TRUTH ABOUT LEAGUE OF NATIONS

UNPOPULARITY OF CHRISTIANS WITH THE WORLD

HERE AND THERE OVER THE PLANET

WHAT KIND OF RADIQ TO BUY HOLLAND AND

HER CUSTOMS

Contents of.the Golden Age

~    ..... • ¹ iastr*=---------            ■—

Social and Educational

PtBI AND THERE OVE* THE PLANET ......  , f . a 163

. Remarkable Tale of Womanly Heroism....... . > . 163

' Suicides In Berlin.........;     

Horrible Conditions tn Hindu Prisons

Something .Doing in Pubcell

Finance—Commerce—Tran sportation A Deadly Gas Causes Insanity . ..

Group Life Insurance on Railroads

Great Increase of Chain Stores

Political—Domestic and Foreign ' European Countries Beginning to Pay

’ Ramsay MacDonald Defeated by Forgery

French Government Recognizes Russia........ . . . 164

Zionism’s Report on Palestine Mandate

Sir Herbert Samuel’s Report on Palestine ...

General Pebcin on Wab (Translated from N.Y. Stuatn-Zcitwiff) . 1G6

Reposts from Foreign Coiuiespondents—Canada.......

Tale or a Fool (Translated from N. Y. Utaats-ZvitiMff)

On the Outcome or the Election

The Tbuth about the League or Nations (Truusluted from Xiili) . 130

Immunity or Rich Law-Bbeakxm

Science and Invention

What Kino or Radio Receiving set Shall I Buy?

A Goon Receiving Antenna

Travel and Miscellany

Holland and He* Customs

Abeokuta, or West Africa

Religion and Philosophy

Congregational Church Taboos Prayer Meeting

The Angels' Song (Poem)

“Restitution Times” (Poem) .....

Preachers or the Word

What is Wbong With tub < ituru ii?

Why is a Christian Unvoitlab With the Would?

Studies in “The Harp of Gou”

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The Golden Age

Here and -There Over the Planet

[Radiocast, with other Items, from Watchtower WBBR on a wave length of 273 meters, by the Editor]

^Tew York Newspaper Takes a Chance

«pHE Law regarding income tax returns pro-v X vides that the lists of taxpayers allowing the - amounts paid by each are to be available for _: public inspection, but that the data must not be 7 published under penalty of $1,000 fine or iiu-prisonment for one year. The New York reporters went and “inspected” the Lists; and . forthwith their papers printed the names and taxes of all the largest taxpayers in New York and, additionally, all the best known characters in the city who had any income taxes at all The effect of this law is the same as that of putting a piece of first-class pie in front of a small boy and telling him not to touch it.

Restaurants Gone to the Dogs

IN ONE New York restaurant the other afternoon the New York Graphic reports having found five pups in the arms of their mistresses, munching delicacies such as some hard working people never get a chance to eat. One .of these pups was hairless, his body covered with red splotches, his eyes pink and sickly. Several of the diners lost their appetites and walked out, leaving their meals untouched.

Rabbi Katz Stirs Things Up

Rabbi Katz has stirred things up by saying _ that behind every man in prison there is a Dornan for whose comfort or satisfaction the man cominitted crime. This seems to make the whole proposition very simple. ALI we need to 'do is to lock up all the women, and we should ^r live happy ever after.

Remarkable.Taie of Womanly Heroism

.. fpiIE remarkable story comes from California * -*• of an automobile accident involving a man, his wife, and his niece. The automobile went over the side of a cliff, killing the man. His. _; wife and his niece, injured, lay in the bottom of . the canyon for three days, awaiting discovery. Fearing the death of the child, the woman de-.-liberately cut her arms and breast with glass > from the windshield to provide blood to keep, .i the child alive during the cold nights. The child will recover, but the heroine is expected to die. I ■ !

A Deadly Gas Causes Insanity

IN THE effort to compound a knockless motor oil at a refinery near New York city, a combination of ethyllated gasoline caused the death of five men, made several, more violently insane, and subjected nearly all of the forty-five men employed in the department to such disturbance of their mental faculties that it will probably : be months before they will be of afiy benefit to themselves or their families. None can but be strongly moved at the fate of these pioneers in a new and dangerous field.                      .

Group Life Insurance on Railroads

TWENTY-SEVEN American railway lines have adopted the group system of insurance

of their employes. There is a great variation in ‘ the forms of policies and the amounts for which the employes are insured, but altogether some 250,000 workers are benefited, and employers receive benefits in the way of greater stabilization . of their forces.                                        .

Hudson Vehicle Tunnel Nears Completion

fpHE vehicle tunnel under the Hudson upon ' X which 2,000 men have been busily engaged, some of them since March, 1922, is nearing com- . pletion. The north tunnel has been cut through, : sixty feet below the surface of the river, and the- • south tunnel will be cut through some time in December. It will take a year or more to get

' the tunnels ready for public use. Meantime, the Chief Engineer, Clifton AI. Holland, admittedly one of the greatest tunnel engineers that ever lived, passed away before his great work was completed.

The War and the Cost of Living

IF YOU lived in Canada before the war, and if your salary was then $100 per month, it would need to be $143 now to enable you to buy the same things as-previously; if in the United , States it was $100, it would now have to be $155;

if in England it was £100 every six months, it would now have to be £170; if in France it was . 100 francs per week, it would now have to be

366 francs; in Belgium 493 francs; if in Italy ’ it was 100 lire, it would now have to be 512 lire.

Great Increase of Chain Stores

NEW YORK city in 1910 had 600 chain grocery stores; now it has 5,000. In 1910 these chain stores sold ten percent of the groceries in New York city; now they sell sixty percent. . Taking the country as a whole, it is calculated that twenty percent of all groceries are now sold through chain stores, -with chain drug stores doing about the same proportion of business in drugs. At least one-half of all the notions now sold in the country are sold in chain stores like the Woolworth, Kresge, Penny, Kress, and Kinney stores. In 1923 the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company sold groceries to the amount of $302,888,000; and the Woolworth stores sold notions to the amount of $193,447,000.

Church Taboos Prayer Meeting         .

DESPATCHES from Worcester, Alass., state that at the autumnal meeting of the Worcester Central Association of Congregational Churches it was the consensus of opinion of the delegates, that prayer meetings are a thing of the past, but that dancing is right and proper. Why not make it unanimous by removing the pews and erecting a sign that religion is a thing of the past.and that the outfit has been turned into a danc^ hall? The steeples could be used for thirst patriots; the choir loft would make a good place for the orchestra; the preacher could retain his title, and still occupy the pulpit, but his work would be that of a dance barker. Fine scheme! Why not give it a trial? It suggests a possible use for the so-called church buildings which, since they dropped the preaching of the gospel of Christ, seem not to have any legiti- ' mate reason for existing.

European Countries Beginning to Pay "E^OLLOWING the example of Great Britain, the countries of Finland, Hungary, and

Lithuania have made arrangements to pay the interest and principal of the loans made to those countries by the United States during the war. Additionally, Russia has paid $8,000,000 in interest. The total amount thus far received fror^ ₍ debtor countries is $850,000,000.

Ramsay MacDonald Defeated by a Forgery

EUROPEAN politics are even more crooked' • than American politics. The enemies of ■ Charles Stewart Parnell did not hesitate to destroy the Irish cause by publishing a supposed letter from him apparently condoning murder, which was subsequently proven to be a forgery. Mr. MacDonald has been played a similar trick, the British Foreign Office having published a supposed appeal from the Russian, Zinovieff, urging Communist attempts to corrupt the British army and navy. The letter is undoubtedly a forgery; but it accomplished the work intended of defeating the Labor Party and putting the Tories back into power.                     •

French Government Recognizes Russia

DESPITE the fact that the French people in bygone years loaned to the Russian Gov-eminent and Russian industries the vast sum of about 6,000,000,000 francs, the French Government has granted full and complete recognition of Soviet Russia. It is not likely that the _; French people will ever receive any returns on their Russian investments.                      !

pursuit of an eagle which measured more than eight feet across its wings. The crows literally forced the surrender of the eagle. They chased it into a French chateau, where the keepers killed it; whereupon the crows disbanded. This illustrates well how the common people, each with little strength and influence, can bv banding together overcome foes of great power. All that is needed is the Lord to show them what to do and how to do it. and the reforms for which the hearts of men yearn will come forthwith.

Sparrow Flies 128 Miles an Hour

IN EUROPE great interest is maintained in the flight of birds. Recently, a Belgian took a sparrow from the eaves of his house, put a tag on it and shipped it 146 miles away. From the time the bird was released until it was back in its nest was one hour and eight minutes. It took four pigeons, which were loosed at the same time, about five minutes to decide what they would do; but the sparrow lit out straight for home without a second's hesitation.

Germany Seems Short on Courtesy

THE German Government made for the United

States Government the Zeppelin ZR-3. It, obtained permission from the French Government to fly across France from end to end, and did so. On the same day that the ZR-3 crossed France, a French balloonist engaged in an international balloon race was forced to land in Germany. The pilot was deprived of his liberty for two days, and at the end of that time his balloon was confiscated. Occurrences of this nature give Germany a bad name.

in the vicinity at nightfall. Now there is a mod- ' ern automobile road to the door, and the crowds • who want to stay over night have gotten, to^- be -too much of a good thing. As a consequence, “ the monastery is being turned into a hotel; and ' regular prices will be charged hereafter to those who wish to stay under its hospitable roof.

Agitation in Vienna

VIENNA is agitated by a speech of Chancellor Seipel, who was formerly a priest, to the effect that the time has come for enforcing the law that all parents must send their children to the church's schools. At present in Austria many parents maintain their right to have their children educated in schools of their own seleo tion.                                             .

Mussolini Grants Concessions to Clergy

MUSSOLINI'S cabinet has decided that the salaries of Catholic bishops in Italy are to be doubled, while the income of parish priests is also to be increased; and that hereafter theological students will not Be called upon for military service until they have finished their studies, at the age of twenty-six.

Horrible Condition in Hindu Prisons

A DESPATCH to a London paper narrates that in one week recently in the Nabha Jail, two persons died from snake bites, while a third was bitten; and that at the time of sending the despatch his condition was precarious. The report states that there are so many snakes in the • prison that most of the prisoners pass their nights without sleep. Malaria is raging in the same prison.

Terrible Epidemic of Suicides in Berlin

HOW hard are the conditions of life in Berlin at this time may be gathered from the fact that "throughout the year 1924 thus far, an average of one hundred Berliners have committed suicide every month. Moreover, the birth rate has declined seventy-nine percent.

The Hotel St. Bernard

FOR generations the St. Bernard Monastery’, located in one of the difficult Alpine passes, ■' has cheerfully extended food and lodging, free of charge, to every person who happened to be

Five Thousand Stain by a Trick ~

AS ALL our readers know, China is engaged in civil war. On an occasion, recently, 5,000 Chinese troops were destroyed by a trick. They were persuaded to go out on the parade grounds; and while they were there the grounds were blown up by their enemy, having been previously mined with that end in view.

Doctor Sun Yat Sen Wants a Free Fight

DR. Sun Yat Sen wants the other nations ofl the world to let China alone while she has a free-for-all fight to a finish. He argues that

the United States of America, which fought and won the war for independence and relief from the old order of things, ought to be the last country to interfere with the Chinese, who are trying to do the same thing. Among other things, Dr. Sun Yat Sen expressed his opinion that the governments in Europe and America, not being satisfied with the results of the last world war, are really desirous of having another. This may be true.

China Gets Bibles by the Million ’

TTTITHIN the past year about 7,000,000 Bi-W. hies were distributed in China, out of a total output of about 8% millions distributed by the British Foreign Bible Society. During that time there were no Bibles sent into Russia, the Soviet Government having forbidden the sending of Bibles-into that country.

