is_EJ 
 
 \i\j& ^eV_. 
 
 THE 
 
 in Saxony 
 
 And their Struggle for Religious 
 
 Freedom. 
 
 * 25 * 
 
 London : 
 
 
 
 HAMPTON & Co., 13, Cursitor Street, E.C. 
 
 1894. 
 
Founded by the late Pastor J. G. Oncken, of Hamburg. 
 
 'T'HE German Baptist Churches form one united band of Mission Centres 
 
 numbering some 23,000 members. From Germany the work has spread 
 into the surrounding lands—Holland, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, Roumania, 
 Bulgaria, Servia, Switzerland, and through emigration into South Africa, and 
 the Churches in these countries are united with those in Germany itself, forming 
 what is called the Larger Union , and numbering altogether over 28,000 
 members. Besides this there are large separate Unions in Denmark, Sweden, 
 Russia (including Poland), all emanating from the same nucleus, while 
 thousands have emigrated to the United States, where there are now a large 
 number of German Baptist Churches. The Mission in the Cameroons is now 
 also receiving some help from the German Baptists. 1 he whole of this vast 
 movement has developed more or less diiectly from the little band of seven, 
 consisting of Pastor Oncken, his wife, and five others, who were baptised at 
 Hamburg and formed into a Church by the late Rev. Barnard Sears, D.D., of 
 Boston, U.S.A., in the year 1834. 
 
 It is a recognised principle that all members of these churches should be 
 engaged in some kind of Mission work. Sunday Schools, Young Men’s and 
 .Young Women’s Associations, Tract Distribution, Bible Colportage, and other 
 agencies are everywhere in active operation ; and the seed of the Kingdom is 
 thus scattered far and wide, and out-lying stations are constantly supplied with the 
 preached Gospel by the members of these Churches, and from these stations 
 arise in time separate communities and new Churches. The field, however, is 
 so large, and opportunities for larger development so continua lly offering, that 
 many more missionaries than can now be supported so as to give their whole 
 time to this work of evangelization are much needed. The German Churches 
 are giving nobly, but single-handed they are not able efficie ntly to carry forward 
 
 this vast work of the evangelization of all the countries of Central and_E astern 
 
 Europe, and funds therefore are necessary, and are earnestly pleaded for, so that 
 the work may not languish, but under God’s blessing may go on and largely 
 increase. We cordially commend this appeal to the consideration of all who 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ, and who pray for the extension of His Kingdom. 
 
 Hampstead MARTIN HOOD WILKIN, 
 
 Lincoln WILLIAM SEARS OHCKEN. 
 
 il Our brethren in Germany are found among the poorer classes, there 
 fore they NEED help. They are earnest, energetic , and thoroughly 
 
 evangelical, therefore they DESER VE itP 
 
 6 C H. SPURGEON. 
 
 “ Unless we are greatly mistaken, very few of our Churches have yet 
 taken up this J\fission as they ought. A.t this we must confess ourselves 
 greatly surprised, there being few objects among those that appeal to them that 
 are more—or even equally — deserving. 
 
 THE “FREEMANS 
 
The Baptists in Saxony 
 
 AND THEIR 
 
 STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. 
 
 N O one can really understand the history, position and work of 
 the Baptists in Germany who does not know something of 
 the religious life in that country. 
 
 Christian friends in England are accustomed to think of Germany 
 as a country of religious freedom because it is the home-land of 
 Luther, Melancthon and their brave co-workers in Reformation 
 times—the land where the pietists lived their sweet lives of childlike 
 trust in God ; where Paul Gerhardt, Terstegen, Spitta and many more 
 of God’s singers gave voice to the holiest aspirations of the Christian 
 heart in undying song; the land where the Moravian Brethren 
 furnished an example of missionary devotedness and self-sacrifice 
 that is, perhaps, unexampled in the annals of the Christian Church 
 in modern times. 
 
 I do not believe, however, that Christian friends in England have 
 thought of Germany as a training-school for the martyr-spirit, where 
 men and women have still to suffer fine and imprisonment for con¬ 
 science sake. You will, no doubt, ask, “How can that be possible 
 in Germany, the land of religious freedom ?” 
 
