BAPTIST MISSIONS 
 
 w ■ ! * •< ^ 
 
 IN 
 
 EUROPE 
 
 Rev. EDMUND F. MERRIAM 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 i 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION 
 
 1 895 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The French 
 The Mission 
 The Mission 
 The German 
 The Mission 
 The Mission 
 The Mission 
 The Mission 
 The Mission 
 
 Mission . 
 in Spain . 
 in Greece 
 Mission . 
 in Denmark 
 in Sweden 
 in Norway 
 in Finland 
 in Russia 
 
 PAGE 
 
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 13 
 
 15 
 
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 22 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 28 
 
 COUNT ZINZENDORF, 
 
 The Early Patron of the Moravians . 
 
BAPTIST MISSIONS IN EUROPE. 
 
 The position of Baptists in Europe is unique. Their pe¬ 
 culiar faith and practice presents the strongest protest against 
 the formalism of the Protestant State churches, as well as the 
 most effective opposition to the superstitions of the Roman 
 Catholic hierarchy. This distinctive position has a two-fold 
 influence, as it brings upon the Baptists the greatest hatred 
 and most active persecution of the priesthood on the one 
 hand, and, on the other, commends them to the sympathy and 
 aid of the most pious and devoted members who are found in 
 the established churches. While often compelled to endure 
 great persecution and distress from the authorities, who are 
 usually under the control of the priests of the State churches, 
 they receive much encouragement and assistance from those 
 pure and noble spirits who love the truth, and who are found 
 in every communion and under every name. Amid the fires 
 of persecution the Baptists have thrived. From the feeble, 
 obscure body of a few years ago, Baptists have now come in 
 all the countries of Continental Europe to occupy a position 
 which is respectable, if not every way influential. Baptists 
 from America who are visiting Europe may now find churches 
 of their own denomination in nearly all the large cities of the 
 Continent; and these Baptists, who are often holding up the 
 standard of Gospel truth under circumstances of great diffi¬ 
 culty, are always much cheered and encouraged by visits from 
 those who come to them, representing the great Baptist body 
 of America. Nearly all these 'Continental Baptist churches 
 are aided by the American Baptist Missionary Union, except 
 those in Italy which are under the Southern Baptist Conven¬ 
 tion ; and the work which they are carrying on is varied in 
 conditions, methods, and success, but of deep interest to the 
 lovers of a pure gospel, and of vast importance to the prog¬ 
 ress of the truth in all European countries. 
 
4 
 
 THE FRENCH MISSION. 
 
 The Baptist Mission in France is a European counterpart 
 of the American Baptist Telugu Mission in India. Its early 
 history is one of trials and persecution and slow growth, while 
 its later years have witnessed more abundant harvests and 
 more rapid progress. Both in direct and indirect lines there 
 is a prophecy of greater and brighter things in the future. 
 
 As early as 1832, the minds of American Baptists were 
 turned towards France as a field for missionary labor, and 
 Prof. Irah Chase, of Newton Theological Institution, visited 
 France for preliminary investigations. With him was a native 
 of France, Mr. J. C. Rostan. A small place of worship was 
 opened in Paris and services were continued by Mr. Rostan 
 after the return of Prof. Chase to America. Inspired by the 
 favorable report of Prof. Chase, Rev. Isaac Willmarth was -des¬ 
 ignated by the Baptist Board to begin a mission in France, 
 and he reached Paris in June, 1834. May 10, 1835, the .first 
 Baptist church in Paris was organized with six members. 
 Several Christian churches were found, in the northeastern por¬ 
 tion of France which by the study of the New Testament had 
 come into sympathy with Baptist views. They received with 
 great rejoicing the tidings Mr. Willmarth brought them, of a 
 larger and stronger body of Christians of like faith with them¬ 
 selves, and gladly entered into relations with them. In 1835, 
 Rev. Erastus Willard and Rev. David N. Sheldon joined the 
 mission and work was continued in Paris and in the northeast, 
 Mr. Sheldon opening a school for theological students at Douai. 
 Mr. Rostan had died early in the history of the mission; Mr. 
 Willmarth was compelled to return to the United States by 
 the failure of his health, and Mr. Sheldon also soon left the 
 mission. In 1839 there were seven Baptist churches in 
 France, with one hundred and forty-two members, and Mr. 
 Willard was the only American missionary left upon the field; 
 but the work made satisfactory progress by the aid of several 
 French brethren who had now entered the ministry. 
 
 But the work was not to continue without the opposition of 
 evil forces. Persecutions arose against the Baptists. r lhe 
 prosperity of the work and baptisms in various places aroused 
 
5 
 
 the hostility of the Roman Catholic priests, and a law was 
 made prohibiting the meeting together of an association of 
 more than twenty persons at one time. Any person opening 
 his house for public worship was made liable to a line. At 
 Genlis, a chapel built by the Baptists, because of the opposition 
 of the Roman Catholics, was closed, and for eleven years the 
 Baptists were unable to occupy it. The columns of the “ Bap¬ 
 tist Missionary Magazine ” were searched for accounts of the 
 work in France, and those who were named were followed by 
 persecution and fines, so that it became necessary to print the 
 news from the French mission with blanks for places and 
 names that they might not supply information for the use of 
 the Roman Catholic priests and the French police. 
 