Another Act of Cruelty by the Turks

THE arrangement made by the Allies for removing the Turks from Greece and the Greeks from Turkey will probably have good results some time, but at present it is working great hardships. On October 19, the Turks suddenly began to arrest and imprison all Greeks in Constantinople; and so thoroughly and so mercilessly did they do their work that they even dragged from her bed a child who was suffering from smallpox. How events of this kind make one say from the heart, “Thy kingdom come,” and make us long for the better day to be inaugurated by earth’s new King!

Zionism’s Report on Palestine Mandate

HE Zionist organization made its first report to the League of Nations on October 23.

It discloses that the Jewish population of Palestine is now over 100,000, of which number 38.000 have entered the country since the war. Within that time the land holdings of Jews in Palestine have increased from 100,000 acres to 187,500 acres, and the Jevrs of other countries have invested $27,000,000 in Palestine.

Sir Herbert Samuel’s Report on Palestine

IN Sir Herbert Samuel’s report on Palestine rendered to the League of Nations he made the statement that of the 40,000 Jews who had entered Palestine within the last five years 8,000 had settled in the agricultural colonies, while the remaining 32,000 are working in factories in the towns. The figures show that nearly 3,000,000 trees and 1,000,000 vines have been planted in the Holy Land during the time of the administration of Sir Herbert Samuel as British High Commissioner.

General Percin On War

(Tnuwlated from tho New York Siaatt-Zcitung)

IN “L’ordre Naturel” (Natural Order), a weekly magazine published in Paris, General Percin writes as follows:

“I was reared as an ardent militarist, I would not say a nationalist, and entered the army in 1865. I was twice wounded in the war of 1870, and during the next forty years hated the German and prepared with enthusiasm a war of revenge. Now, at the age of 77 years, I have become an unconditional pacifist (promoter of peace), a zealous.internationalist, and a strong supporter of a German-French agreement.

“The war of 1914-1918 has shown me what an erroneous belief it is to consider war an inevitable evil and to look at it as the only method for settling international strife. I now see that wars do not pay any more; they do not secure even peace, but breed nothing but immorality and open the doors to political reaction. Victory is no longer’ the reward of bravery or of enthusiasm for a just cause, but only the partial result of superiority in technical resources, and for the other part, the result of coercive conditions, so that the guilty country has just as much prospect for victory as the innocent one. War is not only a destructive, barbaric and inhuman method of settling international disputes, but also a very foolish way and manner, which must be replaced by a really sensible and efficient method.”

ERRATUM

Tn Got .den Age No. 134, col. 2. the word “assassinated” should

Reports from Foreign Correspondents

FROM CANADA

THE Ontario plebiscite on the retention of the Ontario Temperance Act, or its discard in favor of a form of government-controlled sale of liquor, has come and gone with the result that prohibition, such as it is, remains on the statute books. The vote was a decided, disappointment to many; afid a considerable question remains in the minds of some as to the legitimacy of the long lists of names which appeared on the voters lists at the last minute. It is uiought that many of these would be disallowed under complete investigation; but the majority in favor of the retention of the act is sufficiently large to answer any agitation for a review of the ballots, as none could confidently expect that such deletions as might be made could materially affect the issue. The interesting feature of the vote was that the cities and large towns almost without exception voted “wet", whilst the rural districts voted “dry”. This also causes some hard feelings between the farmer and the city man who prates about “rural rulership” and the “despotism of the farm vote”. It is expected that Premier Ferguson will do everything possible to comply with the people’s mandate, and more strictly enforce the act now on the statute books.

The Home Bank trial has at last yielded some substantial returns, with the leading officials found guilty and three-year sentences hanging over their heads. Canadian justice is tairing its revenge against several violators of the law during the present sessions. The recent hanging at Montreal of four men implicated in a bank robbery, in which a bank employe was killed, may serve to keep away other foreign crooks who look upon the banks as legitimate prey.

The lion. Peter Smith, former treasurer of Ibf the Province of Ontario, who was found guilty of’ crooked dealing in Government Bond issues, has just drawn a three-year sentence, and with Ills copartner ^Emilius Jarvis, head of one of the oldest and most respected bond houses in Toronto, who drew a six months’ sentence, also must pay a fine of $000,000 which, if collected, will be something in the nature of restitution of the loot? The sentence also calls for the retention in jail of both men until this fine

ICT

way; and the race will be asked to reproduce itself from the scrubs, leftovers, maimed, and

F5> diseased.

Of* _*         ____

S.’ The mental test should start and finish with ■*£> our so-called patriots and imitation statesmen who swell up and bloat at Imperial Conferences, £•: while they affix their signatures to documents which commit Canada to this, that, and the $.’ ■ other propositions involving possible force of T. arms.                   •

Demonism in Healing mission

TORONTO has recently received a visit from the notorious Dr. Price Healing Mission. The Daily Star reports the scenes graphically.

Nothing additional is needed to establish fact of spiritism, demon possession, than evidence of an eye witness. We quote:

“The stage of llassey Hall last evening again

nessed poignant and pathetic scenes of faith healing. Over a score of women together with one man were swept from their feet by the inrush of some force apparently psychic.

“There were no means of estimating whether there were or were not cures. It was obvious, however, that the evangelist’s fervent challenge to disease to depart caused severe nervous shocks and sharp physical reactions. The tremors and twitchings, the almost epileptic moans and groans of those subjected to the process of healing, their livid or waxliko features, their facial contortions, were painfully and physically real. Each patient seemingly received what a surgeon would call a trauma, a wounding or rending of physical or mental tissue. There was a suggestion of the abnormal as much as the supernatural. Had the lame thrown away their crutches and walked, had the blind opened their eyes and claimed vision, the evening - would have been as joyful as a resurrection. With its results in tearful balance it seems as morbid as a morgue.                                    ■

“After his platform clinic the evangelist descended to the main floor of the hall, and anointed and laid hands on the sufferers in the opera chairs. Again there was an immediate and obvious physical seizure. Their heads fell with a jerk against the back of their chairs. Features became crisped, fists clenched, and muscles cramped. For the most poft they closed their eyes tightly. They drew their breath in sharp gasps. Their lips quivered as if in prayer? Their whole being seemed to be drawn inward in some intense affirmation of faith.

“One blind man pressed both hands tightly over his eyes and seemed violently agitated by some superhuman effort of will. Beside him -at a man who was said to be paralytic. When the healer touched him, he crumpled up in his chair. When the hc-aler had passed, he flung back his head anil, sitting on the edge of his seat, thrust his legs straight before him without flexing the knees. One of them kept up a galvanic quivering, which a man beside him tried to quiet by placing his hand on his knee.

“At the conclusion of his sen-ice Dr. Price gave some description of the healing force. Evidently, said he, some kind of spiritual force flowed through the body. Children had spoken of it as a prickly feeling. *1 often feel its presence at once,’ said he, ‘when I take hold of a sufferer. A paralytic limb is cold. When the, spiritual power flows in it at once becomes warm. I have known a withered limb in which the skin had been clinging to become immediately plump with flesh’. ” [Modern spiritist demonstration of “ectoplasmic phenomena” may well explain this.]

A perusal of the book, “Can the Living Talk with the Dead?” will thoroughly elucidate these .seeming miracles, and present much additional evidence.

Pastor Sees the Handwriting

AN INTERESTING item comes from the,;

west coast, as headlined by the Winnipeg'

Free Press:

“Because of his conviction that there is no Scriptural basis for the formation of modern religious denominations, Bev. W. Arnold Bennett today resigned his pastorate of the Third Baptist church here, and summarily left the denomination.

“After quoting many passages of Scripture in support of his position, Rev. Hr. Bennett said: "Therefore in making application of all the foregoing Scriptural revelations, your pastor, as an ordained minister of the Baptist denomination, finds himself in an unset'ip tural position and party to an unholy alliance, displeasing to God. It is an alliance of an unclean nature; for it harbors under its broad name of ‘Baptist* the most dangerous species of up-to-date skepticism, commonly known as modernism.’

“Furthermore, Dr. Bennett charged that churches are governed by ‘shameful intrigues of denominational¹ machinery and church politics', and that bossism is in charge of modern religious institutions.

“Rev. Ifr. Bennett came to Portland two years ago from Vancouver, D. C., where for four years his outspoken sermons attracted wide attention. He has been a member of the Baptist ministry for ten years.”

There are apparently still some I^onest shepherds who recognize the ecclesiastical “machine politics’’, and who desire tn got free before the great crash comes.

Government Immigration a Joke

eona R. Babbitt, formerly Secretary of the UnitecTFarm Women of Alberta, is responsible for the. following. No wonder the farmer quits:

“A skilled farmer who is also a shrewd business man set out with-the aid of his banker to ascertain what his profits were. Wheat had yielded 43 bushels to the acre, oats 75, barley 53. He had used a tractor, and employed no help except the '■ery minimum at harvest. His quarter section adjoined the town. site, which reduced the handling charges to the least possible. After making such deductions as $40 per month for his own labor, current interest on his investment, depreciation, etc., he found he was $250 out of pocket. Did he put in a big crop in the spring of 1924? Bless you, no, indeed! He got an agency for Ford cars, and a fellow with no land of his own is farming that quarter section.

“It took two bushels of wheat to buy in the spring of 1924 what one bushel bought in 1913. And no one claimed in 1913 that farmers were in any danger of degenerating through prosperity. Cattle are actually below the 1913 figure.

“A speaker in the House of Commons stated this year that the mortgage indebtedness of Alberta is estimated at SlOO.Oon.OOO. In the House of Commons it was stated that seventy percent of the farms in Western Canada are owned by the banks and the mortgage companies. The writer personally believes this to be a very conservative estimate. On most of these farms the former owner is now a tenant. Every cent he can scrape together goes to pay interest, and in spite of his. best efforts interest is being compounded. What is to be the outcome ? I reply in the language of Mr. Taft when confronted with a similar problem: 'God knows/

“A letter from a provincial member the other day stated that fifty percent of the farmers in his home district, which commonly is considered an average one, will have to go out this fall and get work in order to keep the wolf from the door. Looks as if prosperity were further from the corner than the blessed optimists would have us believe. Under such circninstances any Government Immigration Policy seems a diabolical joke/’

Ex-President Taffs answer is literally ap- -plicable. God does know, and He knows the answer to all the rest of the world’s problems as well. In due time, after the harvest of trouble, the- world will reap its blessings. The maelstrom of disaster is wrecking the various barques of state and dragging them. down. Civilization is dooraed; but the kingdom of heaven, of righteousness and peace, is at the door.

Tale of a Fool

('Zran>lated from the Neu* York a. tatj-Zrituny)

Z'ANCE upon a time they went out to war with big guns and with many rifles, as the custom was. A fool stood there and asked what kind of business that was. They said: “Those go to war.’’ The fool said: “What do they do in war?” They said: “They burn villages and conquer cities and spoil wine and grain and kill one another.” The fool said: "What is that r , for?” They said: “So as to make peace.” Then spake the fool: “It would be better if they would make peace before, so that such damagA would be avoided. If it went my way, I would make peace before the damage was done and not afterwards. Therefore I am wiser than you.

lords.”                                            ’

Something Doing in Purcell

ONE of our subscribers in Purcell. Oklahoma, thinking that we would like to keep in touch with the news of the day in his parts writes us as follows:

“'Phis is to let you know how we are getting along in these parts. The manager of one institution in this city got full of the spirits, overturned his car, and was put into jail on the charge of speeding and drunkenness. There were about a dozen prisoners in the jail, includ

ing one bank robber. The latter rascal put on .the priest's white shirt, put his collar on backward, climbed into the priest’s black vest, and then declared himself, father of the house. Meantime, the priest pounded on? the door and offered $100 of money, that had probably been earned by some poor servant girl, if they would let him out So the next morning they let him out Ho paid his fine, left town, and has not been heard af in these parts since.” .                       .     ■ . •

S' INCE the advent of radio broadcasting, the . radio public have become interested in the many types of radio receiving sets on the mar, ket; and often they are heard to say: “Which -]is the best receiving set to buy!” This question can not be answered directly, because there are too many factors involved. It might just as

■ well be asked: “What kind of automobile shall I buy!” or “Which is the best piano!” The kind to buy depends primarily upon the results expected and upon the financial capabilities of the purchaser.

