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Contents of the Golden Age
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Labor and Economics
Fixing Prices on Farm Products ............ 328
The Song of the Workers (Poem)
Social and Educational
Finance—Commerce—Transportation
“Common Sense” for Common People .....
Loaning Five Times More Than They Have
Origin of Federal Reserve Banks ...
Wall Street’s Most Prosperous Year
Political—Domestic and Foreign
Voting in Australia Compulsory
Science and Invention
Old and New World Dance Together ....
Interesting Items About Light ....
Religion and Philosophy
Religious Affiliations of U.S. Government Heads
Goats Persecute Christians .............. 342
I What the Hindus Admit and Fear .....
A Card Circulates in Italy . .
The Honor of Christ Jesus and His Bride
Studies in “The Habb of God” ...
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Golden Age
Volume VII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, February 4, 1926 Number 168
“Common Sense” for Common People By W. H. Harvey
ALL the people of the world can be put into a normal-sized county, say 20 by 30 miles, and each will have to himself ten square feet of the earth’s surface—with the whole wide, wide -world to go out in and make a home. The world is more than big enough for all. A county 20 by 30 miles has 600 square miles. A mile is 5,280 feet. Multiply this by itself and you have 27,878,400 square feet in a mile. Multiply this by 600, the number of square miles in the county, and you have 16,727,040,000. Divide this by 1,600,000,000, the number of people in the world, and you have a little more than ten square feet for each one.
In the organism of a civilization it was found to be necessary, and it is necessary, to have a medium of exchange, which we call money. Suppose for instance, all money were wiped out of existence today! There would be no method of paying for riding on a street car or a railroad train or buying a newspaper or magazine or practically anything. Bread riots would follow at once in all the large cities. Those who had what you wanted would not usually want what you have; and if they did in an occasional instance, there would be no method of making change. Civilization would be brought to a staggering halt. Coal mining would stop, as there would be no means of paying the miners for their services; trains would cease running and manufactories would shut down, for the same reason: farming in a crude way might go on indefinitely, but after their machinery wore out they would till the soil at a disadvantage, and in the meantime they would be without the many comforts and advantages that an interchangeable system, with the use of money, gives. We thus understand the necessity for money; that it has an indispensable, vitalizing function, making possible a civilization.
On account of its importance it has been wisely considered best i xat society, acting collectively should make it. Being intended solely as a medium of exchange, it was not intended to be trafficked in and treated as a commodity and a profit exacted therefor before permitting it to be used as a medium of exchange.
In every age men, unmindful of the danger it portended to the common good, have attempted to treat money as a commodity to be hired out with a charge for the use of it.
The deadly effect on civilization in past ages has caused the writers of the Bible to denounce usury; and with the establishment of the Christian church it was universally denounced. It was then called usury—meaning interest. Usury as used in the Bible, meant interest, increase; any percent was usury. Up to sixty years ago there was but one definition in the dictionaries for usury, “interest on money." As late as the seventeenth century its prohibition was a cardinal doctrine of Christian religion.
Few people realize how money thus handled can make money off of the necessities of commerce and the people. Commission is paid to secure it, notes “shaved”, discounted at a heavy discount—poor farmers having been known to pay as much as twenty-five percent—with chattel mortgages on their Stock to secure it.
Elliott in his work on “Usury”, page 182 says, “One cent loaned January 1, A. D. 1, drawing interest at the rate of 6 percent, compounded annually, on January 1, 1895, would amount to $8,497,840,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.000,000,000,000,000, (8,497,840,000 decilliondollars). To pay this in gold, 23.2 grains to the dollar, using it in spheres of pure gold the size of the earth, it would take 610,070,000,000,000,000 spheres of gold to pay the debt.”
With the coming of our Civil War, 1861, the ■ money-lenders of the United States, pressed for all restrictions on money-lending to b« thrown off, and conjointly with the money-lenders of Europe, succeeded under evasion and devices in accomplishing their purpose.
CAPITALISTS induced the government to permit them to have a system of banks authorized to loan money, to be depositories of the money in circulation and of the money belonging to the government; permitting the banks to issue the money of the nation, guaranteed by the government. It was pressed by the moneylenders, 1862, as the condition upon which they would put up their money to finance the Union side of the war. It passed only by a bare majority, the vote in the Senate standing—twenty-three yeas to twenty-one nays.
The states followed with more liberal laws on the subject, till state banks and all forms of banking have steadily increased in number till now there are more than 30,000 banks in the United States. It became a business recognized and respected by law, with the money of the nation in their control and keeping. The bankers organized associations by districts and nationally. The American Bankers’ Association, with its controlling spirit in New York City, is today the strongest and most powerful organization in the United States. The first move of the organized bankers was to demonetize silver, 1873, and contract the money of the nation by one-half.
Loaning Five Times More Than They Have
ONE would naturally say that there could not be more money loaned than there is money in existence. If all the horses in the world were hired out, there would be no more horses to hire and the number of horses in the world would be the limit of horses to hire; but not so with money under usury. With, say, five billion dollars of money of all kinds in the United States, one would think that when the bankers had it all, the amount they could put out at interest would be limited to the five billion dollars.
They now have it all and are handling it so as to draw interest on twenty-five billion dollars. The banking system conferred on' them enables them to do this.
All the money in the United States outside of the U. S. Treasury vaults, October 1, 1919, was $5,806,571,880. This statement was furnished me by the Treasury Department at Washington. I have been unable to obtain a later report.
An official statement printed as follows with the 28,973 banks reporting, shows capital Stock and surplus, of the 28,973 banks, $4,975,076,052. Surplus is profits additional to dividends, added to capital—compounding interest. With $4,975,076,052, in round figures, five billion dollars invested, their loans are, $25,222,849 814, a little in excess of twenty-five billion dollars.
CAPITAL, SURPLUS AND LOANS Of Banks in the United States, 1319. (Laie: Reports not available)
|
Date & Authority |
Capital Stock |
Surplus |
Loans |
|
Federal Reserve Banks 12 banhs. From their statements. June 30. 1919. in Rand Jie- Nally Bar.!: Directory. July. 11'10 pages 25 to 33... |
$ 82.756.000 |
$ 49 4(53 OOl |
$ 2,112.231.000 |
|
Federal Farm Loan Bureau. Census Bulletin No. 367. |
16,727,438 |
157.020,751 | |
|
National Banks, 7.7S5 banks, June 30. 1910. Treasury Eenort, -‘-’V? 23. 1919, No 119 |
1.118 603.000 |
1,244.875 000 |
10,574,338,000 |
|
State Banks 16.596 banks, June 30 1918. Census Bulletin No. 371........ |
501.154.866 |
805.017 467 |
4,333.930,854 |
|
Private Bank s, J .091 banks. Line 30. 1918. CC’.v-us Bulletin No 371.. |
18.803,665 |
13.288,586 |
i 144.687.74? |
|
Loan & Trust Companies. 1.669 Com panics. June 39. 1918 Census Bulletin No 371....... |
525 236 5(5 |
646, !)«(■. Uh |
4 398.814,70? |
|
Stock Savings Banks, 1.194 banks. June 30. 1918 Census Bulletin No. 371 Federal Farm Loan |
68.984 602 |
47,597.399 |
786.783,851 |
|
Mutual Savings Banks, 625 banks. June 30. 1918. Census Bulletin No. 371 |
No Capital Stock Report |
335.599,081 |
2.314,742,904 |
|
Banks reporting. 28.973 .................. |
$ 2.332.266 IM 1 |
$ 2.642,809,896 |
$25,222,849,814 |
It will be noiietd that loans are about 5 to 1 of capital Stock and surplus The same statements give deposits about same as loans.
All the money deposited in the banks is borrowed money—if not borrowed by the depositor it has been borrowed by some one—as all the money in the United States is owned by the money-lenders. And those engaged in the banking business are drawing interest on it five or more times.
Origin of Federal Reserve Banks
IT AV AS found that the banks conducted as has been described, with a reserve of fifteen percent of deposits to meet checks, in time of panics some had to close their doors. In other words, in the stretching process of 5 for 1, there was a weakness in the system under adverse circumstances.
To cure this the money-lenders had congress authorize twelve Federal Reserve Banks, the stockholders in which to be the regular banks: in effect to belong to and be owned by the banking system These twelve National Reserve Banks are authorized to issue paper money ad libitum as necessary-to take care of the situation and to loan it on any security taken by the banks , system.
STATEMENTS
Of the the Federal Reserve Banks, December 31, 1920.
Seventh report Federal Reserve Board, printed
1921. I.U. , /i poi 's not available. But the profits are increasingly troubling higher.
|
Nawes Federal Banks |
Capital Stock |
Surplus | |
|
First District No. 1, Page 370 |
5 7,718,000 |
$ 15,711,000 | |
|
New York City No. 2, Page 394 |
26,372,650 |
56,414,456 | |
|
Philadelphia District *Xo. Page 415 |
3, |
8,485,000 |
17,010,000 |
|
Cleveland District No. Page 430 |
4, |
10,703,000 |
20,305,000 |
|
Richmond, Va. District No. 5, Page 449 |
0,269,000 |
10,561,000 | |
|
Atlanta District No. Page 468 |
6. |
4,053,050 |
8,343,465 |
|
Chicago District No. Page 485 |
7, |
13,913,000 |
28,980,000 |
|
St. Louis District No. Page 506 |
8. |
4,365,000 |
8,346,000 |
|
Minneapolis District No. Page 525 |
9, |
3,461,000 |
5,178,000 |
|
Kansas City District No. Page 545 |
10, |
4,155,000 |
8,395,000 |
|
Dallas, Tex. District No. Page 566 |
11, |
4,099,000 |
4,152,000 |
|
San Francisco District No. 12 Page 588 |
6,926,000 |
14,194,228 | |
|
Totals |
$99,819,700. |
$197,590,149 | |
The Federal Reserve Bank Act provides that after all expenses are paid in the management of the Reserve Banks, six percent “Cumulative interest” (on capital and surplus) shall be paid to the stockholders and further profits paid into a surplus fund until the surplus is 100 percent of the paid-in capital Stock. After that, ten percent of the excess profits to be added to surplus, dividends on Stock and surplus to the stockholders to continue, and the remainder paid to the United States as a franchise tax.
