Early Pentecostals in Germany
by Stanley Frodsham
Pastor Jonathan Paul, father of German Pentecostalism
We are indebted to Pastor Voget of Weener, for the following word concerning the events that prepared the way for the Pentecostal revival in Germany. He writes:
“A blessed revival visited Europe during the last twenty-five years of the nineteenth century. It began with those memorable holiness conventions held in Oxford in 1874 and Brighton in 1875 under the auspices of R. Pearsall Smith and his gifted wife, Hannah Whitall Smith, aided by W. E. Boardman, Asa Mahan and others. These conventions were attended by many representatives from Germany, who there caught the holy flame and carried it back to the Fatherland.
“Soon followed the evangelistic campaigns of Moody & Sankey in England. The blessed influence of these was also felt in our country.
“The revival did not divide and subdivide itself into numberless independent ‘movements.’ It soon found one broad channel forming itself officially into the League of German Societies for Religious Fellowship. One of the main features of the movement was to gather the awakened into ‘Societies for Christian Fellowship.’
It was also called ‘The League of Gnadau,’ – because the leading brethren during the first years used to meet in a kind of General Council in Gnadau, a little place founded by the Moravians under Count Zinzendorf. Gnadau means ‘a meadow of grace’ and such truly was the character of this revival. Meadows of grace sprang up everywhere in Germany.
“Repentance and faith for the forgiveness of sins were preached, also assurance of salvation and adoption as children of God. The soon coming of Jesus and the necessity of following after holiness as a preparation for it were for a long time strongly emphasized. The great truth of the church being the Body of Christ appeared also on the horizon. Some preached and practiced Divine healing.
“Thousands of souls all over the land were led to a saving knowledge of Christ. They banded together in innumerable societies, great and small, in cities, towns and villages, without leaving the old churches, being most of them members of the State Church.
“Faith conventions were established in central places, training homes for young men and young women sprang up, missionary enterprises and other institutions for various branches of Christian work were born out of the new life of faith that had taken hold of many.
“God’s finger was knocking at the door with a loud and warning knock, as it always does before judgment breaks in.
“There were three stages of a revival that led the movement up to the very threshold of the Pentecostal outpouring. They were, we believe, God’s last preparatory steps before the blessing came.
“1. The holiness question was brought to a clear issue.
This happened in 1904. Of course, holiness had been preached all the way through. It was more on the so-called Keswick line. But in this year the unequivocal testimony of Pastor Jonathan Paul, one of the founders of the German Tent Mission, and an evangelist of remarkable fruitfulness, brought about a crisis.
Pastor Paul had an experience like that advocated by John Wesley and the early Methodists. His testimony and preaching, received by many with great joy and eagerness, were not accepted by the General Council. Yet still brotherly love had the ascendancy; an open breach was avoided and the unity of the movement remained outwardly, at least, intact.
“2. Then followed the Welsh revival.
“It made a deep impression on many of the most earnest Christians in Germany. Stockmayer and others crossed the channel to see for themselves. Reports of what God was doing in Wales were copiously given out and eagerly read. In general, the leaders recognized the revival as a work of the Holy Ghost, the prelude for greater things.
We began to realize that the Holy Ghost can do wonderful things if He is allowed His own free way. A hunger and thirst after a new experience of the Spirit’s power were begotten in many.
“3. Pentecost in Germany – Dr. Torrey visits.
“He preached in Berlin and at the Annual Conference of the German branch of the Evangelical Alliance in Blankenburg. His subject was ‘The Baptism in the Holy Ghost.’ His message and his testimony fell upon prepared soil. Blessed revivals followed in different places. The doctrine that ‘we get it all at conversion’ dropped out of many minds. A definite seeking after a Baptism with the Holy Ghost was being taught.
“A place to hold council about these new issues was found in Brieg. Many of the most influential brethren gathered here for a week at a time during several years. Here the question of the relationship of the church to the Holy Spirit was proposed for discussion. One of the learned pastors present spoke of the vital question. Whether the first church in the beginning had grieved the Holy Spirit in such a way as to force Him, in a measure, to withdraw Himself from it.
He answered it in the negative, trying to prove his point by many arguments. Others took the opposite view. Fruitless argument threatened. Suddenly Immanuel Stockmayer, like a prophet of old, rose to his feet and solemnly addressed the brethren with these words: ‘Brethren, we have been discussing about the primitive church and whether she grieved the Holy Ghost or not.