 It is quite true that, since the Franco-German war, the thirty-six 
 different kingdoms and states have been cemented together into one 
 Empire, upon the constitution of which freedom of conscience is 
 inscribed ; but, alas ! for some parts of Germany it is still a dead 
 letter, for the individual kingdoms and states are entirely inde 
 pendent, within their own borders, in the administration of their own 
 
2 
 
 THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 laws. We have thus different laws in Prussia, Saxony, Wiirtemberg, 
 Bavaria, Mecklenburg and the other states which constitute the 
 German Empire; and what may be allowed in one of them may be 
 prohibited in another. Whilst we have Imperial Legislation, dealing 
 with questions affecting all the countries in common, we have a kind 
 of home rule regarding many matters, religious liberty being one of 
 them. As each separate country has a State Church of its own, 
 which is considered a department of the government service, it will 
 be readily understood that things are not made easy or pleasant for 
 those who dare to go direct to Christ in His Word for teaching on 
 matters of faith; and this is an experience the Baptists are still, to 
 their cost, continually making. 
 
 Allow me then, in order to prove the truth of this statement, 
 to point out to you briefly some of the experiences of Baptists in 
 
 Saxony. 
 
 It will be remembered that the length of a single lifetime 
 will cover the history of Baptists in Germany. Some sixty years 
 ago Mr. Johann Gerhard Oncken went from England to Hamburg 
 and began to preach the gospel. Passing from Hamburg to other 
 parts of his Patherland, he found spiritual life at a very low ebb 
 everywhere. A cold and lifeless formalism had wrapped the State 
 Church as in death’s shroud. Rank rationalism and religious in¬ 
 difference reigned supreme. The indifference was truly religious, 
 for there was plenty of religion, but little spirituality ; plenty of form, 
 but little life ; plenty of appearance, but little reality. 
 
 Of the established churches in Germany, it might have indeed 
 been said : “ Thou hast the name that thou livest, and art dead.'’ 
 It is well-known among English Baptists how the founders and 
 pioneers of the Baptist cause in Germany, Oncken, Lehmann and 
 Kobner, preached the full gospel of salvation throughout the 
 country under much opposition, suffering and persecution. 
 
 Under Pastor Oncken’s preaching, Moritz Geiszler, a young 
 Saxon mechanic was converted, who at once began to bear witness 
 for Christ during his spare time. Eventually Geiszler came to 
 Glasgow and found employment with an optician. The church 
 
THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 a 
 
 which he joined discovered great abilities in him and persuaded him 
 to enter a college. After finishing his course of studies he was sent 
 to London, where he was engaged in mission work for six weeks, at 
 the close of which time he was ordained in the presence of a great 
 number of ministers in Little x\lie Street Chapel. This event took 
 place on August 25th, 1857. 
 
 As Geiszler had spoken very forcibly in several of his discourses 
 of the unhappy spiritual condition of his native country, he was 
 appointed by the Baptist Evangelical Society as a missionary to 
 Saxony, the land of his birth. 
 
 When he reached the sphere of his labours the greatest possible 
 difficulties presented themselves. He was, for instance, not allowed 
 to live in Dresden as a missionary, and might only come there on a 
 visit, as a private individual. When he attempted to preach the 
 Gospel, he was forbidden to do so under a penalty of three years’ 
 imprisonment. Geiszler then went to live outside the limits of Saxony, 
 and tried from time to time to visit different places in that country, 
 where a few Christian mechanics had settled. 
 
 On one occasion he had just arrived in Oederau, when two 
 policemen entered the place in which he was staying and arresting 
 him, marched him through the crowded streets to the town-hall. 
 The inspector of police treated him very roughly and searched his 
 pockets. After he had been questioned by the magistrate, he was 
 turned over to the mob to be ridiculed until the time of departure 
 of the next mail coach, when he was escorted out of the place, with 
 the injunction never to return. His credentials were taken from him 
 and sent to the authorities of the place where he lived. The 
 inspector paid his fare on the coach with money taken from his 
 purse, which they afterwards handed to the driver to be delivered to 
 the owner at the end of the journey. Geiszler afterwards sent a 
 complaint to the district authorities at Zwickau, which, however, had 
 not the slightest effect. 
 