In addition to the six percent dividends and two hundred percent profit (surplus) in six years, they are, from profits, building extravagantly expensive buildings, the one in New York City costing about $25,000,000, being more than the cost of the nation’s capitol at Washington; and paying enormous salaries to their officials ■—five times as much as the same officials ever received for like services before—all derived from the people through interest on enforced borrowing and from loans to profiteers, who add the interest to the price of products sold to the people. All this, additional to what the other 30,252 banks are doing.
The people are now in debt to the banking system'more than 30 billion dollars; and with the borrowers paying six percent to eight percent interest per annum, they are paying upward of twTo billion dollars interest, annually, to the banks, to keep a medium of exchange in circulation, that civilization may hold together.
THE money-lenders’ interest is continuous through floods and droughts, crop failure and sickness of the debtor, and is working seven days in the week, Sunday included. It is only a question of time when money-lending gravitates to the money-lenders, and when the entire wealth of the nation and home-ownership and independent citizenship are replaced by tenantry and when a dependent citizenship is seeking employment from others.
The assessed value and the “true value” of all taxable property in the United States is given on page 118 of a publication by the Bureau of the Census, entitled “Financial Statistics of States, 1919”. For 45 states given, the total assessed value of all real and personal property is $83,202,153,672. For each state the percent of assessed to true value is given and
ranges from fifteen percent to one hundred percent, resulting in an estimate of true value of all taxable property in the 45 states at $138,115,-575,095—an average of $3,069,235,000 per state. The three states omitted are, California, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Adding ten billion dollars (something over the average) for the three omitted states, we have a total “true valuation” of all the taxable real and personal property in the United States at $148,115,575,095.
This is the only official and reliable estimate of the true value of the wealth of the United States. Propaganda for various purposes has been placing high estimates on the national wealth, but for sobeii, purposes of conservative estimate as to our debt-paying capacity it can not be placed beyond 150 billion dollars—and we now owe 101 billion dollars, or two-thirds of our resources.
Debts of and in the United States
National interest bearing debt, as per Treasurer’s statement, fluctuating at ..
States, Counties and “minor civil” divisions, less sinking fund, year 1913, Census Bulletin, No. 401, approximately—
There appears to be no compiled report since 1913. If Increase has been in same ratio as it increased from 1902 to 1913, then we should now add _________________________
Road bonds issued in last few years are not included in the last foregoing item, estimated ....... -............................
Railroad bonds and other interest bearing debts, year 1916, Census Bulletin, No. 221, $12,000,435,523, no data since, now estimated ----------------------------------------------------
Industrial Corporations, other than railroads, including street car companies, interurbnns, water and electric light companies, oil, gas, manufacturing and all other industrial companies, other than railroads, that have issued bonds, estimate—no data obtainable -----------------
Loans by banks, (see page 8 and authority there given) -------------------------------------------------
Interest bearing loans on other real estate, estimated -------------------------------------------------------
Farm mortgages, estimated, no data.........
Interest bearing endowments for colleges, universities and churches, estimated —
All other interest bearing loans, made by private money-lenders and not included in the above...................................................
$ 25,000,000,000
4,000,000,000
3,000,000,000
2,000,000,000
14,000,000,000
15,000,000,000
30,000,000,000
3,000,000,000
3,000,000,000
1,000,000,000
1,000,000,000
Total
...... $101,000,000,000
Any duplication that may be in this statement will be negligible; and much more than offset by interest bearing debts not included. Taken as a whole, this estimate of Interest bearing debts in the United States is conservative.
We now have the comparison of true value of all taxable property, 150 billion dollars; and the total interest-bearing debts of about 101 billion dollars. At an average interest rate of six percent, the annual interest to be paid is six billion dollars. What it means is that the money-lenders have a mortgage on the taxpayers and property owners for two-thirds of the tangible wealth of the nation—due to our monetary system that has hoarded the money where the people could not get it in exchange for their services and property, forcing them to borrow it from the money-lenders.
Debts of the World
ANY estimate to be made of the interest-bearing debts of the world must be a mere estimate, but something approaching what it is may be approximated. The same character of the banking system is world-wide, and on the older continent'usury had a start before it had a population to feed on in the Western Hemisphere.
The national debts of the nations late at war, are now being given by the press and magazine writers, and we get a very fair idea of what they are in part of them.
Germany, Britain, France, Italy
A press dispatch from Berlin gives the national debt of Germany, based on a budget estimate, at--------------------------------------
A statistician writer in the Saturday Evening Post of a late issue gives the national debt of Great Britain at'-----
He gives that of France, at -----------------------
That of Italy, at ............................................
Four nations given, the national debts,total
We have seen that the interest bearing national debt of the United States is $25,000,000,000; which is about onefourth the total interest bearing debts of all kinds in the United States. If this same proportion holds true, and it pro-ably wiil, for Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy, then the total interest bearing debts of all kinds, in these four nations, is approximately .........................
The same writer puts the wealth of these four nations as follows :
Great Britain -----------------------------------------------
France, before the war, (it must be less now) —-------------------------------------------------------—
The German Empire, before the war ---------
Italy, before the war ......................................
Total wealth ........................................
$ 51,000,000,000
36,000,000,000
36,000,000,000
12,600,000,000
$135,600,000,000
$540,000,000,000
120,000,000,000
62,000,000,000
80,000,000,000
25,000,000,000
$287,000,000,000
By this recent estimate, and it cannot be far
GOLDEN AGE
FEBRUARY 24, 1926
wrong, the total interest-bearing debts in these four nations are, $253,000,000,000 more than their total wealth. With this estimate true of Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy, taken as a whole, the condition of Austria-Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Belgium, Roumania and the other smaller nations engaged in the war, must be about the same.
As to the balance of the world there is no data to go on, except we know that usury has been eating its way everywhere. We do know, however, that Egypt and India are in bondage to England and that the Transvaal is falling a prey to the money-lenders of London. Mexico, Central and South America, probably have, in proportion to wealth, less indebtedness than the other nations. But the world as a whole is hopelessly in the hands of the money-lenders.
At Home and Abroad
Wall Street's Most Prosperous Year
THE past year has been the most prosperous ever known in the history of Wall Street. The workers have received Christmas bonuses up to as high as twenty-five percent of their yearly salaries, in some instances, and it is believed that, including dividends and extras, not less, than $10,000,000 were distributed as extra compensation to financial workers at the close of 1925.
TN CLEVELAND, Ohio, 127 families own one-third of the assessed land values of that great city, less than 150 people own more than one-half o' the total real estate of New York City. The twenty largest shareholders in each railroad in the country have in the aggregate fifty-two percent of the total shares outstanding. Sixty-two Standard Oil stockholders own sixty-four percent of the entire stock outstanding.
Index Pats Operators on Back ■
THE Index, published by the New York Trust
Company, ignoring the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been made by the anthracite coal operators, and forgetting the desperate conditions in millions of homes in the northern and eastern states brought about by the coal suspension, pats the operators on the back, tells them they must stand firm, and intimates that they have the backing of the President, the Supreme Court and the New York Chamber of Commerce. Incidentally, the resumption of negotiations between operators and workers was brought about by the simultaneous demand of forty Roman Catholic pastors of the foreign-speaking congregations in Scranton, Wilkesbarre and vicinity. The effect of the demand was immediate; so immediate, m fact, as to lead to the suggestion that the part had been rehearsed beforehand.
THE present United States Secretary of the A Treasury is estimated to be worth about $300,000,000. He has been into about every enterprise in Pittsburgh that had any money in it. The Secretary of Commerce is reputed to be worth $10,000,000, made in mining. The Secretary of State is said to have made $5,000,000 at the practice of law. The Secretary of the Interior is also a millionaire and the Secretary of Labor is a capitalist.
Religious Affiliations ofU. S. Government Heads
THE president, vice president, and the ten members of the official family are all Protestants. Five of the Cabinet are Masons. Of the nine members of the Supreme Court seven are Protestants; one is a Hebrew; one is a Catholic. In the United States Senate ninety-two are Protestants, and four are Catholics. In the House of Representatives, 395 are Protestants, seven are Hebrews and thirty-three are Catholics. In the House and Senate together there are 375 Masons.
Catholic Church Borrows Thirty Millions
THE Catholic Church of Bavaria is borrowing $30,000,000 from the bankers of New York City. It is expected that five or more of the leading banking houses of the city will act as under-
■writers of the loan, which is covered by mortgages on churches and assignments of funds supplied for educational and other purposes by the German government. The money will be used to build more churches. Cardinal Hayes has also arranged with the New York bankers for a large loan to the Vatican. Incidentally, this plan ties the interests of these great financial mses to those of the Roman Church and makes it certain that in a time of need their influence will be used in its behalf.
Fixing Prices on Farm Products
ARGUING that the United States Government should fix the freight rates so that the railroads get a fair return on their property, and the tariff so that the manufacturer will be protected, and the rate of interest so that money and credit can be protected, Senator Shipstead will introduce legislation having in view the fixing of prices on “farm products”! It is not likely that the bill will pass, but it would be about as fair as any of the other pricefixing measures that have been so common in recent years.
JUST as the market gardeners about New York City are digging the last of their celery, beets, turnips and. parsnips, the new crops of vegetables begin to come in from the south. Early in December the first new cabbages began to come in from Florida, onions arrived from Spain, beets and carrots came in from Texas, peas and beans from California and Florida and hothouse rhubarb came from Canada. New York always has fresh vegetables on its table.
Dance Halls Liable to Collapse
DANCE halls, like print shops, are liable to collapse from the vibrations imparted to them by myriads of feet all moving in rhythmic unison. Several such catastrophes have occurred recently. It is on the principle of the child’s swing. Every push, after the swing is in motion, makes it swing farther and farther. Soldiers in marching over bridges are required by their officers to fall out of step, so that the bridges will not collapse while they cross. Structures built to sustain a given quiet load will not bear near that load if the load is vibrating, and especially if the rate of vibration is that of the building itself. Dance halls should be built with dancing in view.
THE Health Department of New York City shows that in the year 1918 the number of deaths in the city due to alcohol poisoning were 87; three years later the total for the year had risen to 127; in 1922 it doubled, and in 1923 doubled again. In 1924 the total was 499 and in 1925 it was considerably over 500. It is now claimed that 99% of bootleg liquor is poisonous.
An Accident Every Five Thousand Miles
k MOTORMAN on a street car can figure with almost mathematical certainty that every time he runs his car five thousand miles he is due for a collision with a motor vehicle. The total number of such collisions in the United States in 1923 was 179,301; in 1924 it was 173,479, a slight reduction.
