How one Death killed the other,
So making mock of Death!
Death which is willingly met kills the great death and secures the higher life. Death makes us free. Thus spake Luther.
Let me say a few words in closing. Before all of us there stands in time of crisis an image under which are the plain words: "He was faithful unto death, yea, even to death on the cross." Now the time for great faithfulness has come for us, for this obedience for which our neighbors in former times have ridiculed us, saying: "See, these are the faithful Germans, the men who do all on command and are so obedient!" Now they shall see that this great obedience was not mere discipline, but a matter of will. It was and still is discipline, but it is also will. They shall see that this great obedience is not pettiness and death, but power and life.
From the east—I say it once more—the desert sands are sweeping down upon us; on the west we are opposed by old enemies and treacherous friends. When will the German be able to pray again, confessing:
God is the Orient,
God is the Occident;
Northernmost and Southern lands
Rest in peace beneath His hands.
We shall hope that God may give us strength to make this true, not only for us but for all Europe.