FRIGHTFULNESS IN THE PULPIT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2711, 4 March 1916, Page 13

FRIGHTFULNESS IN THE PULPIT

HUN PREACHER'S' "INSPIRED" FEROCITY. German theologians of all denominations have been busily engaged since the beginning of the war in justifying the policy of their country in the light of their own particular doctrines of belief (writes a Swiss correspondent of the London "Standard"). Through all their _ special pleadings runii the common idea that Germany was seleoted by Divine Providence to chastise a wicked world. The Rev. Fritz Philippi, a "prominent Lutheran pastor, dealt with tjiis _ subject in a 6ermon delivered in j Berlin, from which the following characteristic passages are extracted:— "My text to-day is Luke vii., 49 '('I come to send fire on. the earth; and wliat will I if it be already kindled?'). The words of the Gospel are to-day the language of Germany. How righteously may we, indeed,, the most peaceful people under the sun, repeat those other words of the I'rinco of Peace: 'Do not believe that I have come to bring not peace but the sword.' Just as the Almighty caused His Son to be crucified for redemption, so Germany is destined to crucify humanity for the renewed salvation of mankind. Humanity must ho redeemed by blood, by firo, and b.v the sword. German warriors do not willingly shed the blood of other nations, but they do it as a sacred duty, which_ they dare riot neglect without committing a sin. Above all, our adored Emperor abhors the horrors of war. For many long yoars he laboured inccsbaiitly to maintain the peace of the world. Germany has never used her strength to menace the independence of any other nation. Just for this reason, on account of our clean record, we have been chosen as the Almighty's instilment to -punish the envious, ,to chastise tne evil-doers, to bring the sword to tlie sinful peoples of the world.'.Germany's" Divine mission is to crucify humanity. It is, therefore, the duty ,of Gorman soldiers to strike blows of merciless violence; they must kill, they must burn, they must work wholesale destruction. Half-measures would be impious ;' there must be thorough war without compassion. The wicked, the friends and allies of Satan, must be wiijed out of existence. - Satan himse¥, who has come to the world in the shape of a Great Power (England), must be crushed, and to Germany has been entrusted tlie intensely holy duty of accomplishing the destruction of the embodiment of Evil. When that work fs done, fire and the sword will not have come in vain; humanity will ba redeemed; the reign of righteousness will be established, on the earth, with Germany as its creator and its armed protector." , The Rev. Dr. Lobel,, pastor of the principal Lutheran church at Leipzig, preached a sermon recently in which he said:—"Heaven having blessed tho Germans by appointing them the chosen people, wo wage this war with the:conviction that wo are carrying out Divine wishes in destroying our enemies and in establishing our own power. Ger-f many stands for Christianity; her ene, I mies are tho enemies of true roligion. It is this knowledge that enables us to rejoico and be glad, with hearts fnll of thankfulness, when our engines of war in the air strike down the sons of Satan, and when our wonderful submarine instruments of Divine vengeanoo send thousands of the un-elect to the bottom of tho sea. We must fight tho wicked by all possible means; their sufferings must please us; their cries of anguish must fall upon deaf German ears. There can be no compromise with the forces of hell, no pity for tho slaves of Satan; in other words, no quarter for the English, and tho French, and the Russians, and all tho other peoples who have lent themselves to tho Devil, and who have been, in consequence, sentenced by Divine judgment to damnation." Professor Rlieinhold Seeberg, who occupies the Chair-, of Theology at iho University of Berlin, preaching at the cathedral there, said: "We do not. hate our enemies. No, we obey the tiivine command to love them. . When we kill them, when we inflict untold suffering on'them, when we burn their homes and overrun their territories, we are performing a labour of love. "Divine love is. bestowed upon humanity, but men suffer for their own salvation. 'Parents love their children, but whip them. Teachers lore their pupils and punish- them. Germany loves other nations and chastises them for their own good. -Germany is subduing the forces of arrogance, greed, covetousness, and malice, which have driven other nations to their ruin. Tho German armies are overcoming the hosts of organised evil,'" Since the outbreak of war the Evangelical Association of Germany has distributed to the German soldiers more " than 3,000,000 pamphlets written to prove that they are fighting for Right against Wrong, and the Kaiser has expressed to the executive committees his gratitude for their "truly religious and patriotic efforts." > ' I