THE annual Christmas rush is growing more burdensome year by year, and in 1925 was almost greater than could be borne. In Illinois a man of fifty who had given all his best years to the railway mail service, fearing that he would not be able to keep up with the rush this season committed suicide. All the railway mail service men and all other postal employes feel the strain of .so much work coming at one season of the year. And no remedy for the difficulty seems in sight.
Cost of a Five Thousand Dollar Dwelling
THE Department of Commerce has figured out that the principal items entering into the cost of a dwelling which sells for five thousand dollars are as follows: cost of land, $950; cost of building materials $1,465; cost of labor entering into construction, $1,300; cost of fees, finance and contractor’s profits, etc., $1,285.
Ventilation of Vehicular Tunnel
THE ventilation of the vehicular tunnel under the Hudson river will be accomplished by a battery of eighty-four great fans. These will drive the fresh air in at the bottom of the roadway every fifteen feet and suck out the foul air through openings into the air ports overhead. There will be two air stations at each end of the tunnel, and six sources of power, so that if one breaks down the others can be utilized.
STORMS on the sun continue to increase in number and violence. Twenty-four of these storms were visibile on Wednesday, December 16th, one of them being 25,000 miles wide and 175,000 miles long. These storms come periodically, every eleven years. They have a marked effect on electrical and weather conditions on the earth. It is believed that the dust thrown up by these storms hangs suspended as a screen to shut off from the earth some of the heat which would otherwise come. Cold weather on earth for the next two years is anticipated largely because of these sun storms.
ON DECEMBER 23rd, Boston was treated to an atmospheric phenomenon which resulted in the appearance in the sky at one time of three suns and five rainbows. This phenomenon, brought about by the reflection of light from innumerable ice crystals in the upper air, is taken to indicate a hard winter. Certain Biblical phenomena, such as the going back of the sun ten degrees on the sun-dial of King Ahaz, are attributed to similar causes.
THE New York American contains an inter
esting account of the discovery near Diablo Canyon, Arizona, of the greatest meteor of which science has any knowledge. This meteor, found at a distance of several hundred feet beneath the surface of the desert, is estimated to be about 550 feet in diameter—a twelve million ton projectile of solid iron, nickel and platinum. The platinum in it is believed to be worth a billion dollars. When the projectile hit the earth it formed a crater thirty-five hundred feet in diameter, with a rim two hundred feet high.
Old and New World Dance Together
ON THE evening of December 15th, the dance music provided by the Waldorf Astoria hotel was transmitted by telephone to Schenectady and Pittsburgh, and from those two points was broadcast. The music was picked up by the British Broadcasting Company’s station at Daventry, England, and there relayed so successfully that all over western Europe people were dancing to New York music. Present arrangements would now permit one person to address the whole world at once. At midnight, December 31st, the famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia was tapped' with a hammer and the sound was broadcast throughout America and heard abroad.
Some Advantages of Small Ships
OF COURSE there are advantages in large ships. It is easy to add many tons of cargo space in a ship without any very considerable additions to the dimensions of the boat. But small ships have their advantages too. During the past year six ocean going ships of small size took their cargoes direct from Europe and South America into the heart of Chicago. In about two years, after certain restrictions in the St. Lawrence River have been removed, it is anticipated that larger ships and a greatly increased tonnage will visit Chicago and other cities on the Great Lakes.
rpiIE United States may let any European woman of good character come into the country, regardless of the quota, if she has had a year’s experience as a cook in her home]and. At least Uncle Sam will do this, if a bill proposed by representative Bloom, of New York, becomes a law. American women dislike housework, and domestics are very hard to get.
The League of Nations Founded upon Injustice
ARGUTNG against the United States entering the League of Nations direct by the front door, or indirect by the World Court back door, the Irish Republic in its December 12th issue said:
No thought, no provision, and no desire shows in the League for the liberating of small and weak nations. No question of human liberty enters into the League’s considerationn. The present territorial bounds claimed by the imperialistic nations that rule the League guaranteed and the might of the members is pledged to maintain these boundaries. The League therefore is founded upon injustice. It is immoral, indefeasible and a fraud.
DEBT funding agreements have been made between the United States and the governments of Belgium, Czecho-Slovakia, Esthonia, Finland, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Rumania- No agreement has been made for the funding of debts owed by Armenia, Austria, Cuba, France, Greece, Liberia, Nicaragua, Russia and Jugoslavia. Armenia has no government, and Russia has none which America recognizes; so these debts will probably never be paid.
AT THE moment it looks as though the
Standard Oil Interests, operating through France and Turkey, had failed to retain the oil region about Mosul. The Anglo-Persia Oil Company, operating through Great Britain and the League of Nations, has decided to award Mosul to Irak, which means that the Dutch Shell Oil Company and not the Standard Oil Company gets Mosul. Turkey is making threats that she will fight to keep Mosul We wait to see.
COMMENTING on the differences between
Turkey and Great Britain over Mosul, the Manchester Guardian says:
However correct the diplomatic negotiations may be, there must always be a latent suspicion of a power which is at the same time a trustee and a beneficiary. One way out of the difficulty would be for the government to renounce its controlling interest in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which was certainly acquired without any reference to the potentialities of Mosul. If, for reasons of state policy, the government continues to invite trouble by entering into the international competition for oil, it must be all the more careful to avoid the appearance of pressing Irak’s claims to Mosul beyond a point which our duties as a trustee—a somewhat reluctant trustee—demand.
THE League of Nations Council was influenced to award Mosul to Irak rather than to Turkey, largely by the publication of the report of the Esthonian General Laidoner, who visited Mosul, interviewed hundreds of refugees, many of them before they had had a chance to see either the British or Irakian authorities, and declares that in their pillage of the country about Mosul, the Turkish troops had been guilty of every cruelty and every excess committed by Turks at any time in the past against Armenians, Greeks or others. One instance is cited where five women were buried alive under a pile of stones because they could not keep up with the column which was marching them away from their homes and into slavery.
ALTHOUGH Turkey has made extraordinary progress in the adoption of Western civilization, particularly within the past year, yet throughout the country districts bedsteads are still unknown, whole families feed out of one dish without knives or forks, and the joint living and sleeping room is without anything in the way of ornaments or luxuries. Headaches.are still cured by slashing the forehead. Many other equally foolish superstitions abound.
FOR centuries Britain owned the little island
of Heligoland, just off the coast of Germany. A quarter century ago, in a spasm of brotherly love, it gave the island to Germany. Germany at once turned it into a Gibraltar, a menace to the peace of the world. At the conclusion of the World War the fortifications were all demolished. Now Heligoland is raising lobsters and thus doing some good in the world. May all other Gibraltars do the same
American Soldier Tackles Alphonso
FOLLOWING the good old American maxim that one man is as good as another as long as he behaves himself as well, an American soldier, George Boyd of West Virginia, who had been wounded while fighting in the Spanish army in Morocco, called on King Alphonso the other day and told him that he was tired of waiting for his discharge from the army. He got it right away. Incidentally, the Spanish dictatorship has been followed by a civilian government of which General de Rivera remains the Premier. The constitution remains suspended, and the censorship is still on. Half of the cabinet are military men. All political meetings are forbidden.
NO MATTER how favorable other conditions may be, ordinary plants and animals cannot thrive in darkness. The exceptions to the rule seem to consist of certain fishes which manage to live in underground streams, or at great depths in the ocean. These fishes are blind, but they have the usual organs of sight; indicating that their ancestors were equipped with vision, but that they in some manner found their way into subterranean waters and there made their abode in the darkness until their eyes, through disuse, wasted away.
So important is light in the life of plants that government experts have now demonstrated that through its influence plants may be brought to maturity at any season of the year. This is done by subjecting them to alternate periods of light and darkness in carefully determined proportions. These successful experiments followed the discovery that plants depend for nourishment more upon light than they do upon temperature. The infra-red and ultra-violet rays from the sun have much to do with inducing growth and in promoting the chemical changes which bring both plant and animal life to maturity.
Camille Flammarion, French astronomer, says significantly that thanks to the successive transmissions of light across and through the vast regions of the infinite, the past life of all worlds that have ever existed and of all beings that have lived upon those worlds is always visible in space.
Flammarion suggests that the time will come when science will discover in light the principle of every movement, and the inner reason of things. If science ever makes such a discovery it will discover the Creator, but it will be done by the eye of faith. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”
What fe Light?
One might feel like saying, “What is the use of raising the question, What is light?
Everybody knows what light it.” But it would be nearer right to say that nobody knows -what it is. Modern scientists are not agreed. For a hundred and fifty years they held to Newton’s theory that it is caused by material particles or corpuscles, sent off in all directions from luminous bodies, and traversing space in right lines, with the known velocity of 186,000 miles per second.
This theory was followed by the theory which has mainly prevailed for the past hundred years, that light consists of the propagation of vibrations or undulations in a subtile, elastic medium, or ether, assumed to fill all space, and to be thus set in vibratory motion by the action of luminous bodies, as the atmosphere is by sonorous bodies. This theory is called the undulatory or wave theory.
A more recent theory held that light consists of electrical oscillations; this is known as the electro-magnetic theory of light. This theory is based upon the studies of Faraday, Maxwell and Hertz. The Einstein discoveries that light rays can he bent by gravitation has drawn attention afresh to the Newtonian corpuscular theory. There are also some new theories of light which have attracted the attention of certain scientists.
The discovery that the velocity of light is 186,324 miles per second was made by Ole Roemer, a Dane, in 1675. Professor Michaelson, after a year of experiments with mirrors between two mountain tops in California, has proven that the accepted velocity is substantially correct.
Light and radio waves travel at the same speed in a vacuum,'and the front of an electrical disturbance in a wire travels at the same speed, but the actual current is said to be considerably slower. It is thought that light is communicated by crosswise or transverse vibrations.
History of Lighting Apparatus
IN THE days of Moses, more than +hou-sand years before the beginning of the Christian era, the Lord gave the people of Israel detailed instructions regarding the making of a golden candlestick or lampstand, having seven lamps, used to illuminate the Holy of the Tab-ernacle. Quite probably simpler lamps were in use in Egypt long before.
In the days of Gideon, some two hundred years later, the three hundred chosen men of the Israelites were each equipped with lanterns, somewhat similar in structure to those that are used in Egypt at the present time for traveling at night. In the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, given by our Lord, there is mention of lamps which are supplied with oil. It is known that on the Island of Crete, about 1600 B. C., there were lamps of stone and clay, and within the past few years French archaeologists have recovered from the lakes of Switzerland bronze lamps that were used by the lake dwellers of long ago.