I want to ask another question more important to us here. Brethren, have WE grieved the Holy Spirit?’ That simply question struck like lightning from a blue sky. It brought the preachers upon their faces before God.
Pentecost in Germany – Revival at Mulheim
“Perhaps the greatest of those revivals immediately preceding ‘Pentecost’ took place in Mulheim, Ruhr. Two converted pastors of the State Church, Girkon and Modersohn, invited the German Tent Mission to the town. Jacob Vetter, who gave forth evangelistic messages of the Finney type and preached hell with all its gloom and terrors, and Jonathan Paul, the unsurpassed exponent of perfect love, pitched their large tent near Tersteegensrest.
The number of conversions in those weeks is said to have amounted to more than two thousand. It was a great awakening for that whole Ruhr district, later so famous in the world’s history. Many believers were roused to consecrate themselves afresh to God and to seek heart purity by faith in Jesus.
The officers of the army sometimes almost gnashed their teeth when Girkon from his pulpit mercilessly exposed their sins. I believe that if God’s visitation had been understood and appreciated then, the French would never have mounted their artillery on those beautiful hills a few years later.”
It was at Mulheim that God graciously poured out His Spirit in the early days of the Pentecostal revival in Germany, and this town was chosen as the logical place for the first Pentecostal Conference in 1908. The following is a letter written by Pastor Emil Hamburg in July, 1909, after the second of the Conferences held at Mulheim.
“With the days of the second Conference of the Pentecostal Movement, a new and glorious time of blessing has broken in upon Mulheim. On the Saturday after the Conference we had given notice of an hour of prayer at 10 a. m., and were joined by one hundred and fifty brethren. While much praise and prayer arose to the Lord, the Holy Ghost fell upon us so mightily that many began to praise the Lord in new tongues.
It was so wonderful to notice how the Holy Ghost took possession of one soul after another, giving them the gift of tongues. One sister gave messages in tongues which Brother Friemel interpreted. The Lord said, among other things: ‘Believe in My call, and I will come to you with all the signs.’
Again the Holy Ghost fell upon many brethren, and they spoke in tongues praising God. After this the Lord poured the oil of joy over the assembly in such measure that a holy laughter came over us all without exception, and tears of joy flowed. Many received an anointing with the Holy Ghost.
“One sister, who had been obliged to leave for home before the close of the meeting, received the Baptism in the street and praised God with uplifted hands. The people in the street thought the woman had gone out of her mind, but the sister soon returned into the room, calm and with illumined face, praising the Lord for the joy and power in the Holy Ghost which filled her.
“On the Sunday following we had another meeting for the Spirit-baptized and the seeking ones, and many more received the Baptism with the sign of tongues. Each meeting is different to any other and more beautiful, and we look on with astonishment to see how precious it is when the Holy Ghost Himself leads and teaches the meeting. One could talk for hours over each meeting.
The Lord is so wonderful in His Church, in which He is revealing the fruits of the Spirit. Besides giving to us the oil of joy, He has also poured out upon us richly the oil of love, so much that all love each other truly, and know themselves to be united together in Jesus.
“I had often thought before that I must arrange for a ‘Social Evening,’ so the brethren might know each other better and be more united. But what wonderful things have happened since that, for the blessed Holy Spirit has swept through hearts, and now all are beginning to look for great things to be accomplished.
Not only has the Lord worked in the souls, but also most wonderfully in the bodies of the people, and I hardly know where to begin or leave off. It is precious to hear and to read all the testimonies, but I can only give it you in brief.
“During the days of the Conference hundreds were anointed with oil according to James 5, with the laying on of hands. With many the healing went on rapidly, and the pains vanished immediately with few exceptions.
Pentecost in Germany – Testimonies
The following cases have been certified by doctors in writing and by personal testimony: Heart disease of long years’ standing, brain disease, gall stones, rheumatism, consumption, internal cramp, very severe ischias (sciatica), and violent chronic neuralgia, internal diseases in many forms, nervous diseases, throat disease, ear disease, etc. The following are one or two of the testimonies received:
“I have suffered for twelve years with internal cancer, and have been fully healed through the prayer of faith. I praised the Lord, and took off my bandages. I am now well, healthy and strong, and am now able to go back to all my work to the glory of the Lord.”
“I suffered with nervous headaches for twenty-six years. After following the instructions of James 5:14-15, I have been fully healed of it. Hallelujah!”