 By the following example I hope to give an idea as to how far the 
 police authorities went in the persecution of the Baptists. A merchant 
 living in Chemnitz came to Oederau on business. As it was a warm 
 
4 
 
 THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 day he thought he would like to have a bath, and asked someone 
 where he could find a suitable place. Poor man, he little thought of 
 the consequences of his simple question. A policeman who happened 
 to hear him making inquiries came to the conclusion that he must 
 be a Baptist who wished to baptize. He therefore called one of his 
 colleagues and took the stranger in charge, who protested vehemently,, 
 and assured them that he only wanted to bathe. As, however, he was 
 not able to produce his passport (which one was then always expected 
 to produce in Germany) the policeman became even more suspicious. 
 All his assurances that he was a business man from the neighbouring 
 town of Chemnitz on a visit to Oederau, and that he could not be 
 expected to have his credentials with him, were of no avail. He was 
 borne off to the town-hall amid the jeering of the surrounding mob. 
 There he was placed before a magistrate, who had his pockets 
 searched, and sent him to jail in spite of the fact that he told them 
 he had nothing to do with baptism, and that such a thing had not 
 entered his mind. He was eventually discharged upon the receipt of 
 a telegram from Chemnitz stating that he was a merchant of good 
 repute and a good Lutheran. He was, however, obliged to pay the 
 costs of his trial. These persecutions were, however, not limited to 
 the brethren who visited the town of Oederau, but were felt in a 
 higher degree by the Baptists living in the place. The members 
 were repeatedly ordered to appear in court in order to be examined. 
 They were placed under police supervision like the worst of convicts. 
 They had to submit to having their houses searched three times a 
 day for terms of from four to six weeks, which fact was meant to 
 disgrace and misrepresent them in the eyes of all their neighbours 
 and the world in general. Often when they assembled to pray they 
 were rudely dispersed, and even the members of a family engaged in 
 this way were parted by the police. A son, for instance, was not 
 allowed to visit his own father who had become a Baptist, much less 
 did the friends of that man dare to enter his home. 
 
 The following story will serve to show how little respect was shown 
 to the conscientious convictions of individuals. A Baptist family named 
 Fiedler was blessed on February 4th, 1863, with the birth of a little 
 
THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 5 
 
 boy. Now, according to the Saxon law, the parents are obliged 
 to report the birth of a child, within a week’s time, to the Lutheran 
 clergyman of the parish, at which time he at once fixes upon the day 
 of baptism. Fiedler, however, told the pastor that he did not believe 
 in infant baptism, and would not have his child sprinkled. As the 
 minister saw that he could not move the father of the child with his 
 arguments, he handed the matter over to the law court. That body 
 decided upon a day by which time he must have had his child 
 baptized, or bear the result of his disobedience. As he continued 
 to refuse, he was punished repeatedly, and at last the 14th of July 
 appointed as the day on which the child would be baptized. On 
 that day, in the afternoon, the mother was at home alone with the 
 child when five policemen entered, together with the midwife and a 
 large number of inquisitive spectators. At last the magistrate arrived 
 
 and proceedings began. 
 
 One of the policemen asked the mother : “ Why won’t you allow 
 your child to be baptized ? ” 
 
 Mother: “Because I regard the sprinkling of infants as 
 
 unscriptural.” 
 
 Policeman: “Well, when are you going to have it baptized 
 then ? ” 
 
 Mother: “ When it is old enough to accept the Gospel and 
 make a profession of faith of its own accord. 
 
 Policeman : “ Will you dress your child ? ” 
 
 Mother: “No!” 
 
 Policeman : “ Well, then someone else will do it.” Whereupon 
 these gentlemen produced baby clothing which they had stowed 
 away in their pockets, while someone went and borrowed a cushion 
 from a neighbour. They then ordered the midwife, who is a public 
 servant there, and who had been threatened with dismissal if she 
 failed to obey, to take the child away from the mother. As she 
 seemed to hesitate, the police inspector stepped in, and then ensued 
 a contest between the mother and the officer lor the poor little 
 .creature, the result of which was that it was soon deliveied to the 
 .midwife who dressed it and carried it to the church. She vas 
 
6 
 
 THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 escorted thither by the five armed men headed by the magistrate* 
 all of whom marched along with the bearing of heroes. 
 
 In this way the bodily strength of a mother had been over¬ 
 come, but by no means her faith. 
 
 In the church the pastor stood awaiting the long procession of 
 people that were following the child, and the church was almost 
 immediately filled to overflowing. In his address he took great pains 
 to warn all those present against the fallacies of the Baptists, upon 
 whom he poured out a mass of the most vile abuse. The god-parents 
 of the child were asked to take pity on the little one if its parents 
 should disown it. It is said to have been quite touching to see how 
 the child, all unconscious as to the importance attached to it, was 
 playing with a toy. 
 
