The East German Conference
By Guy Dail
LEAVING Heilbronn early on the eighteenth of January, Elders Conradi and H. F. Schuberth, and the writer, stopped in Nuremberg overnight. This city was founded about the middle of the eleventh century, and many of its ancient towers and walls have been preserved in good repair until the present day. It has two hundred and ninety-five thousand inhabitants. Watches were invented here, and were known as “Nuremberg eggs.” On the high hill overlooking the town is the castle, and in one of the buildings were shown to us many of the instruments of torture that were used during the Middle Ages; among these was the famous Eiserne Jungfrau, which, we are told, was used to punish political offenders. Over the two doors of the city hall, cut in solid stone, were the four beasts of Daniel 7, so that the people of Nuremberg have ever before their eyes an object-lesson in the study of the prophecies. As yet our work here has not received the privileges we hope it may have in the future. We had to meet in secret in the evening, because a fine of six dollars has been threatened any one who would attend our services. About forty were present. Elder Conradi was blessed in presenting the need of patient endurance in the midst of adverse circumstances. The visits of the government official in no way restricted our liberty of speech, and he himself several times expressed his satisfaction at the manner in which the business meetings16and the lectures were conducted. On Tuesday, the nineteenth, we reached Dresden, the capital of the kingdom of Saxony. The following evening our East German Conference began, and it has closed tonight, the twenty-fourth. We could not have asked for a pleasanter city in which to hold our meetings. It is situated on both banks of the Elbe, and is the “most pleasant town of Germany, owing to its numerous museums and the gentle manners of its inhabitants.” It has the finest gallery of pictures to be found in the empire, and has sometimes been called the “German Florence.” It contains a population of four hundred and ninety-four thousand. In Saxony there are 4,200,000 people, and this small country is more densely inhabited than any other land of Europe, there being seven hundred and forty-three persons to the square mile. A great deal of mining and manufacturing is carried on in this small kingdom, and over half the people are engaged in various kinds of industrial work. The government is Roman Catholic, and formerly we had not a little difficulty here. Even at this conference, we were always favored with the presence of the government detective, and were not allowed to take up collections, and on Sunday we did not dare have our meeting until after eleven o’clock in the morning, according to the law. We are also denied the right to baptize. In the entire territory of the East German Conference, which is composed of the kingdom of Saxony and the provinces of Posen, Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Silesia, with seventeen millions of people, the work is going forward rapidly. During the twelve months ending Dec. 31, 1903, the East German Conference tithe amounted to $8,165.60; Sabbath-school donations to $787.91; First-day offerings to $312.98; week-of-prayer collection to $508.35; 192 were baptized during the year, and seventeen were added by vote, making the present membership 784. It must be remembered that lately a new conference, the Prussian Conference, has been organized out of the former territory of the East German field, and this new conference now has a membership of four hundred and fifty-two. It received four hundred and fifty dollars from the East German Conference, besides having its laborers paid from East German funds up to Jan. 1, 1904. That question which has aroused the deepest interest at this meeting is the East African Mission. Elder Conradi had much freedom in presenting the opening providences of God in reference to the beginning of our work in this heathen land. At this meeting the commodious hall, which is located near several of the state buildings in the heart of the city, and will seat about four hundred, was packed with enthusiastic listeners, about three hundred of whom were our own people. The latest reports received from our missionaries were read. At that time, Brother J. Ehlers was sick with the fever. After paying two tithes to the German Union, and completing its audits, the East German Conference was still able to vote five hundred dollars of its surplus tithe to the East African Mission. God has richly blessed the brethren here for their liberality and self-sacrificing spirit. Yesterday, Sabbath, was a blessed day. Elder Erzenberger spoke in the forenoon, calling upon all to renew their covenant with God, and asking sinners to give their hearts to his service. About twenty made a start for the first time, and some who had formerly known the truth, but had become lukewarm, gave themselves to God anew. In the afternoon, after a few appropriate remarks, opportunity was given for those who desired to testify publicly of their thankfulness and gratitude to God, to rise; the whole congregation arose at once, and scores stood, waiting their opportunity to bear testimony. I had never seen a meeting like it. The Lord’s presence was with us. In a few, pointed words, each one had the privilege of acknowledging God before the entire assembly. At the close of this exercise, Brother K. Sinz was ordained to the ministry, and three local church elders and one deacon were also set apart to their respective offices, by the laying on of hands. During the whole session there was a wide-awake spirit, a desire to learn more of the Word of God, and to appropriate the spiritual feast that had been prepared. The meeting was a real success; for God met with us. Nine were secretly baptized. The ordinances of the Lord’s house were celebrated with fifteen who have recently accepted the truth—a very precious season. All lines of the third angel’s message were carefully considered. The public lectures were full of present truth. They were well attended. The conference sessions were intensely interesting. Sixty delegates were here, and they, with the more than two hundred other members, have obtained a new and clearer view of the work that they are to do at this time. Five new churches were received into the conference. Several canvassers’ meetings were held, and the intercourse the canvassers had with their fellow laborers strengthened their faith, and renewed their courage. The vice-president of the union had a good, earnest talk with the workers, with reference to the importance of giving their whole attention to the work before them, and keeping themselves unspotted from the world. The new year sees the president, Elder E. Frauchiger, assisted by two ministers, three licentiates, and nine Bible workers, in the field. They have a great work before them, and we trust they may be remembered in the prayers of all God’s children. The message must go with greater power. In Berlin, where we have four churches, we are thinking of erecting a small chapel, right in the center of the city, if we can secure the site. This would be our third chapel in the German empire. Surely that great city, with its two millions of people, ought to have a Seventh-day Adventist chapel. May God help us in this effort, too, as well as in all that is to be done in the East German field in 1904.