrUiken, have also wrought well for the
truth. Overlooking its bad taste in conducting its
controversies, the personalities, bitter and unchristian
which often appeared in its columns, it must be ad-
mitted that the Kirchenzeihing, so long edited by
Hengstenberg of Berlin, now published at Leipzig,
and edited by Luthardt, exerted very great influence
on the side of Christian truth. These intellectual
and spiritual influences, set in motion during the first
and second quarters of the century, have continued
to make themselves felt with increasing power even
to the present time. Whatever may be said as to the
influence of the Universities, though upon the whole
it has been favorable to Christian truth, or however
large may seem to be the numbers of men high in
public estimation who reject supernatural Christian-

STIMULATING AND MODIFYING INFLUENCES 79

ity, it cannot be denied that the ministry has con-
stantly grown more spiritually minded, and that,
within the last fifty years, the Church has roused
itself to special activities indicative of a new life.

It seems far fetched to say that the exciting scenes
in France, in 1848, were favorable to German piety.
Yet this is true. At that time Berlin only just es-
caped a revolution. It was at the point of the bayo-
net, one might almost say, that the promise of consti-
tutional government was extorted from Frederick
William IV. It was with great hesitation that he
fulfilled his promise, and gave Prussia a constitution
and a representative form of government. Previously
the will of the Hohenzollerns had been absolute.
Since that time the cause of civil and religious liberty
has made immense progress. It was in the year 1848
also that Wichern secured the recognition by the
church, through its representatives gathered at Wit-
tenberg, of his work in the Kough House, {Eauhes
Hans) at Hamburg, a branch of the work of the Ger-
man churches now known as the "Inner Mission,"
and making its beneficent power felt throughout the
German^speaking world. In an important sense is it
true that since 1848 the political and Christian devel-
opments of Germany have gone forward hand in
hand.

The sense of obligation which the Emperor Wil-
liam I., and his advisers, including Bismarck, felt in
the government of a Christian nation was deepened
by the victories gained in the short war with Austria,
in 1866. This sense of responsibility was immensely
increased through the triumphs over France in 1870
and 1871, and by the consolidation of the German

80 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Provinces into the German Empire. For a quarter
of a century this Empire has existed, and every year
has its attitude toward Christian truth grown more
favorable. Perhaps it is as Christian in all its de-
partments as a government well can be. Even in its
military and civil service, it observes the forms which
belong to a Christian nation. Nor are these forms
meaningless. They express in a public way the wishes
of the people, from the Emperor to his humblest sub-
ject, for a Christian government.

The latest phase of free Christian thought is Ritsch-
lianism. Its principles find their strongest advocates
in such men as Harnack and Kaftan, of Berlin, and
Hermann, of Marburg, although nearly all German
Church historians are attached to this school of the-
ology. The watchword of the school has been " back
to Christ," back to the sources of truth. Its leaders
are striving to do their work as students of the origi-
nal documents of Christianity, in the spirit of Luther,
and independently of the religious dogmas which
Councils or learned men have formulated. The gen-
esis of this school of thought is interesting. It grew
out of the left wing of the Hegelian philosophy.
While the right wing of this philosophical school
made itself felt as an influence of great value to the
Church, through Schelling and Schleiermacher in
Berlin, the left wing in Strauss and Baur and the
Tubingen school, seemed likely at one time to prove
destructive to faith. As one of Baur's most promis-
ing pupils, and thoroughly familiar with his methods
of investigation and thought, Ritschl furnished the
antidote to any influence his writings might exert in
opposition to Christianity. He drew from them am-

STIMULATING AND MODIFYING INFLUENCES 81

munition with which to destroy the armies of unbelief.
While the object of much suspicion in Grermany, and
very imperfectly understood either in England or in
America, the Christian earnestness of the representa-
tives of the Ritschlian school leaves no doubt as to
their fundamental principles of belief, or of the sin-
cerity of their purpose to serve the cause of Christ
Both Ritschl and Schleiermacher felt the influence of
Pietism. The latter was more or less a mystic to the
day of his death. Brought up among the Moravians,
he could never rid himself of the impressions which
their simple piety made upon him in his youth.
There is something in nearly all his writings, as there
was in his preaching, indicative of his early training.
As the historian and critic of Pietism, Ritschl fell
perhaps unconsciously under its influence. This may
be one of the reasons why his teachings have such a
charm for many of the first order of mind. Were
there any tendency to infidelity in his writings, this
tendency would be met and resisted by the spirit of
sincere piety with which they are animated. It
would not be surprising if, through the influence
which men like Francke, Pastor Harms, and other de-
voted and successful pastors and teachers, have exert-
ed on all branches of the Church, even Ritschlianism
were finally to be accepted, with modifications doubt-
less, as a part of that great contribution to Christian
thought and activity which Germany is still continu-
ing to make.

Another indication of a revived Church life is seen
in the formation on the battle field of Ltitzen, in
1832, where ten thousand German Christians had
gathered to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary

82 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

of the hero's death, of the Gustav Adolphus Verein,
a society whose purpose is to aid in the building of
Churches and the formation of Protestant communi-
ties, chiefly in the Roman Catholic provinces of the
country. It was thought that the formation of such
a society would keep alive the memory of the great
Swedish King who gave his life to the cause of Pro-
testant principles, and that its very name would
plead eloquently for the cause it represents. The
history of the society shows that its founders builded
even more wisely than they knew.

The celebration, in 1867, of the three hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of the Reformation, combined
with other causes to direct the attention of the people
anew to the divine sources of the doctrines for which
the Protestant Churches stand. Another impulse to
faith was given by the dedication, with royal pomj),
of the old Castle Church at Wittenberg, Oct. 31, 1892.
In its restoration three Emperors had taken part.
The successful effort to increase the number of
Churches, and to create new parishes as they are
needed, in Berlin, together with the well known inter-
est of the royal household in all that concerns the
spiritual welfare of the nation, have undoubtedly
done something towards making Church attendance,
sadly neglected as it still is, more fashionable than it
once was, and to prevent many from expressing them-
selves openly as opposers of religion.

No one can deny that there is a great deal of scepti-
cism among scientific men in Germany. Nor are all
the professors and students in the Universities favor-
ably disposed toward Christianity. Fewer of the
latter are interested in religion than among students

STIMULATING AND MODIFYING INFLUENCES 83

in our own country; but it may be doubted if a larger
number of unbelievers among scientific men could be
found in Germany than among us, or in England.
Over the lack of spiritual life in her educated men
devout pastors in Germany sincerely grieve. Very
clearly do they see cause for alarm lest unbelieving
men creep into the pulj^its of the Churches. This
they are doing all that they can to prevent. Still, even
in the Universities, the religious condition is better
than it was twenty years ago. Belief in a revealed
religion is not diminishing among educated men,
Higher Criticism has not destroyed confidence in the
Scriptures as the Word of God. Nor has it diminished
the sense of personal responsibility for the spread of
the knowledge of Christ over the world, and among
those at home, whose condition is almost as deplora-
ble as is the condition of unbelievers in heathen
lands. Whoever studies with care the entire field of
German history, literature, philosophy, and education
since the days of Luther, will be convinced that while
there is much to regret, and much still to be desired,
the doctrines of the New Testament were never so
popular among the people as now; that the Church,
including pastors and laymen alike was never more
aggressive thaii now, or more confident that the prin-
ciples of Christ will everywhere finally prevail.

CHAPTER VI.

FOREIGN MISSIONS IN GERMANY.

The assertion is often made that the Church in
Germany is destitute of spiritual life. The assertion
rests on the assumijtion that Higher Criticism, whose
results are published almost as soon as they are
reached, is fatal to piety, and that a State Church
cannot be interested to any considerable extent in
aggressive Christian measures. The connection of
Church and State is doubtless profitable neither to
the one nor to the other, but of all Churches where
this relation exists the condition of the national
Church of Prussia, and that of the other provinces
now incorporated in the Empire, are surely of the
best. The works of the critics are read only by a few,
and as every position taken by them is immediately
subjected to the severest tests as soon as made known,
with little prospect of ultimate acceptance, they are
in general regarded by the rank and file of pro-
fessed Christians with something like indifference.

A true test of the spiritual life of a Church is in
the gifts of money and men, which its members
make year by year to objects which are purely benev-
olent. The number of persons whose lives are de-
voted to philanthropic objects, both at home and
abroad, is far larger than is commonly thought.'
Considering the resources at the command of the'

84

FOREIGN MISSIONS 85

German Churches, benevolent contributions are by no
means insignificant. Averaged among all whose
names are on the books of these Churches as the
names of those who have been baptised and con-
firmed, the amount given is painfully small; but if
divided among those who are really regenerate, and
upon whose shoulders the burdens of Church work
rest, it is far from discouraging. There are two great
channels through which the gifts of the Christian
people of Germany are continually flowing, those of
missionary work in foreign lands and of missionary
work at home. The former is known as the Outer
Mission, the latter as the Inner Mission. The work
of the Inner Mission, in many respects one of the
best organized and most remarkable in the world,
will be described in future chapters.

For the statements in this chapter concerning the
foreign work, although the reports of the various so-
cieties have been carefully consulted, and many doc-
uments have been read, the chief authority is Dr.
Gustav Warneck, whose elaborate works on missions
are well known, and whose little book for use in
schools ("Die Mission in der Schule," Gtitersloh,
1893), written in a charming style and full of inter-
esting anecdotes, has had a wide circulation. His
statements have been carefully compared with those
made by the late Dr. H. Gundert, wdiose summary of
the history of foreign missions the world over is a
marvel of condensation as well as of accuracy, (" Die
evangelische Mission, ihre Lander, Volker, und Ar-
beiten," Calv & Stuttgart, 1894.)

Practical and effective interest in Foreign Missions
dates back to the beginning of the eighteenth cen-

86 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

tury, or to the time of Angnstus Hermann Francke
(1663-1727), founder of the Halle Orphan Asylum,
and professor in the University of Halle. Quickened
in his own spiritual life by association with the Pie-
tists, and by careful study of the Bible, it was his
personal influence which led such men as Ziegenbalg
and H. Pliitschau to devote themselves to the foreign
field. Through their writings and instructions, both
as pastor and professor, a missionary spirit began to
show itself in Germany, and money was sent Francke
for the support of those who were willing to go
abroad. He became the chief adviser of missiona-
ries, one might almost say, a missionary society in
himself.

As a matter of fact, however, Frederick IV. of Den-
mark was the originator of the first foreign mission-
ary work of modern times. His interest in the wel-
fare of his subjects in the East Indian colonies led
him, in 1705, at the suggestion of his court chaplain
LUtkens, to undertake their evangelization. Thither
went Ziegenbalg and Pliitschau, who were intimately
associated with Francke. This earliest of continent-
al missionary societies is generally known as the
" Danish^Halle Society." Its chief station was at
Trankebar, in Southern India, where, by the end of
the century, a community of nearly 40,000 converts
had been gathered. Here, for nearly a hundred years,
as noble a set of men as ever entered the foreign field
toiled unremittingly. For fifty years this w^as the
home of Fabricius, who died in 1791. Fabricius was
the translator of the Bible into the language of the
people, and a co-laborer of the devoted Friedrich
Schwartz (who died in 1798), in creating for them a

FOREIGN MISSIONS 87

Christian literature. Owing to the rise of Rational-
ism at home and its deadening influence on the
Churches, interest in missions waned, and the once
flourishing and promising work in India fell into
decay. Still it has not been without permanent re-
sults, to which both the Leipzig Society of the pre-
sent century and the London Missionary Society,
have become heirs.

The influence of Francke was felt in another direc-
tion where the results have shown themselves in un-
broken missionary labors. In his youth. Count Zin-
zendorf, the founder of the Moravian, or Brother
Community, as it is usually called in Germany, was
brought into somewhat intimate relations with the
Halle professor. The spiritual impulse he then
received remained with him through life.

In 1732, the Count gathered on his estate, at
Herrnhut, a company of men and women who were
ready to make a complete consecration of themselves
and their possessions to the Lord. There are at
present about 9,000 Moravians in Germany, and 22,000
more in England and America. From this little com-
pany of believers, it was reported at the celebration
of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the
beginning of the work, held at Herrnhut in 1882, that
2,209 persons had gone forth from their homes to
serve in the foreign field, that there were then under
their care 161 missionaries, who were laboring in
twenty- one difPerent provinces or countries, at 120
stations and in 253 schools, in which there were
20,500 i)upils. Not less than 90,500 people were re-
ceiving si^iritual instruction from these Christian
teachers. Such missionary activity as this has hardly

88 CBRISTIAN LIFE m GERMANY

a parallel iji the history of the church. The entire
Moravian community is a missionary society, every
member of which is ready to go wherever he is asked
to go, and whose ruling purj)ose is to preach the
Gospel.

The present interest in missions, with the excep-
tion of that among the Moravians, dates back to the
beginning of the present century. It began with the
awakening interest in spiritual things so generally
manifest in different sections of Germany during
and at the close of the wars for freedom. As the
majority of the pulpits in the Church were then filled
by men who were inclined to Rationalism, if not
openly its advocates, and therefore indifferent to
evangelistic work either at home or abroad, the first
steps in the formation of missionary societies were
taken by those pastors whose hearts the Lord had
touched, and whose eyes the Lord had opened. For-
tunately, these societies have been from the first, in-
dependent of ecclesiastical authority. If the Church,
represented by her leading men, refused her sanc-
tion to the proceedings of some of her more zealous
members, she could not complain if they sought to
discharge their Christian duty through channels
which they themselves opened and controlled. The
organization of these missionary societies has been
very simple, and representative only of those who
contribute to their treasuries. A thorougly compe-
tent committee chooses a Secretary or an Inspector,
who is responsible for the direction of the work.
More than anyone else, he decides who shall be sent
out as missionaries, the kind of education they shall
first receive, the fields they shall cultivate, the methods

FOREIGN MISSIONS 89

they shall pursue. It is from his pen that appeals go
to the Churches and individuals for funds. He con-
ducts the correspondence with the missionaries, and
makes up the annual reports. In a very important
sense the Secretary of any given society is the so-
ciety itself. The aim of all missionary work has
been, and continues to be, to gather self-sustaining
and self=propagating communities in foreign lands.
The standard of Christian living has been high.
None are received into the Christian community save
the children of believers, except upon an intelligent
acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and
the Forgiver of sins.

Neither at the beginning of this foreign work, nor till
now, has it been thought wise to send out ministers
alone. Men representing various trades and conditions
of life have been received and commissioned in order
that native communities might the sooner become
civilized, or taught how to live in a civilized way, and
how to sustain themselves by their own industry.
Although the Leipzig Society was formed with the
intention of sending out University men alone, that
plan has been abandoned. None of the societies now
attempt to secure University men alone, but select
their candidates without regard to their rank, from
among those who have the requisite piety, and other
gifts of mind and heart, and train them for the fields
to which they are to be assigned in schools established
for this purpose. This course of training in general
extends over six years, and if necessary may be pro-
longed. Unmarried women have not as yet been em-
ployed in the foreign field, to any great extent, al-
though the experience of other countries has led to

90 CHEISTIAN LIFE TN GERMANY

a favorable consideration of the service they are
fitted to render, and to tlie commissioiiing of a num-
ber of them. Great care has been taken in the se-
lection of wives for missionaries, and the heroism
which husbands and wives have exhibited, and the
brilliant success they have attained, show that this
care has not been exercised in vain.

There are at present sixteen societies engaged in
foreign missionary work. Their united income ia
about three and one=half million marks annually, or
four and onehalf millions if the million marks ob-
tained by the Moravians from the fields they culti-
vate, and the industries they engage in, be added.
They sustain 625 missionaries in addition to native
helpers, and have gathered into Christian communi-
ties not far from 260,000 professed converts. No
one can visit these communities without being im-
pressed with the very great difference between them
and the heathen communities round about them.

Appended, arranged in the order of their forma-
tion, are the names of those missionary societies
with a brief account of their organization, the fields
of their activity, the sources of their income, the
number of laborers they support, and, so far as figures
can state them, the results of their labors.

1 — At the head of the list, as has been already said,
stands the Moravian Missionary Society, which be-
gan its work under Count Zinzendorf's direction in
1732. Its headquarters are at Herrnhut, although
two= thirds of the Moravian communities are in Eng-
land and America. Representatives from among
these self=sacrificing Christians have toiled among the
slaves on eight of the West India Islands, among

FOREIGN MISSIONS 91

the communities in Greenland and Labrador, among
the Indians of North America, in Central America, in
Surinam, in Australia, and on the snowy heights of
the Himalayas. At the last reports, 123 main stations
were cared for, with which, orderly communities, many
of them fully self=sustaining, containing 92,000 souls,
had been associated. Of the 1,452,150 marks ex-
pended in 1894, all but 494,685 marks came from the
mission fields, either as the gifts of converts, or as
the profits of industries or trades in which the mis-
sionaries are interested, or are carrying on.

2 — The Basel Society, formed in 1813, is essentially
a German Society, although its mission house is in
Basel, Switzerland, It began its work in the Cau-
casus, but in consequence of a decree of the Czar in
1835, it was obliged to abandon it. The influence of
the mission was not, however, wholly destroyed by
the withdrawal of the missionaries. Lutheran com-
munities formed in this region, and continuing to the
present time, attest the fidelity of the early mission-
aries, and the excellence of the foundations which
they laid.

The Society now has three fields which it seeks to
cultivate, one in West Africa, one in India, and one
in China. On the Gold Coast, West Africa, it has ten
main stations, where the missionaries look after
11,261 Christians. Connected with the Cameroon's
mission are four stations into which only about 700
professed Christians have been gathered. On the
Southwest coast of India there are twenty4hree sta-
tions, into which have come more than 11,000 be-
lievers. In Hongkong, and in the province of Can-
ton, China, are fourteen stations with 3,600 converts.

92 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

The Society sustained in 1893, 191 male missionaries,
and 101 female missionaries. Of the latter, four were
young women. In its schools were more than 12,000
pupils. It represents both the Lutheran and the Re-
formed Churches, and has no difficulty in carrying on
its work abroad on a strictly Gospel basis, although it
is thought that missionaries , have been influenced,
more or less, doctrinally, by the views of the Inspec-
tor, or, as we would say, the Secretary, of the Society,

The income of this Society, exclusive of 115,400
marks raised on the mission fields, was, at the last re-
ports, 942,620 marks, and was contributed by people
living in Switzerland, Southern Germany, and the
province of Wiirttemberg.

The following facts gleaned from the history of the
Society will doubtless be found of interest. As early
as 1800, pastor Janicke, of Berlin, opened a school for
the training of missionaries. He began with seven
students. In the twenty^seven years during which he
continued to teach, he educated about eighty young
men, most of whom entered the service of missionary
societies, formed either in the Netherlands or in Eng-
land. Encouraged by the example of this devoted
man, C E. Spittler, of Wurttemberg, in union with
0. E. Blumhardt and F. Steinkopf, opened a school
for the training of missionaries in Basel. At first
they had no intention of forming societies for the sup-
port of their pupils in foreign countries. They were
satisfied to fit them for work in connection with so-
cieties already organized in other nations. The com-
mittee through whose agency the school was estab-
lished, was formed Sept. 25, 1815. The school was
opened Aug. 26th, 1816, with seven pupils. Blum-

FOREIGN MISSIONS 93

hardt was at its head, and soon became Inspector of
the Missionary Society, which grew out of it. He was
a man of great wisdom and laid the foundations of the
Society deep and strong. His successor (1839), Wil-
liam Hoffmann, was a man of rare gifts and large
faith, who was able to interest the so-called educated
world in foreign missions. This was for the time an
important accomplishment. Gradually the Society
enlarged its outlook, and although it has continued to
receive the support of Pietistic circles, it soon won
and has retained the confidence of large numbers who
do not belong to those circles.

From 1849 to 1879, Josenhaus served as Inspector.
A born organizer, he formulated the rules and deter-
mined the aims and spirit of the very greatly broad-
ened and extended work, in which, during these later
years, the society has engaged. Since 1835, the
amount collected by women in very small sums {Halb-
bdtze, less than three cents), has met about one=third
of the Society's expenditure. In 1860, a large mission
house was erected at Basel, and steps were taken to
enlarge the work abroad as fast as means would war-
rant. A characteristic feature of the Basel Society is
the favor it shows to missionary trading societies, in
Africa and India, from which considerable profit ac-
crues. The future of this, the oldest of the Grerman
Societies of the century, is exceedingly hopeful. With
a steadily increasing income, its work is sure to grow
in importance and usefulness.

3 — A third Society of great influence is the Society
generally spoken of as Berlin I or " the Society for the
establishment of evangelical missions among the
heathen, at Berlin." This Society has an income of

94 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

about 360,000 marks a year. It is obtained chiefly
from East Prussia. In doctrine it represents the Con-
fessionel, or extreme orthodox party. It requires its
missionaries, of whom it supports seventy, to accept
the Augsburg Confession. Founded in 1824, as the
result of a call issued the previous year by ten distin-
guished Christian gentlemen of Berlin, it did not send
out any missionaries till ten years later, although it
planned to do so, and opened its seminary in 1830.
For a long time, its only field was a very extensive
one in South Africa, where it has stations in Cape
Colony, Kaffirland, in the Orange Free State, in the
Transvaal, and in Natal, There are fifty-three stations
in this field numbering 26,000 Christians. More than
4,000 children are taught in the schools. For thirty
years the results were small, but with true Christian
patience the Society toiled on; and now, and indeed
for the last fifteen years, the results have been en-
couraging. In Africa, there are 54 ordained and five
unordained missionaries. There are also 12 paid and
376 unj)aid helpers. The Society has a mission in
Canton, and a Christian following there of 900 per-
sons. It has planted a station in Dutch East Africa,
and another on Lake Nyassa, in the interior of the
" Dark Continent." Through the earnestness of its
managers a great deal of interest in foreign missions
has been excited at home.

4 — The Missionary Society of the Khine and
Westphalia, or, since its headquarters are at Bar-
men, the Barmen Society, was founded in 1828. In
1893, it had an income of 444,681 marks, obtained
almost entirely from the Rhine Provinces and West-
phalia. Its 101 missionaries, men and women, occu-

FOREIGN MISSIONS 95

py four large districts in West Africa, India, China,
and New Guinea. In West Africa, its 28 stations,
with their more than 28,000 adherents, are scattered
like a net over Cape Colony, Namaqua, and Herero
Land. The Cape Colony stations have become
self-supporting, and contribute regularly to the
sustaining of stations further north. In what is
called the India of the Netherlands, the Society has
32 stations. These are situated in Borneo, Sumatra,
and Nias. In Borneo, the work suffered, in 1859,
severe persecutions, from v/hicli it v;as a long time in
rallying. In Sumatra, success from the first has
been beyond the Society's most ardent anticipations.
More than 32,000 persons have confessed Christ.
Native preachers and teachers are trained in a theo-
logical seminary in the mission. The prospect at
Nias is encouraging. In the province of Canton,
there are three stations, and nearly 300 believers. In
consequence of heavy financial losses, the Society was
compelled, in 1881, to turn over the larger portion of
its work in China to the Basel Society, and to Ber-
lin I. It has recently entered Kaiser Wilhelm's Land
in New Guinea, where it already has over 7,000
pupils in its schools. At the close of 1893, it had 51
students in its mission house at Barmen.

The history of this Society, like that of many
others, shows how the Spirit of God prepares His
children for the great work they are called upon to
take up. In 1799, a small missionary Society was
formed at Elberfeld, to circulate, within a limited
area, news concerning the extension of the Kingdom
of God in heathen lands. Through the influence of
Blurnhardt, in 1815, a missionary union was formed

9$ CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

in Barmen, which subsequently united with the
Society in Basel. About 1825, a missionary estab-
lishment was called into existence in Barmen, and in
1828, through the union of the Societies of Barmen,
Elberfeld, Cologne, Wesel, and Kavensberg, the
Society of the Rhine was organized. Its first mis-
sionaries went to South Africa in 1829, where very
hard work was done, and very remarkable success
obtained. Doctrinal differences and discussions at
home have somewhat diminished the income of the
Society and crippled its work. In 1898, nine mis-
sionaries were ordained and commissioned. Two
returned for needed rest, and eleven women were sent
out.

5 — The North Dutch, or, since its mission house is at
Bremen, the Breme See Missionary Society, like the
Barmen organization, grew out of the union of several
small missionary societies. It was organized in 1836,
and opened its training school at Hamburg the follow-
ing year. For fourteen years, or till the training school
was closed and the headquarters v>'ere moved from
Hamburg to Bremen, doctrinal differences impeded
the work of the Society at home. The Society seeks
to furnish a platform satisfactory both to Lutherans
and to members of the Reformed Church, and work
on the lines laid down has, since 1850, been measura-
bly successful. In 1846, its first missionaries, six in
number, were sent to New Zealand, where, without
any additional helj)ers from Germany, they have
evangelized the people among whom they settled.
The next year (1847), the Society began a mission
on the Slave Coast, in Africa, where it has since,
very largely, concentrated its labors. Here, its vie-

FOREIGN MISSIONS 97

tories have been won at great cost of human life, and
in the face of constant and unceasing difficulties. At
four stations, it now has about 1,000 baptized persons
in its parishes, while the prospects of more rapid
growth are cheering. Recently, work has been
started in Togoland. The Society has only ten mis-
sionaries in its service. More than half its income
of 124,879 marks, comes from the city of Bremen.
Its missionary candidates are educated at Basel.

6 — The Leipzig Evangelical Society was intended
to take up the work and enter into the labors of the
old Danish=Halle Society. As early as 1819 an evan-
gelical missionary Society was formed at Dresden and
brought into working relations with the Basel Soci-
ety. The increased attention given to Lutheran
doctrine led to withdrawal from Basel, in 1882, and
to the opening of a training school at Dresden in the
following year. In August 1836, the Evangelical
Lutheran Missionary Society was organized, and
missionaries were sent to Southern Australia, where
they soon became pastors of Churches formed of
German emigrants. A little later, missionaries were
sent out to Southern India. In 1845, Trankebar, the
seat of the earlier missionary work, passed into the
hands of the English Government, and in 1847 the
Danish Missions' College, and the community gath-
ered about it, were received by the Dresden Society.
Work was also begun in other jjarts of India. Under
the influence of Rev. Dr. Graul, who was Inspector
of the Society from 1844 to 1860, its work assumed
new and increasing importance. He removed its
headquarters to Leipzig, and sought to make it the
ageucy through which German Lutherans should

98 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

discharge their missionary obligations. In 1879, a
seminary for the training of candidates for the
foreign field was established. Hitherto it had been
the policy to send out University men alone. Al-
though compelled to depart from its early custom, it
yet set up, and still maintains, a high educational
standard in its training school. In the year 1878-
1879, over 2,500 persons were added to the missionary
communities.

The chief work of this Missionary Society is
among the Tamuls of India. Here, in twenty=nine
stations, are gathered 14,000 professed Christians,
and in its schools, over 5,000 pupils. It has a theo-
logical seminary, near Trankebar, for the training of
native preachers and teachers. It emi^loys twenty-
nine missionaries, seventeen native preachers and
seventy-eight catechists. It has sent out pastors to
Rangoon to look after the spiritual interests of Ger-
mans living in that city. To its income of 339,000
marks in 1894, Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, Mecklen-
burg, and the Baltic Provinces contributed. The
society has opened a mission in Dutch East Africa,
near Kilima Njaro.

7 — A seventh society is the Gossner Missionary
Union, or Berlin II. This Union was formed in 1836
by Johannes Gossner, the famous pastor of Berlin,
then in the sixty4hird year of his age. Dissatisfied
with the older Berlin Society, on account of the too
great emphasis its managers were putting on ortho-
doxy, or the doctrines of the Confessionel party, and
the intellectual requirements upon which they in-
sisted, he opened in 1836 his school for the training
of candidates for the missionary field. One of his

FOREIGN MISSIONS 99

fundamental principles was that missionaries should
be self=supporting. He taught them trades, as well
as theology, and insisted on the formation of a truly
manly, as well as a Christian, character. In ten years
he sent out eight efficient men. These found fields
of work, for the most part, in connection with other
than German Societies, in Australia, India, North
America, and West Africa. During the second ten
years of his missionary activity, twenty-five of his
pupils went to the Indian Archipelago, and thirty-
three to stations on the Ganges and among the Kohls.
Among the latter the ingathering was a rich one.

After Pastor Gossner's death, in 1858, a Committee
and an Inspector took his place. Gradually some of
the earlier princijples were dropiaed. At present the
work is confined to the Kohls, and to stations on the
Ganges. In 1868, work among the Kohls suffered
severely from an unjust invasion by Anglicans and
Jesuits, but even now not far from 40,000 Kohls pro-
fess conversion. These are under the care of twenty-
one ordained missionaries, seventeen native pastors,
185 catechists, and eighty^five teachers. The income
of the society in 1892 was 159,880 marks, its expendi-
tures 188,492 marks. The income is furnished from
no particular section of Germany, but by those,
wherever they live, who are in sympathy with the
principles on which it was founded and on which it
is at present managed.

In close connection with this Union, is the East
Friesland Missionary Society, a small organization
which is neither exactly a Society nor a Union. It
was formed in 1834 by Pastor Fischer, and in 1877
attached itself, with its income of from 15,000 to

100 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

18,000 marks, to the Gossner Union. The Confes-
sionel party in East Friesland founded a preparatory
school in 1884, and a training establishment in 1889.
It supports one of the Hermannsburg stations. Its
income is about 10,000 marks,

8 — The Hermannsburg Mission was founded by
Pastor Ludvig Harms, of Hermannsburg, Hannover,
who died in 1865, and is largely sustained by the
gifts of a single community. At first he was zeal-
ously engaged in the founding of the North Dutch
Society. In 1849, Harms persuaded his parish to
undertake the support of a mission colony alone. He
preferred to call his mission the " Peasants' Mission."
After four years of training, twelve missionaries and
eight colonists sailed on their own ship to Natal.
For a while every four years, then every two years,
other colonists were sent out. In 1866 work was
undertaken in India, among the Telegus; in 1875 in
New Zealand; and afterwards in the interior of Aus-
tralia. Through the Nestorian, Pera Johannes, work
was in 1880 begun in Persia, sustained chiefly by the
Lutherans of Alsace. After the death of its founder,
his brother, Theodore Harms, became Inspector, but
on account of the introduction of new ceremonies, he
v/ithdrew from the Hannoverian Church. The Zulu
War, in 1878, was disastrous to much of the Society's
work in Zululand, nor has it yet fully recovered from
the set-backs then received. Naturally, difficulties
would arise on the mission fields among laborers
sent out, as those were from Hermannsburg. It is
not surprising that in 1884 new regulations were in-
troduced. From sheer necessity some of the mission-
aries had been compelled to take up trades. In 1885,

FOREIGN MISSIONS 101

Egmoiit Harms succeeded his father in the manage-
ment of the mission, and in 1890 all diiSculties be-
tween the mission and the Church of the Province
were amicably settled. But the supx3orters of this
mission were not all of one mind. In 1892, what is
known as " The Free Church of Hannover," with ten
pastors, and six pastors from the Hermannsburg sup-
porters, united to found a mission in Africa, and an-
other in New Zealand. The Hermannsburg commu-
nity, under Pastor Ehlers, with its 2,000 souls, re-
mains true to the old Society. The Society has no
schools. It emphasizes pure doctrine, even more
strongly than the orthodox party of the other Lu-
theran Missionary bodies. In South Africa it has
fifty stations, with nearly 20,000 adherents; twenty-
three in the Zulu district, and twenty=seven in the
Teschuana district. In India there are nine stations.
In the year 1892, it had in its employ sixty-one mis-
sionaries, and 314 native helpers. Its income for
that year was 272,576 marks, furnished by the prov-
ince of Hannover, although no inconsiderable por-
tion of it came from Hermannsburg itself.

To these eight important Protestant Missionary So-
cieties are to be added eight smaller Societies,
which have sprung into existence for reasons which
seemed to require their formation.

9 — The Pilgrim Mission of St. Chrischona, near
Basel, founded in 1848 by Spittler, who had been one
of the fathers of the Basel Mission, is at present do-
ing very little strictly missionary work. Prior to
1886 it had missions in Egypt, and among the Gal-
las of Abyssinia, a country which the king compelled
them to leave. It is now carrying on its work among

102 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

nominal Christians in the East. The Syrian Orphan
House in Jerusalem has become self supporting, and
its managers do some mission work in the city. Its
income, according to the latest returns, was 47,812
marks.

10 — The Jerusalem Union, formed, in 1852, in
connection with the establishment of the English^
German Bishopric of Jerusalem, at the pressing re-
quest and under the influence of Bishop Gobat, who
was aided in his efforts by the Chevalier von Bunsen,
has sought to reach nominal Christians, German and
English, living in Palestine. Its income is about
30,000 marks. The cost of Bishop Gobat's school,
which is still prosperous, is not far from 15,000 marks
annually.

11 — The Schleswig^Holstein Missionary Society,
often called the Breklumer Society, from its head-
quarters at Breklum, was founded in 1877. Great
interest in missions in these Provinces had been ex-
cited by Pastor Clans Harms, prior to his death in
1855. Before his time, men like P. Dame, who died
in India in 1766, Hiis, who served the Basel Society
in West Africa, and Rasmus Schmidt, who joined
the Moravians and died in 1845, had done not a little
to direct attention to work abroad. Bishop Koop-
mann, and a leading member of the Consistory, Mr.
Versmann, having carefully cultivated this feeling of
obligation to the heathen world, the gifted Pastor
Jensen, of Breklum, founded a society on his own re-
sponsibility, Sept. 19th, 1876. On the tenth of April
in the following year the mission house at this place
was dedicated. November 24, 1881, the first mission-
aries, four in number, were ordained. The Society

FOREIGN MISSIONS 103

has six stations and eleven missionaries among the
Telegus in India, but has not yet established any
Christian communities. These will no doubt come
later. The income, in 1892, secured in the two Prov-
inces it represents, was 54,102 marks. Unfortunately
disagreements between Pastor Jansen and the man-
agers of the Society, or rather with its Inspector,
led to the withdra\val of the former in 1893, and to
the formation of another Broklumer Society. It is
hoped that the two societies will reunite ere long.

12 — The Neukirche Missionary Establishment, so
called from the city, near Mors, in which it was
founded, in 1882, by Pastor Doll, has seven stations
in Java, managed by four missionaries and twenty-
three native helpers. It has two stations in East
Africa, under the care of five missionaries. Its mis-
sion house and all its work depend for support on
gifts received in answer to prayer. The income in
1892 was 52,577 marks, out of which an Orphan
Asylum and nine evangelists employed in home work,
were sustained.

13 — The Missionary Establishment in Neuendet-
telsau, Bavaria, opened in 1843, educates preachers
for the Germans in America and Australia. Since
1880, it has had a missionary station in Dutch New
Guinea, where eight persons are at work. Its income
in 1892 for missions was 21,325 marks.

14 — The General Evangelical Missionary Union
was formed at Frankfurt, April 11, 1883, to represent
the liberal element among the Lutherans of Germany
and Switzerland. It seeks to reach the more cultured
heathen peoples. It has four male and one female
missionary in Japan, where it has gathered several

104 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

small communities, and opened a seminary for the
training of Japanese preachers. It has two mission-
aries in China. Two German parishes in Japan, and
one parish in Shanghai, are cared for. In 1892 its
income of 88,753 marks, derived from the whole of
Germany and from Switzerland, was less than that of
the previous year by more than four thousand marks.

15 — The Society for Evangelical Lutheran Mis-
sions in East Africa, founded in 1886 at Hersbruck,
in Bavaria, as the result of the efforts of Pastor Itta-
meier, has received under its care persons educated in
the Neuendettelsauer missionary establishment, and
employs them at three stations among the Wakamba.
Its income in 1892, was 23,400 marks. This, togeth-
er with a capital of 67,000 marks, and its stations, it
transferred in 1892 to the Leipzig Society.

16 — An Evangelical Society for Dutch East Africa,
(Berlin III.) was organized in Berlin in 1886, by
Pastor Diestelkamp. Its operations are conducted
in Daressalaam, Tanga, and Hohenfriedeberg and
Hoffnungshohe in the interior. Pastor von Bodel-
schwingh, of Bielefeld, furnishes deaconesses and
sisters for its service. Its income is only about
17,700 marks a year.

These are really all the distinctively Missionary
Societies of the country, although there are at least
half a dozen others, working here and there for some
special purpose, or on account of some special views
as to the proper methods of sending the Gospel to
the heathen.

A Dutch China Alliance Mission was established
1890, at Barmen, under the influence of P. Transon,
a Swede, who aroused much enthusiasm in many

FOREIGN MISSIONS 105

circles for the Inland Mission of Hudson Taylor.
The amount of its income is not yet given, but during
the years 1890-92 eight persons were sent to China.

In Berlin, in 1891, Pastor Scheve formed a Mis-
sionary Union for Cameroon; but its first missionary,
Steffins, died in October, 1893, and this for a time
hindered its operations.

Several Unions, like that of the East Friesian,
which has existed for fifty years, the Konigsberg
Missionary Society, the Central Missionary Union of
Bavaria, the Cameroon Union in Stuttgart, and many
others which do not send out missionaries, furnish
money for the above named Societies.

It must have been observed that several of the later
Societies were formed in order to meet the wants of
those portions of Africa which have recently come
under German protection. The extension of " the
German sphere of influence " has awakened a sense
of obligation to the people living in the regions em-
braced within this sphere. Thither, Protestants and
Roman Catholics alike are sending missionaries, both
preachers and teachers.

Three Unions of women, which, either directly, or
through other Societies, seek to do mission work,
should here be mentioned.

1 — The Berlin Women's Union for China. This
was formed in 1850 by Pastor Kuak. It supports an
Orphan House and a Foundling's Home at Bethesda,
Hongkong. In 1892 its income was 19,362 marks.

2 — The Women's Union for the education of women
in the East, sends out teachers who usually work in
connection with English Missions in India. The
Union was formed in the house of the wife of

lOe CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Minister Eichorn, in 1842, Its income, in 1892, was
19,775 marks.

3 — The Kaiserswerth Home sends out deaconesses
to Palestine and other Oriental countries, to establish
hospitals and open schools, as they have opportunity.
In 1851, Pastor Fliedner sent four deaconesses to
Palestine, where a school called Talitha Ciimi, was
opened, and at once became successful. Almost
immediately, 110 Arabic girls entered it. There are
schools and hospitals in Beirut, Egypt, and Smyrna.
The income of the Kaiserswerth establishment for
1892 was 218,400 marks.

The growing interest in foreign missionary service,
which has led even the liberal element in the church
to regard missionary work as essential to the life of
the Church at home, renders it necessary that some-
thing should be said concerning the methods, aims,
and sj)irit in which these missions are conducted.
That these may not be misrepresented, a summary of
them is translated and condensed from Warneck's
work named above.

The guiding principles of German missionary work,
as stated by Warneck, are these: The preaching of
the Gospel in the language of the natives; the trans-
lation of the Bible, or portions of it, and the creation
of a Christian literature, as rapidly as may be, in their
language; the establishment of schools of various
grades, beginning with those of a primary grade, in
which teachers and preachers can be trained among
the people for whom the missionaries labor. Only a
few Societies, like the Hermannsburg, disbelieve in
schools. As a rule, the educational is the more

FOREIGN MISSIONS 107

prominent part of German missionary work; yet
preaching holds everywhere the highest j)lace.

No persons, unless children of believers, are re-
ceived by baptism into the Christian community,
except on confession of personal faith in Jesus Christ
as the only begotten Son of God, and in the forgive-
ness of sins through His grace. The conversion of
individuals is made the first aim, though missionaries
are encouraged to seek to Christianize entire commu-
nities, but always through the employment of moral
and spiritual means. They are never to degrade the
sacrament of baptism, as the Eoman Catholics do, by
the baptism of masses of people, by death=bed bap-
tism.s, or by baptizing children secretly. Baptized
children, when old enough to be taught, and elder
persons who have been received into the Christian
community, are gathered into classes, and instructed
not only in the Scriptures and the meaning of the
articles of faith given in the catechism, bat are taught
that they must hold themselves responsible for the
support of their own schools. Churches, teachers, and
preachers. They are also taught their obligation to
provide for the spiritual enlightenment of other
communities. Great care is taken to select and
educate promising pupils for native teachers and
preachers.

