Charles Richmond Henderson

“ Nor, in distinguishing the two fields of study, sociology and theology, are we suggesting that sociology is or can be a subject indifferent to the religious thinker or practical leader. On the contrary we most strenuously urge that sociology, even in its present initial stage, is the most immediately useful scientific instrument for the teacher of ethics and religion. The sociological method is already beginning to revolutionize the mode of thinking in theology, in exegesis, in church history, in ethics, and in pulpit rhetoric. ”

“ Humanity was a great word, and fine sentiments found eloquent and pathetic literary forms; but little hard work was done to effectively organize help. For such obscure and self-sacrificing heroism of deed other elements were required. The great literature produced by the demi-gods of culture helped to blend the discordant dialects and give the people one language, and that not the French in which Frederick the Great loved to write, but the native German. ”

“ There was no such attempt to popularize government in Germany as in England, France and America. Absolute monarchy was the ideal, and the leading classes hoped to make the centralized and personal government the instrument of progress. Schiller said: "When the people free themselves, prosperity cannot be gained." Goethe did not favor popular movements, but looked to courts for help. The French Revolution had a powerful influence in arousing the middle-class citizens to a consciousness of their rights and powers. ”

“ The family is not a voluntary association in the sense of the word here employed. Each human being becomes a member of the domestic institution by birth and not by choice, and at the age when reflection begins he discovers that this institution has already done its work upon him. The marriage contract is, indeed, relatively free, but the form of the union is determined partly by the elementary impulses of nature and the facts of sex and partly by the customs and laws through which society enforces its beliefs respecting the conditions of the common welfare. ”

“ And as the timber for martyrs is not found in every township we must be grateful to those who cheer the timid essays of groping minds by uniting the foremost men in companies of pioneers. Church and state would perish, and even good customs would corrupt the world if we did not have associations of self-appointed censors to disturb our complacency and goad us to reflection. ”

“ The churches of America are awakening to a consciousness of their social responsibility for the possession of vast resources of wealth and influence. New conditions confront them, especially in cities. The population is no longer homogeneous, for all races and religions are crowded together in urban communities. Social classes are more sharply defined and more severely antagonistic. Economic conditions force people apart, crime arises from social friction, public opinion crosses barriers tardily, and spiritual agencies are blocked by unexpected obstacles. ”

“ Definition of "Inner Mission."—The term was used to designate all the works of rescue which grew out of Christian faith and love in response to social need. Many voluntary fraternities had been formed, in different countries and in different branches of the church, to respond to the call of suffering. These free associations, without any outward union, had in common one foundation, faith that Christ is the Redeemer of the perishing, and one goal, to raise men out of sin, and free them from its consequences, by means of the gospel and the offer of fraternal kindness. ”

“ There is a very powerful current of public opinion setting in the direction of state monopoly of many social functions, and there is another current opposed to such extension of political agency. These two tendencies will not suppress each other but will correct each other. Even when the city or state has undertaken a social function it is found that vigilant citizens must unite to watch the administration of a law. No popular government has yet solved the problem of perpetual motion. ”

“ It is true that all organizations, even those which are most free, are influenced by the fixed material conditions and the established customs and laws of a given community. But in these associations the self-determining element is most conspicuous and characteristic. Such a social organization is usually less permanent and rigid, and its membership more fluctuating and unstable than is true of the great and recognized institutions, such as the family, state and church. ”

“ The church is like all other institutions which have a vast range of movement in time and space and a long life; she grows, but must be rooted deeply in order to resist frost and drought and to abide the storms. The church is not an organization which can readily be made over by the combined efforts of a small circle of advanced thinkers. ”

“ The Revolution of 1848 which swept Europe did not leave Germany undisturbed. Berlin was for a time under the control of a mob. Riot and rebellion seemed to threaten property and government. The propertied classes were frightened. The uprising was extinguished by military force, and a period of reaction began.
Men who knew the life of the laboring classes in cities like Hamburg and Berlin were well acquainted with the wretchedness, vice, squalor, and despair of their homes. Some of them foretold the revolution and sought to avert it by healing the evil at its source. ”

“ It is to the interest of society at large that these two distinct but complementary methods of study should not be set in endless conflict. Sociology is not identical with theology, and has not the same intellectual task. Its scientific procedure lies entirely within the range of the phenomena of an observed social order. ”

“ Social ideals of culture.—The Illumination did its work and sowed its seed. Kant and Fichte brought men to a consciousness of the powers of reason. Lessing taught men to regard education as a part of the divine plan of revelation. Goethe and Schiller represented human existence in its beauty and harmony. Men began to believe that almost anything is possible to education. Rationalism had induced men to lean on themselves. ”

“ Pietists worked for individual souls and neglected the institutions of society. With all their fervor and faith they never could become a leaven in the life of mankind. A study of Pietism would furnish much instruction for churches of a similar type in this country.
The "mediating theology" helped to supply the bond between the better elements of the Illumination and Pietism, between culture and piety, humanity and faith.
Dissenters from other countries only gradually gained a foothold, but parties and sects within the established church were numerous enough to prevent stagnation. ”

“ No form of evil or misery is to be neglected. No class is to be ignored. No social form, family, state or church is to be left unused.
While Wichern is chiefly occupied with the labor of his own national church, his survey covers both Catholic and Protestant enterprises in Europe and America. Wichern expresses the hope that Christians divided upon creeds will find in practical efforts of benevolence a ground on which all can agree. His appreciation of others is liberal and unstinted. ”