 In 1848 the French Revolution brought nominal religious 
 freedom for all. Worship was made free in law, but owing to 
 the ascendancy of the Roman Catholic faith, means were still 
 found to visit the Baptists with much persecution. Two of the 
 Baptist preachers, Mr. Lepoids, pastor of the First Church in 
 Paris for twenty years, and Mr. Foulon were arrested and 
 thrown into prison and afterwards fined. By the Revolution 
 the chapel at Genlis was thrown open after eleven years of 
 seclusion. Dr. T. T. Devan, formerly a missionary to China, 
 joined the French mission in 1848, and several other French 
 brethren had now entered the ministry, including Rev. J. B. 
 Cretin, one of the most useful of those who have been con¬ 
 nected with the mission. Dr. Devan withdrew from the 
 mission in 1853 and Mr. Willard in 1856, and since that 
 time the work has been carried forward almost wholly by the 
 French brethren, with only financial assistance from America. 
 Yet the number of churches multiplied and extended into 
 different portions of France, and the membership increased 
 from 281 in 1856 to 599 in 1877. 
 
 During the Franco-Prussian war nearly all the men in the 
 churches entered the army, but the Lord preserved them and 
 their families, so that the Baptist cause cannot be said to 
 have suffered greatly as the result of the war. The Baptist 
 chapel in Rue de Lille, Paris, was completed in 1873, and has 
 since been continuously occupied by the First Baptist Church. 
 On the whole, the progress of the mission in France for the 
 first half century of its existence cannot be said to have 
 
6 
 
 been rapid, but much excellent and permanent work had 
 been done by faithful and devoted men, and a foundation 
 laid for the more rapid progress of later years. 
 
 In 1887 a new era began to dawn for the Baptist mission 
 
 REV. RUBEN SAILLENS. 
 
 in France. The labors of the McAll mission had resulted 
 in a general revival of the evangelical and evangelistic spirit 
 among the churches. Rev. Ruben Saillens, the chief helper 
 of Rev. R. W. McAll in his mission, was a Baptist, and aside 
 
7 
 
 from his regular service in connection with that mission, 
 was able to devote some attention to our denominational 
 work. In 1888 he became pastor of the Baptist church in 
 Rue de Lille, still retaining his connection with the McAll 
 mission, and a more encouraging spirit began to pervade the 
 churches throughout the country. In 1889 the McAll mis¬ 
 sion, although undenominational in all its movements, seeing 
 the necessity of churches to care for the converts in the 
 mission halls, favored the organization of churches of different 
 denominations among the converts of the mission. The 
 Baptists were the first to take advantage of this movement 
 and Mr. Saiilens organized the second Baptist church in 
 Paris and began preaching in a hall in Rue St. Denis. On 
 the retirement of Mr. Saiilens, Rev. Philemon Vincent was 
 called from St. Etienne to be pastor of the First Church, 
 worshipping in the chapel in Rue de Lille. Mission 
 halls, similar to those occupied by the McAll mission, were 
 also opened at two places, so that there were four places of 
 Baptist worship in the French capital. A new spirit of 
 evangelism and progress began to be manifested in the Bap¬ 
 tist work throughout France, and there were revivals in several 
 of the ten churches connected with the Missionary Union. 
 The work was reorganized in many places and placed on a 
 new and more aggressive basis. The increasing prosperity^ 
 and permanence of Baptist work in France brought to light 
 the fact that a large number of the most pious and evangelical 
 of the pastors of the Aglise Libre , or Free Church, really held 
 Baptist views, although they had never identified themselves 
 with the Baptist movement, and some of these pastors 
 united fully with the Baptist churches in France and greatly 
 strengthened the working force of the mission, several of them 
 being employed by the Missionary Union in various places in 
 France. 
 
 The year 1891 may be said to mark an epoch in the Baptist 
 work in France. Mr. Saiilens had now withdrawn wholly 
 from the McAll mission in order to devote himself entirely 
 to Baptist work, and had become general Secretary of the 
 French Baptist missionary committee. The Baptist mission 
 in France, which had made slow progress for so many years, 
 now entered upon an era of blessing for which there is great 
 
8 
 
 reason to praise God. The revival, begun in 1888, was in¬ 
 creasing continually. This revival may be said to have 
 resulted largely from the numerous Baptist publications put 
 forth by Rev. J. B. Cretin, who with immense industry and 
 perseverance continued to prepare and distribute Baptist 
 tracts and publications, many of them being published and 
 circulated at his own expense. He was also the means of 
 bringing into the Baptist ranks nearly all of the other French 
 
 REV. ALEXANDRE DEZ, 
 TREASURER OF THE FRENCH MISSION. 
 
 Baptist pastors who had been so useful in the work,—Rev. J. 
 Vincent, Rev. Alexandre Dez, Rev. Henri Andru, Rev. Aime 
 Cadot, and others, born Roman Catholics and won to God 
 and Baptist views through the efforts of this devoted man. 
 Another cause of the revival was the fact that some from other 
 churches had been led by their study of the Scriptures to 
 come out boldly upon pure scriptural ground in regard to the 
 administration of the ordinances and other ecclesiastics* 
 
9 
 
 questions. The pure evangelical spirit of the Baptists also 
 led many Christians in other churches to favor the movement, 
 even when they did not identify themselves fully with the 
 Baptist churches. In fifteen months the two churches in Paris 
 nearly doubled. The First Church had four mission halls and 
 the Second Church two, where meetings were carried on, 
 aside from the constant daily meetings in the principal place 
 of worship in Rue St. Denis. Work had extended to other 
 places, and all the churches in the country were strengthened 
 and encouraged. The church at Montbelliard, near Switzer¬ 
 land, had extended over the border; anew church was formed 
 at Valentigney, and the Baptist movement in French Switzer¬ 
 land received its impulse from these churches and is making 
 encouraging progress. A church was opened at Tramelan, 
 and a whole church in Neuchatel, which had been conducted 
 several years on evangelical lines, came over bodily and 
 united with the Baptist Association. 
 