It is the purpose of this article to give a general classification of the various types of sets on the market today and to summarize briefly the advantages, disadvantages, and probabilities of each.             .

The various lands’ obtainable today can be classified into five general types; (1) crystal, (2) regenerative, (3) reflex, (4) neutrodyne and (5) super-heterodynes. There are many modifications of each of these general types, some sets combining the qualities of two or more. In general these five types will include all receiving sets on the market worthy of consideration.

■ The crystal set is the simplest and cheapest receiver that can be obtained. It consists of nothing more than a tuning coil and a crystal detector in connection with an antenna and headphones. This was the first type used by commercial companies for many years, and is used yet by some. These sets are called crystal sets because the kind and quality of crystal used is all important in this type. It is the crystal which produces the rectification or detection of the electrical oscillations, and which makes it possible to hear the radio waves. Of the various kinds of crystals that can be used for this purpose, such as.carborundum, molybdenite, mahganese dioxide, and galena (iron pyrites), galena is more widely used than any of the others.

No batteries are necessary with most types of circuits u^ing crystals; hence these sets are inexpensive t3 operate. The quality of reception when used on radiophones is the best, in fact better than many receiving sets using vacuum tube detectors. Bat they suffer the great disadvantage of short range, because a

By B. H. Leffler

.great amount of electrical energy must be collected by the antenna before rectification can take place and enough energy passed on to the phones for reception. Some crystal sets have been known to “pick up” broadcasting stations more than 500 miles distant That, however, was freak reception or was accomplished under ideal conditions. The probable consistent and dependable range is about twenty-five miles.

Crystal sets, therefore, have a low first cost, are inexpensive to operate, and produce excellent quality in reception; but their great disadvantage is in their short range and in the difficulty of holding a sensitive spot on the detector. Because of these disadvantages, the large majority of sets in use today comprise one ' or more of the remaining four types. In spite of their disadvantages, crystals are again in-' creasiug in popularity, largely because of the increase in the number of super-power broadcasting stations and because of their particular advantages in certain circuits; for instance, the reflex, type 3.

In all the remaining types of receiving sets, vacuum tubes are used in one way or other, either for detection or for amplification. The simplest type of receiver consists of a tuning unit, a vacuum tube detector, and two batteries, one for the low voltage filament circuit and the other for the high voltage plate circuit. The set must also contain some means whereby the battery potential can be adjusted and controlled. This type has several modifications depending upon the kind of circuit used. It is sometimes known as the single circuit, two circuit, three circuit, or as the Armstrong regenerative circuit. It is given the latter name because Major Armstrong is generally given the credit of having been the inventor of the regenerative principle used in this type of circuit.

A regenerative receiver is one in which a part of the output energy is fed back into the input circuit to reinforce the incoming oscillations and thus to* increase the volume of received signal. The vacuum tube itself, when used as a straight detector, is far more sensitive than a crystal detector. When the principle of feedback or regeneration is used with it, it becomes many times more sensitive and the amount of increase in A< siL'iinl strength is truly wonder-

GOLDEN AGE

ful. The .amplification possible is tremendous. At first thought this would seem like getting something for nothing; but no, the increase in energy comes from the local batteries. The vacuum tube merely acts as a trigger to control the large reservoir of electrical energy contained in the local batteries.

Because of its sensitiveness, this type of re-, ceiver has the advantage of reaching out to great distances. Its disadvantages are in its 1 greater first cost, greater operating expense for tube and battery replacements, and in that the quality of reception is not equal to that of a crystal. The latter disadvantage has been somewhat overcome in one form of the next, the reflex type of receiver.

In reflex receivers, detection can be accomplished either by a vacuum tube or by a crystal. When a crystal is used, the quality of reception inherent in a simple crystal set is maintained at the same time that great sensitiveness is obtained by the use of vacuum tubes as amplifiers.

Reflex receivers get their name from the fact that the tube or tubes used in them are made to do double duty; that is, they first amplify the feeble high frequency currents from the antenna, detect them, and then the output of the detector is fed back through the preceding tubes which are used the second time to amplify the low frequency audio currents. The use of vacuum tubes thus to amplify both the high radio frequencies and the low audio frequencies results in great economy in the number of tubes necessary to secure a certain amount of volume, also in the amount of battery energy necessary to secure that volume. A reflex receiver using only one tube has been known to produce signals of loud speaker intensity from distant stations. Their main disadvantage is in the critical adjustment of the circuit's electrical constants necessary for satisfactory reception. They are prone to whistle and to produce various noises which are not inherent in other types. For .that reason it is not advisable for amateurs to'try to build their own reflex sets. When properly adjusted, a factory-made reflex set will give excellent results.

There are several modifications of reflex receivers, one of which is known as the Grimes “Inverse Duplex, or simply as the Grimes circuit. In it reflexion is made to take place in

an inverse order from that of radio frequencyamplification. That is, consider a set having four tubes, one, two, three, and four the detector. Radio frequency amplification is accomplished by passing through the tubes in the order, one, two, three, and detector. The output of the detector is then passed through the same set of tubes in an inverse order; three, two, and one. Thus reception is accomplished by placing the phones in the output, of, the first tube. The advantage of this arrangement is that all the tubes are worked at a more uniform average intensity, which simply means less distortion or better quality.                    '

By using tubes in a double capacity, such as is done in the reflex sets, it is possible to obtain approximately the equivalent results from three as is ordinarily accomplished by the use of five.

“Neutrodyne” is a trade name applied to the fourth type of receiving set The fundamental principle upon which this type of set operates was discovered by Prof. Hazeltine. Neutrodyne itself simply means "neutralized local oscillations'’. This is a type of receiving set that uses several stages of radio frequency amplification ahead of the detector, and then one or more stages of audio frequency amplification after the detector. Ordinarily such receiving sets would not operate properly because of the tendency of such a set to oscillate and thus introduce all sorts of local noises. In the neutro

that radio frequency amplification is accomplished by changing the incoming radio frequency oscillations to another and different frequency, such that the type of amplifying transformers used can be operated at their highest point of efficiency.

How this is accomplished is an interesting scientific principle. Consider two tuning forks having slightly different rates of vibration. If both forks are made to vibrate simultaneously,’ there will be emitted three notes; one from fork ^rA, another from fork B, and the third a combination of A and B, which has a frequency equal to the difference between A and B. By changing the vibrating rate of either A or B, this third note can be made to have any frequency desired.

That is the super-heterodyne principle. In a radio receiving set, the same result is accomplished electrically by having a source of local

Baoonrx, X Y.

oscillations made to combine properly with the ¹ incoming oscillations. The combination of the i two frequencies produced a third frequency, which is then passed through several tubes and amplified. In a super-heterodyne that is properly assembled and adjusted, the quality of i reception is of the best.                 -               '

Such are the types of receiving sets developed

to the present time. What the future will bring

forth awaits to be seen. Surely all radio apparatus of the future will be far more efficient _; than the best in use now. When we realize that

the Scriptures clearly indicate that it is. the

Lord who is opening up the flood-gates of knowledge and invention, and that these modern won- • ders are not the result of man’s superior ability, * then it can reasonably be expected that the future will witness many more wonderful inventions to bless mankind.

MANY articles have appeared in various books and magazines on the construction of an antenna for radio reception; but when the average man comes to putting up his own antenna he, as a rule, forgets all that he has read or should have read on the subject, and forthwith climbs to the roof in a hurry, takes one general survey of the situation and decides on the easiest way to get it done quickly. He then rushes down stairs and hooks up his set; and in his enthusiasm he feels satisfied until some few weeks have passed; and then he begins to wonder why his radio set does not work better than it does. The oft-repeated old adage is still true, here as elsewhere, that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. A radio receivingset is no better than its antenna.

We use the word antenna instead of the commonly used word aerial because, as a rule, the word antenna applies to both the lead-in wire and the cross section or horizontal wire; for both oLthese should be made well. There is a right way to construct an antenna, as experience has demonstrated, and it will repay the constructor for his care and trouble to install it properly.

Few of us appreciate what this thing called

By Roy Coal;                     '

I radio frequency, which is accumulated on our antenna, really is. But if we stop and think, we perceive that if this radio frequency will travel fronra remote broadcasting station and . induce a current in our antenna, it will also hop off our antenna to another object which may be close to our wire, and pass into the ground; for these frequencies seek the easiest path to the ground.

Two things can be learned from the above: (1) That all surrounding objects are absorp-tives of energy to our antenna system, therefore should be kept as far away as possible; (2) that a good direct ground is essential. So then, the ideal antenna should be hung from two sky hooks, in a clear space, and a wire dropped directly down to the radio set. Of course this is not always possible, but we do not have to make our antenna system so poorly as some make tlbcirs.

We do not need to put the insulators two inches away from an iron pipe or a brick wall, but for a very small price we can buy better insulators than a cleat insulator. We do not have to run our lead-in wire over the edge of a tin roof or down the side of a brick building with the wire (oven if it is rubber covered)/ touching the bricks.

The Kind of Wire to Use

NY one knows that copper is the easiest metal to corrode. This corrosion and the accumulation of dust and soot on an antenna wire are a direct resistance path to these radio frequencies which we are trying to guide to our receiving sets.

It has long been known that these radio frequencies travel or exist on the surface of the wire. So then it is easily,seen that if this coating of corrosion is a conductor and yet a high resistance, and the copper wire is a conductor and a low resistance, there are two paths formed for our radio frequency to travel over; and as this has a tendency to travel on the surface it will take the high resistance path; and therefore we shall get a smaller proportion of current than if our wire were clean and new.

Some people are inclined not to believe this fact; but nevertheless it is quite easy to avoid this corrosion, and in so doing to prove its worth. Use only solid copper-enameled wire. Size number 12 is preferable, and size 14 is next best. Any smaller wire will raise the resistance of the antenna very much. Solid wire is recommended because the little grooves formed by the stranded wire make an ideal bed for the accumulation of dirt and soot. Therefore by the use of solid wire this is avoided. When enameled wire is used, we find that our antenna is as good at the end of a year as when it was first put up.

The length for the antenna wire to be used with the present-day receiving sets should be somewhat longer that that used with the old type single circuit sets. A good length is one hundred and fifty feet, with from thirty to forty feet of lead-in -wire. Especially in the country suburban localities is this desirable. It makes .very little difference which way the wire runs, just so that it is in the clear.

One wire of the above dimensions is sufficient, and the addition of two or three wires to this one only increases atmospheric disturbances and does not increase the signal strength at alL Some seem more interested in making the antenna high than they do in reducing the losses. The antenna should be thirty to fifty feet off from the ground. When it is increased very much above this height, not much if anything, is gained. It is better to have an antenna fifty feet high without anything under it, than it is to have it ten or fifteen feet above the roof of a ten-story building.

It is very important to keep the ends of the antenna away from the supports. The best way to do this is to fasten a rope to the poles or building and run it out about five or six feet and, place it in a good Pyrax glass insulator. Then extend the solid copper enameled wire from that. Have the same length of rope and the same arrangement at the other end. .

ifte Lead-in Wire

IF THE wire is located on a roof,'and the wire runs over the roof, liave the rope long enough so that the lead-in wire will drop directly from the horizontal wire to the window where it enters the house. Remember to keep it as far away from the building as possible. Always operate the set near the window where the leadin v i re enters the house.

The ground wire should be rather large and rubber-covered. It is best to have this wire as short as possible. A cold-water pipe is ideal fcr a ground; it is hard to make one better. The paint from the pipe should be scraped off, and a ground clamp should be used with the ground wire fastened to it. The next best grounds are named in order: Gas pipe, steam pipe, pump in a well or a cistern. The poorest, of all is a pipe or a rod driven into the ground.

