And now, having regulated affairs immediately around 1 him, this extraordinary man began to feel the care of the whole worid upon his mind. He felt responsible even for Africa and the East Indies. But how to bring the moral force of his little German village to bear upon the continent of Africa was the problem. The result formed one of the most remarkable feats of spiritual en- terprise ever recorded. Harms first worked through the North Gernian Jlissionary Society. But he soon be- came dissatisfied, and resolved to have a mission which should carry out his own ideas and be under hi;i own control. He proposed to select pious and intelligent j'oung men from the peasantry around him, who were already masters of some trade, give them a theological training of four years in length, and then send them forth, ordained as missionaries, to the heathen. Twelve yomig men presented themselves at once, but Harms had not the means of educating them. His best friends hinted to him that he was a little out of his senses. He then, to use his own expression, " knocked on the dear Lord in prayer." His minil had been powerfully im- pressed by the words of a courtier, spoken to did^e George of Saxony, who had lain on his death-bed hesitating whether to Hee for salvation to the Saviour or to the pojie. " Your grace," said the courtier, " Straightforward is the best runner." In a few moments the purpose of Harms was formed so completely that no doubt ever again occurred to him. His plan of action was struck out at once. Without ever asking a single man, he prayed to God for money. Funds poured in upon him. He built a large edifice for his missionary college. More students came than he could accommodate. He prayed for more money. It came to him from Germany, Rus- sia, England, America, and Australia. He erected an- other building. The fact of his not asking any money at all became the most efficient advertisement of his cause which could be made. He called his mission school '• Swimming Iron." Soon the first class of mis- sionary candidates graduated and were ready for Af- rica, but the pastor had no means of sending them there. " Straightforward is the best rumier," said Harms ; again he prayed to God for counsel, and decitled to build a ship. The project was rather original, as Herrmansburg
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was sixty miles from the sea, and most of tlip people had never seen a ship. Again Harms prayed for the neces- sary money. Funds came as usual, and the ship was built and launched. As the day of sailing approached, the simple Herrmansburgers brouglit to the vessel fruits and flowers, grain and meats, jilouglis, harrows, hoes, and a Christmas-tree, that the missionaries might have the means of celebrating that festival upon the seas. The day of sailing, Oct. 18, 1853, was held as a gala by the simple people ; but soon news came that the ship was lost. '• What shall we do V" said the people. "Hum- ble ourselves, and build a new ship," said the minister. The report proved mitrue, and that vessel is still jilying her missionary voyages between Hamburg and Africa. Harms's preachers have also penetrated to Australia, the East Indies, and oiur Western States.
In 1854 Harms folt the need of diifusing missionary intelligence among his own countrymen, and arousing a more universal interest in the cause. He desired to es- tablish a journal devoted to missions, but his friends did not see how it could be published. "Let ns have a printing-press upon the heath," said Harms. At once he aslieil God ibr the money, and it reached him as usual. The missionary journal was soon established, and in a few years it attained a circulation of fourteen thousand copies, only two periodicals in all Germany ha\ ing a larger edition. It still abounds with racy let- ters from the missionaries, and the stirring essays of Harms formed its chief attraction until his death. He also estaijlished a missionary festival, held annually in June in the open air on Luneberger Heath. On some years this festival was attended by six thousand people, including strangers from all parts of Europe. " How enchanting," said he, " are such Christian popular festi- vals, under the open sky, with God's dear Word, and ac- counts of his kingdom q,nd prayer, and loud-sounding hymns and tones of the trumpet."
The peculiar character and enormous amount of Pas- tor Harms's work can be better understood from the ac- count of a traveller from our own country who spent a .Sal (bath with him in the autumn of 18G3. The de- scription which follows may be considered a specimen of his usual Sabbath-day's work. After speaking of his church edifice, which was nine liundred and seventy- five years old, and which Harms refused to have pulled down, considering its antiquity a means of influence, the writer proceeds : " Strangers were obliged to take seats at half past nine on Sabbath morning, in order to secure them; service commenced at half past ten. When the pastor entered, the vast audience rose with as much awe as if he were an apostle. His form was bent, his face pale and indescribably solemn. He appeared utterly ex- hausted, and leaned against the altar ibr support. In a low, tremulous tone, he chanted a jjrayer. ^^'ithout look- ing at the Bible, he then recited a psalm, commenting upon every verse. He then read the same psalm from the Bible, by the inflections of his voice gathering up and impressing his previous comments. He next ad- ministered the ordinance of baptism to those infants who had been born since the previous Sabbath, and ad- <lressed the sponsors. After annomicing his text, he gave a rich exposition of it ; a prayer followed, and he preached his sermon, which was vers' impressive and di- rect, though the voice of the preacher ^vas often shrill. After another prayer, he administered the Lord's Supper to aliout two hundred persons, one tentli of his church partaking of the ordinance every Sal/bath day. The female communicants ?vere dressed appropriately for the occasion. The people were dismissed after a service of three hours and forty minutes in length. After an hour's intermission the audience assembled again. The pastor recited a chapter from the New Testament, com- menting upon each verse, and then read from the book as before. After singing by the congregation, he cate- chised the audience, walking up aaid down the aisle, questioning children and adults. The audience seemed tjansformed into a vast Bible-class. This sers-ice of