 While this was going on in the church, Fiedler’s landlady came 
 and gave them notice to leave by the end of the month, and backed 
 up her statement by telling them that if they were not out by that 
 time she would have them put out forcibly. All complaints 
 brought before the authorities were unheeded. The Baptists were 
 outcasts from society for whom there was no justice. 
 
 The meetings for united prayer were strictly forbidden, and the 
 members were told individually that they had better go to Prussia,, 
 as they would never be acknowledged in Saxony; but our members 
 could not make up their minds to follow this advice, and even con¬ 
 tinued to meet for prayer, their contention being that they ought to 
 be permitted to serve God according to the dictates of their con¬ 
 sciences. On March 9th, 1864, a ministerial edict concerning them 
 was issued, which gave them permission to hold religious meetings 
 under the following conditions : 
 
 !•—The meetings shall not be allowed to take place at the same time 
 as those in the Lutheran Church, and not at an unseemly hour in 
 the evening, or at night. 
 
 II-—The meetings are subject to government inspection, and all govern¬ 
 ment officials are to be permitted to enter freely at all times. 
 
 HI-—As preachers or teachers of the Baptists cannot be acknowledged as 
 lawful religious instructors, it need not be added that private 
 individuals too in these meetings must not act as such. 
 
THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 7 
 
 So you see they were permitted to hold meetings, but were not to 
 read the Bible audibly; neither sing nor pray, and no one was 
 allowed to speak or act as a leader, for that would have been taking 
 the part of a religious instructor. The government was well aware 
 of the nature of the concessions that it had made. The Baptists did 
 not accept these concessions as they saw in them a snare. 
 
 It will be easy for you, dear friend, to understand that under such 
 circumstances it was difficult for the truth to spread. It was impossi¬ 
 ble to work under such laws, and the consequence was that there 
 were no favourable results. Only a few members were scattered 
 here and there among the vast population of Saxony. These were 
 often honoured by being called upon to bear pain and abuse for 
 their dear Lord and Master. 
 
 It is only during the last decade that the Baptist cause has gained 
 ground more rapidly, but owing to the fact that the laws are the same 
 to-day as they were 30 years ago the persecutions have not ceased 
 even to this day. 
 
 In the year 1882 Mr. Schunke, a preacher from Altenburg, fol¬ 
 lowed the invitation of a young Christian couple living in a small 
 mining village in Saxony called Planitz to come and speak to a few 
 friends who would be there to meet him in the evening. All went 
 well at first, but soon the old troubles began. Still the Lord was 
 with His people, and a number were converted. When, in 1884, 
 the private room which they used had become too small 
 for the members and they had rented a small hall in which 
 to hold their meetings, they were watched by five policemen 
 during the opening service. After that they were obliged 
 to report every meeting to the police twenty-four hours in advance, 
 and to state the subject of the address to be given, in accordance 
 with the law for Socialists, etc. After the permission for each 
 address was given, a number of policemen were always sent to watch 
 the meeting, and see that nothing was said which had not received 
 police sanction. Above all things, there was to be no singing or 
 praying. Now, as the hall was on the first floor of a private house, 
 with Baptists living above and below it, the members resorted to a 
 
* THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 ruse. They began their worship on the second floor with reading of 
 the Word and prayer, then came down into the hall to hear the 
 address, and held the closing prayer down on the ground floor. In 
 this way they contrived to elude the interference of the police. Children 
 were not permitted to be present, even though they were members. 
 A mother with an infant in her arms, who was present on one occasion, 
 was ordered by the police to leave, as children were not to be present! 
 
 As the authorities were so strict in forbidding congregational 
 singing the members started a singing club, and chose Mr. Schunke 
 as their leader. This club met for practice just before the ordinary 
 address, which was, of course, delivered by the leader of the singing 
 club, Mr. Schunke. As he only came to this place every four 
 weeks, they arranged to read printed sermons on the intervening 
 Sundays, all of which were also subject to police sanction. Very 
 often these sermons were not sanctioned; as, for instance, in 1886, 
 a translation of Spurgeon’s sermon, “The Priest not Needed.” In 
 November, 1886, the police supervision was carried to such an ex¬ 
 treme, that two officers were stationed at the entrance to the hall with 
 lanterns, who examined all those who came, and turned back those 
 who were not Baptists. It was quite a common thing at that time, 
 and is even now, to see constables carrying firearms stationed inside 
 and outside the hall. When, on one occasion, in 1887, the members 
 were observing the Lord’s Supper in an attic, for this had also been 
 strictly prohibited, a police officer stole into a neighbouring house, 
 and, looking through a skylight, watched the proceedings. The 
 brother who had administered the Lord’s Supper was subsequently 
 fined £1. 
 