Among the so=called "nature peoples," German
missionaries seek to introduce the principles of Chris-
tian civilization, as well as those of Christianity.
They seek to make their inseparable union evident.
In giving the Gospel to people of culture, Germans
feel that they may soon entrust its proclamation to the

108 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

converts themselves. Everywhere missionaries are to
show by their compassion, interest and sympathy
that they are the true followers of Christ.

Those who enter upon missionary service are ex-
pected to do so in response to a divine call. No
matter how low the social rank of the would=be mis-
sionary, if he approve himself by his gifts and charac-
ter to those who represent the Societies, he will be
received, educated, and sent out to the field of his
choice, where he v^'ill be sustained as long as he is
able to discharge the duties of his position. As the
apostles were fishermen and tax-gatherers, so carpen-
ters, peasants, tradesmen, and other representatives
of the different occupations of the home land, are
willingly set apart for foreign service. But none are
commissioned until they have been trained and fitted
for the special work they are sent out to do. The
missionary is responsible to the Society which sup-
ports him, and although granted large liberty, both in
doctrine and in methods of service, he is yet expected
to carry out the wishes of those who have been en-
trusted with the management of the Society he serves.

The managers of these Societies are chosen by those
who contribute to them. The wishes of the contrib-
utors are made known through the various Unions,
or small local Societies, which gather the money
which the larger Society expends. These larger
Societies are therefore thoroughly representative of
their constituents. Hence the number of Societies in
Germany, rejjresenting each a locality, divergence in
doctrinal opinions, in methods of missionary proce-
dure, or organized to meet some x^ressing need which
existing bodies are either overlooking or disregarding.

FOREIGN MISSIONS 109

The Bacrifices M^iicli some of these missionary
fields have demanded are frightful. Yet neither the
missionaries themselves, nor the Societies which send
them out, have been willing to abandon these fields.
This has been especially true of those operating on the
Gold and Slave Coasts of Africa. Of 148 men and
81 women sent by the Basel Society from 1828 to
18S4 to the Gold Coast, 55 men and 24 women died.
Of the survivors, 62 men and 36 women were com-
pelled to return home and give up their work. That
is, out of 229 persons assigned to this field in 56
years, 177 either died in it, or were obliged to return
to their native land. For ten years not a convert was
made. At the end of thirty years only 385 had been
baptised. Since that time progress has been more
rapid. In 1891 it could be reported that 10,347 per-
sons had been received into the Christian community,
and that more than 5,000 pupils were taught in the
schools. An almost equal fatality, with less apparent
success, has attended the efforts of the Bremer
Society to Christianize the Slave Coast; yet the pros-
pects for future growth here are encouraging.

Missionary literature in Germany is abundant and
interesting. The annual reports of the larger soci-
eties, and the magazines they publish, give fresh in-
formation from the various fields, and thus contribute
not a little to the sx)iritual life in the home Churches.
The work of such men as Warneck, Grundemann,
and Gundert, render it easy for all who will, to inform
themselves as to this ever-enlarging field of Christian
activity.

The number of persons who give to Foreign Mis-
sions, in proportion to the entire Protestant popula-

110 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

tion of Germany, is, it is true, small. Nor are the
gifts of the rich conspicuous, as is often the case in
England and in the United States. But in propor.
tion to the number of persons in the National Church
who have really been born again, the gifts for Foreign
Missionary work are perhaps as large as in either of
the countries just named. Nor may we forget that
comparatively little general interest in Missions was
manifested even up to the forties, and that with the
excitements growing out of the disturbances of 1848,
the war with Austria in 1866, with France in 1870-71,
and the formation of the Empire, attention has nat-
urally been drawn to political matters rather than to
the work of the Church. Many of the German
preachers have cared little for foreign work. Some
have openly opposed it. In Westphalia, where the
missionary spirit is now the strongest, fifty years ago,
when Volkenning gave missionary instruction, gen-
darmes were present to j)reserve the peace. In Halle,
when Prof. Guericke spoke on the subject, the pres-
ence of the police was necessary. Now, men who
call themselves freethinkers advocate the cause of
missions, and have formed a society through which
to spread their views. More significant still is it that
imperial authority requires instruction to be given in
the public and the higher schools on the nature and
work of missions, and that such a work as Warneck's
"Die Mission in der Schule,^^ has reached a sixth
edition.

To the question, "Why was the interest in missions
BO long in showing itself in this land of the Re-
formers?" various answers may be given. In the six-
teenth century the Reformers had all they could do to

FOREIGN MISSIONS 111

protect themselves against Rome, and to preach the
GosiDel as they had discovered it anew in the Bible.
The century following was disturbed by the Thirty
Years' War, and by useless discussions of doctrinal
subjects. The countries discovered during this cen-
tury belonged almost entirely to Spain and Portugal,
and were sacredly set apart as possessions of the
Roman Catholic Church. For Protestant missionary
activity there was, in truth, little call. In the eight-
eenth century, we have the Danish=Halle Society,
with its work in India, and the still active Moravian
Missionary Communities. But for the most part
work during this century was confined, as it was
thought it should be, to the "still in the land"; i. e.,
to the mystics, or pietists, who not infrequently, in
the early years of the present century, sought spiritual
nourishment in the so-called conventicles rather than
in the regular Churches. The terrible war M'ith
Napoleon and the final struggle for independence,
together with the growing indifference of the common
people to religion of any kind, and the increase of
Rationalism in the educated classes, with many
marked exceptions, indeed, prevented anything like
an earnest missionary work during the first quarter
of the nineteenth century. But the quickened spir-
itual activity in England made itself felt more or less
on the Continent, and led to attemiDts, here and there,
to send the Gospel abroad. Unsuccessful in their
efforts to persuade the National Church to take up
missionary work, those whose hearts drew them to it,
formed themselves into little bands, issued their ap-
peals for men and money, opened training schools,
selected the fields to be cultivated, and quietly began

112 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

to send out tlieir missionaries. Considering the
means at their disposal, these missionaries have ac-
complished a great deal. They have laid foundations
upon which later generations will have little difficulty
in rearing the institutions of a thoroughly Christian
civilization.

The question is often asked, " Why do not German
Protestants unite in the support of one great Mis-
sionary Society?" Partly because these societies
came into existence before the formation of the Em-
pire, when the Provinces differed widely in their
political views, when their Churches differed somewhat
in doctrine and manner of working, and partly be-
cause exact agreement on matters about which it is
possible to discuss, is not a German characteristic.
Nor is it at all probable that a union of these Socie-
ties would be desirable. Representing as they now
do, all phases of Protestant Christian life in the Em-
pire, and all phases of doctrinal belief, they appeal to
local interests, as well as to the feeling of obligation
which every believer ought to feel.

By the present arrangement, missionary knowledge
is more extensively circulated, and is given a more
personal interest, than would be possible if there
were but one great Society. As the cost of adminis-
tration in all these Societies is very small, and the
local or doctrinal interest in them is very decided, it
is doubtful if it would be wise to advise their union
to any considerable extent.

Increase of funds is, however, very necessary. With
the increase of wealth in the Churches, with a steady
increase in the number of those who feel their obliga-
tions to their unbelieving brethren abroad, with the

FOREIGN MISSIONS 113

development of lay activity in the Church, with the
organization of Sunday Schools in still greater num-
bers, as well as of Societies for young men and
young women, in which the fundamental teachings
of the Bible are not only taught, but carefully dis-
cussed, it would seem probable that interest in mis-
sionary work will grow rapidly, and be accompanied
by a corresponding increase in funds with which to
carry it on.

CHAPTER VII.

SKETCH OF EVENTS LEADING TO THE ORGANIZATION
AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INNER MISSION.

With the death of Luther and the discussions be-
tween the Reformed and Lutheran branches of the
Protestant Church in Germany and bordering coun-
tries, the spiritual power of the Reformation was
greatly w'eakened. It seemed at times as if it were
almost wholly gone. It was in this condition of
things that Pietism appeared and accomplished its
beneficent work, bringing to the front such men as
Spener and Francke, the latter the founder, in
1695, of the now famous Orphan House at Halle.
But even Pietism could not fan life again into a
Church which had fed on theological disputes and
formalism till it had hardly any power left for the
perception of spiritual truth. Hence the rise and
spread of Rationalism, and its influence among the
most cultured and original minds in the country.
During the larger part of the 18th, and the first
quarter of the 19th, centuries, the Church seemed to
be in a profound slumber. Ministers preached ethi-
cal discourses, baptised and confirmed the children of
Church members, but did not look for any signs what-
ever of regeneration. Corresponding to the reign of
Deism in England, to that of the Encyclopedists
Voltaire and Diderot, in France and French=speaking

114

INNER MISSION 115

countries, and to the era of French infidelity in
America, was the reign of Rationalism, or formal
piety, in Germany.

Strange as it may seem, as was affirmed in the
previous chapter, the wars in which Germany was
compelled to engage contributed not a little to the
revival of spiritual religion. They opened the eyes
of the people to a sense of their responsibilities.
The terrible defeat at Jena, in the autumn of 1806,
drove them to God as their only helper and defender.
During the subsequent wars for independence they
kept steadily in mind their absolute dependence on
the Most High for victory. Nor can it be doubted
that the union, in 1817, of the Lutheran and Re-
formed Churches in Prussia, the tercentenary of the
Reformation, under the auspices and almost by the
command of Fred. Wm. III., was a step of great im-
portance in the religious life of the Prussian people.
Literature, too, through the writings of Goethe,
Herder, Schiller, and Lessing, had immense influence
in awakening religious thought and creating a feeling
of moral responsibility to God. The philosophy of
Kant was a still more powerful factor in the change of
religious attitude which was soon to appear. Notwith-
standing the apparent unbelief in many circles, it is
now admitted that the agitation in the philosophical
world caused by the writings of Kant, and his success-
ors, Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, and by the ministry and
professorship of Schleiermacher in Berlin, was a
prime agency in leading men's minds back to thoughts
of God, and to a hearty acceptance of the Christian
religion. Since the union of the Churches on
Luther day, 1817, and the publication of Schleier-

116 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

macher's addresses to the thinking men of the nation,
there can be traced a steadily growing interest in a
religion which makes itself felt in life and character.
The stirring events of 1848, though mainly political,
also turned men's thoughts to God, and led the more
spiritually minded pastors to meet the spiritual needs
of the people. If the majority of the pulpits were in
the hands of Rationalists, a sufficient number were
controlled by men who believed in the " new birth "
and the Deity of our Lord to give importance to their
efforts, and to secure a hearing for their words.
Meanwhile, the interest in Foreign Missions, which
had become so powerful in England, had reached
Germany. Society after society was formed, each
vrith a small constituency, to give the Gospel to the
heathen. While not undervaluing this movement, nor
withholding from it their assistance, men like Flied-
ner at Kaisers werth, and Wichern at Hamburg, began
to feel the necessity of doing something for the hea-
then at home. Hence the great establishment at Kai-
serswerth, with its subsequent development of spirit-
ual power for the world through the revival of the
order and the work of deaconesses. Hence the equally
important movement at Horm, near Hamburg, led by
Wichern, which called into existence the " Rough
House," and brought about the re=establishment of
the diaconate of the Primitive Church. Never to be
forgotten for its influence on the spiritual life of the
Evangelical Church is the Wittenberg Day in the
Synod of 1848, when the needs of the people were set
forth with great impressiveness by Wichern, and the
Church, through its representatives, was persuaded to
give hearty a^^proval to the work outlined by him, and

INNER MISSION 117

described in the two words, " Inner Mission." This
work has never been carried on by the Church au-
thorities as such. Although receiving its aid and
sympathy, it was first and last a movement independ-
ent of the Church as a national and political insti-
tution.

The war for the possession of Schleswig-Holstein,
in 1864, that against Austria in 186G, that against
France in 1870-71, the favors which Bismarck and
the old Emperor showed men of simj^le Christian
faith, the constant declaration by these men of their
belief that they were serving God in the high stations
they filled, and their confident ajixjeals to Him for aid,
deepened still further the conviction in the minds of
the people that true religion is something greatly to
be desired, even as a protection against one's enemies.
Since the founding of the Empire and the assumi3-
tion of responsibility which that step involved, there
has been a growing sense of religious responsibility
on the part of many of the wisest leaders of the peo-
ple, and a more evident desire to meet it through a
simpler and heartier faith in Jesus Christ and His
teachings.

With eyes open to perceive the needs of men and
women, who, through compliance with prescribed
forms, had been received into the Church, it became
clear to large numbers of pastors, who had the good
of their parishes at heart, as well as to not a few
among the laity, that something ought to be done to
save this material which the Church claimed as its
own, and to prevent the increase of religious indiffer-
ence, and even of crime, on the part of those to whom,

118 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

in the rites of baptism and confirmation, the Church
had given its blessing.

As an object lesson, showing vvhat might be done,
there stood in Halle the Orphan House of Francke.
Those who were unable to visit it, could read descrip-
tions of its work, and, in the writings of its illustrious
founder, catch something of his aims and spirit. In
these writings are suggestions of almost all that the
Inner Mission has undertaken. As preacher, pro-
fessor, author and organizer of educational, industrial
and benevolent institutions, Francke was far in ad-
vance of his time. For the generations after him he
wrought more wisely and efficiently than he or his
contemporaries knew.

Nor have the writings of other Pietists been with-
out a spiritually quickening influence. Thus there
has grown up quietly, not as the result of the efforts
of any single man, but rather in obedience to a heav-
enly vision which many have seen, a work fdr the
needy at home, which for extent, variety, and success,
may challenge the admiration of the world. If its
primary object has been preventive, it has never hesi-
tated to undertake, wherever possible, the less attrac-
tive, because less hopeful, work of rescuing the lost.

Lovers of precedent as Germans are, reverent
toward the past, and ready to honor great names, it is
only natural that, while studying present conditions
and preparing to meet present needs without delay,
the founders of this Mission to their own people
should investigate thoroughly aiid with intense inter-
est the methods employed by the Church in the past
to help the jooor, and save from temporal and eternal
destruction those nominally within its fold.

INNER MISSION ll9

Before describing the work of this Mission as it is
now carried on, it will be profitable to review briefly
the work done by men to whom its founders and man-
agers have turned for stimulus and instruction.

In this historical sketch, as in all that pertains to
the labors of the Inner Mission, Schaeffer (Leitfaden
der inneren Mission) has been freely followed. It
will aid us in our understanding of the feeling and
purposes of the men who in the late forties and the
early fifties gave themselves to the work of saving
" the heathen at home," if we look for a moment at
benevolence in the time of Pietism and Rationalism,
or as it revealed itself during the period from A. D.
1650 to 1835. Spener is generally regarded as the
founder of Pietism. In doctrine and conduct he ad-
hered to the principles of the Reformers. This is
hardly true of all his successors, although they de-
declared it to be their purpose to put into practice the
principles of the Reformation, and through their faith
revive the dead. Undoubtedly there was much in
Pietism which was of very great value. It filled an
important place in the development of Christian life
in Reformation lands. But in all its leaders we ob-
serve a painful lack of the freshness of spirit and
soundness of judgment characteristic of Luther. Its
tendency is toward a certain sort of legality, to ascetic
practice or aloofness from the world. It was pre-
served from destruction by the principle that the way
to show love for God is to help one's neighbor.
Through its self-sacrifice for others it preserved its
own life. It also emphasized the doctrine of person-
ality. It saw the importance of seeking to save indi-
vidual souls. Hence the effort of Francke, at Leipzig,

120 CnmSTlAN LIFE IN GERMANY

to interest his fellow -students in the study of the
Bible, his insistence during the earlier years of his
ministry on the need of personal regeneration, and at
Halle, his intense interest in the saving of neglected
children. Hence the founding and work of his Or-
phan House, in which the education of these children
was made the first object. Naturally, this philan-
thropic haven became the center of the Pietistic
movement, the rallying=point for those whose spiritual
needs were best met by what Pietism was supposed
to teach. The school grew, increasing rapidly in size
and influence, till now, with its connected establish-
ments of higher education and industry, it is the
largest school in Germany, if not in the world. Nev-
ertheless it may be questioned if the system of edu-
cation at first pursued at Halle were altogether health-
ful. Though it provided sufficiently for the recrea-
tion and amusement of the children, for the forming
of little circles within the Church, here and there*
over the country, it tended to a narrowness and exclu-
siveness which showed themselves later on in spirit-
ual pride and arrogance. Perhaps, as opposed to
Rationalism, the methods which Pietism chose to
follow were wise, although in this latter day they do
not altogether meet with approval. Strange as it at
first appears. Pietism leads almost inevitably to Ra-
tionalism. Faith in an inner light encourages a con-
fidence in self which finally believes in nothing but
pure reason.

In the middle of the present century, when
thoughts of constitutional liberty and a revived Em-
pire were in the air, German Christians began to con-
sider how best to meet their increasing responsibili-

INNER MISSION 121

ties. In their studies, the more thoughtful among
the ministerial leaders reviewed the history of the be-
nevolent work of the Church. They saw that it was
the purpose of Christ to destroy the works of the
devil, first, by repairing the injury he had wrought
in the human heart, and afterwards in society and
the world. Through faith, Jesus would free the
Bouls of men from sin and death; through the works
of kindness, on the part of regenerate men. He would
free society from the evils of sin, from poverty,
wretchedness, and ruin. Hence it was natural that
for a time there should be a communal life among
believers in Jerusalem, that means should be gathered
for their support in all the Churches which Paul
had established in the great cities of the Roman
world, tliat it should become a delight to those who
had received such gifts as had been imparted by the
brethren in Judea, to try and pay them in the less
valuable yet more needed gifts of money and person-
al service. It was equally natural that the wants of
this Christian community should be carefully consid-
ered and met by persons in whom everyone had con-
fidence. Hence the appointment of deacons, whose
first duty was the relief of need, but who were not
prohibited from preaching as they found op]3ortunity.
The principle involved in this benevolence was that
of i)ersonal administration, a principle which has
been kept uppermost in all that the Inner Mission
has attempted to do.

Subsequently, from the end of the first to the be-
ginning of the third century, or to the time of what
is sometimes called the Martyr Church, help was given
directly to families. There were no benevolent es-

132 CHRISTIAN LIFE W GERMANY

tablisliments, since it would have been folly to erect
them, as their inmates would at once have been
marked for persecution and death. Those who had
means gave freely out of love, not as if to satisfy a
claim which the needy person might put forward as
a right, but in the hope of preventing families from
breaking up, temporarily, or being separated. Dur-
ing this period, deacons, deaconesses, widows, and a
few especially pious women of approved wisdom and
consecration, were active in the distribution of this
benevolence. The whole work was under the direct
supervision of the bishop, or the minister of the par-
ish, v/ho with a few exceptions knew personally all
the members of his flock. Those Mdio were in prison
were visited and encouraged bravely and hopefully to
meet a martyr's death. Those who were condemned
to labor in the mines were not forgotten, nor were
their families permitted to suffer. As the Christian
communities increased in size, this personal visita-
tion became more difficult, and the necessity for cen-
ters where the poor might meet, or be brought to-
gether and cared for under a single roof, more press-
ing.

From the beginning of the fourth to the end of the
sixth century, the wants of the poor were generally
met in establishments called into existence for this
very purpose. The personal element of the adminis-
tration of benevolence became less lorominent. The
number of those receiving assistance was too great to
admit of personal inquiry into every individual case.
The world itself seemed to be declining. The major-
ity of the people were poor. Taxes were increas-
ingly high and hard to pay. A large tract in the

INNER MISSION 123

Campagna, about A. D. 400, was allowed to become a
desert because its owners could not meet the taxes
levied upon it. Even children were sold to satisfy
the tax-gatherer. Morals grew lax, and fleshly sins
increased. Those who had wealth, and were willing
to aid their unfortunate fellow Christians, preferred
to give through the Church authorities, rather than
trouble themselves with its personal distribution.
This distribution was made through deacons, whose
numbers in consequence rapidly increased. It is said
that in the time of St. Chrysostom there were a hun-
dred deacons attached to the Church of St. Sophia at
Constantinople. For months St. Chrysostom fed
7,700 persons daily. With the diminution of per-
sonal service, the manifestation of individual interest
and the exercise of personal love almost entirely van-
ished. It is easy therefore to see how soon the clois-
ter and the hospital came to be closely connected
with the care of the poor. To the cloister, the man
who was weary of the world could retire. Here he
escaped the burden of taxes. Hither came those who
were hungry. Here children were educated, and
here were rooms for strangers, in which they could
securely rest when on their travels. Hospitals be-
came necessary, at first, for the inmates of the clois-
ter, and afterward for others. Two hospitals founded
during the fourth century, one by Basil at Csesarea,
and another at Edessa by Ephraem Syrus, became
famous. During this period the conviction spread
that alms put away sin, that gifts to the Church
would secure blessedness in the life to come. It is
sad to think that even benevolence may be made
a source of corruption, both for giver and receiver.

124 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

At first careful efforts were made to exercise charity
only toward the worthy, but after a time its almoners
grew negligent, and even looked upon poverty as a
virtue.

Notwithstanding this fact, we still turn with ten-
der interest to the time when Cyprian was exercising
large charity toward the poor of his extensive parish,
when the golden=mouthed preacher, through his dea-
cons and deaconesses, and with the assistance of the
rich and beautiful widow, Olympias, who refused to
re-marry even at an Emperor's request, sought to
alleviate the sufferings which were so pressing at
Constantinople. With like interest we also turn to
the era when Ambrose of Milan, another noble Chris-
tian hero, was using his resources in the same unself-
ish manner, and when Augustine, despite his love
for philosophy and theological controversy, could not
forget the poor. If less were done by Jerome at
Rome, and at Bethlehem, it was because he had less
with which to do. Yet it was his friend Fabiola who
built the first house for the sick in Rome, or in the
West. It was Paula, who lived near Jerome in the
city where our Lord was born, who built a house for
pilgrims in that city, and spent all she had on the
poor. While it cannot be said that the benevolence
of the Church or the Empire was wisely managed,
yet no one who reviews, however superficially, its
history, can fail to perceive its greatness, or doubt
the piety and the Christian joy with which it was so
often exercised.

Benevolence in the Middle Ages was exercised al-
most entirely through the convent the monastery,
and the hospital. During this period houses were

INNER MISSION 125

built in which livings, or some part of a living, as the
bread or the fire needed by the inmates, were pro-
vided. The tendency was toward a multiplication
of establishments, in which the needy could be re-
ceived without disturbing Church dignitaries or men
of wealth. Hospitals for lepers, after the Crusades
were over, abounded. It is affirmed that there were
19,000 of them in Europe. Such was the tremendous
penalty paid for invading the East, in order to snatch
the sepulchre from the infidel. Some of these hos-
pitals were very large: in others, the inmates were
few. Everywhere beggary became a profession. The
beggar felt that in giving one an opportunity to re-
lieve his wants he was doing him a favor.

Some of the emperors — far-seeing men like Charles
the Great — anxious for the welfare of their subjects,
did all they could to alleviate the ills of a poverty
which they could discover no means of preventing.
The successors of the wise Charles neglected his
counsels and took no pains to see that only the wor-
thy received aid, and that industry, and thrift were
encouraged.

Much was done for the poor by individuals. Fran-
cis of Assisi, though without means of his own, yet
counseled and practiced the largest benevolence.
Elizabeth, Countess of Thuringia, both voluntarily,
and under the influence of her confessor, Conrad of
Marburg, filled her life with deeds of charity.

At the time of the Reformation the country
swarmed with persons who lived by begging. "This
caused no wonder,'- says Luther, "as the monks
make a religious service out of the work of begging."
The idea of merit in this kind of life was rudely

126 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

shattered through the doctrine of justification by
faith, which the Reformers preached. Efi'orts were
soon put forth to diminish the evih Collections were
enjoined, and persons appointed, as in the early
Church, to attend to their distribution, and to see
that only such as were really in need, received them.
Luther himself, and most of his associates and his
immediate successors, took great interest in the con-
dition of the poor. Luther gave away nearly every-
thing that came to him. Bugenhagen, pastor in
Wittenberg, was a splendid example of a minister
who responded to the personal needs of his flock.
John Hess, of Breslau, and Catharine Zell, of Strass-
burg, were famous for their self-sacrificing labors on
behalf of the poor. The latter, who was a pastor's
wife, discovered ways to feed almost a thousand per-
sons in times of persecution, and for weeks together
she had from fifty to sixty needy persons at her
table. John Valentine Andrea, who receives the
warm praise of Spener for his attempts to put life
into the cold orthodoxy of his time (1586-1654), was
another of the men who spared not themselves for
the sake of the brethren.

In the time of Pietism and Rationalism, as has al-
ready been said, efforts were made to bring back into
life the personal methods employed in the New Tes-
tament Church. Nor was it thought that the mere
satisfying of hunger, or the clothing of the naked, or
the i3roviding the homeless with shelter, constituted
true benevolence. Pietism saw — and this must be
set down to its credit — through the eyes of such men
as Francke, that the first great need to be met was to
put an end to ignorance and idleness. Hence his

INNER MISSION 127

early and his continued interest in the education of
neglected children, and afterward of all children
whose advantages were not as good as they might be.
In Baron von Canstein (1667-1719), he had a friend
whose wealth was freely used in promoting the work
of the Halle Orphan House. Beata Sturm of Stutt-
gart (1682-1730), dedicated her time, her thought,
and her means to the care of the needy. No one was
ever turned empty from her door.

Gottfried Zahn, and the two brothers, Woltersdorf,
the one the founder, the others the organizers and
real founders of the orx)lian house at Bunzlau
(1705-1758), are also worthy of mention as among
the noblest and most generous men of their time.

John Augustus Urlsperger (1728-180G), of Augs-
burg, anxious to combat the growing unbelief of his
time, sought to organize something like the Society
for the Promoting of Christian Knowledge, in Eng-
land, which finally united with a Society in Basel,
which had for its object the furthering of pure doc-
trine, and true godliness. Out of this Society after-
wards sprang the Basel Bible Society, the Mission-
ary Society, the establishment for Brothers, and
that for children at Beuggen, the Deaf and Dumb
institution at Kielien, the Pilgrim Mission at Chris-
chona, now chiefly a place where persons are edu-
cated for Foreign Missionary service. Through his
writings and earnest addresses, Urlsperger was the
forerunner of many, who with pen and voice, have
done yeoman service in saving the Fatherland from
unbelief. Nor ought we to omit mention of the work
of John Tobias Kiessling (1743-1824), a wealthy
merchant of Nuremberg, whose daily life was a proc-

128 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

lamation of the Gospel; of Hans Nielen Hauge
(1771-1824), of Norway, who became a lay preacher
of great repute and power; of John Frederick Ober-
lin (1740-1826), who with the help of his faithful ser-
vant, Louise Schepper, who cared for the children,
made his parish at Steinthal, Alsace, a model jjarish
for the world; of John Falk, (1768-1826), of Dantzig,
who founded the first House of Refuge in Germany,
at Weimar; or of John Henry Pestalozzi (1746-1827),
the father of the modern science of teaching, and
of a method of saving that which without personal
aid would have been worse than lost.

The names of some of the persons who have been
prominent in the Inner Mission, with a brief refer-
ence to the branch of service to which they have de-
voted themselves, will indicate the place which this
form of benevolence has taken in modern German
Christian life.

At the head of the list stands Christian Henry
Zeller (1779-1860), of Wtlrttemberg and educated
for a lawyer. Early becoming a teacher, he was,
while still young, chosen Inspector, or head of
the school for poor children, and for the training
of teachers for similar schools, at Beuggen, near
Basel. Here he remained forty years, devoting
himself with great singleness of purpose to a work in
which he achieved wonderful success. At his funeral
Prof. Auberlen said of him: " His gToatness consisted
in this, that he remained small." Even Pestalozzi
was impressed with his tremendous moral strength.
Through his writings, and with the aid of his noble
Vt'ife, his influence was far-reaching and beneficent.

Another Yv^tirttemberger, Christian Frederick Spit-

INNER MISSION 129

tier (1782-1867), without learning or extraordinary
intellectual gifts, but possessed of exliaustless energy,
and uncommon power to interest other men in be-
nevolent undertakings, became prominent in the
founding of the Basel Foreign Missionary Society, of
the institution at Beuggen, just named, for the
instruction of the children of the poor, and the train-
ing of their teachers, of the Pilgrim Mission at the
same place, of several institutions for Jews and
Greeks, of an institution for the Deaf and Dumb, of
a Deaconess' House at Riehen, as well as of half a
dozen smaller institutions in other places. To his
activity there was no end. His life was one of faith
and prayer with constant tokens of the presence of
the Holy Spirit.

In Hans Ernst, Baron von Kottwitz, (1757-1843),
we have a man of remarkable gifts and thorough
consecration, Ernst was born in Schlesia; in early
youth he was a page at the Court of Frederick the
Great, and afterward became an officer in the Army
and a favorite in society. Brought into association
with the Moravians, he was converted, and led to de-
vote himself to the work of diminishing the suflPerings
of the poor. In 1806, a year of distress, he obtained
possession of some unused barracks in Berlin, took
up his abode in them, gathered 600 or more of the
most needy about him, furnished them bread, day by
day, provided them with work, and made them feel
that in him they had a true friend. After the Gov-
ernment relieved him of this responsibility, he still
remained with his poor people, unwilling to be sepa-
rated from them, even for a brief season. He ex-
ercised great influence over such men as Tholuck,

130 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Otto von Gerlach, Neander, Stier, and Wichern. A
characteristic anecdote of him occurs in the report
of a conversation with Fichte the philosopher. Said
the latter; "The child prays, the man wills." "Pro-
fessor," replied the Baron, " I have 600 poor people
to care for, and often I do not know whence I shall
obtain bread for them. Then I do not know how to
help myself in any other way than to pray." Fichte
was silent a moment, then, with tears rolling down his
cheeks, he answered, " Yes, dear Baron, my philo-
sophy does not go so far as that."

Another nobleman of singular consecration was
Count Adelbert von der Eecke Volmarstein. (1791-
1878). Through experiences obtained during the
Napoleonic wars he w^as led to found a House of
Refuge at Overdyke, in Westphalia. When the
rooms here became too small for the numbers waiting
to occupy them, trusting in God for the means needed
to carry out his enterprise, he purchased the Cloister
Dtissenthal, near Diisseldorf, with its massive build-
ings and its extensive lands. Here he and his wife,
the Countess Mathilde von Pfeil, who was of like
spirit, remained for twenty=five years, or until broken
in health, aiding not only the poor, and saving mul-
titudes of them for the kingdom of God, but interest-
ing other men of high rank in service similar to that
in which he was engaged. Retiring to his estate in
Crasnitz, Schlesia, after he had reached the age of
seventy, and when the Institution at Dtissenthal was
on its feet, he there founded, in connection with a
house for deaconesses, a large institution for idiots
and epileptics, and revived what he called the Order
of Samaritans. Not even in old age could he be

INNER MISSION 131

content to rest from his labors. Through industrial
efforts, limited to his own lands, he was able greatly
to improve the condition of working people in Cras-
nitz.

Amalie Sieveking (1794-1859), known as the Ham-
burg Tabitha, was one of the noblest and most useful
women of her day. She was converted after the
death of a brother, by the reading of Thomas a Kem-
pis, the Bible, and the addresses of Francke. While
yet young she sought to interest the daughters of the
welhto^do in Hamburg in the welfare of the poor.
Her first thought was to form a Protestant sisterhood,
but as her appeal for volunteers, in the cholera season
of 1831, was not responded to by a single person, she
determined to enter the hospital alone. Here, first
as nurse, then as assistant, then as overseer, she
gained a place in the confidence and affection of her
townsmen which she never lost. In 1832 she organ-
ized the Woman's Union for the care of the poor and
sick, which still exists, and has since served as a model
of many similar unions. Near the close of a life of
self=sacrificing activity and rare usefulness, she re-
quested that, as a final proof of her sympathy with
the poor, and her disapproval of costly funerals, she
might be buried in a cofiin exactly like those which
the city furnishes for the people who are buried at
its expense.

A man of far-reaching influence during his life, of
unusual spiritual gifts, and of great organizing ability
and unwearied activity, was John Evangelist Gossner,
of Berlin (1773-1862). He was born in Schwabia, of
Roman Catholic parents, and was educated in Roman
Catholic institutions. Always earnestly evangelical,

132 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

he remained a priest in the Church of his fathers for
several years. His preaching, though popular with
his congregations, gave offense to the authorities, so
that finally, in order to be true to his convictions, he
was compelled to become a Protestant. His long
pastorate in Berlin is too well known to need descrip-
tion. Crowds hung upon his ministry in the Beth-
lehem Church. While a pastor he founded the
Elizabeth Hosj)ital, and called into existence a
Foreign Missionary Society which has proved a great
blessing to the world. United with the Hospital was
a Deaconesses, Home in which young women were
especially trained for the care of the sick, and for
such other Christian work as might be congenial to
them. More than thirty years have passed since this
father-in^God, old and full of good works, fell asleep,
mourned not in Berlin alone, but throughout Ger-
many and the Christian world.

The interest, both in Home and Foreign Missions,
manifest in Gossner, was exhibited also by Christian
Gottlob Barth (1799-1862). Born in Stuttgart,
trained in a Pietistic family, with a passion for read-
ing, especially sensitive to sxoiritual and intellectual
influences, he was early drawn into the field of au-
thorship, where even to the last he continued active.
When ten years old he wrote a Bible history, which
he adorned with pictures and presented to his school
companions. Thwarted in his desire to become a
missionary by his mother's opposition, after exten-
sive travels throughout Germany and Holland, he
settled in the parish of Mottlingen, near Calv, where
he entered with great zeal into the work of the Mis-
sionary Society, and the work of the House of Re-

INNER MISSION 183

f uge at Stammheim. Neither did he fail to look after
the spiritual welfare of his parishioners nor neglect
his brethren in the ministry. In letters, lectures,
sermons, and by means of a missionary magazine, he
kept alive the interest of the people in the welfare of
the heathen abroad. Becoming acquainted with the
work of the London Tract Society on one of his jour-
neys, he was not content till he had organized a sim-
ilar publishing society for Germany. The first work
sent out by this Society was a Biblical History, which
has been translated into many languages, and which
in 1877 had reached its 239th edition. To this were
added Church histories, a monthly magazine for
young people, various kinds of Biblical hand-books,
geographies, books of nature, antiquities, and a small
Biblical commentary. In the midst of these labors,
preaching was a refreshment. Barth never married.
Through his love of work, and his interest in the
spiritual life of Germany, as well as in that of the
world, he became one of the most prominent and
useful men of his century.

Of John Henry Wichern (1808-1881), founder of
the Rough House and restorer of the order and work
of deacons, it would be difficult to speak too highly.
In consequence of losses inflicted by the wars and of
the early death of his father he was compelled, even
as a boy, to contribute by private teaching to the
support of the family. In early youth he fought
his way through the Rationalism of the time into the
clear light of evangelical truth. By the aid of friends
he was enabled to attend the University of Gottin-
gen, where Prof . Lticke proved a real friend to him.
Later, he studied in the University of Berlin, where

184 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

he was brought into contact with Neander, and
through the mediation of Baron Kottwitz, into friend-
ship with him. He was also greatly indebted to
Schleiermacher. At the close of his studies he be-
came a candidate for a parish in Hamburg. During
this period of candidacy traces of his later activity
appear. He formed plans for a school for the educa-
tion of poor children, and wrote and delivered a lec-
ture on the demoralization of youth, with reference
in it to the work of such persons as Amalie Sieve-
king, Baron Kottwitz, and Dr. Julius. He became
Superintendent of Pastor Rautenburg's Sunday^^
school, in Hamburg, the first in Germany, and in
this position found a wide field for his activity in
spiritual things. Here he learned thoroughly the
condition and neerls of the poor, and through his vis-
itation from house to house saw how to help them.
It was while pursuing his work in the Sunday-school
that he became acquainted with Amanda Bohme, his
future wife, a woman of extraordinary ability. The
beginning of his work, in a small house in Horm,
near the city, put at his disposal by a friend, was suf-
ficiently unpretending. Living with his mother, at
first, three, then twelve, boys were received into his
home. Gradually other houses were added, each
forming a home for the children who occupied them.
Wichern lived with the children, taught them, sang
with them. Needing aid, the idea of re-establishing
the diaconate, or as it is generally called, the broth-
erhood, occurred to him. From this there has result-
ed an amount of good which can be compared only
with that wrought through the revival of the order of
deaconesses by Fliedner. Out of the perception of

INNER MISSION 135

the needs about him, arising in part from the utter
indifference of the people among whom he lived, he
came to the conviction that a mission to nominal
members of the Church at home was an indispensable
as a mission to the heathen. Hence the name which
he gave his work. Inner Mission (Die innere Mis-
sion). With him the work assumed a triple form,
the education of children, the training of men to
teach them, and that peculiar service which fre-
quently is needed in order to save the unbelieving
and the indifferent. From this time, through visits
made to the Kough House, where the roughest boys
were received and trained into useful men, through
journeys, by conferences, by lectures, and the publi-
cation of "Flying Leaves" (die fliegende Blatter),
Wichern created an interest in his work which still
continues. The great day for him and for his mis-
sion was the Church day at Wittenberg, Oct. 1848.
Rhiem, his assistant, became the head of the Rough
House, and thus enabled Wichern to yield to the wish
of the King and become one of the authorities of the
Church. This required him to reside for a portion of
each year at Berlin. Thus his influence was widened
and a larger circle of friends for his school secured.
In order that the people of the capital might see
what had been done in Hamburg, the Johannesstift
in Berlin was called into existence, where for several
years Dr. Stoecker, the head and front of the Berlin
City Mission, has j)reached nearly every Sunday with
great power, and whence tracts and sermons are sent
out over the country by thousands. But Wichern's
labors in the capital at the command of the King
were too severe for his strength, and though after his

136 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

resignation of the high oflBce which his Sovereign had
given him he lived a few months, and took up his work
at Horm with something of his old energy, the end
had come. He rested in peace in 1881, having exem-
plified his chosen motto throughout his whole life,
"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even
your faith,"

The work of Theodor Fliedner (1800-1864), at
Kaiserswerth, and in many other places, which natur-
ally follows that of Wichern, will be described in the
chapter devoted to the deaconess movement.

Through William Lohe (1808-1872), more than
any other man, has the interest of the National
Church been drawn to the kind of activity exhibited
by persons such as those already named. Of good
family, enjoying the instruction and friendship of
Rector Roth in the Gymnasium of Nuremberg, and
of Professor Kraft at Erlangen, then in a half year at
Berlin meeting such men as Schleiermacher, and in
various places making his extraordinary gifts as a
preacher evident, so radical and outspoken were his
convictions of truth that the authorities hesitated to
give him a parish equal to his abilities. Men like
Professor Hofling in Erlangen, declared that they
had never heard such preaching as his. In 1837, he
settled in the little village of Neuendettelsau. As
preacher, watcher of souls, catechiser and instructor
of youth in this parish, he did a marvellous work.
But changes wrought in a single parish were only a
part of what he accomplished for his generation. He
sought to serve the whole Bavarian Church, and had
the satisfaction of seeing his labors in her behalf re-
v>'arded in a great increase of her spiritual power.

INNER MISSION 137

Then he turned his attention toward the establish-
ment of a Deaconess' House, and of a Mission House,
or Theological Seminary, as we would say, in which
ministers are trained for the American field. It was
in order to obtain the assistance he required for these
objects, that he organized the society for " Inner
Mission in the sense of the Lutheran Church."
This society began its work in 1840, though it was
not formally recognized till ten years later. It had
several branches or divisions, one of which provided
for the education of young men who should carry the
Gospel to their brethren in America, and whose work
and views are best represented by the Iowa Synod,
while another division formed itself into a sort of
Tract society for the circulation of Christian litera-
ture.

Around the Deaconess' House there were soon
grouped an Idiot Asylum, a House of Refuge, a
Magdalenium, and an Hospital. A school, first for
poor children, then a boarding-school of a high
order, for young ladies, also sprang into existence.
Special care was taken in the training of the deacon-
esses, whose work in some respects differs consider-
ably from those who go forth from Kaiserswerth.

A very remarkakle man, a Wiirttemberger, the son
of a minister, was Sixtus Charles Kapff (1805-
1879). It was said of him that the grace of baptism
never left him. Having enjoyed the education which
Wiirttemberg afforded, he went through the lower
seminary on the Tubingen foundation, and immedi-
ately became pastor of a church at Kornthal, which
had separated from the National Church. He had
little difficulty in persuading his people to return to

138 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

the Church which they had left, and through his own
spiritual experiences as a Pietist he became, both as
a minister and in political life, of great service to the
poor. In Stuttgart, as p)astor of an immense parish,
and in positions of the highest importance — at once
a member of various benevolent societies, a man of
ready speech, willing to serve the cause which needed
him most, one of Wichern's trusted helpers,— Kapff
was at his death one of the most useful and pox)ular
men in Southern Germany.