 The movement in the northeast of France also extended 
 into Belgium and a Baptist church has been organized at 
 Ougre'e. In four years the number of churches in French- 
 speaking Europe increased from nine to nineteen. A large 
 number of laborers joined the mission from other bodies, 
 calling for a large increase of appropriations from the Mission¬ 
 ary Union. While the work in Paris has shown special 
 fruitfulness, yet the work in other places has realized scarcely 
 less of blessing. The church in Tramelan, Switzerland, 
 reached two hundred members, and the Baptist sentiment is 
 steadily gaining ground. The Baptist churches in the north¬ 
 east of France, where the mission received its first encourage¬ 
 ment, have continually increased in membership; but the 
 Baptists in this part of France are almost entirely working 
 people and miners, and they are subject to many embarrass¬ 
 ments on account of their relations to their Roman Catholic 
 employers, yet they have made wonderful progress. The 
 great difficulty is to obtain money to erect halls for the ac¬ 
 commodation of those who wish to hear the Gospel. At the 
 last reports the statistics of the French Mission gave 30 # 
 preachers, 19 churches, and 1,900 members. 
 
 France is in a state of intellectual and spiritual ferment, and 
 it is the general conviction that it is on the eve of great 
 
IO 
 
 religious changes. The present seems to be the time for 
 fruitful and aggressive Baptist labor in France. Faithful, 
 earnest, effective preaching of the pure Gospel of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ will not be without its fruit. The French people 
 are hesitating between the reaction of Roman Catholicism and 
 the barrenness of infidelity, and the conditions for their re¬ 
 ceiving the pure and holy truths of the Gospel are most 
 favorable. There is the loudest call for the continuance of 
 the most earnest and aggressive work for Christ in France. 
 
 THE MISSION IN SPAIN. 
 
 Prof. William I. Knapp was the founder of Baptist mission 
 work in Spain. He studied at Hamilton Theological Institu¬ 
 tion, and established himself in independent missionary work 
 in Madrid in 1869. He afterwards applied to the Missionary 
 Union for assistance, which was granted. In 1870 Rev. John 
 W. Terry was appointed a missionary, but remained in the 
 country only a few months; yet the mission received great 
 encouragement in its earlier years. Eighteen were baptized 
 in 1870, and Aug. 10 of that year the first Baptist church in 
 Madrid was organized with thirty-three members. Several 
 Spanish evangelists were raised up, among them Rev. G. S. 
 Benoliel, who for several years was pastor of the Baptist church 
 in Madrid and whose preaching attracted great attention. 
 A church was formed in Valencia in 1871. Some work was 
 also done in Portugal and a number of converts were baptized 
 in that country. Forty-one were baptized in Linares, but the 
 promising work in that field was broken up by persecution. 
 There were also a number received in Alicante. In 1874 there 
 were four churches with four native pastors and evangelists 
 and a total number in membership of two hundred and forty- 
 four. Mr. Knapp returned to the United States in 1876 and 
 the work was then continued by native laborers. Rev. R. P. 
 Cifre, who had studied in Newton, labored for a few years in 
 connection with the mission, but owing to the defection of 
 , the native laborers and other discouragements, the work which 
 at one time had seemed so promising gradually dwindled away, 
 and the young and growing churches in the places mentioned 
 above practically disappeared. 
 
In 1885 the Union had but one missionary laboring in 
 Spain, Rev. Eric Lund, of Sweden, who had begun work in Bar¬ 
 celona, in the northeast. Since that time this has been the 
 
 3r. Francisco Bardolbt. Sr_. Ricardo Anglada. Mr. Olof Duren. 
 
 Rev. Eric Lund 
 
 BAPTIST LABORERS IN SPAIN. 
 
 Sr. Gabriel Anglada 
 
12 
 
 headquarters of our Baptist Mission in Spain, and it has 
 extended from this point in various directions. Much work 
 was done in publishing tracts and distributing portions of 
 Scripture, and a few converts were gathered. In 1886 Mr. 
 
 Rev. Manuel C. Marin. 
 
 Mrs. Marin. A Spanish Lady. 
 
 (An American lady.) 
 
 Lund was joined by Rev. Manuel C. Marin, a native of Spain, 
 and a graduate of Colby University and Newton Theological 
 Institution. Within recent years these brethren have adopted 
 new features of evangelistic work, by which series of meetings 
 are held in different villages, and the few converts gathered 
 are organized into small, independent churches, and one of 
 
13 
 
 the members in each placed over them as a leader. The aim 
 of Mr. Lund is to follow the Pauline methods, in preaching the 
 Gospel where Christ is not already named. These simple 
 methods have been largely successful. Great crowds are 
 gathered to the meetings, and in almost every place where 
 they are held a few converts are received. These small, 
 detached bodies of Christians have shown remarkable vitality 
 and stability in a small way. A little paper is published by 
 the mission, called the Eco , and at the last reports there were 
 in Spain, besides Rev. Eric Lund and Rev. M. C. Marin, six 
 native preachers supported by the Missionary Union, and ten 
 other brethren who preach occasionally. Eighteen were . 
 baptized in 1893, and there are now six small churches with 
 from five to twenty members, the total number being nearly 
 ninety. 
 