 When these spies had discovered that the Word of God was 
 being taught in a small Sunday-school, they ascertained the names 
 of the children whose parents were not Baptists, in order to have 
 them punished in the day-schools. A lady Sunday-school teacher 
 was threatened with a fine of £2 10s. if she received another strange 
 child into her class. She replied that her only motive was to tell 
 these neglected children of Jesus, whom she herself loved, and that 
 she would not cease to do so. The authorities, she said, were free 
 
THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 9 
 
 to act as the law demanded, but she would continue to tell these 
 children of Jesus wherever an opportunity should offer. The parents 
 of the children were then threatened with a fine of jQi ros. if they 
 allowed their children to attend. 
 
 How difficult it is to work under such circumstances you will 
 ^easily see. There is now in Planitz a simple Baptist Chapel with 
 400 sittings with 176 members, and a Sunday School with 525 
 •scholars. The members contributed ^*303 3s. to various branches 
 of Mission work in 1893. These figures can only be appreciated if 
 viewed in the light of existing difficulties. 
 
 Members are subjected to all manner of indignities, and as in 
 the vast majority of cases they are poor working people (miners) 
 it is often at the cost of cruel privation and want that they hold fast 
 their faith. The right of burial, after the usual customs, has been 
 denied to our dead, excepting under circumstances of ignominy and 
 shame. The ordinary burial service has been denied them, and one 
 of our ministers who ventured to offer up the Lord’s Prayer at the 
 funeral of one of his members, as recently as 1892, was fined ^1 10s. 
 for doing so. In the same year, for not giving notice of service in 
 his own chapel twenty-fours hours in advance, he was fined jQi 15s. 
 
 Allow me now to add something from my own experience in 
 Saxony. 
 
 At the end of my college course, three years ago, 1 went to Dresden 
 to take charge of a small Mission that was under the care of our 
 Church at Halle, a hundred miles distant. In Dresden, that 
 beautiful city with its 300,000 inhabitants, where nature and art vie 
 with one another in producing so much that is lovely and pleasant 
 for the eyes to behold, the evil one had almost succeeded in frustra¬ 
 ting our work for the Lord. I found only sixteen members there, 
 and ten others scattered over a wide tract of country, some 
 as far as fifty miles away. Our place of meeting was in 
 a back building situated in a little-frequented street and was very 
 small, yet large enough for our funds. But believing that God had 
 called us to testify to His truth, we set to work with all earnestness to 
 add to our number, and God truly has made His name glorious. He 
 
IO 
 
 THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 has shown that it is more to His glory to create out of nothing, than 
 to increase what already is in existence. From April ist, 1892, we 
 rented a large, well-appointed first floor in a pleasant situation, 
 in order to hold Divine service there in future. With the help of 
 various friends we put the rooms to rights, and also procured and 
 hung up outside at the entrance a couple of glass tablets giving 
 notice of the various services to be held. By displaying the latter, 
 however, the police authorities seemed to think we were overstepping 
 the mark somewhat, so on April 30th, I received notice from the 
 police : “ The Baptists have no right of public worship in Dresden, 
 or its neighbourhood, 7 ' adding that if the announcements were not 
 taken down before May 7th, I should be fined thirty marks 
 (thirty shillings) or six days 7 imprisonment. We were forbidden to 
 make known our meetings through the Press, and no newspaper was 
 allowed to insert our advertisements. 
 
 About fifteen months ago, we distributed a number of small 
 tracts. As the backs were blank, I got an india-rubber stamp and 
 stamped on them a notice of our meetings for public worship, and 
 the hour of meeting of the Sunday School. One of these very 
 innocent little things fell into the hands of a teacher, who brought it 
 before a gathering of teachers. They passed an indignant resolu¬ 
 tion and sent it to the authorities; and once more we were receiving 
 the attentions of the police. The result was, I was ordered to cease 
 distributing these notices, under a penalty of thirty marks 7 fine or 
 six days 7 imprisonment. This was on May 22nd, 1893. 
 