The Angels’ Song

What heavenly host Is this With son- so full of bliss?

A multitude from realms above with .strains so full of heavenly lore; /Good ridings of great joy!"

"Glory to God on high!

For although man must die.

There's penne on earth, good will to all

Earth's myriad hosts, both great and small;

Blest tidings of great joy 1

Bif ltrs. T. C. Alford

“For man was lost, undone;

In pity came God's Son!”

So sung cho brilliant, shining host

With praise to Ulm who loved us most— The tidings of great joy.

• “A ransom hath been fonnrt

For them in den th-throes bound; The Lamb of God will now redeem Man from his lost state’s low esteem,* So sang the angel throng. -

Holland and Her Customs By J. Bogard

TO THE average person the mention of Holland brings to mind pictures of windmills and dykes; of people in quaint costumes—wooden shoes, wide pants, white turbans, wide collars, etc.; and of herds of black and white striped cattle. The tourist passing through _t Holland notes the large tulip fields, visits the great dairies and other points of interest, smiles ! at the dog-drawn carts, perhaps buys some • flowers from a prettily dressed maid, and goes on his way with generally pleasant impressions of his visit to the land of the sleeping Dutchman.

But there is a sterner side to the picture, not so apparent to the casual observer. It is the severe struggle for existence on the part of the majority of the people. As in other European countries, two or three percent of the people own most of the property, and those who do the work must pay royalty of some kind for the privilege of earning a living. '

Farming and dairying are the principal industries. The land is owned by an hereditary aristocracy, and those who till the soil are obliged to pay a large rental for the use of the land. About forty dollars an acre is the usual price per year. The farmer in turn takes it out of his hired help, and imposes hard conditions on those working for him. The wages for farm laborers are very small, and the laborers must work long hours. There are large amounts of food to sell, but often those who do the work can not take enough to satisfy their own hunger.

Forty dollars would go a long way towards buying an acre of land in American farming districts, and would provide rental for from five to twenty years on most farm land. Just how the original owners came into possession of the land and what right their descendants have to collect large revenues from those who do the work is not quite clear; presumably it is a right similar to that of the divine (?) right of Icings to rule.

About fourteen to sixteen hours is the usual work day for the farmer and his help. The women and rihe young children also do heavy work, and for long hours. Land is seldom or never sold in Holland. Those who have inherited it keep possession of it, and pass it on to their children. The tenants stay in one place from one generation to another; the son inheriting from the father Mie right to lease.

The people have received this custom from previous generations, and do not seem to question the propriety of such a situation. To them it seems always to have been so, and will always continue to be the custom.

For the encouragement of those who love righteousness, the Lord has foretold through His prophets that such conditions will not prevail during the righteous reign of Messiah. Isaiah (65:21,22) says: “They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” Another prophet declares: “They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.” (Micah 4:4) Thus the Bible shows that under Messiah’s kingdom, near at hand, there will be no more greedy landlords or oppressors living from the toil of others.

In the year 1900 my father died, and six years later my mother died. 1 was then twelve years of age; and being left alone in the world I was placed with a farmer to earn my living. I had to get up at four o’clock in the rooming, slip into my wooden shoes, and go out to milk the cows. After that I was kept busy at other work until late at night. The food also was very poor, and I rarely had enough to satisfy my hunger. There were pictures of fruit and of fat bulls and cows, etc., hanging on the walls, but seldom anything of that kind on the table, at least not when I was around.

How the Dutch Worship

THE Dutch people are very religious, and nearly everyone belongs to a church of some kind. A person not belonging to some religious body is looked down upon, and considered undesirable in the conununity. The usual Sunday services are from nine o’clock in the morning until eleven-thirty, and then again in the afternoon, from two-thirty until five.

The Catholics go the Protestants one better for attendance at religious service; for in addition to the morning and afternoon services they attend Mass at five o’clock in the morning.

The collection is taken in the middle of the morning "service. The church officials do not pass a plate around, "but have a velvet bag on the end of a fishing pole, with which they are able to reach the remotest corners; and they come around not once but three timeg in succession. The congregation also pay a certain sum for the seats.

There is no heat in the churches during the winter; and the men sit with their overcoats on, and their hands in their pockets. The woman bring with them a foot warmer or “stoof", as it is called; it is a little wooden box containing a stone pot with lighted charcoal in it. If they do not bring one, they can get one from the janitor, which of course must be paid for.

Then the preacher entertains them with stories of heaven—what a lovely place it is, and how they may enjoy themselves watching poor sinners squirming in the “lake of fire" below. The lack of heat in the churches makes a sermon on hell-fire seem not undesirable occasionally; for it is at least talking about something warm.

Sometimes in some districts one sees the preachers still wearing the dress of mediaeval times: knickerbockers, buckle shoes, long-tailed coat and shovel hat; and one feels that notwithstanding their serious faces they would be more ; appropriate in a comic opera.

I was given three cents each Sunday to put into the collection bag (one for each time around); but I often bought candy with them, and put in flat stones instead.

After a year of service ■with the first farmer I was placed with another; and here I had to get up at three-thirty, instead of at four o’clock as at the other place. This man said that he was going to treat me well. He used to give me two big black cigars on Sunday morning and ten cents a week. But the food was'worse than in the former place.

It was here I learned to eat raw eggs, to which I helped myself at the chicken house, when the farmer was not there. I also used to steal the bread intended for the dog. It was hard on the dog, but J was hungry, and the evolutionists say that self-preservation is the first law of nature.

In South Africa the Dutch arc considered the most efficient slavcdrivers of any nationality. This is due no doubt to their home training and national characu istics fitting them for such ' vocations.

In the church they hi -lass for young boys- ‘ on Tuesday night to instruct them in the creed ' and the catechism. I attended there; and one evening when I had asked a question on the Bible, ■ the preacher treated me very roughly and told ;■ me that I was not wanted there. After that, I quit going to church on Sundays, and played i billiards instead. I was soon listed in the coun- : try as being “no good”.

Is it any wonder that under such circumstances I had no faith in religious institutions and , believed nothing at all!                           i

In most families the Bible is read after every < meal, although little or nothing of it is under- i stood, The people can scarcely answer the j simplest question on Bible doctrine. How much better it would be if they would apply their ; hearts and minds to learn the true meaning of God’s Word and be ready to obey it in deed and inspirit!              .

The Lord through the prophet Isaiah (29: 11-14) says: “The vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver unto one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: and the book is delivered unto one that is not learned, saying, Read this, I , pray thee: And he saith, I am not learned, ‘ Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near unto me with their mouth, ! and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men: ' Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom*of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."

Then the Prophet speaks of a better time (verse 18): “In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind ’ • ’ shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.” This will be the time of Messiah’s reign, when the knowledge of the Lord will be world-wide and when false, deceptive doctrines shall no longer be permitted. Continuing in the 19th* verse the Prophet says: “The meek also shall in- . crease their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” ' I

In the Reformation times many of t*e people 1

pa              , The. Golden Age '                            :

of Holland accepted the doctrines of the Reformers. The Prince of Orange, the ruler of the country, accepted the Calvinistic doctrines. The Synod of Dort (1618) organized the Low-Dutch Reformed Church as the national Protestant church. This lasted until the revolution of 1795; and then in the revision of the Constitution in 1848 complete religious liberty and equality of all persons and congregations were guaranteed. ’

Most of the worship at the present time is mere formalism, the people accepting without investigation doctrines and practices handed down from former generations. However, there are evidences that some of the people of Holland are beginning to awake to the importance of the events of the present time and to seek for more knowledge from the Word of God.

Bits of Interesting History

A LARGE part of the surface of Holland is below sea level, the water being kept back by dykes and by pumpingstations which dispose of the surplus rainfall. When one goes to the seashore, it is necessary to go uphill for two or three miles. It is for this reason that the country is called The-Netherlands, or Lowlands, which is the original name of the country. It came to be called Holland after the chief province, in which the capital city is located. The windmills, with the pictures of which everyone is familiar and which add so much to the picturesqueness of the landscape, are being replaced by modern pumping stations which do the work more efficiently.

Holland is noted for its system of waterways and canals. No other country in the world has developed inland navigation to the extent that it has been done here. The canals are used for transporting all kinds of freight. Much of the freight that is hauled on trucks or freight cars in other countries is carried here by the canal boats.

Oftentimes the canals are higher than the land surface, the water being kept back by the dykes. Sometimes the dykes prevent the water from being seen; and vessels sailing along the canal appear as though they were sailing about the country on dry land.

Many of the boats are pulled by persons walking on the bank. The farmer loads his- produce into a boat, and pulls it to market along the canal. Some of the women have a sort of harness across the shoulders, by means of which they pull their boat along the canal. The custom of fitting the harness to the head is not now so much in vogue.

Here as in other European countries many of the women do hard work in the t'clds. A' story is told of Holland: A farmer was hauling in his hay and had his wife hitched up to the cart; and he himself and his dog were on top riding. He said to his wife: "If you get tired let me know, and I will throw the dog down.” This may be slightly exaggerated, howeVer; but there is “more truth than poetry” in it.

One of the high-lights in the history of Hol- ’ land is its struggle for independence against Catholic Spain, which lasted for eighty years and came to an end in 1648, when the Netherlands obtained all that they contended for— complete religious and poEtical freedom, and the right to trade in foreign countries.           ,

The southern provinces, comprising what is now known as Belgium, were more submissive to their Catholic masters and have remained. Catholic to the present time. In the seventeenth century Holland was the leading commercial nation of the world, and the chief maritime power. It was later eclipsed by England after three hard-fought wars.

The Spanish sought to regain control of the country in 1639, and sent a fleet of seventy-seven vessels under Admiral Oquendo. These were met by the Dutch with a much smaller force under Admiral Marten Tromp, and seventy of the Spanish vessels were destroyed. The remaining seven escaped in a fog. This broke the sea power of Spain, and there began the decline of the most cruel and domineering power that ever existed.

We have taken a brief glance at the good and the bad of Holland. Let us ask the question, Is it a part of Christ’s kingdom? The ecclesiastics of the world would answer: “Yes. Its rulers profess Christianity, and most of the people are members of some denomination. Therefore it is a Christian nation—a part of Christendom, Christ’s kingdom.”

But is it really so? The Scriptures state that when Christ reigns“they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain [kingdom]” (Isaiah il: 9); anil also that there shall be an "abun- : dance of peace so lung as the moon endureth.”

(Psalm 72:7) The Lord taught His disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth ah in heaven?’ No intelligent person would claim that God’s will is done in Holland, or any other country, as it is done in heaven.

Holland, like all the other nations, is merely one of the kingdoms of this world of which some are better and some are worse. But they arc all dominated by Satan and his spirit of selfishness, and must pass away and make room for the real kingdom of Christ, which will be in reality “the desire of all nations.”—Haggai 2: 7.

ABEOKUTA (understone) is one of the most ancient cities of the Egba Tribe in Nigeria. West Africa. Its people and its customs cun he traced to the remotest times. It is so called because the early settlers, who were driven there by tribal warfare, lived in caves and under great stones.

Even to this day some of the people are to be found living under the stones in some of the caves. Around these caves the town is built, with a population of about 275,500 people of different tribes of one descent, chief of which are the Egba, the Oyo, Owu, Ijibu, and other tribes. These people became separated chiefly by intertribal warfare in the past. The vernacular is the Yoruba tongue; the English-speaking are about SOO. Half of this number embrace the more intelligent of the country, including the so-called clergy.

The country is governed by native administration, supervised by a resident, representing the British Government, who takes care of the financial and judicial end of the administration, in order to protect the rights of the several incorporated British trading firms throughout Yoruba land. But the Alake (King) Ademola II and his council for the Egba kingdom protect the rights and customs of the natives.