“Through the laying on of hands and anointing with oil in the name of Jesus, I have been healed of long-standing middle ear disease. On the day before the anointing the doctor had prescribed an operation as absolutely necessary. When it came to Monday he was astonished and said: “The swelling has quite disappeared of itself; we do not need to operate.”
“Sister K. M. had toothache and an internal trouble. ‘After my heart was made quite clean the healing power of Jesus poured through me, and the power of disease was weakened. The dental neuralgia was so bad that for a year I could not bear anything touching my teeth, because there was a gathering. Now I am perfectly free from pain.
To God be the praise and joy! Also the Lord has given me the full Pentecostal Baptism with the gift of tongues, and now I can praise Him with a new tongue. Worthy is the Lamb!—-N. B.”
“I have had for two years lung trouble, and returned from a Sanatorium not cured. During the Conference I was anointed according to James 5, and took healing by faith, journeyed to the Sanatorium H., and the head physician gave me the following certificate: “At the present time there is no disease to be found in the lungs of Fraulein Theresa V.”—Dr. S. The Lord is faithful. Hallelujah! ”—Th. V. The Lord has also given this sister the gift of tongues.
“Many brothers and sisters have discernments and visions, and have often seen the Lord Jesus standing before them in a heavenly light. One saw Him and in each hand, He held a golden cup, saying, ‘I will pour these upon you.’ (These represent the gifts and fruit of the Spirit.)
Then the Lord appeared with uplifted hands, ready to bless, His face lit up with smiles; then again with open arms, begging all to come; then shining with light and love. One sister saw a threefold light shining over the platform, which gradually took shape, and was recognized as the Lord Himself.
“On the evening of July 21st, we had a meeting for only those who had received the gifts. It was indescribably heavenly in this meeting. The Lord was so near that we were sometimes quite overpowered with His presence. We asked the Lord for the interpretation of the tongues through some of the brothers and sisters, which He gave. We also begged Him for the interpretation of the songs, which He gave, and two sisters sang a beautiful duet in tongues.
Oh, wonderful is the working of the Holy Spirit! We were greatly rejoiced as we heard a sister speaking in tongues, in English, of which she did not know a word. I heard suddenly the words, ‘Blessing, Blood.’ My dear wife, who sat near the sister, heard it more clearly, ‘The Blessing of the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ There was no one there with the gift of interpretation. In any case, it was a challenge to praise the Blood of Jesus, especially in English.
“In the meeting of the 19th, four brethren received the Pentecostal Baptism with the sign of tongues. It is so wonderful how the Holy Spirit falls so suddenly on some, and how quickly they praise the Lord in new tongues.
“The meeting on Sunday, the 25th, was specially blessed. The Holy Spirit filled ten brethren among them with the sign of tongues. Each time, as the tongues broke out, there was great joy among the others. Many glorias and hallelujahs rose up to God, and there was fresh power in prayer.
There were from four hundred to five hundred souls who had received the truth of the clean heart. Prayer took the chief place in the prayer meeting, and for three hours there was an unceasing stream of prayer.
“One dear young sister received the sign of tongues at the station of Eppinghoven, after the Sunday afternoon meeting, just as many people were arriving. She stood there with uplifted hands, and spoke suddenly in tongues and also had the interpretation. She so prophesied in the name of Jesus that it made a strong and powerful impression on the bystanders. As she arrived home, the Lord gave her messages for those present.
The unbelieving servant girl was convicted. She went quite white for hours afterwards, and her limbs trembled. The fear of Jehovah had fallen upon her. Altogether in the last days a number of sinners have been converted.
“The last meeting of the 26th was again much blessed and the Lord dealt deeply with eight souls that were present. He gave four of the brethren to speak in tongues, and at the same time the Holy Ghost gave the spirit of interpretation. They came to me immediately after and said the Lord had revealed to them that two evil spirits had many in the gathering under their power. They also named the spirits.
The Lord therefore could not bless deeply. I said to them: ‘Pray that the Lord will show Himself so strong that these souls will be willing to be exposed and delivered.’ We had not seen anything openly, but the brethren came and with hot tears declared they were in bondage, and begged us to cry to the Lord for them. I believed it my duty to make a short statement. This worked on the souls, and impressed them so mightily that they were confessing till the next day.
