"The circumstances under which this communication is written make it impossible for us to affix our proper signatures; therefore, we trust that you will accept for a signature our pen name.
"PEARCE."
Devotion to the Kaiser
The annual general conference of the clergy of the North German Lutheran Churches met in Berlin during the week of June 24, 1915, and sent the following "telegram of devotion" to the Kaiser:
"Your Imperial and Royal Majesty will most graciously deign to accept this most humble blessing and the assurance of true German devotion from the preachers of the North German Evangelical Conference assembled in conference. We raise our eyes with respect and love to your Majesty, the powerful and purposeful leader of the German nation. We are filled with the consciousness that the sources of German power are unconquerable, not only because of the complete union of the German princes and peoples, but because of the unexampled spirit of sacrifice which animates rich and poor alike, and, before all else, because we are a praying nation.
"However great the pressure of our enemies may be on our victorious armies, the army of those who are praying at home will wrestle all the more earnestly in prayer, praying before God's throne for victory."