Plütschau went to Tranquebar in 1715. The work of foreign missions developed the conception of philanthropy in its true sense, love of man as man, without limits of race or country; it awakened the consciousness of social power and duty; and it demonstrated the efficiency of voluntary organizations. We can at this date hardly imagine the suspicion, fear and almost contempt with which private and unofficial bodies were then regarded. The very principle of the voluntary association was in doubt.
Benevolent social work.—Since the Reformation all Protestant countries have regarded the care of the dependent poor as a function of the local or general government. Practically, though not theoretically, the right of the poor to receive help in extremity has been admitted. In Roman Catholic countries the church has contended against this view, and secured a larger place in the direction of relief systems. In Germany, as in New England, the citizens of a parish constituted a religious as well as a secular community, and poor relief was the duty of this local corporation. The distinction of church and state was not sharply drawn. Owing to political and economical causes the civil commune has assumed the duty of public relief, and the church officials gradually withdrew from the task. With the abolition of serfdom (1807) began a series of acts (1842, 1857, 1870) which secured freedom of travel, and prevented landowners from hindering persons without means from gaining a settlement. While the tendency in South Germany, especially Bavaria, was to make local relief depend on local citizenship, yet the general tendency was toward the obligation to care for a needy German anywhere in Germany. Many of the funds and endowments which had belonged to the church, Protestant and Catholic, were secularized. But this had one good result: it made personal zeal and renewed sacrifices more necessary, and promoted a revival of charity and mutual helpfulness. Meantime the attempts to drive organizations of religious workers from the field of charity ended in failure.
Among the conditions essential to the origin and progress of
