Kultur.
(Before the War.)
68. The Kultur of the Germans [Germanen] is actually the stimulus to our present European Civilization with which we are conquering the world.—J.L. Reimer, E.P.D., p. 31.
69. Germanism, when it rightly understands itself, and remains true to its nature, is childlike and manlike, at once tender and strong, full of genuinely human simplicity, and therefore of irreplaceable value to Kultur.—F. Lange, R.D., p. 27 (1890).
70. The champions of the so-called race-idea are clear as to the importance of the Germanic race for our civilization and Kultur.... Their meritorious work has converted the dim divinings of instinct into the certainty of knowledge; and yet a sense of oppression steals upon us when we think of what still remains to be done (as they all agree) against a hostile world in arms, both of the flesh and of the spirit—a world of treachery and hypocrisy, of error and of fanaticism, of stupidity and of craft.—J.L. Reimer, E.P.D., p. 50.
70a. Kultur is best promoted when the strongest individual Kultur, that of a given nation, enlarges its field of activity at the expense of the other national Kulturs. If we one day come into conflict with the Martians, then humanity—all the peoples of the earth—will have common interests: but not until then.—K. Wagner, K., p. 46.
71. I cannot accept the definition of Kultur which identifies it with "form," with the harmonious "rhythm" which, in the English, for example, permeates and unifies everything, from the highest spiritual life to clothes, footwear and table manners.... I am of opinion that we shall apply to this care for "form," for "rhythm," and whatever results from it, the name of "civilization," reserving the nobler word "Kultur" for higher values, and that we should look to our army and the corps of officers to endow us with, and educate us in, these higher values.—F. Lange, R.D., p. 217 (1901).
(After July, 1914.)
72. Our belief is that the salvation of the whole Kultur of Europe depends upon the victory which German "militarism" is about to achieve.—Manifesto signed by 3,500 "Hochschullehreren" (professors and lecturers), quoted by Prof. U. v. Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, R., pt. ii, p. 33.
73. If Fate has selected us to assume the leadership in the Kultur-life of the peoples, we will not shrink from this great and lofty mission.—G.E. Pazaurek, P.K.U.K., p. 23.
74. At bottom we Germans are fighting for the same thing which the Greeks defended against the Persians, the Romans against the Carthaginians and Egyptians, the Franks against Islam: namely, the chivalrous European way of thinking, which is ever being threatened by brutal force and puling baseness. We stand once more at a watershed of Kultur.—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 119.
75. If we are beaten—which God and our strong arm forbid—all the higher Kultur of our hemisphere, which it was our mission to guard, sinks with us into the grave.—Prof. A. v. Harnack, I.M., 1st October, 1914, p. 26.
76. That it will be German Kultur that will send forth its rays from the centre of our continent, there can be no possible doubt.—Prof. O. v. Gierke, D.R.S.Z., No. 2, p. 19.
77. We are indeed entrusted here on earth with a doubly sacred mission: not only to protect Kultur ... against the narrow-hearted huckster-spirit of a thoroughly corrupted and inwardly rotten commercialism (Jobbertum), but also to impart Kultur in its most august purity, nobility and glory to the whole of humanity, and thereby contribute not a little to its salvation.—Ein Deutscher, W.K.B.M., p. 40.
78. [Germany has neglected] the highest duty of every Kultur-State—to carry its Kultur into foreign parts, and to win the confidence and affection of other peoples.—F. v. Liszt, E.M.S., p. 12.
79. The idea of the exclusive justification of one's own Kultur which is innate in the French and English, is foreign to us. But we are conscious of the incomparable value of German Kultur, and will for the future guard it against being adulterated by less valuable imports. We do not force it upon any one, but we believe that its own inner greatness will everywhere procure it the recognition which is its due.—Prof. O. v. Gierke, D.R.S.Z., No. 2, p. 25.
80. The more German Kultur remains faithful to itself, the better will it be able to enlighten the understanding of the foreign races absorbed, incorporated into the Empire, and to make them see that only from German Kultur can they derive those treasures which they need for the fertilizing of their own particular life.—Prof. O. v. Gierke, D.R.S.Z., No. 2, p. 19.