 Protestant missionary work in Spain has to encounter many 
 and great obstacles in the bigotry of the priests and the 
 ignorance and indifference of the people; but with the new 
 development of work on evangelistic lines there appears to be 
 encouragement to continue to labor for this people, the work 
 of the last few years having given continually growing encour¬ 
 agement. The mission is now wholly confined to the north¬ 
 eastern part of Spain, in the general vicinity of Barcelona. 
 
 THE MISSION IN GREECE. 
 
 The American Baptist Mission in Greece sprang from the 
 same impulse as that which led to the establishment of the 
 Telugu mission in India. In 1835, the Triennial Convention, 
 finding itself with a surplus in the treasury, at the meeting in 
 Richmond authorized the Board to establish missions in all 
 fields presenting a favorable opening. A mission was accord¬ 
 ingly begun in Greece. Rev. Horace T. Love and Cephas 
 Pasco were ordained in Providence Sept. 8, 1836, and arrived 
 at Patras Dec. 9, 1836. The government granted them per¬ 
 mission to circulate the Bible and to preach the Gospel, and 
 they were soon able to open a day school and a Sunday school. 
 In 1839 Mr. Pasco was obliged to leave the mission and Miss 
 Harriet E. Dickson was appointed. This year also witnessed 
 the beginning of Sunday services in Greek, conducted by Mr. 
 
H 
 
 Love. In 1840 the mission was removed to Corfu, and August 
 12, of that year, the first convert, who very appropriately bore 
 the name of “ Apostolos,” was baptized by Mr. Love and em¬ 
 ployed to assist him in the missionary work. Rev. R. F. Buel 
 and wife joined the mission in 1841, and in 1842 Mr. Love 
 was compelled to return to the LTnited States. Before his de¬ 
 parture two more were baptized. In February, 1844, the mis¬ 
 sion received a strong reinforcement by the arrival of Rev. 
 Albert N. Arnold and his wife and Miss S. E. Waldo at Corfu. 
 Mr. Buel removed to Piraeus, but the mission at that place 
 was brought to an end in 1847 by the arrest of Mr. Buel and his 
 imprisonment. There were only five church members con¬ 
 nected with the mission at that time, and after fourteen years 
 of labor so little fruit had been the result that it was a question 
 whether it would be wise to continue it. Yet the work was 
 still maintained in the face of much opposition by the Greeks, 
 one native assistant being compelled to leave his native land 
 to escape the fury of his enemies. In 1852 the church had 
 increased to fifteen members, but both Mr. Arnold and Mr. 
 Buel returned to the LTnited States in 1855. Mr. Demetrius 
 Z. Sakellarios, the only assistant in the mission, continued his 
 labors until April 1, 1856, when the work in Greece was sus¬ 
 pended for fifteen years. 
 
 In 1871 Rev. George W. Gardner, D. D., and Rev. D. W. 
 Faunce, D. D., visited Athens and recommended resuming mis¬ 
 sionary work in Greece Mr. Sakellarios, who during the in¬ 
 terval had visited America and engaged in study at the Newton 
 Theological Institution, was appointed a missionary by the 
 Executive Committee of the Missionary Union-. He had 
 married a Miss Edmands, of Charlestown, Mass., and they es¬ 
 tablished themselves in Athens. In the succeeding years con¬ 
 siderable interest was shown in the preaching of the Gospel and 
 encouragement was received from intelligent residents of the 
 city. The professors and students in the University in Athens 
 frequently attended the services, but few left the state church 
 in order to identify themselves with the Baptist Mission. 
 There were some conversions, and a small church was gathered 
 in Athens by Mr. Sakellarios, whose support was continued by 
 the Missionary Union. But the definite results of his labors 
 seemed to be so small that, while having high esteem for his 
 
15 
 
 faithful and laborious services, it seemed wise to the Executive 
 Committee, in 1886, to recommend a discontinuance of the 
 mission in Greece. Mr. Sakellarios continued his residence in 
 Athens, and maintains services in his own house, but there 
 appears to be nothing in the condition of the people or the 
 mission to encourage an expectation that the Greeks are pre¬ 
 pared to leave their national faith for a more evangelical body 
 and belief. The Greeks are, many of them, of high intelligence 
 and devoted to learning, but pure spiritual religion apparently 
 has but little attraction for them. 
 
 THE GERMAN MISSION. 
 
 Germany has always been a fountain-head of religious 
 reform. Even through the dark ages there were men in small 
 communities, in various parts of the German states of Central 
 Europe, who stood far above the surrounding ignorance, and 
 who maintained a general adherence to the truth. The 
 ideality and independence of the German character have always 
 supplied sources of light from which have streamed out the 
 rays which brightened the darkness of the surrounding igno¬ 
 rance and superstition. The Reformation served to bring to 
 light scattered religious communities, which naturally were in 
 great sympathy with the new movement begun by Luther. 
 But they surpassed him in the freedom of their thought and 
 in their advancement toward the pure and simple doctrines of 
 the Scriptures. From that time the modern history of the 
 Baptists in Germany might be said to begin; and yet these 
 Baptists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, while doing 
 much to prepare the minds of the people, are not really the 
 lineal ancestors of the German Baptist churches of to-day. 
 The Baptist churches of all Central, Eastern, and Northern 
 Europe, at the present time, may be traced back more or less 
 directly to a little band of seven, who were baptized at Ham¬ 
 burg in the night, by Rev. Barnas Sears, D. D., of Boston, 
 April 12, 1834. The leader of this little band was Johann G. 
 Oncken, who became the apostle of the modern Baptist move¬ 
 ment in Germany; and by his labors and those of others who 
 joined him, this movement has extended throughout the whole 
 
i6 
 
 of the German Empire, as well as to all parts of Central Europe 
 where German people are found. 
 