The most ancient lamps were all much alike. They were shallow bowls with broad rims, having diametrical depression for wick rests. Equidistant from the wick rests were “ears” by which the lamps might be picked up. The fuel was olive oil, or other vegetable or animal oils, and the illumination provided was what we today would regard as very inferior.
The first real improvement in lamps came in 1783, with the introduction of the flat wick in a close fitting support, and a spur wheel which by rotating adjusted the wick and regulated the flame. The use of chimneys on lamps was by accident. A workman in attempting to heat a bottle in the flame of a lamp cracked the bottom, and because the glass had become too hot for him to hold he momentarily placed it over the burner. The result was surprising; it was seen that the bottle increased the brilliancy of the flame and also made the light steady.
Lamps, Candles, Gas, Electricity
HE above is the order in which our progress in illumination has taken place. The lamps came first; and in some millions of homes, in improved forms, they continue to this day. The Erechtheum on the Acropolis, in Athens, had a gold lamp of special design which, when filled and trimmed, burned for a whole year. It was probably intended to imitate the golden lampstand in the Holy of the Tabernacle.
Before the discovery and general use of kerosene, which really inaugurated modem illumination, lamps burned whale oil, sperm oil, fish oil and lard oil. In 1834, camphene, a distillate of turpentine, was used to a certain extent.
Candles were known to the ancient Romans, but their use followed the use of lamps. About the fifteenth century wax became plentiful, and the silversmiths and the goldsmiths made such beautiful candlesticks that no one wanted to use lamps any more. The candle did not smoke as much as the old-style lamp, and as candles could be either purchased or made at home they came to be the accepted form of illumination, until about 1783.
With the revival and improvement of the lamp there came shortly afterward the use of gas, which had its public trial in the lighting of the Westminster Bridge, London, some time early in the nineteenth century. Gas is still used, though mostly for cooking purposes.
The discovery of the incandescent lamp by Thomas Edison in 1879 revolutionized lighting and has turned night into day. In some respects it has made the night even more beautiful than the day. Portions of some of our cities at night are like fairyland. At present about 161,000,000 lamp sockets a year are used in America, probably making more light than could be obtained from a billion oil lamps. There are 9,000,000 homes in the United States using electric lights.
From the New York Times we quote an interesting item about a form of lamp of which most of us know but little. The Times says:
The “ballo-burro”, or butter-ball lamp of the Sicilians, is still seen in some of the basements in Mulberry Street [New York’s Sicilian quarter]. The butter-ball is a lump of butter around which has been molded a sort of container of cheese, the whole gourdshaped. The melted cheese, worked while still plastic around an ice-cold ball of butter and then cooled quickly, retains its shape and the whole remains sweet indefinitely if kept cool. If, through changing temperature or other causes, the butter becomes rancid, does the thrifty Sicilian throw it into the garbage? Not he, or she. A bit of string for a wick and you have an excellent lamp. And when the butter has been all burned away, the dry cheese, which was the lamp, is grated up for soup or eaten on the family spaghetti.
XPERIENCE has shown the necessity of good light if good work is to be expected of workmen or if their output is to be kept up to normal. Immediate improvement in the output of a factory is noted when the windows are cleaned, in both the quality and the quantity.
Wherever the sunlight is kept out of rooms where it is needed, there is an increased expense for artificial lights, which are never so satisfactory, no matter how good they are. Unnecessary artificial lights mean waste of fuel, waste of eyesight, waste of health and waste of output.
Artificial lighting produces many problems. Lights should be so placed that the rays from them, falling on glazed or polished surfaces,
should not be reflected into the eyes. Flickering gas jets must be guarded against. Arc lamps and incandescent lamps may be very unsatisfactory if the current is obtained from a generator driven by an ordinary single cylinder gas engine. Another thing to be avoided is an arrangement of lights which throws streaks upon the work or makes too sharp a contrast between light colored or bright surface work and dark surroundings.
Within the past few years there has been an immense amount of interest in improved methods of lighting homes. Once the attempt was merely to get enough light. Now soft lights are the rule, and every attempt is made to have the general effect subdued and restful. Glaring lights are considered in bad taste and they are so in fact.
Humans were made to love light. It is said that when the Eskimos of North Greenland were first shown electric lights they were wild with delight. Perhaps if we could think of living in frigid darkness twenty-four hours a day for 117 days of the year without a let-up we could better appreciate their feelings.
For many years Scranton, Pa., claimed to be the most brilliantly lighted city in the world. Perhaps it could not claim this now. Paris and New York are both illuminated most brilliantly. New York’s White Way is the earth’s most elaborate night illumination. In the center of the Way is the Capitol Theatre, with 17,000 lamps, ranging in size from the 10-watt sign lamps to the 1,000-watt flood lighting units. The Capitol Theatre is the largest theatre in the world.
ALL know how beneficial is the sunlight.
Children who are deprived of their full share of it are stunted in body and mind. Prisoners shut away from its life-giving rays become pale and predisposed to consumption. Homes that have too much shade around them become breeding places for disease germs.
Sunlight is, of course, the most potent of all bacteriacides. But it is a bacteriacide because it has a destructive effect on all living cells too long subjected to its direct action. It is for that reason that city dwellers with their soft, pale, untanned skins cannot stand the full light of the sun for more than three or four hours without fatigue and discomfort. An extensive sunburn is not only uncomfortable but really dangerous.
The invisible rays of light, the ultra-violet and the infra-red, are as potent in their effects on the human organism as are the visible rays, and even more so. These invisible rays are also used for signalling purposes, by means of an invention called the “photophone”, which may be used in secrecy either day or night. A very narrow beam is focused upon the. point where the signal is to be given, and the visible portion of it is cut out by means of screens or filters. When signalling at night only the ultra-violet rays from the arc light are transmitted, and in the day time the infra-red rays are utilized. These rays can be picked up only by means of special receiving apparatus on which they are focused.
In Austria a new kind of glass has been invented which permits the passage of rays of ultra-violet light. It is of organic origin, about one-third the weight of ordinary glass and easily abraded. Though it is quite soft it is very transparent.
Improvements in Bulbs and Lamps
WITHIN recent years great improvements have taken place in the construction of the electric light bulb, and still others are on the way. It seems strange to think of electric light bulbs that handle 100 kilowatts of power, or about the equivalent of the work of 100 horses; but there are bulbs even more powerful. Those are used in radio transmission.
The largest electric light bulb ever made had a diameter of fifteen inches and required the power from four large cables to supply the 30,000 watts it required. The bulb gave a light of 150,000 candle power, but this was only for a few minutes, because the heat generated rapidly melted the glass. The smallest bulbs are those used to take photographs of the interior of the throat and stomach.
The most powerful artificial light ever made is a searchlight, the property of the Sperry Gyroscope Company of Brooklyn, N. Y. It has lighted up wet patches in the sky at a distance of fifteen miles above the earth. Its rays aro invisible in the transparent lower air. This searchlight has the brilliancy of one billion candles. A lighthouse off the coast of Australia has such powerful lights that the rays are visible for nearly one hundred miles.
A Newark, N. J., inventor has perfected an electric light bulb which has no filament. The light is produced on two poles, between which there is no connection. A London invention, consisting wholly of an ingenious arrangement of reflectors and screens, shows all colors almost as well as in full daylight. Delicate yellows, indigo blues, cobalts and violets all appear in their full values.
An improved oil lamp has recently been invented which burns ninety-four percent air and six percent kerosene. It is said to give a brilliant, soft, white light, better than gas or electricity and superior to ten ordinary oil lamps, and to burn without odor, smoke or noise. We understand that it has been approved by the United States government and thirty-five leading universities. Probably the Department of Agriculture at Washington could give information about this lamp.
FTER ten years of work, a method has been found for shooting rays of light around a corner, or even bending them in a circle. Fused clear, quartz has the property of carrying- rays of either light or heat in the direction in which it is bent. Ordinary glass transmits 35% of light, optical glass 65% and fused quarts 92%. A solid bar of the quartz bt t in a semicircle carried the light of a match as well as if the quartz were a hose and the light water. As quartz is transparent to ultra-violet rays it is believed that quartz windows in sanitariums will have the same effect as daylight, and permit ultra-violet treatments to be given directly from the sun.
A new type of photometer makes it possible to read accurately the amount of light given off by an explosion of any sort. It consists of a small tube with a tiny electric lamp inside it at one end, and a metal strip upon which the letters of the alphabet are stenciled. When light from the outside is the same as the internal illumination of a given letter that letter will vanish. , ' recent adaptation of the photometer is the rr vetometer, which gives at once the reflection factor of the walls and enables more scientific lighting, painting, etc.
The “sun-valve” is an ingenious arrangement
Brooklyn, N. Y,
by which the electric lights on buoys are automatically switched on at night and off at sunrise. Uncle Sam has 5,800 shore beacons and buoys fitted with automatically controlled electric lights, some of them so constructed that they need no attention for a year at a time.
The photophone, mentioned < above, enables ships at sea to converse with one another on rays of light which are invisible to others and therefore secret. This depends for its action upon the-selenium cell, the electrical resistance of which diminishes as the intensity of the light to which it is exposed increases.
The large electric lighting plants are equipped with “wireless storm announcers” which enable them to prepare ahead of time for the sudden demands for current which will be made when the expected storm arrives.
An electric light has been invented which stays lit for a full minute after the current is turned off. . ■
Transmission of light and power without cables or wires is claimed to have been accomplished, and two inventors have made the claim that by their system power could be generated on one side of the continent and sent by wireless to the other for use.
Less spectacular, but more .immediately valuable, is an electric flashlight operated by a wet battery, so constructed that the electrolyte comes in contact with the plates and provides current only when the light is in use.
Cold Light Sought and Promised
OR generations the Cubans have had the cheapest lights in the wo. .d. AU the Cuban has to do is to catch about a dozen large fireflies and put them in a case together. On each side of the beetle’s thorax is a luminous membraneous spot, and these flash at intervals so that a dozen fireflies together give a continuous illumination bright enough to read by. This light is accompanied by no perceptible heat, and is seemingly produced with almost no expenditure of energy.
If scientists can get such a light as the Cuban firefly gives, they feel that .it will be the world’s most important invention. It would enable the brilliant lighting of cities and highways at almost no expense except for the original installation. The lights once lit would go on indefinitely.
