My addresses have not been
directed to this generation for the pastime of idle ears and eyes, but
I desire at last to know--even as every one who is like-minded should
know--whether there is anything outside us that is akin to our type
of thought. Every German who still believes that he is a member of a
nation, who thinks of it in grand and noble fashion, who hopes in it,
and who dares, suffers, and endures for it, should at last be torn
from the uncertainty of his belief; he should clearly discern whether
he is right or whether he is only a fool and a fanatic; henceforth he
should either continue his path with sure and joyous consciousness,
or, with healthy resolution, should renounce a fatherland here below
and comfort himself solely with that which is in heaven. To you,
therefore, not as such-and-such persons in our daily and circumscribed
life, but as representatives of the nation, and, through your ears, to
the nation as a whole, these addresses appeal.
Centuries have passed since you have been convened as you are
today--in such numbers, in so great, so insistent, so mutual an
interest, so absolutely as a nation and as Germans. Never again will
you be so bidden. If you do not listen now and examine yourselves, if
you again let these addresses pass you by as an empty tickling of the
ears or as a strange prodigy, no human being will longer take account
of you. Hear at last for once; for once at last reflect! Only do not
go this time from the spot without having made a firm resolve; let
every one who hears this voice make this resolution within himself
and for himself, even as though he were alone and must do everything
alone.
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