 In 1836 fourteen were baptized, one of whom was Rev. 
 Julius Kobner, a native of Denmark, a man of education and 
 
 REV. JOHANN G. ONCKEN. 
 
 high ability who became the founder of Baptist work in Den¬ 
 mark, and was for many years pastor of the church in Copen¬ 
 hagen. In the spring of 1837, Mr. Oncken visited Berlin, 
 and several were baptized, among whom was Rev. Georg W. 
 
i7 
 
 Lehmann, who afterwards was pastor of the First Baptist 
 Church in Berlin for more than forty years. The success of 
 the Baptist movement early attracted the attention of the 
 authorities of the Lutheran church and the public officials, and 
 persecutions began. Mr. Oncken was imprisoned, and suffered 
 the loss of his worldly goods. Remonstrances were made by 
 the President of the United States and others, and legal per¬ 
 secution ceased. But the same spirit continued among many 
 of the clergy of the state church, and numerous petty persecu¬ 
 tions have been visited on the Baptists of Germany even to 
 the present time. 
 
 The first meeting of the German Baptist Conference was 
 held in Hamburg in January, 1849, representing about thirty 
 churches and 2,800 members. Within a few years the Baptist 
 movement had extended to Russia, Denmark, Switzerland, 
 Lithuania, Silesia, and Poland, and the work had become so 
 strong that the question was raised whether American Baptists 
 might not now withdraw their contributions, and leave the 
 Baptists of Central Europe to self-support. But it was resolved 
 rather to continue the work with greater force. Mr. Lehmann 
 collected five thousand dollars in England, which, with the 
 local collections, built twenty-one chapels where they were 
 greatly needed. Twelve young men who had been instructed 
 at Hamburg for seven months were ordained on one day, 
 Sept. 12, 1859. In 1865 a colony of German Baptists was 
 sent out to South Africa, which now has about 800 members 
 in eleven churches; and the same year Baptists exiled from 
 Russia settled in Turkey. Baptist work extended to Bulgaria 
 in 1866, and to Holland in 1869. In 1875, the government 
 of Prussia recognized the existence of Baptist churches, and 
 passed an act for their incorporation, and the Baptist move¬ 
 ment has extended throughout all the countries of Central 
 Europe, and is becoming year by year more important, influen¬ 
 tial, and successful. 
 
 The headquarters of the movement have continued to be at 
 Hamburg, where is the publishing house, now under the charge 
 of Dr. Phillip Bickel, where there is also a theological seminary 
 in which pastors are trained for all parts of this vast field, 
 under the care of Rev. Joseph Lehmann and Rev. j. G. Fetzer. 
 There are large churches in Berlin, and in many other of the 
 
18 
 
 leading cities of the German states. In the German Empire, 
 the work is now carried on with great freedom, and also in 
 Hungary, Bulgaria, Switzerland, and Holland; but in Austria 
 there are still great obstacles in the way. As the law permits 
 no large religious assemblies (aside from the congregations of 
 the established churches), the only religious worship which is 
 possible to the Baptists in Austria is as they may assemble in 
 family worship, inviting a few friends; yet in spite of this 
 obstacle, the work has largely extended and is growing. Like 
 all the Baptist churches of the Continent of Europe, the 
 German Baptist churches suffer severely by the emigration of 
 the brightest and strongest of their young men to the United 
 States, yet they show a large increase from year to year. The 
 members of these churches are almost entirely from the poorer 
 classes of the people, but there is prevalent among them a 
 great spirit of missionary activity. Their members are organ¬ 
 ized for mission work to a much larger extent than prevails in 
 the churches of this country. They have Young Men’s and 
 Young Women’s Associations, which are formed, not simply for 
 the purpose of social and religious life, but to carry on active 
 work in the communities in which they live. These young 
 men and women are trained to be active in tract distribution, 
 and in Bible colportage. Seamen’s Bethels and rest-houses 
 are opened in many places, and the lay members of the 
 churches do a great amount of personal work and house-to- 
 house visitation. Sunday schools are also maintained in all 
 churches, and more than twenty thousand scholars are found 
 in the Sunday schools of the larger Union. 
 
 As the membership of the German Baptist churches is 
 largely from the poor, they are not able to do all that should 
 be done in maintaining their feebler churches, and in extend¬ 
 ing the movement to other needy portions of the German 
 states. Some help is afforded to them from England through 
 a committee, of which William Sears Oncken, a son of the 
 founder of the mission, is a leading member. The chief out¬ 
 side assistance which the German Baptists receive, however, 
 comes from the American Baptist Missionary Union, which 
 appropriates nearly ten thousand dollars a year to assist them 
 in their work. This is placed in the hands of a committee 
 which has its headquarters at Hamburg, and by this committee 
 
Baptist Theological Seminary, Hamburg, Germany 
 
20 
 
 is distributed in the wisest and most economical way to pro¬ 
 mote the efficiency of the work. In all parts of Central 
 Europe, the churches generally support their pastors, and the 
 funds are used for the support of the evangelists and in Bible 
 distribution, and also in assisting in the support of pastors and 
 helpers in some of the more needy territories. A visit to any 
 German Baptist church in the United States would readily 
 illustrate the efficiency of the missionary work carried on 
 among the Baptists in Germany. Not only the German 
 Empire and all of Central Europe is benefited by this work, 
 but in this country we are receiving much blessing by the 
 presence of so many strong and helpful members in our 
 German Baptist chuiches who have been converted in the 
 mother country, and have come here and identified themselves 
 with our denominational interests. This is a work in which a 
 small amount of money produces large results, and it com¬ 
 mends itself on every side to the support of the Baptists of 
 America. 
 