The king receives a fat grant from the British Government yearly from the Egba treasury, which is controlled by the Colonial Government. Besides this the Alake (King) receives a stipendiary from his people, according to native custom. Rents for lands, etc., come under his jurisdiction, according to native rule. Also the wealth of Ips predecessor and all of his wives are his hereditary rights.

Thus the Alake of Abeokuta is a mighty prince, supported 1iy the sword of the British Government, which in turn gets the monoply of the entire country to trade and exploit the

By Claude Brown

people. Thus the native ruler is paid to keep quiet, while the clergy unite with the government in running the country.

The Religious Life of the People

Til E people of Abeokuta are rather an orderloving and peaceful people. They love religion; in other words, they indulge in much superstition. The basis of their religion is the doctrines of demons, handed down to them by their ancestors, who in time past indulged in human sacrifices and divinations.

One of these is called the "Oro” game. A certain nut called “kollar” is split, and cast to foretell events, prosperity, seasons, and all other attainments, especially when the nation is going to war. When this practice is being performed, no one of the female sex must be present; and should a female child or infant by accident see the “Oro” play, the punishment according to native law is death.

The ancestral belief of the people causes them to worship their dead relatives. To these they attribute all their prosperity, attainments and success in life. Their dead chieftains are.responsible, they think, for all their noble accomplishments, for victory in war, etc.             '

The Yoruga believe implicitly in the immortality of the soul, that the souls of their dead ones ’ are more alive than ever. They also believe in reincarnation; that is to say, their dead relatives come back in the flesh, in answer to their prayers and sacrifices offered to them. They are born again in the person of a babe, and grow up to manhood’s and womanhood’s estate. Therefore man is living this life over and over again, by the merits of human sacrifices and the lust of polygamist progenitors.                . "

This depth of superstition is intensified by the introduction of what is called “Christian Religion iu Africa”; in other words, the Church

• Missionary Society, the greatest eummercial and trading association in Africa, as far back as the eighteenth century.

The teaching of the church is based implicitly on the immortality of the human soul, and that ? "eternal torment” is the portion of the nonChristian dead, at the hands of fire-proof demons in “hell". Thus is intensified the natives’ , superstitous belief.

Taking advantage qf the credulity of the natives, all kinds of class pence, taxes and dues are imposed upon the people. Should these dues not be paid up to the church periodically, so that one is financially in balance with the church nt the tune of his death, his corpse will not be brought into the church, which the people believe is the gateway to heaven.

The only way that one can come through the door of that church, is that relatives must pay up all his back dues. Then the parson will come and repeat Satan’s monumental lie over the corpse, committing the soul to heaven; for up to that time, they say, it is hovering around. The devil said: "Ye shall not surely die.” Jesus • said: “He [Satan] is a liar from the beginning,” and all other liars are his children.—John S: 44.

Hypocritical Answer of the Clergy

SHAMEFUL indeed it is to see some of these clergymen, when they are confronted with the truth, and are charged with using the Bible as a means to defraud, by teaching false doctrines to the heathen. They answer: “We do not believe in hell-fire and brimstone any more; we do not believe in the Trinity. But we can not teach the people these things; for they are ignorant, and they will become desperate, and overthrow the church. Thus we shall be forced to get ourselves a job, and then we shall be in danger from the masses.”

But without doubt the day is not far distant when this great tide of ignorance and superstition, caused by religious errors, will turn in Africa by the light of present truth, now due; and it will tell a tale to Christendom and its clergy whicli will never be forgotten in the annals of human history.

Negro Slave-Center—The Center of Commerce

WE SPENT some time in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, and the greatest trading center in West Africa. As it is today in commerce and native produce, so it was in time past the world’s greatest market for Negro slaves. We rejoice that those days are gone forever.

The truth concerning Christ's kingdom of . righteousness, equity, happiness and peace is now being brought to the people, through the channel of present truth: The Watch Tower _; Bible & Tract Society, making glad the hearts of many to know that Jehovah has so great and \ wonderful a provision for the children of men, especially those whom we term heathen, who | never heard of the only name under heaven ' whereby we must be saved.

The common people here have received the truth gladly. Hundreds of them have bought ’ The Studies in the Scriptures, The Haar or God, and other literature in order to learn more-of the good news of the message of the kingdom. Satan’s emissaries, the clergy class, are desperately endeavoring to withhold the truth from the people, and to stay the forward march of the representatives of the King of Glory. But they have failed, and are falling back in dreadful confusion, battling among themselves on such ques- . tions as clergy and laity, polygamy, etc. Thus the prophet David declared: “The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he- speak to them in his wrath, and trouble them in his sore displeasure.”—Psalm 2:4,5.

Visit to Abeokuta and Ibadan

BEFORE leaving Nigeria we resolved to visit Abeokuta and Ibadan, two of the oldest cities in Nigeria, forty-five and one hundred and sixty miles from Lagos. We arrived at Abeokuta September 15th at noon, and were _; gladly received by many who read the message of the truth in dodgers and in the newspapers. They rejoiced to have the pleasure of hearing the truth expounded in Abeokuta. Immediately* they began to buy the truth literature.

The next day I was introduced to the secretary of the Alake (King) by one of the most influential native traders in the city, J. A. ■ Thoma. The Alake's secretary introduced me to His Majesty, stating also my mission and my desire of His Majesty to have the court hall for the purpose of giving a series of Bible lectures :

free to the people.                    '               :    1

The King willingly consented that I should ; j have the court for such time as desired free of charge. He also regretted that sufficient notice ’■

was not given to him, that he could have an - audience with the speaker.

We lost no time, as our intentions were to visit Ibadan before returning to Lagos that week end. The secretary of the Alake introduced us to the Government printers, from whom we got twenty-five posters printed at once and posted for three lectures at the .Ake Hall. Subjgcts as follows: “Where are the dead?”, “Can the living talk with the dead?” and “Epochs and dispensations marked in the development of the divine

Lecture on “Where Are the Dead”

OX Wednesday evening the meeting opened with about sixty in the hall, after which about twenty came in. I was introduced by the Government printer; for the principal of the grammar school, who was called upon to do this, had declined. But the said principal was very glad to seize the opportunity at the close of the lectures to express the appreciation of himself, and that of all the people, for the benefits they had received through the lectures, and therefore called upon the house for a vote of thanks to the International Bible Students Association for the light and truth which have been sown in their midst; adding that “should this light and truth be followed, Africa ■will in due time have :something better to introduce to European missionaries than they have respecting Christianity”. This relates, of course, to the errors of the missionaries; for ours is the true Bible Christianity.

After responding to the introduction of welcome, I opened with an apology for my inability to speak to the people in the vernacular of this nation, and expressed the hope that those that were versed in English might be able to bear witness of the truth which they should hear and prove and then to transmit it to others in the vernacular of the nation. I then presented the divine plan.

As the meeting closed the audience gave great cheer by clapping of hands. The ministers (preachers), as they heard the truth expounded, looked at each other, as much as to say, We are discovered. A few questions were asked. Many bought the books and booklets on the subjects. As they went from the hall they talked to each other, saying that the truth of the Scriptures was never told to them before. This news was broadcast over the town, and the next evening the hall was packed. The principal of the grammar school, who had been^;present the evening before, came with all the teachers and pupils of the school, marching in double column, with Bibles in their hands. We rejoiced in the privilege of telling them the good news of the coming kingdom, praying the Lord’s blessing upon the message.

On the Outcome of the Election

‘*ptl EOBORE ROOSEVELT once said of Mr. -L La Follette (probably the truest patriot among the candidates, and certainly the most lied about during the recent campaign):

“Thanks to the movement for genuinely democratic government which Senator La l-'ollctte led to overwhelming victory yi Wisconsin, that State lias became literally a laboratory'for wLe experimental legislation, aiming to secure the social and political betterment of the people as a whole.”

Mr. La F&Jlette was defeated by tho newspapers. Of the successful candidates, ■’The Arbitrator” says:

“Coolidge: We iu.-tify the greater and greater accumulations of capital beeau.-e we believe that therefrom flows the support of all science, art, learning and the charities which minister to the humanities of life, all 1 carrying their beneficent effects to the people as a whole.' ■ ^?

“But in his Labor Day speech he said:

“ ‘We have outlawed all artificial privilege.... America '     1

recognizes no aristocracy save those who work.’ The     ..

President must have been thinking of Soviet Russia;      ^:

for in this country only before election do the American     ";

Federation of Labor Aristocrats- take precedence over       5

capitalists who live on dividends.

“Dawes was the head of the Minute Men <rf the Con- ] stitution, an organization 40,000 strong, with American • .I -1 Legion men predominating, whose method of enforcing ; ’ order is somewhat like that of the Klan. Explaining .   |

his organization, Gen. Dawes said: ‘About a year ago ' “ "1 railroad strikers through acts of sabotage had destroyed         |

transportation facilities through a large section of the . 1 country for months. The citizens [of Harrison, Ar- .. j kansasj stood it for so long. Then they ran 300 strikers J

out of town and hanged one to a telegraph pole. Justice reprehensible, it is what always happens when the law is not enforced/

“Oen. Dawes did not suggest enforcing the law against the mob, nor making conditions bearable for the strikers. His speeches indicate that he is more opposed to organized labor than to the Ku Klux Klan. Norman Thomas, candidate for Governor of New York, places partial blame for the death of seven men in a recent fight at Herrin on Gen. Dawes, because of his condonation of Klansmen’s attempt to. enforce order by violence.

“When a Congressional committee was investigating war extravagance, Dawes exclaimed: ‘Hell an’ Ilaria, we were fighting Germans over there, and I would have paid the price of horses for sheep.’

“That General Dawes was accustomed to fleece the aheep is evident from the article in the “New Republic’:

“ ‘On October 1, 1912, the Central Trust Company of Illinois, of which General Dawes was president, made

a temporary am! highly irregular loan to William Lorimer, the one-time U. S. Senator of unsavory reputation. This loan of §1,250,000 was made for the purpose of permitting Lorimer to exhibit it to the state bank examiner as being the property of the La Salle Street Trust and Savings Bank, then in process of formation. The bank examiner was deceived, the charter issued, and the money returned to the Dawes bank. Presently the new Lorimer organization went to smash, and thousands of innocent stockholders suffered heavy loss.... The loan had been made by Gen. Dawes and his brother, the cashier, solely on their own responsibility. After a ten-year battle in the courts it has been decided thatj the Dawes bank is legally liable to the Lori.'"*r stockholders in the sum of more than §150,000/ "    '

It is admitted that the fate of civilization, rests upon the success of the Dawes plan for financing Europe.                              ,

The Truth About the League of Nations

(Translated from the Paris Wfdi, September 10, 1024)

AT THE door of the Hotel Victoria, where the League of Nations is held, someone gave out a little tract, the reading of which made the .shivers run down my back. This tract, filled with citations from the Old and New Testaments, is entitled “L’Age D'Or”; and in its subhead has these dreadful words, “The impending crisis of the world.” The author is an American, Judge Rutherford, who wants the death of the League of Nations.

There is nothing strange in this, and Judge Rutherford shares on this point the opinion of many Americans. But that which is new are the reasons he gives for this aversion. If you think that the United States have disavowed the work of President Wilson because they mistrust Europe and do not want to intervene in our affairs, I would rather tell you at once that you are not on the right track. Judge Rutherford' explains that you must oppose the League of Nations because it is a production of the devil himself. Listen rather what that Judge says, who is the latest prophet in Israel:

"They hive rejected the teachings of Jesus and the apostles concerning the second coming of the Lord and •Jhe establishment of God's kingdom on earth.... They have founded a League of Nations under the direction of the prince of darkness; but Jehovah declares that their plans will come to naught.”