Italy, France, Germany and America all have scientists who have- produced cold light experimentally. Tomadelli, the Italian, claimed three years ago that he was about ready to put his lamp on the market, but he must have struck a snag, because we do not recall having seen anything further of his invention.
The German invention, must be ran on a 240-volt circuit, which renders it impracticable for most American cities, where the voltage is usually only 110. This lamp is strong enough for a reading lamp in its present undeveloped state. If it becomes commercially successful the claim is made that it will cut electrical bills ninety percent. It is produced with some waste of energy. .
The American invention of Dr. E. Newton Harvey, Princeton University, is based upon a Japanese phenomenon. The Japanese fishermen drop into the ocean the heads of fishes as bait. When hauled in they are covered with thousands of tiny shell fish, Cypridina as they are called, which contain a light-giving principle called “luciferin”. Dr. Harvey's discovery consists of a catalytic agent which keeps alive in- ' definitely the “luciferin”. The result is an unpleasant cold blue glare, but it has taken eight years of patient work to come this far and the result is considered well worth the effort.
In addition, one light-giving substance, “lophin”, has been produced synthetically, which gives out a faint light. If some way could be found to produce “luciferin” synthetically, the ocean would supply forever all the light that mankind would ever need.
The French claim to the invention of cold light comes from a young chemist named Eisler, former chief of a laboratory at Strasburg. Eisler coated with certain phosphorescent substance some glass tubes which were practically vacuums. When the elective current was passed through these tubes, instead of giving the usual faint-colored rose-violet glimmer of the ordinary vacuum, the result was a bright, satisfactory light, produced at small expense and with no harmful rays developed in the process.
No doubt the world will soon have this long-desired cold light. Such progress is a foregleam of the millennium, and is not to be accredited to the brilliancy of men. These discoveries could not have been made ahead of the Lord’s due time for them to be revealed.
Legalized Crime
IT IS a good thing to have public attention focused on the subject of crime, as is now being done in an effort to diminish it; but it is quite another thing to achieve results. It will be as impossible to check crime to any appreciable degree without removing its roots and causes, as it would be to stop an epidemic of typhoid while the community continues to get its water supply from a polluted source.
Crime does not just happen. It is a definite result of existing conditions. There are many psychological factors that enter into its continuance which only psychologists can adequately discuss. Here is where M. D.’s who specialize in mental conditions can render valuable service by enlightening the public on these lines. An intelligent public opinion based on the latest scientific knowledge is the great need of the day if crime is to be successfully combatted.
There is, however, one powerful factor in this crime problem that is easily recognizable and can be entirely eliminated if people are
By Lydia G. Wentworth
desirous of eliminating it. That factor is war. War is the sum total of evils. It is lawlessness let loose. From the evil passions engendered by it what wonder that crime is rampant during a Avar and seems to gather impetus after its close?
War is legalized crime. How shall we abate and prevent crime Avhen the greatest of all crimes is maintained as a lawful institution and its threat is held constantly before us by our army and navy chiefs?
What wonder that the minds of the young are receptive to ideas of crime when, from their earliest childhood, they hear about war, and their minds are filled with thoughts of death by violence — and with suggestions of increasing these deaths by additional and more dreadful and subtle devices 1
What wonder that children groAV up to become criminals of all grades of depravity when they are given pistols and small guns and toy soldiers to play with, and when mock battles and killings are part of the sports that leave an imprint upon their impressionable minds? And military training in high school and college makes the impressions of their childhood well-nigh indelible!
Experts in medicine and psychology should 'deliver strong messages about this to our good citizens — especially now that the tremendous effect of the mind on both moral and physical health are being so widely recognized.
Abolish war! It can be done! The Locarno treaties point a way. The cooperative spirit should be steadfastly championed to the exclusion of militarism. If the will to peace be strong enough, war- can be abolished. And with war eliminated criminality will lose one of its worst breeding-places. The wonder is that human nature shows up as favorably as it does when all the drawbacks to noble development under which it labors are considered! What are the influences for good or evil that are brought to bear on the great majority of our children who will be the adults of tomorrow? Think it over!
[While there is much to commend in the acts of certain statesmen who seek through conferences and treaties to establish peace throughout the world, yet it is evident that the Locarno effort and all similar human endeavors must result in disappointments and dismal failure. Prophetic testimony, corroborated by the entire course of human history, makes it certain that only the Lord holds the key to the situation, and that real peace on earth will come, not from state conferences and human pacts, but by the establishment of His kingdom, on earth by the true and rightful Prince of Peace. That time is not far away.—Editor.]
Britain in Tears By Frederick Lardent, D- B. 0. A. (London.)
BRITAIN is suffering! Over its industrial field the employers are making efforts to reduce wages and increase hours. The miners and the railwaymen are the first to suffer, while other groups of employers are watching and waiting to see who wins before they stipulate similar measures.
The attempt to cut down the wages of the miners has been defeated, but only for the time being. The struggle will be renewed later on with greater vigor. ■
Britain ponders! She has millions out of work, while France has none. Other nations are making tremendous efforts to get trade, and they are in a measure successful. To compete in the world’s market Britain must have cheaper and greater output. Men must therefore work harder at a lower rate of pay, at least this is the thought of some of Britain’s leaders.
Premier Baldwin made the statement on 'July 30th last:
Not only you [miners] but all the other workers in the country must have their wages reduced.
Sir W. Joynson Hicks, on August 3rd, voiced a similar thought:
However disagreeable it may be, I am going to say straight out, that in order to compete with the world, either the conditions of labor, hours or wages will have to be altered in this country.
A prominent labor leader foresees a struggle ahead and suggests a financial food fund on behalf of the workers, so that starvation will not be the cause of the workers’ defeat in the event of a prolonged strike.
What is the real meaning and significance of the situation? It is this: Knowledge on every conceivable matter has been diffusing in every phase and activity of life. Selfishness and greed, in the hearts of those whose environment has been more fortunate, has caused an unreasonable viewpoint; and this has irritated the workers, who form the majority of mankind. The result is combustion!
Alan’s productive capacity has increased enormously during the last century. One man or woman, with a machine, can produce as much as thirty, fifty or even one hundred skilled men produced not many years ago.
Labor leaders in Great Britain foresee more trouble, one of whom writes:
If the machine and the product belonged to the whole community then everyone would have benefitted by the inventive powers of mankind. We should all be better off because wealth would be created more easily and we should all need to work fewer hours. But, unfortunately, the machine and the product belong neither to the people who work the machine nor to the community. The machine is the private property of the capitalist and all the equipment of industry belongs to a little handful of persons. The owner, not the worker, reaps the advantage of the increased and cheapened mass production.
As machinery becomes more and more efficient so fewer and fewer people are required in industry and the army of the unemployed grows larger. Thus arises the astonishing paradox that the more power man acquires to produce wealth the poorer become the majority of the people! As civilized man attains a greater and greater control over the forces of Nature, as his ingenuity devises more and more wonderful instruments for multiplying wealth, so are the working people to be condemned to deeper and deeper poverty ! Wages must be cut, standards of living must be reduced! What a satire and '-'••bat <condemnation of the present economic system so dvvcr.tiy worshiped by Liberals and Tories!
Then our Labor M. P. concludes:
Every day we are getting nearer to the breaking point. We arc the threshold of stupendous changes. The doom of the nation is certain unless a way out can be found. but demands for a well-thought-out scheme of advance Vacuus the ownership of the land and capital by the wh-,.k community. There is no other way to abolish poverty and unemployment. There is no other way to rat al safety. Socialism offers the only hope of extricating humanity from the present terrible mess.
Thus Britain, that great and mighty nation, weeps! Ci d by the Great War, envied by other nations who would be glad to take her place in her time-honored supremacy, torn by the growing strife of internal troubles, Britain, while struggling mightily, nevertheless finds the very found < ns of commerce, wealth and prestige crumbi ng beneath her feet. But let no other nation rejoice in Britain’s doom; for all nations, great and small are knit by the same chains of industry and knowledge. The whole earth is therefore involved.
Many are inclined to scoff at Bible testimony, but whether they give heed or not it pictures the very conditions of modern times; and then it points to a glorious future. The prophet Daniel declares that in “the time of the end” many shall run to and fro, knowledge shall be increased, and there shall be a time of trouble the like of which the earth has never known. (Daniel 12:1-4) Whoever will read the following scriptures will find God’s other prophets in exact harmony with Daniel.—Zephaniah 3:8; Malachi 4:1; James 5:1-6; Matthew 24:21; Isaiah 34: 1-8; Ezekiel 7:17-19.
Pastor C. T. Russell in his still up-to-date book, “The Battle of Armageddon,” written some thirty years ago, gives a very striking survey of the times in which we now live. Quoting from page 541, we read:
The Battle of the Great Day, like every other revolutionary war, has its stages of gradual development. Back of every indication of strife are the inspiring causes, the real or fancied national or individual wrongs; next comes a keen appreciation of those wrongs by those who suffer from them; then generally follow various attempts at reform which, proving abortive, lead to great controversies, wars of words, divisions, strife of opinions, and finally to revenge and strife of arms.
Such is the order of the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty. Its general character is that of a struggle of light against darkness, of liberty against oppression, of truth against error. Its extent will be world-wide— peasant against prince, pew against pulpit, labor against capital; the oppressed in arms against injustice and tyranny of every kind; and the oppressors in amis for the defence of what they have long considered to be their rights, even when seen to be encroachments upon the rights of others.
From the outside standpoint one cannot help feeling sympathetic with humanity as a whole in their dread struggle—a struggle which would soon be ended if only suspicion, distrust, envy, malice, hatred, and selfishness could all be dispelled by acknowledging God and His redemptive sacrifice and obeying His precious precepts.
One rejoices however that soon the King of king and Lord of lords wall take supreme control of affairs and bring order out of chaos, peace out of discord, refreshment out of stress, to all the families of the earth. (Isaiah 9: 6, 7; 11: 1-9; Genesis 22:16-18) “As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.”—Numbers 14:21. .
The song of the workers, many of whom toil under circumstances far from congenial, has a plaintive tone; but when Christ rules and raises even the teeming millions from the sleep of death, their songs will be full of joy. “The ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting jay [shall be] upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”—Isaiah 35:10.