 The statistics of the German Baptists in 1894 were, 149 
 churches, with 29,422 members, 300 preachers, and 21,524 
 scholars in Sunday schools. 
 
 THE MISSION IN DENMARK. 
 
 Baptist mission work in Denmark is an outgrowth of that 
 which began at Hamburg, in Germany, and was for many years 
 identified with the German mission. One of the earliest 
 converts of the German mission was Rev. Julius Kobner, a 
 native of Copenhagen. After his baptism he visited Denmark 
 and Holstein, and labored and preached the Gospel among 
 the people with such success that a Baptist church was 
 organized in Copenhagen in 1839. From this place the work 
 spread into other towns and cities of Denmark. Much per¬ 
 secution was encountered, but in 1842 there were 179 Baptists 
 in Denmark, of whom 119 were in Copenhagen, the capital. 
 The work continued with increasing prosperity, but was still 
 identified, in all the reports of the Union, with the work in 
 Germany, until 1888, when at the request of the brethren in 
 that country, the appropriations of the Union were separated 
 from those of the German mission, and since that time the 
 
21 
 
 mission in Denmark has been continued under the direction 
 of a committee of Baptist brethren in that country. There 
 were at that time about 2,300 Baptists in Denmark. The 
 work has gone on with increasing success. In 1888 the 
 number of baptisms amounted to more than ten per cent of 
 the membership. 1889 was the best year of the mission, 249 
 being baptized. The years since have been fruitful, and the 
 
 REV. JULIUS KOEBNER. 
 
 church in Copenhagen has between six and seven hundred 
 members. In 1894 there were reported in Denmark 70 
 preachers, 25 churches, 3,165 members, of whom 239 were 
 baptized in 1893. There were also 3,880 scholars in the 
 Sunday schools, and the contributions of the Baptists in Den¬ 
 mark amounted to #11,847.50. The Denmark mission is 
 enjoying continually increasing prosperity, and the Danish 
 Baptists are among the most aggressive, intelligent, and earnest 
 of those of the same faith on the continent of Europe. 
 
22 
 
 THE MISSION IN SWEDEN. 
 
 The history of Protestantism in Sweden is a glorious record. 
 The Swedes have always devoted themselves to their religion 
 with the same ardor and impetuosity which has characterized 
 them in war and in civil affairs, and the type of religion which 
 has been developed in that country has partaken of the noble, 
 free, and manly traits which are such prominent features of the 
 Scandinavian character. When Christianity was introduced 
 into Sweden, the people gave themselves to the new religion 
 with the large and generous freedom that they had shown in 
 the worship of Thor and Odin and the other deities of their 
 ancient Valhalla. The same magnanimity of spirit has char¬ 
 acterized the Swedes in all their relations to religion. In 
 1593, the Lutheran church became the established church of 
 Sweden, and thus early did the Swedes as a nation enioll 
 themselves on the side of a free people and a pure gospel. 
 The fact that the latter years of the Lutheran church have 
 been marked by formalism and sometimes by persecution 
 does not detract from the grandeur of the devotion which was 
 shown by the Swedish nation in giving itself so unreservedly 
 to the new and rising cause of Protestantism. 
 
 The same freedom and largeness of nature which was shown 
 in the espousal of the Protestant cause can be traced in the 
 rise of the dissenting movement in Sweden. It came in as a 
 protest against the coldness and formalism of the established 
 church; and to the credit of the Swedish people, be it said, 
 that the dissenters have never been subjected to those severe 
 persecutions which have followed the seekers after truth in the 
 more southern nations of Europe. Owing to the peculiar 
 character of the laws regarding religion in Sweden, the dis¬ 
 senters of all classes are still nominally members of the estab¬ 
 lished church; and while they have suffered many vexatious 
 minor persecutions in different localities, yet, as a whole, at the 
 present time they are allowed to carry on their worship and 
 work without serious obstruction on the part of the state 
 officials or the authorities of the state church. The dissenters, 
 in Sweden, are chiefly divided among three bodies, — the 
 Baptist, the Free Church, and the Methodist. Of these, the 
 
2 3 
 
 Baptists are by far the most numerous, and probably outnum¬ 
 ber all the rest of the dissenting people in Sweden together. 
 
 Baptist work in Sweden is the offspring of the Baptist 
 movement in Germany, which was started by the honored 
 J. G. Oncken in Hamburg. The chief agent in the founding of 
 the Baptist mission in Sweden was Rev. Andreas Wiberg who 
 was brought to Baptist views by the influence of Mr. Oncken 
 and his companion, Mr. Kobner; but the real origin of the 
 Baptist mission in Sweden was at the Mariners’ Church in New 
 York City, where a young Swedish sailor, Mr. G. W. Shroeder, 
 was converted. With a Mr. F. O. Nilsson, another Swedish 
 sailor, also converted in New York and baptized by Mr. Oncken 
 in Hamburg, in 1847, he began Baptist work in Sweden. The 
 appearance of Mr. Shroeder on the platform, at the annual 
 meeting of the Baptist Missionary Union at Philadelphia, in 
 1892, was a most interesting feature. The First Baptist Church 
 in Sweden was organized Sept. 21, 1848. The early Bap¬ 
 tist laborers suffered considerable persecution; Mr. Nilsson, 
 having been ordained in Hamburg in 1849, was banished from 
 Sweden in 1851 and came to the United States; but in 1851 
 there was a church of fifty-eight members in Sweden, and in 
 1852 that one church had become four. 
 
