Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/603

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RISE OF THE GERMAN INNER MISSION
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seen again in some of the earlier efforts to provide and circulate a popular religious literature, without which the spirit of the Inner Mission and all its social service would have been impossible. In 1811, however, the "Christian Society in North Germany" was founded by Lady von Öynhausen and Candidate Uhle, apart from foreign influence. British money and personal service assisted in establishing the "Wupperthaler Tract Society" (1814), the "Principal Society for Christian Literature in the Prussian States" (Berlin, 1814), and the "Lower Saxony Society for the Diffusion of Edifying Christian Works" (Hamburg, 1820). The last-named society had an English preacher as its head. The doctrines of these tracts were regarded by the Germans as morbid and unsuitable for the national life. They were too "Methodistical and foreign."

Tract doctrines in southern Germany became very influential. The Calwer Tract Society was founded by Christian Gottlob Barth in 1829, under English influences. Barth was as eager to assist the heathen with the gospel as to help the children of his own country. The Stuttgart "Evangelical Society" (1835) grew out of a tract society, and helped to diffuse the influence of Pietism in Würtemberg.

Religious weekly newspapers date from this period. In Würtemberg the Christian Messenger (1832) was published by Pastor C. F. Burk. In Bavaria the Sunday Paper was founded (1831) by Pastor Redenbacher, and in Bremen the Church Messenger, by Pastor Mallet. These papers, unlike some occasional religious publications of an earlier date, were not confined to edification in personal piety, but extended their discussions to the great events of the age, and led the members of the church to think upon the connection of the kingdom of heaven with the life of the age.

The Inner Mission grew out of the same spirit which prompted missions to the heathen. Foreign missions were neglected by Protestants long after the Reformation. Fighting for country and creed absorbed energy. But the Lutheran foreign mission work began early in the eighteenth century. Ziegenbalg and