GERMANY AND CHRIST

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3119, 25 June 1917, Page 7

GERMANY AND CHRIST

AMAZING BLASPHEMY FROM HUN PULPITS WAR SERMONS TO FOSTER HATRED [The following article, issued by the authority of the British i'rese Bureau ■ for publication, is forwarded to us by tho Koyal Colonial Institute."! ° ' Some flcrman writers-Herr Hugo i-reuss, (or instance, and Dr. Paul .bensch, tho Socialist-havo sought lo answer tho eternal question, "Why docs the world t "hato Germany," by discussing what they call German 'Amloresoin , ; Irermane aro not tho same as other people. Certainly -they do not think like other people, Thoro is, however, a. 1?l : I\° 7 ln ofheT countrios to beliovo that the pc/inAiar modo of thought of tho Eoveming and intellectual classes of Germany does not much nffect'tho Gorrnaa people. A penisal of German war sermop'j goes far to disabuse anyono of tnia ■oelief. There is nothing to choose, 3s Vegarda mental attitiido, between tho "Professor and the Imthovan pastor; but .V/hereaa tho pvofesscr speaks to tho oduw.tedj the pastor, Sunday by Sunday, influences his mixed cojigregation, who look lip to him for advice and guidanco; ■ no moulds the people. "Wo pioposo to give" a few examples—a few out of tho great mass available—of how the Lutheran Church of Germany has used that influence, during the war. A otaftlinp book on the subject 1a.3 recenUy been ; published by a neutral theologian, "Dr. Ban?, professor of theology, in the University of Copenhagen, entitled "Hurrah and Hallelujah"{ the title of a. Tolume of quas-reliincttis Uerman war poetry); it consists cSaefly of extracts from a. num"ber ot collectioD3 of republished war sorffloDS. We have fortunately been able to compare (so to speak) "Br. Bang's too*, with, a German collection of sermons not cited by him, "Gottes Wort, in JBiserner Zeit," edited by Pastor. "Wilholra /Meyer of Sp.iolbcj, and decorated, ga usual on the cover with the Tron Cross; "i fua.ooUection Eome one hundred and nlty sermons are at present accessible to Ms. and they entirely boar out tho extracts which Dr. Bang gives; all tho imaia lines of thought appear in. both compilations. "We shall quote indiEcrimsnately. fro m both, and from three sermons Bofc ia either; and we shall quoto ■no- wnter who is not a cleric. Tho ?reat number of copies of some of- theso jennohs which .have been sold" ov distributed testify to their influence. Relation to' God.

• -We.tneet first with-a general-conne-xion, that; Germany stands in eome specially intimate relation U God. Pastor '- it 6 na (Hamberge) saye "Germany is. the centre of. God's plane for the world. '■ "The German, soul is iho worlds soul, and God and Germany boJong to one smother/' Again,-"The Getsoul is God's soul;-it shall and trill nle.oyex mankind,- in-the same way an God is wont to rule. , ,' "Germany is one' faith, the-meaning, and depth of the world." "God has taken the-German aafcion. under His special, care." ElsoWnere he says: "On us Germans tho 'eye of God, we take it, must especially Test; we must he His -ultimate purpose." iPastos .T.- Assmann (Bromberg) gays: t-a? 6 " &e dear.God has need of Germany. Without- Germans ho cannot bring the' world any further, forward on its .course,' .vyhom else would He choose for the further development of mankind?" Hβ then-enumerates, the defects of other nations, and concludes: "Ho must have us." 'In. another sermo.n he says; "God has ebown-us tha.t His heart is always beat-' J?? for the German, people"; and again: •t/.'-P fill use us to put in practice sgis- law of righteousness, wo thaik Him." Pastor W,. Meyer (Spielbey) says: "Our conviction grows ever - deeper and stronger, that-God needs our German ■people as conductors of His thoughts and exponents of Hia will. Without exaggeration we may ask: 'To which of the" ■ peoples Bhould God- entrust high and holy purposes if not to us?" In another sermon entitled "Germany's World Miseion ' Meyer says "Germany,-modest yot bold, enters the presence of God with the prayer, Tlere am I; send me/ . ... I ; Vp then, my German people, 'continues 'the preacher'; on with thy holy work. - . . God's patience is at an end. He takes tho sword from the hands of the English, those traitors to civilisation, humanity and freedom, and hands it to us. 'Germany, My son/ says the Eternal, co you uphold the cause of freedom/" Elsewhere he eaye that God has called Germany to break away for Him on the earth. Pastor J: Eump (Berlin) Tefuses to consider, the war as one -between Germany and England. Rather, "the kingdom of God must now assert itself against the kingdom, of all that is base, evil, and vile." Dean Tolzien (Schwerin) says, 'All signs, indicate that God has somo great intention to carry out through our predominantly Protestant people . .". as a epecial instrument for the fulfilment of His will, for the establishment of His kingdom upon earth." We are, therefore, not astonished when Rump declarea "The Bible is our book. It wa3 given and assigned to us, and we read in it the original text of our destiny, which proclaims to mankind falvation or disaster,, according as wo will.it." No doubt after this it was entirely necessary that, a professor of theology should write in the "Lokal Anzeiger" (November 13, WU): "The deepest and most thought-inspiring result of thewar 15 'The. German God/' Not the national God, such as the lower nations worship, but 'our God,' who is not aehamod of belonging to us."