 The prosperous beginning of the Baptist Mission was a 
 promise and pledge of the great success with which it has been 
 carried forward until the present time. Large annual acces¬ 
 sions have marked its history, and a steady and rapid growth 
 in all branches. In common with the other Baptist churches 
 in various countries on the continent of Europe, the churches 
 in Sweden have suffered much from the loss of many of their 
 best and most valued members by emigration; but the places 
 made vacant have been continually replaced by others, and 
 the mission has gone forward in a career of uninterrupted 
 prosperity. In 1855, Mr. Wiberg was appointed to labor in 
 Sweden by the American Baptist Publication Society, and the 
 work was continued in the name of that society until 1865, 
 when it was transferred to the American Baptist Missionary 
 Union. 
 
 One of the most influential factors in the strong and vigor¬ 
 ous work of Baptists m Sweden has been the Bethel Theolog¬ 
 ical Seminary at Stockholm, opened Oct. 1, 1866, from which 
 
24 
 
 have gone forth young preachers who have carried the pure 
 gospel of the New destament to all parts of the kingdom. 
 Rev. Knut O. Broady has been president from the first. The 
 seminary has always been characterized by a spirit of most 
 ardent and active evangelism and has been the pride and joy 
 of the Swedish Baptist churches. A building has been pro¬ 
 vided, and through the efforts of a generous Swedish Baptist 
 
 BETHEL SEMINARY, STOCKHOLM. 
 
 in Chicago, supplemented by the noble and self-sacrificing 
 Baptists m Sweden, it will soon have a substantial and neces¬ 
 sary endowment which will enable it to carry forward its grand 
 work yet more effectively for the gospel of Christ. 
 
 Baptist work in Sweden has received much aid from religious 
 literature. At a time when public preaching was prohibited, 
 Baptist tracts and papers could be circulated freely throughout 
 the kingdom. The early connection of the mission with the 
 
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 Rev. j. O. HamMerberG. Rev. A. E. BackmaN. Rev. Orlop Larsen. Rev. J. A. YadeR. 
 
26 
 
 Publication Society fostered this form of work, Mr. Wiberg 
 started a paper called the Evangelist , in 1856. In this 
 same year also the Missionary Union of the Baptists in Swe¬ 
 den was formed. It carries on both home and foreign mis¬ 
 sions. The rapid progress of the work in Sweden has largely 
 been under the direction of this Union, and missionaries are 
 supported by it in China and on the Congo in Africa. 
 
 BAPTIST CHAPEL AT NORKOPINO, SWEDEN. 
 
 The Baptists in America have greatly profited from the 
 mission in Sweden by the reception of large numbers of 
 active and useful laborers who have come to our shores. 
 These are found not only in the strong and vigorous Baptist 
 churches scattered all over our country, but in the large num¬ 
 ber of faithful and devoted members who have united with 
 Baptist churches in multitudes of places where separate 
 
27 
 
 churches for Swedish people do not exist. The connection 
 between the Swedish Baptists in America and in Sweden is 
 very close and tender. Those in this country contribute 
 largely and generously for the support of Baptist missions in 
 Sweden as well as all missionary work in our Baptist body. 
 The same noble spirit which led Gustavus Adolphus and his 
 army to give themselves for the salvation of Protestantism in 
 Europe is still strong in the Swedes, for the progress of truth 
 and for the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ throughout 
 the world. Although they have grown to a large body, yet 
 the Baptists in Sweden still need the aid of their brethren in 
 this country in order to carry on their work in the most 
 effective manner. The losses through emigration keep them 
 from acquiring the strength which would be the natural reward 
 of their earnest labors. The American Baptist Missionary 
 Union contributes about $8,500 annually to assist the Baptist 
 Mission in Sweden, and the claim of this mission upon the 
 Scandinavian Baptists of this country, as well as upon Baptists 
 as a whole, is strong, and the small amount of money which is 
 invested produces large results for the glory of God and the 
 triumph of His Kingdom. 
 
 THE MISSION IN NORWAY. 
 
 Baptist work in Norway is also an offshoot of the German 
 Baptists, who had a colporter laboring in that country in 1842. 
 It was afterward for some time carried on with the assistance 
 of the English Baptist Missionary Society, but owing to the 
 pressure of their work among the heathen, the English 
 Baptists withdrew from Norway several years ago. In 1868 
 there were two hundred members in the few Baptist churches, 
 one of which was at Tromsoe north of the Arctic Circle. 
 Little outside assistance was received by the Baptists in Nor¬ 
 way after the withdrawal of English Baptist funds, until in 
 1890, when an application was made for assistance to the 
 American Baptist Missionary Union. The request of the 
 Baptist brethren in Norway was received with favor and a 
 committee was organized, consisting of Baptists in Norway and 
 in this country, to assist the Norwegians in carrying on work 
 
28 
 
 in their country. The appropriations are not large, but the 
 small assistance which is afforded enables the committee to 
 maintain a considerable number of Baptist laborers among the 
 weak churches in Norway. The work in Christiania under 
 Rev. E. S. Sundt has been especially promising, and active 
 labors are maintained all through Norway from the north to 
 the south. In 1894 the statistics of the Baptist work were 16 
 preachers and pastors, 27 churches, with 1,961 members, of 
 whom 280 were baptized in 1893. 
 
 THE MISSION IN FINLAND. 
 