“ No such thing as a 'Religion of Humanity' can ever do more than temporarily shut out the thought of a Power of which Humanity is but a small and fugitive product—a Power which was in course of ever-changing manifestations before Humanity was, and will continue through other manifestations when Humanity has ceased to be. ”

“ It is love, love born of faith, which overcomes." Music was cultivated. Sunday schools were formed for apprentices; spinning, sewing and knitting were taught; and steady labor was employed as a means of development and reformation. Such lives were expressions of the ideals and indications of the methods which were, at a later time, taken up into the "Inner Mission." But it required many years, many contests of discussion, and the devotion of many lives to awaken the evangelical people of Germany to their duty and to organize social movements of national importance and extent. ”

“ In new and uncultivated communities clubs of women are slowly learning and teaching the first lessons of æsthetic culture. If they waited for town councils to act, under the control of rude democratic majorities and uneducated boards of education, our western cities would remain barbarian for another century. There is a "tendency in all things to sag," and the people of each generation are girded and braced for new journeys only by the prophetic discoveries and appeals of inspired leaders. ”

“ The socialists had already organized the workingmen in cities. Why should not the Christian people provide associations, inns, homes, and savings banks to meet the needs of special classes of laborers? To provide better homes for artisans and laborers it is urged that the Building Society of Berlin be imitated in all cities. It was many years before these suggestions of Wichern were embodied in organizations of laborers in the church, and the movement never succeeded as it was then conceived. ”

“ Economic conditions and theories.—Many of the occasions for the benevolent enterprise called the Inner Mission lay in the industrial situation of Germany, and the particular forms of charity were determined by the forms of distress. Germany, at the beginning of this century, was an agricultural country, but it had already entered the circle of manufacturing and commercial competition. The seaport cities naturally shared very early in this movement and in its good and evil effects. The working people had little class consciousness and no voice in public affairs. ”

“ Certain fashionable clubs have very attractive references to literature and art in their organic law; but the cook and bartender would be able to write a very instructive commentary on the public documents of the society. The final cause of a society must be sought in its conduct as well as in its verbal professions.
It is next necessary to set a value upon the purpose thus discovered. What satisfactions does it promise? How will realization of the aim affect society at large? How wide a range of persons is to receive help from it? ”

“ That the object-matter can be replaced by another object-matter, as supposed by those who think the 'Religion of Humanity' will be the religion of the future, is a belief countenanced neither by induction nor by deduction. However dominant may become the moral sentiment enlisted on behalf of humanity, it can never exclude the sentiment, alone properly called religious, awakened by that which is behind Humanity, and behind all other things. ”

“ Sociology has for a part of its task the explanation of the phenomena of society. Explanation implies the tracing of the paths of causation in the cosmic order. The word explanation is used with this meaning in chemistry, physics, biology and psychology. Theology is also an effort of the human intellect to explain all phenomena of nature mind and society. ”

“ Missionary laborers discover in the ruin of domestic economy, in extreme destitution, in indecent crowding, in neglect of education, culture and religion the primal spring of general decay. In relation to the state the Inner Mission assumes an attitude of independence and of interest. No particular party theory of constitution or political organization is favored. Reverence for law and government will be taught. The right of protection for voluntary associations is all that it asks of the state ”

“ Machine production was not advanced. The hand-workers, organized in guilds, were still more important than the wage-workers of the factories. Trades unions of the English type were yet unknown. The proletariat was hardly possessed of a class consciousness. Indeed, in 1842, Lorenz von Stein could say that Germany had nothing to fear from socialism because the class to which it appealed did not exist in great numbers. The economic doctrines of liberalism and laissez faire seemed to conspire with political absolutism to prevent social action favorable to the lower classes. ”

“ Practical labors of love held them together for some years, but the varied elements could not be combined, and, in 1833, the society ceased to exist. It helped to prepare the way for the Inner Mission by emphasizing the common spiritual need of Christendom, by giving an example of the efficiency of the voluntary association in the promotion of a common and neglected cause, and by holding fast to the value of the church while permitting great variety of opinion among the members. ”

“ By his student struggles to gain an education, and by his early labors as a Sunday school teacher his mind was opened to the needs of the wandering multitude. Neander and Schleiermacher were among the great men whom he heard at the University. In 1833 he founded the Rauhe Haus, at Horn, with twelve unpromising children, some of them thieves. He sought to change the environment of neglected children. When they came to him the past was forgiven and forgotten; they were set to work; a joyous and natural life of home and religion surrounded them as an atmosphere. ”

“ Her motto expresses one of the principles of the Inner Mission: "The soul of charity is charity for the soul."
Pestalozzi.—In this age of preparation the personality of the great Swiss teacher stands out conspicuous. In his career we discern the mingled elements of Pietism and of the Illumination. He studied theology and then law. In all his undertakings his plans came to grief through lack of practical sagacity. But his affectionate disposition, his genuine philanthropy, his lofty ideals of life and education gave to his writings a power which the world still feels. ”

“ A part of Germany, subjected to the yoke of the French conqueror and oppressor, learned to value the privileges conferred on them by the imposed code. Notable reforms attended the abolition of serfdom: freedom of occupation increased; Stein's measures gave to cities and provinces a sense of self-government and local life; military reforms called the humblest citizens to feel that they had a duty to the nation and a share in common dangers and glories ”

“ The criticism should not be hastily accepted. Such organizations rather imply that a considerable number of the members of the churches are ready to unite in a method of social amelioration for which there exists no suitable machinery. It is unreasonable to expect all the members of a body of four or five million members to rent the use of their vast and costly governmental plant for some local or temporary purpose, however worthy it may be. The voluntary association furnishes exactly the form of cooperation most desirable in these circumstances. ”