Incredible Blasphemy,

"The nature of Germanism,", says Lehffiann, at the end of his couree of sermons entitled "About the German God," "is one with the nature of Christianity." The comparison of Germany with Christ inevitably follows from this train of thought. Mey«i-, in a sermon entitled "German Advent," quotes a poetical list of German heroes, and prooeeda to add Jesus as the last in the list, though bo actually etates that Hβ was not of German raco (?),. disagreeing in this with Herr Houston Stewart- Chamberlain. (It is worth mentioning that a German school toot x bas overcome the difficulty by teaching children, "Christ shall be a German Christ for us Germans".) Pastor H. Francke (Liegnitz) says, "Aβ .Tesus was treated, so also have the German peoplo been treated."- Rump thinks that God protects Germany because "our defeat would mean tlio deteat of His Son in humanity. ... Wo fight for the causo of Jesus within mankind.'" Assmann says, Germany stands alone in a sea of hatred; "But Jesus, too, stood alone and yet Hβ conquered tho world." To Pastor H. Hesselbachor (Karlsruhe), "there is not such a gulf between tho sacrifice which Jesus mado and that which the w,st of our poople aro making.-" Pastor Horn (Halberstadt) nays: "Aβ tho enemies of Jesus roso i ve( i on jjj s death and destruction, so havo Germany's ennmies done with onr Fatherland." The whole of this sermon of Horn's, entitled Germany b Weapnn-faiing," is an elaborate comparison of Germany's progress with Christ's journey to Jcrußalom; like Christ, Germany, too, will triumph, for wxl has given our pooplo a now weapon, r-übroarinne." P llst or J'Mlz' Philjppi_ (Berlin), prcacliin K on tho Divino mission, of Germany, wid that "as the Almighty allowed His Son bo lx> crucified that the soheme of rwlomption might bo acoomplwhed, eo Germany j 8 destined to crnoify humanity in order that i( 8 enlvahon may bo secured."

God-Given nights! It i(= no long step from this to the virtual identification of G-ormony with Christ. Professor D. Simons, preachin" at Marburg, says, "Wlo gives !i» .tho right (x> eubstitute tho will of tho Fatherland for the will of Jesus, as though they wero tie tiamo thing? Beloved Christians, God gives us the right to do it." Pastor O. Stein ( Dortmund) has preached a eerrnon called "Germany's Passion-." Christ, he says, etood alone in a world of sin. "Re, too, had, just like the Fatherland, many enemies and few friends." If our array woro beaten "there would come OD us a timo of Passion. Germanism (das deutsnhe Wosen) would be crucified on tho B.noursed Tree, and our neighbours would stand beneath and mock tie and Bpit upon UB( as men onoe animocksd Jeawj the fiuioiiled,'*

But this eermon is far outdono by a discourse by Dr. Praiss, of Erlangeu, LicontiAto of Theology, published in tho "Allgemaino ISvaugolischc-Lutherischn Kmschcnzoiluns" under tho saino title, "Germany's Passion." The Gnrinan people-, iis a collective personality, ho says, is experiencing a repetition of tho Passion of * Christ. AH tho nctors aro thore. Tho Tsar is tho "cowardly" Pilate, Franco tho "frivolous" Herod, Sorbin Barabbas, Britain doubles tho parts of tho Sanhedrim and tho Pharisees, ltaJy is, of course, Judas, bought', "it is understood," for 30 milliards. Peter is represented by tho foreign scholars who now deny their dobt. to Germany; tlio centurion i>l; the Cross is the "knightly" Svon Hcdin. Turkey ia the ponitont thief; worn aro not told who is 'tho other thief; Prouss says he would like to go further, but decides that as lio is writing "thcolugical science" ho must not bo "lined into tho flowery paths of fantasy." Wo will give his conclusion vorbahin: "In"tho same way as Israel, tho servant of tho Lord, foreshadowed tho suffering Messiah, so aro the German peoplo a subsequent. imago, of. Him. Tho German nation in now tho suffering servant of God that has fo bear tho sins of many; it is suffering for the benefit of Christianity, nay of mankind." It is well to bo ablo to record that ono Lutheran pastor in Germany, liomer of Stuttgart, epako out against, this blasphemy like a man. ,