That is clear, and it is good to know that the

League of Nations is presided over by Satan himself. Satan for this bad work took the form of President Wilson, or perhaps of Mr. Leon Bourgeois, unless he be incarnated in the person of Mr. Motta, former president of the Swiss Confederation, who directs the discussions of the assembly with a patience and a simplicity really devilish, and who is certainly clovenfooted.                                          ■

We understand now why Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, who like Judge Rutherford is permeated with the real Biblical and prophetic spirit, ceases not in his discourse to defy the devil and to throw (morally) an inkwell into his face, as the deceased Luther did. We understand also why the Premier of the Labor Party turns his back on the League of Nations, of which formerly he was an apostle, and draws near to the Americans whose eyes are open. .

Judge Rutherford cites, in addition to prophecies from Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Amos, from Mr. MacDonald: “There is neither betterment nor peace in Europe. The governments are powerless. This year 1924 is worse than 1914.” Again he quotes the prophet David Lloyd George: "A new chapter opens in the history of Europe, with a climax Of horror such as mankind has never yet witnessed."

All the prophecies, he said, will be accom-f

plished. This is why M. Briand, Loueheur, Benes, Nansen, Branting and other delegates, instead of wasting their precious time in Switzerland, ought to take the train, carrying in their valise Judge Rutherford’s book, the “Harp of God”, which explains in its 352 pages the real way to establish peace, and which costs only 4 francs (in Swiss money).

“Restitution,Times” By Robert B. Beard (England).

"Which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”—Acts 3:19-21.

⁷⁷“ GOLDEN AGE

13 Now Jonah saw God’s mercy                         ig

On Nineveh’s antitype;

The Church-Trust gourd no shelter is When HU great plans are ripe.

Then Micah told how wai-s would cease, Each man his house would own. All fear be gone; for Jesus' power Would then be fully shown.

14 A railway train presented was To Nahum’s wondering sight— A chariot speeding swift by day, A flaming torch at night.

Habukkuk then told how the earth Would full of knowledge be. The knowledge of Jehovah's ways, As waters fill the sea.

13 Now Zephaniah prophesied Of unity of thought. When men would call upon the Lord And serve Him as they ought.

The holy prophet Haggni Told of the great desire Of nations, Jesus’ glorious reign, Of which they’d never tire.

IN NEW YORK a stock broker was sent to jail for swindling the people; and while he was supposed to be behind the bars, was seen in restaurants, having a good time. Do not get excited about this matter; however. It has happened before, in fact from time immemorial. Rich ihen are seldom punished for their crimes. They are able to pay the penalty with MONEY. Poor people go to jail on any pretext, some innocent.

History reveals the fact that in the past rich men got into trouble, as a rule, only when they came in conflict with other rich and influential men who were more powerful. Corruption is the rule, not the exception, under "the prince of this world”. Rich men steal, lie, graft, and commit almost any crime on the calendar, and escape punishment.

If the history of corruption in public and private life could be written it would fill a vast library. Ancient Greece was full of it. Corruption flourished in the halcyon days of old King Tutankhamen. It flourished during the time of the Cresars. It flourished down to Napoleon. And, like the poor, it is still with us, and will remain with us until the kingdom of God is fully established on the earth.

As one writer Imls well said: "Through the

By J. L. Bolling.

story of the Roman Empire and the Roman Republic and throughout the Middle Ages, down to the chronicles of every monarchy whose name exists today, you can trace the old and familiar situation: The rich man escaping punishment.” Democratic ideas and ideals have striven to abolish this condition in our day. "One law for rich and poor alike,” is the slogan of modem democracy.

But does the slogan work? Is it practicable [ under present conditions? No; experience attests to the contrary. The glamor of riches will override all laws designed against the rich; and few are the lawyers, judges and jailers who are immune to its influence. Truly, “the love of money is a root of all evil”!

It is hardly supposable that this condition ...,4 will be righted through the power of man-made laws. Witness the Teapot Dome mess. Are j ■ any criminals in jail as a result of these investi- .. । gations ? Yet the offenses committed by public 1 servants are flagrant enough to merit imprison-       j

meat, if we are to judge by the press reports.       i

If a poor man steals a loaf of bread, uses a can- • celled postage stamp, or becomes guilty of any number of lesser crimes, into jail he goes.            \

We are not justifying any crime, hut are pro- I testing against the system of punishment which,

-while affecting to mete out justice to each and all alike, is really a most one-sided affair, and is a system of injustice.

But the promises of the Bible inspire us with hope that the time is near when God’s kingdom shall be established in the earth, when all injustice shall be abolished, and the rich shall be jounished along with all other evil doers. CJames 5:15) “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment,’* is the promise of-God's Word. (Isaiah. 32:1) When that time comes, the proud will no Longer be called "happy” and the wicked profiteer will no longer flourish “as a green bay tree”, but “justice .shall be the girdle of his [Christ’s] loins”; and He shall rule in equity.

Preachers of The Word By H. L. Mencken.

(Courtesy of the Baltimore Evening Sun)

I

Misericordia superexaltatur judicio; which is to say, Mercy is superior to justice. The saying is credited by the learned to Pope Innocent III, one of the truly great occupants of Peters chair—in fact, a veritable Harding or even Coolidge among popes. He said it in the first days of the thirteenth century. Since then there have been great improvements in Christian doctrine. In Chicago, the other day. a Catholic parish priest rose in his pulpit, bawled for the blood of the Judean youths, Leopold and Loeb, and delivered a dreadful denunciation of Judge Caverly for sparing their necks.

This Latin brother was singular, considering his rite, but in plenty of company, considering merely his sacred office. On the same day a multitude of Protestant clergymen in Chicago relieved themselves of sentiments to the same general effect. Judging by the press despatches, indeed, the whole service of God in town on that day consisted of barbaric yells for the Lord High Executioner. No other subject seems to have been mentioned in the churches. One and sail, the anointed of God served Him by heating up the faithful to hatred and revenge, and by reviling a judge who had been guilty of mercy. One and all, they screamed for the lives of two Jellow creatures.

' Alas, not.a rare spectacle, in this great moral age! A day or two earlier—or was it later?— a gang of clerics from Annapolis, accompanied by pious laymen, appeared before the Hon. Edward M. Parrish, parole commissioner, and protested bitierly against the parole of a man lying in Anrihpolis jail. Their argument, as reported in the Sunpaper, seems to have been very simple. This gentleman, it appeared, had deliberately violated the law. Ergo, it was the first duty of the State to keep him in jail—not to dissuade him from his evil ways, but to get revenge upon him!

II

AS I say, such episodes are not rare. I could fill columns with them. The sacred office, of late, becomes indistinguishable from that of the policeman and hangipan. The Beatitudes are repealed, and reenacted with jokers. Divine worship becomes a sort of pursuit of villains, with rope and tar-pot. It is the prime duty ot the clerk in holy orders not to combat sin, but to chase, nab and butcher the concrete sinner. The congregation in which the True Faith runs highest is that one in which there is the steadiest and most raucous demand for blood.

Four or five years ago, when the Ku KIux Klan first got on its legs, I made certain inquiries into its origin and nature, and came to the conclusion that it was no more than the AntiSaloon League in a fresh bib and tucker, and that, in consequence, its head men were mainly Baptist and Methodist clergymen. That conclusion, printed in this place, caused protests, and one amiable Baptist clergyman had at me to the extent of two columns. But who denies the fact today! Surely no one of any intelligence. The Klan, studied at length, turns out to be exactly what the Anti-Saloon League is: A device for organizing the hatred of evangelical Christians. The Anti-Saloon League is devoted to pursuing those they hate on ethical grounds, and the Klan to pursuing those they hate for reasons of di.gma. Neither has any other purpose. •

Both are run by Baptist and Methodist clergymen, some retired from the sacerdotal office but all full of evangelical zeal and all extraordinarily savage and bloodthirsty. One hears nothing from these holy men save endless de-

’i’k

,*;• man’ds that this man be deported, that one tarred and feathered, and the other one jailed. The Methodists, a year or so ago, were actually 5    advocating murder. East, West, North and

•    South, the malevolent carnival goes on. Every-

■ where the faithful are urged to animosity, bru-tahty, revenge. Everywhere neighbor is aroused - against neighbor, and every sign of Christian charity is denounced as criminal. And every- where this devil’s, brew is stirred vigorously by men sworn to preach the gospel of Christ.

Ill

IN VIEW of such phenomena, it surely becomes ridiculous to ask, as certain Christians of an older school do, what is the matter with . the churches. What would be the matter with * the theaters if they took off all their plays and put on funerals and surgical operations? What would be the matter with the bootleggers if they swindled their clients with ginger-pop and cocacola? What ails the chtfrches is that large ' numbers of them have abandoned Christianity, lock, stock and barrel. What ails them is that some of them, and by no means the least in wealth and influence, are now among the bittc-r-est and most diligent enemies of Christianity ever heard of in this Republic.

Personally, I have little need for the basic consolations of the Christian faith. I am not naturally religious, and seldom seek peace beyond the realm of demonstrable facts. Even my virtues, such as they are, are not properly describable as Christian. If I let an enemy go, it is because I disdain him, not because I pity him. If I do not steal, it is not because I fear heli but because I am too vain. But I am not blind, nevertheless, to the comfort that Christianity gives to other men. It is, for them, an escape from realities too harsh to be borne. It is a way of life that offers them sanctuary from the pains of ■everyday living, and gives 'them rest when they are weary and- heavy-laden. When they are errant, it offers them mercy. When they faint, it speaks to them of love.

True or hot, this faith is beautiful. More, it is useful—more useful, perhaps, than any imaginable truth. Its effect is to slow down and ameliorate the struggle for existence. It urges men to forget themselves now and then, and to think of others. It succors the weak and protects the friendless. It preaches charity, pity,

mercy. Let philosophers dispute its premises if they will, but let no fool sneer at its magnifi-

cent conclusions. As a body of scientific fact

it may be dubious, but it remains the most beau-

tiftil poetry that man has yet produced on this

earth.

. IV

WELL, try to imagine a man full of a yearning for the consolation of that poetry. He ■> is tired of the cannibalistic combat that life is; he longs for peace, comfort, consolation. He <     :

goes to church. A few hymns are sung, and ’ f there arises in the pulpit a gentleman told off to preach. This gentleman, it quickly appears, is not currently merchanting peace. The Beati- , tudes are not his text. He turns to the Old Tes- : f tament. There he finds a text-to his taste. And, ’ leaping from it as from a springboard, he gives over an hour to damning his fellow men. He wants them to be sent to jail, to be deported, to be hanged. He demands that the business be dispatched forthwith. He denounces mercy as a ; weakness and forgiveness as base.

Our Christian friend, with a yell of despair,, rushes from the basilica and seeks another. There he hears the pastor call upon the agents of Prohibition to shoot bootleggers. He seeks a third. The pastor denounces as harlots girls who kiss their beaux, and demands that they be taken by the Police and cast into jail. He seeks a fourth. The pastor praises a Federal judge for refusing a jury trial to a victim of the Anti-Saloon League. He turns to a fifths The rev. rector calls upon God to singe and palsy the pope. A sixth. The shepherd urges his sheep to watch their neighbors, and report every suspicious whiff. A seventh. The Bol-sheviki are on the grill. An eighth. Demands that more prisoners be hanged. A ninth. ...

But by this time another* atheist is on his way to the public library, at eighteen knots an hour, ' to read Darwin, Huxley, Spencer and Nietzsche ... or maybe Tolstoi. The Christians are being driven out of the churches; their places are ’ being filled by hunters and trappers, i. e., by^„,_v brutes. A few old-fashioned pastors survive, but they diminish. As they pass, their flocks will have to resort once more to catacombs. There will bo, eventually, a Twentieth Amendment. It will proscribe the Beatitudes, as the Eighteenth already proscribes the Eucharist. -

(Ey Charles Frederic Sheldon,

T ET mqhasten to say that with the real church, the church that Jesus Christ founded, the church that had its birth at Pentecost, there is nothing wrong. It is in connection with the earthly, militant church that the wrong is found.