 Only one way still remains open to us, and that the very best,, 
 personal invitation, though possibly this, too, may yet be prohi bited; we 
 shall see. At Lobau the authorities even felt constrained to prohibit 
 our meetings entirely, because in their opinion “ a continuance of 
 such meetings endangered the public peace.” In this way things 
 have been made difficult for us. The police in Saxony really seem, 
 to consider Baptists very dangerous. 
 
 Not only the authorities, but also the Lutheran pastors are 
 intensely hostile to Dissenters and their work, no matter what its- 
 nature may be. 
 
THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 11 
 
 On the first Sunday in June of last year a Lutheran pastor 
 came to the door when our Sunday School was being dismissed. 
 He asked the boys and girls whether their parents were 
 Baptists; and when the answer was “ no ” he took some of 
 their names and addresses, and also took from some the 
 little illustrated papers that had been give to them in school. 
 The effect of this was to reduce our attendance from sixty 
 to twenty. Our Sunday School has been denounced in the district 
 day school, and the children have been warned not to attend it. 
 
 During Spring of last year a Lutheran pastor complained to the 
 authorities that I had baptised a young person, who had not got a 
 certificate of separation from the Lutheran Church. I may explain, 
 that in Saxony, the name of every person who has an income from 
 any source, every working man and working woman, every servant, 
 however small the wage may be, even though not more than five 
 pounds a year, is kept on a list, with a record of the religion he 
 professes. If he is enrolled as a Lutheran, then along with his 
 taxes—and everybody pays taxes in Germany—he must pay a Church- 
 tax. The Lutheran pastors are therefore very anxious to keep all 
 Lutherans on this list, as in this way the revenue of the Church is kept 
 up. If a Lutheran wishes to join another religious denomination and to 
 have his name taken from the list of Lutherans, he must go to the 
 Lutheran pastor of the parish in which he lives and give notice that 
 he wishes to have a certificate of separation, and in a few weeks 
 he returns to get this document. The charge against me was, that I 
 had baptized a young person, who had not got this certificate. She 
 was a cook in a doctor’s family; and it was quite true that I had 
 baptized her without the certificate. She had given the notice in 
 proper form, and had gone back at the proper time to get the 
 document. On both occasions the pastor endeavoured to move her 
 from her purpose, but in vain. He, however, did not give her the 
 document, and said, “ I will send the certificate to you but he did 
 not. 
 
 Meanwhile arrangements for her baptism, along with ten others,, 
 had been made, and I, knowing all the circumstances, baptized her 
 
THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 T 2 
 
 without it. A short time afterwards another pastor, knowing all that 
 had taken place, complained to the police of what I had done, but 
 took care to say nothing of his friend’s neglect. Investigation 
 followed, the young girl has been examined separately two or three 
 times, and I also had to appear as often and be subjected to severe 
 examination. When the whole truth came out, the pastor, finding 
 that the charge against me could not be sustained, recklessly declared 
 that I was in the habit of baptizing those who legally were still 
 members of the Lutheran Church. The police thereupon visited my 
 home and seized the book containing the list of Church members. 
 After examining this, seven distinct charges of violation of the law 
 were formulated against me, and for these I was tried. 1 he result 
 was a verdict of “ not guilty ” in five of the cases, but “guilty ” in 
 two, the penalty being a fine of ^7 10s. and all costs, or fifteen days 
 in gaol. 
 
 The two cases were the Baroness von Huene (Herrnhut) and her 
 maid. The Baroness is a Russian lady, and has never been at any 
 time a member of the Lutheran Church. She could not, therefore, 
 produce a certificate of separation from it. Her maid was the 
 daughter of Lutheran parents, but for three or four years had ceased 
 to show the slightest regard for any Church. Moreover, the law de¬ 
 clares that only those over twenty-one years of age can claim certifi¬ 
 cates of separation. She, however, was only nineteen, and thus by 
 law could not demand one. In both cases I maintained that the 
 facts did not justify my conviction. 
 
 When the appeal was heard I conducted my own defence, while 
 the police were represented by a solicitor. To the great joy of all 
 the friends of religious freedom who were watching the case, and who 
 had brought the matter before the Lord in prayer, the judgment of 
 the Court below was quashed. The anxieties of six months were 
 thus happily ended, and the attacks of our opponents were com¬ 
 pletely frustrated. It was, however, more than an escape—it was a 
 marked triumph. For, in giving judgment upon the appeal, it was 
 proved that all young people under twenty-one years of age, who 
 were members of the Lutheran Church, had the right to join 
 
THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 13> 
 
 the Baptists, irrespective altogether of the authorities of that 
 Church. This decision is of the highest importance It is legarded 
 as a charter of freedom to all to whom it applies, and has made the 
 day on which it was delivered—October 18th, 1893—a memorable 
 one in the history of the Baptist cause in Saxony. 
 
