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Show Sowing Horror in God's Manicv (Oscar Cesare In New York Evening Post.) The leading clergy of Germany preach that the world must suffer until it accepts Teutonic rule administered by the Kaiser- n( URRAII and Hallelujah" Is the rath- er startling title of a new book pub- Hulled, dealing with Germany's war I t spirit. It Is written by a citizen of II' n neutral nntion, and a theologian, J- P. Bang, D. D., professor of the--yV4yk ology at the University of Copen-() Copen-() ,luSen, nn(l lie Justifies Its title by U uJ the statement that "the new Ger- IC") nn fii?'rl! llns found gnj of s ' I h5osl classlcaf expressions in a collection col-lection of poems published by a German pastor, Konslslorialrat Dietrich Vorwerk, under the sig-.0!nnt sig-.0!nnt title, 'Hurrah and Hallelujah,' and I find lin this combination something so absolutely char-tl.ctri".1?!lc char-tl.ctri".1?!lc f tle German spirit that I have adopted 'ft as the title for this book." This book, In the opinion of Ralph Connor, who has written the preface to It, "constitutes the most terrific arraignment of Germany through her intellectual in-tellectual and religious leaders which has yet been put forth. Out of her own mouth it is that she stands before the world condemned. And the tragedy of it nil Is in this, that these men (whom Doctor Rang quotes) are sincere, deeply, passionately pas-sionately sincere. And herein consists the awfu? nemesis that has after 50 years' pursuit at length overtaken the German soul. For the crime of Germany today of which these sermons and lectures lec-tures convict her is not hypocrisy; but the long practice of hypocrisy has induced in her a spiritual spirit-ual blindness which lias become at once her calamity and her curse." "The allies," says Doctor Bang, "have denounced the Germans as barbarians. If this were meant to Imply that Germany was not a civilized nation (Kulturnation) such an accusation would, of course, be absurd. Germany is unquestionably a civilized nation and none of the spokesmen of the allied powers would think of denying that she has produced rich treasures of 'Kultur.' Wherever the German mind has labored, wonderful riches have been the outcome. In the most diverse domains, do-mains, but especially In those of music, of literature, liter-ature, of science and religion, it would be easy to mention names that shine with the luster of renown throughout the whole world. But the charge of barbarism points in an entirely different direction. It points to a development within Germany Ger-many which has been going on with headlong rapidity, especially during the last 50 years. Even the highest Kultur can turn to barbarism when it becomes subservient to utterly false and immoral im-moral ideas. In Germany such a craving for power, such a worship for mere strength, has taken root and grown, that the claim of right to be a determining factor In international relations has been entirely pushed aside. A colossal and ever Increasing self-admiration, a belief in the glory of all things German, the surpassing merits of the German nature (Wesen), which alone has the tight to rule the world, a cynical, brutal assertion asser-tion that in relation to this claim all existing treaties, all appeals to International law, all consideration con-sideration for weaker peoples, are of no significance signifi-cance whatever all this we have witnessed with shuddering astonishment. Foretold Belgium's Fate. "The first place is due to Ernst Morltz Arndt, the great German patriot of the time of the War of Liberation. As early as 1S34 he declared in one of -his writings that the neutrality of Belgium could not possibly be maintained In a future war. He wrote : " 'Belgium, the granary and armory, is predestined predes-tined to be the battlefield In the struggle for the Meuse and the Rhine. I ask any general or statesman states-man who has seriously considered the problems of war and politics whether Belgium can remain neutral in a European war that is to say, can be respected as neutral any longer than may appear expedient to the power which feels itself possessed pos-sessed of the best advantages for attack.' "The German writer, G. Traub, makes the following fol-lowing inimitable comment on the above : " 'Thus an Arndt has, as far back as 80 years ago, given us absolution for this so-called breach of neutrality, having foreseen that It Is here a question of higher necessities, and that Belgium herself,' that "half French country," cannot possibly pos-sibly remain neutral.' "The second German prophet is the well-known philologist and theologian, P. de Lagarde. Already In 1874 he expressed the view that Bismarck's creation of the German empire was only an episode epi-sode on the way to the formation of the Great Middle Mid-dle European state. He calls the German