THE BIBLIOTHECA SACRA. ARTICLE I. PROTESTANT SISTERHOODS, AS THEY EXIST IN GERMANY, AND AS THEY MAY BE ORGANIZED IN THE UNITED STATES. BY REV. FRANCIS WHARTON, D.D., LL.D., PROFESSOR IN THE EPISCOPAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT CAMBRIDGE, MASS. On the 13th of September 1869, the Deaconess Institution at Kaiserswerth celebrated its thirty-third anniversary. Among the remarkable facts stated at the meetings, we take this occasion to mention the following: 1. On the 23d and 24th of the previous September was held the third General Conference of the various mother institutions. Of these (forty-two in number) twenty-nine were represented, including delegations not merely from all parts of Germany, but from England, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Switzerland, and the Levant. By the reports presented it appeared that during the preceding three years ten new sisterhoods had been organized, and 500 sisters had been added; the total number at the time of the summary being 2106. These sisters were engaged in 520 distinct stations, being 143 more than reported at the prior triennial meeting. 2. In the line of new edifices the following are mentioned: A new and beautiful church at Kaiserswerth, where the sys VOL. XXVIII. No. 109.-JANUARY, 1871. tem was first planted, and where is now its largest and most flourishing home. A new hospital at Alexandria. The old building used for this purpose had been for several years in such a condition that the safety of its inmates was greatly endangered. In the meantime active efforts had been instituted for a new edifice. Two sisters, in particular, had made large collections in England; and, though much was still wanted to put the building in complete order, yet full confidence was felt that the divine aid, which had heretofore been so bountiful, would not fail until the work was finished. The institution at Berlin had been extended by the erection of a new and commodious hall. In Serajewo, in Bosnia, a normal school for the instruction of Christian native teachers was provided with an excellent building; and it was on the eve of being occupied by sisters who had been temporarily residing in Pesth in order to acquire the language. As an illustration of the hold that this institution was gaining on the public mind, it was mentioned that the Turkish Governor General had largely contributed to its support. A new and adequate asylum for the homeless was in the process of erection at Brandenburg. In Smyrna, principally through English aid, a new orphan house was building, and funds for a Protestant hospital were to be forthcoming as soon as an adequate number of sisters could be secured. 3. The Kaiserswerth Institution, which, as the first and most widely extended, we select as a general type, presents, in its report of 1869, the following statistics: Dedicated1 sisters, 361; Hospitals under their charge, 57; Patients in Hospitals, 20,696; Poor-houses and Refuges, 17; Persons provided for in same, 432; Congregations 1 We have translated "Einsegnung" as "dedication," though perhaps "bencdiction" would be better. In Germany, the term is used constantly as a general designation of "confirmation." The following is the form of the dedication service, as used at Dresden. It will be seen that it does not constitute an “ordi vi ited, 35; Persons cared for in same, 10,000; Schools for Orphans, etc., 43; Scholars in same, 2000; Sunday and night schools, 32; Scholars in same, 2000; Female Asylums, 10; Inmates of same, 2500; Prisoners visited, 287. If we multiply these figures sixfold, we shall have a general view of the aggregate work of the sisterhoods of Protestant Germany; sisterhoods which carry on their beneficent work not merely in Germany, but in all sections of Europe and of the Levant. Under these circumstances it may not be now out of place to consider some of the leading principles on which this remarkable institution is based. And in enumerating these principles we have relied almost exclusively on the official reports, and on the addresses made at the nation." It may rather be likened to a service in one of our churches, on the departure of foreign missionaries, male and female. LITURGIE BEI EINSEGNUNG VON DIAKONISSEN. ANSPRACHE DES GEISTLICHEN. LIED. ANSPRACHE. Nach der Ansprache legen die Einzusegnenden ihr Gelöbnisz in die Hand des Geistlichen ab. P. Kniet nieder und bittet um den Segen. - Die Einzusegnenden beten: Gott sei uns gnädig und barmherzig und gebe uns seinen göttlichen Segen! Er lasse über uns sein Antlitz leuchten, dasz wir auf Erden erkennen seine Wege. Es segne uns Gott, unser Gott, und geb uns seinen Frieden. Amen. P. Es segne euch der dreieinige Gott, Gott der Vater, Sohn und heilger Geist. - Schw. Amen. P. Friede sei mit Schw. N. N. Schw. Friede sci mit ihr. P. Er sende ihr Hilfe vom Heiligthum. - Schw. Und stärke sie aus Zion. P. Der Herr unser Gott sei ihr freundlich und fördre das Werk ihrer Hände bei uns. Schw. Ja, das Werk