120 MONTHLY RECORD OF PASSING EVENTS. ward, but rather a re-action against the infidelity which is the bane of our days. He saw in it a "passionate love of a dishonoured Lord, which led many in their distress to do what they would not-bow down in unscriptural adoration of the sacrament of his body and blood." This from a reputed Evangelical Bishop is strange enough. An idolatrous veneration of the elements is to be palliated upon the plea of showing honour to a dishonoured Lord! Certainly the idolatry is as bad and much more dangerous than the infidelity. THE "FREEMAN."-This Baptist newspaper (now the property of a Limited Liability Company) has come under new Editorship; the following is the new staff -Editors: Revs. Dr. Angus, F. Clowes, C. Vince, and S. R. Pattison, Esq. Assistant-Editor-Mr. Edward Leach. A list of thirty-four well known names, Baptist ministers and others, are announced as having engaged to write for the paper. THE BARLETTA TRAGEDY.-That the worst horrors of medieval persecution should be revived in the nineteenth century, even for a limited period and on a small scale, is sufficient proof that the spirit which prompted them is not extinct. The poor Protestants on the Neapolitan shore of the Adriatic have had, in the atrocious massacre that has been recently perpetrated, ample proof that they owe it to the civil power and not to the Romish priesthood, that they are not every one barbarously exterminated. Men burnt upon furniture taken from their own houses, others killed in cold blood, and many more cruelly wounded, form a terrible comment on the supposed mildness of modern Romanism in its dealings with Protestants. The organs of the Papacy on the Continent, refer it all to the policy of the Italian government, in allowing "heretics" to come into Italy and make proselytes. And not a word of regret or rebuke, much less indignation, has been uttered by the Roman Catholic press of this country. THE TABLES TURNED.-A church-rate was obtained last year in the parish of St. Peter's, near Ramsgate, and upon Mr. James Crofts, the Baptist minister of the place, and others, refusing to pay, summonses were issued which ended in distraints being made, in the usual way. cently, however, it has been found that the rate was illegally laid, and the authorities have been glad to compromise the matter by the payment of £10 as expenses, and £15 as damages to Mr. Croft and his friends. Re HAMBURG.-This "free city" on the Continent has the honor of being the first to obtain perfect religious liberty for its inhabitants. The Lutheran church has no special privileges as heretofore, being released from her union to the state, and all religious sects, including Baptists, are placed on an entire equality in the eye of the law. The registration of births, deaths and marriages is placed in the hands of the civil authorities, and a certificate from the Lutheran clergy dispensed with. The new law came into operation in January of the present year. It is specially interesting thus to find that the scene of our brother Oncken's early labours and persecutions for conscience sake, has been the first place to receive the priceless boon of complete religious freedom. QUAKER MISSIONS. The Society of Friends, though foremost in works of philanthrophy and benevolence, has never yet engaged directly in Missionary operations. A movement, however, is now set on foot for holding meetings for the purpose of diffusing information and stirring up a Missionary spirit in the body at large, with the ultimate object of forming a Friend's Missionary Society. The NONCONFORMITY IN WALES. Welsh may, in general terms, be called a nation of Nonconformists. In the returns of 1851, the Nonconformist sittings were 70 per cent. of the entire sittings for worship provided in the Principality. Since then no fewer than 281 new chapels have been opened. THE MORMONS. The United States Congress has resolved to abolish the polygamy of the Mormonites. On Jan. 8th, a bill was passed which declares that, "like its twin sister, slavery, polygamy should be swept from the territories of the re-public, if it should require the whole power of the Government to do so." This decision will probably put new vigour into the preparations Brigham Young is said to be making for a grand exodus to the Sandwich Islands. It is understood that the Bill for the admission of Utah as a state, will also be amended so as to prohibit polygamy. DR. STEANE, of Camberwell, has finally severed the connection between himself and his people at Denmark Place, leaving Mr. Stanford as sole pastor. In his letter of resignation he urges the church to renewed steadfastness in holding fast the great truths of substitution and imputation, in reference to the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE GERMAN BAPTIST MISSION. BY J. G. ONCKEN, PASTOR OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH AT HAMBURG. BRITISH Christians, accustomed to regard Germany as the "land of the Reformation," and to pronounce with reverence the names of Luther and his noble band of coadjutors, are generally but very slightly acquainted with the true state of the country, at the present time, in a religious point of view. No man can have a higher respect and admiration for the great Reformers than I have, or can look back with more gratitude to our glorious Reformation. But, great as it was, it did not go far enough. The Reformers, instead of leaving open to their successors the course of inquiry and investigation which they had commenced, stereotyped for future generations their own views of truth; Luther's Catechism and the Augsburg Confession of Faith have been from that day to this the creed of the Lutheran State Church, from which none can differ without entailing on themselves the charge of heresy and schism, and the certain risk of severe and relentless persecution. The Bible has never obtained in Germany its position as the only unerring guide in matters of religion; it has never become a family book, a book for the people. Its place has been supplied by the works