empire 'Little Germany.' Even at that time Lagarde. as a German has lately put It, formulated the national demands which the Germans, 'not with unblushing unblush-ing arrogance, but realizing the inherent necessity neces-sity of the case,' must consider as the indispensable indispen-sable foundation for the German people's co-operation in the history of mankind. These demands are extensions of frontier both towards the East and the West. "The greatest and most popular of all the new German prophets is, however, the poet Emanuel Gelbel, whose centenary has recently been celebrated cele-brated (born 1815, died 18S4). It is he who has given the classic expression to the new German hope of Germany's victorious march through the world. This has been achieved In the lines to which I have already referred, and which are quoted times without number In the newest German Ger-man war literature: " 'Und es mag am deutschen Wesen Einmal noch die Welt genesen !' "The world may yet again be healed by German-Ism? German-Ism? The hope here expressed has become a cer-' cer-' tainty for modern Germany, and the Germans see in this the moral basis for all their demands. He says: '-' 'Germany had set her mind upon building her house In peace, but then came her hereditary foe, puffed up with venom and envy. The blood so criminally shed shall be upon him and his brood. We do not dream of an easy victory; this war is n world judgment, and strong is the spirit of lies; (jut he who was once the stronghold o our fathers will again see us safely through it, be assured of that ! '"God, who went before us in the flame of fire, now grant our people strength for the last victory, vic-tory, strength to root out the dark seed of lies, the" 'foreign alloy, from our hearts, in faith, word I'.ud deed. Enter at every portal, thou strong German spirit, which, born of light, dost show us the way to light, and establish in our midst, at once weapon-strong and pious, In freedom, discipline dis-cipline and morality, thy millennium.' The German Lord's Prayer. "The new German spirit has found one of its most classical expressions in a collection of poems published by a German pastor, Konslstorialrat Dietrich Vorwerk, under the significant title, 'Hurrah 'Hur-rah and Hallelujah.' In the first edition of Pastor Vorwerk's poems there occurred a paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, of which I will cite the last three petitions and the close: " 'Though the warrior's bread be scanty, do thou work .dally death and tenfold woes unto the enemy. Forgive in merciful long suffering each bullet and each blow which misses its mark I Lead us not into temptation of letting our wrath be too tame In carrying out thy divine judgment I Deliver us and our ally from the infernal enemy and his servants on earth. Thine is the kingdom, king-dom, the German land ; may we, by aid of thy eteel-clad hand, achieve the power and the glory.' He thus Invokes God In a battle prayer: "Thou who dwellest high above cherubim, seraphim and Zeppelins In thy heaven ; thou who art enthroned as a God of thunder in the midst of lightning from the clouds, and lightning from eword and cannon, send thunder, lightning, hall and tempest hurtling upon our enemy, bestow upon us his banners, hurl him down into the dark burial pits." Another poet, Fritz PhilippI, has written the following poem, entitled "World-Germany:" "In the midst of the world war Germany lies like a peaceful garden of God behind the wall of her armies. Then the poet hears the giant strides of the new armor-clad Germany; the earth trembles, trem-bles, the nations shriek, the old era sinks into ruin. Formerly German thought was shut up in her corner, but now the world shall have its coat cut according to German measure ('Jetzt wird der Welt gemessen Der Rock nach deutschem Maass'), and as far as our swords flash and German blood flows, the circle of the earth shall come under the tutelage of German activity. "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 fulfill, Imbued Im-bued with holy rage." Other German poets revel in radiant visions of the blessings which victorious Germany Is to shower show-er upon the poor, thirsty, ailing world. German Virtue "Gushes." One F. Llenhardt writes: "When these storms have done their work, Germany's Ger-many'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. Then will It be the flower-wreathed hospitable gateway, facing towards the glittering East." Another, K. Hildebrand: "Blessings stream and flow down upon those who have given themselves up to thee; there German Ger-man virtues gush limpid forth, there German power wells up. What a draught from this spring! Strong and deep and of high courage, the German spirit flows along, the German nature (Wesen) flows far over the life of all nations." Here is an extract from a Gwrman theological professor, the