They were frightful sins, committed before the days of their conversion, which I had never heard of before. But the Blood of Jesus has cleansed all. Psalm 1 was so lit up to me that sinners could not remain in the company of the righteous. Oh, what a glorious time we are entering upon, and yet how frightful for many.
In this meeting our faithful God baptized two more souls with the sign of tongues. The gifts of the Spirit are in our midst. So far we have the gift of tongues, interpretation, prophecy and discernment.
“Up till today fifty-five brethren have received the Baptism with the sign of tongues. Twenty-three have the gift of interpretation.”
Pentecost in Germany – Pastor’s Reflections
In September of 1909, a number of German pastors met in Berlin and sent out a declaration concerning the Pentecostal Movement. Among other things they said: “We thank the Lord for this present spiritual movement. We consider it as the beginning of God’s answer to the prayer of faith for years concerning a world-wide revival. We recognize therefore in it a gift from above and not from below.
“What is the ground feature and the reigning power in this movement? It is the love for Jesus and the desire that He in all respects may fulfill His purpose in and through us. We wish nothing else but that He may be glorified. The purpose of this movement is that the full atonement of the Blood of Jesus may be manifested in power, and that the Holy Spirit may have way and dominion to prepare us for the coming again of the Lord.”
Mr. Albert Weaver of Springfield, Mass., attended the Mulheim Conference in August, 1910, and the following letter will indicate the growth of the new movement: “One of the principal features of the Conference was the time spent in prayer and real worship before God. All prayer was spontaneous and unsolicited. We have never witnessed such earnestness, simplicity, consideration of one another, and oneness of Spirit as was manifested throughout the whole conference.
One does not like to draw comparisons but we are struck at first sight with the intense earnestness and obedience to the Spirit very seldom witnessed. With upturned and shining faces, every eye seemed to be riveted on the Lord. Very little gazing around, which is so grievous to the Spirit, was seen. They were here for business, real dealing with God, and not out of curiosity. Great reverence on the part of all, and a spirit of real worship characterized all the meetings.
“Nor do we like to count numbers; but we believe we can conscientiously say, scores of people were baptized with the Holy Ghost and spoke in other tongues, and many more healed of all their diseases, during the Conference.
“One night at a seeker’s meeting, a whole row of about a dozen people were baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire, and spoke in tongues all at once.
“Brother Humburg is pastor of the Pentecostal work in Mulheim, with a membership of eleven hundred people, four hundred of whom have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues. This is a blessed, humble work and many of the members are young people.”
Pentecost in Germany – Pastor Polman
One of those who was graciously used in Pentecostal revivals in Germany was Pastor G. R. Polman of Amsterdam. The Lord sent a school boy from England, Willie Booth-Clibborn, only sixteen years of age, to hold meetings among the children of Germany.
In a year of meetings more than one thousand children were converted and over eight hundred received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. One characteristic of the German work is especially commented on by Brother Booth-Clibborn. He says;
“I can remember when I was in Germany in the early days of this outpouring, that the weeping spirit would be on almost every meeting. Often there would be no preaching because every time we came together the spirit of weeping and supplication would come upon the whole assembly; we would have messages and interpretations and we would sing by the power of the Holy Ghost in the Heavenly Choir, and weep for a lost world.
Sinners were converted; all the seed that had been sown in their hearts would suddenly germinate and come to full fruition in an atmosphere of that kind. God broke their hearts. It seemed that the very noise of that intercessory weeping and solemn atmosphere of the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ would break them up until they collapsed and fell upon their knees and cried out to God.”
Pentecost in Germany – Pastor Emil Humburg
Answering the objection that is frequently raised, “How is it that in the old times miracles happened and yet today they do not happen?”, Pastor Emil Humburg gave an address in 1911 from which we take the following extract. We have added a few details to the account of one of the miracles recorded, from a letter this brother wrote: “When John in prison heard of the works of Christ he sent two of his disciples to Him to ask, ‘Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another?’
What did Jesus answer him? Did He give him a good teaching lesson? No, He didn’t do that. Did he relate unto him a few facts? In Germany we have a proverb which says that facts are proofs.
During the last two years in Germany, we have experienced what is written in the answer of Jesus to John’s disciples: ‘Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead arc raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.’
“First of all, we have seen the blind receive their sight. There was a blind young man seventeen years old. From his childhood he had been blind. He came to the house of a sister, and she was inwardly led of God to preach to him a full salvation.