It is evident that the church is qpt making the impress upon the world that ought to be made by an institution that came into being by the spirit of God himself, an organization that has for its very life, source, and power, the spirit of God.                             ,

If we are possessed of honesty and courage —two very essential qualities—we shall be ready to face the truth as to the standing of the church in these days. With rare exceptions the church of today is making no real progress in overcoming the world. It is making progress in the matter of ecclesiastical organization. There has never been so much, nor so complete organization as there is now. The church is-making progress in the way of ecclesiastical literature; for the book concerns are pouring out theological works, almost by the carload. But in the vital matter in which the church's power should be most manifest, the church is well-nigh impotent. It is not overcoming the world. It is not stopping the flow of the mighty rivers of sin, vice, sensuality, and corruption that every day are deepening and widening their channels in our life.

The tragic truth remains that the church is not doing that which its Lord meant it to do. It is doing things, many things; but it is not doing the one essential thing that the Lord commanded it to do. The whole perspective is wrong; its ideals are wrong; its plans are wrong; its methods are wrong. It is like the church of Laodicea, saying, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” And the church knows not that it is in reality "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked-.” Let us examine somewhat the bill of particulars. Just where is the church wrong ’ The church as a whole has ceased to believe the Word of God. There is a vast amount of baptized infidelity. Both the laity and the pulpit have a form of belief that has nothing inside it. The church reads its creeds, its articles of belief and faith, and then straightway throws out all that does not suit its taste. The church no longer believes that the Bible is the divinely in the Baptist "Watchman Examiner'’) inspired Word of God. The church is fond of j saying, “It contains the Word of God," but denies in its everyday utterances and in its life the inspiration of the Bible. It is entirely pos- : sible in these days for one to pick out that which ' suits, and reject the remainder, and yet hold ■ membership in the church. Thousands of church members no longer hold the Bible to be the revelation of God to them.

The church, on the whole, does not understand , the nature and constitution of this unique body called the church. It is looked upon by many | as a sort of social organization tinged somewhat with religious fervor, but very largely social in i its aims, its plans, and its program. The j church, as a whole, does not at all understand' the program of Jesus Christ in the world. The , truth that the church is a body of people called : out of the world, and saved from sin in order to be a witness for Christ, is not comprehended ■ by the majority of church members.            >

The church, on the whole, no longer believes in the supernatural. Jt has very largely discarded the belief in miracles. It has laughed J out of court the idea of a hell—a place of punishment for the rejecters of Christ [This . preacher liimself does not understand the Bible teaching on the question of “hell”.—Ed.] The church, on the whole, has forsaken the great cardinal doctrines that the fathers believed.

The church, generally speaking, is failing to carry out the purpose for which it came into being. It has imbibed the notion that the whole earthly situation is to be straightened out as the result of its efforts and activities. The truth is that the church has just one thing to do; vii, to bear witness to Christ during this present age,                                 ’                            •

Many of the methods employed by the church _ are wrong. They are unwise and unscriptural, and they make for failure. The church is turning away from divinely given power, and undertaking to substitute human agencies for the power of God.                               ■

The church has lost the true conception of J conversion, and has let down the bars as to the ^;J test for membership in the church, so that al- / most any one who is half-way decent can come ■ in. Xetirly every form of amusement is per- • mith'd now in many churches, and most church members live just as the non-church members-7

. live. If one were to come to earth from some ' other planet, he would have a hard time to pick . out those who were the professed people of God, and those who were not.

The church is suffering from spiritual anemia. The rich, red blood of an abounding faith in God and in His Word no longer courses through her , veins. There is the appearance of life, of " health; there is much of activity, of rushing to _ and fro, of doing many things; but it is just the hectic flush on the cheek of the sick one, and is a token of approaching dissolution,,

The pulpit is a vital part of the wrongness... The tragedy of the present-day pulpit is, that in the multitude of cases the true prophet has been supplanted by the false prophet The true . prophet speaks truth in the name of the Lord, and the false prophet speaks lies in the name of the Lord; and thousands of those who listen, do not know the difference. This is the disaster and the tragedy of the church today. The false prophet is in the pulpit; and the people are given stones for bread, serpents for fish, scorpions for eggs; and they are trying to live on these things.

In many pulpits the fundamental truths of the Bible arc being denied. The inspiration of the Bible, the deity of Jesus Christ, the atonement by blood, the resurrection of Christ, the punishment of the wicked, the coming of Christ again—every great truth is denied, and often ridiculed by these false prophets who have found their way into Christian pulpits. Many of these emissaries of Satan say the most beautiful things about Jesus Christ, but they are the “enemies of the cross”. The theological schools also are full of unbelief; and the young men are trained in them along these lines, and sent out to teach falsehood instead of truth.

The modern pulpit has lost in large measure the note of authority that belongs in the message of file preacher. The popular, modern pulpit message has no utterance in it that will cause the sinner any uneasiness as to his sins; for sin has been almost, if not altogether, eliminated front the, theology of the present-day preacher. The false prophet talks glibly of sweetness and light_? of the beautiful human life of Jesus, of the influence of His spirit on the life of the world;.but he utters no word as to the cross and the awful transaction that held in it the redemption of the lost world. The false prophet tells the people to- be good, to copy the example of Jesus, to go out into service and help to save society. He tells the people that they do not have to believe all the Bible; that they can pursue a selective plan, and reject the portion that does not suit them, just as they select the good part of an apple and throw the bad away. He tells them—these unsaved men and women who sit before him—that the old idea of Christ dying as a vicarious sacrifice has been long ago laughed out of the minds of scholarly people. He tells them that there is no hell save a man’s own thoughts. He tells them that all men are children of God, that God is the universal Father of all, and all that we need is to become conscious of our sonship and then we shall be good....

' In answer to these charges of the wrongness in the church and in the pulpit the false prophet says: “All people who make these charges are poor, blinded pessimists, people who have no vision and people who cannot see the wonderful ongoing of the church.” *

To the man who really believes the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, it is a profound mystery how those who claim to be students of the Word, and who claim to be taught of the holy spirit, can fail to note the fast-gathering clouds of apostacy; how they can fail to see that the groat mass of Christendom is drifting into infidelity and, in some instances, into atheism itself.

When truth is unpopular it is the lot of truth's advocate to stand almost alone, and so in those days they who are true prophets are looked upon as cranks and fanatics. They are religiously, ecclesiastically ostracized. The writer of the article is keenly aware that by many he will be looked upon as a narrow creature without vision; but all who keep company with truth need pot be troubled about what the crowd may think or say. The time of the unveiling will come, and then the true and the false will stand clearly outlined against the lulls of God.

“For lo! the days are hastening on, By prophet bards foretold, When with the ever circling years Comes round the age of gold;

When peace shall over all the earth’ Its ancient splendors fling, And the whole world send back the song ■ Which now the angels sing.”

Why Ie the Christian Unpopular with the World .

[Radiocast tr«<m WATCHTOWER WDBIt on a wave length of 273 meters, by J. F, Rutherford]

IN ORDER*to arrive at a just conclusion upon this question of "Why is a Christian Unpopular with the World”, it is essential that the terms “Christian” and "world” be first defined.

As generally understood amongst men, a Christian is any person who is not a heathen, a Jew or a Mohammedan. Such definition comes far short of the truth.

A true Christian is a new creature in Christ. ¹ One becomes a Christian or a new creature in Christ in the following manner:

He must believe that he was born a sinner by reason of Adam’s disobedience to God’s law; that Jesus Christ died upon the cross to provide a ransom or purchase price for mankind; and that there is no other name given amongst men whereby man may be saved from eternal death nd be granted life everlasting. Believing this, he must then make consecration of himself to the Lord, which means a full surrender of him-sclf, agreeing to do God’s holy will.

The Scriptures show that then God justifies the man, and begets him by His will and word of truth as a new creature in Christ.—James 1: IS; 1 Peter 1:1-3.

Begetting means beginning. Now the man is a new creature or a Christian. From that time forward, his hopes and prospects are ■ heavenly, providing that he is faithful unto death.

As a new creature, what must the Christian now do? To this St. Peter answers: "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”—1 Peter 2: 21.

In order then to understand the course of a Christian we must understand what Jesus Christ did; for lie was the first Christian, and ।is the beginning and head of the new creation ’of God.                   '

Christ means anointed. Jesus was the first one anointed by Jehovah; and all His followers receive this anointing when begotten of the holy spirit. Hence Jesus, being the first anointed one, is properly (-ailed the first Christian.

The babe Jesus was begotten by the power of 'Jehovah in the womb of His mother, Mary. He was therefore born without sin, was holy, harmless and pure. He grew up as a perfect boy; and when He reached the age of thirty years

He had arrived at his legal majority. He was* i a perfect man, exactly corresponding to the per- ; feet man Adam when he was in Eden.           ;

As a perfect man Jesus was entitled to all the * blessings which the earth might give. We find I Him coming to Jehovah,, presenting Himself j and saying, "Lo, I come... to do thy will, 0 my ■ God: Yea, thy law is within my heart”—Psalm i 40:7,8.                                              !

The will of God is expressed in His Word. ; The law of God is His will. It was the will of    ;

God that this perfect man, His beloved Son,    j

must suffer and die in order to take the place ^; of the man Adam, who had violated His law, and ~ thereby provide the great ransom sacrifice, or redemptive price for mankind, and become a sympathetic high priest in behalf of the human family. This is God’s way of providing life for ; man.                                                     • :

Afterwards, when Jesus spoke under inspire- , tion of the holy spirit, He said that He came not 1 to be ministered unto, but*to minister unto oth- j ers, and to give His life a ransom for mankind. ; He came to be a great sacrifice in order to re- ' deem mankind. To this end He must do the ' Father's will. This had been foreshadowed > through the words of the prophets and by God’s . dealing with the nation of Israel.                    J

At the time of the consecration of Jesus at ’ the Jordan He was begotten to the divine na-

ture. The course that He pursued thereafter

for a period of three and one-half years was to .

teach the people plainly concerning God’s great . plan of redemption and their deliverance through • the kingdom of God.

Although the greatest man that ever lived on • s the earth, the wisest, the purest and the best, • during all those three and one-half years,

Jesus Christ incurred the enmity of the world,

was wickedly persecuted even unto the most , ignominious death.                               -

World Signifies Human Organization

OW let us understand the meaning of the ' J ³ term “world”. It is not a synonymous

word for "earth”. The “world” means the or-

ganization of mankind into forms or systems of : government. The invisible ruler of these or- ' ganized powers or governments, designated as '- 4 i the god of this world, is the devil. So declared , J

the apostle Paul and the Lord Jesus.—2 Corinthians 4:3,4; John 14: 30.

Invisible to man Satan has exercised a wicked and baneful influence over mankind. He has opposed all righteousness. He has deceived the people and led them into paths of unrighteousness; and because of exercising this wrongful spirit over mankind he is designated as the god, or invisible ruler, of the world. Being unrighteous he is opposed.to everything righteous.

Adam and Eve, when in Eden, were in perfect harmony with God. Lucifer, their overlord, ambitious to have a kingdom of his own in opposition to Jehovah, deceived mother Eve and caused her to sin; and her husband joined her in the transgression.

From that time forward Lucifer was designated by Jehovah by four titles, namely: Dragon, which means devourer; Devil, which means slanderer; Serpent, which means deceiver; and Satan, which means opposer.

When God expelled Adam and Eve from Eden, He plainly declared that there would be enmity between Satan and his seed, and the seed of righteousness. He said: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”—Genesis 3:15.

The woman Eve was here used as a symbol. The seed of the woman is the “seed of promise”, which God later promised Abraham should come.

The apostle Paul, in Galatians 3:16, 27-29, 'defines this “seed of promise” as the Christ. Here, then, is a plain declaration that there would be enmity between the “seed of promise”, the Christ or Christians, and the seed of the Serpent, the Devil; namely, the Devil and his organization.

