Gems (?) of German Thought Part 5

128. A good Providence watches over the fate of the German people, which is destined to the highest things on this earth.--PROF. W.

SOMBART, H.U.H., p. 67.

129. Brethren and sisters! in a moment we ... have become the heirs of Israel, the people of the Old Testament covenant. We shall be the bearers of G.o.d's promises.--"War Devotions," by PASTOR J. RUMP, quoted in H.A.H., p. 116.

130. As was Israel among the heathen, so is Germany among the modern nations--the pious heart of Europe.--"My German Fatherland," by PASTOR TOLZIEN, quoted in H.A.H., p. 136.

131. We hope that a great mission will be allotted to us Germans ...

and this German mission is: to look after the world (_zu sorgen fur die Welt_). Is it arrogance to write such a phrase? Is it vanity in the disguise of a moral idea? No, no, and again no.--PASTOR G. TRAUB, D.K.U.S., p. 23.

132. Friedrich Nietzsche was but the last of the singers and seers who, coming down from the height of heaven, brought to us the tidings that there should be born from us the Son of G.o.d, whom in his language he called the Superman.--PROF. W. SOMBART, H.U.H., p. 53.

133. Verily the Bible is our book.... It was given and a.s.signed to us, and we read in it the original text of our destiny, which proclaims to mankind salvation or disaster--according as _we_ will it!--"War Devotions," by PASTOR J. RUMP, quoted in H.A.H., p. 134.

134. We want to become a world-people. Let us remind ourselves that the belief in our mission as a world-people has arisen from our originally purely spiritual impulse to absorb the world into ourselves.--PROF. F. MEINECKE, D.D.E., p. 37.

135. Germany is the centre of G.o.d's plans for the world.--"On the German G.o.d," by PASTOR W. LEHMANN, quoted in H.A.H., p. 78.

_See also Nos. 75, 77, 239._

"=Other Peoples.="

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

136. We had greatly over-valued all other nations, even the French.

The French are a people on the down grade.--THE KAISER, to HERR A.

FENDRICH, quoted in H.A.H., p. 55.

137. All the deep things: courage, patriotism, faithfulness, moral purity, conscience, the sense of duty, activity on a moral basis, inward riches, intellect, industry, and so forth [!]--no other nation possesses all these things in such high perfection as we do.--"On the German G.o.d," by PASTOR W. LEHMANN, quoted in H.A.H., p. 76.

138. Fichte was right in calling us the people of the soul (_Gemut_) ... [in the sense that] the depth of feeling common to us Germans has become a power controlling our activity and permeating our history, to a degree unknown to any other people. In this sense we have a right to say that we form the soul of humanity, and that the destruction of the German nature (_Art_) would rob world-history of its deepest meaning.--PROF. R. EUCKEN, W.B.D.G., p. 23.

139. Bach, Goethe, Schiller, Beethoven, these men signify for us a spiritual rebirth, such as never happens to other peoples, all of whom only grow old, and can never become young again.--H. V. WOLZOGEN, G.Z.K., p. 49.

139a. Other peoples are young, grow to maturity and then begin to age.... We Germans have often been old, but, thank G.o.d, we have as often been _quite_ young.... How young do we not feel ourselves in contradistinction to these Englishmen and Frenchmen.--PROF. G. ROETHE, D.R.S.Z., No. 1, p. 25.

140. No other people, not even the Greeks, have so understood childhood as the Germans. It is we who, in the work of Campe ["The Swiss Family Robinson"] have created children's literature,[16] and still hold the lead in that department; it is we who provide the whole world with children's toys. That is possible only because we have the power of identifying ourselves with the child-soul, and this we could not do if we had not in our own innermost soul something childlike, simple, primitive.--PROF. R. EUCKEN, W.B.D.G., p. 13.

141. The identical ring that we put into the singing of "Ein'feste Burg ist unser Gott" and "Deutschland, Deutschland uber Alles," is something that cannot be found among the other peoples, because they lack the freshness of national feeling, because they are degenerate.--K. ENGELBRECHT, D.D.D.K., p. 68.

142. I look upon it as absolutely the deepest feature of the German character, this pa.s.sionate love of right, of justice, of morality.

This is something which the other nations have not got.--"On the German G.o.d," by PASTOR W. LEHMANN, quoted in H.A.H., p. 79.

143. The period of political chaos a hundred years ago was a blessing for the Germans, who at that time were able to grow deep, while other nations were growing superficial.--PROF. W. SOMBART, H.U.H., p. 129.

144. Our German peace is an essential factor in our Kultur. Such a love of peace is itself of moral value, but in the person of the Kaiser it finds a consciously religious expression ... and when the Kaiser has to summon his people to a war which he has not willed, there at once awakes in the whole people the religious spirit peculiar to itself, of which the other peoples--unless it be the Turks!--have no conception, it matters not whether they have already dethroned "Dieu" or have "the Lord" forever in their mouths!--H. V. WOLZOGEN, D.Z.K., p. 46.

145. But this same Demon of Baseness, who has subdued the other peoples, was busily at work in Germany as well: ten years more, and G.o.d would perhaps have found no one in the world to fight for him.--H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, D.Z., p. 11.

_See also Nos. 7, 8, 14, 31, 44, 321._

=Christ.=

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

146. The soldier who spat in the face of the thorn-crowned Saviour did not act more shamelessly than does England now.--"The True Unity," by PASTOR TOLZIEN, quoted in H.A.H., p. 146.