The following poem, whose author is unknown, well illustrates present stress. The last verse, albeit, breaks into a melody of pleasurable anticipation: '
~ The Song of the Workers
We have heard of the happy forests Where the leaves in the sunshine play,
And the merry flowers listen
To the song of the birds all day;
But for us in our homes in Slumland
What beauty is there at all,
Where the very skies above us
Are black with the smoke’s cursed pall?
We know there are some with leisure
Who roam where the world is sweet,
But we to our factory prisons
Are chained by the hands and feet;
For the cry of our babes is sounding
For ever in our ears,
And we toil for the bread to feed them, With a toil that is full of fears.
We have heard that the spring is lovely, That**the whole earth leaps with glee
When the young May brings to the woodlands The rapture of being free;
And we know when the springtide cometh, Though we cannot see its grace,
For our prisoning walls grow closer With the sun’s glare in our face.
For us in the spring, not the singing Of birds, but the whirring of wheels,
And the shrieking of noisy engines
Till our brain with the discord reels;
And the stifling air of our work cells Grows hotter and fiercer far,
Oh, curse we the sultry springtide Where pests and hot fevers are.
We build the homes of our masters Where in soft ease they dwell, And the sound of music greets them Midst the comfort they love so well;
But we know that their ease is builded On the hunger and pain we bear, Their pleasure upon our toiling, Their hope upon our despair.
But the time will come when the beauties Of earth shall be for all, When none on his brother’s slavehood
Shall base his freedom from thrall,
When the spring shall come laden with gladness And pleasure instead of pain
To us who have toiled and sorrowed nor have tasted our toiling’s gain.
The Channel Islands By z. widdeii
ABOUT seventy-five miles from the south of
England, off the coast of France, lies a group of small islands known as the Channel Islands. The Golden Age is a welcome visitor on these islands, so it might be of interest to you to hear from us. The second largest of this group is the island of Guernsey, ten miles long and three and one-half to four miles wide. It is inhabited by a population of 40,000 people, mostly engaged in agriculture, producing flowers, tomatoes, grapes and vegetables for the English markets.
The great war brought prosperity to the island. Many of the growers then almost bankrupt are now very prosperous, some having made fortunes because of the high prices obtained.
The land is mostly divided into small holdings, so that a fairly good percentage have shared in the general prosperity. The chief product is tomatoes, grown in large greenhouses. During and since the war huge greenhouses, usually from two hundred to three hundred feet long, have been erected all over the island; and now there are miles and miles of glass houses. One such is 750 feet long and contained this year 30,000 bunches of grapes.
The shipping and the English railway companies successfully arrange for the carriage. The grapes are laid in bunches in small open baskets, which are then placed on shelves in large crates and arrive in the markets practically unhandled. The owner of the above-mentioned greenhouse also deals extensively in private trading. He dispatches to any address in Britain a small basket of luscious grapes on receipt of 5/. The tomatoes from this island also are of first-rate quality. They are packed in baskets holding twelve pounds, and are the first to arrive in the British markets by the first of May. The coal used for heating the greenhouses is sent in large quantities from South Wales. From July the fruit is ready in the non-heated houses; then in September and October the tomatoes grown in the open air are marketed. In 1925, up to the end of September, no less than three million baskets, over 16,000 tons, of tomatoes were shipped from this small island alone. The twelve-pound baskets are packed on carts and motor busses, which run them to the side of the ship; and one at a time the baskets are slid down chutes into the hold, with the exception of those loaded in crates by electric cranes. Each ship carries from 30,000 to 50,000 baskets.
Flowers and vegetables are sent, from these islands to England throughout the year; chrysanthemums around Christmas, daffodils in February, tulips and other flowers later. Quantities of bulbs are also sent to America. The very best use is made of the land, 11,000 out of the 16,000 acres being under cultivation.
THE Guernsey cow is noted for her rich milk.
American buyers come over each year to purchase some of these animals for dairy farms in the United States and Canada. They often pay as much as £200 for a cow, m addition to the cost of shipment across the Atlantic. The butter made from the milk of the Guernsey cow is very rich. It sells at over one shilling a pound more than ordinary English dairy butter.
The Australasian, a daily newspaper published in Melbourne, on August 22nd last gave a picture of a Guernsey cow kept at the Woolong-bar Experiment Farm in New South Wales, stating that “ n 365 days she had given 13,247 pounds of milk and 833 pounds of butter fat”. A Guernsey bull sold here recently for £1,000.
The Guernsey cattle are not allowed to roam when in the fields. Each cow wears a small chain around her horns; then with a rope about eight yards long she is fastened to a stake driven into the ground on the grazing fields. When the cow has eaten all the grass within reach, the stake is moved a little further. In this way the feeding is clean, and no grass is wasted. Often a cow is allowed to have a feed in a field of oats, tethered in this way. These animals are very docile. Foot-and-mouth disease, which costs millions of pounds sterling in a year in Britain and elsewhere, is unknown on this island, possibly because of this clean method of grazing the stock.
COSTLY, troublesome pest we have here, however, is a kind of dog which has a good deal of wolf in it—the kind mentioned in Isaiah
56:10,11. The Anglican church has been established here for many centuries, and has sixteen church buildings. The upkeep of the various rectories, including the rector’s household, is levied by way of tax on the rental value of houses, buildings and land in the respective parishes, much to the dissatisfaction of the nonconformist citizens, who do not attend the said church.
The Roman Catholic system has six churches on these islands, Methodists thirty-one chapels, Baptists seven, Congregationalists one, Presbyterians one, Christian Scientists one, Friends one, Plymouth Brethren one, Salvation Army three, independent missions three, making seventy-three in all. Without exception they all teach the Devil’s lie, the immortality of the soul; and many of them uphold the outworn doctrine of eternal torture also.
In the autumn the harvest thanksgiving services are held in all these churches, where praise is offered to the God whose character they so misrepresent. They use the fruit of the earth to decorate their -church buildings, but some neglect to develop the fruits which the apostle in Galatians 5: 22, 23, urged the church to bring forth.
An elderly lady here has brought up her two sons in the Episcopal church, and now the minister has introduced the confessional and instructs the people to call him “father”. This was too much for these two young men, and now they refuse to go to church; they say that the creeds are all wrong. The good lady is in real trouble. She was asked which she preferred, to have her sons go to church knowing the creeds are wrong, and merely pretend to believe them and play the hypocrite; or to be honest and refuse to support that which they believe to be wrong. She said that she had not thought of the matter in that way. Then she asked earnestly, “But what have we to put in place of the creeds? Surely the Lord has something!” She was informed about the Lord’s great plan, and now she has a set of “Bible keys” as compiled by Pastor Russell; and seeing that the minister needs something to help him to understand the Bible she has also presented him with a set.
An English poet named Smith, visiting the islands a few years ago, said:
Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark, Four little islands all in the dark.
But now we can say:
Colporteurs are here, working with their might, To flood these dismal islands with God-given light.
Many of the inhabitants have never been oil the islands and have never seen a railway train. But the islands are not asleep. They are beehives of industry, with motor cars running everywhere with passengers and produce. The telephone is in much greater use in proportion to population than in Britain, nearly every grower being on the telephone. The radio is also much used, but the broadcasting stations are in Britain. An electric tramway was laid here before any appeared in Britain. It is still in use.
Another busy industry here is that of the quarries, where a hard blue-gray granite is worked and shipped abroad in large quantities. Some of the quarries are very deep. Recently a small dog achieved a record dive for his species by dropping from the top of a quarry to the water 170 feet below. The little animal was evidently stunned; for it lay out on the water for about a minute before slowly paddling ashore, where a workman considerately launched out a plank as a slipway. The dog was carefully nursed in the workman’s shed; and the same evening it went home tail up, the canine equivalent of “thumbs up”.
Government
THE islands are self-governed. Although nominally they belong to the king of England, yet they do not come under the authority of the British parliament. The islands came under the control of William, Duke of Normandy, in 1061, before that gentleman conquered England. They own their allegiance to the British king only as William’s successor.
An interesting situation has arisen over Britain’s war debt. Parliament claims that the islands should pay towards the same, but it has no constitutional power to impose taxes on us. Guernsey made a grant in 1919 of £100,000 toward this debt, which money was raised by a self-imposed tax of fourpence a basket on tomatoes. Many growers were summoned to court because of refusal to pay. Guernsey has since made an additional offer of £200,000 as a final payment toward Britain’s war debt. This has been neither accepted nor rejected, but a committee of the King’s Privy Council has been appointed to inquire into the ability of the islands to pay a war tax.
The islands had their own banking systems and currency until after the war. Now the currency has been changed to English money, and the shareholders of the island bank have been bought out by British bankers, i. y of the shareholders were able to purchase motor cars, etc., after the transaction; but the depositors did not fare so well, receiving only 10 shillings in the new currency for each 20 in the old. Now the erstwhile self-governed islands are under the control of the real rulers of Britain—the financiers, who will no doubt make interesting suggestions through the privy councilors concerning a war tax, etc.
The British king is represented in each of the islands of Jersey and Guernsey by a resident military lieutenant governor, with the letters K.B.E., C. B., C.M.G., after his name, and always referred to as “His Excellency”. This gentleman presides at or attends the important gatherings in the island, including regattas, galas, bazaars, etc., and usually makes a speech and says something very nice about the island or the people. On his arrival at the gatherings the orchestra plays the British national anthem and the people stand until he is seated. The procedure is repeated when the show is over.
IT IS said that many patriotic people have come to reside here from England because of the small income tax—fourpence in the pound compared to four and one-half shillings or five shillings in England. Wines, spirits, and tobacco are also lightly taxed. For example, the same blend for eight shillings here costs eighteen shillings in Britain.
The laborer and his family have the usual burden, the high cost of living being above what it is in England. Milk, eggs and butter are kept at nearly war prices, and bread is also dear. Even the push bicycle that he goes to work on is taxed two and one-half shillings a year. However there is no unemployment; and the wife often earns a little in the busy season, packing flowers and fruit. There is much overtime work, till eight or ten o’clock at night.
HE people on these islands are mostly a little smaller in stature than those in British agricultural districts. At first I thought this was due to the work in the humid atmosphere of the hothouses; but on reading a history of Guernsey, dated 1846 (before the greenhouses were erected), I noted that the author says, "People in Guernsey are smaller in stature than people in England, probably due to their mode of living, not eating as much meat as in England.” I will leave this question for your vegetarians to solve.
THE bays ground the rocky shores of the island are very picturesque, and there is a tremendous rise and fall of the tides. Every twelve hours and a few minutes, out in the vast wastes of mid-Atlantic, a gigantic tide wave is born.