 Baptist work in Finland was a direct offshoot of that in 
 Sweden, Rev. Eric Jansson, the founder of Baptist work in 
 Finland, having first labored in connection with the Swedish 
 Baptist mission. The first to be baptized in Finland were a 
 brother and sister named Heikel, whose father was professor 
 in the University of Abo. They received the ordinance July 14, 
 1868, on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The mission was for 
 several years reported in connection with the Swedish mission, 
 but with its growing importance it has been given a separate 
 place in the reports and appropriations of the Union. The 
 work in this extreme northern border appears to be one of 
 much promise. In 1892 the Baptists of Finland obtained 
 lawful rights to exist as a Protestant community. This has 
 greatly encouraged them and enabled them to extend their 
 work. A school for the training of preachers has been started, 
 a paper is published, and the Finnish Baptists are greatly 
 in earnest in their work. The population of Finland num¬ 
 bers 2,412,T35, and the people have many admirable traits. 
 The reports of the mission for 1893 give 10 preachers, 21 
 churches, and 1,329 members, of whom T52 were baptized 
 during that year. 
 
 THE MISSION IN RUSSIA. 
 
 Baptist work in Russia, like that in Sweden and Denmark, 
 and all the countries of Central Europe, is an outgrowth of 
 the Baptist movement, which began with the baptism of J. G. 
 Oncken and six others at Hamburg, April 22, 1834. In 1851, 
 
2 9 
 
 some efforts by German Baptists were made on behalf of their 
 fellow countrymen who had settled in the south of Russia, 
 but such were the difficulties of the work, that the first Baptist 
 house of worship in Russia was not built until 1872. The 
 work, however, was entirely identified with the German mission 
 in the reports to the Union, until 1888, when, owing to the 
 regulations of the Russian government, forbidding religious 
 work to be carried on in that country in the name of foreign 
 organizations, the Baptists in Russia withdrew from the Ger¬ 
 man Baptist Union, and formed a “ Bund ” of their own, and 
 the appropriations of the Union for mission work in Russia, 
 have since been separated from those of the German mission. 
 At that time, there were in Russia 34 churches, with 44 pas¬ 
 tors and evangelists, 12,371 church members, and 82 Sunday 
 schools; 850were baptized in 1887. 
 
 One of the most painful features, in connection with Bap¬ 
 tist work in Russia, has been the severe persecutions which 
 the people of that name have been compelled to endure 
 in common with all dissenters from the Greek Catholic 
 church. These persecutions proceed chiefly from the priests 
 of the Greek church, who, since that is the established or 
 national church, make use of the officers of the government 
 to carry out their bigoted and cruel plans for the suppression 
 of all religious worship and opinions not in accordance with 
 the views of their church. Exile and imprisonment are fre¬ 
 quently resorted to. One of the first Baptists to suffer from 
 this persecution was Rev. Mr. Pawloff, who was banished from 
 his home in Wladikawkas to Orenburg in Siberia. During the 
 last few years, many others have been banished. Whole 
 churches have been arrested, clad in prison garments, and 
 amid great suffering compelled to travel as prisoners with 
 loathsome and evil companions into the Transcaucasian country 
 or into Siberia. Many Baptists are now found in this sterile 
 and desolate land. Some have even been driven to its far 
 borders; and a few of the brethren of our own faith are at 
 this very time dragging out a miserable existence amid the 
 degraded and ignorant savages' of northern Siberia. In one 
 instance, an entire Baptist church in the Baltic provinces 
 decided to emigrate to South America. All sold their property 
 and closed up their business affairs, and the richer helping the 
 
3 ° 
 
 poorer, they left their dearly loved homes to find a place in a 
 more hospitable land where they could worship God according 
 to the dictates of their own consciences. The scenes of their 
 departure from their home were exceedingly affecting, and as 
 they sailed away they sang hymns to God, while the tears 
 were streaming down their faces. They are now in South 
 America and have formed two churches, which have received 
 much countenance and help from the missionaries of the 
 Southern Baptist Board in Brazil. 
 
 One of the severest trials which the Baptists of Russia are 
 compelled to suffer is the separation from their children. By 
 a law made a few years ago the officials and priests are per¬ 
 mitted to take from their parents children of dissenting families 
 who refuse to have them baptized into the state church. The 
 children thus torn away from their parents are placed with 
 Greek Catholic families or in nunneries, to be brought up in 
 that faith. No words can express the grief and suffering which 
 have thus been entailed upon the Baptists of Russia. Multi¬ 
 tudes of families have been rent asunder and entirely broken 
 up, the children placed in the care of those committed to the 
 national church, and oftentimes the parents exiled to Siberia 
 or banished to the central states of Europe. The condition of 
 the Baptists in Russia calls for the deepest sympathy of all who 
 are interested in the pure truths o t f the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 Notwithstanding these severe persecutions the work has con¬ 
 tinued to advance with a large prosperity. While the church 
 in St. Petersburg, founded in 1875, has not grown to any very 
 great degree, yet in the Baltic provinces and in the south of 
 Russia the work has gone on, even amid famine and persecu¬ 
 tion, and in 1894 there were reported in connection with the 
 Baptist churches in Russia 90 preachers, 67 churches, 17,041 
 members, of whom 1,067 were baptized in 1893, and out of their 
 poverty they contributed $17,690.20, or about one dollar each 
 for the support of the Gospel. All the outside aid which the 
 Russian Baptists receive comes from the American Baptist 
 Missionary Union, which appropriates less than $3,000.. This 
 money, however, goes very far to assist them in carrying on 
 their work amid their great trials and persecutions. 
 
JOHN HUSS OF BOHEMIA, 
 
 A Martyr /or the Cospel'be/ore the Reformation, 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC SHRINE IN BOHEMIA,