of the Reformers and other fallible men; in the schools Luther's Catechism has been the standard book, and even in religious families devotional works have always held that position which should belong only to the Word of God. These works contain much real evangelical truth, but are more or less impregnated with the errors retained in the Lutheran Church. In the Catechism, the doctrines of baptismal regeneration, consubstantiation, the duty of confession, and the power of the clergy in virtue of their office to forgive sins in God's stead and as Christ's representatives on earth, are clearly taught; the second commandment is obliterated from the Decalogue, and the fourth given as corrupted by the Church of Rome. In the midst of this darkness, superstition, and error I was brought up. I was baptized in infancy in the Lutheran Church, and my religious education confided to the care of two pastors, both of whom were not only utterly irreligious, but immoral men. I received from them the usual preparatory instruction, and was confirmed and admitted as a communicant at the Lord's table. But God had purposes of mercy towards me, and led me in His providence to England, the land of the Bible and of religious liberty. There I first heard the gospel, and in your great metropolis I sought the Lord with tears till I found, by simple faith in the Saviour, the peace of God which passeth all understanding. Then my most ardent desire was that God, in His great mercy, would open a way for me to return to my native land, and preach to my beloved fellowcountrymen the unsearchable riches of Christ. This was granted to me in 1823, when I was sent out as a missionary to Hamburg by the Continental Society, of which Rev. Isaac Saunders, Rector of Blackfriars, was the Secretary. The beginning was very feeble and insignificant, but the blessing of Him who despiseth not the day of small things was with it. At the first meeting, held in my lodgings, ten persons came out of curiosity to hear the "new English religion;" and to them, after reading Isaiah lv., I spoke from verse 1, on the blessings of the gospel and the freedom of them. With a trembling hand the seed was scattered by the warm-hearted but inexperienced youth; but it was watered by the Divine blessing, and out of that little company one poor sinner's heart was touched that night, and he was savingly converted to God. The number of my hearers rapidly increased, and one after another was led by the Spirit of God to ask the all-important question, "What must I do to be saved ?" Luther's saying, "Wherever the Gospel comes, it creates a sensation," was verified in our experience. No sooner did it become known in Hamburg that "conventicle meetings' were held, than the clergy called in the aid of the civil authorities to put us down. Then commenced a system of espionage, annoyance, and persecution; of threats, fines, confiscations, imprisonment, and banishment, which lasted for twenty years. But the work was of God, and man could not stay it. The word was accompanied with power from on high; the converts, regardless of consequences, offered their houses for the services, and in time there were forty places in the city at which I was welcomed to JUNE, 1866, 6 122 THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE GERMAN BAPTIST MISSION. preach the glad tidings of salvation. By constantly changing the place of my meeting, I generally succeeded in evading my enemies. Notwithstanding all their efforts, the work has gone on, and spread throughout Germany and into all the adjacent countries, and the Lord has crowned it with success; millions have heard the word of life, the people sitting in darkness have seen the light of truth; many thousands have believed to the saving of their souls, and numerous churches have been formed. In 1824 I obtained from my late esteemed friend, pastor Rautenberg, the Lutheran Minister of St. George, Hamburg, permission to establish in his parish the first Sunday School in Germany. I was told, "It is an English plant, and will never flourish in German soil;" but the result has proved the contrary. Wherever it is at all permitted, we always establish Sunday-schools in connection with our churches, and some even of the Lutheran Churches have now Sunday-schools, though the movement has been strongly opposed by the clergy. In the year 1829, having become convinced, from the study of the scriptures (for I was entirely unacquainted with the sentiments of the Baptists), of the truth of believers' baptism, and the nature of a Christian Church, I relinquished my connection with the Continental Society, and became an agent of the Edinburgh Bible Society. Being then at liberty to carry out my own views, I and a few of the converts who had also seen the same truth, only waited for some one who, having himself followed the Lord in His ordinances, should be qualified to baptize us, and form us into a Church. But for this we had to wait five long years, though we applied both to England and Scotland. During these years we had ample time to count the cost of the step we were about to take a step so unheard of in Germany, and so dangerous, that we only expected to be destroyed whenever the fact should become known. In 1834 a little company of seven trembling believers, in the dead hour of night, were rowed across our beautiful Elbe, to an obscure part of the shore, and there buried with Christ in baptism by Professor Sears, of Boston, United States. The next day we were formed into a Church, of which I was appointed the elder; and God made that infant church His peculiar care. Just at this time the only man in our senate who feared God was put at the head of the police, and the Lord inclined his heart to honour and protect us, as christians, although he did not agree with us as Baptists. While he remained in this office, although we were constantly annoyed by the Government, at the instigation of the clergy, yet we were not subjected to any very severe measures; and when, after three or four years, he was succeeded by another, under whom the