81. We will not in the future let foreign idols be forced upon us, but will serve our own Gods.—Prof. Rudolf Eucken, I.M., 1st October, 1914, p. 74.
82. Germanism was for several decades, in spite of the mighty and over-towering height of its Kultur, hindered in the imparting of this Kultur to other nations. In the first years after the war [of 1870] this was not painfully felt, as a powerful exchange of Kultur was still in progress between different parts of the German Empire.... But when this exchange of Kultur between the German stocks had run its course, and the Germanization of the frontier districts [Poland, Alsace] had reached its limit, then the spiritual need of the German victor and conqueror began to make itself felt. He became a teacher without scholars, he had no longer an audience.—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 11.
See also No. [235a].
83. Our German Kultur has, in its unique depth, something shrinking and severe (Sprödes und Herbes), it does not obtrude itself, or readily yield itself up; it must be earnestly sought after and lovingly assimilated from within. This love[11] was lacking in our neighbours; wherefore they easily came to look upon us with the eyes of hatred.—Prof. R. Eucken, I.M., 1st October, 1914, p. 74.
84. And the graves which border the path to glory of the Romans, the Germans, the British and the French, the stench of robbery, plunder and theft which hangs around these millions of graves? Must Kultur rear its domes over mountains of corpses, oceans of tears, and the death-rattle of the conquered? Yes, it must! [There follows an image too grotesquely indecent to be quoted.] Either one denies altogether the beneficent effect of Kultur upon humanity, and confesses oneself an Arcadian dreamer, or one allows to one's people the right of domination—in which case the might of the conqueror is the highest law of morality, before which the conquered must bow. Væ victis!—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 10.
85. The whole of European Kultur ... is brought to a focus on this German soil and in the hearts of the German people. It would be foolish to express oneself on this point with modesty and reserve. We Germans represent the latest and the highest achievement of European Kultur.—Prof. A. Lasson, D.R.S.Z., No. 4, p. 13.
86. The Kultur-mission of a people is fulfilled when there are no longer any people of the same race and kindred to which their Kultur has still to be imparted.... Our Kultur-mission has in view some hundred millions of Slavs, and draws its geographical frontier-line at the Ural Mountains.—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 13.
87. The attempt of Napoleon to graft the Kultur of Western Europe upon the empire of the Muscovite ended in failure. To-day history has made us Germans the inheritors of the Napoleonic idea.—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 17.
87a. It is perhaps the stupidest of the suspicions under which we labour that we aim at a world-empire after the Roman fashion, and wish to thrust our Kultur on the conquered peoples.—Prof. F. Meinecke, D.R.S.Z., No. 29, p. 26.
88. We, however, will not let ourselves be diverted by all this hatred and envy from our striving towards a world-Kultur. We will busily and cheerfully work on at the elevation of the whole human race.—Prof. R. Eucken, I.M., 1st October, 1914, p. 74.
89. More than a hundred years ago (1808) Johan Gottlieb Fichte, in his ever-memorable Speeches to the German Nation, proclaimed the German people to be the only people in Europe which had preserved its primitive genuineness (ursprüngliche Echtheit), and therefore its spiritual creative faculty, and found the transition from his previous cosmopolitan way of thinking to flaming national enthusiasm, in the idea that this people was called to be the upholder of world-Kultur, and that it was therefore its duty to humanity to look to its own preservation.—Prof O. v. Gierke, D.R.S.Z., No. 2, p. 23.
90. We claim only the free development of our individuality, and are only fighting against the attempt to throttle it, while contrariwise our enemies are conducting an aggressive war, which they have to disguise as a Kultur-war in order to make it appear defensive.—Pastor E. Troeltsch, D.R.S.Z., No. 27, p. 27.
91. The highest steps of Kultur have not been mounted by peaceable nations in long periods of peace, but by warlike peoples in the time of their greatest combativeness.—R. Theuden, W.M.K.B., p. 4.