The young man said: ‘I should like to see the same as other people.’ She read to him from James 5, and asked if she should anoint him and pray for him according to the Scripture. ‘Yes,’ he said, and so she anointed his eyes with oil and laid her hands upon him, and what happened? He could see, but very indistinctly. You remember the blind man in the gospel who, when healed, at first saw men as trees walking.
She prayed the whole day, and about the middle of the next day he could see quite clearly. He saw the pigeons flying, green grass, and other strange and delightful objects, and did not know what to do owing to his great joy. Oh, God is good. One result of this was that members of his family were converted. With the opening of the outward eyes the inward eyes were also opened. It was through the outward that Jesus reached the inward.
“Secondly, ‘The lame walk.’ Last year we were in Stutgart. Brother and Sister Polman were also there. We were often together at that place, and there was a woman who was lame. She could not walk without a stick or other help, and she had been prayed for very much. We said we must pray for her once again, but the sister who led that morning said: ‘No, we shall not pray for her again.
We must now believe and she will be healed,’ and she took hold of her by the hand and said: ‘In the name of Jesus, stand up and walk,’ and she stood up and went a few steps, and a stream of blood came from her nose. The sister said to her: ‘That’s from the devil, don’t let it affect you.’ Four months afterwards, when I went to Stutgart again, I saw that she was completely healed.
“The lepers are cleansed. Pastor Meyer of Hamburg has related to you how a leper was healed. Leprosy is supposed to be incurable. Naturally such men are not allowed to go out of the hospital. Brother Meyer was permitted to go into the hospital, and he prayed over a leper, and he was healed. The doctors would not, however, let the man go out, although they could not find any trace of leprosy upon him.
The man managed to escape from the hospital, and now he is free, the authorities not troubling to go after him. Oh, God is good.
“Then, the deaf hear. A man came into our meeting. He was perfectly deaf. He was a shoemaker. The man said: ‘I will make no boots today. I am going to Mulheim, and God will heal me.’ And he came to us and asked us to pray with him. We anointed him with oil, and then we heard he went home and, for the first time, heard the voices of his children. That was a great joy. Oh, God is good.
“And, the dead are raised. In June, 1909, our Sister Wex was wonderfully healed of tubercular consumption of the lungs, and received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, with the scriptural sign of tongues. The great power of voice with which she sang in tongues showed that the Lord had done a complete work in her body as well as in her spirit. However, on Good Friday, a hitherto unknown power fell suddenly upon her.
She felt it to be the power of death which was seeking to obtain the mastery of her body, and noticed how it commenced at the feet and how the lifelessness proceeded upwards. Darkness and great fear overcame her. She noticed that her faith to withstand these powers had not increased.
The Lord showed her that this was a case of the wrestling against the powers of darkness described in Eph. 6. She distinctly felt as if a cold hand had touched her heart and sought to grasp it and make it stand still. Some brethren and sisters hastened to her help in prayer.
Suddenly, before their fervent, persevering supplications, the powers of darkness gave way, and the Lord Jesus became visible to one sister in a wonderful light, and said to her, ‘My child, trust Me, I have given thee strength.’
All of us who were present with her realized the blessed presence of the Lord, and soon there rose up to the Lord much praise and thanksgiving in German, also ‘in other tongues,’ with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Then we all went home, powerfully quickened by the Lord.
“The two Easter days were spent by our sister in stillness, and in the power of the Lord, but with an ever-increasing longing to be soon at home with Him, and behold Him face to face. On Tuesday, the third Easter day, came the removal of the family to another house. In the evening” she went early to bed in her new home. She had hardly laid down when she noticed that something wonderful commenced to take placed within her.
She describes it thus: ‘Lying quite still, looking up to the Lord, all the events of my life began to pass rapidly, as in a dream, before my inward view, and I realized how blessed and holy it was to know that all my sins had been forgiven and that He had loosed me from everything of earth. After a ‘Hallelujah,’ I received the distinct consciousness that now my spirit would depart from the body.
I felt some throbbings of the heart, then convulsive movements in the neighborhood of the heart, and then it stood still. I distinctly noticed how the last breath left my life, and how my spirit left my body to ascend to its Lord. Blessedly happy and ravished was my soul before Him, my beloved Lord, and it was now as if I lived on by the breath of His mouth.
Ever fresh streams of life and power went out from Him, and I was permitted to receive them into myself, and was thus received into His life.’