Gustavus Werner (1809-1887), who settled in the
village of Waldorf, in Wiirttemberg, was disting-
uished for his interest in the education of little
children, in industrial schools, and in houses of
refuge. Inclining toward Swedenborgianism, and
strongly opposed to the Wiirttemberg Pietism, he
naturally disagreed with the authorities of the
Church and finally withdrew from it. This gave him
time to devote himself entirely to the House of
Refuge, which he had opened at Reutlingen. Here
one kind of establishment after another came into
existence, such as schools for teaching agriculture,
training in the trades, and various other forms of in-
dustry, till it would seem as if he had done all that
was possible for one man to do to alleviate misery,
make his fellowmen helpful to themselves, and attract
them into the kingdom of God. In order to meet
his financial needs, he formed a stock company,
through which, and also by the aid of friends, he was
able to carry out his plans successfully. Isolated
from Church relations, Werner remained during his
life, observes Schaeffer, a hero in patience as in work.

From these references, brief as they are, to some of

mNER MISSION 139

the persons m'Iio have been conspicuous in the work
of the Inner Mission, it will be seen that its sphere
is far wider than its name would suggest. It not
only includes works of mercy and piety, as ordinarily
understood, but that large class of humanitarian
efforts embraced under the words education, training
for special positions in life, deliverance from tempta-
tion, rescue of fallen women, care for the sick, work
among neglected classes of men, such as cab drivers,
street car conductors, railway men, shopkeepers,
young people from the country — in fact every possible
form of service by which man can be benefited in
this world or prepared for the next. In the following
chapters an attempt is made to set forth some of the
methods which spiritually-minded pastors and equal-
ly earnest laymen have employed to save the material
for which they feel that God has made them respon-
sible.

CHAPTER VIII.

PREVENTIVE METHODS EMPLOYED BY THE
INNER MISSION.

1. Care of little children.

Long before the people were wholly aroused to the
necessity of protecting little children against the bad
influences to which they are exposed by the neglect
of their parents, efPorts had been put forth, here and
there, to counteract these influences, and to impress
on the minds of the little ones a sense of their obli-
gation to God and society. As early as 1802, the
Princess Pauline received children into her care at
Detmold, and watched over them while their mothers
or rightful guardians were at work in the factories or
in the fields. In the country it had long been neces-
sary for the mother and the elder children to go into
the fields at harvest time, and at other times during
the year to engage in some kind of employment one
or more days in the week in order to obtain sufficient
food for the family. The practice had been to leave
the little ones with some kind-hearted neighbor, or
with a girl not old enough to work in the fields, but
capable of caring for children. As a matter of
course, the children were more or less neglected
Often they were brought under positively bad influ-
ences. They were, moreover, frequently exposed to
contagious disease, and through lack of proper food

140

PREVENTIVE METHODS 141

at the proper time, sometimes became ill and lost
their lives.

In the city where the conditions of life are harder
to meet than in the country, and where neighbors are
less accommodating, it has been found necessary to
entrust the little ones to the care of women who call
themselves " waiters," and who for rather large pay
render inconsiderable service.

As early as 1844, a creche, or public nursery, was
opened in Paris for the care of the infant children of
hard= working mothers. In seven years there were
four hundred of these creches in France. Catholic
Germany speedily imitated the example which
France had set, and last of all came Protestant Ger-
many. Vienna was the first place in which German^
speaking people employed this method of caring for
the children of needy parents. Here children are
received from the age of four weeks till well into
their third year. They are received on the working
days of every week, and are cared for during the en-
tire working hours of these days. For this service a
slight charge is made. The children received must
have been born in wedlock, be in good health, and
have been exposed to no contagious disease. For
their care rooms are needed for attendants, a large
room for the babes, and a quiet place where they
can sleep. Means must also be provided for feeding
them at regular intervals. The babes sleep in little
beds, for no cradles are allowed. The toys with
which they play are simple and harmless. The cloth-
ing which they wear when they are brought from
home in the morning is removed, and is exjposed to
the air and cleaned, if need be, while clothing, pro-

142 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

vided by the creche itself, is put on in its place. On
entering the creche in the morning, the little one is
carefully washed. It is of the highest importance
that the matron or person in charge of the establish-
ment should be well fitted for her responsible place,
that she have a love for children, be acquainted with
their needs, and thus be able wisely to select her
helpers. Often the matron is a deaconess, who has
been carefully trained for this kind of service. As
they are able to receive instruction the little ones
are taught good habits, obedience, pleasant plays,
and are shown how to walk, run, and speak. If the
local Church is interested in the creche or Krippe, as
it nearly always is, the words of a simple prayer are
also taught. There are, besides this, singing and
cheerful story telling. At the present time there are
large numbers of these Krippen in existence in Ger-
many, and the number is increasing with the in-
creasing need. As the name comes from " crib" —
the manger at Bethlehem — so the atmosphere of the
establishment must be that of love. It is deemed
best, if possible, to have the Krippe belong to a sys-
tem of schools, or to a Deaconess' House or an Hospi-
tal, in order that it may not depend for its support
on what it can raise itself.

This support is usually secured through some so-
ciety which has the confidence of the community, to
which contributions are regularly made. The Ger-
mans do not look with favor on Foundling Homes.
They think they encourage the sins which render
them necessary, Still they are by no means un-
known.

2. Schools for little children.

PREVENTIVE METHODS 143

For children a little below three years of age, and
up to six, the Inner Mission has called into existence
a school known as the " Warteschule," or infant
school. For some reason Froebel's system of Kin-
dergartens has not been very popular in Germany;
perhaps because it puts all children on a level, takes
no account of the distinctions of class, teaches all
children in the same way, and makes them work at
their studies when they ought to be at play. These,
at all events, are some of the objections urged against
the system which Froebel and his friends advocated.

To this infant school children of legally married
parents can be brought, subject to the usual regula-
tions as to health and exposure to contagious disease.
The theory is that children of this age should be
with the mother as much as possible. The aim,
therefore, is to care for them only on such days as
the mother is compelled to leave home in order to
earn something for the support of the family. If, as
in the case of children in the Krippe, the needs of
the country are less pressing than those of the city,
they are by no means small even in the country.
Oberlin, at Steinthal, Alsace, was one of the first pas-
tors to perceive the need, and take measures to meet
it. In this he was aided by his servant, the never-to?
be=forgotten Louise Schepper, whose love for little
ones and inborn skill in caring for them rendered
her work a model for others to follow. In 1809, Prof.
Wadzeck founded a similar school in Berlin. Later
on Fliedner, seeing the need of such a school, opened
one in connection with his work at Kaiserswerth.
Then came a school in which teachers could be
trained for these schools, and subsequently one for

144 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

girls of the better classes, till, finally, provision was
made for the education of children of all ranks and
conditions.

Schools of these various kinds abound in Germany.
They are attached to nearly every Deaconess' Home.
In different sections of the country they pass under
different names, but have the same general character
and aim. A large room, on the ground floor where
possible, a sufficient number of low desks, a few
tables, a cupboard in which the equipment of the
school may be stored, a garden or its equivalent for a
playground, a room with a few beds, where the little
ones when tired out may rest and sleep, are the
machinery required for the starting of such a school.
Obviously, the woman in charge must possess the pe-
culiar gifts requisite for one in her place, and when
the school numbers more than forty, she must have
an assistant. The children are taught good behavior
and obedience, and are encouraged in habits of ob-
servation. They are also trained in storytelling, that
is, in the power to relate a simple fact or incident,
and are encouraged to spend a good deal of their
time in play. Carefully washed as they enter the
school, they are taught how to wash themselves dur-
ing the day, although every attempt at anything like
formal instruction is avoided. Such food as is
needed is provided by the school itself. The charge
made for the care of the child is so small as to be a
burden to no one. The difficulties met with in a
school like this are irregularity in attendance, and
the danger that even here, rules take the place of that
love by which such little ones ought to be governed.
Here, too, efforts are made to impress the minds of

PREVENTIVE METHODS 146

the children with a sense of their duty to God, and
their dependence upon Him for everything they re-
ceive. A striking difference between these schools
and those which the State has nov/ begun to support,
is in their religious atmosphere. No child is kept in
them beyond his sixth year. Through the children,
parents are often reached, and as the result of
teachers' visits, many of the homes of the poor have
greatly improved both in appearance and comfort.

The theory upon which the Inner Mission has pro-
ceeded in originating and maintaining these schools
is that of prevention. If the child can be kept from
evil during his formative years, if he can receive a
positive impulse toward good from those who are
qualified to teach him, if he can be brought into con-
tact with persons of Christian character, of good
manners and correct speech, it is thought that crimi-
nal statistics will be diminished and excellent material
thereby saved to the State. The results have more
than met anticipations. The v/ork has been con-
ducted from the first in a religious spirit, as a Chris-
tian duty, and as such is supported almost entirely
by gifts from Christian people.

3. The Sunday=school.

This is now described as the Children's Church ser-
vice, and it is a good deal more common than is sup-
posed. It has been generally recognized that the
regular service on Lord's Day morning is unsuited to
children of ten years of age and under, and that, if
they are to be benefited at all by Sunday services,
special effort must be made to interest them.

Where pastors have given careful and faithful cat-
echetical instruction the need of Sunday-schools has

146 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

been less apparent. In the large parishes which
many pastors have to look after, not infrequently the
children have been neglected. In 1825, a Sunday-
school was founded in St. George, a suburb of Ham-
burg, by J. G. Oncken, a Baptist bookseller, aided by
the Lutheran Pastor Rautenberg. Here Wichern
found one of his first fields of usefulness. Forty
years later, or, to be precise, in 1865, came the im-
pulse to Sunday-school work through Mr. Woodruff
of Brooklyn, N. Y., and the interest taken in it by
Pastor Tiesmeyer of Bremen. Through his inter-
preter, Brochelmann, Mr. Woodruff opened a school
at Heidelberg. The opposition to these schools came
chiefly from pastors and teachers. It seemed like a
reflection on the labors of pastors to have a second
service on the same day, and to hold it in the very
place where they had preached a sermon. Gradually
the oj)position wore away. Usually a school once or-
ganized demonstrated its value, and attracted to its
service, not the pastor only, but laymen capable of
interesting and instructing children. So far, efforts
have not been made to retain the young in Sunday-
school beyond confirmation. It is supposed that
those who have become confirmed are old enough to
profit by the regular service of the Church. Young
men, however, are encouraged to form Bible classes
for independent and systematic study. The number
of these schools is increasing, and it has been found
in Germany, as elsewhere, that in them women often
make the best teachers. Many women on Sunday
afternoons teach classes of little children at their own
homes.

4. A fourth way in which the Inner Mission strives

PREVENTIVE METHODS 147

to save the youth of the land is through Oi'XDhau
Houses. Of these there were not many half a cen-
tury ago. What the State has done since in i^rovid-
ing them, is very largely due to the influence of those
who have worked through the Inner Mission. Effec-
tive work in them began with Francke, in his Orphan
House, as early as 1695. Most are familiar Vv'ith his
words, when he found one morning four German dol-
lars and a few pence in the box he had set out for
contributions toward the education of the poor: "That
is a magnificent capital. With that something worth
while must be done: I shall begin a school for the
poor." "That "says his rejDorter, (Schaeffer, p. 73)
" was the beginning of the Orphan House which still
flourishes. With its 3,300 pupils, (nearly 100,000
from the first) and its 470 dependents, it is the largest
establishment of the kind in Germany, if not in the
world." The spirit and purpose of the school and of
all that is done in connection with it, are indicated in
these words: "An ounce of living faith is v'ortli more
than a hundred=weight of mere historical knowledge,
and a little drop of true love, than a sea of knowledge of
all secrets." " The way to happiness through the Gos-
X^el is a way of love, of peace, and a quiet spirit."
When children learn this way, the best possible has
been done for them. Imitating this work of Francke,
Zahn and the Wortlinsdorf brothers in 1712 wrought
with great success in an Orphan House at Bunzlauer,
Schlesia. A still earlier attemj)t even than that of
Francke to care for orphans was made in Basel, in
1667, though little came of it.

At the beginning of the 18th century, people regard-
ed Orphan Houses with distrust. It was thought

148 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

better, that as far as possible, orphan children should
be provided for in private families. But experience
has shown it to be impracticable to secure families in
such numbers as are needed, or of the character that
are needed. Parents fear the injury likely to be done
to their own children through the introduction of
those who have been neglected. Many who are will-
ing to receive the children offered, even for the small
pay given, prove on investigation to be utterly unfit
to have their care. Since the time of Pestalozzi,
orphan training in orphan asylums has been looked
upon v.'ith increasing favor. It is now felt that a good
asylum is preferable to a family where the influences
are often hurtful. Children are kept in the Asylum,
(often those who have one parent living are received)
till they are ten years old, and are ready for confirma-
tion. Girls are retained somewhat longer, or till they
are old enough to resist the temptations to which their
sex is i^eculiarly exposed. The pupils are taught the
ordinary branches which pupils of the same age are
taught in the Public Schools, and in addition are
taught manual work. In the better Asylums, the
methods of instruction given in private families and
in the public institutions are combined.

5. The education and preservation of youth.

Here, first of all, are the schools where servant girls
work with their hands, and thus, by actual practice,
learn how to work. They are taught how to sew, to
patch, to knit, and to darn. In sx^ite of the fact that
these matters are now taught in the Public Schools,
there is a great lack of skill in them, on the part
not only of servant girls but even of v/omen, who as
wives and mothers have homes of their own. A few

PREVENTIVE METHODS U9

hours' instruction in the theory of sowing or knitting
is not enough. There must be i^ractic(\ This is
necessary to make a happy home, to make the
income go further, to give respectability to one's ap-
pearance. This practical knowledge is often of value
as a means of self = support for those who are depend-
ent on the work of their own hands for a livelihood.
Schools where instruction of this kind could be im-
parted were opened almost simultaneously in different
sections of Germany. Among those who contributed
most to their success in North Germany, was Rosalie
Schalenfeld, who began her work in 1861. A school
teacher by the name of Buhl, in the same year intro-
duced industrial teaching into the schools of Wiirt-
temberg. In 1865 instruction of this sort was given
in Berlin, and soon after the Victoria Bazaar became
a place where articles made by women in need could
be sold for their benefit. Attendants of these schools
are vromen v»'ho can spare a fev/ hours in the week
from home duties and whose domestic education has
been neglected, girls still in school, and such other
persons as feel sure they will be profited by instruc-
tion of this sort. A deaconess is very often at the
head of the school. Sometimes a city missionary,
perceiving the need which exists, interests a few
women to group themselves together and provide a
school of the kind described. Various ties bind the
pupils together. In all the schools, efforts are put
forth to strengthen faith and make the personal
Christian life more real and earnest. It takes little
beside a willing mind, and the requisite skill in
teaching, to found such a school and render it suc-
cessful. The schools are often combined with house-

150 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

keeping and cooking schools, which are now becom-
ing numerous in Germany. In addition to the
schools just named, are schools for the training of
servant girls. These were established in order not
only that those attending them might be better fitted
to discharge the duties which belong to their profes-
sion, but that their moral character might be so
strengthened as to protect them against the tempta-
tions which prove the ruin of so many of their
number. In Germany, as in America, there has
been, and still is, complaint about servant girls.
Sometimes the complaint rests on good grounds.
Not infrequently it is quite as much the fault of the
mistress as of the girl that service is unsatisfac-
tory. The mistress is unable to tell the servant what
she wishes done, or to show her how to do her work;
or she is hard-hearted, inconsiderate, and treats her
servant as if she were a machine, or a beast of burden,
and as if, without instruction, she could do at once any-
thing required of her. What wonder if there is waste
in the household, or if the servants oftentimes deem
themselves justified in adding to their wages by
taking from the stores of the family, and add to their
pleasures by mingling in social circles whose atmos-
phere is moral death. To remedy the defect on the
part of those who employ servants and those who
serve, Fliedner, in 1854, in the face of a great deal of
opposition, opened a school in Berlin for the instruc-
tion of servant girls. It was located at Marthashof,
and was made a part of a much larger establishment.
It was under the care of deaconesses, and it soon
became very popular. Families wanting serv-
ants were encouraged to apply to this school for them

PREVENTIVE METHODS 151

and servants out of employment were encouraged to
return to a Servants' Home established in the same
court till places for them could be secured. Only
girls of good reputation were received by Fliedner, or
are received now. In the group of establishments in
Berlin, girls may be instructed in every department of
household labor, in washing, cooking, sewing, in the
care of children, as v/ell as in good manners and good
morals. Great care is taken in schools of this kind,
which have now sprung up all over Germany, to give
religious instruction, and to develop the religious life.

In Servants' Homes, to which allusion has been
made, there is provision for girls who come from the
country to the city to obtain work. For these inex-
perienced girls evil disposed persons are constantly
on the lookout. For a small sum, and with oppor-
tunity to earn a good part of the disbursement, these
girls are received into a comfortable, often into an
attractive home, and when they seek its shelter they
are heartily welcomed. They are aided in securing
the places for which they are fitted, and which are
entirely respectable. They are made to feel, further,
that at any time in their lives, a visit from them will
be agreeable to those in charge of the institution.
The result has been that out of the thousands of girls
who have been trained in this school or temporarily
connected with it, very few have been led away into
sin. It is rare indeed that one who has been an in-
mate of the Fliedner establishment ever comes to be
treated in the Charite Hospital or the Hospital for
fallen women.

Homes have also been provided for factory girls.
Careful examination into the conditions prevailing in

152 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

the places where young women leaving homo and
seeking to earn their own living were compelled to
stay, made it clear that they were almost uniformly
bad, morally, that young women were thrown into
the society of men who had coarse tongues and loose
morals. In these boarding houses they had only a
place to sleeiD. Naturally the dance hall became at-
tractive, and before one was conscious of it the paths
of sin were trodden.

This work of protection began in Stuttgart, in
1867. It was soon taken up in Eisenach and in
Basel. Roman Catholics have been prominent in
it. Several of these Homes for working women
are to be found in and near Munich. In some
of them only those engaged in the same branch
of work are received. Such Homes are easiest to
manage, and are thought to produce the best results.
In other Homes, all who are engaged in any depart-
ment of industry find a refuge.

The various Homes differ in their discipline, but
earnest efforts are made to avoid anything suggestive
of the Prison or the public institution. As far as
may be, the atmosr)here and spirit are those of a
jparental home. Arrangements for eating and sleep-
ing are simple, yet attractive. The ajopointments,
while never extravagant or luxurious, are generally
pleasing. Nor do the inmates meet the actual cost
for what is done for them. Whatever deficiency
there is comes from the Societies which stand back
of the Homes, and which have called them into exis-
tence. While social life and friendship between the
inmates are encouraged, pains are taken to fill the
HomxC v.'ith a religious spirit. In Protestant Homes,

PREVENTIVE METHODS 153

where only girls who have been confirmed are re-
ceived, it is assumed that they have been brought up
under the influence of the Church, and that both
they themselves and their parents wish tliis influence
continued.

There are tv/o kinds of these Homes: those in which
persons are taken for a fixed time, and those in which
they are taken without any reference to time. The
former are known as the closed homes, and are very
easy to manage; the latter are the open homes, and
are not altogether easy of control. The persons at
the head of them, often a man and his wife, a deacon,
if possible, or a deaconess, need peculiar gifts to win
the confidence of those v/lio come to them, and at
the same time conduct the establishments on a suc-
cessful business basis.

In the larger towns and cities there have been
formed, in recent years, a good many Sunday and
Young Women's Societies. The object is to furnish
a place with associations which will draw together
young women of about the same age, and engaged in
the same employment, and enable them the better to
resist temptation. For servants and working girls
these Societies are beginning to be very popular.
There are more than thirty of them in Berlin alone.
Fran Banker Losch was instrumental in their earlier
organization, and is still prominent in their manage-
ment. Her paper is their organ.

All that is required for the starting of one of these
Societies is a number of like= minded young women,
and an older woman who will open her house to them
or meet them every Sunday afternoon in a room
which they have hired for the object. To do this,

154 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Sunday after Sunday, year in and year out, calls for
not a little self=sacrince. This sacrifice has been
cheerfully made by many Christian women, and with
results which bring an abundant reward.

Homes have also been established in the larger
cities for hoys away from their father^s house, at
school. Teachers do not now receive pupils from the
country and the smaller towns into their own fami-
lies in anything like the numbers of former years.
The little fellows who come to the great city for
their education have a study in one house, sleep else-
where, and eat in still another i)lace. They can have
no home feeling in this sort of a life. It is felt that
this field, which has not as yet been cultivated to any
extent, promises a rich harvest. What is wanted is a
place, a sort of Y. M. C. A., which shall serve as a
home for these young students where they shall find
opportunities for amusement, perhaps for sleeping
and eating, and at any rate for social intercourse.
There is such a Home at Leipzig, another at Stuttgart.
To the latter a chaplain is attached, whose duty it is
to look after the young fellows, and to hold a Sunday
service for them. They are encouraged to cultivate
singing, and such games as can be carried on in a
garden attached to the home. The library is of no
small importance.

Inns for Homes are to be found in almost every
considerable town in Germany. They are intended
to co=ox3erate with Inns for the working people, One
of these was opened in Berlin in 1854. The first year
only fifty=four persons patronized it, v/hile the second
year one hundred and ten made use of its privileges.
Working men are chiefly desired, and those who are

PREVENTIVE METHODS 155

on their way to or from some engagement as wage-
earners. Of these Inns there are now more than four
hundred in the Empire, and they are under careful
management. They are Christian and sympathetic.
The man at the head of them is usually a deacon, or
a brother, who, with his wife, has been trained for
the position he fills. To the Inn there is often joined
a Hospiz, or boarding-house, for the sake of j)rofit.
Ordinarily there are not more than fifty beds in one
of these Homes. If these are not enough to meet the
demand, it is thought better to open a second Inn
than to enlarge the first. The head of the house
must be a whole-hearted, noble=souled man, with a
wife like him, so that the confidence of the inmates
may be secured from the moment they enter it. It is
also regarded as important that the salary be inde-
pendent of the income of the Inn, lest the keeper
should be tempted to conduct it with an eye only to
profit, for while it is desirable that expenses should
be met, it is not desirable that they be met at the cost
of that for which the Inn exists, the saving of those
who patronize it. Prayers are conducted morning
and evening. A blessing is asked at the table. The
atmosphere of the Home is Christian. Attendance at
prayers is not compulsory, but is encouraged. The
men are also encouraged to treat the inn=keeper as
their friend, and to appeal to him for such advice
and assistance as they most need.

In these and similar ways members of the
Church of Prussia and each of the provinces now
united in the Empire, are striving to diminish
the temptations to which children of tender age,
youth, and even persons of mature years, are ex-

156 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

posed. Stimulated by the results of these efforts,
Government has done a great deal in the last fifty
years through preventive measures to save its subjects
from leading wasted lives. It has also made its
Houses of Correction and its Reform Schools places
where a wise Christian influence has been exerted.
Still there is more to be done than has yet been at-
tempted, although in the direction of prevention the
field is now fairly well covered. It is the popular
belief that it is wise to save the material of the Na-
tion before it goes astray, and that it is wiser to edu-
cate a child in principles of morality and self=respect
than to punish him when grown for conduct which
seems to him natural — that it is cheaper to keep him
out of prison than after his dismissal from prison to
be compelled to order him to go there, and then
deal with him as an enemy both of Society and the
State.

6. Education Societies.

In considering the measures taken to keep youth
from temptation and provide for the training of chil-
dren, the question must have often been asked: How
is the expense for all this preventive and educational
work met? In reply it may be answered, first, that
the Germans know how to get a great deal out of a
little. The small charges they make those who be-
come inmates of their benevolent institutions, meet,
to a much larger extent than v/ould be deemed possi-
ble, the cost of these institutions. Still there are
deficiencies for which provision must be made. These
deficiencies are most pressing in the education of
children. Those children who have parents to care
for them are in the main left out of consideration,

PREVENTIVE METHODS 157

It is only when parents are immoral, nej.;lectful, or in
some way incapable of performing their duties, that
benevolence becomes operative. Those children
whose conduct and character are already contami-
nated by the atmosphere of sin in which they have
lived are sent to Keform Schools, where such saving
influences are brought to bear upon them as are pos-
sible. The children of the very poor are provided
for by Societies formed for the purxjose. As there
are few families in which it is really desirable to
place children who must be separated from their
parents, institutions to receive and care for them are
indispensable. The leader or manager of an Educa-
tion Society must be a man of good judgment, skillful
in reading character, and able to advise wisely as to
the special course of study to be pursued. Since
Pestalozzi's time Education Societies have increased
in number, and have accomplished an excellent work.
In addition to furnishing the necessary funds for the
pupil's support, the manager sees that they are
brought under Christian influences, and even after
confirmation, he strives to follow the prot6g6s of the
Society with friendly care and advice.

There are many establishments in which boys are
received and taught to work. Education is given in
such branches of industry as are best suited to indi-
vidual taste or genius. Dismissed from these estab-
lishments when prepared for confirmation, efforts are
made to secure such a start for the inmates as will
contribute to their success in life and make for the
development of a truly Christian character.

Owing to peculiar industrial conditions in many lo-
calities Public Schools are in session only during the

158 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

first half of the day. While this arrangement favors
those parents whose boys are needed on the farm, or
are in any way able to contribute by their labor to the
support of the family, many pupils are left to roam
the streets in the afternoons or to busy themselves as
they please. Where parents are occupied, or careless,
boys are likely to get into bad company, or to contract
habits which render their downfall swift and easy.
Certain benevolently disposed persons have therefore
provided places where these idle boys, with the
consent of their parents, can be received, and given
instruction, supplemental to that imparted in the
Public School. Where land is plenty, as it is in or
near most of the larger towns, they are taught the
principles of gardening, the care of trees and flowers,
how to look after cattle and horses, how to keep the
barn and house tidy, how to prepare the ground for
those simple crops on which agricultural prosperity
so largely depends. Some are taught the elements of
a trade, such as carpentry, blacksmithing, masonry, or
some other occupation of advantage in after life. For
their labor, these pupils, who come entirely of their
own will, receive a small sum each day, which is
reckoned up at the end of every month, and, unless
the condition of the family demands it, is deposited in
a savings bank to the credit of those who have earned
it. Should the family need it, the money is paid at
once. Bad behavior is punished not only with ex-
pulsion from the school, but with the forfeiture of
deposits. So far as it can be done, work in these
voluntary schools is made pleasant and easy.
Through its variety, it often becomes attractive, as
well as instructive. In these schools there is a good

PREVENTIVE METHODS 159

deal of singing, of marching to music, and of that
kind of exercise in which boys of exuberant life take
delight. Through appropriate religious exercises a
reverent recognition of God is secured. The boys
who attend these schools are in considerable demand
as aiDprentices. A school of this character, ojiened at
Darmstadt in 1828, has now 400 boys under its care.
Similar schools at Heilbronn, Altoona, and Dresden
have flourished greatly. The plan has been to fill up
the unoccupied hours of the day with employments at
once pleasant and profitable. For the more common
trades, and also for farm work an uneducated man
serves as a teacher, but for instruction in books, which
is often essential, a well trained professional teacher
of experience, and of an undoubted Christian charac-
ter is sui:)plied. Some of the drawbacks in the work
are the irregularity of attendance on the part of the
pupils, and the utter indifference of parents to the
welfare of the children. Discipline is a matter of
some difficulty, as these schools must always be vol-
untary, so conducted as not to abridge the freedom
of the pupils. There are a few schools where girls,
who are in the same condition as their brothers,
are received.

In Young Peoples' Societies there is a growing in-
terest. In a country where the people are inclined
to form a "Union" for almost every object they de-
sire to accomplish, this is natural. At present about
a thousand Unions, for young men alone, have been
organized. They are the result of efforts put forth
by earnest pastors to prevent young men, chiefly of
the working classes, from yielding to temptations pe-
culiar to their age and condition in life. The sugges-

160 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

tion that such Societies be formed, came from Pastor
Meyenrock, of Basel, as early as 1768. Under his
leadership this plan of reaching young men by salu-
tary influences was for many years very successful.
Then came a period of decline, followed by a revival
of interest in this method of work about the year
1835, when many influential pastors and professors
spoke out strongly in its favor. In 1847, Young
Men's Societies had become so numerous that they
were associated together as a Bund, or League, and
in 1867 were brought still closer together, in the
Union formed by the provinces of the Rhine and
Westphalia. Since that time. Young Peoples' Unions
have had a rapid growth in all parts of the Empire.
Holland and Switzerland, like Germany, have begun
to look after their young people. In France, Socie-
ties of young men have attracted to their member-
ship Christian young men of culture, who use them
as centers from which to carry on efficient Christian
work. In the three countries just named, the pur-
pose of these organizations is to strengthen Christian
faith and protect from evil. In England and Amer-
ica, these Unions have been rendered unnecessary by
the broader and more democratic Young Men's Chris-
tian Association. For some reason, perhaps because
of the impossibility of overcoming class distinctions,
the Young Men's Christian Association has not flour-
ished in Germany, although the Association in Ber-
lin has a fine property, and is doing a much needed
work. The same is true of the Association in Ham-
burg, but the Societies described above, which are in
fact Young Men's Christian Associations, are best
suited to German parishes and to the social condi-

PREVENTIVE METHODS 161

tions which prevail in them. Either because he sug-
gests its formation, or is most active in bringing it
about, the pastor is usually chosen as the manager
of each local Society, and is responsible for its pro-
gramme. To its work, two or three evenings a week
are often devoted. The membership fee is from six
to twelve cents a month. In the most advanced Soci-
ety, none are received under eighteen years of age.
For their highest efficiency, it has been found that a
few real Christians are necessary as a nucleus. The
broad aim is religious and social culture, and the un-
folding of the better and nobler qualities of a young
man's nature in such conditions as will stimulate
him in his desire to attain the highest possible suc-
cess in life. In many of the Societies, classes for the
study of the Bible are formed, with the pastor as
teacher. Meetings are often held for the discussion
of religious questions. Certain so=called Sunday So-
cieties, hire a room, which serves as a refuge for
those whose homes are unattractive, to which they
can invite their friends, and where they can find the
fellowship they desire. Most of the Societies, through
some of their members, engage in Christian work of
some kind among soldiers, in prisons, or among spe-
cial classes of wage= earners, to whom they can at
least hand a paper or a tract, and speak a friendly
word. Although the theory of the Church is that
when a person has been confirmed he is old enough,
and strong enough to care for himself, experience
has made it evident that Unions of young people,
both for young men and young women, are of great
service. Many have been formed, even for children
of eight and ten, and while in general, pastors have

162 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

organized and conducted them, well-educated laymen
are here discovering a promising and attractive field
of usefulness. If the Church hitherto has been a
Church of ministers only, the signs are that many
who belong to the laity will soon become active and
aggressive in it.

CHAPTER IX.

THE PRESERVATION OF THOSE WHO ARE IN
DANGER.

One of the objects of the Inner Mission is to fol-
low with Christian influences those who are deprived
of the privilege of attending regularly the services
of the house of God. " Separate coals," say the
managers of this Mission, "will not burn. They
must be brought together." Although Protestants
are relatively two to one as compared with Roman
Catholics in Germany, there are sections of the coun-
try in which the evangelical element is very small.
Those who represent the latter live far from each
other. With but rare exceptions, they find it diffi-
cult to attend Church, and often the distance is very
great. The children of these " dispersed among the
Romanists" are deprived of the advantages of the
Protestant school, and of the religious instruction
supplied by the Protestant pastor. Even if the
Evangelicals were desirous of founding a Church and
a school, with pastor and teacher, it would be a seri-
ous matter to secure the means necessary for such an
undertaking. It was for this reason that, on Nov. 6,
1832, the two hundredth anniversary of the battle of
Ltitzen, and of the death of Gustavus Adolphus,
king of Sweden, the Gustav Adolphus Verein or
Church and Parsonage Building Society, was organ-

163

164 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

ized by the ten thousand Germans who had met on
the battle^ field in memory of the hero. The j)rime
object of the Society was to furnish aid to those whose
lot is cast among Roman Catholics, and who are un-
able from their own resources to build Churches,
establish schools, or sustain a pastor and teacher.
For nine or ten years the work of the Union was dis-
appointing; its real prosperity dates from 1841, when
Prelate Zimmermann, of Darmstadt, assumed its con-
trol. He awakened German Protestants to a sense of
its importance. Contributions increased rapidly.
Parishes were laid out in the Catholic sections of the
country, and rallying^points provided for the scattered
members of the evangelical fold. The principles of
the Society are those of the entire Evangelical
Church, rather than of any single section of it. By
its statutes, it is placed within the Church, but above
all party divisions.

Its leaders have often been greatly tried by lack of
piety on the part of those who have formed the new
parish. Many have taken an interest in the building
of a Church who have cared nothing for doctrines of
grace, but have been influenced solely by their hatred
of Romanism. After the edifice is completed such
people almost invariably lose their interest in the
work of the parish, rarely attend Church service, and
render slight aid to the pastor. With such obstacles
to contend against it is hard to do efiicient Christian
service. It is doubly hard in a town or country
where the majority of the people are Romanists.
Not infrequently mixed marriages and social relations
carry Evangelicals over into the Church of Rome, or
render them indifferent to the principles of the

PRESERVATION FROM DANGER 165

Church in whicli they were born. Yet upon the
whole the work of the Society has been successfuL
Not less than 28,000,000 marks, or more than $7,000,
000, have been gathered and expended in the last
fifty years. The Society ministers without prejudice
to members of the Reformed and the Lutheran faith.

As a counterweight to this society, whicli by some
is thought rather liberal, there was formed, in 1853,
what is called the Lutheran Gotteskasten, a society
which M^orks actively, although less extensively, than
the Gustav Adolphus Verein, in strictly confessionel,
i. e. extremely orthodox, circles. Yet it grants assist-
ance to those members of the Lutheran Church who
live where the majority of the people are of the
Reformed faith. It aids in the erection not only of
suitable buildings for schools, but in the support of
pastors and teachers. There are also Societies with a
similar aim in German=speaking Switzerland, and in
Russia. Stimulated by Protestant activity, Roman
Catholics, through their Boniface Society, aid in the
formation of parishes, and in the erection of Churches
for those of their faith.

The methods pursued by these Church^ Building
and Parish=Creating Societies do not greatly differ
from those pursued in the United States. The
nucleus of a parish is gathered first of all, either
through a missionary pastor, or as the result of the
earnest spiritual life of a few families living in a
needy district. If the people are able and willing to
assume their proper share of the responsibility for
the support of the parish when organized, measures
are taken to provide the necessary buildings. Em-
phasis is put upon the fact that spiritual life alone

166 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

must be the source of power in the new parish, that
vvorlclliness, or opposition to Rome, will not supply
the force needed in the formation of a Church, or in
the carrying forward of its work.

The report of the Gustav Adolphus Verein in Oct.,
1894, was as follows: This Society now embraces 45
chief societies, with 1827 branch, 509 women's, and
10 students', societies. During the year 1892-3, it
assisted 1698 parishes and institutions of benevo-
lence, at a cost of over 1,121,980 marks, or nearly
$300,000. Since 1844, it has expended 28,191,220
marks, and has aided 4,028 parishes. More exactly,
it has aided in the building of 17,833 Churches or
places for divine service, 707 school houses, and 702
parsonages. It has aided in paying the debt on 704
church buildings, and acquired 171 sites for Churches,
school houses, and cemeteries, helped to pay 1366
debts on Church buildings, and contributed to the
support of 2,136 pastors and teachers. It has helped
to support 58 seminaries and other institutions of
learning, 507 houses in which candidates for confirm-
ation are temporarily received, free of cost, besides aid-
ing the treasuries of thirty establishments for the care
of the widows of ministers and teachers. It has thus
united in itself the duties of a Church Building Society,
an Education Society, a Home Missionary Society, and
a Ministerial Aid Society, and in fifty years has dis-
pensed the very large sum, for Germany, of $7,000,000.
The special aim of the Verein has been to save souls
through conversion, and then, out of these saved
souls, to form parishes which shall act as a leaven in
Catholic Germany. Efforts have also been put forth

PRESERVATION FROM DANGER 167

to furnish the Gospel to evangelical Germans dwell-
ing in foreign lands. Even in countries where a
pure Gospel is proclaimed, it is not so effective as
when song, prayer, and sermon are in one's native
tongue. Many Christians at home think the old
Mays must be preserved, the old liturgy and the old
hymns used, or the emigrant will forget his Father-
land. In Paris and Lyons, there are schools and
Churches, with numerous Societies for Christian
work for the German residents of those cities. In
Paris, there is a Home for servant girls similar to
that in Berlin. There is a school also for women
who are to be teachers. To contributions gathered
on the field for the support of this work, gifts from
the home Churches are added. This foreign work
is under the care of a committee, composed of such
men as Von Bodelschwingh, Mast, and Fresius.

There are several German parishes in Switzerland.
In Rome and Florence, an important work for Ger-
man residents has been carried on for many years. A
new Church edifice will undoubtedly soon be erected in
Rome. The work in Spain, under Pastor Fritz
Fliedner, is said to be important and promising. In
London there are scattered parishes which might be
more closely united to their mutual advantage. In
Holland, Scandinavia, and Portugal there are a few
parishes. In addition to parishes in South Eastern
Europe, Roumania, Bulgaria, and Servia, parishes
have been formed in Constantinople, Smyrna, Beirut,
Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Cairo. Formerly these
oriental parishes were under the care of the Prussian^
English Bishop of Jerusalem, but as this bishopric

168 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

has been divided, and no one appointed to represent
Germany, parishes in the East are at present almost
independent, in some cases entirely so.

With the growing emigration to South America,
increasing efPorts have been made, and with success,
to organize parishes there. But the great work of
the German Churches in the foreign jfield has
been in North America. Here, while German influ-
ence has not always been favorable to religion, no
one can deny that the Lutheran Church, English and
German, has been a spiritual power. It is enough sim-
ply to refer to the influence of such religious bodies as
the Synodal Conference of Missouri, the General Coun-
cil, the General Synod, the Evangelical Synod, and half
a dozen smaller bodies, all of them eager in the de-
fence of what seems to their members Gospel truth.
In Germany, there are several schools in which min-
isters and teachers are prepared for service in the
United States. Although something has been done
in this direction for South America, the ministerial
ofhce there has frequently been made a matter of
gain rather than of Christian self-sacrifice. Not
much as yet has been accomplished for Australia,
Thus far, neither the Gustav Adolphus Verein, nor
the Government, through the Cultus Minister, has
expended much money for German settlers abroad.
Yet many attempts have been made to excite an in-
terest in these settlers on the part of those who
remain at home. It is said that the German soon
forgets his native land, that he speedily adapts him-
self to his new environments, that his children care
little for his language, that the third generation in
America is completely Americanized, Something

PRESERVATION FROM DANGER 169

must be done, it is urged, to preserve a closer union
than now exists between the Churches in the United
States and other foreign countries, and those at home.
Prussia has taken some steps toward bringing about
such a union, but nothing really effective has yet
been accomplished.

Special dangers attend that class of German labor-
ers who either wholly, or at certain seasons of the
year, leave their homes for places where they can
obtain better wages than they are ordinarily paid.
Thus thousands of peat diggers, grass mowers, tile
makers, piece workers, are found during the larger
portion of the year in Holland. Their work is hard.
Family influences are broken up. Habits of intem-
perance and immorality are easily formed. Neither
Churches nor pastors are present to exercise restrain-
ing influence. Of late years, pastors have tried to
follow these members of their parishes into Holland,
remaining with them for a time, and holding divine
service among them, distributing Christian literature,
providing them with copies of the Word of God, and
visiting them in their miserable habitations when the
day's work is over. In this way they keep them
from giving themselves up to sin.

From Eastern Germany, many persons, chiefly of
the peasant class, are accustomed in harvest time to
seek work wherever it can be found. Men and wo-
men, girls and boys, go out together in great crowds.
From the way in which they live, as well as through
their association in the fields, much immorality has
resulted. Children have been deprived of school
privileges. In fact, nearly all moral restraint has
been taken away. Appeals have been made to the

170 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

farmers, or the employers of this migrating multi-
tude, to furnish those who compose it suitable places
to sleep and eat, and to see that they are put under
overseers who will do what they can to prevent im-
morality. It is for the State to see that the children
attend school.

