II. Sphere. — The German inner missions endeavor' to promote infant, secular, and Sunday school associations, institutions of refuge, intercourse with the families, etc. They at the same time take pvirt in the social questions of the day, and labor to systematize the aid given to the poor, to promote personal intercourse between the giver and the receiver, the purification of morals ; and for these purposes they have established female benevo- lent associations, diaconies, nurseries, labor societies, etc. The influx of communistic ideas they seek to counterbal- ance by establishing schools for apprentices and adults, societies for the education of servants, both male and female, and for the propagation of good books. Thej' oppose unchristian and unecclesiastical tendencies by promoting the study of the Scriptures, establishing fam- ily worship, awakening religious feelings in the families, organizing book and tract societies, sending out colpor- teurs and street preachers, and opposing prostitution, drunkenness, and all other immorality. They discoun-
INNER MISSIONS
589
INNOCENT I
tenance revolution as subversive of political or,£;aniza- tion, and as the enemy of religion and of morality : in this department they act through political speeches and the press, in raising the standard of popidar literature, and especiaUy by their influence over the rising genera- tion. They also attend to the prisons, trying to promote Christian love in the hearts of the officers intrusted with their charge, and forming persons for that office in their institutions. Aside from the protective associations for culprits who have finished their time of imprisonment, they endeavor also to establish asylums for them.
III. Extent. — In Germany the inner missions embrace some eleven to twelve million Protestants, not regular- ly connected with any Church, the floating popidation, the workmen's associations, which are often a prey to atheism and communism, travellers and strangers, etc. In this manner they become a friendly ally of the gov- ernment, of which all they require is the protection of their associations and freedom of worship. Vv^ith regard to the Church, they labor for the evangelizing of the masses according to a truly Christian spirit, but without entering into any of the disputes of the different confes- sions, and without seeking to gain proselytes. Their agents are women as well as men ; for instance, Eliza- beth Fry, Sarah Martin, Amelia Sieveking, etc. The absolute necessity of such an association was shown by statistical statements of the wants of the population, which were especially collected by Wichern. From this starting-point the institution in question developed its labors. Aside from the organization of societies, which were soon [iropagated tliroughout the country, it direct- ed its attention to the establishing of houses of refuge, to whieh that established by Wichern at Horn, near Ham- burg, served as model, and of which, in \8b^, there were some 140 in existence in Germany. For the care of the poor it was difficidt to do much, as the inner mis- sions could not well associate themselves with the mu- nicipal organizations for that purpose, yet in some places, as at Erlangen and at Ansbach, the voluntary system of relief has produced good results. The inner missions also labor to promote the observance of the Sabbath, and to distribute Bibles. Their most impor- tant results, so far, in Germany, are the establishing of Bible depots, of associations to meet the wants of the ignorant, the improvement of the prison systems, which has been adopted in a number of countries, etc.
The interest of Germany in the cause of inner mis- sions has of late greatly increased. The Congress for Inner Missions, which iii 1848 was organized in connec- tion with the Church Diet (^Kirchentarf), has ever since held annual or biennial general meetings in connection with the sittings of the Church Diet. At these meet- ings reports are made on the condition of religious life in Germany, and the proper remedies for the existing evils are discussed. Tlie establishment of houses of refuge and of Christian lodging-houses, the care of the poor and of discharged prisoners, the solution of the so- cial question, the extension of Young jNIen's Christian Associations, and of Bible and other religious societies, are the chief subjects which engage the attention of every congress. In addition to the General Congress for Imier Missions, a number of provincial associations for the same purpose have been organized. Thus a South-western Conference for Inner Missions was estab- lished in 1865; a central association for the inner mis- sion of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the king- dom of Saxony in 1868. The Central Committee for Inner Missions, which is elected at every meeting of the Congress for Inner ^Missions, and is composed of some of the most prominent clergymen and laymen of Ger- many, endeavors to carry out the resolutions of the con- gresses, and to invoke the proper legislation of the state government for the suppression of vice and immorality, especially of prostitution. Germany has a number of papers advocating the cause of inner missions, the most important of which, the Fliecjende Blatter fiir innere Mission, is published by Wichern (estabUshed in 1850).
See also Merz, A rniitth n. Chrhtenthum (1841) ; Wichern, Denkschrift (1849); Braune, /■««/' Vorlesanr/en (1850); Buss (Roman Catholic), />te Volksmissionen (1851); I'ie- rer. Universal Lexikon, yiii, 919. For a fuller account of the subject, especially with regard to America, Eng- land, and other countries, see Missions, Home.