 After all this, we again petitioned the Government to grant us 
 freedom of public worship (for until then it had been refused), but 
 the reply, received in March of this year, is not hopeful. The 
 Minister of Public Worship is willing to allow us to meet for worship, 
 for baptism, for the Lord’s Supper, and for the instruction of the 
 young, on condition that none but Baptists are present at any of these 
 meetings. Such a sham-freedom as this we could not accept. I 
 have again approached him by letter. I claim what God has given 
 —freedom for myself and others to worship God according to the 
 teaching of His own Word. More than this I do not ask, and with 
 less than this I shall never be satisfied. And yet Saxony is over¬ 
 whelmingly Protestant, and the facilities for culture in Dresden draw 
 students from all parts of the globe. Were such things done in 
 Austria, or Spain, or Turkey, or Russia, one could comprehend it; 
 but it is in Saxony, the land of Reformation triumphs, where every 
 child sings Luther’s grand hymn, “ Eirt feste Burg ist unser Gottf 
 where we have yet to struggle for the very elements of religious 
 freedom, the divinely-given right to worship God as the Holy Spirit 
 teaches. 
 
 But in spite of all opposition God blesses us in our work. Our 
 meetings are sometimes crowded, and souls are saved. Three years 
 ago we were twenty-six, now we are ninety members. We have our 
 associations for young men and young women, and two Sunday 
 Schools. Our people are earnest and self-sacrificing. Though they 
 are (with hardly an exception) working people,, their offerings last 
 year averaged fifty shillings per member. But we are crippled for 
 want of room ; a chapel is an urgent necessity. At some of our 
 meetings we must not sing, lest we disturb the tenants above us. 
 We must have a building of our own if the work of God is to go on.. 
 We have made a beginning, thoughaverysmallone, with abuildingfund.. 
 
f 4 
 
 THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY 
 
 Our first contribution came to us in a remarkable way. 
 The colporteur, Knock, was going his rounds in 1889, near 
 Dresden. In one of the villages he offered a Bible to a woman, who 
 said that she had an old one, with illustrations, which she would 
 like to exchange or sell. . “Well,” said he, “ I should like to see it, 
 but cannot think of buying it, as I have too much to carry already.” 
 He then examined the book and passed remarks upon it, after which 
 he sold the woman a Bible for family use and went on his way. 
 After some time, the daughter of this woman put in an appearance 
 
 at the house of the B-family, with whom the colporteur always 
 
 stayed when in Dresden, and, producing the old Bible, said that she 
 
 wished to see the colporteur, who would probably buy it. Mrs. B- 
 
 asked whether he had ordered it. The woman answered truthfully, 
 
 and said he had not. “ Well, my dear woman,” said Mrs. B-“ I 
 
 cannot possibly take the book on that statement, and the colporteur is 
 not here now.” “ Then,” said the woman, “ will you not buy it of me ?” 
 “No, no,” was the reply, “I can buy a nice new Bible for a shilling, 
 so why should I buy that old one.” “ Well, I will give it to you 
 for ninepence.” “ No, I don’t want it at any price.” Then the woman 
 began to tell a pitiful tale of her mother’s illness and her poverty, 
 
 which touched Mrs. B-so that she bought the Bible for ninepence 
 
 belonging to money which she had already consecrated to the Lord's 
 use. She intended then to give the Bible to some poor family. The 
 
 woman left Mrs. B-highly pleased. A little later on Brother 
 
 I-came to pay the B-family a visit and saw the Bible, in 
 
 which he recognised a quaint old Bible of much value as a relic of 
 
 bygone days, printed in 1664. He told the astonished Mrs. B-- 
 
 that it was of considerable value. She then offered it to a second¬ 
 hand bookseller, who offered her for it. But the Lord had more 
 in store for us. Mr. B-took the Bible with him to the Confer¬ 
 
 ence of the Y.M.C.A. at Halle, where several ministers saw it, and 
 in this way word of it reached Hamburg. Now, in that year, there 
 was an industrial exhibition in that town and the National Bible 
 Society of Scotland had a stand there, of which I was in charge during 
 my college holidays. I then offered to exhibit this Bible and was able, in 
 
THE BAPTISTS IN SAXONY. 
 