In previous years there has been great moral laxity
among the men who have been engaged in building
railways, turnpikes, and canals. Coming, as nearly
all these laborers do, from the lower ranks of society,
or being those whose sinful past has degraded them to
a point where they are content to live in dirt, it is
not strange that drunkenness and sins of the flesh
abound among them. Within a few years barracks,
or shelter houses, have been furnished these laborers,
and certain persons have devoted their lives to
efforts to reach them with the Gospel. These bar-
racks are so constructed that they can be taken down
readily and put up again. As far as possible, men are
given separate rooms, although the partitions be-
tween the mens' rooms are of boards. Visits of
local pastors have been abundant and in many in-
stances welcome. These places of shelter are closed
at ten o'clock every night. There are peculiar temp-
tations for those who live in river and canal boats.
Where the entire family has its home on the boat,
the moral dangers are less than where the man is
single. Now that Christian people pay visits to
these boatmen, it is not unlikely that regular services
will in future be held for them when in port. It is
also thought that Inns will soon be established where
the boatmen may for a little while find a home, and
where they will be brought into a Christian atmos-

PRESERVATION FROM DANGER 171

phere, and made acquainted with Christian people.
Such an Inn at Berlin, Christian people are confident
would receive large patronage. They also feel that
thought should be given to the education of the
children who live on these boats.

Since 1884, that is, since the commercial life of
Germany assumed new importance, Missions for Sea-
men have received a good deal of attention. Not
only has the welfare of sailors on board ship been
sought, but provision has been made for them when
on land. The Central Seamen's Committee has its
headquarters in Berlin, but there is a Committee in
Hamburg and other ports. At Hamburg there is a
Sailors' Home, with a pastor or chaplain, whose duty
it is to seek the sailor's welfare. Something has also
been done for German sailors at Cardiff, Wales, and
at Capetown, South Africa. What is needed, it is
affirmed, is a union between ship-owners, and the
friends of the sailors, to keep the latter out of the
hands of the land=sharks, vrlio are ready to strip them
of their earnings the moment money comes into their
hands. It is also thought that captains may, if they
will, render efficient aid in protecting those under
them from the immoral and almost wholly destruc-
tive influences which meet them the moment port is
reached. It is an encouraging sign that people are
beginning to see that Sailors' Homes are needed, as
well as more extensive provision for the com-
fort and moral well being of the sailor than has
hitherto been deemed necessary.

As about ninety per cent, of all German emigrants
go to the United States or to Canada, a Committee
has been in existence many years to meet these emi-

172 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

grants as they land in New York. This Committee
furnishes them a temporary home, if necessary, and
directs them on their further journeys. Latterly, it
has become a habit with German pastors to give
those who seek a home in a new country a letter cer-
tifying to good standing in the Church at home, and
commending its possessor to the care of the pastor of
the Church near which they may live in the country
of their adoption.

CHAPTER X.

CARE OF DEFECTIVES AND THE SICK.

Of defectives and the sick there are several classes.
For some of them the Government has made provis-
ion, although in the earlier days of the Inner Mission
it had done comparatively little for them. Among
those to whom Christian benevolence first turned its
attention were the deaf and dumh. There are at
present about forty thousand of this class in the
German Empire. As the misfortune from which
most sufifer, comes from defective organs which
are caused, or at any rate made worse, by lack of
nourishing food and warm clothing, they are found
more frequently among the poor than among the
rich. They are often met with among the children
of blood relatives. Work in their behalf, through
the sign language, was begun in Paris early in the
last century by Charles Michel. About the middle
of the century, Eppendorf introduced the word
method, with the utterance of sounds, but as he
would not impart the secret except for a large sum of
money, it did not come into general use for many
years. It is now more commonly employed, even
in France, than the sign language.

These poor children make a piteous appeal to a
compassionate heart, since they cannot be properly
taught in the public schools, even if the teachers in

173

174 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

these schools are disposed to give them a great deal of
extra attention. Still less successfully can they be
taught at home. Nothing remains but to remove
them to an institution, where they will receive that
bodily care which is needful, as well as that peculiar
instruction without which their lives are a continual
misery. On reaching the age of seventeen, the mute
is j)repared for work in favorable surroundings, and
taught to earn his living. Those interested in the
welfare of the mute early decided that he should
be taken from his parents, by law, if they will not
otherwise consent, when not more than seven years
old. In large towns, like Berlin, services are held for
these mutes on Sunday, and wherever they live, care
is taken on the part of the Asylum in which they
have been taught, to follow and encourage them when-
ever they are in need. Tlie religious aim is to instruct
these unfortunate youth in the principles of the Gos-
pel, and thus aid them to bear cheerfully the burdens
which they are taught to believe their Heavenly
Father has mysteriously imposed upon them. In
allied institutions, those afflicted with the habit of
stammering or stuttering, are received and are often
wholly, or partially, cured. Societies whose object is
to collect in small sums from every part of Germany the
money required for the support of these institutions, or
for the bodily or spiritual welfare of those who are
sent to them, are the outgrowth of the Christian spirit
which prevails in the Churches.

There are about forty thousand hlind persons in
the Empire, Since many who are threatened with
the loss of sight can be cured if looked after at birth,
it is necessary to furnish physicians for the poor, and

CARE OF THE SICK 175

persons to teach timid or heedless parents their re-
sponsibility if they refuse to permit the skilled phy-
sician to exercise his healing power. Many sufiPer
from inflammation of the eye or from what is called
Egyptian eye=sickness. Nearly all are improved if
not permanently healed by better care. With the
decrease of poverty is closely connected a decrease
in the number of the blind. Severe penalties are
visited on physicans through whose carelessness new=
born children lose their sight.

A rare capacity for music in Theresia von Paradis,
of Vienna, made it clear to Valentine Hauy, in Paris,
about the middle of the last century, that the blind
have the power to learn. He at once set about estab-
lishing institutions in which they could be taught.
He originated one in Berlin, and not long after an-
other in St. Petersburg, but as his forte was discov-
ery, rather than organization, he accomplished less
than was anticipated. The next step was taken in
Vienna by John William Klein, a man with practi-
cal ideas. Knowing very little of his x^redecessor's
methods, he secured a blind child on whom to ex-
periment, taught him how to take care of himself in
life, and having done this brought him to the city
authorities, who were struck with wonder at what
they saw. Mr. Klein was the author of several val-
uable treatises, and the founder of an institution for
the blind.

Prof. Zeune, of Berlin, was influenced by Hauy, and
during the Napoleonic wars took a few blind chil-
dren into his own home and taught them carefully, ac-
cording to the principles at that time in vogue. The
jnost distinguished of his pupils was John Knie, who

176 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

became the head teacher in the Asyhim for the Blind
at Breslaii, Schlesia. He was a living, and therefore
convincing, witness of what can be done for the blind.
The institution at Dresden was opened by a pupil
of Zeune's, named Flemming, though he was not
blind. It was his son=in'law. Director George, who
exerted such influence while at Dresden and after
leaving the city. For many years, these Asylums,
like those for the mutes, were sustained by private
donations, though at present Government meets their
expense. The object of instruction is to supplement
the missing organ by a proper use of the other or-
gans which God has provided. The moment this is
done, a state of dependency is exchanged for a state
of independence, self-support and contentment. Till
he is ten, a boy born blind is permitted to attend the
Public School as by so doing he will learn a great deal
by listening to what is said. Ear, hand, understand-
ing, memory, can here be taught. If the home sur-
roundings are bad, experts say the blind jjupil should
be taken to the preparatory school for the blind un-
der compulsion on the part of the State if need be.
Here he must remain till he is eighteen, at least, or
till he has mastered a profession, by which he can
earn his own living. Special attention is given to
music, instrumental and vocal, and great care is taken
that the latter is not of the kind that disposes to beg-
ging. After the time for confirmation has passed,
the pupil is taught as many branches of simple hand=
work as is possible, so that he may never be at a loss
for means of support. Sometimes efforts are made
to sell the products of these blind toilers, and thus
contribute something to their comfort. But what-

CARE OF THE SICK 177

ever else the Government does, it does not look after
the religious welfare of its blind subjects. This is
left for the Inner Mission to do. And this it does
faithfully and systematically.

As the result of the influence of the Inner Mis-
sion, a few Asylums have been established for those
blind persons who, having passed through the ordinary
asylums and prepared themselves for work, are yet
unable to obtain it, or to make it productive. These es-
tablishments, which follow their inmates with their
care, are not required for the majority of those who
are born blind, although help is sometimes asked for
in the furnishing of materials to be used in self-sus-
taining labor, and in the sale of the product, together
with frequent visits, and, in cases of great distress,
the giving or the loaning of money. Money is loaned
only to those who are known to be worthy. Here the
Mission has the field almost entirely to itself. In
Asylums for the blind and for mutes, persons of both
sexes are received.

For no class of unfortunates does Christian benev-
olence feel a more genuine sympathy than for idiots
and epileptics. Of idiocy the Germans distinguish
three forms, weakmindedness, imbecility, and mental
weakness connected with a misshapen body. At
times the so-called idiot seems to be suffering only
from immobility of mind, or mental inertness. Thus
there are all degrees of idiocy, from a slight helpless-
ness, or clumsiness of mind, to its apparently entire
absence. Medical skill has not yet discovered any
cure for mental weakness, nor are its causes fully un-
derstood, although it may often be traced to a com-
bination of causes. There are 57,000 of these sufferers

178 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

in Germany, and Government has done very little for
them. Care for them, and for epileptics, has been
left almost entirely to private benevolence. This has
come chiefly from Christian circles, and through
appeals sent forth by societies connected with the
Inner Mission. There is hardly any branch of be-
nevolent service which requires greater skill, jDatience,
and self-denial, than the service rendered these de-
fectives. Few of them can work. Yet everybody
sees that they need occu^Dation, an occupation suited
to their condition, and that this can best be furnished
by the institution in which they have their home.

The first among German=speaking people to draw
attention to the need of this class of dependents was
Dr. Guggenbuhl, of Switzerland, a man who made
promises of which few were fulfilled. His es-
tablishment at Abendberg, near Interlaken, had to
be given up, although at first money was sent to him
in large sums. About the same time. Dr. Seguin, of
Paris, began his work with the weak=minded. His
principle was that instruction is better then attempts
to remove the cause of weakness, or efforts to repair
the weakened body. By order of the Government
efforts in behalf of this class of defectives were early
made at Hubertsberg, Saxony, then at Ecksberg,
Bavaria, by the Roman Catholic pastor Probst, also
at Mariaberg and Stetten, Wtirttemberg. Pastor
Lohe, of the Lutheran church, did something
for idiots at Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, but it was not
till pastor Julius Disseldorf, of Kaiserswerth, began
to send out his writings that general interest in the
condition of idiots was aroused, and institutions were
opened for them in every German province. There

CARE OF THE SICK 179

are now forty four of these institutions sustained by
the money which Societies, organized for the purpose
under the authority of the Inner Mission, collect.
In most of these institutions epileptics are received,
although in later years efiPorts have been made to keep
idiots and epileptics apart. Von Bodelschwingh has
a colony of the latter in Bielefeld, among whom both
deacons and deaconesses are constantly employed.
Experience has shown that it is not so necessary as is
sometimes thought, to separate idiots and epileptics.
While the latter are not infrequently curable, idiots
never are. In the treatment of these defectives, cer-
tain facts have been made clear. The establishment
in which they are received ought to be large, with
many divisions, and under the care of teachers
trained for their duties, with skilled attendants and
physicians, who are not only masters in their profes-
sions, but whose hearts are full of the love of God.
Bodily care is of the first importance. School in-
struction of the simplest kind is required. In giving
this instruction women, who possess tact and patience,
are more successful than men. There are some
things which a weak-minded child cannot learn. He
cannot be made to understand figures, or anything
abstract. Concrete objects, which appeal to sight
and memory, rather than to intelligence, excite his
interest. Each pupil must be taught separately, and
instructed in accordance with individual needs.
Where work has been introduced, it has jiroved one
of the best means of instruction. In a few cases,
weak=minded children have been admitted to the Pub-
lic Schools, where they have their own rooms, and
are taught apart from the other pupils. In many in-

180 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

stances the feeble=minded pupil has not only been
prepared for confirmation in this way, but rendered
capable of self-support. It is only those who have
given attention to work among idiots who realize what
an immense improvement has been made in their
condition, both mentally and physically. Though
somewhat slow in caring for them, Christian benevo-
lence in Germany is now atoning for past neglect.

Till within a comparatively recent period, Germany
paid little attention to the demands which cripples,
and persons with mutilated limbs, justly make on
thoughtful benevolence. A deformed or crippled
child, when sent to school with other children, is
often exposed to much suffering from the taunts to
which it has often to submit from those among whom
it is thrown. Naturally a bitter feeling soon springs
uj) in the heart. The little one thinks that God has
forsaken him, and life becomes a burden. Pastor
Knudson, of Denmark, once a missionary in India,
was among the first to devote himself to work among
cripples. Since 1872, he has been able to render life
more tolerable for at least 1700 of them. He roused
Sweden to consider the needs of this class of its sub-
jects, and as a result institutions for cripples have
sprung up throughout that country. Since 1879
there has been an institution for them in Stockholm,
supported by a special society. France has also been
interested in them, but for many years the only in-
stitution where these cripples could be cared for in
Germany, was at Munich. Its ruling spirit was
John Nepomuck Edler von Kurtz, who never had
less than a hundred under his care at any one time.
Both boys and girls were received. The Government

'CARE OF THE SICK 181

of Bavaria finally adopted the school. In 1885, the
care of cripples was undertaken in Stammheim,
Wtirttemberg, in Ludwigsberg, in Bielefeld, and at
Nowawes, near Pottsdam, where large numbers of
cripples are now received and taught to work as they
are able. Yet the field is far from fully cultivated.
Education, according to the rank of the parents,
religious instruction, and technical training for self-
support, are the main objects of institutions for
cripples. The Societies back of them are as a rule,
well sustained. Some Societies aid parents to care
for their children at home. They furnish a missing
limb, the needed medical advice, and not infrequently
persuade parents to send the child to an institution,
where the protracted care called for may be fur-
nished. The right kind of care, given at the right
time, often renders subsequent life endurable. It has
been proved that mental development must not be
pushed too fast. Neither ought the pupil to under-
take any work beyond his strength. Experience has
shown that as the cases to be cared for differ widely
from each other, inventive powers of a high order are
often needed by the instructor, as well as by the
physician in charge of the institution. The aim is
to do the best that can be done for the cripple, and
as the days of miracles are passed, no parent is en-
couraged to look for a complete cure for his child, but
only for improvement in his condition, and for the
development of a state of mind which will bear with
patience God's appointments.

There are a great many bow-legged, pale, sicJdy,
scrofulous children in Germany. They are met with
both in the country and in the city, though they are

182 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

more numerous in the city, than in the country. As
the causes of this misfortune are living in cellars, and
under the roof in the city, miserable care or total
neglect in the country, and insufficient food in both
city and country, Vacation Colonies, as well as salt and
sea baths, have been provided for these pale little
sufferers. Dr. V/erner began his benevolent work by
founding the Bethesda, in Ludwigsburg. Another
institution for these little ones, which became a
model for many others, was that founded near Osna-
bruck, in Rothenfelde. In these establishments,
where bathing is constantly employed, the children
are for the most part under the care of deaconesses.
These Vacation Colonies are a kind of rescue for
weak, pining children. They are a sort of children's
summer home. The children who suffer most are
sent to the establishments where the best care is
given. Others are sent to private families, which
receive and provide for them at a slight cost. The
time allotted for this outing is from four to six weeks.
Care is taken to select the more needy jBrst. For the
worst cases, several periods in the institution are
required, in order to restore health. The manage-
ment is something like that in a Hospital, although
efforts are made to give the children a jjleasant time,
to furnish them some needed instruction, and to
impress their minds with a sense of their dependence
upon God. To make sound healthy children out of
those sent to these institutions is a problem which
the teacher or the attendant is expected to solve.
The results of this form of benevolence have been fully
as satisfactory as has been the expenditure of fresh
air funds in America.

CARE OF THE SICK 183

From the beginning of the work of the Inner Mis-
sion one of its prime objects has been to provide for
the Bick; especially for those who are sick in a Hospi
tal. Hospitals have grown out of the sense of respon-
sibility which thoughtful Christians feel for those
who cannot care for themselves. These Hospitals
have proved to be battle=^ fields against disease, Uni-
versities in which physicians are taught and trained.
Sickness in itself, as has often been said, is one of
God's teachers. Hence, in early times, Christian
men of influence and wealth began to provide for the
care of the sick. At first the responsibility was solely
upon the Church, as a whole; later on it rested upon
the bishops. Then there arose benevolent Orders, as
we have seen, of knights, monks, and nuns, whose
members devoted themselves to the care of the sick.
In the cloister, or attached to it, an Hospital came
into existence. After the Reformation, the care of
the sick, became a calling, a profession, to be followed
for gain. Hospital masters received their appoint-
ments from city authorities. When the places
obtained were remunerative, the sick were neglected.
Even at the beginning of the i^resent century the
condition of Hospitals in Europe was very bad. In
Germany, improvement in their condition began in
1886, with the revival of the order of deaconesses.
These godly women gave personal attention to the
sick. They called public attention to the condition
of the Hospitals. The wars that followed made the
demands of the sick and the wounded still more im-
perative. Orders were formed to meet these demands.
First came the Evangelical Order of St. John, an
Order formed in 1852 under the auspices of Frederick

184 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

William IV. In 1867, the Maltese Order was formed
by tlie Roman Catholics. Womens' Societies for
aiding the sick also sprang up here and there. Last
of all, came the Society of the Red Cross, whose acti-
vity and special work are chiefly shown on the battle-
field. In Germany, the four systems of hospital
erection or arrangement are as follows: viz. the
block, pavilion, corridor, and barrack system. No
matter what system is employed in the construction
of the Hospital, careful provision for ventilation
is made and nothing that medical science can sug-
gest, is overlooked. Provision for the Hospitals is
on a generous scale. This is due to the influence
of such nurses as deaconesses and brothers have
made, and to the public interest which the reports
of these nurses have awakened.

The supreme control of the Hospital is in the hands
of physicians. All who serve in the Hospital are
required to follow their directions implicitly, The
administrative care, ?. e. the purely business part of
the Hospital, is in the hands of an officer who is ap-
pointed by the Committee responsible for this care.
Where the Hospital is large, a chaplain is provided
for its inmates. He conducts morning and evening
devotions, asks a blessing at the table, arranges for
regular Sunday service, and embraces every favorable
opportunity for friendly and Christian conversation.
His position is one of great delicacy as well as respon-
sibility. It is through him, chiefly, that a Christian
atmosphere is introduced into the Hospital. Nothing
like proselyting is attempted, or allowed. Efforts are
made, however, to persuade sick and dying men to
believe in the Saviour, though no one is asked or

CARE OF THE SICK 186

expected to change hia religion. In the Infirmaries,
which are simpler in their arrangement and less
costly than Hospitals, while bodily healing is sought,
although many are afflicted with incurable diseases,
spiritual blessings are presented as special objects of
desire. All this is due directly to the work and the
influence of the Inner Mission.

For the insane, who are now cared for generously
and wisely by the Government, private benevolence
furnishes such religious influence as is desirable. As
insanity differs so greatly in its manifestations and in
its nature, great skill in dealing with the sufferers is
required. Attendants on the insane, many of whom
are deaconesses and brothers, (both are employed at
Kaiserswerth), must be experts. At present the no=
restraint system is as far as possible followed. In
order that the Asylum may appear like home, a min-
ister Ls often employed to conduct religious service,
even when personal conversation is impracticable.
When insane persons are brought to the Asylum early
in life, or immediately after the signs of insanity
appear, it is affirmed that about two4hirds of their
number are curable.

The difference between the care which German
Christians, and Christians in America or Europe
show the classes above mentioned, may not in reality
be very great. In Germany the care is regular and
systematic, and it is the object of definite, continuous
thought. There are special laborers for special
classes of the needy or the suffering, and they are
trained for the work they undertake. This work is
made a life-work, not something to be taken up to-day
and laid aside to=morrow. It is work which is done

186 CHRISTIAIJ LIFE IN GERMANY

in a Christian spirit, with a Christian aim, and in the
conviction that it constitutes a calling in life for
which God Himself has fitted those who enter upon it.
Though voluntary, yet the Church regards this work
of its members as a part of the duty she owes her
fellow^men, and through gifts regularly made and
officially sanctioned, she provides for it.

CHAPTER XI.

SAVING THE LOST.

While the chief aim of the managers of the Inner
Mission is to prevent people from falling into temp-
tation, or yielding to it, and thus being lost, they are
by no means indifferent to the duty of trying to
rescue those who are looked upon as lost. No part
of this work is more difficult than the contest against
Prostitution. Only those who have given attention
to this matter can have any idea of the extent of the
difficulties to be overcome. In Berlin alone, the
police estimate the number of those who make gain
out of their bodies at nearly 30,000, others 50,000.
Not only are those who thus prostitute themselves
ruined, morally and spiritually; those also are ruined
who by their patronage make this kind of life possible
and profitable. A standing Army renders the contest
against the evil more difficult. Nor is the presence
of students in the University towns any aid to those
engaged in it. Although open solicitation is not
allowed, the portion of the city where vile women
congregate is well knov/n and easily found. It is
needless to add that the trade which grows out of
Prostitution is one of immense pecuniary profit.
Hardened men and depraved women are constantly
on the lookout for ignorant and innocent girls, to take
the place of those who drop out of the ranks of this
sinful army. A few drift into it almost naturally.

187

188 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Impure thoughts, unclean conversation, the dance in
the country tavern, with its opportunities for sins of
the flesh, the friendly soldier M^ho makes love to the
servant girl, and under j)romise of marriage leads her
from the paths of virtue and then leaves her to bear
the burden of her shame alone, are suggestive of some
of the causes which contribute to the permanent
downfall of vast numbers. The thoughtless or help-
less country girl who goes to the great city to seek
her fortune, in entire ignorance of the pitfalls which
lie open on every hand, the factory girl, and the
seamstress whose scant wages hardly sustain life,
often become an easy prey to those who are con-
stantly seeking whom they may devour. To their
shame be it said, there are parents who rear daughters
for this kind of life, and are impatient till they are
old enough, through their sacrifice on this altar of
infamy, to add to the income of the family. If the
old Germans were famous for their chastity, this is
not true of all their descendents. In every city per-
haps without an exception, this great moral swamp
exists. The efforts made to remove it at the time of
the Reformation, have in these later times been
earnestly renewed. The deadly miasma arising from
it is more destructive than the raging of an epidemic,
the dreaded presence of cholera, or even of war.

As in so much else which has elevated the moral
standards of society, and encouraged Christians to
lift them higher and still higher, Fliedner led the
way in the crusade against Prostitution. To him, so
early as 1833, the first penitent Magdalen came for
shelter. Another and another followed in her steps.
Soon his garden house was exchanged for an asylum,

SAVING THE LOST 189

till in city after city Magdaleniums sprang up. Of
these there are at present in the whole of Germany,
more than twenty. They are well arranged, and their
influence has been extremely helpful. In more than
half their number, deaconesses reside, and in this
work, as in all else in which they engage, they have
proved themselves ministering angels.

In 1848 and thereafter. Pastor Heldring, of Hol-
land, lifted up a battle=cry against the evil. His
trumpet=call was heard even in Germany. His
Asylum at Steenbeck, opened in 1848, became a
model for other Asylums having a similar purpose in
view. Superintendent Bastian, in Bernberg, Pastor
G. Schlosser, in Frankfort on the Main, and Gen-
eral Superintendent Baur, are regarded as leaders in
this effort to rescue the fallen.

The Asylum must be in a city, easy of access,
friendly in appearance, and sympathetic in its atmos-
phere. It must bear no resemblance to a prison. Its
doors must stand open to receive and dismiss. No
other compulsion than that which comes from a
Christian life and a Christian heart may be exer-
cised. It is nevertheless possible to use wise meth-
ods to encourage those who visit the Asylum to walk
in the paths of virtue. The family idea must be
made prominent in the establishment. Those who
enter are to be made at home at once. They have
entire freedom; they are under no surveillance.
Younger women are kept from those who seem bent
on continuing the life they have begun. Those who
fly to this place of refuge are enrolled as regular in-
mates only after a period of probation which tests
the sincerity of their desire to reform. It has been

190 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

found wise to have the Magdalenium near some other
benevolent institution, and to have it so situated as
to furnish sufficient work for the support of the in-
mates. While all are received without cost to them-
selves, they are at once taught to work, and encour-
aged to do that which they can do the best. Few
are found previously accustomed to work of any kind,
and this, doubtless, is one of the causes of their failure
in life. Most of these girls provide for themselves,
while in the Asylum, by taking in washing. Some go
into the kitchen of the establishment. Others labor
in fields or gardens. Some do fine sewing. All are
industrious. On an average, a stay of two years is
required of every inmate. The lust which causes
crime must be rooted out, and a firm principle intro-
duced into the heart to take its place and fortify
against further transgression.

Each Home is furnished with corridors, in which
there are separate beds for each girl. These are sep-
arated from each other by partitions. In each of
these corridors a deaconess, or a trusted woman.
Bleeps, and acts as a kind of overseer and friend.
Over the whole establishnent is the House-mother.
When possible she is a deaconess, who has been
trained for the kind of service the place she fills re-
quires. In addition to piety of the truest kind, she
has need of great wisdom, and a patience which
nothing can exhaust. It is hard not to resort at
times to something like force in keeping the girls from
returning to their lives of sin. The feelings which
these girls manifest, after remaining for a time in the
asylum, are very puzzling. Nearly all are intensely
nervous. Tears and outbursts of anger, physicians

SAVING THE LOST 191

say, are from the same source. Nothing but a
motherly, Christian heart can endure the trials which
dealing with these unfortunate women imposes.

It is often a matter of great difficulty to persuade
even penitent Magdalens to enter these asylums.
There is a prejudice against them. Midnight meet-
ings are held to attract those who, having entered
upon this life of prostitution, are awakening to its
horrors, and desire to leave it. Christian women,
deaconesses employed as parish visitors, and others
whose duties bring them into contact with prostitutes
in the hospitals, especially in the Charit6 at Berlin,
are on the lookout for such as may be saved.

There is at least one place in Germany where
parents can take daughters who have vicious inclina-
tions. Since 1873 there has been a home at Bonn to
which girls who have borne an illegitimate child may
come from the lying-in hospital, and be helped to
overcome the disgrace attached to it. There are
places, also, for girls too old for the Keform School,
and not old or hardened enough for these Asylums.
But all who have had anything to do with the
problem of saving this class of the morally lost unite
in testifying to its extreme difficulty, as well as to its
terribly destructive influences upon all branches of
society. The vice in England, save in a few sea-
ports, is left to regulate itself. In Belgium, Holland,
Denmark, and France, it is regulated by law. In
Germany it is endured, with no other attempts to
suppress it than to keep it out of sight, and by
Christian effort to pluck now and then a brand from
the burning.

Hitherto Germany has suffered less from the evils

192 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

of Drunkenness than most other countries. Drunk-
enness is a growing evil. Germans seem to take
more naturally to the stronger drinks than the wine-
loving populations of Latin countries. Through
the use of Brantwein and Schnapps, the health of
many has been undermined. Habits have, in addi-
tion, been formed which are fatal to prosperity and
happiness. Toward the end of the thirties, the tem-
j)erance movement in England and America began to
make itself felt in Germany. Frederick William III.
sent for Robert Baird of the United States, famous
as an advocate of temperance, and caused his book
to be translated and circulated among his subjects.
Pastors and government officials took hold of the
matter at once and made temperance reform popular.
Improvement in public morals ere long showed itself.
In 1845 eighty^four distilleries failed for lack of pa-
tronage. Two hundred and six reported little busi-
ness. In Hannover, half the Brantwein tax fell
off. In Saxony, the use of strong drinks diminished
with equal rapidity. But the excitements of the
year 1848 seemed to undo all that had been accom-
plished for temperance. Huber and Wichern did
their best to withstand the growing tendency to
drink, and they had many earnest fellow=workers.
Since 1877, there has been a Temperance Society in
Geneva, with numerous branches in Germany.
Efforts, too, are made, more commonly than formerly,
to persuade men to abstain even from moderate drink-
ing, not because it is a sin, but because of its example,
and dangerous tendencies. In various ways, and in
almost all classes, efforts are put forth to destroy the
power of intemperance. Since 1884, a Total Absti-

SAVING THE LOST 198

nence Society has shown no little earnestness in com-
batting the evil, and through the influence of some
very prominent men, including University professors,
its supporters are increasing. But the drink=habit,
fostered no doubt by the universal use of beer among
the lower classes, and of wine among the upper
classes, and the prevalence of the feeling that it is
foolish to give up one's liberty and refuse to drink
moderately, render it exceedingly difficult to push
temperance work with the success attainable in Eng-
lish-speaking countries. Yet there are those who
devote their lives to efforts to persuade men to give
up these drinking habits, and the testimony which
many of them furnish as to the blessings of total
abstinence, is encouraging. In the seven or eight
of the Asylums connected with the Inner Mission,
the methods pursued, after making due allowance
for diversity of custom, do not differ greatly from
those pursued in our own country. Of the Keeley
Cure, little use has, as yet, been made. Christian
physicians feel, as is felt with us, that a new life is
the only sure defence against the drinking habit.

The Asylums to which the unfortunate victims of
drink are brought are so arranged as to seem home-
like. Christian influences are brought to bear on the
sufferer. Prayer, morning and evening, with a bless-
ing asked before every meal, is a feature of these asy-
lums. Sunday services are provided for their
inmates. Assistants are responsible not only for the
care which the body needs, but for that also which
(he mind requires. Quack medicines are not allowed.
A stay of two years is thought necessary for a perfect
cure. Moderate drinking is not favored. When

191 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

habits are fixed, the patient is encouraged to go out
again into the world, but is advised to surround him-
self, as far as possible, with associates who will not
lead him into temptation. As in the case of those
who are sent out from the Magdaleniums, a certain
oversight from the Asylum follows the so-called
reformed men. They are allowed to return to these
Asylums as often as they please for advice and help.
Coffee houses are favored. Societies, also, whose
object is to inform the public as to the evils and dan-
gers of drunkenness, and to create a sentiment in
favor of total abstinence, or at least of temperance,
are formed. Legislation to a certain extent is
favored. Instruction in the public schools as to the
effect of the use of alcoholic drinks on the body, sim-
ilar to that given in our own public schools, is greatly
to be desired. Many public men, including the
Emperor, are alive to the dangers which threaten
society from the growing use of intoxicants. There
is hope that ere long temperance crusades will be
carried on throughout the whole country.

Of those who are without work, there are two great
classes: those who are afraid of work, would not take
it if it were offered, and those who really desire it,
but cannot obtain it. The two classes may be char-
acterized as the helpless and the vicious. It is not
always an easy task to discriminate between worthy
and unworthy aj)plicants for aid. The latter often
seem to have the best claim on charity. They can
tell the best story, and their recommendatory
papers are often excellent. But the requirement
to earn what they receive before they receive any-
thing has been found a pretty good test. There

SAVING THE LOST 195

are many establishments where a roofless wan-
derer may spend the night. In wood== yards near
by, one may earn one's food. A list of places
where work is wanted is also kept by the managers
of these establishments, and often by the police, to
whom a tramp may appeal, if he can appeal nowhere
else. To these places the wanderer is directed.
Many, perhaps most, of the places for shelter are un-
der the supervision of the police. They soon dis-
cover the character of those who frequent them.
These lodgifig-hoiises are for the convenience of
those who travel from place to place in search of
work. A paper, signed by the keeper, testifies to the
fact that use has been made of the shelter ofPered,
and adds such further statements as the condition of
the person seems to call for. While these stations
often furnish opportunities for weeding out the
vicious and providing for the worthy, scheming indi-
viduals or professional beggars sometimes take advan-
tage of them, and secure recommendations which
they by no means deserve. Laziness is not unknown
among those who travel over the country, professedly
in search of employment. A law, strictly enforced,
prevents begging at the door. The person who gives,
as well as the person who receives, if the latter can
be caught, is punished. Those put in charge of
these night=shelters, and other establishments for the
aid of those out of work, are chosen for their ability
to minister to the needs of those with whom they
are thrown in contact. It is not enough to furnish
employment for a day; it must be steadily furnished,
and those receiving it encouraged to continue in it
till they become self-sustaining, rex^utable citizens.

196 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

There are some who have not the physical strengtl"
to work all the while; others have no ability them,
selves to secure work, or to keep it without aid, when
they have it. To provide for 200,000 unemployed
men (in the seventies there were said to be this num-
ber), is a matter of no small difficulty. Hence the
Homes for Working Men (Arbeitercolonien), which
to the number of several hundreds have sprung up
within the last twenty or thirty years in different
parts of the Empire. These Homes are industrial
establishments where various trades are carried on
under the oversight of competent persons. The pro-
duct is sold at the market price, the money obtained
going to the support of the Home. Those who apply
for admission are not the vicious, the lazy, or the
wretchedly poor, but those who are really anxious to
earn their own living, but who for some reason are
unable to find an opportunity to do so. They are
often discouraged men. All who are received, are
received with a warm welcome. Food and comforta-
ble lodging are furnished. Work, of the kind to
which applicants are accustomed, is provided. They
are aided to get a job outside if possible. In entering
the Home the applicant promises obedience to its
rules. There are certain light punishments for diso-
bedience, while the extreme penalty is dismissal. A
few of these Homes are sustained by grants from the
Government, and a few are cared for by Roman
Catholics. Most of them are under the care of Pro-
testants, who have formed Societies which gather
money to meet the deficiency which often shows
itself in their income. These Homes are managed by
a large Committee, which appoints from its mem-

SAVING THE LOST 197

bers a sub=comniittee, which selects the responsible
head for each Home, A pastor is generally attached
to the Home. The person who looks after its eco-
nomic needs must be a man trained to this kind of
work, a brother, if possible; at any rate a man who
will be a brother to those who come under its shel-
tering roof. While no attempts are made to force
the inmates to be religious, as in all other institu-
tions with which members of the National Church
have to do, a religious spirit jjervades the Home.
By influences silently exerted, men are influenced to
look with favor upon the principles and institutions
of Christianity. Men are allov»'ed to remain in these
Homes as long as may be necessary. The aim is to
re-establish in the minds of those who are discour-
aged, not only a desire to obtain regular and self=
supporting occupation, but to convince them that
they can again take their places in society, as self=
respecting, self-sustaining citizens.

These Homes, which seem to owe their origin for
the present generation to Pastor von Bodelschwingh,
of Bielefeld, are pretty widely scattered over the
German Provinces. They can receive from less than
a hundred each, up to nearly three hundred appli-
cants. As men are coming and going every day, it
will easily be seen how large a place they flll in a
Christian system of benevolence.

In the care of p7w'so??s and their inmates, the same
difiiculties have been met with in Germany as in other
countries. The impulse toward improvement in pris-
on discipline came from John Howard, of England,
who died in 1790, and Elizabeth Fry (English) who
died in 1845. Fliedner began his work in the prison at

198 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Diisseldorf as early as 1826, and learned from the pris-
oners, whom he regularly visited, something of the
needs of society at large. For more than fifty years,
prison discipline has aimed at reform as well as i)un-
ishment. Formerly it did not look beyond the inflic-
tion of penalty. Before Fliedner's day prisoners of all
ages and degrees of criminality were thrown together.
Women are now no longer confined in the same prison
with men. Thanks to the influence of the Church there
has been improvement in the j^risons themselves, in
their sanitary condition, in their management, and in
the treatment of prisoners. In these matters, the
great and the noble, and even crowned heads, have in-
terested themselves. Oscar I., of Sweden, who died in
1859, wrote a book on prison management, and his
successor has not been unmindful of his duty toward
those who are in prison. Frederick William IV. se-
cured the passage of a law providing for solitary con-
finement. At first the law was absolute, but later it
was modified to suit the needs of all classes of crim-
inals. At the present time not only the chaplain and
the oflBcers of the prison visit the criminal in his cell,
but friends are permitted also to visit him. Here he
works, eats and sleeps. If he is taken out for air or
exercise, he wears a mask over his face, so that fel-
low=prisoners may not recognize him. In the House
of Correction at Plotzensee, near Berlin, in which
about 1800 persons are confined, those who occupy
separate cells wear their masks when they leave their
rooms for the boxes provided for them during school
hours, and during the hours of service on Sunday.
Here the teacher and the pastor can see them, but
they cannot see each other. It is the worst and the

SAVING THE LOST 199

best of the criminals who are thus separated; the worst
that their influence for evil may not be exercised on
those who are not yet completely hardened, the best
that they may not learn more evil than they now
know. According to the report of this prison, from
fifteen to twenty per cent, of its inmates lead good
lives after serving out their term of confinement.
This is due to the salutary moral and Christian in-
fluence brought to bear upon them.

There are several Societies which look after the in-
terests of prisoners and study the conditions under
which they are confined. One of the oldest, as it is
one of the best, is the Rhenish='Westphalia Society,
founded by Fliedner in 1826. For service among
women, deaconesses are most sought for; for work
among men, in addition to a chaplain, brothers and
teachers are needed who will be in hearty sympathy
with the men, and do everything in their power to
encourage them to begin a new life.

All Christian work, even if done by persons ap-
proved by the Church, is done under the eye of the
prison officers. Guarantees as to the fitness of visi-
tors to have access to prisoners must be furnished by
the Societies or Christian bodies they represent. Up
to this time, probably not more than one hundred
deacons and deaconesses are engaged in regularly
visiting the prisons. Not all prisons grant this liber-
ty of visitation even under restrictions. But every-
where efforts are ]put forth to save the prisoner, and
unless he is a hardened criminal, with a lifelong sen-
tence, or a sentence of death hanging over him, the
hope is cherished that he may yet be saved for
society.

200 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

The hardest and best work iov prisoners is done after
their sentence has been served. For some the penalty
is only a fine, with a few days'confinement. Others
pay a fine and spend years within prison Avails.
Others again are confined for a period varying from
a single day to five or even fifteen years. Those who
have been under the influence of Army Officers, for
whom x)laces have been made as prison^keeiDcrs, are
not so likely to leave their place of confinement im-
j)roved in their morals, as those who have been under
the care of men who have made the care of prisons a
study and a profession. Hence the need for Socie-
ties to look after dismissed prisoners, to give them a
welcoming hand, an encouraging word, and to pro-
vide a shelter where they will not be immediately
brought into temptation which they will hardly be
able to resist. The prisoner must be encouraged to
cherish hope for the future. His family, if he has
one, should be urged to receive him cordially and aid
him in his efforts to lead a reputable life. Work
should be obtained for him, in the place where he
formerly resided if temptations there are not too
great; if they are, then among strangers. The mem-
bers of this Society for the reclamation of the dis-
missed prisoner watch over him till he is again fairly
on his feet. It is however by no means easy to get
these men on their feet. Society, as a whole, is
against them. Members of their own households are
against them. The iron=hearted legality of the State
is against them. The lack of real benevolence on the
part of those who profess to love the Master, and who
sometimes seek to aid them, is against them. The
natural sinfulness and perversity of the human heart

SAVING THE LOST 201

are also against them. The chief effort, there-
fore, from the moment when the Christian min-
ister or teacher comes into contact with the prisoner,
during the years of his confinement till he receives
his liberty, must be directed to persuading him to be-
come a Christian. Those who would save him when
dismissed from prison must also make it clear to him
that it is only with Christ's help that he can become
a new man and pass the remainder of his life in a
useful and honorable career. More necessary than
efforts to convert the prisoner are efforts to prevent
his becoming again a transgressor, and thus falling
once more into the hard hand of the State.

Enough has been said to show that the least en-
couraging of the fields which come under the care of
the Inner Mission, are those in which attempts are
made, without weariness or impatience, to recover the
lost. The fact that society looks upon the fall-
en woman, the drunkard, the thriftless wage-earner,
the beggar, and the released prisoner, as pests, with-
out hope either for this life or the next, adds to the
enormous difficulty of rescuing them. Nothing short
of the grace of God can create within the breasts of
these unfortunate f)eople a feeling of self-respect, a
desire to try to regain the position among their fellow
creatures which they have lost, or impart to them the
courage to try to regain it. Yet in spite of all draw-
backs Christian benevolence feels that the results even
among such as these, are a sufficient reward for all
the cost, and that the methods here described must
be followed as long as they are needed.

CHAPTER XII.

THE CIRCULATION OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.