Strange as the fact may sound, this wave travels at the rate of hundreds of miles an hour. Its very speed, however, makes it of imperceptible height; for it is more than 1,000 miles wide from front to back. It hits what the geographers call “the Continental Shelf” (the outlaying shallows of Europe on which the British Isles are perched, from the direction of W. S. W. The shallow waters abruptly slow it up to a mere ninety miles an hour, simultaneously steepening the wave.
The racing Atlantic tide-wave first hits the coast of Ireland, on which it splits. Then sweeping around the mainland of Britain by the Channel between the Orkneys and Scotland to the north and by the English Channel to the south, it reaches Liverpool, the northermost tip of Scotland, and Dover about simultaneously and, steadily losing momentum, reaches the Thames estuary some twelve hours later. Its journey down the North Sea is a leisurely fifty miles an hour. There is a curious “dead water” area out in the North Sea, about half way between Holland and England, where the tide thrusts from north and south neutralize each other and no tide occurs in consequence.
The largest range of tides in Europe and, I believe, in the whole world, is that around these Channel Isles and along the Breton coast between Granville and Brest, where the big main thrusts of the Atlantic tidal wave pile into the comparatively narrow neck of the Channel.
Owing to the dangerous rocks round the coasts, navigation is difficult in misty weather. A few days ago a small steamer struck a rock near Jersey and sank. Her crew of twelve, and two passengers, took to the boats and were saved. The cargo included several race-horses and two new motor cars. The vessel foundered about three miles from land, at a spot which can be reached on foot at low water.
On the following Sunday afternoon the scene of the wreck was visited by thousands of people, some of whom took the adventurous expedient . of a two-mile walk over seaweed-covered rocks. At low water a jagged gash several feet long could be seen, and water rushing out from the flooded hold and engine room. She was salvaged and towed to harbor by local fishermen with their motor boats, and they now are claiming salvage from the owners.
IX miles from Guernsey is the island of Sark, three miles long, six feet to a mile wide, with cliffs rising perpendicular from the sea all around the island. It claims to have the smallest commercial harbor in the world. Access from the harbor to the tableland on top is by way of a tunnel bored through the cliff, and a long hill climb. About 400 people live on the island. Farming is the principal industry. Good crops of hay and corn are grown. When winnowed much of the straw is sent to England for thatching purposes, as corn grows to a greater height in Sark than in the British Isles.
In the reign of Edward VI, Sark was captured by the French and was then easily held by a few French soldiers. It was regained in the following manner: A merchant ship anchored off the Sark coast. Word was sent ashore that the merchant had died aboard; and a request was made that the merchant might be buried in the consecrated ground of the chapel in the island. A present from the commodities they had aboard was offered. Permission was granted on condition that the sailors must not come ashore with any weapon, not so much as a knife. The coffin was lowered into the boat and rowed ashore. The French received them at the landing place, and each one was searched so carefully that he could not hide even a penknife. Leave was given to proceed, and the coffin was drawn up the rocks. Some of the French then rowed to the ship for the promised present, where they were over-pow’ered and bound by the crew. Meantime the coffin had been taken' into the chapel and the door shut. Then, taking their swords out of the coffin, the British set upon the French and overpowered them. Thus the isle was recaptured.
ARK is a lovely spot, and one can enjoy a walk on the country roads without the dust and noise of traffic. Motorcycles and cars are banned. In May, 1925, the first motor car was brought to the Island. The car belonged to the new Medical Officer of Health. He brought it from England when he came to take up his appointment, little imagining that in these modern times there could be a place so near his native shores where motor cars are banned. He had to store the car on the island of Guernsey. Then he received permission from the Sark authorities to use the engine to drive a dynamo for electric lighting for his residence. But when the boat landed from Guernsey with the motor car aboard, the Sark constables told the doctor that the law must be kept and that the car must not be driven to the house of the owner on its own power, but must be dragged up the hill by horses. Meantime the doctor’s little girl, with her kitten, had seated herself in the car to drive-it. Hearing the discussion she decided to take the law into her own hands; so she touched the self-starter and drove off before the astonished constables could take action.
The sporting spirit of the islanders was then shown. The car had not reached the entrance of the famous tunnel before a rousing cheer was given, and a hand was waved back to them. The car took three minutes to climb the long hill and was home in four and one-half minutes. But for this law breaking the young lady was summoned to court, was severely admonished and fined £2, and warned that next time the car would be confiscated, with a fine of £10 imposed.
THE latest news from Sark says, We have at last got a butcher’s shop in Sark, a great boon to all of us.” Previously they had meat sent by boat from Guernsey. This butcher shop, in addition to a bank, a drapery shop, a newsagent, and a general store where anything from perfume to paraffin can be purchased, makes Sark feel independent of the world. A few nights ago the last words, of a versatile announcer from a British broadcasting station were: “Good night, the Channel Islands, heritage of the Conqueror, most ancient part of the British Empire, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. Is Sark listening, the gem of you all? Little islands ought to be asleep by this time. Good night.”
Goats Persecute Christians
WHEN Jesus was on earth he gave a parable concerning the sheep and the goats. (Matthew 25) By these two animals he illustrated two classes of people that would be prominent at the end of the Gospel Age. As is well known a goat is stubborn, cruel and wicked. He often resorts to acts of destruction without any excuse. A sheep is the very opposite.
Below we print a report to Judge Rutherford made by Mr. Chomiak, a former priest, concerning his recent visit to Ukrainia. We call special attention to the fact that each time he was arrested it was at the instance of priests, who claim to be ministers of the gospel. They caused his arrest because he was a humble Christian, telling the people about the great blessings that will come to them through Christ’s kingdom. In every instance he was released by civil officers, who gladly listened to the message of the kingdom. Some of these officers treated him very kindly.
This report will be read with interest, and it will be easily seen that such priests or clergymen are well represented by the goats, and evidently are of the class mentione-d by our Lord in the parable. These persecute humble Christians because of selfishness, and always without any real cause or excuse.
The report of Mr. Chomiak to Judge Rutherford, President of the International Bible Students Association, follows :
■ Six Months with My Countrymen
HEREWITH I send you my report of the six month’s work in the Lord’s service amongst the Ukrainian people in Poland and Czecho-Slovakia. To understand my report you have to know the existing conditions in Poland.. Although Poland is one country it has three different laws: German, Russian and Austrian.
In the eastern part of Poland, in the province of Galicia where I was working, the Austrian law is in force. It is strictly Catholic and no public meetings under it are allowed. Therefore I could have only house meetings by special permission from the state police of the county. In some places the brethren asked for permission, but in most places they did not. In all I visited seventy-two villages and towns in Poland and five in Czecho-Slovakia. .
I have traveled in Poland nearly 8,000 kilometers (over 5.000 miles), by train, wagon, and foot; by the latter way over 150 miles. In "some places in rainy weather the mud was two feet, deep; even the hackneycoachman did not want to go for any amount of money. Notwithstanding all restrictions of the law, more than 2,500 people heard the message of the truth.
In Galicia alone there are twenty classes which number over 300 members each. Some of them have symbolized, organized and held mid-week meetings; some meet only on Sunday, and some are in the state of organizing. Th re is hope of building up more classes: only a leader to guide them is needed.
Because of the concordat (covenant) which the Catholic church concluded with the Polish government, many Ukrainians are now changing from the Catholic faith to the Baptist, Presbyterian, Adventist, etc., and while in this ututc of changing they are more favorably inclined to accept the truth.
Among al! classes the interest in the kingdom message was very good, because their hearts were prepared for the truth. Rich and poor alike are overburdened with taxes, thousands of people are without work, and most of the people make just enough money to pay the taxes. All classes of people are dissatisfied. I heard two young judges talking together: and one of them said: “As icon as the revolution comes, we will go and rob the rich.’’
The Polish government, knowing this condition, is afraid; and therefore it does not allow any public lectures, fearing that they may stir up the people. The government is united with the Catholic church. The clergy boast that they are officers of the state, and they treat the people without mercy.
ONE Sunday night, after visiting three places in one day, where I had given two discourses and an informal talk in the third, I came to a village to see a brother. I was very tired, and after 10 p. m. went to bed, happy to find rest. But after half an hour a state policeman awakened me. After examining my papers he went away satisfied that I was not the man he was looking for. At one o’clock a. m. another state policeman came and ordered me to get dressed and follow him to the State Police Station, which was four and one-half miles away. The farmer in whose house I was sleeping took us over there. When we reached the police station it was just getting daylight.
My policeman went to bed, but I had to wait up for the chief officer. After eight o’clock a. m. he came in, and after examining my passport and also my papers of priest ordination he became polite. Then I started to tell him about the approach of Christ’s kingdom. He was glad to hear this, as also was the other ■policeman. He ordered a breakfast prepared for me; and then under escort of a policeman with fixed bayonet on the carbine rifle the same farmer took us to another police station. It was their intention to transport me to the capital of the county (county seat). Our road was long, and I took occasion to explain the times and some religious truths. The policeman listened, and after a short time I noticed that he put aside the carbine rifle and tried to hide it in the hay, so that the people passing could not see it.
After arriving at the police station, I began again to have discourse with the chief of police and all there present. They were very glad to hear, and I saw that they were convinced about the truth. From there I had to go by train under escort to the capital of the county.
When I left the police station with my guard, the chief policeman ordered him to return, explaining that he wanted to say something to him; then he gave me order to proceed to the railroad station alone. This was something extraordinary, which probably never before happened. I recognized that he wanted to shield me, to not make me ashamed before the people, like a murderer under escort; but I did not go. I waited for my guard; for I wanted to talk with him about the glad tidings.
All the way the policeman tried to show that he was friendly to me and in the train he even covered his carbine rifle with his coat. After three o’clock p. m. we arrived at the county police station, and after seeing the protocol with me I was a free man like any American citizen.
After two weeks I was again arrested. It was Saturday afternoon. In a torrential rain I was brought to a police station. Seeing that the policeman had a Bible with him, which they had confiscated from our brother, I started a discourse. We were all like real Bible Students. That night I had to sleep with the policeman; and on Sunday afternoon, along with some poor beggar I was convoyed to the county police station. There I had another discourse with all present. Many were atheists. The chief policeman especially was boasting that he was one. But after a four hour’s discourse he changed his mind, and next morning we had a discourse again. When I explained to him what is the soul and the truth about spiritism, he was convinced, and asked me to show him how to read our books and the Bible. At three o’clock p. m. I was again free.