 *5 
 
 consequence, to send the members a cheque for ^5, as the price 
 received for it. They tried hard to find the poor woman who had 
 sold it to them to give her a part of the money, but no trace could 
 be found. 
 
 This sum was laid aside as the foundation of a building fund, and 
 under God’s rich blessing it has increased tenfold, so that we now 
 have about ^50. But we only have about the hundredth part of 
 what we need in order to have “ a chapel free from debt.” Still, 
 -even this will come to pass if we place our trust in God. In this 
 way that old Bible was made the cornerstone for our future chapel 
 in Dresden. The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the ground on which 
 a healthful Baptist cause can be built up, and this fact it is which 
 promises us a grand future in Saxony. 
 
 Dresden, Mathildem-strasse, No. n. 
 
 Karl Mascher. 
 
 Contributions towards the New Chapel will be received by Martin 
 H Wilkin, Esq., Sydney House, Hampstead, London, N. W., or W. S. 
 Oncken, Esq., Sunny Bank, Lincoln. 
 
 % 
 
0 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 A FRIEND writes:—“ Your letter with receipt to hand and finding the German 
 A Baptist Mission doing the Lord’s work, I have found pleasure to forward you 
 Closed Postal Order, ios. I am enabled to send you this, not because I have any 
 regular income, but by putting aside a moiety of my weekly business earn g 
 Lord, according as He P pleased to help me daily seeking His gmd^nce He is 
 
 graciously pleased to come down to my little faith with a smile of approval. lo 
 distribute my Lord’s money to His real servants, who alone wish His glory, is the 
 joy of one, who finds it more blesSed to give than to receive^ n- „ 
 
 J y Here are a few lines from the letter of another friend I thank you for sending 
 me a copy of the “Quarterly Reporter” of the German Baptist Mission I hav e been 
 much interested in it and feel drawn to help it. I feel disposed to give £30 annually 
 bv Quarterly payments, either to an additional Missionary m connection with the 
 Lettish Baptist Churches, for which a special appeal is made, or *° r 
 of the Mission. I incline to the former, because if you know the Pastor 
 Church with which he is associated, you have a more definite interest. 
 
 “The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.” 
 
 The late Henry Thornton, in response to an appeal for Foreign Missions, once wrote 
 out a cheque for five pounds. Before the ink was dry, a telegram was handed him He 
 tore open the envelope, read the contents, and turned pale. Dreadful news he said 
 to his visitor, “I have lost hundreds of pounds. Please give me back. that cheque. 
 On receiving it back, to be cancelled as his visitor supposed, he altered the 
 saying, “ God has just taught me that I may not always possess my property, therefo 
 
 must use it well.” 
 
 FORM OF A BEQUEST TO THE GERMAN BAPTIST MISSION. 
 
 “I Give to the German Baptist Mission* the sum of 
 
 pounds [free of Legacy Duty], for the purposes of 
 the said Mission, and I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer for the 
 time being, of the said Mission shall be a sufficient discharge to my 
 executors for the payment of this Legacy. 
 
 * Accuracy in the designation of the Mission is essential, and the name thereof 
 should be specified. 
 
 THE PASTOR. 
 
 \ MISSIONARY spirit in the congregations cannot be developed from without. In one 
 A emphatic word! P the pastor must be the missionary advocate, and every Church 
 must be a missionary society, with its own leader. It is not a sheepfold with a flock to be 
 simolv fed • it is a Regiment of Christian soldiery enlisted for conquest, and the wor , 
 
 ■X":: .iV' 1 .;,.'-;,,,.' ,....1........a .rv,.,.. *.s a D quac! ' 
 
 “ VSXR a-- 
 
 bv sentiment It does not help personal friends. It has no promise of return m things 
 of this life. It must be maintained by a sense of obedience to the Lord, and a great^fa 
 m the Gospel and a truly Christian interest in the unsaved nations of the world. We a 
 not therefore’ discouraged when many are indifferent to the demand for funds to cariyo 
 "he wo?k of missions. Ve only think’ that there is need for more growth in grace. And 
 
 aS ^To "the S true and^loyal’servant'of' "h^King"of kir^, there is but on^s^iere^lf work. 
 
 Miss S. S. Hewlett.