One of the v/ays in which efforts are made to in-
struct the peox^le in a knowledge of themselves, c*f
God, and their relations to Him, is by the careful and
systematic circulation of the Scriptures. Early in
the history of German Protestantism the circulation
of the Scriptures became general. In the Public
Schools their use was compulsory, yet at first the
Bible was neither universally nor intelligently read.
It was Luther who awakened an interest in Bible^
reading among the masses. This was accomx)lished
by his masterly translation of the Scriptures into the
language of the i^eople, and by the emphasis he
placed on the doctrine of salvation through faith
rather than through works. His doctrine of justifica-
tion by faith alone was a key to the understanding of
the meaning of the Scriptures which the people were
not slow to use. Pietism added greatly to the circu-
lation of the Word of God. It was Baron von Cans-
tein, a friend of Francke, who founded at Halle, in
1712, the Canstein Bible Society, the first of its kind
in Germany and in some respects the model Society of
the country. A hundred years later, the Stuttgart
Bible Society was formed, and, in 1814, at Berlin the
Prussian Society. These were followed by other So-
cieties, until now there are twenty^six organizations
in the German Empire devoted to the circulation of the

202

, CIRCXJLATWN OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 203

Scriptures. The impulse favorable to tliis movement
may have had its origin in the formation and work of
the London Bible Society, which came into existence
in 1804. Roman Catholics have not favored the cir-
culation of the Scriptures among the people, although
a translation has been made, which has received the
approval of the Bishops, and under certain conditions
may be put into the hands of those who desire to read
it. In the editions in common use the Apocrypha is
bound up with the Old and New Testaments, but with
the understanding, that while it is good for reading,
it has no authority as the insiDired Word of God.
The Bible is printed, as in America, without note or
comment, save that, in some editions, maps have been
inserted, together with a preface, and a glossary of
difRcult words. A few commentaries for the use of the
peoj)le have met with a large sale. For many
years, those having the welfare of the German
Church at heart have sought to introduce a new, or at
least a revised, translation of the Scriptures into pub-
lic worship. Partial success only has attended these
efforts, the people clinging almost superstitiously to
Luther's Bible. The difficulties in the way of secur-
ing a new translation were far greater than in England.
One has, however, been made under the direction of
pastor Monckeberg, of Hamburg, which the Can-
stein Society has published. This translation has
received the approval of all the Provincial Churches,
with the exception of the Church of Mecklenberg. It
is probable that ere long the so=called Probe (proof)
Bible will come into general use. Translations made
by scholars such as Weizsacker, (the N. T. only),
and other prominent Bible students, find ready sale,

204 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

and are doing a great deal to quicken interest in
Bible reading.

The larger Societies employ special agents and send
out their Bibles from central stations, as well as from
branch stations, in difPerent sections of the country.
As far as possible these Bibles are sold at a price
sufficient to meet the cost. Free distribution,
though not uncommon, is less general than in Ameri-
ca. Pastors, school teachers, and other friends of
the Bible are expected to aid in its circulation, as
well as in its intelligent use. While colporteurs are
employed at certain seasons of the year to ijicrease
sales, and to aid in the better understanding of the
Bible, the chief reliance for increased knowledge of
the Scriptures and greater love for them, is upon
their larger use in the public services of the Churches,
the establishment of Sunday-schools, of Young People's
Societies, and Societies for Reading the Bible, and of
pastor's classes for its devotional and critical study.
Societies of women who read the Bible according to
a different plan, year by year, are not unknown. In
spite of the criticism of rationalizing scholarship,
the people look uj)on the Bible as the " Word of God, "
the " Bread of Life, " the " Written Christ," and the
" Bearer of the Spirit of God." Nowhere is the
Bible more highly esteemed than in Germany.

To a much greater exteiit than a stranger would
deem possible, the majority of the German peoxale
are disinclined to reading of any sort. Many read
carelessly whatever comes into their hands. Those
who are anxious to introduce good reading into the
homes of wage=earners, and peasants, have first of all
to awaken a desire in their minds to read, and then

CIRCULATION OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 205

to guard against the destructive influence of bad lit-
erature. Hence the demand for Tract Societies, or
Unions, for the spread of Christian, or at least, of
Ijrofitable reading. By a tract is meant a short com-
jjosition, Christian in spirit and aim, popular in form
and contents, and therefore heljoful in its influence.
In introducing and employing this method of spread-
ing information among the people, the influence of
Luther was decisive, while Pietism and the sects
have contributed to its use. No method can be sim-
pler or more natural. In England, Hannah More,
desirous of counteracting French infidelity, which in
her day was powerfully affecting the thought
of the nation, led the way in the writing and circulat-
ing of tracts, and gave the impulse which resulted
in the formation, in 1799, of the London Tract So-
ciety. Several Societies with a similar aim have since
that time come into existence in Germany. Among
them may be named the Christian Union, in North
Germany ( 1811 ) , the Wupperthal Tract Society ( 1814 ) ,
The Chief Union for the spread of Christian writings
of an Edifying Character in the Prussian states, Ber-
lin (1814), the Lower Saxony Tract Society, Ham-
burg (1820), the Evangelical Book Foundation,
Stuttgart, the Press Union of Calv, organized by Dr.
Barth (1833), the Basel Union for the Spread of
Christian Literature (1834), the Agency of the
Kough House, Hamburg (1842), the Evangelical
Book LTnion of Berlin (1845), and a Division of the
Society for the Work of the Inner Mission in the
Sense of the Lutheran Church in Bavaria (1850). It
will thus be seen that there is no lack of channels
through which good reading can reach the people.

206 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

The business of these Societies is carried on in a very
simple way, and at the smallest cost. A depot for
the storing of tracts is about all that is required, in
addition to an agent to supervise and secure their cir-
culation. This agent is responsible to a Committee
which appoints him and supervises his work. Col-
porteurs are employed to a considerable extent, but
often for only that portion of the year, say just before
Christmas, when work on the farm is dullest, and
wage=earners are oftenest idle. These colporteurs are
allowed to carry about a few little trinkets as an aid
to the sale of their books or tracts, but they are ex-
pected everywhere to exert a Christian influence, and
to arouse, if possible, an interest in Christian reading.
Of their sales and their work they make careful
reports. No tract is printed without the sanction of
the Committee of the Society whose name it bears,
nor is any man, pastor, teacher, volunteer laborer,
or colporteur permitted to offer a tract to anyone,
either on sale or as a free gift, till after he himself
has read it and mastered its contents. The tract dis-
tributor is also expected to know the person whom he
approaches, as well as the tract which he seeks to
circulate. It has been very difficult to obtain suitable
material for distribution in the tract form. Not only
must the tract be popular. Instructive, evangelical; it
must be adapted to those who are to be reached by it.
Experience has shown that tracts which do good serv-
ice in England or America, are of little value in
Germany. Hence in recent times, the effort has
been, not to circulate a great quantity of tracts, but
to secure those which are of the right kind, and then
place them in the hands of persons who will be pro-

CIRCULATION OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 207

fited by them. Illustrations are introduced into this
kind of literature to a much greater extent than with us.
Oftentimes an attractive cover seems to lend an in-
terest to that which is within. Brief lives of such
men as Francke, Wichern, Fliedner, statements of
the frauds connected with the exhibition of the so=
called Holy Coat at Treves, published by private
firms in Bremen, Leipzig, and elsewhere, and sold
for two or three cents each, have done excellent serv-
ice.

To create a desire for good reading and to meet the
demand for it when created, there have been formed
what are known as People's Libraries, which contain
from a hundred volumes up. The selection of these
Libraries is a matter of much importance. Every-
thing sectarian or professional is excluded. Only
that which is popular, and at the same time instruc-
tive, is admitted. Ordinarily the librarian serves
without pay; and not infrequently, when a local
Union provides the books, those who wish to borrow
them can take them out free of cost, though some-
times a small charge is made for the use of the
library. Many ministers who have now passed away
have written books for these popular libraries.
Among them may be mentioned such men as pastor Al-
bert Vitzius, Berne ( Jer. Gotthelf ), who has described
village life truthfully and vividly; pastor Rudolph
Oeser, of Hesse, (Glaubrecht,) who has done the
same for the life of the common peoiile in his native
Province; and iDastor Caspari, of Munich, who has
described far off events and fcir off countries in a
manner so lifelike as to render his writings exceed-
ingly attractive. Among those who are still living,

208 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

pastor Frommel, Court preacher at Berlin, and pastor
Nietsclimann, of Halle, have the ear of the people to
an unusual degree. Of these libraries there are two
sorts: those which seek only to attract and instruct
the people, and those which are strictly religious in
their character. In the formation of libraries for in-
struction, the governments of Wiirttemberg and Sax-
ony have taken great interest and rendered much aid.
The larger the library the more important is it that
its custodian should be a man who knows books, and
the people among whom he lives and for whose use
the library is designed. More than any other person
he can determine the kind of reading which those
who patronize the library should select. If his influ-
ence is greatest in the country, it is by no means
small in the city, where these libraries for the people
also abound. No little good has been done through
Unions formed to furnish newspapers, magazines,
and other profitable reading to Prisons and Hospitals,
and through special Societies, like that in connection
with the Berlin City Mission, which seek to put
printed sermons into the hands of those whose duties
keep them at work Sunday, or whose inclinations
rarely lead them to a house of worship. Nothing is
more striking to one who studies the methods which
German Christians employ to reach the masses with
good literature, than its abundance and cheapness
and the ease with which it is everywhere obtained.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SOCIAL NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE.

The German Church of to-day has not been insen-
sible to the needs of the people in the aggregate.
Social Congresses are held in which pastors and in-
telligent laymen discuss, with the thoroughness for
which the country is celebrated, the relation of capi-
tal to labor, the condition of the working people in
the country and in the city, the moral and spiritual
needs of the masses, and the best methods of meeting
and combating religious doubt or open infidelity. A
powerful Society has been formed, which meets once
a year to consider how the aggressions of the Church
of Rome can be checked and the traditional rights of
Protestantism preserved and strengthened. As new
phases of need appear, earnest men band themselves
together to study and meet them. While this has
been done, the old work of the Inner Mission has not
been neglected. At present, increasing attention is
given to cities, for this is the era of great towns and
of congested populations, although the wants of rural
districts are not overlooked. To many, life in a city
is a temptation which often ends in moral and spirit-
ual disaster. The city seems to be the natural home
of those who are indifferent to religion, careless of
its ordinances, neglectful of the marriage ceremony,
and even of the sacred rites of Christian burial. The
influence of the careless and indifferent on one

209

210 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

another is hurtful. On those who are not confirmed
in moral depravity, it is altogether bad. To meet
these evils, and the more open sins which spring
from them, is one of the objects of German City
Missions.

Although the work of City Missions in Europe,
began in Glasgow in 1826, with David Nasmith and
his eight assistants, and in London in 1835, where
now more than four hundred laborers are constantly
employed, the good work was not introduced into
Germany till 1848, when Wichern began mission
work on a small scale in the city of Hamburg.
Eleven years later, or in 1859, he laid the foundations
of a similar work in Berlin. Since that time Mis-
sions have been formed in most of the larger cities of
the German States.

In these Missions three main objects are kept in
view, (1) the sanitary condition of the people and
their dwelling houses, cleanliness in their food,
clothing, and personal habits, the frequency of their
removals from place to place; (2) their moral con-
dition, their manner of life, their exposure to temp-
tation on account of the character of the neighbor-
hood in which they live, the crowded condition of
the apartments they occupy,- and (8) their relations
to the Church, of which perhajDS the majority,
through baptism and confirmation, are j)rofessed
members. Neither in Glasgow nor in London can
anything sectarian be taught in connection with
their City Missions; nor can the interests of any par-
ticular Church be furthered. Missionaries, chiefly
laymen, visit from house to house, present Bible
truth, pure and simple, furnish such material aid as

SOCIAL NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE 211

is within their power, but make no effort whatever to
persuade people to connect themselves with any par-
ticular denomination of Christians. They are satis-
fied if those they visit become Christians. They
work, as do City Missionaries in Germany, among
different classes of the people, — soldiers, the police,
sailors, dockmen, cab drivers, street=car men, and
young persons who seem to lack strength to resist
the temptations to immoral living which surround
them.

In Germany, City Mission work in general is not
dependent on the Church. As sects have slight influ-
ence, their peculiar beliefs are scarcely considered in
the effort to save the people from moral and spiritual
ruin; nor is it for a moment supposed that they are
permanently saved until they have become Christians.
There are no attempts to allure them by games or to
entrap them by the promise of temporal good; the
effort is made at once and continually to bring them
back into the Church, to persuade them to attend its
services, prize its ordinances, and accept its blessings.
The temporal gifts the missionaries bring, they bring
as Christians, and present them in a Christian spirit,
in the hope of winning those who receive them to the
Master whom they serve.

The Missions in Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Bres-
lau, Dresden, Stuttgart, Frankfurt on the Main,
Magdeburg, Carlsruhe, Munich, and many other
places are under the control of a pastor who is thor-
oughly interested in the work he has in charge, and
who has sjpecial gifts for carrying it on. In Berlin,
Dr. Stoecker, the eloquent Court preacher, member
of parliament, author, editor and lecturer, is Superin-

212 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

tendent of the mission. Every Sunday, services,
which are thronged, are held in the building which is
known as the Johannesstift, the center from which all
the work of the Mission proceeds. Dr. Stoecker^s
sermons, with other Christian literature, are circulated
throughout the city and the German=speaking world,
chiefly by the aid of money given for the purpose.

A Central House like the one in Berlin around
which everything connected with mission work may
gather, a place where those in need can come for
temporal aid, or friendly advice, is indispensable.
Often the City Mission is simply the Inner Mission
for the city in which it is located. It undertakes to
do for the people within the limits of the city all that
the larger body does for the people throughout the
Empire. A bureau of statistics is at the service of
those who care to consult it. Hither those come who
are hungry, out of work, discouraged, or in trouble of
any sort. Those connected with the Mission seek to
bestow their charities wisely, to discover and rebuke
professional beggars, to promote industry and frugal-
ity, to create feelings of hope and courage in all
whom they aid. Without a House, or rooms in which
the superintendent and some of his assistants may
live, an assembly hall, and rooms in which commit-
tees and friendly societies may meet, successful mis-
sion work is welhnigh impossible. Such a House
becomes at once the center of a far-reaching, ever=
widening Christian activity. Through its influence
those who furnish money for its erection and support,
and those who occupy it, seek to meet and supply
the varied needs of those who are to be saved for
the kingdom of God.

SOCIAL NEEDS OE THE PEOPLE 213

Only those engage in this mission service who
feel themselves true children of God, and have a real
passion for sonls: devout laymen, who have been
trained as deacons, or deaconesses, or voluntary
laborers whose hearts have been filled with divine
grace. By such the sick are visited, those who are
burdened with poverty are made glad, and those who
are struggling against temptation are encouraged to
persevere till they gain the victory. Bibles and
tracts are sold at a nominal price, or are given away.
Persons living together illegally are persuaded to be
married according to law, to have their children bap-
tised, once more to attend church, or at least the ser-
vice at the Mission. Released prisoners, fallen but
repentant women, servant girls exposed to tempta-
tions from unscrupulous men, are not forgotten. The
care of the sick is chiefly in the hands of the deacon-
esses, while the "brethren" visit the needy and dis-
tressed. Bibles are distributed and every effort
which can be put forth is made to introduce good
reading into homes that lack profitable and helpful
books. But not till the persons visited are brought
into connection with some local Church, and thus
come under the personal care of the minister of that
Church, is the missionary's work looked upon as
completed.

Each Church to a greater or less extent, carries on
missionary work among its own people. Yet in par-
ishes which number from 80,000 to 100,000 persons it
is welhnigh impossible, even where three or four
pastors are grouped together, and trained assistants
are employed, to do satisfactory pastoral work, though
every year shows an improvement in this direction.

214 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

As new Churches are built, parishes are made smaller,
and the number of assistants is increased to meet the
demands of the rapidly growinp: city populations. In
doing this, the aid of the City Mission, and especially
that of deaconesses, the crown and glory of whose
work is service in the Church, has been of inestimable
value. It need hardly be said that the deaconesses
employed in this service must enjoy the confidence
and recognition of the pastor and authorities of the
Church with which they are connected, whose sick
they visit, whose needy children they instruct, whose
wandering ones they seek to bring back to the fold,
and whose Christian spirit they everywhere represent.
Very helpful service is rendered the poor through
Unions. These often have their own agents, where
possible, deaconesses, or persons trained to visit and
give aid to those who require assistance. To the
Unions which sustain them these laborers are respon-
sible. Sometimes Unions of women gather funds
from the entire country, and distribute them through
those whom they employ. Sometimes a deaconess
collects money herself for cases of pressing need;
sometimes she brings the poor and rich together; at
other times she receives or secures for a needy family
unsaleable pieces of meat from butchers, hard bread
from bakers, and shop-worn articles of clothing from
storekeepers. Now and then she takes the place of a
sick mother in the care of the house, or she acts as
nurse for a sick child, or a sick husband. On occa-
sion, too, she looks after the sanitary conditions of the
home, or teaches a daughter, or a poorly instructed
wife, how to care for the family. She also interests
neighbors in a family which may stand in need of

SOCIAL NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE 215

attention for a considerable time. Again she brings
together little children and forms them into a school,
or secures some one to look after the babes while the
mothers are away at work. Both in her own life and
by her words she seeks to teach lessons of unselfish-
ness and Christian charity. In all this varied and
Christlike work, she needs, as she manifests, rare
gifts of organization, the pov/er to make a little
accomplish a great deal, skill in awakening latent
forces, and in directing them when awakened. What
the poor often lack is not money, but the ability to
earn money, and wisdom in its use, when earned.
The Christian visitor shows her troubled and per-
l^lexed friends how to get rid of poverty, how to
eecure and i3reserve health, how to overcome vicious
habits, how to fill the home with the sweetness and
light of a Christian life. She is ever wisely on her
guard lest she should make promises which she may
not be able to fulfil, lest she should assume burdens
in the way of responsibility for rent, which she will
find it hard to bear, lest she should spend too much
time in collecting for the needy, lest she should look
upon a particular section of a city as her special field
of labor, and thus become jealous of others, who may
also be anxious to aid in its cultivation. She is careful
not to become the foster mother of too many children
at their baptism, and thus bring herself into a false
position in relation to them.

The care of the poor is at the best a difficult task.
The causes of poverty, moral as well as material, require
careful study. They can be removed only through
personal ministrations. This the early Church well
understood, and for three centuries at least freely

2i6 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

rendered them. The State, as we have already seen,
began to give its aid in support of the poor in days
immediately following the reign of Constantine. The
Church did very much for the poor in the Middle
Ages, yet chiefly through the income of special funds
provided for the purpose, and by an administration
of charity which increased its claimants. Beggars
looked upon begging as a profession, through which
they were ministering to the Christian growth of
those whom they asked for aid. Men gave, if they
gave at all, for their own sake, rather than to alleviate
suffering or to honor God. In the sixteenth century
the Church went back to the personal methods of the
pre^Constantine period. At present, for many classes
of sufferers, the State assumes the entire expense, and
looks to the Church only to supply that personal sym-
pathy which belongs to her very atmosphere. As the
results of criticism, which a great army of Christian
helpers have made, the methods of the State have
been improved, and are becoming better every year.
Now, she seeks to avoid the danger of increasing the
numbers of the class she is compelled to aid. Since
1852, the Chalmers method, with modifications, and
known as the Elberfeld method, has met with wide
approval.

In this work of caring for the poor, there are four
factors; the State, the Church, special Societies, and
Individuals. Aid given on one's personal responsi-
bility, experience has proved to be the worst possible.
It is given without accurate knowledge of the need,
oftentimes simply to rid one's self of the beggar. In
contrast with the thoughtless aid from the individual
is the legal aid from the State. This is given through
forms of law, under certain fixed conditions, and is

SOCIAL NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE 217

received, not as something for which to cherish grate-
ful feelings, but as a right created by the conditions
in which the recipient is placed. Societies, through
those whom they employ, strive to meet the demands
of certain classes for which they obtain funds in
answer to special appeals. The charity they dispense
is neither small nor unimportant. The Church, where
she is worthy her name, seeks through her member-
ship to supply the lack which other agencies fail to
meet. Often it is enough that she gives personal
attendance, always in a Christian spirit, to the sick,
or that fhe encourages, with hopeful and instructive
words, the dependent and disheartened. It is this
kind of work that the Church seeks to do, in cities
by means of the City Mission, in the country at large
by means of the Inner Mission.

Since 1870 the German States have sought to pro-
tect themselves against impostors, by law, and by
defining the residence of those applying for assist-
ance. The purpose of these precautions is to throw
the expense of providing for the support of those who
are actually needy on the place from which they come
or in which they really reside.

Care for the sick and wounded in time of war, or
sufferers from pestilence, has now assumed vast pro-
portions.

Humanitarian efforts in these directions are con-
fined almost entirely to the present century. History
reports as terrible the sufferings of those who
were left helpless on the battle field of Leipzig, in
1813. The horrors of the Crimean War, in 1854, made
an irresistible ajipeal to women like Florence Night-
ingale, and those who furnished her with means to

218 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

alleviate the sufferings of the English soldiers and
their allies. But the real birth of the new benevolence
toward sufferers from war, by common consent
seems to have taken place during the Italian Cam-
paigns of 1859. A great step forward was taken at
Geneva, Aug. 7, 18G4, when the convention there in
session decided that the wounded and the sick, in the
dwellings they occupy, should be treated as neutrals,
and that physicians and attendants should be
deemed non combatants. From this decision came
the Ked Cross movement, with its beneficent results.
In the Schleswig=Holstein war, deacons from
Duisberg, deaconesses from Kaiserswerth and other
places, Sisters of Compassion, Brothers from the
Eough House, and members of the Order of St.
John, rendered never'tO'be=forgotten service. In
1863, a Union of those who were willing to hold
themselves ready for service like this in time of war
was formed at Wtirttemberg, and another the follow-
ing year, in Prussia. The Central Committee of this
Prussian Union resides in Berlin. On this Commit-
tee, and representing the government, is a person of
high military rank, who is appointed by the Emperor.
The war of 1866 made it still more evident than be-
fore, that a closer union between those from civil life
v.'ho are v/illing to care for the sick and wounded in
time of war and the military authorities must be
sought. This was partially brought about in the war
of 1870-71. Since that time efforts have been made
to train for field service all who are willing to render
it, and to secure the closest possible union between
these volunteer helpers and the military authorities.
At present it is understood that all these helpers, no

SOCIAL NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE 219

matter from what quarter they come, shall be under
military control, and as completely so as if they were
enlisted soldiers. They are free to enter, or remain
out of, the service. Having entered it, they are free
neither to leave it till the stress is over, nor to under-
take any service save that assigned to them by
the proper military officers. From this arrangement,
much is expected. Members of several Societies are
prei3aring themselves for this service, and in some in-
stitutions, like that at Kaiserswerth, special training
for it is required. There are not a few Roman Cath-
olic Unions whose members have declared themselves
ready for this service, whenever needed. The good
that training will do was abundantly shown in the
cholera days, at Hamburg, in 1893. Terrible as were
the distress and fatality, both would have been far
worse but for the presence of deaconesses, sisters of
mercy, and others, men and women, who, at the risk
of their own lives, did not hesitate to render the care
which those who were stricken, so greatly needed.

In selcctmg persons to train for' service to be ren-
dered in pestilence and war, care must be exercised
to obtain those whose temx^erament and abilities fit
them for it. Equal care must be taken in imparting
instruction. Provision also must be made for em-
ployment in time of peace, else the outbreak of war
would find even trained volunteers unequal to an
emergency. As far as possible, these diflaculties
have been met, till now it is believed that no country
has a better or larger corps of trained workers ready
to do duty on a field of battle, or be sent to an hospital
filled with the victims of an epidemic, than Germany.
Nearly all these volunteers are professed Christians,

220 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

and will render the service required of them in a
spirit of love for their Master, in the hope of leading
those to whom they minister into His Kingdom.

The questions of Sunday rest, of the relation of
schools to the Church, of dwellings, and of economy,
or of savings banks, call for brief discussion.

Two different classes of people seek, for precisely
opposite reasons, the preservation of Sunday : one class
wishes a day of worship and spiritual improvement,
the other a day of release from labor and bodily
rest. The class to which Social Democrats belong
holds many of its meetings on Sunday, and employs
it in visiting, or in whatever way ministers most to
the pleasure of its individual members. Christian
people, and those who are conservative in their polit-
ical ideas, believe in a Sunday which shfiU be devoted
to worshi]3, at least in the morning, a day on which
servile work shall cease, but on which friends may
visit each other and meet in social gatherings.
There are still others who have no care whatever for
the day, who, as far as may be, continue their ordi-
nary occux3ations, or devote the day entirely to pleas-
ure. Nowhere is it kept with the strictness and
reverence visible in Scotland, or even in the United
States. Formerly most of the smaller stores were
open on Sunday. A recent Prussian law requires
them to be closed during the hours of morning serv-
ice, but allows them to remain open a portion of the
afternoon. Many think the law has had a good in-
fluence. In some sections of the country, certain
hours are set apart for the instruction of apprentices,
and other young men whose education is deficient,
and who have no time for study on week days. Many

SOCIAL NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE 221

earnest Christiaus, in Germany, are putting forth
strenuous efforts to secure very stringent laws provid-
ing for Sunday rest. They are striving also to secure
its proper religious observance. Their wish is that
no business shall be transacted on the Lord's Day,
that food shall be simple, that even friendly Unions
shall hold no meetings on this day, and that attend-
ance at Church shall be regular. There has been a
great unwillingness to give up Sunday gains. Offi-
cials have hesitated to favor a law which might seem
to infringe upon personal liberty. Yet, on the whole,
it is thought that the day is better observed, and is
devoted to better uses, than it was a score of years
since,

A serious question, and one which has been very
earnestly and even passionately discussed, is the re-
lation oftJie scJiool to the Church. Shall the school
be dependent upon the Church, or in such relations
with it as practically to give pastors authority over
its teachers? This is really the question at issue.
Naturally, teachers as a class favor independence of
ecclesiastical control, even if that control be wisely
and rarely exercised. Schools supported by Church
funds, or provided through tuition paid by members
of a parish, are of course subject to the authority of
those who sustain it. Of these schools, Protestant
and Catholic, the number is large. But there are
other schools, which are maintained by the State and
by such tuition as the State chooses to charge. Over
these schools, it is not desirable, most teachers think,
that pastors, or priests, should have control. Proba-
bly few, even of those who really attend Church,
would be willing to have the Bible excluded from the

222 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

school as a text=book, or to have regular religious in-
struction given up. None save Social Democrats,
and a small number of agnostics or atheists belonging
to the cultured classes, want Godless schools, or the
secular schools of Holland, or of the United States.
There is, however, a feeling, which is wide^spread, that
if pastors give instruction in the doctrines of the
Church, they should do it with the consent and at the
request of the teachers, and not as a right which the
teacher is powerless to withhold. The excited feeling
which was aroused a fev/ years ago over the school
question has by no means wholly subsided. There
are a good many Unions which exist for no other pur-
pose than to keep religion in the school, not for-
mally, but in reality. Since 1883, the influence of the
Evangelical School Congress has been great and de-
cided. The extraordinary influence of the profound-
ly Christian instruction imparted in the Gymnasium
of Gtitersloh, the character and eminence of the men
it has sent into the world since its foundation in
1851, render it an object lesson to which the advo-
cates of the Christian school point with great satis-
faction. There is no doubt that many pastors have
shown a love of jDower in the control of schools which
cannot be too sternly rebuked. On the other hand,
it would be extremely unfortunate were the present
bitter feeling between many teachers and pastors to
continue.

The question of snitahle dweUlngs for the poor,
and even for ordinary workmen, is one of no slight
importance. It is a sanitary question which neither
the State nor society can venture to disregard. To
questions concerning the character of the dwelling,

SOCIAL NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE 223

the presence of more than one family in a single
room, and the immorality which such a condition fos-
ters, members of the Inner Mission long since called
attention. Building Societies have not been as popu-
lar or as successful in Germany as in England. Since
1853, the suburb for working peox)le in Miilhausen,
Alsace, where homes are secured through the aid of
kindly disposed individuals, has given rise to favorable
comment. Several homes for workmen have been se-
cured at Bielefeld, through Pastor von Bodel-
schwingh's Workingmen's Home Union. Those who
ha^'e given most thought to the subject favor one of
two things: a single house where possible, contain-
ing not less than 3,000 cubic feet of space for a fami-
ly; if this is not possible, then houses in what may be
termed "a colony," in which four families shall live
under the same roof, two on the lower, and two on
the upper floors. Here the homes are placed so near
each other as to render co-operation, in matters of
mutual concern, natural and easy. In a suburb laid
out in this way certain laws are necessary, to which
all who enjoy its advantages must give willing obedi-
ence. But the great end sought is to arouse in the
workingman a desire to own a home of his own, to
show him how he may do this, and, through Building
and other Societies, to help him to put the idea into
practice. Hence the importance of savings banks, in
which very small sums may be deposited, and which
are retained, till by constant additions and the inter-
est, they become quite large. These banks are not so
common in Germany as in England, yet arrange-
ments through the post-office, encourage the frugal-
minded to put their savings where they will draw in-

224 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

terest and be perfectly secure. Christian people
favor these banks, partly because of the value of econ-
omy to those who j)ractice it, partly because those M'ho
have something saved are better citizens, and partly
because Social Democrats are opposed to this method,
of saving, saying, as they constantly do, "a working-
man cannot save." When a workingman becomes a
capitalist, however small, he ceases to be a Social Demo-
crat. He has no desire to overturn existing institu-
tions, or to destroy the government of his country.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SPECIAL FORCES BY WHICH THE WORK OF THE
INNER MISSION IS CARRIED ON.

DEACONESSES AND BEOTHEKS.

Having thus traced the work which Christian peo-
ple in the German National Churches are trying to do
for those who nominally belong to these Churches
but are suffering morally or physically, either from
causes for which they are not personally responsible,
or as the result of their own wrong doing, it remains
to consider the trained forces M'hich have been put un-
der requisition to take the lead in this work of relief
and restoration.

Of transcendent importance is the Deaconess'
Movement in Germany, to which we would direct
attention as well as to the efforts which have been
made, and with considerable success, to revive the or-
der of deacons in the Church, although those who
have joined this order have not as yet been placed un-
der ecclesiastical authority.

If the first quarter of the century and the earlier
years of the second quarter, are memorable for the in-
terest awakened in Foreign Missionary work, the latter
is no less memorable for revived interest in Christian
work at home. No feature of this movement, which
has for its object the saving and developing of mater-
ial which, through the sacrament of baptism and the

225

226 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

rite of conJSrmation, has been professedly brought in-
to the Church, is of greater significance than that
which resulted in reviving the ancient order of dea-
conesses. Here the name of Theodore Fliedner
(1800-1864), early in the twenties made pastor of the
X^arish of Kaiserswerth, on the Rhine, is prominent.
Although he was by no means the first even in Ger-
many to consider the wisdom of restoring to woman
the place she had occupied in the early Church as dea-
coness, he was obviously the divinely chosen agent
for its accomplishment.

A few words may here not be out of place as to the
personal history of this remarkable man. The son of
a poor pastor at Eppstein, a member of a large family,
he spent his boyhood and youth under the pressure
of scant means. The early death of his father made
it very difficult for him to obtain an education.
Through sheer necessity he learned how to live on
very little; great self-denial carried him through
the Gymnasium. Almost entirely supporting himself,
he took his University course at Giessen, and at Got-
tingen. The rationalism of the Universities was not
to his mind, nor did he ever weaken in his faith in
the miracles and resurrection of Christ, After a brief
joeriod spent as a teacher in private families he was
appointed to the charge of the little Protestant parish
in the Roman Catholic town of Kaiserswerth. The
failure of a trusted business house in 1822 brought
the parish to the verge of bankruptcy. To the au-
thorities of the Church it seem.ed hardly worth while
to continue work in it. Two other parishes, either of
them more desirable than that in Kaiserswerth, were
offered Fliedner, but he refused them, saying that he

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 227

would not be a hireling, but would remain with his
people in their sufPerings. For their sake he travelled
through portions of Germany, Holland, Brabant, and
England, to obtain funds for the support of his
parish. Succesful in this, he found, as his biogra-
phers affirm, something far better than money: he
found faith. Not altogether wanting in this at first,
he returned to Kaiserswerth a very different man
from what he was when he left it. His journeys were
useful to him in many ways. His visits to prisons, in
England especially, opened his eyes to the sufPerings
of those under confinement in Germany. Through
his personal influence, in 1826, the Prison Society of
the Rhine Provinces and Westphalia was organized.
This was the first Society of the kind on the Conti-
nent. For years he regularly visited the prison at
Dtisseldorf every fourteen days. Here he met the
woman, Friedereke Mtinster, who as his first wife was
destined to take a prominent and determinative part
in his life^^work. Having perceived that bodily care,
coupled with spiritual instruction, was greatly needed
in the Prisons and Hospitals of his native land, Flied-
ner gradually came to see that in some way the
Scriptural order of deaconesses must be revived. As
an unknown man, the pastor of an insignificant
parish, he felt that he himself could not take the lead
in the movement to bring about this greatly desired
result. Hence his earnest effort to persuade some of
his more distinguished brethren to go forward in the
matter. None would respond to his appeals. On the
contrary, all declared, with practical unanimity, that
as he (Fliedner) had evidently been called of God to
the work, he ought to assume its responsibility and ^

228 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

trust God to send him both the sick and the money
to care for them.

On September 13, 1883, there came to the house of
the Kaiserswerth pastor, who had meanwhile acquired
a reputation for unusual kindness of heart, a woman,
named Minna, begging for protection and assistance.
She had just been freed from prison, and every repu-
table home, she found, was closed against her. In
the garden attached to the parsonage there was an
unoccupied house, about twelve feet square, which
Fliedner and his wife opened to her as a temporary
place of refuge. A second penitent girl soon followed
the first. The sleeping^room was in the attic of the
little building, and was reached through a window by
ft ladder, which a servant brought at bed time, and
removed as soon as the young women mounted to
their place of rest. This was the beginning of the
work in which Fliedner and his wife had been so
anxious to interest men of influence and wealth.
Failing in this, these two Christian people deter-
mined to bear the burden alone and rely upon God to
help them. In three years the number of applicants
had so increased that a building si3ecially adapted to
their wants became indispensable. So on April 20th,
1836, with little money in sight, but with a firm
conviction that it would come, Fliedner purchased
a house near his own home, promising that before
the end of the year he would pay 2,300 thalers (rather
more than $1600) for it. In November the promise
was redeemed. Thus the first great step toward the
Kaiserswerth establishment was taken. On May 30th,
of this memorable year, articles, by which the Verein,
or Society of the Provinces of the Rhine and West-

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 229

phnlia was formed, were si^med in the house of Count
Anton of Stolberg. On October 13th, the lower
story of the house obtained by Fliedner for an Hos-
pital was furnished as well as it could be with the
poor material which had been sent in for the purpose.
A week later, in response to Fliedner's appeal for
deaconesses, came Gertrude Reichardt (1788-18G9),
of Ruhort. She was a woman of true piety and rare
executive ability. As the daughter of a physician,
and his frequent assistant, she brought to this field
of work the gifts and experience which were urgently
needed. In this consecration of her life to purely
benevolent work, we have the beginning of that dea-
coness' movement which has filled the G erman world
with its blessings. By July, 1895, 932 sisters, though
laboring in widely=separate fields, called Kaiserswerth
their home, w^hile connected with it there are at home
and abroad about seventy Mother Houses which
have sprung into existence from the impulse given
by the work of Fliedner, in which are not far from
9,000 deaconesses, who, with true Christian devotion
are now pursuing their helpful calling. They are at
work in 780 hospitals, 168 homes for the poor and
feeble, 125 orphan houses, 48 nurseries, 20 homes for
the reclamation of fallen women, 16 industrial schools,
50 establishments for the training of servant girls,
80 establishments for the weak-minded and epileptic,
2 asylums for the insane, 2 for the blind, 39 Magda-
leniums, 9 prisons, 7 boarding houses, or hospices,
451 schools for little children, and as pastors assistants
in 1,017 iparishes. Sixty-three of these mother houses
were represented at the Kaiserswerth Conference in
1891. These Mother Houses are in a certain sense

230 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

affiliated, and yet are entirely independent of each
other in government and procedure. Less than
twelve only of kindred establishments were not
rei)resented in the Conference. The united income
of these various Homes, so far as can be ascertained,
is about 9,500,000 marks annually. This represents
the earnings of the establishments themselves, as well
as the gifts which are made to them.

Deaconesses from Kaisers werth are now at work in
220 places, and in every part of the world. In their
Hospitals they care, every year, for more than 60,000
patients, to say nothing of those brought in for
temporary treatment. They have rendered splendid
service in times of war, even upon the battle=field,
and in epidemics such as cholera, typhus, scarlet
fever, and measles. In Hospitals under their own
care, in those belonging to the State, and in more
than 2,500 private homes, they are a blessing and a
help and comfort to those whom they serve.

The main object which Fliedner had in mind was
not the mere alleviation of bodily distress, the care of
prisoners, or persons who, neglected in their own
poverty-stricken homes or in Hospitals, were wast-
ing away for lack of proj)er attention, but to re-
vive and deepen spiritual life. In the Christian
women of the Church he saw an unused force which
he heard the command of God to employ. He there-
fore made the institution at Kaiserswerth, first of all,
a i^lace where those who were willing to serve God as
deaconesses, should be prepared for their high call-
ing by instruction in the principles of their religion,
and by the discharge of duties which would strength-
en their faith in God. With Fliedner, the religious

TBE FORCES EMPLOYED 231

motive was the prevailing motive, as it has been with
his deaconesses. These deaconesses are sent out into
world to preach a Gospel of regeneration. Promise
of reform is never made except to those who are will-
ing to seek a new life through faith in the Lord Jesus,
and by a hearty acceptance of His principles.

As Kaiserswerth has borne so prominent a part
in the newly=awakened spiritual life of the German
people, it will be of interest to trace its growth from
the arrival of that discouraged prisoner who, in 1833,
found narrow yet sheltering quarters in the little gar-
den house of a poor pastor, up to its present pro-
portions. Dr. Julius Disselhoff, its Director and his-
torian, is the authority whose statements are here
followed. These are found in a little book jiublished
by him in 1893,

The steiD which really committed the Fliedners to
the work of their lives was the purchase (A^Dril 20,
1836) of a house for an HosiDital. Behind them finan-
cially was the Rhenish Society, already mentioned,
in whose name the property was obtained, and by
which it was held. In order to bring the work into
close connection with the Church, it was decided at
the outset that the Synod of the Evangelical
Churches in the provinces of the Rhine and West-
phalia should manage it, and be responsible before
the world for the property which might accumulate
at Kaiserswerth. The Synod names the Committee,
of which the president of the Synod is ex officio a
member, and whose chairman represents Kaisers-
werth in courts of law, and in the Government or
matters which concern the Church. The charter de-
sired was obtained in 1846. The Committee appoints

282 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMNAY

the Inspector, who is always a minister, and the
deaconess, who is looked upon as the female head of
the establishment. Each special department, as it
has grown up around the original House of Refuge
and Hosjntal, has its own chief, although all are re-
sponsible to the Inspector and the deaconess associ-
ated with him in the control and direction of the
institution. Fliedner and his wife were the first to
fill these offices of house-parents.

The house-father and mother are set apart for their
office with solemn ceremonies by the Committee
responsible for the whole work. Although the Com-
mittee purchases the property, decides upon repairs
and necessary improvements, makes and fills new
offices, it cannot, save as its advice is sought, inter-
fere in the direct management of the work. In the
so-called daughter-houses the establishments which
in imitation of Kaiserswerth have here and there
sprung up, no other title is given the deaconess en-
trusted with the management of each institution than
that of sister-in^charge. In Kaiserswerth, every sis-
ter is made to feel that she has a home to which in
illness or age she can return, either for rest, or to
spend the remaining years of life. The spirit in
Kaiserswerth, and its related homes, is a family
spirit

There is a religious service in every Home, and a
daily order of life which is the same in the mother
and daughter establishments. The atmosphere in
them all is an atmosphere of love shown in devoted
service. Candidates for reception into any of these
homes must be unmarried, although widows under a
certain age, and without children, are not excluded.

