sonal use a second Jehovah, a divinity hostile to the greater part of
the human race who makes his own the grudges and ambitions of the German
people."
Tchernoff then explained in his own way the creation of this Teutonic
God, ambitious, cruel and vengeful. The Germans were comparatively
recent Christians. Their Christianity was not more than six centuries
old. When the Crusades were drawing to a close, the Prussians were still
living in paganism. Pride of race, impelling them to war, had revived
these dead divinities. The God of the Gospel was now adorned by the
Germans with lance and shield like the old Teutonic god who was a
military chief.
"Christianity in Berlin wears helmet and riding boots. God at this
moment is seeing Himself mobilized the same as Otto, Fritz and Franz,
in order to punish the enemies of His chosen people. That the Lord has
commanded, 'Thou shalt not kill,' and His Son has said to the world,
'Blessed are the peacemakers,' no longer matters. Christianity,
according to its German priests of all creeds, can only influence the
individual betterment of mankind, and should not mix itself in affairs
of state. The Prussian God of the State is 'the old German God,' the
lineal descendant of the ferocious Germanic mythology, a mixture of
divinities hungry for war."
In the silence of the avenue, the Russian evoked the ruddy figures of
the implacable gods, that were going to awake that night upon hearing
the hum of arms and smelling the acrid odor of blood. Thor, the brutal
god with the little head, was stretching his biceps and clutching the
hammer that crushed cities. Wotan was sharpening his lance which had the
lightning for its handle, the thunder for its blade. Odin, the one-eyed,
was gaping with gluttony on the mountain-tops, awaiting the dead
warriors that would crowd around his throne. The dishevelled Valkyries,
fat and perspiring, were beginning to gallop from cloud to cloud,
hallooing to humanity that they might carry off the corpses doubled like
saddle bags, over the haunches of their flying nags.
"German religiosity," continued the Russian, "is the disavowal of
Christianity. In its eyes, men are no longer equal before God. Their God
is interested only in the strong, and favors them with his support
so that they may dare anything. Those born weak must either submit or
disappear. Neither are nations equal, but are divided into leaders and
inferior races whose destiny is to be sifted out and
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