92. German Kultur is moral Kultur. Its superiority is rooted in the unfathomable depth of its moral constitution. Should it forfeit its moral purity, it would cease to be German.—Prof. O. v. Gierke, D.R.S.Z., No. 2, p. 23.
92a. The further we can carry our Kultur into the East, the more, and the more profitable, outlets shall we find for our wares. Economic profit is of course not the main motive of our Kultur-activity, but it is no unwelcome by-product.—C.L. Poehlmann, G.D.W., p. 35.
93. The individual Frenchman may fight as heroically as he pleases, his cause is nevertheless lost, because he does not believe that where the German element has never penetrated, or has penetrated only to disappear again, no development of Kultur, in the true sense of the word, is possible.—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 26.
94. But what about Louvain and Rheims? Has not war, the rude and ruthless destroyer, trodden down glorious cities and priceless buildings that might claim to rank among the greatest Kultur-treasures of humanity? Exactly the opposite may be said: war has in these cases led the way to a really clear recognition of the value to humanity of these Kultur-treasures! The cry of indignation which went up against us had long before made itself heard in our own breasts in view of the thoughtlessness and indifference, nay, the frivolity with which these immeasurable values had been ruthlessly exposed to destruction by nations which have always plumed themselves excessively on their western Kultur.—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 14.
94a. The fury of our gunners at the enemy's unprincipled use of the cathedral of Rheims as a means of defence, was doubtless mingled with indignation and disgust at being compelled to do injury to a priceless work of art. But no phrase-making æstheticism, thank God, such as our neighbours cultivate, rendered us untrue to the conviction that, when all is said and done, every drop of blood of the meanest of our brave soldiers is worth more than any individual work of artistic Kultur.—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 14.
See also Nos. [7], [30], [46], [62], [115], [123], [151], [160], [186], [187], [232], [239a], [242], [248a], [262-268].
Der deutsche Gott.[12]
(After July, 1914.)
95. If God is for us, who can be against us? It is enough for us to be a part of God.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 77.
96. We have become a nation of wrath; we think only of the war.... We execute God's Almighty will, and the edicts of His justice we will fulfil, imbued with holy rage, in vengeance upon the ungodly. God calls us to murderous battles, even if worlds should thereby fall to ruins.... We are woven together like the chastening lash of war; we flame aloft like the lightning; like gardens of roses our wounds blossom at the gates of Heaven.—F. Philippi, quoted in H.A.H., p. 52.
97. The principle which the Kaiser impressed on his soldiers lives in his own soul: "Each must so do his duty that, when he shall one day answer the heavenly bugle-call, he may stand forth with a good conscience before his God and his old Kaiser."—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 21.
Compare No. [247].
98. Thou who dwellest high in Thy Heaven, above Cherubim, Seraphim, and Zeppelins, Thou who art enthroned as a God of thunder in the midst of lightning from the clouds, and lightning from sword and cannon, send thunder, lightning, hail and tempest hurtling upon our enemy ... and hurl him down to the dark burial-pits.—Battle Prayer, by Pastor D. Vorwerk, quoted in H.A.H., p. 40.
99. Is the living God, the God whom one can only have and understand in the spirit of Jesus Christ, is He the God of those others? No; they serve at best Satan, the father of lies!—"War Sermons," by Pastor H. Francke, quoted in H.A.H., p. 72.
100. England is our worst enemy, and we will fight her till we have overthrown her! So may it please our Great Ally, who stands behind the German battalions, behind our ships and U-boats, and behind our blesséd "militarism"!—E. v. Heyking, D.W.E., p. 23.
101. The German soul is the world's soul, God and Germany belong to one another.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 83.
102. On this planet, as a result of millenniums of development, has it come to this, that Germany—and in a wider sense Germanism, within and without the Empire—has become an instrument of God, an indispensable, irreplaceable instrument of God? This question I ask, and I answer it in the affirmative.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 15.