TEE FORCES EMPLOYED 2SS

These candidates must be in good health, and possess
the moral, intellectual and spiritual gifts which the
calling they propose to follow demands. Only those
between 18 and 36 years of age are received. Parents or
guardians give their consent in writing, while pastors
and other influential persons add their commendation.
The candidate must come voluntarily, and consent to
pass through a period of probation long enough to
test her fitness for her proposed life-work. First of
all, there is a six weeks' trial, in order that the young
woman and her advisers may have opportunity to de-
cide, from something like actual experience, if it be
worth while for the candidate to enter upon the real
probationary period. When the decision is favorable,
the candidate is assigned to a deaconess suited by
disposition and experience to receive her, and is
brought by her into close and intimate relations with
fifteen or twenty of the inmates of the house. This
is in order that separation from former friends may
not at first be too keenly felt. If for any reason the
result of the six weeks' trial is unfavorable, the candi-
date quietly returns home and nothing more is said.
At the beginning of the first year's probation the
candidate is put under the care of a sister, who ia
known as the teacher of probationers, from whom she
learns the duties she is to discharge, and by whom
she is introduced to those who are to be her most
intimate associates. Any failures in her education
are carefully looked after. The first year the sisters'
dress is not worn. It is sufficient if during this year
the candidate habituates herself to the life of the in-
stitution, makes it wholly her own, and is actually at
home in it. The close of the year is usually marked

23i CHlitSTIAy^ LIFS 7xV GERMANY

Ijy some little festival of congratulation, v/bicli server,
as a stepping=stone to the service of the second year.
The novitiate does not always end with a second
year; the probationary period may be extended at
the pleasure of the authorities of the Home. With
the beginning of the second year, the dress of a sis-
ter is assumed, and the person wearing it may accom-
pany the deaconesses in their work outside the Home,
or remain in it, as she may elect. At the end of the
novitiate, the candidate is solemnly set apart as a
deaconess, and promises to obey the rules of the
House, and to be true to God in the service ux)on
which she enters. She takes no vow which binds
her permanently to the life of a deaconess, although
it is understood that only obligations to parents, or
the feeling that she ought to marry, will release her
from it. She retains the control of her private prop-
erty, and is free to dispose of it by will as she pleases.
Of 3,091 persons received on trial during the years
1836-1893, 1,389 became deaconesses. From 1836 to
1895, only 185 deaconesses died, a fact suggestive of
the care which is taken of their health, and of the
efforts made to render their life pleasant and at-
tractive.

There are two classes of deaconesses: (1) those
who care for the sick, who are usually in Hospitals,
and (2) those who teach. To the former class belong
those who work in Magdalen Asylums, and in such
institutions as the New Charity in Berlin. Ordinarily
the sister goes wherever she is directed although no
sister leaves Germany, save with her consent. In
the care of male patients in Hospitals, she is fur-
nished a male assistant for such offices as she cannot

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 235

properly discharge. Her dress is the simple dress of
her order. This the Home furnishes, as it furnishes
also a little pocket money for necessary expense. For
her labor, those who are able, pay a small sum to the
Home, but she herself receives nothing. From the
poor nothing is asked. Pupils in the schools are
charged a small sum for tuition, and those who are
trained as teachers or servants, pay enough to meet
the expense of their board. The accounts of the dif-
ferent Homes are kept separately'', but all are care-
fully examined and audited.

At the beginning, the important princii)le was rec-
ognized that if the work were of the Lord, it would
grow, and that department after department would
necessarily be added, as calls for them might come.
Up to 1840, two additions had been made to the
building first purchased as an Hospital. Subsequently
these additions, as well as the building itself, gave
XDlace to a building far larger and in every way more
convenient. These improvements were completed in
1843, and still another house was added during the
year. In 1854, was founded the Feierabendhaus, or
Home of those deaconesses who had done their work
in life, and were waiting the Master's call to enter
into rest.

By the year 1886, when Kaiserswerth celebrated its
fiftieth anniversary, there were, in addition to the
original house, which had been built over for the
accommodation of the deaconesses, and in which they
had their sleeping^rooms, dining=halls, chapel, and
rooms for administration, together with wards for the
sick, several large groups of other buildings, each
one of which had been erected in response to a de-

236 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

mand which could not be set aside. On the Frond-
berg, an elevation at no inconvenient distance from
the house first occupied by Fliedner, are the build-
ings containing 210 beds, now used for an Hospital.
In the Hospital, children and adults have separate
wards, while there are wards also for cases which
ought to be isolated. Here is the new Church, which
was consecrated November, 1888. Adult patients
are received for 75 j)ennies a day (less than 20 cents),
children for 50 pennies a day (less than 12 cents).
The buildings were not completed till 1889.

Since the work at Kaiserswerth began while Flied-
ner was still visiting the prisons at Dusseldorf, where
his attention had frequently been directed to the
needs of released female convicts and the demand for
an Asylum for penitent women, it is not surprising
that his work for the rescue of women was, and con-
tinued to be prominent. The house obtained for this
Asylum, after the garden house had become too
small, has been enlarged again and again, till now it
furnishes shelter for from twenty to thirty girls daily.
The theory entertained from its opening has been
that only those can be helped who come to the Asy-
lum of their own accord. Those who do come, and
are willing to stay, are taught useful work. When
necessary, as it generally is, they receive instruction
in the rudiments of learning. They are encouraged
in every way possible, and after a suitable time spent
with the sisters, are aided in finding a permanent
home with sympathetic people. Not less than one==
third of those received have been restored to an up-
right life, another third has been greatly aided, while

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 237

the remaining third has unhappily gone back to a
life of sin.

A very important part of Fliedner's work was the
opening of a Seminary, or Normal School, for the
training of young women as teachers in the Public
and the Girl's Schools of Germany. In this signifi-
cant departure from the prevailing custom of employ-
ing male teachers chiefly, Fliedner led the way. As
early as 1833, he had opened a knitting school for
little children, and to it in the next year, children
of all religious beliefs were made welcome. Then
came a school of all grades for girls, and finally a
Seminary, in which teachers for these schools could
be trained. Very soon this Normal School acquired a
reputation as one of the best in the region, and its
graduates were in great demand. Nor has this de-
mand for the Fliedner pupils ever ceased, for the pu-
pils have been taught those things which promise to
be of most use in life. They have been educated, as
Germans often say, for their calling in life. In re-
ceiving pupils into the Higher School for Girls,
daughters of teachers, ministers, and of the educated
of the middle class are favored. A certain number
of orphans are received free; others are admitted at
half price. The monthly pay, including board, is for
the elementary schools 36 marks ($9), and for those
of a higher grade, 45 marks ($11.25).

Out of the experiences which came to Fliedner in
these schools grew the conviction that an Orphan
House must be added to the establishment. In this
provision was made for the needy daughters of par-
ents who had once been in good circumstances,

238 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

daughters of teachers, ministers, and men employed
in the service of the State. Fully a quarter of the
forty children received, are educated gratuitously.
The new Home now stands on the Himmelreich, not
far from the buildings on the Frondberg.

Early in his work, the sympathy of Fliedner went
out to inscme women, who up to this time had been
greatly neglected. His desire was to secure a Home
for them where they might be properly cared for, and
be under the Christian influence of the deaconesses.
In this effort Frederick William IV. of Prussia took
a deep interest and with his private funds aided it
generously in realizing its object. The Asylum, for
such it really was, was opened in 1852. At first it
could accomodate only from 35 to 40, but thirty years
later an enlarged building was put up on the Johan-
nesberg, where it is surrounded with beautiful
grounds. In the same parkdike region is a building
for convalescents, and another for those whose ail-
ments seem to defy treatment. On what is known as
the Paul Gerhardt Foundation, there has been erect-
ed a building in which aged and feeble women who
have been left alone in life find a home. This de-
partment of Fliedner's work has not been placed on
a wholly charitable basis. While intended chiefly for
those somewhat advanced in years, a few young wom-
en are received. Those who wish two rooms pay
1,500 marks annually, those who are content with one,
1,000 marks, while to those who are willing to share
their room with another, 600 marks are charged. Some
sleep in a dormitory and pay only 300 marks a year.
For these sums everything, save washing and cloth-
ing, is provided.

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 239

To meet a growing demand for tlio education of
young women who are looking toward the life of a
deaconess, but are too young to enter upon the noviti-
ate, a preparatory school was opened in 1865. The
number admitted at any one time is limited to twenty.
Here those who have been compelled to live in places
at once unpleasant and unfavorable to spiritual devel-
opment are received. The school has more than met
the anticipations of its founders, and as far as possi-
ble its atmosphere has been that of a loving father's
house.

In addition to the buildings thus briefly mentioned,
there are administration buildings, and houses in
which some of the officials of this great establishment
reside. All cluster around the original Hospital
opened by Fliedner in 1836. In their gradual in-
crease and improvement we can see what God can ac-
complish in a single generation through one man's
energy and consecration. Fliedner never looked up-
on his work as anything more than an objectdesson
for piety and benevolence to observe and study.
Through his provision for the sick, the helpless, the
homeless, for orphans, for the infirm, the aged, the
insane, and the incurable; in his schools, for the educa-
tion of little children, young ladies, and teachers, and
for the life of a deaconess, he simply indicated what
might be done in other places, and by other pastors, to
save material which would otherwise be lost, or be in-
efficient in the service which many Christians desire to
render. In this work he felt that he could do nothing
except with the aid of deaconesses. Hence his contin-
ual devotion to that feature of his work, and the care
he took to keep it in the foreground.

240 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Kaisers werth was fortunate both in its founder and
in the woman who, as Fliedner's wife, became its first
spiritual mother. This good lady died suddenly in
1842, but her place was taken a year later by Caroline
Bertheau, who had had large experience in the hos-
pitals of Hamburg. She was a woman of great abili-
ty, thorough consecration, and was loved and honored
by all who were brought under her influence. She
survived her husband, who died October 8, 1864, till
1892, and thus was able to continue his influence down
to a very recent period.

A glance at the work in periods will indicate its
increasing hold on the public. At the end of the
first ten years, deaconesses were employed in fifteen
Hospitals and five other places. Out of 108 in all,
thirty were still in their novitiate. Ten years later,
there were 244 sisters, and 75 on trial, serving the
needy in 59 difiFerent localities. At the death of
Fliedner, 415 were ministering to the wants of their
fellow creatures in 110 different places. At the time
of the Jubilee, 1886, 715, with 176 still on trial, were
laboring in 200 Hospitals, Asylums, private homes,
and schools. In 1893, 867 sisters, 206 with their
novitiate incomplete, were at work in 233 varied
charges.

From the opening of Fliedner's house to the first
deaconess, till nov/, nearly seveniy mother-Jwiises
have come into existence, sex3arated from each other
as widely as Syria and America. Connected with
them, as has been said, is an army of hardly less than
9,000, whose energy is exerted in a truly Christian
spirit, and with almost matchless wisdom, in the care
of the sick, the recovery of the lost, and the educa-

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 2il

tion of the ignorant. The special providence of God
has been shown, not less in the character and wisdom
of the persons who have had charge of the different
departments of this varied work, than in the devotion
and gifts of those who have taken upon themselves
the vows and responsibilities of the order. Equally
remarkably has this providence been exemplified in
the friends raised up for the work at Kaiserswerth,
and in other sections of Grermany, as well as in for-
eign lands. Nearly everywhere in Germany have
Societies been formed for the support of these Dea-
coness Homes, and for their enlargement as their work
has demanded. This fact is not only indicative of
the interest which the Christian public has mani-
fested in the deaconesses as such, but is prophetic of
the increasingly large place which women are to fill
in the development of the power of the German
Church in the future.

At an early period in the history of the work, it
became evident that for the deaconesses, as well as
for the inmates of the different homes which were
clustering around Fliedner's at Kaiserswerth, a
health resort in the mountains was necessary. For
many, a complete change of air, scenery and mode of
life, seemed to be indispensable. In answer to
prayer, accompanied always with the use of means, a
suitable place was found at Salem, near Batengen.
Here are rooms for twenty sisters. On the same
X)iece of ground, but so far removed from the rest-
ing-place of the deaconesses as not to disturb them,
buildings have been put up in which orphans, con-
valescents, and servants from Kaiserswerth, en-
joy their annual outing.

242 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Wallbaum House, near Hattingen on the Ruhr, is
also used as a health resort. Under the terms of the
will by which, in 1874, this property came into the
possession of the Kaiserswerth establishment, there
was to be built upon it an asylum for convalescent
children. These are bo cared for as in no way to in-
terfere with the comfort of the deaconesses. Provis-
ion is here made for about a hundred children, and
thirty deaconesses.

Mere hints must suffice as to what these Kaisers-
werth sisters have wrought in the " daughter estab-
lishments " found here and there throughout the
country. In 1849, in response to earnest and re-
peated solicitations, Fliedner opened a home for
orphan girls at Altdorf, near Pless, in Upper Schlesia.
In consequence of the fatalities connected with the
prevalence of the typhus fever in 1847-8, and the
lack of food, Count and Countess von Stolberg
brought together on their estate about 120 children
in the upper story of a building which had been de-
signed for a stable. Subsequently, the Prince of
Pless had the first story of the building also arranged
for their comfort. The whole house, with a good
sized barn, and the proper out= buildings, in August
1849 was turned over to the Committee which had
Kaiserswerth in charge. At first, thirty four half-
starved children were received as permanent inmates
of the new asylum. So dulled by disease and want
of proper food were they that for months it vras al-
most impossible to awaken in their minds interest in
anything. After the cholera season of 1852, the
number rapidly increased to eighty. Soon after the
war of 1866, the number increased to one hundred.

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 2i3

The average in the Asylum is now about eighty, the
children being nearly all from very poor families.
Four deaconesses look after the children's health,
and two give them instruction. From the more than
500 girls who have hero been taught, fed and clothed,
some have become excellent servants, others have
married, while a considerable number have become
deaconesses.

A school for the education and training of girls
from the middle and higher classes, was founded at
Hilden, near Dtisseldorf, May 15, 1861, and has more
than justified the anticipations of its patrons.
When Fliedner opened this school, in a rented house
with a small garden attached, he was not sure that
there was a demand for the sort of school he had in
mind. But the school grew rapidly, and in October,
18G5, the commodious and convenient buildings now
occupied were dedicated amid the liveliest manifes-
tations of pleasure on the part of the people of the
city and the friends of Kaiserswerth. More than
sixty girls board in the institution, at a cost of 750
marks each a year. Half as many day scholars also
enjoy its advantages. To meet the spiritual wants of
the pupils, a chaplain devotes his time to them, and
on Sunday conducts divine service in a room set
apart for the purpose. To supplement the instruc-
tion given by eight deaconesses, two male and two
female teachers are employed. The number of
young women educated here, who come from all over
the continent, as well as from Great Britain, is
already more than 1,500. A close union between the
graduates of the school and its teachers has been
kept up from the first,

2U CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

A very different work from this was begun at
Marthashof, in North Berlin, in 1851 — namely a
home for servant girls of Evangelical faith. The
purpose was to provide a home at a small cost, about
five cents a day, and a training school for such as
needed special instruction before going out to serv-
ice. The charge for training was fixed at ten cents
a day. For the sake of those who wished to fit them-
selves to take care of little children, a school was
opened for the needy little ones of the neighborhood.
This school has continued till now, with an attend-
ance of about 200. In the free, or public school,
opened soon after, and still maintained, there are
about 600 pupils. Provision was made for twelve
girls and three deaconesses. At first there w^as a
great deal of opposition to the undertaking: it was
even ridiculed in the best circles, some saying that
servant girls would never avail themselves of its priv-
ileges, that even if they were inclined to do so, it was
so far from the city that they would not go out to it.
But they did, and in two years the number of rooms
in use had been doubled. In 1868, the entire court,
occupied by the training house, the home, and the
schools, together with the houses and gardens belong-
ing to it, was purchased. In the latter year there
were on an average 98 girls in the home. At present,
the number is not less than 140, for whose care and
instruction the services of thirteen deaconesses are
required. It will thus be seen that the home has
become popular, both with servants and their em-
jjloyers. Since its opening not less than 20,000, or
about 1,000 a year, have here found a temporary abid-
ing place. From as many as 3,000 families in a sin-

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 245

gle year have requests come for servants. The girls
have been permitted to do a large part of the work of
the establishment, and in this way have lessened the
cost of their stay in it. To it, when ill or out of
work, they are always welcomed back. Simply on
the side of protection, the Mission has been of ines-
timable value.

A similar work, though on a smaller scale, is car-
ried on in the Mariannenstift, at Erefeld. Two sis-
ters began work here in 1884, in buildings provided
by a benevolent lady. These in time proved far too
small, and in 1888, the home was enlarged and re^
dedicated. Forty-five girls are now cared for in the
training school. For ten of the inmates, while seek-
ing a place for service there are temporary lodgings
provided. A pressing want has also been met in a
boarding house for young women. This has proved
both a protection to those enjoying its shelter as
well as a source of profit to those managing it.
During the year 1892, 106 girls were received under
its roof. In the day school for little children, there
are about 80 puj)ils, while the Sunday school is
attended by 170 pupils of both sexes. Five deacon-
esses find here all that they can do.

An asylum for erring ivomev, at Brandenberg,
which has been in existence since October 1856, was,
in August, 1865, turned over to Kaiserswerth, and
three deaconesses were detailed for its management.
A fourth deaconess was soon added. From twenty
to thirty women immediately came to the shelter of
this friendly home each day, and many were per-
suaded and helped to return to an honorable life.
The average number in the now enlarfjed and im-

246 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

l^roved home is more than thirty. Funds for the
support of the institution have been provided by a
Society, whose members either themselves contribute
the sum necessary, or obtain it from their friends.

No statement of Fliedner's service to mankind
would be complete which should overlook his influ-
ence outside of Germany. As early as 1847, Bishop
Gobat was anxious for a Kaiserswerth Hospital in
Jerusalem, but not till 1850-51 were funds provided
for its sux)port. During the latter winter, Fliedner
visited the Holy City, taking with him four deacon-
esses, to whom the oversight of the Hospital was
assigned. The house which Frederick William IV.
had set ax)art for the purpose was too small, and in
other ways unfit for it. A dwelling house was finally
obtained on Mount Zion, and was dedicated May 4,
1851. The Hospital was open to persons of all na-
tionalities and beliefs. The confidence of the people,
soon won, has never been lost. In 1855, a school
for little girls was opened on the flat roof of the
building in which the sisters had their home. Throe
years later, over thirty girls Avere in attendance as
regular pupils. Meanwhile better and larger build-
ings had been secured for the Hospital. In Febru-
ary, 1868, " Talitha Cumi," a home for girls on the
JafPa road, outside the walls of the city, was dedica-
ted and occupied, and the buildings within the city
used for the sick. This year there were eighty=nine
girls in the school, while the Hospital was full to
overflowing. In 1867, a special physician was ob-
tained for the Hospital, and from four to five deacon-
esses were constantly employed in it. Eight deacon-
esses now look after the 113 Arab girls in the school.

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 247

Many native girls have been trained for general
benevolent work in the country, and to be useful
heads of their own homes. Never were Hospital and
school more useful than they are to-day, but the
funds needed for their support are still inadequate.

As far back as 1853, two deaconesses opened a
school in a rented house in Smyrna, where neither
language nor custom, nor even climate, was under-
stood. By the end of the year, the number of girls
receiving instruction had increased from 14 to 50.
A year later, through the favor of a person of very
high standing, these sisters were occupying their
own home. Here they were able to receive a few
scholars as boarders, in addition to their day pupils,
and to extend the curriculum of study and thus bo-
gin a training-school for young women. New build-
ings in consequence became necessary. In 1859, 150
girls were under instruction. The building in which
the sisters taught, had been built especially for them
and was admirably adapted to their needs. Then a
fire came, and everything had to be begun anew.
With great labor, and at a large expense the new
buildings were ready for occupation by the end of
1861, and the work again went prosperously forward.
Reviewing what had been done in 1882, it was found
that fully 2000 girls had been educated in these schools.

The sufferings caused by the cholera, in 1865,
made the need of an orphan house apparent. The
next year a place was ready for twenty = four orphans.
In 1872, a second house was obtained, and used for a
school till 1876, when, yielding to pressing necessi-
ties, rooms were this year opened for the blind and
those troubled with diseases of the eye.

2i3 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

In 1890, after the Armenians and the Greeks of
Smyrna had provided for the instruction of their chil-
dren in their own language, and the deaconesses could
look upon their mission as teachers as successfully
accomplished, it was decided to make the school they
had hitherto kept, a school for German girls alone,
and in addition to instruction in other branches,
to give them careful instruction in English, French,
and Greek. For German families residing in the
Levant, this school has become a great blessing.
The health resort for Smyrna is at Karatasch, on the
sea.

A Deaconess' Hospital was opened in Alexandria,
Egypt, in 1858. It was opened at the earnest re-
quest of the Europeans living in the city. Here, as
at many other i^laces, Fliedner found that more
money was needed than he had anticipated. Thanks
to the generosity of those who saw the need of the
Hospital, funds were at length obtained, so that ten
years later a comfortable building had been secured,
and furnished with all the needful appliances of a
first= class Hospital. On an average, from sixty to
seventy patients in the v/ards require the services of
eleven deaconesses. As many as 50,000 persons a
year have here been treated for affections of the eye.
In 1880, a school for little children was opened and
taught by a deaconess till relieved by a woman who
had herself been educated in one of the seminaries
which the missionaries had supported.

So, in consequence, in part, of the excitement in
Europe, occasioned by the massacre in Syria of 1860,
an orphan house was this year opened in Beirut, and
early in October of that year two deaconesses were

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 249

on tlie ground. By the end of the month, four
others had reported for duty, and at the end of the
year ten were employed in a house whic;h meanwhile
had been rented and was unexpectedly filled with
widows and orphans. A second house was secured
in order that the children might be separated from
the women and be unhindered in their studies. The
house had two large gardens, and was near the sea.
By Christmas, 1860, 130 orphans were present in the
Home to receive presents, and to learn the meaning of
the festival they were taught to keep. As it was
neither possible nor desirable to send these Arab
girls back to the villages from which they had fled,
and as the mothers of many of them could never be
found, it was decided that an attempt should be
made to secure a Home for them on the slopes of
Lebanon. In March, 1862, their Home was ready for
occupation; it was named Zoar, in commemoration of
the deliverance which had come to its inmates.
Here, for more than thirty years, eight sisters have
given instruction in the German and Arabic lan-
guages to about 130 girls. The Zoar Union, whose
members live in the East, has been of great service
in raising funds for the support of the work at Zoar,
as well as in the city of Beirut, where, in 1862, a
boarding school of a high order was oxDened for girls
whose parents were well to do. Here nine deacon-
esses and several female teachers are constantly em-
ployed. The profit from this branch of the work
meets some of the deficiencies in other departments
of it. Up to 1879, there was room for only 80 girls,
but with the needed increase in buildings secured,
120 are now receiving instruction. Divine service is

250 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

held in the prayer hall of the school for the Germans
who reside in the city. The health resort for this re-
gion, and for visitors from Jerusalem and Egypt, is in
the pleasant little village of Araya, high up on Lebanon
and commanding a charming view of the city and
bay. Here reside a deaconess and an orphan trained
in the Asylum, to care for the guests during the
heated season, and, during the winter, to teach the
children of the village.

Out of respect for the English residents who con-
tributed generously toward its equipment, the
Hospital in Cairo is named after Queen Victoria.
Opened as late as 1882, with only two deaconesses in
charge, it has since proved as useful as has been the
Hospital in Alexandria. It has rooms for isolating
those afflicted with contagious diseases. In a single
year 25,000 cases of eye^affection have been treated.
The Hospital has forty=four beds and is open to all
without regard to faith or nationality. Such benevo-
lence has not been without its efifect even on the
Mohammedans, The income here has been slightly
in excess of expenditure.

Since 1860, the deaconesses have had a school for
the training and education of young girls in Florence.
For some years its growth, though steady, was un-
obtrusive. At present about 120 girls are receiving
instruction, most of them from the better classes,
chiefly Italians. There are twenty boarders, for
whom there is adequate room. The esteem in which
the school is held is shown by the privilege granted it
of visiting the Pitti Gardens when they are closed to
the public.

In all the establishments thus far mentioned, with

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 251

the single exceiDtion of the New Charity Hospital, in
Berlin, work is done in connection with Kaisers-
werth. As daughfer-hoiises, they are subject to the
regulations which control the inmates of the Mother
House, and their inmates are expected to exhibit
the same spirit of love for the needy, and of consecra-
tion to the service of the Heavenly Father as in the
case of those in the Home on the Rhine,

A great deal of work is done in various Hospitals
not under the control of deaconesses, a work which is
done at the request of the proper authorities, and in
accordance with their wishes. Five deaconesses
serve constantly in the Hospital of the Knights of
St. John, Beirut. Others serve in Rome, Constanti-
nople, Bucharest, London, and New York. Some
are at work in the City Hospitals at Elberfeld, Frank-
furt=on4he=Main, Kircheim, and Teck, in Wurttem-
berg, and in Berlin, whore in the New Charity, nine
deaconesses look after the 120 to 130 erring women
who are brought into it every day. Since 1844, they
have also aided pastors in carrying on the work of
their parishes, and have been of very great assistance
in City Missions.

Summarily stated, Kaiserswerth deaconesses are
engaged in seven mother-houses in jBfty=four Hospi-
tals, in twenty-one houses for providing work for, or
taking care of, the sick and poor, in four health
resorts, in seventy parishes, in many Unions, or So-
cieties, formed for the benefit of servant and working
girls, in thirty=two schools for the education and
careful training of orphans, in forty-one schools for
little children, in eight schools for servant girls, in
connection with which is an agency for securing

252 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

places for them, and in two industrial schools. As
private nurses they are everywhere in demand. To
appeals for service in the homes of the rich, response
is made only when other appeals have been met.

Many women who have been unable or unwilling
to take the full preparatory course required, or to
assume the vow demanded, but are yet in full sym-
pathy with the deaconesses and the management of
their homes, are, to a certain extent and under recog-
nized conditions, permitted as associate sisters to
share in the work of the deaconesses. Those who
spend some time in the novitiate, but who for various
reasons deem it unwise to complete it, exercise a
salutary influence as Christian women in the homes
in which they reside. To a far greater extent than
would at first be realized is the influence of the dea-
coness' movement felt. As a Christian movement,
wholly in the interest of the people, and of the most
needy among them, it has left its impress on fields
not directly cultivated by it, and has determined very
largely, both the direction and the spirit of Christian
efifort among and in behalf of the German people.

Akin to the service they render, and to the spirit
which animates them, to the great establishments and
order of deaconesses, yet fewer in number and less
influential, are the Homes in which the deacons, or as
they are more generally called in Germany the
" brothers," are trained for work in the Inner Mission.

Special emphasis is put on the kind of service ren-
dered, as well as upon its form. For the former the
word " deacon," as used in the New Testament, is the
more appropriate; for the latter the word "brother."
Although in the New Testament Church the deacon

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 253

did not fail to preach, the chief duly of his office was
care for the poor. In the Primitive Church ho was a
simple helper of the presbyter and bishop, but in the
course of a few centuries, as the number of the
deacons increased, he became a member of the clergy.
As the Church did not cease to be benevolent when
the diaconate ceased to be the channel through which
its gifts for the needy flowed, there sprang up natur-
ally in the Middle Ages, brotherhoods and sister-
hoods, as of the Common Life, to take the place
which the employment of deacons as preachers had
left vacant.

When Wichern, of the Rough House, and Fliedner,
of Kaiserswerth, under the pressure of the need which
their great work revealed, revived the ancient order of
deacons, or brothers, it was with the purjjose of making
it representative both of the service rendered the poor
in primitive times, and of the benevolent associations
of the Middle Ages. They did not intend, save to a
very limited degree, to employ these men as preach-
ers, or to make them officers of the Church. They
were to be heljpers of the Churches, administrators of
gifts entrusted to them by the benevolent, friends
and assistants of the poor and helpless. Their special
mission was to members of the National Church.
They were to save those who had been baptised and
confirmed, but either had drifted away from the
Church, or were in danger of doing so. This work
was to be preventive as well as benevolent.

The kind of service in which they engage is varied.
They give instruction to children who otherwise
would be without it, and through the instrumentality
of Houses of Refuge they rescue those who have fallen

251 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

into sin. They labor also in Or^jlian Houses, in houses
where those who are suffering from contagious
diseases are gathered; and have special duties in
Hospitals and in establishments which care for the
feeble minded, and the insane. They are moreover
sent to Houses of Correction, and to the great Prisons
of the Empire. They are attached to what are known
as the Arbeitercolonien, or places where the man
who is out of work can go for a time, earn his support,
and from them as a j)oint of departure, go out to
secure the employment he desires. They are com-
missioned also to scattered communities of Germans
in foreign lands. One of their special duties is the
management of the inns found in almost every large
town, where the poor for a small sum find lodging,
food, and shelter for a night, and where they are sure
of receiving sympathy if in distress, and assistance if
they are fighting against intemperance, or any other
sin of the flesh. Every year witnesses an enlarge-
ment of the kind of service which these brothers,
with their wives, are rendering their fellowsmen.
They are now doing a great deal of City Mission work.
The following list of Brother Houses, taken from
Schilfer (pp. 225-6), will be of interest:

1. The Rough House at Horn, near Hamburg,
established by Wichern in 1833, now under the care
of his son. This is the largest House of the kind in
Germany, and has served as a model for other Houses
to follow.

2. The House at Duisburg, organized by Fliedner,
in 1845, where the inmates give special attention to
the care of the sick.

3. The House at Ziillchow, near Stettin, founded in

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 255

1850 by G. Jahn, and controlled by him till his
death in 1888, when it came under the management
of his son. This is the only House in Germany
which is not under the control of a pastor. It is
supported chiefly by gardening and other industrial
occupations.

4. The House at Reinstedt, in the Hartz, founded
in 1850 by Philip von Nathusius, now under the care
of pastor Kobelt. This House is united with very
large Idiot and Epileptic Asylums, in which its in-
mates work.

5. The so=called Johannesstift in Berlin, founded
by Wichern in 1858, as a copy of the Rough House
at Hamburg, and now managed by Pastor Phillips.

6. The Stefansstift near Hannover, founded in
1869, and still led by Pas+or Fricke.

7. Obergorbitz, near Dresden, founded in 1873,
and led by Pastor Hohne.

8. Carlshohe, near Ludwigsburg, founded in
1876, and under the care of Pastor Halm.

9. The Brother Establishment at Bielefeld, a part
of the great institutions there called into life by the
indefatigable Pastor von Bodelschwingh. This
House, founded in 1877, is under the special charge
of Pastor Stilrmer.

10. In East Prussia there is the House at Carls-
hof, near Rastanburg, founded in 1883 by Pastor
Dr. Dembowsky, and still under his care.

11. The House at Kraschnitz, near Militsch, in
Schlesia, is the latest addition to the benevolent es-
tablishments for deaf and dumb, and for deaconesses
founded by Count von der Recke. This House is led
by Pastor Tachel.

256 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

12. The House at Nurenberg, founded in 1890 by
Pastor Rcindel, and still in his hands.

13. The House at Basel, managed by Pastor
Stahel.

14. The House at Haarlem, led by Pastor Zegers,
and known as the deacons' establishment (Meer en
Bosch).

The related establishments are as follows:

1. One at Beuggen, near Basel, founded in 1822 by
Zeller and Si^ittler, now under the care of Spittler's
nephew. In this House teachers are trained.

2. There is a similar House at Lichtenstern, in
Wtirttemberg, founded in 1836 by Zeller, and now
controlled by Pastor Schlitter.

3. A third House, situated in Wiirttemberg, was
opened in 1845 by Pastor Sayler, and is still con-
ducted by him.

4. At Krischona, near Basel, there is a Home
founded by Spittler in 1840, now under the care of
Rappard, in w^hich x^ersons are trained for service in
connection with the Inner Mission, or for work
abroad.

5. At Neuendettelsau, in Bavaria, there is a Sem-
inary in which preachers are educated for North
America and Australia. The seminary was founded
as some say by Lohe, in 1842, but was brought into
active operation by F. Bauer in 1846. Recently it
has assumed the support of a mission to the heathen.

6. The Bugenhagensstiff, at Ducherow, founded
in 1866 by Rosenstedt, is a prei3aratory school for
those who propose to enter the foreign missionary
field.

7. There is also a Seminary for the training of

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 257

preachers for Nortli America at Kropp, in Schleswig,
under the care of Pastor Paulsen,

8. Pastors Jensen and Buhrmann haA^e a Seminary
with a similar object at Brechlum, near Bredstedt,
in the same province.

Two establishments originally founded as Brother^
Houses are now Houses of Refuge, viz., one at Dussel-
thal near Dusseldorf, founded in 1820 by Count von
der Recke, but now managed by Pastor Karsch; the
other at Puckenhof, near Erlangen, founded in 1853,
and controlled by teacher Michel.

Since 1876 these various Brother^ Houses and Sem-
inaries have united themselves into a Conference
which meets at stated times for the discussion of the
subjects which come before them in their various
fields of Christian activity.

As has been hinted in the above enumeration,
each establishment has its special leader, or head
(Vorsteher), who, with rare exceptions, is a pastor.
Associated with him, and really exercising control
over the entire establishment, is a Committee care-
fully selected from those who have contributed the
funds for the House, or otherwise made its w^ork
possible.

Those who seek to enter one of these Houses in
order to be trained as a deacon or a brother, must be
between twenty and thirty years of age, sound in
body and mind, blameless in life, free from military
duty, and possessed of the gifts which are indispen-
sable to success in their chosen occupation. They
must 1)6 unmarried, and may not even be engaged.
Proof of sincere Christian character must also be pre-
sented. The course of instruction, which begins in ear-

258 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

nest after a period of probation which itself often lasts
several months, usually occupies three years. It is
of a threefold nature: religious, for the deepening,
strengthening, and broadening of the spiritual life
already begun; general, consisting of instruction in
reading, writing, and arithmetic, book-keeping, com-
IDOsition; and professional. The latter relates to
the nature, purpose, and extent of the entire work
carried on under the comprehensive name of Inner
Mission.

While these Houses are not permanent Homes for
those trained in them, as are the Homes in which
deaconesses are instructed, any brother can return to
them when in difficulty, for advice and such assistance
as he may need against those who would take advan-
tage of him, or for aid in obtaining new employment.
Ordinarily, the contract which he makes with his em-
ployers wdien he enters upon his w^ork, is drawn up
by the head of his House. No brother assumes a
vow, or is obliged to continue a brother any longer
than he pleases. Everything is voluntary. Some
who wish to engage in the work done by the brother-
hoods, but who for various reasons have not taken
the prescribed course of training are, if competent,
received as voluntary associates. Of these the num-
ber is quite large.

Of great importance in the training of a brother is
the spirit of the House in which he lives, its method
of living, its traditions, its history, its rules, its re-
ligious services, and the festivals it observes. Often
the House has its own religious service on Sundays,
though not infrequently its inmates worship in the
Church nearest them. Of special importance is the

THE FORCES EMPLOYED 259

spirit of the man who leads the House, and is respon-
sible for the atmosphere which pervades it. In near-
ly all cases there is training in agriculture, in gar-
dening and the care of flowers, in the management of
cattle, and in various kinds of handicraft. Indeed,
no one is received into the establishment at all who
cannot supjoort himself by his personal labor.
Everything is practical, the aim being to fit each in-
mate for the greatest possible usefulness as a follower
of Christ. While all receive instruction in vocal
music, a few are carefully trained in instrumental
music. This is regarded as of great importance for
those who as keepers of inns, visitors of the sick and
the fallen, and workers in City Missions, will fre-
quently be called upon to lead in the service of song.
The inn keeper, for example, is ex^Dected to gather
his guests about him night and morning for devotion.
Those who enter these Houses, are for the most
part, peasants, carpenters, hand=v/orkers of some sort,
small tradesmen, shop=keepers, and teachers. They
are j)eople who have not had great advantages in
the way of education, or of social opportunities,
but whose simple manner of life, earnest piety,
and natural gifts fit them for the service they de-
sire to undertake. Through their efforts, a vast
amount of good has already been accomplished; and
with the rapid growth of Sunday schools, Young
Men's Christian Associations, City Mission and
Evangelistic work, their opportunity for usefulness
must greatly increase.

CHAPTER XV.

THE SOCIAL AND MORAL CONDITION OF GERMANY
SINCE THE ACCESSION OF WILLIAM I.

Observers who are pessimistic by nature see in the
changes introduced during the last thirty-five years
nothing which they can apijrove. In their eyes the
influence of the Empire has been morally and spirit-
ually disastrous. It is doubtful, they often affirm,
if the military strength acquired by the consolidation
of the German provinces has been of real economic
value to the people. In the old days the peasants
were better off and less discontented than they now
are. Artisans received better wages, at least relative-
ly to the cost of living. Manufacturers and the larg-
er land-owners were more prosperous. Their rela-
tions with employes were more intimate and friendly
than in these days of keen competition and social un-
rest. For a generation, at least, life in Germany, on
its moral and spiritual side, has, according to the
pessimists been losing its former vigor.

Optimists, on the other hand, although admitting
that changes have occurred which have brought with
them no little suffering, and which call for new eco-
nomic and even new political adjustments, are sure
that improvement in all directions has been steady,
with the promise of permanence. They do not for-
get the growth of Social Democracy during the

260

PRESENT CONDITIONS 2G1

period under review, nor do they close their eyes to
the anxiety its rapid increase among the laboring
classes of the cities, and even in the country, has
caused the most thoughtful and patriotic men in the
Nation. They say that this growth has apparently
reached its limit. From it there is now really noth-
ing to fear. Its criticisms have done good. They
have called attention to evils which will soon be
removed. Even the National Churches, which form-
erly were neglectful of their responsibility to the
poor, are rousing themselves to their duty in this
direction, and were never in better spiritual condi-
tion than now. Ministers are everywhere alive to the
serious moral and social problems of the day, and
are studying them with all the thoroughness which
characterizes the scholarship of the German special-
ist.

Gifts for missions, foreign and domestic, are in-
creasing every year. Certain large cities like Leipzig
excepted, attendance at Church has increased during
the last decade. This is due, in part, to a livelier
interest among the people themselves in the things
for which the Church stands, and in part to the inter-
est the Eoyal Family shows in the religious welfare of
the Empire. This interest in the Royal Circle makes
itself manifest in regular attendance on divine wor-
ship, in unwonted energy in the building of new and
the repairing of old Church edifices, in the care taken
to be on the right side of every moral question, and
in the use of all possible means to promote the wel-
fare of the poorest and weakest, as well as of the
richest and strongest, among the people. Compar-
ing present conditions with those which prevailed at

262 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

the beginning of the century under Rationalism, or
at the middle of the century when Idealism had
largely lost its power and Materialism had taken its
place, that is, when the work of the Inner Mission
was almost entirely in the future, optimists say there
has been a real and permanent advance, both in the
apprehension and in the application of Christian
principles.

Perhaps it would be nearer the truth to affirm that in
the changes which have occured during this transition
period there has been much of good and no little of
evil. In some localities, evil seems to have gotten the
mastery; in others it is easy to perceive that good is
in the ascendancy. Undoubtedly in industrial and
mining centers the cleavage between the classes which
labor and those who employ them was never so wide as
at present. Those who form the under=side of society,
the proletariat, feel more keenly than they did thirty*
five years since the misery of their condition. Social
Democratic leaders have drawn the contrasts between
poverty and wealth so sharply that only the blind
can fail to see them. As wealth and intelligence are
by these leaders made responsible for the existence
of poverty and the sorrows it brings with it, it is not
strange that bitterness of feeling should be created,
and that out of sheer desperation and hatred against
those more fortunate than themselves vice and crime
among the poor should increase. It has been part of
the Social Democratic plan to antagonize the Church,
not only as a religious institution, but as an institution
of the State, and consequently an agency of oppres-
sion.

It is through Social Democratic speeches and liter-

PRESENT CONDITIONS 263

ature that much of the present hostility among the
poor to the services of the Church and its ministers is
due. Desi)ite this fact, it is more than probable that
the hostility will finally be overcome, and that these
now alien hosts will be won back to the only institu-
tion in the country which seeks their temporal and
spiritual good. The saddest feature of the present
situation is the wide-spread unbelief among the
richer and welleducated classes. Sometimes this un-
belief is openly expressed; at other times it manifests
itself in indifference and neglect. Church patrons
seem to feel, and not infrequently, that they dis-
charge their whole duty to the Church if they visit it
once or tv/ice a year, in connection with their official
obligations, or to give 6clat to some Church festival.