persecution began with great severity, we had already increased very largely in numbers, and grown in knowledge and grace, so that we were better prepared to stand the trials which soon came upon us. I had previously purchased my citizenship, and therefore could not be banished; but I was immediately thrown into prison, our meetings were broken up, heavy fines imposed, and goods confiscated; but, by the grace of God, all our members were enabled to stand firm; and many others, seeing their faith and love and holy boldness, were led to cast in their lot with us. The church was scattered, and could no longer meet in one place; but they met in twelve little companies, at each others' houses, and generally succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the police. When the term of my imprisonment had expired, the church met again at my private house, with locked doors, for fear, not of the Jews, but of the Christians. Our baptisms all took place under cover of the night; and on my missionary tours, which were often very extensive, I was banished successively from almost every State in Germany. I could never travel, as an honest man, by daylight; but was compelled to journey on foot in the darkness, to hold services, examine candidates, administer the ordinances, and form churches in the dead of night, and take care to be over the frontiers before break of day, for fear of the pursuers. In the year 1842, when my house had become too small for our meetings, we ventured to hire a large old warehouse, in an obscure quarter of the town, belonging to the Jews, from whom we knew we had nothing to fear; and, just at the time when we were looking forward, with trembling anxiety, to entering it, the Lord interposed by a fiery judgment, and made our way plain before us. The great fire, in which one-third of the city perished, broke out; and, after raging for three days, left the city a heap of ruins, and thousands of the miserable inhabitants houseless and helpless. We instantly offered the Government the use of our warehouse for the reception of the sufferers, and the offer was thankfully accepted. Eighty persons were sheltered for six months, and we appointed one of our deacons to take the oversight of this strange family. He watched THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE GERMAN BAPTIST MISSION. 123 with assiduous care over their temporal and spiritual welfare, and we afterwards received the thanks of the Senate, with the gratifying intimation that our proteges had been better behaved, and given less trouble to the authorities, than any of the assemblies of the destitute throughout the city. During these six months we had held our meetings regularly in one floor of the warehouse, and now no opposition was made to our continuing them. The persecutions in Hamburg virtually ceased, although in other parts of Germany they were continued with undiminished rigour. Thus this awful calamity to the city proved to us, as a church, one of the greatest blessings God has ever sent us, and amongst the sufferers there was only one of our members. The revolutions of 1848-9 were also made to work for our good; new fields were thrown open to us in every direction. I went immediately to Austria and Hungary, and preached Christ among the benighted Romanists both at Vienna and Pesth. We circulated bibles and tracts in these countries to the utmost of our ability, and the last great day only will disclose what good has been affected. I hired at Vienna a part of an old monastery, where our converts continued to assemble until 1851, when, letters between them and the brethren at Pesth having been intercepted by the police, they were surprised one Lord's day, and men, women, and children were arrested and cast into prison. At the political reaction Austria and Hungary were again closed against us. During the revolutions, the Lord watched over all our churches in a very remarkable manner, inasmuch as not one of our 5,000 members took part in the overthrow of the governments; though we, above all others, on account of the severe persecutions to which we had been subjected, could but hail with joy an increase of civil and religious liberty. Thus a permanent impression in our favour was produced on the governments of Germany; and one of our senators, who twenty years before had said to me, "While I can move my little finger, it shall be lifted up to crush you," now said, "Mr. Oncken, your conduct, and that of all your members, during the revolutions, has been so noble, we must give you all you ask, and henceforth anything I can do to serve you I shall be happy to do ; and he remained our friend until his death. One great object of my life has been to obtain the introduction into the schools and families of Germany the word of God, divested of the books of the Apocrypha, which are always included in the Bibles printed by the Continental Societies. To a large extent this has been accomplished; and, since the establishment of the depôt at Hamburg, 1,000,000 copies of the scriptures, and 15,500,000 good evangelical tracts have been issued from it; besides about 50,000 on the Lord's Supper and Baptism. Our Union numbers eighty-eight churches, and upwards of 1,000 preaching stations. Besides scriptures and tracts, our missionaries and colporteurs have succeeded in introducing large numbers of evangelical books and pamphlets amongst the people, amounting to fully 900,000 copies. Amongst these are 100,000 single sermons by Dr. Krummacher, 100,000 by Spurgeon, translated into German, Haldane's "Commentary on the Romans" and "Inspiration of the Scriptures," Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress and "Come and Welcome," Booth's "Reign of Grace," Bunyan's "Grace Abounding," and other works translated from the English; also Dr. Lampen's "Covenant of Grace," and 90,000 pamphlets against the Apocrypha, with between 14,000 and 15,000 members, all of whom have been immersed on a profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and every one of whom is in some way or other a missionary