burden of whose thesis was that room must be found in the world-history for that great event, the healing of the sick world by Germanism Ger-manism : "There are also signs that the German people mny be singled out by God to be the means of 'once again' defeating the destructive anti-Chrls-tlan tendencies of the age, and, In virtue of his having intrusted them above others with his pure gospel, carrying on the course of the mission to Its consummation. So much Is certain, that God Is planning to do something with us. Our people are inspired by the thought that they are called upon to play a special part In the decisive battle bat-tle between light and darkness, and by the hope of them standing on the side of light." In the report of an address by another German theological professor, In the Berliner Lokaian- zeiger for November 13, 1914, we read as follows : "But the deepest and most thought-inspiring result re-sult of the war Is 'the German God.' Not the national na-tional God, such as the lower nations worship, but 'our God' who is not ashamed of belonging to us, the peculiar acquirement of our heart. Max Lenz has already testified to the revelation of the 'German God,' and Luther's hymn, 'Ein' feste Burg 1st unser Gott,' merely expresses the same idea in other words." Doctor Bang then proceeds to substantiate his statements in detail by quotations from German war sermons, of which we have only space for one or two samples. H. Francke is the author of n popular book of "war-sermons," which was ornamented with the iron cross and published at the request of numerous members of his flock. Here Is a typical utterance of the many quoted by Doctor Bang: A Promise of the Lord. "They envy us our freedom, our power to do our work in peace, to excel in virtue of ability, to fulfill ful-fill our appointed task for the good of the world and humanity, to heal the world by the German nature, to become a blessing to the people of the earth. Wherever the German spirit obtains supremacy, su-premacy, there freedom also prevails. And have not our enemies to fall back upon lies and venomous ven-omous calumnies In the endeavor to justify their assault in the world's eyes and their own? Does this not prove that the truth, too, Is with us? Truth and freedom, those two great blessings, are in our gospel promised by the Lord himself. "Germany is precisely who would venture to deny it? the representative of the highest morality, mo-rality, of the purest humanity, of the most chastened Christianity. He, therefore, who fights for its maintenance, its victory, fights for the highest blessings of humanity itself and for human progress. Its defeat, its decline, would mean a falling back to the worst barbarism." Walter Lehmann is the pastor of Hamberge in Holstein. He has preached a series of sermons which he has published under the title: "About the German God." The book Is ornamented with the Iron cross. In a sermon of August 23 the question is put: "Who is responsible: the crazy murderer in Sera-Jevo, Sera-Jevo, the weakling in character and will on the Russian Imperial throne, the criminal grand dukes, our neighbors on both sides, or the deceitful Islands? In any case It is not we.". He then lauds the Fatherland, the mother tongue it Is for these we are fighting, and "Germany Is the future of humanity." "He who in these days sets forth to defend the German hearth, sets forth in a holy fight; he sets forth to a great, incomparable divine service, in which, Indeed, one neither prays nor sings, but in which one stakes life itself, this single sweet, beloved life, for the life of a whole nation, a nation na-tion which is God's seed-corn for the future." In a discourse on Sedan day, September 2, he rises to loftier heights. "Once again German soldiers sol-diers are treading the soli of places rendered famous fa-mous by the war of 1870-71. Once again German soldiers lie at St. Quentin, preparing, quietly and confidently, for the march on Faris. God writes, Indeed, a wonderful history. "Yes. but so it is, my friends: that glorious feat of arms 41 years ago gives us courage to believe that the German soul is the world's soul, that God and Germany belong to oue another." Here is one from Karl Koenig, the author of "Six War Sermons:" It Is God's Will. "God does not will the war, but he wills that we, as Germans, shall will freedom, because otherwise other-wise we cannot fulfil our great tusks In the service serv-ice of mankind, and be enabled to become a source of love and light, of truth, virtue and religion. We Germans did not will the war, but we did will and are bound to will freedom. And because they will not let us have It, it was God's will that we should will the war. And thus we carry on the war in God's cause, In the cause of mankind, in the cause of liberty, In the cuuse of our dear, great Fatherland." Kansas City Star. |