Yet, taken as a whole, the pulpit has never been
more able or earnest than it now is. Never did the
Churches throughout the Empire seem to be grow-
ing more rapidly in apparent power or spiritual life.
Laborers in foreign fields, and in the equally difficult
fields at home, were never more numerous or efficient.
There is scarcely a social or moral want in the whole
land for which a " society" designed to effect its remo-
val, does not exist. While there is much discussion in
learned circles as to many objects hitherto held as
sacred, the rank and file of those who belong to the
National Churches of Prussia and the allied Provin-
ces are soundly evangelical. Education, industry in
all its branches, social relations, the administration
of justice, the methods of benevolent activity, were
never animated by a more truly Christian spirit than
at present.

To show the truth of these affirmations, and at the

264 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

same time make plain both the dark and the bright
side of the picture, we shall describe as briefly as
possible, the conditions of representative sections of
the German i^eople as they are found in various parts
of the Empire. In doing this we take as a guide the
volume on the moral, religious, and social develop-
ment of Germany during the last thirty=five years,
published in 1895 at Gtitersloh, and prepared by ex-
perts of the higliest standing. This work is edited
by Licentiate Weber, well known for the interest he
has taken in social questions, and for the part he has
had in organizing and directing the discussions of the
Social Congress.

To discover the real conditions of German life we
must study carefully its characteristic institutions.
Of these one of the most fundamental and important
is the home, that survival of paradise, which, as is
often said, has resisted the destructive influences of
sin. Among no people at present in existence, or of
which we have any record, is there, or has there been
a truer appreciation of the blessings of domestic life
than among those who belong to the German race.
If, since the Reformation, a student of German soci-
ety is pointed to the great place which men trained
in the parsonages of Germany have filled in public
life, it becomes at once apparent that from these par-
sonages there have gone forth influences which have
made themselves felt in every home in the country.
Even more than in the pulpit has the home life of the
pastor been a source of blessing to his parish. The
value which the pastor and his family have set upon
it has had much to do Y;ith the high position which
the family occupies in the minds of all classes of the

PRESENT CONDITIONS 265

people. It would almost seem as if the German wo-
man had received a special endowment from her Cre-
ator for the place she fills as wife and mother. That
she may be fitted for this sovereignty in the heart
and the home is the object of her ambition and the
aim of her education. To those who are familar with
rural life in Germany, nothing is more beautiful than
the attachment which unites parents and children
and gives to the word home an almost sacred mean-
ing in their minds.

It is often asserted that within the last decade the
power of the home has been percei)tibly weakened.
It is no longer what it was a generation since. Chil-
dren who go out into the world to make a living or
obtain a fortune for themselves, do not return to it as
they once did as a place of rest, joy and inspiration.
It has ceased, in a very considerable degree, to be the
source of moral and spiritual life for the nation. No
one can deny that the home has, within recent years,
been compelled to contend with some bitter foes.
The economic conditions of the country have not
been favorable to peace in the household. It has been
difficult for the wage=earner to supply the wants of
those dependent upon him. Uncertainty and irregu-
larity of employment have often separated the family,
and thus weakened the tie between its members.
Long hours, no Sunday rest, necessity for labor on
the part of the mother and the elder children, in
order to obtain the necessaries of life, have robbed
the home of many of the attractions it had in earlier
and more prosperous times.

An open and x^ersistent enemy of the home has ap-
peared in the Social Democracy. While pretending

266 CHRISTIAN' LIFE IN GERMANY

to be greatly shocked at marriages for money or con-
venience, among those who belong to the wealthy
and educated classes, and to approve those only which
are based on love, Social Democracy, through some
of its prominent leaders, has sought to undermine
the foundation upon which the home is built, by de-
nying the sanctity and permanence of the marriage
relation. Not only have these leaders advocated di-
vorce at the pleasure of the parties concerned, but the
establishment of institutions to be sustained at public
expense in which the children of those who live to-
gether for a shorter or a longer period shall be cared
for, and educated for the part they may afterwards
take in the social machine. With the true Social
Democrat, marriage thus becomes a matter of mere
convenience or pleasure. That it is of Divine ajv
pointment, and is to be contracted only under the
sanctions of religion he neither believes nor admits.

Were it known in the rural districts, where, through
the advocacy of better economic conditions, the Social
Democrat is now trying desperately to win support-
ers, that he is really an enemy of the home, he would
hardly obtain a hearing. Even to better his income,
the peasant is not ready to sacrifice his wife and his
children. Whatever else he loses, he clings to his
home. So strong is the love of home that not a few,
under stress of poverty, and in disregard of legal
sanctions, still live together as man and wife. They
have no thought of ever separating from each other.
To all intents and purposes they are truly married.
In many of the States of the American Union this
relation would be legalized under the common
law, though in Germany it cannot be. The chil.

Present conditions 267

dren of parents who fail to obtain the sanction either
of the State or of the Church for the rehition they
occupy to each other, are treated as illegitimate, and
are reported as born out of wedlock. This somewhat
anomalous relation of men and women who deem
themselves guilty of no crime, accounts in part for
the very large percentage of so-called illegitimate
children among German^speaking xDcoples. Although
these children are baptised and confirmed, a slight
difference in the form of the ceremony often affects
the recipients unpleasantly. With the best of inten-
tions the bond is hardly so strong between those who
thus enter upon what ought to be marriage relations
for the sake of a home, and out of v/hat they deem
true love, as if it had been formed under the sanc-
tions of the laws of man and God. Often, too, the
homes thus established are not quite what they would
have been had the parents been more respectful
toward social and Divine requirements.

Nor are even the homes of wealth and luxury, of
learning and position, wholly exemj)t from moral dis-
aster. Where marriages have been contracted for the
sake of a position in society, to increase one's income,
or to unite certain families, domestic felicity is rare.
That homes thus formed should be places of strife,
that marital infidelity should be frequent, that chil-
dren should be neglected, turned over to servants,
exposed to temptations which are rarely resisted, or
furnished with an education which disqualifies them
for the real duties of life, is only what ought to be
anticipated. No home can be what it should be, or
exert the influence on its inmates which it is de-
signed to exert, where divine sanctions and divine

266 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

commandments are disregarded. In general this is
so thoroughly understood throughout Germany that
even where parents are somewhat shaken in their own
faith, they seek for the sake of their children, to pre-
serve religious forms and cultivate a sjjirit of rever-
ence toward God and the Church.

Special temptations and dangers for the home are
made greater by circumstances for which those to
whom they come are not responsible. For the poor
man, not only has the difficulty of supporting his
family endangered the happiness and stability of his
home, but the increasing tendency to the cities in
search of work, or in the expectation of higher wages
has introduced a feeling of unrest into his mind.
This tendency is aggravated by a growing desire
to change one's habitation which the ease and cheap-
ness of railway travel help to gratify. Prior to
1867, in certain sections of the country, as in East
Prussia, one could not leave the place of one's birth
save with the consent of the authorities, and after the
payment of an emigration tax. One was also compelled
to pay for the privilege of settling elsewhere. Since
that year men can go where they please and work for
anyone who will employ them.

As a matter of course, government officials and
military men live wherever duty takes them, often
apart from their families. Even where separation is
not required, a frequent change of home has many dis-
advantages. It is impossible to transport from one
city or village to another the memories which cluster
around the place of one's birth, to find in a hired
house many of the pleasures of the home of one's
childhood. What is the new home? For those even

PRESENT CONDITIONS 269

v;ho can pay a respectable rent, often only a few
rooms in a barrack=like structure, each the copy of
hundreds of others near it, while for the poor it is a
single room in a cellar, or under the roof of a great
apartment house, which must serve at once as kitch-
en, parlor, dining=room and bed=room not only for
parents and children, often grown up children, but
for lodgers also, even of both sexes. Such condi-
tions among the jioor were formerly more frequent,
one is glad to say, than they are now. Even yet
they are not unknown. Where quarters are more
tolerable, they are generally in those sections of the
city which are chiefly given over to vice, and where
children are brought up in an atmosphere of moral
death.

That homes may not be entirely without individu-
ality, those whose incomes warrant it, have been en-
couraged to purchase houses in the suburbs and live
there. In thousands of cases this has been done.
Health ofTicers have sought to secure better sanitary
laws for the city, and to prevent the crowding of
many persons into a single room. Benevolent men
have been encouraged in their efforts to furnish ten-
ements at a moderate price, in which ordinary day
laborers may live and enjoy some of the comforts of
a home. Many who are neither rich nor poor have
nevertheless been led, on account of the increasing
expense of living, into boarding houses. Hotel life
is more popular than it once was. The cost of main-
taining a household has prevented many fairly welh
to do men from marrying. This has added to the
number of women, especially in the higher classes,
who are compelled to live single. Yet the ideal life

270 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

in the mind of every man and woman in Germany is
life in one's own home. In spite of the vicissitudes
to which the home has been exi30sed, it still exists in
all its integrity, its central authority, the German
housewife, the recipient both of honor and love.
She can, if she will, stick to her old customs.
She can, if she will, accompany her husband and
children wherever they go for pleasure. She can
make the home, and life in it, for every member of
her household, with rare exceptions, just what she
desires. If, in certain localities, parental discipline
is less rigorous than formerly, if the introduction of
the newspaxDer into the home, and the multiplication
of books render the supervision of the reading,
whether of children or of servants, a matter of great
difficulty, if servants are less frequently treated as if
they belonged to the household than they once were,
and are therefore left to find amusement where they
please, and in what society they please, the home still
remains a characteristic feature of German life. Both
among the high and the low, by prince and peasant
it is prized above most other possessions.

It would be strange if amid the social and indus-
trial changes of a generation, such as that which has
just passed, there had not been in some sections of
the country a lowering in the moral tone of domestic
life. There is less simple piety in the home atmos-
phere, and less attention is paid than one might ex-
pect to its preservation. At this one should not
wonder. Nor is it so easy to attend Church in a
strange city, whither one has gone simply for the
Bake of work, as it was in the little village where one

PRESENT CONDITIONS 271

was born, and where one could call all the inhabi-
tants by name. Neither is it so easy to find time for
Bible reading, Christian song and family prayer,
when every day in the week, Sunday included, is
taken up in work from sunrise till after sunset, as it
was in the country, where many an hour was left free
for the purpose. It is not quite so easy to be satis-
fied with the tract and calendars which the colpor-
teur furnishes, as it was before the introduction of
socialistic literature. Papers not only occupy the
attention of those who are in social distress because
of the times in which they are living, but novels also,
which are sometimes vile and polluting, though
intensely exciting, and written avowedly to make it
clear that no permanent change for the better can be
hoped for till in a great social revolution the favor-
ites of society give up their lives and their posses-
sions. That in the face of these trials the home has
preserved its place, and, with few exceptions, is as
powerful as ever, is splendid testimony to the divin-
ity of its origin, and to the strength of its hold on
the German people. Here, as in other Christian
countries, the sentiment prevails,

" Be it ever so homely,
There is no place like home."

There can be little question that, in general, the
influence of the higher classes has been unfavorable
to Christian life. Wealth has largely neglected the
Church and the duties of the Christian religion.
The enormous fortunes which a few possess, the in-
creasing love of pleasure everywhere apparent, and
the intense desire to increase gains already secured

272 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

in order to make greater display, have been a fearful
strain on those who have sought to retain even a
nominal connection with the Church.

Not all, one may thankfully add, have given them-
selves uj) to material things. Some manufacturers,
like Krupj), have spent vast sums for the benefit of
their employes; and in providing for their physical
welfare have not been unmindful of their intellectual
and spiritual needs. Others, like the late Baron von
Siemens, have sought to cultivate kindly relations
between themselves and those in their service. Alike
in the country and in the city, families of large means
and thorough culture have retained a simple faith in
the Gospel, which is delightful to contemplate.
Within the last ten years all agree that there has
been a steady increase in attendance at Church on the
part of the higher classes, while they have also a
deeper interest in those things which the Church
represents. Still the dangers from wealth and the
material pleasures which it often emphasizes have
not yet passed away, even if we are warranted in
believing they may pass away ere long. The National
Churches have not been able to meet successfully the
terrible temptations to which the country was exposed
through the payment of the French indemnity after
the v.'ar of 1870-71, and through the immediate circu-
lation among the people of the milliards of which it
was made up. The siDCculations on the Bourse, to
which the introduction of so much money into the
country gave rise, proved exceedingly demoralizing,
for everyone was seized with a sudden desire to be-
come rich. Those whose previous experiences had
taught them " the ins and outs " of a speculative life,

PRESENT CONDITIONS 273

managed to secure fortunes, and to prepare for the
crash which they knew must eventually come. Mul-
titudes were ruined. Jews, whose business had been
stock dealing and si^eculation, could hardly fail to
reaiD immense harvests of gain. This increased the
hatred which had previously existed against them and
furnished fuel for the fires of anti=Semite crusades.
But political agitations do not bring back material
prosperity, nor do they feed the hungry. When all
hope of obtaining a share in the wealth imagined to
be v.ithin their reach, had vanished from the minds
of the people as a whole, when it was seen that the
financial condition in which they were left was worse
than that which had existed previous to the war,
complaints began to be heard which have not yet
ceased. One need not be surprised at the growth of
the Social Democracy when its leaders affirm that
their object is to secure better economical conditions
for the laboring classes, and to punish those who are
thought to have obtained their fortunes unjustly, and
at the expense of the people. Physical conditions
have often been indescribably bad. In such circum-
stances one cannot expect that any great interest
would be shown in religion. Present sufferings cry
out for alleviation. The life that now is must be
reudered tolerable before attention can be directed
to that which is to come. Yet every day, in the larger
cities, and even in the rural districts, side by side
with the poverty of the laboring classes one meets
ostentatious displays of wealth on the part of those
who make slight contributions through brain or
pocket to the well-being of the needy. As if this
were not enough to excite jealousy and hatred against

274 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

the dilettanti rich, their pleasures, and the aims
they ajjparently cherish, have been demoralizing
alike to themselves and to the poor. Setting at
nought in their own conduct the laws of God, and
turning their backs upon the Church and its ministry,
they have furnished an example which the hosts of
IDoverty have not been slow to imitate.

But even more serious, at least among the middle
classes, than the unfavorable influence of wealth, and
the life which it has been leading, have had on piety,
is the influence of the learned classes. The attention
which, since 1860, has been given to natural science
at the expense of subjects more intimately concerning
man, has led many of those pursuing it to cherish
materialistic views of the origin of the world, to look
upon man himself as a development from mere matter,
and to think of his soul as a functional part of the body.
If at the beginning of the century, faith even in the
X)resence of Rationalism was strong in God, in immor-
tality, and in virtue, that faith has constantly grov/n
weaker, till in certain circles, especially between
1865 and 1880, it was almost entirely given up.

At the beginning of this period, the philosophy of
learning and of wealth was that of Schopenhauer, a
philosophy of doubt and despair. If the philosophy
of Edward von Hartmann, which to some extent
replaced it, is on the whole an improvement upon
that of Schopenhauer, even on Hartmann's theories
life is hardly worth living. With minds of a certain
cast, Schopenhauer and von Hartmann prepared the
way for a revival of the philosophy and asceticism of
Buddha. Some sort of religion is for the human mind
indispensable. What better faith, some have thought,

PRESENT CONDITIONS 275

to adopt in lieu of faith in Christ, than faith in an ori-
ental saint — what better substitute for the self=denials
of the Gospel than those of the sage of India? Scho-
penhauer himself is said to have looked favorably on
the claims of Buddhism, and to have advocated its
ascetic principles, though in his own life, at Frankfurt^
on^the-Main, he took no pains to practise the theories
which he approved in others. Much as he had to say
about the blessings of death, he was among the first
to leave the city on the approach of cholera. It
remained for Nietzsche to proclaim a philosophy of
mere pleasure and unlimited power for wealth and
culture. With him might makes right. Purely
Machiavellian in his theories, he admires such men
as Caesar Borgia, and attacks Christianity and its
Author with a coarseness rarely met with outside his
pages. In the entire New Testament he finds but
one character worthy his approval, the character of
Pilate! He would live in the present, and limit his
enjoyments, no matter how coarse they are, only by
his ability to secure them.

For those who turn in sorrow from such theories
as these, even Egydy's " One only Christendom "
furnishes no real help. For this new religion, is, as
its critics have shown, but a worn=out Rationalism
clothed in new garments. Yet the hunger for some-
thing better than modern philosophy or the religion
of the East can present, has led to the formation in
many of the larger cities of ethical societies, in which
at least the semblance of good morals is taught and
l^ractised. Possibly this is the last halt which culture
will make on its return to the pure religion of Christ.
Thanks to the modesty of science herself, in the face

276 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

of prol)leii]S which she cannot solve in her laborato-
ries, and of myriads of questions to which she can
give no satisfactory answer, there has been a decided
reaction in thoughtful minds in favor of the older
views as to the origin of the world and the place of
man in it. Not only is confession of ignorance vol-
untarily made by eminent scientists; students also
have been encouraged to turn their attention once
more to the profound problems connected with the
origin, the nature, and the destiny of man. Now
that it is seen that he is by far the most important
being on the planet, that all things point to him as
the object for which all else exists, it is admitted by
many scientific students that there may be a personrd
God; that man may possess a spiritual nature; that a
future life is not impossible; that there is a well-
marked distinction between right and wrong, virtue
and vice; and that it may be wise to strengthen the
Church as an institution that must always fill an im-
portant place in the culture of man. It is not too
much to say that in the so=called contest between
science and the principles of a Christian philosophy,
although a full and open surrender is not to be
looked for, the latter have won.

But science should not be compelled to bear the
whole burden of the infidelity among students of
nature. Unbelief in a divine revelation almost inevi-
tably accompanies superficial studies of any kind.
Of these Germany has had her full share. Dilettanti
students, of whom there have been many, make
few contributions to faith. For a person who con-
fines himself to a single branch of study it is difficult
to realize that there are other departments of learn-

PRESENT CONDITIONS 2l1

ing as important as his own, or that, so long as he
confines himself to one department, he can acquire
no completely harmonious view of nature, or of man
in his relation to it.

Criticism of the Scriptures by such men as Baur
and his successors, the Life of Christ by Strauss, and
other treatises of a similar character, published in
order to cast doubt on the integrity and trustworthi-
ness of the Word of God, have produced unbelief in
the minds of large numbers of thinking people. The
scholarshix) of the present day, however, is able to
show that few of the conclusions of the earlier critics
are in accordance with the facts, and that the reasons
for confidence in the Scriptures have not been weak-
ened by previous attacks on their integrity.

Parties in the Church, such as a center, a right
and left wing, among professed believers in Christ,
have had a bad influence, both without and within
the Church. Doctrinal divisions, save for reasons
evident to all, are always injurious to piety. It is a
matter of rejoicing that, in the presence of common
dangers, dogmatic divisions in the Church are being
laid aside, and that the leaders of these divisions are
CO operating earnestly together in efforts to win back
to the Church the multitudes which their own neg-
lect and the false teachings of avowed unbelievers
have rendered indifferent or hostile.

For many years wealth and learning have lacked a
common bond of union. At the beginning of the
century literary aspirations brought them together.
Then came the desire, long cherished and finally
realized in the wars of 1870-71, for a united Ger-
many. Under the pressure of great social dangers

278 CHltlSTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

and in the presence of problems concerning the
nature and destiny of the human soul, it is not im-
possible that another principle of union may be
found, and that under its application the Church and
its institutions will become stronger than ever. In
the Roman Catholic portion of the population this
union already exists. As the result of the expulsion
of the Jesuits, and the Falk Laws, the latter the out-
come of the Kulturkampf, Romanism has gained in
power and spirituality. At present it has more free-
dom and enjoys greater privileges than the National
Church of Prussia. By its persistent and successful
struggles with the government it has drawn a consid-
erable number of the votaries of fashion into its
fold. From the ranks of wealth and learning those
have come who seek a refuge from the uncertainties
of discussion and a peace of conscience which obe-
dience to authority can alone furnish. Reaction in
matters of religion is by no means rare. There is no
little wisdom in the assertion, attributed to Dr.
Adolph Stoecker, that the dogma of papal infallibil-
ity is the answer to the ape theory of man. Darwin-
ism and its evolutionary successors are in a measure
responsible for the recent aggression and more dog-
matic attitude of the Roman Catholic Church. If in
the presence of the materialism of the times, and in
spite of the sneers of infidelity, the Church of Rome
has held its own, and even made notable conquests,
it ought not to be diifficult for Protestantism to do
the same. As a matter of fact, Protestantism has
held her own. While every year furnishes reports of
accessions to Rome from the Protestant Church,

PtlESENT CONDITIONS 279

these accessions are more than equalled by gains
from Romanism,

Perhaps we shall be more in sympathy with those
who have the welfare and growth of the Church as a
burden on their hearts, if we consider a little more
carefully than we have yet done, the economic condi-
tion of the people during the past generation, as well
as their present condition.

The position occupied by the middle class in Ger-
many is one of real difficulty and of growing dissat-
isfaction. It stands midway between the proletariat
and the ranks of wealth and culture. Comparatively
few of its members are rising into the circles above
them, while many, unable to maintain themselves in
their present position, are sinking to the level of the
proletariat. These changes are due not to anything
for which this class can itself be blamed, but to the
economic conditions of the times. Agricultural de-
pression, for example, and the seeming inability of the
law-making power to do anything to remove it, have
brought suffering into homes once full of peace and
plenty. Small farmers have been obliged to dispose
of their holdings, and to earn a scanty livelihood by
working for large landowners. Some go to the city
and almost at once assume a lower social posi-
tion than they have hitherto held. A few find a
means of support in keeping boarding-houses, restau-
rants, or small hotels. As a rule these places become
centers of corruption and vice. The old custom of
renting land in small portions from the larger farmers,
paying for it in work, and receiving aid in plowing
from the great farm in return for extra work, is less

280 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

frequent than formerly, even in Eastern Prussia.
Wages are paid in money rather than in kind.
Though this is satisfactory to the recipient, wages so
paid are worth less than those received under the
old method. Money slips through the wage=earner's
fingers. He does not know how to spend it wisely.
Finding it harder and harder to live in the country,
becoming discouraged when there, and losing his
interest in the Church because of his increasing
poverty, it could not be expected that in the city, or
that anywhere among strangers he would pay much
attention to religious things. Yet an earnest pastor
will often find his heart responsive to his appeals,
and its possessor quite ready to return to an alle-
giance which he has temporarily thrown off. If these
changes are more frequent in the eastern portion of
Germany than elsewhere, they are not unknown in
any section of the country.

Far worse, in reality, even if the pain of his condi-
tion is not as keenly felt, is the situation of the day-
laborer in the country. Unlike the land^renter, he
has never quite been his own master. He has pre-
served his independence, and does so still, but he has
never known the luxury, even if he has long lived in
the same house or hut, of calling anything his own.
He has been content with day wages. Frequently
the necessities of the family have compelled the wife
and the elder children to work in the fields, at
least during some seasons of the year. Prior to 1870,
these daydaborers lived in comparative comfort.
They earned but little, and though they needed little,
they often lived on the edge of want. With the
decrease in the profits of farming, wages grew less,

PRESENT CONDITIONS 28i

and as the price of provisions did not decrease, but
rather advanced, the comfort of the day laborer dimin-
ished. He did not know what to do. Never over
virtuous, although not openly vicious, the price which
girls could command in the city tempted some
families belonging to this class to encourage their
daughters to enter upon a life of sin. At the same
time the sons of the household, at as early an age as
possible, sought the larger town as affording a better
oj)portunity for a life of crime. From what other source
than the country, and from what other families than
those low in social standing and suffering from want,
can come so naturally the supply of that great army
of fallen women, of whom Dr. Stoecker says five
thousand are registered in Berlin alone, and that not
less than fifty thousand altogether are known to live
in that city! Hov; can there be less than this number,
if it be true, as some excellent authorities assert that
nine= tenths of the male population of the city patron-
ize them! At any rate, the revelations of the Hospitals
make up a fearful record.

In their work these day^laborers have been com-
IDelled to compete with companies of so-called free
laborers, who, under contract, are brought from dis-
tant sections of Germany to gather in the harvests, or
render some other needed service. The steam=
threshing machine has now made it possible to free
the grain from the straw in a few days of work. The
old method of beating it out with a flail gave em-
ployment to large numbers nearly the whole winter.
Where land has become too valuable for flax^raising,
weaving in the homes has largely ceased, and this
source of income has been taken from the poor coun-

282 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

try wage-earner. No wonder lie is discouraged.
Carried by his ambition to the city, he soon becomes
disheartened even there. What can he do? The
work he wants is not to be had: there is not enough
of it for all. It ought to be no surprise to anyone, if
in his hopelessness he seeks relief in suicide. This
side of death he and his have no hope. If for a time
he manages to find means of support in the city, or
in the manufacturing town, he easily falls a prey to
the Social Democrat, who promises to improve his
social condition and inflames his mind v/ith
thoughts of revolution. To persons in this social
condition it is very difficult to present the truths of
the Gospel. The cares of this world destroy even the
sense of spiritual perception.

The changes which press so heavily on the small
landholder and the day=laborer press with equal
severity, although difPerently, upon large landown-
ers, and render it impossible for them to prevent the
sufferings of those to whom hitherto they have fur-
nished the means of subsistence. Many of these
fall into debt and become slaves of drink and the
gaming table. Then the money lender has them in
his power. Small country traders and artisans also
suffer. Great sections of country at times seem to
fall into a kind of despair. If in such circumstances
the old faith in religion remains sacred, if the old
respect and reverence for the Church and its minis-
ters are retained, it is all that can be expected.
Even this is a triumph of grace. Instances not a
few could be given where this has been done, where
suffering on the part of the lower classes has called
forth sympathies and ministries on the part of those

PRESENT CONDITIONS 283

socially above tliem, which have laid the foundation,
not only of close relations, but of lifelong friend-
ships. The fact that the Church and the clergy- are
awake to the conditions which everywhere prevail is
one of the lioj3eful signs of the times.

But indifferent as the conditions are, they are not
wholly bad. Take the country through, at least five-
sixths of those who might be looked upon as belong-
ing to the middle class are, in a small way, indepen-
dent. Some of them are employers of labor. Me-
chanics often employ other mechanics, and work by
their side. Statistics show that the number of per-
sons engaged in some kind of manufacturing and
who do not employ more than five assistants, bears a
very large proportion to the whole wage=giving class.
Even if smaller manufacturers get their work, as they
frequently do, from large establishments, they take it
to their own shops, where they are their own masters.

Probably the life most dangerous to good morals
and most liable to extreme suffering is that led in the
great m.anufacturing centers and in the cities. Here
wage-earners, once respectable, through lack of econ-
omy, imprudent marriages, loss of work, reduction of
wages, sickness or accident, are often suddenly reduced
to poverty. The pressure of competition for many years
has rendered the relation between the great manu-
facturer and his help very strained. To a company
of weavers who complained to Bismarck, in 1865,
that their wages had been reduced while the cost of
living was constantly increasing, the statesman re-
plied that while he would do all that could be done
for them, they must not blame emi3loyers for a con-
dition of things everywhere prevailing. Since that

284 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

time, in many branches of industry, wages have been
raised. In other respects, much has been done for
the wage-earner. Laws have been enacted for his
protection. His hours of work have been shortened.
Companies have been formed to insure him against
sickness, accident, and old age. Yet, in spite of all
this, his condition has not greatly improved. In
1865 the Bebel^Liebknecht movement began. In
1877 appeared the Geneva manifesto, calling uj)on
the proletariat the world over to unite against author-
ity of every kind, and against every form of privi-
lege. This was the foundation of that Social Demo-
cratic movement which, while it has brought no eco-
nomical advantages to those connected with it, and
has not diminished the loyalty of the larger portion
of its adherents either to country or Sovereign, has
yet been the cause of much anxiety to statesmen and
Christian patriots, since its leaders have not hesitated
to avow principles, the logical outcome of which is
the destruction of every form of authority, the denial
of the right of personal property, the breaking up of
the family and the home, and the re-establishment of
anarchy and barbarism.

CHAPTER XVI.

EFFORTS AND MEASURES TO MEET THE NEW
DANGERS OF THE TIME.

Alive to the dangers of the time, men like Dr.
Stoecker have devoted themselves to mission work in
the cities, and to the spread of Christian literature
among the people. From Berlin as a center, they
reach every part of the land. The sermons of the
great preacher, tracts from wise and ready pens, in-
teresting and instructive pajaers, find their way every
week into thousands of needy homes. Through the
Inner Mission persons are trained to meet young
men and women who come from the country to the
city, and protect them against the pitfalls spread for
their feet. It is often possible to persuade those who
have left their homes in the rural districts from a
desire for greater freedom and in the hope of obtain-
ing larger wages, to return thither. Into homes of
discouragement and want in the city these minister-
ing servants of a Christian humanity find their way,
and with words of friendly sympathy revive hope in
hearts whence it had almost died out. Under the
influence of persons like Licentiate Weber, ministers,
professors in the Universities, men employed in the
civil service of the country, and eminent laymen,
some of them of noble birth, and representing all
shades of theological opinion, now meet together

285

286 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

annually, in a Social Congress, to consider the condi-
tions of labor, the duties which capital owes to it, to
the Church, to the Government, to wealth, and to
learning and privilege of every kind. A rich litera-
ture on these subjects has already been created, and
much done to imx)lant a better feeling in the minds
of those who had been seriously alienated from every-
thing that called itself Christian. Now that the eyes
of the ministry, of professors in the Universities, of
members of the nobility, of great landowners, of
manufacturers, and of men of influence in all walks
of life, have been opened to the misery of vast num-
bers of their fellow creatures, no efiPorts on the part
of the Government to prevent the discussion of these
matters in public assembly will prevent their discus-
sic»n, at least in private and through the press. To
these matters the best Christian thought and the
highest wisdom of political science are directing
their attention.

Herculean efforts are also being made to win back
to the Church those who have wandered from her,
nor will these efforts cease till the wanderers are re-
claimed. The methods employed are varied, but in
aim and spirit they are one. The ruling principles are
supreme love to God, and the treatment of every man
as if he were the neighbor whom we are to love as we
love ourselves. When these principles shall have
been universally accepted, the economic ills from
which Germany is suffering will vanish, together
with most of the other ills that afflict her. As these
principles are proclaimed from thousands of pulpits
every Sunday, it is not too much to hope that they
ynW triumph, and that the Church of the Reforma-

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 287

tion will be restored to her old place in the hearts of
the people. Those who are engaged in what seems
to many from other countries the unchristian, anti==
Semitic crusade, say that they are governed by a
Christian spirit. They do not hate the Jew as a man,
nor have they any enmity against his religion. They
affirm, however, that the principles by which he
acquires wealth are not only demoralizing to trade,
but destructive of common honesty, that the in-
fluence he is exerting on youth is corrupting in the
extreme, and that the life which he leads after he has
obtained wealth is a life wholly wanting in elevation
of purpose and self-sacrificing deeds. To this
arraignment there are, of course, exceptions, and these
are gratefully acknowledged. But, in general, so
anti-Semites say in self-defense, those whom they
oppose are doing more than any other class of citi-
zens to undermine the moral foundations of society.
It is for this reason that anti=Semitism survives, and
continues to attract high==minded men to its ranks.
But whatever be one's final judgment of the move-
ment, it must be admitted that it reveals the exist-
ence of a strong moral purpose among gifted and
prominent men both in Church and State. Like
other currents of thought and methods of procedure,
it suggests more than it asserts. It shows that the
tendency is toward purer and simpler standards of
living, greater honesty in business life, to the incul-
cation of a more brotherly feeling between rich and
poor, and to an attempt to realize on earth the prin-
ciples of the Kingdom of God. To the realization of
such aims as these the activity of the German
Church is now directed.

288 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Let it be admitted, as it must be, that at present
the laboring classes quite generally are alienated from
the Church and her institutions, and, in consequence
of the struggle for life, are giving little thought to a
life to come. For this alienation we can easily ac-
count. Its causes are not permanent, and since some
of them have been discovered we may be sure
they v/ill be removed. Over against this separation
of the masses from the ministries of the Church, are
to be placed the tens of thousands who still adhere to
them, and the ever growing number of those who be-
lieve in them with a heartiness hitherto almost un-
known. Since the era of the sixties Sunday=schools
have sprung into existence and have rapidly over-
spread the land. Through the children who attend
these schools thousands of homes, previously inacces-
sible, are reached with Christian literature. Acting
upon the principle that the formation of character is
better than its reformation, the Church is endeavoring
to seek out those who have been confirmed, instead
of allowing them, after the fashion of an earlier day,
to drift away into worldliness and sin. They are
gathered into Societies for Young Men and Young
Women, and put under the care of persons whose
wisdom and piety fit them to be leaders of these So-
cieties. With increasing demands on the time and
energies of the pastor, the aid of consecrated men and
vromen in the ranks of the Church has become neces-
sary. Objections, which even recently existed,
against their employment are fast passing away. Pas-
tors cannot do the work which the numerous activities
of the Church render indispensable. Putting aside old
prejudices, they have called upon this one and that

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 289

one among the trusted members of their Churches for
assistance. Thus laymen, with hearts full of Chris-
tian love, have been drawn into one reform after
another, till now there is a great army in the aggre-
gate, fighting against the destructive influences of
evil. The time cannot be far off when laymen will
take as prominent a part in every form of Church work
as is taken by them in Great Britain or in the United
States. The tendency toward this employment of the
laity is one of the most hopeful signs of the day.
In this discovery of a Christian force, which has long
lain dormant, the Church is becoming conscious of
her real strength. She is perceiving that she has as
many channels through which to send out her bless-
ings to the people, as she has earnest believers within
her fold. She has also come to see that the jperson-
ality of the individual worker is of importance, that
benevolence is worth more when dispensed by a con-
secrated deaconess or brother, than when bestowed in
a merely formal manner by a State official. That
large numbers of laymen, in the aggregate, are con-
sidering their personal responsibility for the life and
influence of the Church accounts for the steady in-
crease in her contributions for benevolent objects,
and is a hopeful augury for the future.

In every country there are myriads who care only
for themselves, who have plenty of money for per-
sonal pleasure but none for the Master, who are
slaves of drink and open sin, who anxiously shun
honest occupations and devote themselves to crime as
a profession; but we must remember at the same time
that there are also myriads who seek after the high-
est life, and in character and action strive to realize

290 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

the highest ideals. HajDpily the number of those
who still retain respect for the i3rinciples of Christ is
large, even in Germany. There, as in America, it
has become the custom to report the evil that men
do. Of the good that is done the Press is, for the
most part, silent. Outside of Germany we do not
judge the Christian character of a nation by the re-
ports its Daily Press gives of the vices of the people.
In Germany, as elsewhere, we must search for the
good that is done silently, and seek the acquain-
tance of those who are striving to stem the tides of
sin and make the nation an essential part of the
Kingdom of God. The German Church is meeting
the dangers which threaten her social life in her own
way. She is meeting them with the weapons she can
best use. She is proceeding with the wisdom, the
patience, and the thoroughness, which are character-
istic of her best trained men. That she will eventu-
ally succeed in removing the dangers which now lie
in the path of her social and Christian life ought not
to be questioned.

It is instructive, as well as encouraging to observe
the means by which the present j)ai"tial reaction
against infidelity and indifference to religion has
been brought about, and a new vitality imparted to
the Christian institutions of the State. Among these
means, not the least important is the awakening of
earnest Christian patriots within the Church to the
real needs of the age and to the discerning of the
" signs of the times." When it was seen whither the
Darwinian theory of the Origin of Species, the De-
scent of Man, and related scientific theories, were
tending, devout students of nature began to ask if

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 291

these theories were true and in accordance with facts,
and if so, whether they could not be brought into
harmony with the revelations of the Word of God.
Ere long it was discovered that while retaining faith
in Christianity one need give n]) nothing which
science has demonstrated to be true. Furthermore,
it became evident, that in spite of the criticisms on
the Bible, and the systems of materialistic philos-
ophy which had cast their baleful shadows over so
many influential schools of thought, there was no
real necessity for ceasing to trust in a joersonal Savior,
or in what seem to be the self-evident facts of human
nature. Hence the revival, within the last twenty
years in nearly all the National Churches, of the old
conviction that men are sinful, and that without re-
generation through the agency of the Holy Spirit
they cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
The growing pressure of new responsibilities con-
nected with the development of the Empire gave a
clearer vision of the nature and extent of the duties
that men owe to one another if they would carry out
the fundamental principles of their religion, supreme
love to God and love to one's neighbor as to one's
self. It furthermore became evident to all thought-
ful men, that Christian benevolence and Christian
activity must take on new forms, or the Church would
lose power with the masses to say nothing of those in
the higher ranks of life. An admirable agency
through v/hich to meet these pressing demands of the
new era presented itself in the Inner Mission, which
Wichern, of the Rough House, Hamburg, had so
warmly commended to liis brethren at Wittenberg in
10-18. Since that appeal of the great philanthropist,

292 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

ministrations in the name of humanity and the
Christian religion have been so varied and extensive
as to challenge the admiration of the entire Christian
world. In them all the need of personal service has
received the chief emphasis.

In the ten years immediately following Wichern's
address at Wittenberg comparatively little was done,
though there was a solid, if slow, growth. Since 1860,
and in a marked manner since the recognition of
William I, as Emperor of United Germany, the ex-
pansion of the work undertaken in the name of the
Inner Mission has been raj)id and cheering.

Indirectly, two causes have contributed to this: a
keener perception of the importance of religious in-
struction in all grades of schools, and the increasing
attention throughout Prussia to the need of a better
observance of Sunday. Although the school law
urgently pressed a few years ago, was withdrawn at
the last moment, as some felt, unwisely, still its pro-
visions in reference to religious instruction in many
cases are likely to be carried out. Pastors are sure
to give more careful attention than formerly to the
kind of instruction imparted in the schools, and
where it is not satisfactory, to become res^oonsible for
it themselves. In j)arochial schools, Protestant and
Catholic, this instruction has always been consistent
and thorough. In other schools, in theory at least,
instruction in the Scriptures and in the fundamental
principles of the Christian religion, has long been a
part of the curriculum. The ethical value of such a
course of study, even if it is somewhat formal, can
easily be seen. In view of the opposition of Social
Democracy, and of a vowed u nbelievers, Chri sti an people

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 293

are insisting with more earnestness than ever that
this instruction shall continue to be given, and with
all the fullness which the law requires.

In order to render it possible for the laboring
classes to attend Church, at least once a day, the law-
making power in Prussia, under the so=called Sunday
legislation, freed them as far as could be done, from
the obligation to work on that day. Certain kinds of
work are altogether prohibited, while other kinds
are limited to certain portions of the day. No work
that will disturb worship during its accustomed hours
is permitted. Stores and shops which provide food
for the people can remain open till about half an hour
before the time for morning service. Of course
a great deal of public work is still held to be neces-
sary. Trains are run, though somewhat less in
number, as usual. The mails are carried, and letters
are distributed on Sunday, as on other days of the
week. Some manufacturing establishments continue
their work on Sunday, with a force varying from one-
half to thirty per cent., of the whole number of
persons ordinarily employed. While every employ^ is
free to work, or to refuse to work, as a matter of fact,
the fear of losing one's place compels one to yield to
the wishes of those who are in authority. Although
the Sunday laws are not all that could be desired,
they are a great improvement on previous conditions,
since the Government recognizes the religious charac-
ter of the Sabbath and people are encouraged to attend
Church. It is too soon to say how many avail them-
selves of the privilege. It would be strange if with
those who had long neglected Church, partly from
force of habit, partly because they are obliged to work

294 CER JSTIAN LIFE IN GEFMANY

on that day as on any other, and partly from growing
indifference to moral and spiritual obligations, an im-
mediate improvement in Church going showed itself.
It is more natural to suppose that peoi)le freed from
burdens of work would at first employ the day in rec-
reation, in making excursions, in visiting friends, or in
anything which contributes to personal pleasure.
Those who have shown the most interest in the wel-
fare of the people are confident that fidelity on the part
of pastors, city missionaries and Christians generally^
will result in bringing thousands into the Church who
have not hitherto been in the habit of attending it,
and who in fact have been prevented by their duties
from doing so, as well as in gradually reviving and
strengthening the religious life of the nation.

But the chief agency for effectively reaching those
who are hostile or indifferent to religion, is the
activity of Christian love. Nothing so clearly illus-
trates the power of this love as the present working
of the Inner Mission. Primarily designed to win back
and save those who in name were connected with the
Church, and for whom, under her constitution, the
Church deemed herself responsible in the exercise
of compassion toward these wandering ones, she has
not failed to proclaim to them the grace and love of
God in Jesus Christ.

