At the commemoration festival of a religious society con- nected
with the Cathedral in Berlin, on Tuesday last, the Emperor of Germany spoke a few words, to the following effect :—" If there is anything capable of acting as a stay to us in the life and turmoil of the present time, it is the support -alone to be found in Jesus Christ. Let not yourselves, therefore,' be misled, gentlemen, by the tendencies prevailing in the world, especially in our days ; and do not join the great multitude who either entirely leave the Bible out of account, as the only source of truth, or falsely interpret it in their own sense." This profession of faith rather gained than lost significance, by the strong expression of the desire to re- spect fully other convictions than his own with which the Emperor followed it up. The sincerity of his own Christian piety is unquestionable. And though it will count for a nega- tive quantity among the cultivated Socialists of Germany, it will be regarded by all impartial men as not without signifi- cance in a strong-minded realist,—so far as crowned personages can be realists,—who has lived a life of action, danger, and self- reliance. Doubtless this avowal is the expression of one of the chief elements of the Emperor's mental and moral firmness.
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