Another of the men just mentioned was G. W. Lehmann, born in 1799, an engraver and etcher by trade, and a missionary by divine vocation. He was one of the first six baptised by Oncken, in Berlin, in 1837. He believed in a special manner in the power of the union of believers. He organized; he drew the churches together in associations; he constituted himself a link between them by ceaseless itinerant missionary labor. He died at Berlin in 1882. The writer met him there shortly before his death. His powers, also, had been broken by age. But his face was of rare sweetness, and his prayers, though broken and full of repetitions, still had the unction of former days.
The third of this noble triumvirate was Julius Köbner, born in 1807 in Denmark. He was a Jew by birth. His father was a Chief Rabbi, and saw to it that his son was instructed in all the learning of the law. But the young man heard the message of the crucified Messiah and believed. He was baptised in 1830, and rendered valuable service to the cause, both in Denmark and Germany. He was not a man of action so much as of thought and feeling. There was a mystic glow of love and devotion in all he said. His poetic talent was of a very high order. He has greatly enriched Baptist hymnology. His chief work is a volume entitled “Das Lied von Gott,” describing God’s creative and redemptive work. It contains passages of great power, and has been highly commended by such literary authorities as Karl Gerok. His last years were spent at Elberfeld and Berlin. He had a little daughter born to him in old age. It was very touching to see the old man with the sweet oriental face looking down at the little maid by his side as they took their walks together, each anxious to lead and care for the other. He, too, has now passed away. So has Claus Peters, who was a kind of bishop in all the region of Schleswig; so have Bues and Cramme. Others of the first generation are now old. A new generation is growing up to solve new problems. There are many strong men among them, so many that it might be invidious to single out any for special mention. Those American travelers who have sought out the German pastors in the places where they stayed, have felt that they were amply rewarded by the contact with these faithful men of God.
The men of the older generation were called directly from their trade to the ministry of the Word. They were taught in the school of life, and instructed by adversity. Attempts were made years ago to train the preachers. They were gathered by Oncken, or Köbner, or Berneike, for a few months of teaching. In 1880, a permanent school was established with seven pupils, and the late Reverend Moritz Geissler as professor. The school now has twenty-six students, two instructors in the secular branches, and two professors, J. G. Lehmann, a son of the older Lehmann, and J. G. Fetzer, of Rochester Seminary. The school has a four years’ course, and an occasional partial course of one year for older men. The students were for a long time housed in very insufficient quarters near the Hamburg church; but, in 1888, a handsome building was erected in Horn, a suburb of Hamburg, and the school is now well equipped and sure to influence the future of the German Baptists.
The other great institution for the furtherance of the work is the publishing house. The dissemination of Christian literature has, from the first, been one of the chief aims of our brethren. At first, Mr. Oncken obtained grants of Bibles and books from other societies; but the need of having a publishing house under his own control soon became apparent, and the first tract was published in 1834. Through its connection with American and British tract and Bible societies, the society has been able to do an extensive work. The number of Bibles and Testaments sold during 1887 was 35,586 copies. Over three million pages of tracts were issued during the same year. A number of periodicals also issued from the press of the society. Sunday-school lesson papers are published. There is a paper called “Wort und Werk” for the young men, and another called “Tabea” for the young women. The most important paper is the “Wahrheitszeuge,” the regular organ of the denomination, which has recently become a weekly, and has a circulation of over five thousand copies. Since 1878, the business has been managed by Reverend Philip Bickel, D. D., formerly editor of the “Sendbote” at Cleveland, Ohio. He has, by the most painstaking work, diminished the indebtedness of the business, and steadily increased the scope of its work. The colporteurs and volunteer workers of the German Baptist churches constitute an agency for the dissemination of Christian literature which, for cheapness and effectiveness, is scarcely equalled anywhere.
The work is bound to grow. It is opposed by the conservatism and prejudice of the people, of the strength of which no one can have a conception who has not put his shoulder against it and tried to budge it. The government, at least in the larger states, has taken a far more tolerant attitude; but complete religious liberty does not exist in Germany, nor will it exist until the State Churches have been disestablished, and the German nation has stripped from its limbs the last shackles of political absolutism and caste prerogative. Our churches are increasing in number in spite of the constant drain of emigration which takes from them their most prosperous and wide-awake members. But, aside from the actual gain of converts, our churches are doing the work of leavening thought by their literature, by their demonstration of the power of Christian fellowship as presented in a church of believers, and by the very general and extensive system of lay evangelization. In 1889, 190 churches reported 1409 stations where the Word is preached at regular intervals. Our churches are the conductors of the evangelical thought and church methods of England and America. They have been pioneers of Sunday-school work in Germany, and they are bound to influence its entire religious future.
CHAPTER XIX.
OUT OF GERMANY INTO SWITZERLAND.