As David von Augsburg said, in the thirteenth
century, "All the poor, the sick, the heavy at heart,
all who grieve, all sinners, all the sorrow which has
been, and shall be in the world, are to be gathered
up into the hospital of the heart and there given the
compassion which is needed." Wichern's words, on
that memorable day at Wittenberg, (September 22,

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 295

1848) have borne fruit: "The Evangelical Church
bears witness that love belongs to me as truly as faith.
Christ must be preached not only in the living Word
of God, but in divine deeds, of which the highest is
that of delivering love. If the church accepts her
call to the work of the Inner Mission, then for her
there dawns the day of a new future. But no day-
break is possible without penitence. We must all
bow down before a guilt which we have both inherited
and made personal. This penitence must form the
boundary between the old and the new period of the
Church. Then will she announce the message which
the Master entrusted to her, the delivering power of
His grace."

The growth of the work upon which Wichern laid
such stress shows how greatly it was needed. It has
constantly received the blessing of God. In 1833,
there were but four "Mother Deaconess' Homes" in
all Germany, and with these central establishments
but few branch houses were connected. In these
"Mother Homes" women were trained for personal
Christian service among the sick, the ignorant, the
poor, and the vicious. Perhaps there were as many
Koman Catholic Orders open for women ready to de-
vote themselves to a life of Christian charity. These
have increased very rapidly in number since that
time. In 1891, Schaeffer reports the existence of
Bixty4hree " mother houses for deaconesses," with a
correspondingly large number of dependent establish-
ments, from which nearly eighty-five hundred " sisters "
go out constantly to their self-denying labors. The
number of these consecrated women cannot now be
less than nine thousand, and new " mother houses "

296 CBRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

are springing up as the demand for them makes itself
felt. Differing from each other and from the original
home oi3ened at Kaiserswerth by Flieduer in
certain details of management, they agree in the
princii^les of Christian love, which they make promi-
nent as the motive of their efforts to reach and save
the perishing. The National Union of Women, with
upwards of nine hundred branch unions, designed at
first to meet the necessities of war, but even in times
of peace finding a wide field for its benevolence,
together with the Red Cross Society with its repre-
sentatives in every German State, have discovered
that the Christian spirit, so characteristic of the
deaconess, and of the Inner Mission, is indis-
pensable in their work. Where there is no formal
connection with the Inner Mission, there seems to be
an almost unconcious purpose to imitate its methods
and manifest its spirit.

The fields (as shown in previous chapters) which
the Inner Mission is now cultivating are by Schaeffer
reduced to seven. Each of these fields is large
and inclusive. They are designed for (1) the
education and instruction of children, (2) the
education and i^reservation of youth, (3) the rescue
of the lost, (4) the preservation of those who are in
danger, (5) the care of cripples and the sick, (6) for
the distribution of Christian literature, and (7) for
efforts to meet and remove social needs.

Essentially the same classification is given by
Wurster, P. Kruse of Langenburg, and other writers
on the Inner Mission. An essential part of the work
of this Mission is the effort to seek out and train for
future service those who are called of God to render it.

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 297

At present the income of these Deaconess' Homes alone
is not less than nine and a half million marks annually,
besides the amount required to support and carry
forward other branches of Inner Mission benevolence.
If, at first sight, it should appear that the Inner
Mission were seeking almost exclusively to alleviate
bodily suffering, to remove social conditions, to rescue
the lost, in a word, to render life in this world more
tolerable, it soon becomes evident that it really aims
at winning the objects of its charity back to the
Church, and to hearty allegiance to Christ. As one
result of these efforts, Romanism, Judaism and
Humanitarianism in Germany have been roused to a
benevolent activity which reaches out after those
who naturally fall within the sphere of their influence.
Another result is that the State has become more hu-
mane and more Christian in its spirit and its legisla-
tion, and has assumed the care and support of thou-
sands of unfortunates in whom half a century since it
seemed to have no interest.

That the leaders of the Protestant Churches have
entered upon a crusade against the devastation which
sin has wrought in the professed members of these
Churches is extremely laudable. They are not to be
charged w^ith selfishness: they are simply trying to
be faithful to their own. In this they are not un-
mindful of the necessities of those who are without
their communion. Through these exhibitions of
brotherly interest and willing self-sacrifice, the
Church is regaining some of her old power with the
masses. She is also showing those who live for
pleasure, and find that only in material things, that
there are objects to which their energy and money

298 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

may be devoted which would impart to life a depth
of joy of which they have had no experience. The
infidelity of culture and of materialism also has been
obliged to confess that the Christian activies of large
numbers within the Church owe their existence to
motives in regard to which unbelief is a stranger.
Through the tender ministrations of personal love,
the soil of indifference and selfishness has been broken
up and made ready for the seeds of imperishable
truth.

These changes in the attitude of vast numbers
toward the Church and her ministers, clearly visible
to those who search for them, and are most intimately
acquainted with the characteristics of the German
people, have been wrought mainly within twenty
years, and largely during the last decade. That we
are justified in looking for a decided increase in the
near future, in the interest now taken [in the Church
and her legitimate work in evangelization and works
of beneficence, is the opinion of those who are filling
her pulpits and are engaged in administering her
charities.

But the Church of the Reformation, in which so
many take pride and which is now striving as she
never before strove in her history to discharge her
duty toward the wayward, the poor, and the neglected,
is something more than a mere organization for works
of charity and mercy. As her members believe, she
is the source of true doctrine for the people. Through
her the revelations of God to men are made known.
This does not mean that she may claim any infallibil-
ity as a teacher and expounder of dogmas, or that she
is fettered in her exposition of truth by creeds or

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 29<)

catechisms, but that her Mission is to present the
words and life of Christ in simple, intelligent
language to her hearers, that through the indwelling
Spirit she can do this authoritatively, or with such
strict loyalty to truth that she may safely be followed
as a religious guide. Her ojjinions on matters of faith
are therefore of value. While posing neither as a de-
fender of orthodoxy nor as a champion of liberalism,
she claims to be in such relations with God and His
revealed truth, as to justify the position she seeks to
fill as a teacher commissioned from above. Through
the union of persons, cherishing substantially the
same views with reference to the fundamental doc-
trines of Christian faith and practice, she is a fellow-
ship of believers. In this fellowship, which is also a
living organism, made such by divine purpose,
abides the spirit of peace, of love, of helpfulness, of
self-sacrifice. Here, among the disciples of the Lord,
is a refuge for the weary and heavy laden. Yet this
fellowship is not the mere union of those who are
drawn together by the fact that they cherish similar
aims and are ruled by the same spirit. While recog-
nizing a similarity of purpose and motive, the fel-
lowship formed under it is perfected and protected
by a Constitution, by laws which have been carefully
considered and heartily accepted, and by customs
which one is not at liberty to disregard. In other
words, the Church has an outward form, which even
unbelievers cannot fail to perceive. Through this
form she accomplishes her mission in the world.
Hence the emphasis which is so constantly placed
on the observance of Church Law, the recognition
of authority in the Church and the care to make

300 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

it plain to all that duties must be discharged, if
privileges are to be enjoyed. Within the fellow-
shij) thus protected by the forms with which it is
clothed, any who will, may find warm and loving
welcome. It is also held that the Church is the con-
science of the community. This means that from her
pulpits the sins of the community, the nation, indi-
viduals, and bodies of individuals are pointed out, the
duties which men owe to each other are clearly
set forth, and any deviation from these duties is
earnestly, fearlessly rebuked. In order that the
Church may be equal to the exalted position she oc-
cupies as the religious guide of the people, and the
channel through which truth is to find its way to them,
her leaders realize more and more the duty of being-
led by the Spirit, while yet holding to the "form of a
sound doctrine." For many j^ears her ministers have
ai^prehended truth intellectually, rather than through
exj^erience, and have taught principles of Christian
faith and conduct, as they w^ould teach the princiiDles
of moral or ethical science. There has been a ten-
dency toward formalism in piety and toward satisfac-
tion with mere external propriety in conduct. In
many quarters there has been in this a marked
change. The Eitschlian School, for example, insists
ujDon experience as a test of truth. Even those who
do not belong to this school and who have a horror
of its teachings, are compelled to admit that its test
is one which cannot be safely set aside. If, in many
instances confirmation still serves as an introduction
to society, or as marking the arrival at an age when
the person can be left to himself, pastors are seeking
to make it a public, a conscientious, an intelligent

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 301

confession of saving faith in the Lord Jesus, and the
beginning of an active Christian life.

Nor has Germany been wholly insensible to the
spiritual influences which have powerfully affected
England and America during the last thirty years.
The visits and souhstirring words of Pearsall Smith
have touched some hearts. Averse by nature to any-
thing that savors of fanaticism, and therefore hostile
to revivals in the English sense of the term, the fresh-
ness with which old truth has been presented by
evangelists from across the channel, has contributed
in no small degree to the spiritual fervor which
so frequently exibits itself in Germany to-day. Cer-
tain Christian institutions have been received directly
from abroad. Mr. Woodruff of Brooklyn, introduced
Sunday-schools into the country, and taught the peo-
ple how to make use of them. Through Von Bodel-
schwingh, so well known by reason of his benevolent
enterprises at Bielefeld, German Christians have be-
come acquainted with the Young Men's Christian
Association and, in a modified form, are giving it an
important iDlace in the machinery of their Church
work. Drummond is read in Germany with as
much pleasure as in Great Britain, even if less widely.
In common with his brother in the United States, the
spiritually = minded pastor mourns over the lack of
vitality in the Church as a whole, and over his own
Church in particular. He sees the evils of the times
and strives to remove them. He rebukes a tendency
to a laxity in religious belief which leaves nothing
positive upon which to stand. He would have men of
positive views in the theological chairs of the Univer-
sities, organize and establish Seminaries in which men

302 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

of pure evangelical faith shall teach candidates for
the ministry. Even the so called liberal minister,
though belonging to the extreme left, would ascribe
X)iety to no one who does not love God supremely and
his neighbor as himself. That is, liberalism has not
diminished the sense of obligation to work through the
channels of benevolence which the Church has
opened, or to preach the Gospel on which her foun-
dations are laid.

With a brief survey of the actual condition of the
National Churches of Germany, as furnished in late
reports, this chapter will close.

By far the largest and most aggressive body of
Protestant Evangelical Christians on the Continent is
the Union Evangelical Church of Prussia. She is
a true representative of Luther's teaching and spir-
it, a careful expounder of the Bible as he understood
it, a lover of Christian song, and a wise instructor
in Christian doctrine of the youth of the nation.
Judged by her numbers, the ability of her ministers,
the fame of her scholars, the devotion and heroism
of her missionaries, the wisdom with wdiich she
dispenses benevolence at home, she is a worthy
sister of the Evangelical Churches of Great
Britain and America. With all her faults, she is
still true to her noble history. Within her borders
less than six per cent, of the children of Protestant
parents remain unbaptized. Few young women or
young men are indifferent to the rite of confirma-
tion, or to the instruction in the doctrines of the
Church which precedes it. Not many marriages
take place outside the Church, although these, more
frequently than in previous years, are solemnized

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 303

by the civil magistrate. The civil form of marriage
is less formal and less costly. New parishes are estab-
lished every year: in 1892, eighty^four were formed.
In the building of new houses of worship, and in the
repairing of those which had fallen into decay, there
has been, within the last six years, surprising activ-
ity, especially in cities like Berlin. In the year
1892, 5,766,577 persons partook of the sacrament.
Though this is not convincing evidence that every
one of this large number of communicants has been
born again, it is evidence that a great many people in
Prussia prize the sacraments of the Church very
highly, and have some appreciation of their worth.
It should not be forgotten that nearly all pastors re-
quire communicants to meet them privately for spe-
cial preparation to approach the Lord's Table on the
Sunday. But large as this number of communicants
is, it is somewhat less than half the Protestant pop-
ulation of the State. The relative proportion of com-
municants to the entire population differs in the
various Provinces of Prussia. In the Ehine Prov-
inces, where the influence of the Reformed Church
is very strong, the number is less than elsewhere.
Church collections in Prussia for benevolent pur-
poses in 1892 amounted to 1,134,854 marks, or one
quarter of that number of dollars, a small sum for
each member of the National Church, but quite a
respectable sum considering the proportion of those
who actually contribute. Gifts for special objects
made by the living and by will, amounted, in 1892, to
2,231,330 marks, thus making the voluntary gifts of
the Church nearly 400,000 marks in excess of the
amount furnished by the Government and obtained by

304 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

taxation for the support of the National Church of
Prussia. This is not a record of which to be ashamed.

Like the church of Prussia, the National Church
of Saxony is welhorganized and well=governed.
This Church has felt the influence of Pietism, in
Dresden more than anywhere else, and in time nat-
urally came under the influence of Rationalism.
But the doctrines of Luther finally prevailed. Such
men as Luthardt, Kohlschtitter, Meier and Lober
have helped to stem the tide of unbelief. Of
the children born of Protestant parents in 1892,
95.3 per cent, were baptized. Of marriages 96.45
per cent, were solemnized by the authorities of the
Church. Although in Leipzig, only 23.5 per cent,
partook of the sacrament during the year, the average
for all Saxony was 48.85 per cent. Eight new par-
ishes were formed, nineteen permanent positions for
pastors were secured, eight positions for assistant
pastors, six new Church buildings were dedicated,and
twenty were renewed. The Church collections were
127,543 marks, or, wath the gifts for special objects,
397,543 marks.

The condition of the Church in Hannover resem-
bles that of Saxony. It is a small Church. Yet, in
1892, 59.5 per cent, of its membership partook of
the sacrament. Baptism and marriages were rela-
tively the same as in Saxony. During the six years
prior to 1892 the gifts for all purposes were about
200,000 marks annually. In this province such men
as Ludvig Harms, Petri Mtinkel, Niemann, have
left behind them an influence for good which will
not soon cease to be felt.

In Bavaria, where the prevailing religion is Roman

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 805

Catholic, the spiritual life of the National Protestant
Church has been vigorous. It is an interesting fact
that during recent years Romanism has made its
largest gains in North Germany, while the largest
gains of Protestantism have been made in Southern
Germany, In Bavaria we meet the names of such
men as Harless, Hofling, Thomasius, and Hofmann.
These men were stars of the first magnitude. Lohe,
Wucheror, and others have impressed a strongly Lu-
theran character on the Churches of this Province,
and have stimulated them to earnest Christian ac-
tivity, The influence of the Reformed professor and
preacher, Krafft, has been felt throughout the Lu-
theran communion. Of Protestant children born in
Bavaria in 1892, 99.54 per cent, were baptized. Of
marriages, 98.92 per cent, received the sanction of
the Church. Of mixed marriages, that is, where one
of the parties is a Protestant and the other a Cath-
olic, 53.8 per cent, were performed by Protestant
ministers. Gifts of benevolence reached the sum of
1,180,078 marks, or an average of ninety pennies, a
little less than twenty=three cents, for every nominal
Protestant in Bavaria. This was at the time the high-
est average reached in any National Protestant Church
in the Empire. In 1894, these gifts amounted 1,505,
928 marks, an average of a mark and a quarter, or
about thirty=one cents for each Protestant in Bavaria.
Figures taken from the "Chronik" of the Leipzig
Christian World (No 6, 1896), are very interesting.
Of 38,754 children born of Protestant parents, in
1894, 38,582 were baptized, Thirty^five children who
were more than a year old received the rite of bap-
tism. One person, born in 1868, was also baptized

30G CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

Of the marriages between Protestants more than
half were performed by a Christian minister; 8,049
against 7,984 performed by a civil magistrate.
Of mixed marriages, more than half received tlio
sanction of the Protestant Church. Attendance upon
the parochial schools was slightly below the average of
1893. Of 234 persons who withdrew from the National
Church during 1894, 181 became Roman Catholics,
49 joined some religious sect, Baptist, Methodist, or
Anglican, 6 went to Free Religious Societies, 1 be-
came a Jew, while 10 joined no religious organization.
The additions to the National Church were 189, 77 from
the Roman Catholic, 1 from the Old Catholic Com-
munion, 19 from sectarian Churches, and 16 from
Jewish bodies. Not less than 68.5 per cent, of the
Protestant population partook of the Lord's Supper.

The Church of the Province of Wurttemberg, mildly
Lutheran, is pietistic in the best sense of the word.
Beck, Kapff, Gerock, Burk, Weitbrecht and Kiibel
have determined the character of the Christian life
here. Conventicles have been favored, and special
meetings held for reading and explaining the Bible,
and for private edification. Higher Criticism has had
less influence in Wurttemberg than elsewhere. Only
58 children of Protestant parents failed to receive the
ordinance of baptism during the year 1892. Of these,
36 were in Stuttgart. Only 198 couples were married
outside the Church. Gifts for benevolent objects
amounted to 517,000 marks.

The Church in Baden has long been rent by
strife. "Schenkel against Uhlmann" has been the
cry. Although the tendencies are at present toward
evangelical forms of belief, the contest is by no

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 307

means at an end. The influence of Rothe, evan-
gelical and spiritually minded as lie was, has
helped Schenkel and the Protestantenverein, or the
party of the extreme left. Rothe seemed to be
willing that the State should absorb the Church.
In Baden, liberalism has been extremely intolerant.
Outwardly, the conditions of the Church seem prosper-
ous. Even "liberals" take a deep interest in the
work of the Inner Mission as well as in social ques-
tions. Not less than 98 per cent, of the children of
Protestant parents were baptized in 1892, while 97.2
per cent, of the marriages took place in the Church.
Of mixed marriages, 55. 8B per cent, were performed
by a Protestant pastor. More than 55 per cent, of the
constituency of the Church x3artook of the sacrament.
Gifts for benevolent objects averaged seventy pen-
nies for each member of the State Church, a large
average considering the circumstances.

In the Archdukedom of Hesse, different types of
belief and piety prevail. It was from the Church in
Hesse that Baur and Schlosser came. In this Duke-
dom, careful attention is paid to the forms of relig-
ion. In 1892, every child but one, born of Protestant
parents, was presented for baptism. Of the children
of mixed marriages, 52.21 per cent, were baptized.
In Upper Hesse, 129.23 per cent, of those nominally
connected with the Church partook of the sacrament.
This means that a good many came to the Table more
than once during the year. In what is known as
Rhine^Hesse, 73.74 per cent, came to the Table, and
in the districts bordering on Baden 54.91 per cent.
In cities where Social Democracy has large influence,
the number of communicants is small. In Offenbach

303 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

for example, the numbers are 12.53 per cent., in May-
ence 25.93 per cent. The total benevolent contribu-
tions amount to 249,294 marks. Reports from the
Church in Kur Hesse, of which Cassell is the chief
city, are more encouraging than formerly. Through
the influence of the Consistory at Cassell, disagree-
ments have been removed, and a new impulse has
been given to Christian life and Christian work. For
this, much is due to the wisdom and piety of such
men as Zockler and Grau.

One can hardly say that the condition of the Schles-
wig-Holstein Church is satisfactory. Doctrinally, the
Church is hyper^orthodox, although liberalism of an
extreme type is also found. In some places strong
tendencies toward Free Church Confessions are observ-
able. Yet in certain aspects reports are encouraging,
In 1893, the baptisms embraced 93.98 per cent, of the
births, and 94.23 per cent, of the marriages. Still,
although a Lutheran country, only 28 per cent, of
those connected with the Church partook of the
communion, a lower average than in the countries on the
Rhine, where the higher standards of the Reformed
Churches for admission to the communion are not
without effect on members of the National Church.
Contributions, notwithstanding the wealth of the
province, are small, reaching in 1893 only 40,864
marks, or not quite a tenth of what was given in the
same year in the Rhine Provinces.

The Church of Mecklenberg, on which Klieforth is
said to have fixed the stamp of a lifeless orthodoxy,
does not stand in very close relations to the other
Churches of the Empire. Earnest pastors complain
of the attendance at Church, and gifts are small.

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 309

Spiritually =minded laymen think that the pastors are
not in such sympathy with their people as they might
be, and that this is one of the chief reasons why the
religious conditions are not more favorable. Still,
even here, the Inner Mission finds faithful supporters
and the Saviour many outsiDoken witnesses.

It was not to be expected that the Church would
make any deep impression on the life and opinions of
the entire population of such cities as Hamburg
Oldenburg, and Bremen. Yet these cities contain
some of the most earnest Christians in Germany.
The liberality and aggressiveness of some Churches
in Bremen have long been known. But the tendency
in general is to neglect Church ordinances, and to set
a low estimate on the work of pastors. In Oldenburg
the gifts for benevolence were but 9,850 marks,
while in Hamburg only 73 per cent, of the children
of Protestant parents were baptised, and 16 per cent,
of the marriages took place outside the Church.

In the Dukedom of Anhalt, and in the Thuringian
States, conditions are somewhat better. In Anhalt,
in 1892, baptisms were 99.4 per cent, of the births,
in Schwartzburg,5Rudolphstadt, 99.84 per cent., in
Sachsen-Meiningen, 99.01 per cent. Marriages in
each of the these places were respectively 98.6 per
cent., 99.55 per cent., and 100 per cent. The number
of communicants was small, being 30.87 per cent., 38.7
per cent., and 31.67 per cent., of the Church member-
ship. Of gifts, there are no reports.

Such a review as the above makes it plain why in
many quarters there should be a complaint of a lack
of pastors who are wholly devoted to their work, and
who are preaching the doctrines of grace with ear-

310 CHRTSTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

nestness and enthusiasm. We see, too, why it is that so
few laymen devote time and means to the spread of
the principles of the kingdom of God, They
have heard nothing from the pulpit to interest
them in these principles. They have been accustomed
to look upon the Church as an institution designed
for the benefit of pastors, and for which pastors may
justly be held responsible. But, as has been shown
in the earlier pages of this chapter, there has been
a great change both in the spirit of pastors and in
the attitude of laymen toward Christian work. This
change, brought about in part through the new prob-
lems to be solved and the new duties to be discharged,
is likely to be still more marked in the future.
In personal work connected with the Inner Mission,
in the writing of books and articles in defense of Chris-
tianity, gifted and earnest laymen are finding fields of
usefulness of whose existence they had not even sus-
pected. Pastors are discovering that no sermons are so
interesting, either to themselves or to their hearers, as
those which set forth the simple doctrines of grace and
which strengthen and stimulate faith in a personal
Saviour.

The consequences of unbelief, especially in the
form of Materialism, are showing themselves with a
distinctness which is justly felt to be alarming.
These have appeared in a tendency toward brutality
in crime, and even in the pleasures which the uncul-
tivated classes of society seek. The reason for this
lies close at hand. If this life is all, if there is no
future, if man is nothing but matter, there need be
no sense of responsibility, no thought of eternity, no
fear of a judgment to come. The stronger may right-

EFFORTS TO MEET NEW DANGERS 311

fully take advantage of the weak. The contest for
existence may be conducted according to the laws of
selfishness. Men may be scholarly, scientific, famil-
iar with recent discussions in political economy and
natural science, and still remain brutal in feeling,
insensible to moral obligation, full of hate toward all
who in any way thwart their purposes. It is from
unbelief as a root that now, as in the days of the
apostle, the sins of the flesh sirring.

It is because this has been so clearly perceived
that a revival of spiritual earnestness has in late
years made itself felt, that fresh emj^hasis has been
put on righteousness as an essential element in Chris-
tian character, that the Church has set herself, with a
determination without a parallel in her history, to
meet and withstand the positive influence of unbelief
and the withering blight which has followed the
merely nominal faith of so many of her members.
Hence the efiPorts to counteract the false assumptions
of infidelity, misleading conclusions drawn from the
study of natural science, palpable errors in Christian
doctrine, hasty interpretations of the Scrijptures, and
general neglect of the ordinances of the house of God.
These efforts have not been without result. The
increased attendance at Church is an indication that
the people are beginning to think more highly of her
services as a help to their own better life and greater
happiness. They are perceiving that the Church is
interested in them, is seeking their welfare even in
this life, and are beginning to believe that for a life
hereafter there are provisions and promises which
they will do well to consider. The success of these
efforts of the last decade is encouraging pastors to a

313 CHRISTIAN LIFE IN GERMANY

study of other means for reaching the people than
those previously employed, and to a self -forgetfulness
in their own personal work very rare fifty years ago.

In order to meet the dangers which are threatening
from Roman Catholic aggressions and assumptions,
and to prevent the drift from the higher circles to its
communion, an Evangelical Bund, or League, has been
formed which meets annually, and to which some of
the most distinguished Protestants in the Empire are
giving approval and assistance. One of its main ob-
jects is to show that the Christianity which Cathol-
icism seeks to spread, and with which it w^ould have
its followers content, is not the Christianity of
the New Testament, the Christianity which Luther
preached, the Christianity which can help men to live
as they ought to live in this world, and which will fit
them for the world to come. Nor is the League blind
to the temporal advantages Catholics are seeking to
obtain from the Government, and to the burdens which,
through their close political organization, they are
constantly bringing upon Protestants.

During the annual sessions of the Social Congress,
to which reference has more than once been made,
the more pressing social questions of the day are dis-
cussed in a Christian spirit, and with all the thor-
oughness which men like Wagner and Harnack of
Berlin, and pastors such as Stoecker can give them.
But those who see the needs of the time most clearly,
and are studying them most thoroughly, are con-
vinced that the Church is the chief agency through
which the people are to be reached, and through
whose influence the evils which at present afflict
society, are to be removed. It is for this reason that

Jefforts to meet new dangers SU

Sunday Schools are prized, and are increasing in
number, that Societies for Young People and even for
Adults, in which the Bible is made a special object of
study, are multiplying, that special services are
arranged for children, and for those whose duties pre-
vent their attendance at the regular services on the
Sabbath. It is for this reason, also, that in some
sections of Germany evangelists are employed, chiefly
as helpers of overworked pastors, and that where it is
possible parishes too large for one man to look after,
are divided, or additional ministers are secured. The
era of Church building, over which so many in Ger-
many rejoice, has dawned because public sentiment
recognizes the fact that apart from the Gospel, noth-
ing can meet the wants of human nature or solve the
problems which present themselves in the German
Nation. Many of those who have the ear of the
people, from the pulpit, through the press and the
professor's chair, are urging them to look to Christian
teachers for moral and spiritual guidance, rather
than to those who believe only in philosophy, or in
science, to search the Word of God for principles
with which to build up character and secure happi-
ness, rather than give heed to the assertions of men
who would substitute for the clear and simjjle state-
ments of this Divine Word, the theories of a new
political economy, or of a destructive Social Democra-
cy. In spite of the opposition of outspoken unbelief
and of stolid indifference, true religion is steadily
regaining its power with the masses, is winning them
back to the Church, to a sincere faith in Jesus
Christ as the Saviour of men, and is thus laying the
foundations of universal contentment and perma-
nent prosperity.

INDEX.

Abstinence, total, . . . 192
Adolphus, Gustavus, death, 163

Ambrose, 124:

Andreas, John Valentine, 126

Anglicans, 53

Anton, Count, 229

Arbeitercolonien, . . . 196
Army, service in, ... 24
Association, Y. M. C, . 58
Asylum, Halle Orphan, . 86
Auberlen, Prof., .... 128
Angsburg, David von, . . 294

Augustine, 124

Baptists 53

Baird, Robert, .... 192

Barmen, 95, 96

Barth, Christian Gottlob, 132

Basel, 92

Basel, Miss. Soc. sacrifices, 109

Basil, 123

Bastian, Supt., .... 189
Bauer, Gen. Supt., . . . 189
Baur, Ferdinand, . . 80, 256
Bazaar, Victoria, . . . 149
Bebel — Liebknecht move-
ment, 284

Beck, 306

Bernstorflf. Count, ... 53
Bertheau, Cornelius, . . 240
Bismarck, . . 79, 117, 283
Blumhardt, C. E., ... 92

Bodelschwingh, von, 104,

167, 179, 197, 223, 255, 301
B5hme, Amanda, . . . 134
Boniface Society, Roman

Catholic 165

Borgia, Caesar, .... 275
Bourse, speculations on, .

.... 36, 272, 307
Brantwein, ... 31, 61. 192

Braun, 58

Brecklum, 102

Brochelmann, .... 148
Brother Houses, list of, . 254

Buddha, 274

Buddhism, 275

Bugenhagen, 126

Buhl, 147

Buhrmann, 257

Bund, Evangelical, . . . 312
Bunsen, Charles von, . . 49
Cabinet, Church and school

represented in, . . . 41

Campagna, 123

Canstein, Baron von, 127, 202
Catholics, Roman, number

of, .... 51, 52, 56
Chalmers, method of, . 216
Caspari, pastor, . . . 297
Catholics, Old, .... 53
Charles, the Great, . . .125
Chrysostom, 123

315

.".16

INDEX

Church, union with State, 22
method of representa-
tion, 22

lack of buildings, . . 56
work of Lutheran and

Cath. Churches, . . 57
Union Evangelical, . . 78
City Missionary Society,

Berlin, 31

Congress, Social, . 264, 286
Conrad, of Marburg, . . 125
Constantine, presConstan-

tine, 216

Creche, Ill

Criticism, Higher, . . 83, 81

Cyprian, 124

Dame, P., 102

Darwinianism, .... 290
Deism, in England, . . . 114

Delitzsch, 78

Dembowsky, Dr., . . . 255
Democrats, Democracy,
Social, ... 30, 64,
71, 220, 224, 260, 262,
265, 266, 278, 282, 292, 307

Diderot, 114

Diestelkamp, 104

Disseldorf, Julius, . . . 178
Disselhoff, Dr. Julius, . . 231
Decent, privat, .... 47

Dorner, 78

Dryander, 53

Education, Prussian system, 41

Egydy, 275

Ehlers, pastor, .... 101
Eichorn, Minister, . . . 106

Elberfeld, 95

Elizabeth, Countess of

Thuringia, .... 125
Emperor, head of Church, 22

Emigration, 70

Encyclopedists, .... 114
Endeavor, Christian, . . 58

England, 21

Ephraem Syrus, . . . 123

Eppendorf, 173

Ernest, Hans, Baron von

Kottwitz, .... 129

Fabiola, 124

Fabricius, 86

Falk, John, 128

Fichte, 76, 115

Fischer, pastor, .... 99
Fliedner, .... 106,
116, 134, 136, 143, 148,
150, 188, 199, 207, 226, 230
Fliedner, Fritz, .... 167
Foundlings' Home, . . . 142
Francis Assisi, .... 126
France, influence of, in 1848, 79
Francke, 81, 86, 87, 114, 118,

119, 126, 131, 147, 202, 207
Frederick IV, of Denmark, 86
Frederick, Emperor, . . 51

Fresius, 167

Frioke, pastor, .... 255

Froebel, 143

Frommel, 58

Games, National, ... 68
George, Director, . . . 176
Gerhardt, Paul, .... 238
Gerlach, Otto von, . . . 130

Gerock, 306

Germany —

a Christian nation, . 19,37
a military camp, ... 23
social distinctions in, . . 25
intellectual ability, . . 26

poverty of, 27

size of, 78

INDEX

31?

Germany —

country of specialists
and of authorities, . 40

Gesenius, 78

Gobat, Bishop, . . . .102

Goethe, 77, 115

Gossner, Johannes, 98, 99, 131

Gran, 308

Granl, Dr 97

Grundemann, 109

Guggenbuhl, Dr., . . . 178

Guericke, 110

Gudert, Dr. H., .... 85

Gundert, 109

Gymnasium, Gymnasia, .

20, 26, 36, 41, 42, 44, 45
Hadring, pastor, . . . 189

Hahn, pastor, 265

Harless, 305

Harms, Glaus, .... 102
Harms, Egmont, .... 101
Harms, Ludvig, pastor,

. . 81, 100, 304
Harms, Theodor, ... 100

Harnack, 80, 312

Hartmann, Eduard von, 72, 274

Hase, 78

Hauge, Hans Nielson, . 128
Hauy, Valentine, .... 135

Hegel, 76, 115

Hengstenberg, .... 78

Herder, 115

Hermann, 80

Hermannsburg, . . 100, 106

Herrnhut, 87

Hersbruck, 104

Hess, John, 126

H5ffliag, Prof., . . 136, 305
Hoffman, William, . 93, 305
Hohne, pastor, .... 255

House, Rough, . 71, 116, 135

Hbuer, 192

Idealism, 262

India, 86, 87

Ittameier, pastor, . . . 104
Intemperance, .... 60
Institute, Victoria, Berlin, 51
Janicke, pastor, Berlin, . 92

Jena, 76, 115

Jerome, 124

Jensen, pastor, . 102, 103, 725

Jews, 53, 67

Josenhaus, 93

Julius, Dr., 134

Kaftan, 8o

Kahnis, 78

Kant, .... 72, 76, 115
Kapff, Sixtus Charles, 137, 306
Karsch, pastor, .... 257
Keeley Cure, .... 193
Kempis, Thomas h., . . 131
Kiessling, John Tobias, . 127
Kindergartens, . . . 43, 143
Kirchenzeitang, die, . . 78
Klein, John William, . . 175

Klieforth, 308

Knudson, pastor, . . . 180
Kobelt, pastor, .... 255
Kohlschniitter, .... 304
Kottwitz, Baron, . . . 134

Kraft, Prof 136, 305

Krippe, die, . . . 142, 143

Krupp, 26, 272

Kruse, P., 296

Kttbel, • 306

Law, respect for .... 62

Leipzig, 76,97

Lessing, 77,115

Libraries, Peoples', . . 207
LOber, ....... 304

318

INDEX

L6he, William, 136,178,256,305

Lotteries, 62

Losch, Frau Banker, . . 153

LGcke, Prof., 133

Luthardt, Prof., . . . 78,30i

Luther, Martin, 49,74,75,80,83,

114,125,126

Lutherans, 53

Lutherans, Old, .... 53

Lfitkens, 86

Llitzen, 80,163

Magazines, compared with

Harper's The Century, 31
Marriage, Customs, . . 67,68
Marthashof, Berlin, . 150,244

Mast 167

Materialism 71,262

Mennonites, 53

Methodists, 53

Meier, 304

Meyenroch, Pastor, . . . 160
Michel, Charles, teacher,173,2o7

Minna 228

Minister, Cultus, . . . 22,41
Missions, City, .... 210
Mission, die aussere, ... 83
Mission, die innere, 79,85,111,
117,118,121,128,133,139,145,
146,163,177,178,183,209,223,
254,285,296,310.
Missionary Societies, Order
of formation, . . .

Moravian, 90,91

Basel, 91

Berlin 1 93,94

Rhine and Westphalia, 95,96
North Dutch (German) or

Bremer, 96

Leipzig, 97

GoBsner, Berlin II. . . 98

Herrmansburg, . . . 100
Pilgrim Mission, . . . 101

Jerusalem, 102

Schleswig=Holstein, . . 102
Die Neukirche, . . . 103
Neuendettelsau, . . . 103
General Evangelical Mis-
sionary Union, . . 103
The Society for Evangel-
ical Lutheran Missions
in East Africa, . . 104
The Evangelical Society
for Dutch East Africa,
or Berlin III. . . .104
Dutch China Alliance, . 104
East Friesian, Kdnigs-

burg, 105

Central of Bavaria, . . 105
Cameroons Union, Stutt-
gart, 105

Societies of women, . .
Berlin, for education of

women in the East, . 105

Kaiserswerth, .... 106

Moravians, . . . 53,76,81,88

Moravian Missions, . . 90,91

Mttnkel, Petri, .... 304

Napoleon, 76

Nasmith, David, .... 210
Nathusius, Philip von, . 255

Neander, 130,134

Nepomuck, John Edler von

Kurtz, 180

New England, 38

Niebuhr, 77

Niemann, 304

Nietschmann, .... 208
Nightingale, Florence, . . 213

Nietzsche, 275

Oberlin, JohnFredreick,128,143

INDEX

3ia

Officers in army and navy, 35
Oe?er, Rudolph, .... 207

Olympias, 124

Oncken, J. G 146

Oscar I. of Sweden. . . . 198
Paradis, Theresia von, . 175
Pastor, position, authority, 49
efforts to know parish, 34,36
Patriotism, .... 63,119

Paula, 124

Pauline, Princess, . . . 140
Paulsen, pastor, .... 257

Periodicals, 39

Pestalozzi, John Henry,128,157
Phillips, pastor, . . . 255
Philosophy, Dr. of, . . . 47

Philosophy, 72

Pietist Pietism, 76,81,114,
118,120,126,304.

Pilate, 275

Pless, Prince, 242

Pldtzensee, Prison at, . 198

Pltitschau, 86

Probst, pastor, .... 178

Prostitution, 187

Protestants, number, divi-
sions, 52,53

Protestantenverein, . . 307

Ranke, 77

Rappard, 256

Rationalism and Ration-
alists, 72, 75

87,111,114,116,119,120,
126,262,274,275,304.
Rautenberg, pastor, . 134,146
RealschGle, . . 42,45,46,57
Reche, von der. Count, 255,257
Reichardt, Gertrude, . . 229
Reindel, pastor, .... 256
Religion, ethical, ... 72

Riis, 102

Ritschl, Ritschlian, Rit-

schlianism, . . 80,81,300

R6the, 307

Roth, Rector, 136

Salyer, pastor, .... 258
Schaefifer, . . . 119^295,296
Schalenfeld, Rosalie, . . 149

Schelling, 76,80

Schenkel, 306,807

Schleswig=Holstein, . . ,117
Schepper, Louise, . . 129,243

Schiller, 77,151

Schlitter, pastor, .... 25
Schlosser, G. . . . 189,307

Schmidt, 102

Schnapps, 192

Schools, secular classifica-
tion, . . . 41,42,43,44,45
Daughter, Higher for girls, 50

Sunday, 58,113

Schopenhauer, . . . 274,275

Schwartz, 86

Seguin, Dr 178

Seminar, 47

Seminary, preacher's, . . 48

Siemens, 26

Sieveking, Amalie, . . . 131
Smith, Pearsall, .... 301
Social Congress, . . . . 286
Social Democrats, Democ-
racy, Socialism, So-
cialists, . 30,31,32,33,57,71

Spener 114,119,126

Spittler, C. E 92

Spittler, Christian Freder-
ick, 138,256

Stahel, pastor, .... 256

Steinkopf, E 92

Stier, ....... 130

820

INDEX

Stoecker, Dr. Adolph, . .
31,58,135,211,212,278,281,
312.

Strauss 80,277

Strikes, 69

Studien und Kritiken, die 78
Storm, Beata, .... 126
Stfirmer, pastor, .... 255
Sunday, use of, . . . . 56,57

Sweden, 40

Tachel, pastor, .... 255
Taylor, Hudson, . , . 105
Teacher, examination, sal-
ary, etc., 44

Theology, Natural and Re-
vealed, 74

Tholuck, 77,129

Thomasius, 305

Tiesmeyer, pastor, . . 146

Tischendorf, 38

Tract Societies, . 205 et seq.

Trankebar, 86,98

Transon, P 104

Tflbingen, 80

Uhlmann, 306

University, Universities,

39,46,47,49,53,68,78,83.
University man, advantage

in life, 40,55

University of Ztirich, . . 51

Urlsperger, 306

Verein, Gustav Adolphus, 130

Versmann, 102

Victoria, Queen, .... 250
Vitzius, nom de plume, Jer

Gotthelf, 207

Volkenning, 110

Volksschule, . . . 41,42,43
Volmarstein, Count Adel-

bert, 130

Voltaire, 114

Vorwarts, 39

Wadzeck, Prof 143

Wage earner, condition, . 28

Wagner 312

Waldeck, 66

War, civil 38

for independence, ... 76

Peasants' Thirty Years . 75

Warneck, Dr. Gustav,85,106,109

Weber, Licentiate, . 264,285

Weitbrecht, 306

Weizacker, 203

Werner, Dr. Gustav, . 138,182
Westphalia, 28,29,66,95,96,

110,130.

Wichern, 79,116,130,133,134,135

138,183,184,192,198,207.214

215,291,238,246,292,294,295

William 1 79,293

William, Frederick III.

77,115,192.
William, Frederick IV, . 79
Wittenberg, Day, ... 116
Dedication Castle Church 52
Woodruff, .... 146,301
Wortlinsdorf Brothers, . 147

Wurster, 296

Wartemberg, 92

Zahn, Gottfried, . . 127,147
Zegers, pastor, .... 250
Zell, Catharine, .... 126
Zeller, Christian Henry,128,256

Zeune, Prof 175

Ziegenbalg, 86

Zimmermann, pastor, . . 164
Zinzindorf, Count, . . 87
ZOckler, 306

BW6056 .W72®

Christian life in Germany as seen In the

Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library

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