El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-10-06
THE Kaiser And The Christ,
And German National Religion
Concluding Religion
PASTOR o ii e First



some day to fire upon him, remember
your OATH and obey"
Now for the time being put your
ser IN the place Of German youth
IN such situation
It comes over you that you started
out Tor no such business as the kaiser
has indice ted You had thought only
OF defending the dear German faith
erland which meant to you the
familiar scenes Of your bOyhOOd. your
nome your dear mother, your sweet
heart your sisters, the little children
growing ID about you. You had no
intentions such as these indicated by
the kaiser You thought OF those who
had talked with you about being q
soldier, your mother, your school
teacher, the teacher in the Sunday
school perhaps even the pastor of the
church-not one Of them had spoken
OF surrendering your body and losing
your soul when you began 10 be a
soldier-not a word was said about
your belonging body and soul TO
other men-Or 10 another man. All
that any Of them had said anything
about was "defense'-defendin the
beloved 'fatherland."
And besides all this you remem-
bered Cod You are a Christian
you thought Of the time when YOU con-
secrated yourself soul and body TO
God, 10 be His and His alone. You
the meeting that night when you
yielded yourself TO Christ, and took
him Tor your ruler, and cOnvenanted
to follow His loving example all the
remainder Of your life. The words
OF the hymn and the music OF IL kept
running through your mind:
Take my life. and let it be
Consecr2ted, Lord, 70 Thee:
Take my moments and my days
Let them flow IN ceaseless praise
Take my hands-and you happened
to remember some Of the things
do with his hands-especially those
was OF driving the thmubs into the
eyes and how to kill a man bare
handed-thOse same hands of yours
which you had consecrated TO the
service Of Christ
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse Of Thy love
Take my feet and let them be
Ready messengers for Thee.
Take my VIII, and make it thine;
1t shall be no longer mine
Take my heart. it is thine own;
II shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, ! pour
At thy feer its treasure store,
Take myself, and / viii be
Ever, only, all for Thee"
Where Does God Come Ing
And here was the kaiser saying,
you are now my soldiers, mine body
and soul You have sworn TO obey
all my commands" What did it all
had said2 Ii couldn't be really true,
could lt-because where did God
come in?
What is the meaning Of this thing
the kaiser has gaid2 You first enquire
Of your comrades in the company.
i ~ 81
much about i--didn't understand IL.
You 80 to your captain rs It true:"
you ask The captain. perhaps a genial
man who renem bers the same conflict
years before within himself replies,
"A German soldier, young man. must
only when the orders command him
10 do what is right" Then the cap
tain replies. "a German soldier does
not question the orders received from
remelbers his oath" And then you
remember it-you swore 10 defend the
'fatherland No. You swore the
oath that was required OF you. In
your stupid. thoughtless trust and
confidence IN the government you
swore the oath that they required
you TO swear. You swore to obey or
ders- Yes you sWore away your
moral intelligence You swore away
the highest and hunanest thing about
you the lnlnE Wnlcn preemlnentlE
distinguishes man from the brute, and
placed yourself under an arbitrary
and immoral power. You renowned
the rulership Of Christ and sWore
yourself into the power Of another
TO be used by him for whatever evil.
purpose he might seek TO accomplish.
After a time your sense Of the evil
Of II all Expresses you intolerably.
You 60 20 your old school teacher for
counsel as 10 what you should do
about IL. He tells you that, every
body wishes il were otherwise: but
the present condition Of the world
is not ideal; a German soldier as a
Christian is not ideal, and the German
military organization as = Christian
community is not ideal. perhaps at
some future stage OF the wrold's de-
velopment IL may be done away with:
but. for the present, II is necessary
that there can be no question about