103. The French, of course, count on the possibility that Germany may be weakened in the further course of the war, and at last beaten by the Russian Army and the English Fleet. This we do not believe, because we know Germany and hold the alliance between Providence and our people to be a matter of necessity.—F. Naumann, Member of the Reichstag, D.U.F., p. 19.
104. The difficult Christian commandment, "Love your enemies," is nowhere more easily obeyed than in war! There is much talk about "hate" against England. But how do our warriors greet each other? "Gott strafe England!" They thus invoke God, but not the God of hatred, of vengeance, but the God of justice. It is the just God at whose hands we hope for the punishment of the unjust man or nation.—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 19.
105. It might come to pass that we succumbed in this fight of righteousness and purity against falsehood and deceit. That could only happen, I am sure, over the dead body of the last German—but should it happen, I assert that we should all die happy in the consciousness of having defended God against the world.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 79.
106. We are beginning slowly, humbly, and yet with a deep gladness, to divine God's intentions. It may sound proud, my friends, but we are conscious that it is also in all humbleness that we say it: the German soul is God's soul: it shall and will rule over mankind.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 83.
107. The German God is not only the theme of some of our poets and prophets, but also a historian like Max Lenz has, with fiery tongue and in deep thankfulness, borne witness to the revelation of the German God in our holy war. The German, the national, God!... Has war in this case impaired, or has it steeled religion? I say it has steeled it.... This is no relapse to a lower level, but a mounting up to God Himself.—Prof. A. Deissmann, D.R.S.Z., No. 9, p. 16.
108. [Extract from a letter[13] to Chamberlain.] "It is my firm belief that the country to which God gave Luther, Goethe, Bach, Wagner, Moltke, Bismarck and William I., has still a great mission before it, to work for the welfare of humanity. God has put us to a hard probation ... that we may the better serve as His instrument for the saving of mankind; for we were on the point of becoming untrue to our old-established nature (Wesen). He who has imposed upon us this ordeal will also help us out of it."—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 13.
109. What a difference is there between armies, one of which carries its God in its heart, whilst the others think they can conquer by the weight of their numbers, by cunning tricks of devilish cruelty, by shameless contempt for the provisions of International Law.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 121.
110. Even the Crusaders with their cry of "God wills it!" were not so penetrated by the Christian spirit as our warriors whose motto is, "As God will!"—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 19.
Ortelsburg und Gilgenburg,
Dazu als Sieger Hindenburg,
Das sind der Burgen drei,
Die vierte, die ist auch dabei:
Die macht der Feinde Tun zu Spott,
Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott.
Translation: Ortelsburg and Gilgenburg [two places in East Prussia] with victory for Hindenburg—that makes three "Burgs" in all. Nor is a fourth "Burg" wanting: one that puts to shame the efforts of our enemies: for "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott."—Quoted by M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 82.
112. On us Germans the eye of God, we take it, must especially rest in this war: we must be His ultimate purpose.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 89.
113. For a just cause, the German is ready to sacrifice life, blood, gold and goods. Once more, as of old, David goes forth against Goliath. The German people says with David: "Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts," in the name of faith, right and truth. Great is his might who has these powers on his side; for the living God stands behind him.—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 65.
114. The kingdom of God must now assert itself against the kingdom of all that is base, evil and vile: the kingdom of light against the kingdom of darkness. Against a world of superhuman evil ... the power of superhuman justice, truth and love goes out to battle.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 125.
115. One thing, I think, is clear, God must stand on our side. We fight for right and truth, for Kultur and civilization, and human progress, and true Christianity, against untruthfulness and hypocrisy and falseness, and un-Kultur and barbarism and brutality. All human blessings, aye, and humanity itself, stand under the protection of our bright weapons.—"War Sermons," by Pastor H. Francke, quoted in H. &. H., p. 65.
116. There lurks in our people something of the God-consciousness which inspired the Old Testament prophets. Very childlike indeed, but of far deeper meaning than he could guess, was the saying of a little boy to his playmate at the outbreak of war: "I am not in the least afraid! The good God will help us, for he is German!"—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 45.
See also Nos. [43], [145], [312], [316].
