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of the nobility (1861); the taxation of congregations (1874); church discipline (1857); the treatment of sects (1852, 1855, 1884); religious instruction in secondary schools (1868); the introduction of a Biblical text-book instead of the whole Bible in primary and secondary schools (1898); and the inspection of religious instruction in secondary schools (1900). The topic of Christian charity was brought up in discussions on aid for emigrants (1855, 1872, and 1894), the organization of charities (1865), Christian work in war (1868 and 1870), furtherance of foreign and home missions (1872), and care of dismissed prisoners (1892). As a result of a recommendation of the conference a collection for German Evangelicals in foreign countries is now taken up every other year in most of the German State churches.
The resolutions following all these discussions were, of course, not legally binding; but the opinions of the most prominent theologians and jurists,
as expressed in the papers and reports Practical of the conference, had a permanent
Results. value; and still more valuable was thepersonal intercourse of men charged with church administration from all parts of the country. And the conference was not satisfied with mere theoretical discussions; it was drawn by an inner necessity to productive work for the common interests of Evangelical Germany. In this connection may be mentioned the practical impulse given in 1859 to the organization of associations for the cultivation of religious art, the regulations for the building of Evangelical churches (1861 and 1898), the propositions for getting up a uniform almanac for the German Evangelical Church (1868, 1870) and selecting daily lectionaries from the Bible for use at home and in the Church (1868). Detttsches Evangelisciies Institut in Jerusalem, an enterprise of the German Evangelical Churches that had its inception in the conference of 1900, may also be mentioned.
The desire to publish the results of its discussions soon led to the founding of the Allgemeines Kirchenblatt fur das evangelische Deutschland, which, besides the protocols of the conference, compiles the laws and regulations of general interest enacted by the German Evangelical Church authorities. It forma the most complete collection of documents for modern church law in the German Evangelical Church. The question of church statistics was discussed in 1859, and resulted in the volume Zur kirchlichen Statistik des evangeliscTten Deutschlands imJahre1862 (Stuttgart, 1865). Since 1880suchstatistics have been published regularly. In 1861 the revision of Luther's translation of the Bible was advocated. It was decided to procure a uniform text on the basis of a received text of the Canstein Bbile Institute, with due regard to the original editions of Luther's Bible, and to modern scholarship. The revised New Testament appeared in 1867 and was approved by the conference in 1868. In 1870 the revision of the Old Testament was undertaken and in 1883 appeared the so-called Probebibel. The entire work was completed and accepted by the conference in 1892. At its first meeting the conference decided upon a selection of the best hymns,
100and the execution of the plan was entrusted to such hymnologists as Vilmar, Bahr, Wackernagel, Daniel, and Geffken. Their work, consisting o>r 150 Ifernlieder, was approved by the conference in 1853, and generally appreciated, but the hymns have not come into common use, principally because the selection confined itself too exclusively to older periods.) In 1878 the conference again took up the matter and appointed a committee to revise the Prussian Militar-liirchenbuch. This revision, which was finished in 1880, has contributed greatly to uniformity in the use of hymns in the church, in the school, and in the home. It has been introduced in the army and navy. In 1880 a committee was appointed to collate and revise the melodies. Their work was published in 1890. Another committee was appointed to revise the old pericopea and to supplement them by a second series of Epistles and Gospels. Its work was finished and approved in 1896. In 1880 the conference tool up the discussion of lather's smaller catechism which was then used in sixty different versions, and in 1884 there appeared a revision that quickly supplanted earlier imperfect editions.
The work of the conference has proved that the need of a closer connection between the German
State churches is steadily growing, Unification and that thin need may be met withof the Na- out interfering with the independence
tional of the individual State churches, Churches. either in confession and order of worship, or in constitution and government. A permanent commission of six members was appointed in 1900, with the president of the conference as chairman, to further a uniform development in the different State churches. The commission, which was increased to fifteen members in 1903, is empowered to communicate directly with the church authorities and to report its communications to the conference. It will depend upon further developments whether this conference offers the proper basis for the effective unification of the German State churches. The Eisenach Conference must either be entrusted with greater authority by the church governments, or it must make way for some new body to be agreed upon by the state rulers and empowered with sufficient initiative and executive power for the fulfilment of its duties.
(H. VON DER GOLTZt.) BIBLIOGRAPHY: The organ is the AllgemPinea KirchereblatEfor daa evangeZische Deutschland, Stuttgart, 1852 eqq. For statistical materiel consult: P. Pieper, Kirchliche Statistik Deutachlanda, Tiibingen, 1899; J. Schneider, Kirehlichea Jahrbuch, 1907, Giitereloh, 1907.
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