147. Is there anyone who does not know why England declared war?

Why?... From jealousy. From shopkeeper-spite. Because she wanted to earn the thirty pieces of silver.--"The World-Politics of England," by PASTOR G. TOLZIEN, quoted in H.A.H., p. 143.

148. We could draw many instructive parallels: we could say that as Jesus was treated so also have the German people been treated.--"War Sermons," by PASTOR H. FRANCKE, quoted in H.A.H., p. 63.

149. In this solemn hour, when we lament over our dead heroes, we experience, more deeply than ever before, the pa.s.sion of our Lord....

Is not Germany itself transformed into a suffering Christ? We, too, have gone through our hour of trial on the Mount of Olives, when with our Kaiser we prayed that the cup of suffering might pa.s.s away from us; and we, too, obeying the unfathomable will of G.o.d, have begun to drain it.... We, too, were betrayed by those to whom we had shown nothing but justice and kindness; and around us, too, resounded, in accents of hatred and envy, the cry of "Crucify him!"--PASTOR F.X.

MuNCH, reported by SVEN HEDIN, "With the German Armies in the West,"

p. 336.

150. We a.s.sert the view that ... what once happened to Luther is now happening to our people: it is experiencing a repet.i.tion of the Pa.s.sion of Christ.--DR. PREUSS, quoted in H.A.H., p. 206.

151. A hard and steep _Via Crucis_ lies before the great benefactor and magnanimous liberator of the Kultur-world, the German people.

Although it looks beyond the gloom of Good Friday to the dawn of Easter morn, beyond the dark days of war to the beacons of triumph--yet the cross still rests on its shoulders, and the Golgotha of the hardest decision still awaits it.--HOFPRaDIKANT STIPBERGER, quoted in "False Witness" (_Klokke Roland_), p. 17.

152. It was the hidden meaning of G.o.d that He made Israel the forerunner (_Vordeuter_) of the Messiah, and in the same way He has by His hidden intent designated the German people to be His successor.--DR. PREUSS, quoted in H.A.H., p. 214.

153. German craving for truth and German strength of faith, working along Biblical paths, have attained to the true faith, the pure religiousness, whose first and greatest spokesman is Jesus Christ.

Thus the Germans are the very nearest to the Lord, and may claim for themselves that they have "continued His word".... We fight, then, for Christianity[17] as against degeneration and barbarism.... G.o.d must be with us and victory ours. This is guaranteed us by the truth of our nature, which is as German as it is Christian.--"War Sermons," by PASTOR H. FRANCKE, quoted in H.A.H., p. 71.

154. A Jesusless horde, a crowd of the G.o.dless, are in the field against us.... May G.o.d surround us with His protection ... since our defeat would also mean the defeat of His Son in humanity.--"War Devotions," by PASTOR J. RUMP, quoted in H.A.H., p. 119.

155. The German people, bearing forward in victory the Evangel of the Cross of Christ,[18] is the great Christophorus in the world of the nations.--"The Christianity of the Belligerent Nations," by PASTOR F.

ERDMANN, quoted in H.A.H., p. 148.

156. Let us rejoice that Envy has risen up against us; it only shows that G.o.d has exalted and richly blessed us. Think of Him who was hanged on the Cross and seemed forsaken of G.o.d, and had to tread in such loneliness His path to victory. My German people, even if thy road be strewn with thorns and beset by enemies, press onward, full of defiance and confidence.... Thou and thy G.o.d, ye are the majority.--PASTOR D. VORWERK, quoted in H.A.H., p. 38.

157. Kant and Jesus go through our people, seeking their disciples.--PASTOR G. TRAUB, D.K.U.S., p. 22.

158. We are fighting--thanks and praise be to G.o.d--for the cause of Jesus within mankind.--"War Devotions," by PASTOR J. RUMP, quoted in H.A.H., p. 126.

159. Christianity is possessed of potent spiritual energies, since it inspires our minds, not only with patience, but also with dignified pride. "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." I quite understand Friedrich Naumann's declaration that this text has meant much to him in these days.--PROF. A. DEISSMANN, D.R.S.Z., No. 9, p. 24.

160. On the paths of commerce and intercourse, we shall go forth to all nations, and, after the fierce fight is over, carry Jesus to them in the quiet, peaceful work of a true Kultur. England, in these paths, has lowered herself to become a nation of hucksters, who have long abandoned the service of G.o.d for that of Mammon.--"War Devotions," by PASTOR J. RUMP, quoted in H.A.H., p. 130.

161. It is on account of its admirable qualities that Germany has so many enemies. Friedrich v. Schiller says: "The world loves to blacken whatever is radiant and shining, and to drag what is exalted in the dust.... Socrates had to drain the bowl of poison, Columbus was cast into fetters, Christ was nailed to the cross,"--FELDMARSCHALLEUTNANT FRANZ RIEGER, quoted by KR. NYROP, _Er Krig Kultur?_ (Copenhagen).

162. The thief who expiated a sinful past by his repentance in the last hour, and was outwardly subjected to the same suffering as our Lord, is the type of the Turkish nation, which now puts Christianity (outside Germany) to shame.--DR. PREUSS, quoted in H.A.H., p. 211.

_See also Nos. 428, 444._