HARMS, LOUIS. 



423 



In the questions of German politics, the Gov- 

 ernment of Hanover sides usually with Austria 

 and Prussia against the majority of the minor 

 States. 



HARMS, Rev. LOTUS, a Lutheran pastor and 

 reformer, born in Hermannsburg, in the king- 

 dom of Hanover, in 1823, died in that town in 

 December, 1865. His father was pastor of 

 Hermaunsburg, a parish in one of the poorer 

 districts of Hanover, surrounded by a barren 

 heath, from which the poor farmers were ac- 

 customed to force a scanty living. The popula- 

 tion numbered thirteen or fourteen thousand, 

 and there was at least the usual amount of in- 

 temperance, and other vices, and pauperism in 

 the community. Educated at the University 

 of Heidelberg, he had been aroused from the 

 spiritual deadness of the Orthodox Lutheranism 

 of Hanover at that period, and though warmly 

 and intensely attached to the doctrines and 

 teachings of the Lutheran Church, he was de- 

 termined, in his own ministry, to infuse into it 

 a vigorous and earnest spiritual life. He suc- 

 ceeded to the pastorate of Hermannsburg on 

 the death of his father in 1848, and from that 

 time forward, though not possessing a vigorous 

 constitution, he was one of the hardest working 

 men in Europe. He prayed much and often. 

 "While other people were asleep at midnight, he 

 was engaged in earnest prayer. He sought, 

 above all things else, to reach the hearts of his 

 people. For this purpose he studied their char- 

 acter, their language, and their habits, and their 

 temptations. His sermons made little parade 

 of learning and did not smack of the University. 

 They were plain, simple expositions of Scrip- 

 ture in the language and adapted to the under- 

 standing of the common people ; and his illus- 

 trations and imagery, though pure and chaste, 

 were drawn from the events and objects of 

 every-day life. In this mastery of the language 

 of the common people he greatly resembled 

 Martin Luther. Everybody understood him, 

 and he knew the road to every one's heart. 

 He preached often and long, sometimes two 

 hours, and often three times a day; yet no one 

 seemed to weary. His large church was always 

 crowded, aisles and all. Many would stand 

 during the whole service for want of room. 

 His sermons were like mirrors, in which the 

 people saw themselves portrayed in their true 

 character, and often in a light which would 

 cause them to weep. He had also evening ser- 

 vices during the week, for the study of the 

 Scriptures, something entirely new in Hanover, 

 and these were as fully attended as the services 

 on Sunday. 



This was no sudden excitement or excess of 

 labor to be followed by a season of apathy and 

 sluggishness. He was a man of great thorough- 

 ness and system, and whatever he undertook ho 

 carried forward with the utmost resolution and 

 persistence throughout his whole career. Hav- 

 ing showed his people their sins, and led them 

 to repent and break off from them, he watched 

 over them, and brought them constantly under 



such influences as would serve to keep them in 

 the right way. He was specially earnest and 

 careful in the training of the young. His 

 parochial school was a model of organization, 

 and both in its intellectual and religious train- 

 ing was surpassed by no school in Hanover, 

 and perhaps by none in Germany. He often 

 examined the children on religious subjects him- 

 self, and with a thoroughness and insight into 

 their characters which was very remarkable. 

 His profound scholarship, especially on Biblical 

 topics, exhibited itself by its results rather than 

 by any parade of learning. 



As a result of his extraordinary zeal and his 

 abundant labors, it was stated in 1862, fourteen 

 years after he commenced his pastorate, that 

 there was not a house in Hermannsburg where 

 there was not regular family worship, morning 

 and evening; there were no absences from 

 church unless in consequence of sickness, and 

 there was not a drunkard, pauper, or habitually 

 vicious person in the town. But the most ex- 

 traordinary of Pastor Harms' labors were those 

 connected with the foreign missions established 

 by him in the southeastern coast of Africa. In 

 1849 he became convinced that the spiritual life 

 and advancement of his flock demanded relig- 

 ious labor outside of the boundaries of their 

 parish, and he began to preach on the duty of 

 bearing the gospel to the heathen. Some twelve 

 of his own parishioners offered themselves as 

 missionaries, when they should have under- 

 gone suitable instruction and training. Pastor 

 Harms' brother, also a minister, undertook their 

 training, and a house was set apart for them, 

 which became thenceforth, in some sort, a theo- 

 logical seminary. Others soon after volunteered 

 for the work, and were received. The next 

 point to be settled was the selection of a mis- 

 sionary field, and after some correspondence 

 with the missionary societies of the Continent, 

 none of which seemed fully to sympathize with 

 his enterprise or purposes, he resolved to estab- 

 lish an independent mission, and at first fixed 

 upon the fierce tribes of Eastern Central Africa, 

 as those most in need of the humanizing and 

 Christianizi ng influence of mission ary 1 abor. It 

 was necessary to engage a passage for his mis- 

 sionaries, and the necessary implements of in- 

 dustry and such household comforts as they 

 required. The missionaries were but few of 

 them preachers, the remainder being teachers, 

 artisans, farmers, etc., whose principal qualifica- 

 tions for the work were devoted piety and ear- 

 nest zeal for the culture and moral and religious 

 improvement of the savages among whom their 

 lot might be cast. Hermannsburg is an inland 

 town on the Lunenburger heath, and they were 

 compelled to resort to the great port of Ham- 

 burg in the hope of obtaining a passage to the 

 desired scene of their labors. As they could find 

 no vessel bound to that portion of the East 

 African coast, or willing to take them thither, 

 Pastor Harms thought it best to build a ship 

 of their own. They did so, and on the 28th of 

 October, 1853, the first party of missionaries set 



