p. 14 | In Behalf of the Countrymen of Luther

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Aug 17, 1911

In Behalf of the Countrymen of Luther

By G. W. Erfurth

Perhaps all the readers of the Review are aware of the fact that among the foreign population of this country the Germans form the largest percentage. It is estimated that there are living in the United States at the present time upward of twelve million persons belonging to this nationality, and in their intercourse with the world, a little less than half of these are wholly dependent upon their mother tongue. Our large cities in the East are full of them, and wide sections of the country district, especially in the Middle West, are almost entirely settled by these people.

While the Germans in this country, as a rule, are thrifty, diligent, and prosperous as far as their worldly affairs are concerned, their spiritual condition is pitiable in the extreme. Self-satisfaction and love of ease and earthly pleasure have deadened in many of these people any desire for and appreciation of the higher life, and they are hard to reach with the gospel of full and free salvation, the blessings of which lie in self-denial and self-sacrifice for the Master.

The great heart of our Heavenly Father yearns for these his wandering children. At the very beginning of the proclamation of the third angel’s message, God impressed the leaders in this work with the necessity of laboring also for the Germans, and at an early date publications on present truth were issued in their language. That these efforts have borne glorious fruit is evident.

Thousands of Germans to-day are rejoicing in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free, and are preparing themselves for the coming of the King.

At the present time we are publishing in this country four German periodicals dealing with present truth. The Christlicher Hausfreund (Christian Friend of the Home), a biweekly, is our German pioneer paper, and occupies a field corresponding to that of the Signs of the Times weekly. It is a strictly missionary and home paper, and is best used for free distribution, to be mailed especially by the churches in their missionary meetings. The yearly subscription price of this paper is $1; when taken in clubs of five or more, 75 cents. The paper is up-to-date in every respect, and we would invite the members of the missionary societies throughout the country to consider the advisability of doing a little for their German-speaking friends and neighbors, by adding to their club of Signs also a club of the Hausfreund, to be sent out in their regular missionary meetings. The item of expense is small; and who knows how great would be the results?

Besides the above-named paper, we are publishing, somewhat similar to the Signs of the Times monthly and the Watchman, a quarterly magazine, the name of which is Die Zeichen der Zeit (The Signs of the Times), well illustrated, beautifully gotten out, and, best of all, packed full with the message for this time. Twelve thousand copies of the second quarter (1911) edition were sold. The subscription price of this magazine is 30 cents a year; single copy, 10 cents.

Our two other German papers are Der Jugendbote (Youth’s Messenger) and the Deutscher Arbeiter (German Worker). The former is a sixteen-page monthly illustrated periodical for the German youth, with the same mission as the English Youth’s Instructor. Subscription price, 50 cents. It is a good paper to place in the hands of German young people outside our ranks, as well as those of our faith. Deutscher Arbeiter is what we might call the German church paper. It contains information concerning the movements of the denomination, and the reports of our workers at home and abroad. Price, 50 cents a year.

We believe that God has blessed in the establishing of these four German periodicals, and we thank him sincerely. They are just what we need to reach our own people as well as the multitudes. As German believers of the message, we are doing our utmost to give these publications a wide circulation. But as we can not reach all, and as our American brethren are in touch everywhere with representatives of this nationality, we earnestly extend to them the invitation to cooperate with us in giving them the truth for this time. Can not your missionary societies use some of these papers?

Can you not use some in your personal work at home? Send all your orders to your tract society.

We shall indeed be thankful for any help our American brethren can render us in reaching the Germans in their territory with the message. Our German workers are few and widely scattered, and as we see the importance of doing a quick work in warning the people, we feel impelled to ask assistance from other sources; for, with you we believe that the end is right upon us. The people of this world are like the sleeping occupants of a house on fire, and we must rush to save them. Help us to reach them with our saving literature.

G. W. ERFURTH.