to the perishing sinners around; for the duty of active, personal exertion for the extension of Christ's kingdom, is a principle constantly impressed on the hearts of the converts, and prayerfully carried out in all these churches. Of the 40,000 converts who, since the commencement of the mission, have joined our communities, about twenty-five per cent. have been Roman Catholics, and a few children of Abraham. One hundred brethren now devote their whole time to the work, as missionaries or colporteurs, in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, France, Poland, Russia, and the Danubian provinces. A greater number of brethren aid us in preaching the gospel, without receiving any pecuniary aid. New doors are opening to us on every hand. From all parts the cry meets us"Come over and help us.' The spirit of persecution, though still raging in some part of the mission field, is gradually yielding to the conviction that our members rank amongst the most loyal subjects of the different States. In 1857 a concession was granted to the Hamburg Church by the Senate, securing to us the rights of public worship, the administration of the ordinances and the civil privileges of a corporate body, 124 THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE GERMAN BAPTIST MISSION. These rights have not at present been granted to our churches in any other State of Germany, although with the exception of Mecklenburg Strelitz and Mecklenburg Schwerin, the German Governments have ceased to interfere with our public services, and on the whole, we have been treated lately with much greater leniency. In Hamburg the almost perfect religious liberty enjoyed since 1857 has been sealed by a vote of the Senate and Burgerschaft, placing all religious denominations on a perfect equality. This decree came into force on the 1st of January, 1866. Thus, in Hamburg, where forty-three years ago the mission was commenced under the most unfavourable circumstances, exposed to the persecutions of both the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, who were determined to destroy it, our adorable Lord, in whose name and at whose bidding it was undertaken, has made good his gracious declaration, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Men have shown what they could do, but Christ has proved that "No weapon formed against Zion shall prosper." The glorious result of the new decree is that all State persecution for religious opinions is at an end in our Republic. What influence the example of Hamburg will have on the other States of Germany, and through them on the other Governments of Europe, it is impossible to say. I rejoice to add that, since the above happy event, a concession has already been granted in Holstein to one of our churches-at Tangstedt, formerly a preaching station of the Hamburg church;-and that throughout Schleswig-Holstein our missionaries meet with no hindrance from the civil authorities. Whilst we rejoice in the liberty now conceded to us in most of the German States, and in Denmark, where our churches enjoy perfect liberty, I regret to say that the persecutions in Poland and Russia have recently been very severe. In Poland our missionaries, and some of the converts, have been subjected to repeated and lengthened imprisonments, to fines and confiscations; and up to the present time brother Alf, our senior missionary there, is not permitted to go beyond the confines of the village where he resides. In Northern Russia, especially in Courland, the persecutions have, since the publication of the Ukas of the Emperor in 1863, been repeatedly renewed, and our devoted brother Gärtner has been several times imprisoned. Quite recently, however, more favourable reports have been received, from which it appears that the Governor of that province has been instructed no longer to interfere with our religious services. It is a fact demanding our warmest gratitude to God that, notwithstanding all the persecutions, we now have in Courland 900 converts. In the south of Russia the persecutions have continued with more or less severity, and some of the converts have been compelled to flee to Turkey. There they have continued to work for Christ; and at the close of last year twenty-two converts were baptized amongst the mountains of Bulgaria. There perfect religious liberty is enjoyed, and its true principles are understood. The Pacha of the province gave the refugees a hearty welcome, and said:-"If eighty-five religious sects wished to settle here they would all be free to do so. I have only to do with your obedience to the laws; God alone has to do with your faith and your religion." Notwithstanding the persecutions, the prospects for the spread of the gospel in Russia and the Danubian provinces are very hopeful; but a larger staff of missionaries is urgently required. The same observation applies to the whole of the mission field. Constant applications are made to us to send out more labourers, but we have not the means to support them. We have no expensive machinery; our missionaries and colporteurs receive only from £35 to £50 annually, and they are a noble band of devoted men, ready to spend and be spent in the service of their Lord. But we have not one rich man amongst us; and, though our members give to the utmost of their ability, it is impossible for us to sustain the mission, constantly extending over so vast a field. It will be gratifying to our friends in this country to learn that of the 100 missionaries, 48 are supported wholly or in part by funds supplied from Great Britain. Nine are maintained by the American Baptist Missionary Union, and the remainder by our own home mission funds. Our mission is now indirectly extending to all the five continents. Five thousand members and some missionaries have emigrated to America, and formed flourishing German Baptist Churches there. Some have also gone to Africa, to Cape Colony, and we hope in the autumn of this year to send out a devoted young man to labour amongst them, and to preach Christ to the natives. In Australia also a German |