It is now plain to be seen that the line of battle is clearly, drawn. We have some striking examples in the Scriptures, a few of which I name:

Abel was a good man, desiring to obey God. Cain, submitting himself to the devil, became a seed of th^ devil. Cain murdered Abel.

Noah was a gobd man, striving to serve God. He and his family were bitterly opposed by all others on earth, the representatives of the devil.

David represented the Lord. Saul and his followers represented the devil. Saul persecuted David.

The prophets of God proclaimed His message

of truth. The worldly men, under the influence of the devil, persecuted, ill-treated and killed the ; prophets. A long list of these and their suffer-

ings is given by the apostle Paul in the 11th

chapter of Hebrews.

Warfare Continues Unabated

ESUS CHRIST, the great Prince and Re- , deemer was from the time of his birth known.

by the devil to be the Son of God. Satan conspired with Herod and others to have the babe Jesus killed. When Jesus made a consecration, the devil set about at once to cause Him to violate God's law and thus to cause His destruction. In this he failed.                     '

Thereafter Satan caused men of the world to slander Jesus and to accuse Him of almost all crimes known to the criminal calendar, even though He was pure, harmless, and without sin.¹

The scribes and Pharisees and the priests, who claimed to represent God and who stood before the people as leaders in religious thought, '    >

persecuted Jesus. These are the seed of tho : devil. The Scriptures so declare in these words:

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,' and abode not in the truth, . because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it.”—John 8:44.

This same seed of the devil caused the crucifixion of our Lord.

Jesus, just before His death, said to His disciples, who were Christians: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world woultl love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”— John 1^: 18-21.

It is quite plain then that the Christian’s course is exactly opposite to that of the world;' for Satan outlines the course for the world, and he is opposed to the Christian and seeks 5 the destruction oL' the Christian. .

The world is moved by selfishness in all that it docs. Christians must be moved by unselfish-.^..^ ness in what they do. The Lord commands i .                            j .         ^: ’

f

that love is the principal tiling*with the Christian; and.love means unselfishness.

A man may claim to be a Christian; but if he preaches or pretends to preach the Word of God that he might be popular with man, or that he might gain wealth of this world, he can not be pleasing to the Lord and therefore could not be a Christian.                            -

The devil, the god of this world, inculcates into the minds of mankind selfishness, hatred, and ill will that leads to war; and then his seed (that is to say, his representatives on earth) proclaim war as a holy thing, sanctify war, and induce the people to enter war and kill one another.

A Christian can not engage in war and at the same time remain a Christian; for the Lord commands: “Thou shalt not kill.” If he wilfully violates God’s law, then he ceases to be a Christian. If he obeys God’s law and refuses to take his fellow creature’s life, then he is accused by the world as being a slacker, a coward, a traitor, and is often ill-treated, persecuted, imprisoned or is killed. Jesus said that it would be exactly so.

It requires, however, a braver man to face all the opposition of the world and calmly and lovingly proclaim the message of the Prince of Peace than it does to shoulder a gun and to tramp with the multitudes to the command of an officer.

The Christian apparently, in the eyes of man, walks alone. He is despised and rejected of men, even as was Jesus. But he is not alone. Jesus said: “Lo, I am with¹ you alway, even unto the end”; and even so He is.

The Christian must wage a warfare, not with mortal weapons; but his weapons of warfare must be the message of truth. The apostle Paul plainly says: “The weapons or our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” of error.

It i& utterly impossible for a man to be popular with the political and financial elements of the world and at the same time be a Christian, for the reason that God’s Word says .-.“Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God I Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the workl, is the enemy of God.”—James 4: 4.

A great deal of the trouble amongst mankind is due to misunderstanding. The non-Christian can not understand a Christian. Those who are not Christians are moved by selfishness. It

Goodness and righteousness should always be followed. Such is always the better and safer course to pursue and should be when this is prompted by love for our fellow man.

It is a saying amongst men that “honesty is the best policy”. But I say that he who is honest for policy's sake is not honest at all. True honesty flows from a heart that desires to do good; and one having this desire is easily led to the Lord and in due time will receive the Lord’s blessing.

JfTiff Persecution Is Permitted

WHY would God permit His beloved Son to be persecuted! The apostle Paul answers: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”—Hebrews 5:8,9.

The suffering and persecution of the Lord 'Jesus enabled Him under the most adverse circumstances to prove His loyalty and devotion to Jehovah. The scripture reads: “He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,... wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name: that [in due time] at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,... and every tongue-should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God.” —Philippians 2: S-ll.

God purposes to take out from amongst men and to develop as followers of Christ, a few who will likewise learn obedience by the things which they themselves suffer.

By a long course of training in suffering and persecution unrighteously at the hands of others, yet patiently bearing this, waiting upon Jehovah, the Christian, learns to be obedient and loyal to God and to His cause of righteousness. He looks forward to the happy and blessed time when he shall be honored of the Lord; and for this reason the Lord encourages him by causing it to be written in His Word these and similar promises:

“If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their [the world’s] part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified."—1 Peter 4:14.

“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”—-Philippians 1:29.

And another precious promise given to the Christian is: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”—Rev. 2:10.

Thus it is seen that the unpopularity of the Christian is due to the persecution induced by the devil himself; and the Christian, knowing this, patiently waits upon the Lord.

With the Lord’s kingdom fully established and Satan restrained, then Christ Jesus and His faithful Christians shall be used of the Lord to teach all the peoples of earth God’s wonderful and gracious plan of salvation and to lead them into paths of righteousness, to uplift and comfort them, and to cause them'to feed upon the precious things of God’s Word.

While this is being done, the Lord will be ‘ restoring the earth and making it a fit habitation for man. All the people will learn righteousness and truth. Allien wickedness has been eliminated, then the earth will be filled with a happy, glorious and perfect race of people, all singing the praises of Jehovah.

Then the Christian will rejoice exceedingly because he was permitted to suffer for righteousness’ sake and had the privilege of being used by Jehovah to strengthen and bless his fellow man.

The reward of a Christian far outweighs all the suffering. The glory that conies to the Christian in the end is hardly worthy of comparison with the sufferings.

On this point the Bible says: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”— 2 Corinthians 4:17.

“Deem not that they are blest alone. Whose daysa peaceful tenor keep;

The anointed Son of God makes known A blessing for the eyes that weep.

“The light of smiles shall fill again The lids that overflow with (ears;

And weary hours of (oil and pain Forerunners are of happier years.

‘‘Let not the Christian’s trust depart. Though life its common gifts deny;

Though with a sinking, fuinting heart, Hu sometimes almost longs to die;

“For God hns marked each sorrowing day, And numbered every secret tear;

And blissful ages yet shall pay

For all His children suffer here.”

STUDIES IN THE “HARP OF GOD” (

m     With lasue Number 60 we begun running Judge Rutherford’s new book.    ITTI

Jjpg     “The Harp of God”, with accompanying questions, talcing the place of both     aw?

Advanced and Juvenile Bible Studies which have been hitherto published.

“"The term kingdom is used in a twofold sense: (1) Referring to the king or ruler, the dominating or controlling factor; anef (2) to the dominion and subjects of that kingdom. Almost, all the parables of Jesus were concerning the kingdom of God, or kingdom of heaven.

)So great is that kingdom in importance in the Lord's arrangement that Jesus taught His disciples to pray: “Thy. kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) From that time until now Christians have been praying this prayer and hoping for its fulfilment. The foregoing scriptures definitely establish the fact that such a kingdom of righteousness is to be put into operation. Who, then, will be the king of that great and glorious kingdom? The Scriptures answer, Jesus Christ the Son of God.—Luke 22:30; Colossians 1:13;

2 Peter 1:11; Matthew 28:18.

“’When Jesus stood before Pilate accused of sedition because He taught concerning His Idngdom coming, Pilate asked Him: “Art thou the King of the Jews?” And Jesus answered: "My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18: 33,3G) By the word world here is meant a social and political order. The Scriptures show that from the time of Zedekiah’s overthrow until He whose right it is sets up His kingdom, the Gentiles arc in power; and that these lie in the wicked one, Satan, who is the god or invisible ruler of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:3,4) Jesus speaks of him as the prince of this world. (John 12:31) Satan’s rule has been unrighteous, wicked, and devilish; and when He conies whose right it is, He will establish a righteous kingdom in the place or stead of the unrighteous | order of Satan. By these words, then, addressed to Pilate we would understand the Master to mean that His kingdom from that time is future, yet definitely showing that in the future time He would have a kingdom.

’“Jesu^ gave to His disciples a parable designated the'-Parable of the Pounds, in which He pictured Himsr?l( as a certain nobleman going into a far country to receive a kingdom and to return; and He shows that this nobleman does return. “He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and -said unto them, Occupy till I come. . . . And it i came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded, these servants to be called unto, him, to whom he had given the money.” (Luke 19:12-15) Al similar picture and lesson is taught by the Parable of the Talents* (Matthew 25:14) As further evidence of His return, Jesus said: “When ' the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall ; be gathered all nations.”—Matthew 2S:31,3&

’“A short time before His crucifixion Jesus 1 was teaching His disciples. They understood, 1 though imperfectly, that He was to be taken from them. His disciples were troubled al this ; information. Then Jesus, speaking plainly to them, said: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare : a place for you. And if I go and prepare * place for you, I will come again and receive yon unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3) This is indisputable proof, of His second coming.                     _

QUESTIONS ON “THE HARP OF GOD* '

In what twofold sense is the term “kingdom" used?

fl                                                                                                                                        ,

What did Jesus teach the disciples indicating the in»* .

portnnce of the Lord’s coming kingdom? fl 359.     ■ '

Since this coming King must have a kingdom, do the' ■

Scriptures indicate who is to be the King of this new - '

order? Quote Scriptural proof, fl 359.               ,, g ^;

When Jesus stood before Pilate, of what crime was He

accused? fl 360.

What is meant by the term “world” as used in this ana

other scriptures? fl 360.                   •      '     ■

What has been the nature of Satan’s rule through hit •! ;

earthly representatives? fl 360.

Did the parable of the pounds taught by our Lord io ' ,

His disciples indicate Ilia return? fl 361.

What did Jesus say to His disciples just before Hil’ '

eruciiixion about His second coining? Quote Hit !

words, fl 362.              ■                         -     ’

A Qift Received Unexpectedly

As is wont to happen, some friend may send, you a Christmas remembrance, some one omitted from your Christmas list.

But eleventh-hour purchases leave you to choose from the bargain counter, generally the left-overs and passed-up articles of the shoppers. An exchange of presents that would speak of your regard would be a gift that would seem of itself to hold the spirit of esteem.

Books serve as a fitting remembrance; for there is always the freshness of being new in books. They seem to allow the scrutiny that esteems a gift as the sentiment of the giver, an expression of another’s regard.

Studies ix the Scriptures, and The Harp Bible Study Course, eight topically arranged Bible Study Books dealing, as they do, with the bearing the Bible has upon our life of today, will convey to another the individual sentiment and regard of the holiday season. ' ’

Studies rx the Scriptures are not a preachment on conduct. They aim to acquaint one with the meaning of our troublous times and to hold forth “peace on earth” as the aftermath of the world's perplexity and trouble. Their viewpoint is forward-looking.

The Harp Bible Study Course, consisting of textbook, reading assignments and self-quiz cards, provides a preparatory resume of Studies ix the Scriptures assisting by outlining the comprehensive field of the Bible Study Library.

Studies ix the Scriptures and The Harp Bible Study Course complete, delivered $2.85.

By telegraphing your order to Brooklyn you may have a set of the eight volumes delivered to the home of your friend with your greetings. I. B. S. A. organizations in over fifteen hundred cities assure delivery of your remembrance as late as Christmas Day.

International Bible Students Association

.            Brooklyn, N.Y.