The Chosen People and its Mission.
(After July, 1914.)
117. He who does not believe in the Divine mission of Germany had better hang himself, and rather to-day than to-morrow.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 17.
118. Now we understand why the other nations pursue us with their hatred: they do not understand us, but they are sensible of our enormous spiritual superiority. So the Jews were hated in antiquity, because they were the representatives of God on earth.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 142.
119. God has in Luther practically chosen the German people, and that can never be altered, for is it not written in Romans xi., 29, "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."—Dr. Preuss,[14] quoted in H.A.H., p. 223.
120. I want first to make it clear in what sense we may say, without extravagance or the least trace of self-exaltation: Germany is chosen. Germany is chosen, for her own good and that of other nations, to undertake their guidance. Providence has placed the appointed people, at the appointed moment, ready for the appointed task.—H.S. Chamberlain, P.I., p. 25.
121. There is a gospel saying which bursts the bonds of its original historical meaning and takes new wings in the storm of the world-war, a saying which we may well take as the consecration of our German mission: "Ye are the salt of the earth! ye are the light of the world!"[15]—Prof. A. Deissmann, D.R.S.Z., p. 24.
122. It is no foolish over-valuation of ourselves, no aggressive arrogance, no want of humility, when we more and more let Bismarck's faith prevail within us, that God has taken the German nation under His special care, or in any case has some special purpose in view for it.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 86.
123. Then a newly purified and newly strengthened German folk-soul would arise out of the war, to new thoughts and new deeds, to a new sense of its world-mission—that of imparting to the other peoples, in a pure spirit, the achievements of its Kultur, so that all lands may be filled with the glory of God.—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 63.
124. As heralds of God's will, messengers of His word, witnesses of His benefactions to the world, we shall take up our work after the war, and with German endurance and German industry, with German competence and German faithfulness, with German faith and German piety, we shall permeate, in the name of God, a world which has become poor and desolate.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 128.
125. When these storms have done their work, Germany's purest mission begins: to become a place of refuge, a holy grove for all the seekers of the earth, a central land, a land of wisdom, a land of morals.—F. Lienhardt, quoted in H.A.H., p. 51.
126. The divination or the assurance of this special calling [on the part of God] has long been present to the best among the German people; many quotations to this effect (for example, Geibel's lines) are to-day in everybody's mouth. Deeper thoughts are aroused by a less-known remark of Richard Wagner's: "A great mission, scarcely comprehensible to other nations, is unquestionably reserved for the whole German character (Anlage)"; this character he defines as "the spirit of pure humanity," and the mission of the Germans as "the ennoblement of the world...." Not to believe in this mission is folly, is treason.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 14.
127. God's people will come forth from this war strengthened and crowned with victory, because they stand on the side of God; but all God's adversaries will find out that God will not be mocked, and that He rules the history of the nations according to His will.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 134.
128. A good Providence watches over the fate of the German people, which is destined to the highest things on this earth.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 67.
129. Brethren and sisters! in a moment we ... have become the heirs of Israel, the people of the Old Testament covenant. We shall be the bearers of God's promises.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 116.
130. As was Israel among the heathen, so is Germany among the modern nations—the pious heart of Europe.—"My German Fatherland," by Pastor Tolzien, quoted in H.A.H., p. 136.
131. We hope that a great mission will be allotted to us Germans ... and this German mission is: to look after the world (zu sorgen für die Welt). Is it arrogance to write such a phrase? Is it vanity in the disguise of a moral idea? No, no, and again no.—Pastor G. Traub, D.K.U.S., p. 23.
132. Friedrich Nietzsche was but the last of the singers and seers who, coming down from the height of heaven, brought to us the tidings that there should be born from us the Son of God, whom in his language he called the Superman.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 53.
133. Verily the Bible is our book.... It was given and assigned to us, and we read in it the original text of our destiny, which proclaims to mankind salvation or disaster—according as we will it!—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 134.