“While Sister Wex was thus with the Lord, a brother and four sisters remained in fervent prayer before the Lord. Before eleven o’clock at night two sisters came to fetch me. Before they left to come, my mother-in-law (who lives in the same house), who had seen all the signs of death upon Sister Wex, said to them: ‘Children, it is useless, you can see it is all over,’ for she thought that now that death had stepped in, there was nothing more to be done.
Notwithstanding this, the others cried all the more to the Lord. When I arrived with the sisters at the bedside of the deceased, I took her left hand from the chest where it lay, and it fell down lifelessly at the side. I felt for the pulse, there was none. There was also no breath, the lower jaw hung down, and the body was cold.
“Then we prayed on fervently, each independently, but the heavens seemed as brass and shut up. We said to the Lord: ‘Thou hast conquered even death!’ and realized we might count upon His power. Suddenly the heavens opened above us, and there was given to us great joy in believing.
While we continued thus, each for himself or herself, praying fervently and praising God for this joy in believing, I received the inward summons to command death to give way. I did so, though tremblingly, but hardly had I spoken than there fell upon me a power of doubt such as I have never yet experienced.
However the Lord showed me at once that this came from the enemy. Then I uttered a second time the command: ‘In the Name of Jesus, death, let go!’ and behold, at the same instant Sister Wex breathed deeply, and said with this first returning breath, ‘Jesus, Hallelujah!’
“Overcome by the power and presence of God, we all sank down and praised Him long into the night. After the ‘Hallelujah/ Sister Wex commenced to worship God in new tongues. The first words of prophecy which came from her lips were these: ‘Rejoice and exult, for I have done great things; go and proclaim what you have seen and experienced, I have taken away the power of death.’
“Never have I felt the power of the presence of the Lord in so humbling and yet at the same time so uplifting and overpowering a degree. Sister Wex had remained thus 2 1/2 hours with the Lord, in this ‘fallen asleep’ condition.
It is also very characteristic that thus ‘present with the Lord’ and at rest, she suddenly noticed that the Lord breathed upon her powerfully and in a special way, and thus, giving her a new life, caused her spirit to be reunited with her body for further life on earth for Him. This return to life could take place only when the Lord had given us all full faith in its possibility, and we acted in accordance therewith.
Sister Wex said, ‘May this which the Lord in His great grace has done unto me, serve this purpose—that He shall be honored and glorified, and may He be able to give all the confidence of faith, that He can do everything, and that all things are possible to them that believe.’ May we all permit Him to give us hunger and thirst for His glory, and to be led of Him alone, and thus honor Him in worship and service and in burning love, winning souls for the Lamb. Hallelujah !
“The circumstance is also remarkable that “a month before this wonderful experience, the Lord had prepared us for it, having suddenly, in a prayer meeting where about one thousand were present, given this message through a sanctified sister: ‘My servants will, before long, raise the dead.’ As this message came, there fell upon me a sort of holy horror, whereupon I foolishly groaned within myself, ‘Then, O Lord, permit that I may not be present.’
Yet now our hearts are filled with praise and thanksgiving, and with a much greater assurance of faith in our “blessed Lord. His beloved Name—Jesus the Christ is becoming daily more great and ‘transfigured.’ To cling to Him in a perfected faith, with Him to love, to live, and to suffer, shall be our only desire, till we shall see Him face to face. Hallelujah, glory to the Lamb! Oh, God is good.
“And the poor have the gospel preached to them.’ About last New Year’s night the Lord gave us a glorious song in tongues, and during the singing of this song between thirty and forty people were converted and thoroughly saved. Oh, God is good. I could stay all night and relate to you most wonderful cases of healing, but I believe this will be sufficient.”
A British Pentecostal brother who traveled in Germany during the year, 1912, wrote in the British Pentecostal paper “Confidence” as follows:
“In Germany, as a whole, God is doing a mighty work, and the whole country is honey-combed with Pentecostal missions and assemblies, thank God. Many thousands of men and women are witnessing today to having received the Latter Rain Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Nowhere else did I find the gifts of the Spirit so manifested as in Germany.
Also the spirit of ‘brotherly love’ is manifested among the dear German brethren in a marked way. I also found the leaders of assemblies having a large measure of divine wisdom, and a steady, clear insight into God’s Word.”
Taken from Stanley Frodsham’s ‘With Signs Following,’ chapter 11
For further research
Pentecostalism – Wikipedia – a comprehensive history