Hohenzollern "Amen"

Preaching every Sunday, either from a pulpit or, if none offers, then from his own hearthrug, has always been a minor passion with Wilhelm II of Germany.

Believing as he still does that he is God's anointed, the whilom All Highest feels a duty, a pious obligation to preach. Constantly in touch with leading German historians and theologians, he often turns up curious bits of lore. In a recent hearthrug sermon, details of which leaked out last week, the onetime War Lord revealed matter extremely pertinent to the Crucifixion of Jesus which startled his household at Doorn and many another throughout Germany.

Without stopping to reveal his sources Wilhelm Hohenzollern preached in part thus:

"The Captain of the Roman guard in whose charge Jesus was placed by Pontius Pilate was probably a German. . . . Recent researches reveal that at that time a Germanic Legion was stationed in Palestine. . . .*

"Germanic legionaries played a role in the life of the Master. ... On the sorrowful way to Golgotha the leader of the cohorts is seized with such compassion for the Master as He breaks down that he requisitions Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross. . . .

"Under the cross we discover a centurion halting on horseback. He, too, was probably a German. He is the first who, overwhelmed by the greatness of the suffering Savior, delivers the powerful confession: 'Verily, this was a righteous man, the Son of God.' "

Perhaps most arresting of all is a theory which Wilhelm of Doorn advanced in a potent sentence, well worth pondering: "The intercession of the crucified Lord, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,' is not intended for the Jewish leaders but for the poor German legion aries, who, acting under the orders of their superiors, must inflict dire suffering upon the Lord."

With impressive fervor the fallen War Lord concluded:

"We old soldiers may well feel proud of this intercession of the Lord. Today we are thinking of those who fell. They marched to the battlefront praying, trusting in the righteousness of their cause. True to their oath, they died for the Kaiser and the Reich, for German fame and honor. We owe it to them to assert all our strength to retain that for which they died. We promise to do that in unshakable faith and with our eyes fastened upon the Savior of the world, who once prayed also for German soldiers. Then we, too, shall earn the praise He gave to the Roman centurion :

" 'Verily, I have not found such great faith in Israel.' Amen."

Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem is Prince Oscar, fifth son of Wilhelm II. Echoing his father's fervor, he cried in ringing tones to a gathering in Berlin of German princelings: "If you cannot serve with the Sword, serve with the Cross!"

Next day, however, Grand Master Oscar went to Vienna for an Anschluss* festival, reviewed a parade of Austria's illegal but flourishing reactionary army, the Heimwehr.

* Other recent researches include Who Moved the Stone? (by Frank Morison, Century, 1930, $2.50), a reverent work of detective speculation upon Christ's tomb. (TIME, April 28.)

* Anschluss: the ideal of Austro-German federation, jealously advocated by potent factions in both countries.

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