ihrer Hände wolle er fördern. Hierauf giebt der Geistliche jeder der Schwestern einen Gedenkspruch und betet über ihnen: Ewiger, Gott, Vater unsers Herrn Jesu Christi, du Schöpfer des Mannes und des Weibes, der du Mirjam und Debora und Hanna und Hulda mit dem heiligen Geiste erfüllt und es nicht verschmäht hast, deinen eingebornen Sohn von einem Weibe geboren werden zu lassen; der du auch in der Hütte des Zeugnisses und im Tempel Wächterinnen deiner heiligen Pforten erwählet hast; siehe doch nun auf diese deine Mägde, die (dir) zum Dienst verordnet werden, und gieb ihnen deinen werthen heiligen Geist und reinige sie von aller Befleckung des Fleisches und Geistes, auf dasz sie würdiglich vollstrecken das ihnen aufgetragne Werk zu deiner Ehre und zum Lobe deines Christus, mit welchem dir sei Ehre und Anbetung mit dem heiligen Geist von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit. Amen. Vater Unser, etc. P. Schluszvotum. - Schw. Amen! General Conference of 1869, to which we have already referred. I. HOME GOVERNMENT. Let us take as an illustration the admirable institution at Dresden, one of the best organized in Germany, which recently we have been able frequently to visit. Here we have nearly one hundred sisters, of whom about forty are residents, while the rest are employed as missionaries, not merely in out-lying stations in Saxony, but in Egypt and in the Holy Land. The home buildings occupy a large area of ground, equal to a New York block, and contain, not merely a chapel and a suitable building for the accommodation of the sisters, but hospitals for men, women, and children; schools for children; nurseries in which poor women can leave their infants when engaged in their daily work; homes for servants out of employment; and asylums where poor travellers can find a temporary retreat. Now, what is the government of this institution, so far as concerns the sisters themselves? In this, as well as in the larger institutions generally, a resident clergyman acts as the general superintendent. By his side, and invested with the domestic management, is the sister superintendent, who is herself one of the dedicated sisters. To the pastor and the sister superintendent in concurrent action are assigned the admission of probationers, the reception into the noviciate, and the selection and filling of stations. The general board of direction, by which the secular and financial support of the institution is assumed, cannot, as has been shown by experience, wisely interfere in domestic management. Even the important responsibility of the admission of new sisters cannot safely be shared by the board of directors. The pastor, advised by the sister superintendent, has alone the delicate knowledge and peculiar experience needed for this work; and in them it has been found wisest to vest the entire responsibility. This power is not, however, unchecked. The sister super intendent is either elected by the sisters, or, at all events, cannot be appointed without their consent. She is in constant conference with them, and is frequently aided by a council selected by them out of their own ranks. And they have a veto on all admissions to the sisterhood. It will be at once seen what important qualifications are needed for this office. Not merely an even temper, long experience, and great administrative skill are required, but singular piety. "The superintendent," so said Dr. Uhlhorn, in his address on this point, "must be the first sister; a deaconess from her full heart, wholly devoted to the Lord, exhibiting to the sisters an example of all that a deaconess should be. She should show that he who would be truly a minister must be the servant. And, most of all, must she pray for a true mother's heart towards all the sisters." The institution is to be made a real home, not merely for those actually employed within its walls, but for those who return from outer missions weary or sick, as well as for the exhausted and superannuated. The sisters are to be spared all economical cares which conflict with their especial duties of mercy. Their clothes, their food when at home, are to be provided for them; and one of the most beautiful features in the institution is the frugal but tender care with which the dress even of the most distant sisters is forwarded to them from the mother house. In this work the sister superintendent is aided by the sisters who have become unfitted for missionary work. But the main charge of the superintendent is the education and training of her associates and pupils. And for this a firm discipline is needed. The forced renunciation of natural ties which the Romish church in such cases exacts is thoroughly reprobated. But at the same time the sisters are required to feel that when in the institution it is their home, on which their loyalty is to be centred, and to which a child's obedience is due. To the superintendent is assigned the charge of the correspondence with missionary sisters, and of the journals |