134. We want to become a world-people. Let us remind ourselves that the belief in our mission as a world-people has arisen from our originally purely spiritual impulse to absorb the world into ourselves.—Prof. F. Meinecke, D.D.E., p. 37.
135. Germany is the centre of God's plans for the world.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 78.
See also Nos. [75], [77], [239].
"Other Peoples."
(After July, 1914.)
136. We had greatly over-valued all other nations, even the French. The French are a people on the down grade.—The Kaiser, to Herr A. Fendrich, quoted in H.A.H., p. 55.
137. All the deep things: courage, patriotism, faithfulness, moral purity, conscience, the sense of duty, activity on a moral basis, inward riches, intellect, industry, and so forth [!]—no other nation possesses all these things in such high perfection as we do.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 76.
138. Fichte was right in calling us the people of the soul (Gemüt) ... [in the sense that] the depth of feeling common to us Germans has become a power controlling our activity and permeating our history, to a degree unknown to any other people. In this sense we have a right to say that we form the soul of humanity, and that the destruction of the German nature (Art) would rob world-history of its deepest meaning.—Prof. R. Eucken, W.B.D.G., p. 23.
139. Bach, Goethe, Schiller, Beethoven, these men signify for us a spiritual rebirth, such as never happens to other peoples, all of whom only grow old, and can never become young again.—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 49.
139a. Other peoples are young, grow to maturity and then begin to age.... We Germans have often been old, but, thank God, we have as often been quite young.... How young do we not feel ourselves in contradistinction to these Englishmen and Frenchmen.—Prof. G. Roethe, D.R.S.Z., No. 1, p. 25.
140. No other people, not even the Greeks, have so understood childhood as the Germans. It is we who, in the work of Campe ["The Swiss Family Robinson">[ have created children's literature,[16] and still hold the lead in that department; it is we who provide the whole world with children's toys. That is possible only because we have the power of identifying ourselves with the child-soul, and this we could not do if we had not in our own innermost soul something childlike, simple, primitive.—Prof. R. Eucken, W.B.D.G., p. 13.
141. The identical ring that we put into the singing of "Ein'feste Burg ist unser Gott" and "Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles," is something that cannot be found among the other peoples, because they lack the freshness of national feeling, because they are degenerate.—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 68.
142. I look upon it as absolutely the deepest feature of the German character, this passionate love of right, of justice, of morality. This is something which the other nations have not got.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 79.
143. The period of political chaos a hundred years ago was a blessing for the Germans, who at that time were able to grow deep, while other nations were growing superficial.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 129.
144. Our German peace is an essential factor in our Kultur. Such a love of peace is itself of moral value, but in the person of the Kaiser it finds a consciously religious expression ... and when the Kaiser has to summon his people to a war which he has not willed, there at once awakes in the whole people the religious spirit peculiar to itself, of which the other peoples—unless it be the Turks!—have no conception, it matters not whether they have already dethroned "Dieu" or have "the Lord" forever in their mouths!—H. v. Wolzogen, D.Z.K., p. 46.
145. But this same Demon of Baseness, who has subdued the other peoples, was busily at work in Germany as well: ten years more, and God would perhaps have found no one in the world to fight for him.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 11.
See also Nos. [7], [8], [14], [31], [44], [321].
Christ.
(After July, 1914.)
146. The soldier who spat in the face of the thorn-crowned Saviour did not act more shamelessly than does England now.—"The True Unity," by Pastor Tolzien, quoted in H.A.H., p. 146.
147. Is there anyone who does not know why England declared war? Why?... From jealousy. From shopkeeper-spite. Because she wanted to earn the thirty pieces of silver.—"The World-Politics of England," by Pastor G. Tolzien, quoted in H.A.H., p. 143.
148. We could draw many instructive parallels: we could say that as Jesus was treated so also have the German people been treated.—"War Sermons," by Pastor H. Francke, quoted in H.A.H., p. 63.
