p. 748, para. 1 | Untitled article

Untitled article

Pacific Press Publishing Co. · New York · December 1, 1898

WHILE in Jerusalem on his recent tour, Emperor William delivered a discourse in the Church of the Nativity, at the conclusion of which he took occasion to sharply reprove the assembled clergy of the various sects, for conduct which was at variance with the principles of the religion they professed. The Kaiser said:—

“During my visit to the holy places and to the Protestant and Catholic institutions of Palestine I meet with one disappointment after another. Here, in the Church of the Nativity, which ought to serve as an example of pious charity and pure Christian life, I meet the very reverse of charity and Christianity.

“I am not surprised that Christianity remains unpopular in the Orient, and that Mohammedanism, with its fallacious teachings, still holds sway. How can it be otherwise when you clergymen are everlastingly quarrelling over dogmatic questions, neglecting to teach true Christian charity and a pure life in emulation of Jesus Christ?”

While such reproof may have come with poor grace from the lips of the German autocrat, no one familiar with the facts to which the emperor alluded can doubt that it was well deserved.