GERMAN PULPITS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2989, 29 September 1919, Page 8

GERMAN PULPITS.

DECIDED CHANGE OF-TONE. The former Berlin correspondent of the London “Christian World” gives some striking instances of the change of. spirit in which the German churches. Evangelical and Roman Catholic, have met the crises through which their people are passing—the crisis of twelve months ago, when hopes were high regarding the mightv push towards the west, and the crisis of to day brought about by defeat and ilii> domination of revolutionaries. The churches, however, have played but an insignificant part in the great episodes through which Germany has passed or is still passing. Tim writer quotes Dr Tranb, who sprang into notoriety ten or twelve years ago as Hie agnostic and very pugnacious waster of the Evangelical Church at Dortmund, and incurred penalties from an Ecclesiatical Court for preaching heresy, as preaching last March at Hagen on the eve. of LiidendorlTa great onset and using these words: “Let our German sonl rise to the height of Ike great and solemn events of the next lew days when nut only the vast material power of the Fatherland, hut our sublime spirituality as well, will be challenged'by the western forces of evil. With LudendoiTf and llindenburg the angels will fight; our enemies have the dark forces of Mammon behind them, the great Lie 'and Hypocrisy. Our enemies are hypocritical and canting . England, degenerate France, Judas Italy, and dollar-lianting America.”

'iranb is not much more in evidence until lie spoke in Berlin at the end of November, when his views had undergone a remarkable change. “Do not imagine,” he said, “that the victory ot the enemy is due to any superior merit on his side; rather it is due to the very terrible demerit on our side. Did wo cuter on this final phase of the struggle with rightly attuned hearts'/ _ No. Were the hearts of our leaders beating in unison with the hearts of those they were loading/ Emphatically not. With rash presumption, with vain imaginings we ignored the strength of the enemy, and the foundations upon which wo had; built proved rotten and unreliable.” And quite recently at Charlottenburg Dr Tranb showed that lie had learnt a further • lesson : “We German people have forgotten God, not the God of armies and kings ami kaisers, not the God of state and show and noise, but the God of justice and mercy, the creator of the still voice of conscience, the bather of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Arid until we return to Him and acknowledge His right to rule us, and follow His precepts as iiui' supreme law, we sha'll never be able to accomplish our great destiny in the world. M e are sunk in the depths, we have become a. reproach and a warning. Only in ono way can we rise.” Dr Conrad, of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, of Berlin, and one of the ex Kaiser's Court preachers, enjoyed considerable intluencc in church circles throughout North Germany. Preaching last May, he took as his text the famous battle-cry, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon,” and showed how the leader of the Israelites was. only able to defeat the hosts of Midian by closely' adhering to the commands of the Lord. “Let ns not say,” exclaims the preacher, “that mine own band hath saved me, let ns rather acknowledge that these great victories which are now crowning the armies of our beloved Kaiser are due to the presence of God in the hearts of our leaders, to the undoubted justice of our cause, and to the weakness which a consciousness of evil-doing has imposed upon our enemies.”

In November, 1918, however, Ur Conrad preached from the text, “Behold; 1 will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great ami dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest J come to smite the earth with a curse.” Dr Conrad pointed out that God would surely smite Germans with a curse if now, in the last moment, the people did not give heed to the prophet of God, and turn from their evil ways. He continues: Germans are prone to disregard the threatenings of the Lord. When the thunder rumbles in the mountains, as now, they crouch: but they are watching all the while for the warm sunshine to follow the storm. God is now thundering terribly, and His anger is a very real thing. He is hiding His face from Germany. and lias delivered us to our enemies. who are treating us like executioners. God has, given ns into their hands, and we shall not escape until we have paid the uttermost farthing.” If Germans do not change, asks Dr Conrad, what will Christ do with them when lie comes as Judge'/ And he goes on: “This is a. terrible thought. Never in history have our people been so sunk as at the present time. . . . The entire body of tbe people is sick. The catastrophe which God did not desire for ns in such awful measure must be remedied by some Elijah. 11 we do not master our frivolity in one direction .and one arrogance in another we are a lost people. If our people do not listen to (he voice of the prophet God will come and smile us again with a curse. Has he not come already?” I> r Fassbinder, a Franciscan monk, preaching to a Catholic confraternity at Munich, said: “We wanted to gain the whole world, and were eager to barter our souls for the prize. Would it have profited ns? When 1 reflect upon the iniquity and sin which governed our lives both as a State and as individuals 1 am forced to believe that it was pride, avarice, greed, and envy of Hie welfare of others which were the active driving forces withinns. Think of what world dominion would have made of us Germans. Wc should have walked the earth as gods. Superciliously we should have looked down upon the inferior races of mankind, and not a chink or cranny would have been left in our brazen armour through which the divine graces of charity, humility, and mercy might enter. We have sinned

grievously, we have disgraeed our Gorman name. and it will be God's own way of healing us if lie casts us on the bed of humiliation and does not stretch out. His Almighty hand to raise us until wo are again ready to walk with Him and He with us.”