149. In this solemn hour, when we lament over our dead heroes, we experience, more deeply than ever before, the passion of our Lord.... Is not Germany itself transformed into a suffering Christ? We, too, have gone through our hour of trial on the Mount of Olives, when with our Kaiser we prayed that the cup of suffering might pass away from us; and we, too, obeying the unfathomable will of God, have begun to drain it.... We, too, were betrayed by those to whom we had shown nothing but justice and kindness; and around us, too, resounded, in accents of hatred and envy, the cry of "Crucify him!"—Pastor F.X. Münch, reported by Sven Hedin, "With the German Armies in the West," p. 336.
150. We assert the view that ... what once happened to Luther is now happening to our people: it is experiencing a repetition of the Passion of Christ.—Dr. Preuss, quoted in H.A.H., p. 206.
151. A hard and steep Via Crucis lies before the great benefactor and magnanimous liberator of the Kultur-world, the German people. Although it looks beyond the gloom of Good Friday to the dawn of Easter morn, beyond the dark days of war to the beacons of triumph—yet the cross still rests on its shoulders, and the Golgotha of the hardest decision still awaits it.—Hofprädikant Stipberger, quoted in "False Witness" (Klokke Roland), p. 17.
152. It was the hidden meaning of God that He made Israel the forerunner (Vordeuter) of the Messiah, and in the same way He has by His hidden intent designated the German people to be His successor.—Dr. Preuss, quoted in H.A.H., p. 214.
153. German craving for truth and German strength of faith, working along Biblical paths, have attained to the true faith, the pure religiousness, whose first and greatest spokesman is Jesus Christ. Thus the Germans are the very nearest to the Lord, and may claim for themselves that they have "continued His word".... We fight, then, for Christianity[17] as against degeneration and barbarism.... God must be with us and victory ours. This is guaranteed us by the truth of our nature, which is as German as it is Christian.—"War Sermons," by Pastor H. Francke, quoted in H.A.H., p. 71.
154. A Jesusless horde, a crowd of the Godless, are in the field against us.... May God surround us with His protection ... since our defeat would also mean the defeat of His Son in humanity.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 119.
155. The German people, bearing forward in victory the Evangel of the Cross of Christ,[18] is the great Christophorus in the world of the nations.—"The Christianity of the Belligerent Nations," by Pastor F. Erdmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 148.
156. Let us rejoice that Envy has risen up against us; it only shows that God has exalted and richly blessed us. Think of Him who was hanged on the Cross and seemed forsaken of God, and had to tread in such loneliness His path to victory. My German people, even if thy road be strewn with thorns and beset by enemies, press onward, full of defiance and confidence.... Thou and thy God, ye are the majority.—Pastor D. Vorwerk, quoted in H.A.H., p. 38.
157. Kant and Jesus go through our people, seeking their disciples.—Pastor G. Traub, D.K.U.S., p. 22.
158. We are fighting—thanks and praise be to God—for the cause of Jesus within mankind.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 126.
159. Christianity is possessed of potent spiritual energies, since it inspires our minds, not only with patience, but also with dignified pride. "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." I quite understand Friedrich Naumann's declaration that this text has meant much to him in these days.—Prof. A. Deissmann, D.R.S.Z., No. 9, p. 24.
160. On the paths of commerce and intercourse, we shall go forth to all nations, and, after the fierce fight is over, carry Jesus to them in the quiet, peaceful work of a true Kultur. England, in these paths, has lowered herself to become a nation of hucksters, who have long abandoned the service of God for that of Mammon.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 130.
161. It is on account of its admirable qualities that Germany has so many enemies. Friedrich v. Schiller says: "The world loves to blacken whatever is radiant and shining, and to drag what is exalted in the dust.... Socrates had to drain the bowl of poison, Columbus was cast into fetters, Christ was nailed to the cross,"—Feldmarschalleutnant Franz Rieger, quoted by Kr. Nyrop, Er Krig Kultur? (Copenhagen).
162. The thief who expiated a sinful past by his repentance in the last hour, and was outwardly subjected to the same suffering as our Lord, is the type of the Turkish nation, which now puts Christianity (outside Germany) to shame.—Dr. Preuss, quoted in H.A.H., p. 211.