Meeting a Priest School-Fellow
rl LEMBERG, the capital city, I met a priest who is dean and principal of the preparatory school—my relative and schoolfellow. I explained to him why I had left the priesthood, and told him to be a man and cut off the long robes he carried. At the same moment we passed by the cathedral and my fellow-priest took off his hat and bowed before a reclining statue of a saint. Then I said to him: “If you knew the truth, you would never bow before this stone.” In defense he said: “I honor not this stone, but the saint who is in heaven.” But I answered: “If this stone were not here you would never bow to your saint.” He was ashamed, and later when we passed by the “holiest” place of the cathedral he did not take off his hat. I promised to send him a copy of the Harp of God.
At another place I met a student who had finished a course in theology. I had a talk with him from 10 o’clock a. m. to 5 o’clock p. m. After hearing the truth he was so glad that he accompanied me to the railroad station, over one hour’s journey away. He said he would consider well before he would be ordained. He confessed that the two epistles to the Romans and to the Hebrews had been most difficult for him to understand, but that now he sees plainly their meaning.
Anti-Bolshevik Leader Hetman Gets the Truth
ON ONE occasion I was explaining to some educated people the meaning of the present troublous times. Nearby was sitting a big fellow listening in, and after my discourse he came to me and asked me to spend a little time with him, because he was very disheartened. He told me he fought the Bolsheviks as a leader of one insurgent group. He was very sorrowful that he had killed many innocent people, and said he would be glad if he knew that God would forgive him his sins. I explained to him the Bible, and he now is a zealous supporter and propagater of present truth. Later I received some letters from other people who received the truth from this leader—Hetman.
Once more I was arrested on Sunday by a priest’s direct charge. This “holy” man, after hurrying up his “holy” mass, went to the police station and told them; “There is a bandit in the city.” After eleven o’clock a. m. two policemen came and searched all my pockets and ordered me to go to the police station. One policeman took my Bible and the other one took a basket full of my books with him. I remained there five hours and gave there a discourse about the Lord’s kingdom. All policemen were so interested that they even asked for the books. I gladly gave them all I could.
The chief policeman pronounced me free and said loudly: “The real bandit is this man who accused you.” Then outside on the street, before a big crowd, he bade me farewell. I with my Bible, and another brother with the basket of books, started home; and a big crowd followed us. In a few minutes the big court yard was filled with the people, Ukrainians, Poles and Jews, and they gave close attention while I discoursed to them for an hour or more.
On my last visit through Poland I was arrested again at night, the fourth of November. This time also it was at the instigation of a priest. On the same day that a three-day mission work in the church was finished I came to the village. In the midst of my discourse came in a state policeman with carbine rifle and bayonet on the end of it, and ordered me to follow him to the police station, five miles away. This was about 8: 30 o’clock at night, and after 10:00 o'clock we reached the place. After examining my papers he excused me and told me that he had to do it; and I was free once more.
With my heart full of happiness because all of my family, one brother and three sisters, have accepted the truth, and because many brethren and friends now have been refreshed by the truth, I left Poland, came to Hamburg, Germany, and from there by the S. S. “Thuringia”, a twelve-day steamer, I returned to New York City and then to the dear Bethel family.
What the Hindus Admire and Fear
Du. Charles W. Gilkey, recently returned from a six months speaking tour of India, in an address in Springfield, Massachusetts, says that the Hindus at present are enthralled with the discovery that Jesus Christ was an oriental and a member of a despised race, but that they fear his followers from the West who come to them in his name, bearing the cross in one hand and carrying the sword and a money bag in the other. Dr. Gilkey thinks it would be a good idea for the Westerners to become Christians themselves before trying to make any more converts.
Voting in Australia Compulsory
USTRALIA is trying a new thing under the sun. Any qualified elector who fails to show up on election day and cast his ballot is subject to a fine of ten dollars. But the law was ignored in the last election, as six hundred thousand persons entitled to vote stayed away from the polls. However, there was a much larger vote than usual.
FROM a card circulated among the peasants of Italy our artist has faithfully copied the picture which appears on the card, and we reproduce herewith in Italian and in English the title which appears beneath the picture, also a translation of the song and prayer which follows it. This picture speaks for itself. Could any blasphemy be more complete, or any selfglorification more impudent? The translation follows:
PRAISES FOR THE DEAD
For our afflicted And weeping brothers, Lord of the nations. Pity and forgiveness.
Submerged in the fire Of a dreadful prison, Unto thee they cry, Pity and forgiveness.
If Thou on our deeds Lookest with severity, Hope I then no more Pity and forgiveness.
If Thy gracious look Thou turn’st to the cross, Every voice repeats, Pity and forgiveness.
To our brothers then, Oh! loving Father, Give Thou rest, and then Pity and forgiveness.
Till the time they shall Up from that fire arise, Lord, Oh ! for thy dead Pity and forgiveness.
LAUDI AI MOKTI
Det r-nstii frsfeHi Afflitti e piangenti!, Sovra gli oppressi, Perdono, pietà
Ma H guardo benigno Se volgi alia croce, Rinetc ogni voce Perdono, pietA
Prayers for the Souls in Purgatory
Oh! Jesus, my God and Redeemer, who offerest Thyself daily on our altars in sacrifice for us, I pray Thee to turn Thy merciful eyes from the altar to Purgatory to comfort with a pitiful look those suffering souls of Thine.
Oh! Thou, whose mercy is immeasurable and limitless, receive in thy grace my,humble supplication, and to the souls of my parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, and benefactors, who have faithfully owned Thy name in their earthly life and through the merits of the holy mysteries of our redemption, grant a complete remission of the punishments due to their sins.
WITH THE ECCLESIASTICAL APPROVAL
Sommersi nel fuoco
di un orrendo carcere
A Te ritornan piangendo; Perdono, pietà.
Se n’F ru'cre r.ostre
Riguardi severo Allor più non spero Perdono, pietà
Ai nostri fratelli Dai dnnque riposo O padre amoroso, Perdono, pietA.
Finché da quel fuoco
Saranno risorti, Signor de’ tuoi morti Perdono, pietA.
Preghiera Per le Anime Del Purgatoria
O Gesft, mio Dio e mio Redentore, ehe Ti offri ogni giorno sui nostri altari in sacrificio per noi, Ti prego a rivolgere i tuoi occhi misericordiosissimi dall’Altare a! Purgatorio per consolare eon un Tuo sguardo pietoso quelle Tue anime penanti.
Deh! Tu di cui la misericordia non conosce né misura, né confine, accogli nella Tua grazia l’umile mia orazione e coneedi alle anime del miei genitori, fratelli, sorelle, parenti e benefattori, ehe hanno fedelmente confessato 11 Tuo nome nella loro vita mortale, in virtu del Santi Mister! della nostra redenzione, una complete remissions delle pene do* vute alle loro colpe.
CON APPROVAZIONE ECCLESIASTICA
The Honor of Christ Jesus and His Bride
[Radiocast from Watchtower WBBR on a wave length of 272.8 meters, by Judge Rutherford]
THIS morning I showed that Jehovah is justly entitled to the glory and honor of all.
It pays to honor God. It is right to honor Him. In due time right always prevails.
Lucifer was given a position of trust, honor and confidence as overlord of man in Eden. He treacherously violated that confidential relationship with God. For 6,000 years God has permitted him to pursue his nefarious course, and this period of time has afforded an opportunity for man to learn the lesson of the baneful effects of sin. In God’s due time . Satan will be entirely shorn of his power, and his organization will fall completely and he will be dishonored and unsung.
The Logos, the beloved Son of God, Jesus Christ, has always been faithful and true to his Father. One of his titles is “the Faithful and True”. In order that He might learn and prove His full obedience to the Lord under the most adverse conditions, God permitted Him to be buffeted by Satan and to suffer the shame and ignominy heaped upon Him by Satan’s agencies. Through it all Jesus humbly submitted. Never at any time did He seek His own honor, and He sought ahvays to honor and magnify the name of His Father. Because of this faithfulness God has conferred upon His beloved Son the greatest honor that can ever be conferred upon any creature.
Concerning this it is written, in Philippians 2:7-11: “But [Jesus] made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ, is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
He who seeks the honor and plaudits of men in order that he might enjoy the pleasure and profits of such honor shall never receive the honor and approval of God. When on earth Jesus announced this unchangeable law of Jehovah, in Luke 14:11: “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” St. Peter expressed the same divine rule when he said, in 1 Peter 5:5: “Be clothed with humility; for God resist-eth the proud, and give th grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
Knowing this to be the rule of Jehovah let no one be deceived by men on earth who seek honor in the name of the Lord. He who exalts himself and claims to be the vicegerent of Christ on earth may receive the honor of men, but he will never receive the final honor from God. He who claims to pray others out of a condition of suffering may receive therefrom a pecuniary profit for the time being, and the honor conferred by human beings; but he could not receive the approval and honor of God-for so doing.
What is required by Jehovah of those who are pleasing to Him and whom He will honor is stated by the prophet in these words: “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to 'walk humbly with thy God ?”—Micah 6: 8.
It could hardly be said to be just for one to tell another that his beloved dead are in purgatory and can be prayed out only for a certain amount of money. It could hardly be walking humbly before God for one to assume the ability of forgiving sins of men, for this belongs to the Lord alone. It could hardly be the act of one who loves mercy to persecute and vilify those who humbly teach the doctrines of a loving Jesus Christ. God honors them who honor Him.
Again this rule is magnified in the Word of God when we read concerning Jesus, how that God highly exalted Him and honored Him above all others because of His faithfulness to Jehovah. As stated by the apostle, in Hebrews 1: 3, 4, 8, 9: “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy king-
'dom; thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
THE people have been greatly mistaught and misled concerning the church. Many millions of good, honest people sincerely believe that the church of God is the Catholic church. Other millions have been taught and believe that the followers of Luther* constitute the church of God. Others just as honest and sincere have been taught and do believe that the Baptist, the Methodist, Episcopalian or some other system is the true church of God. It would be impossible for all of these to be right. Surely the Lord’s church is not divided. The apostle says in so many words that it is not. When we resort to the Scriptures for the proof of these claims we find that all these systems are wrong in their claims.
The word “church” means a called-out class. The Apostle Peter says that these are called to show forth the praises of God who calls them. It does not show forth much praise to God to have a social affair or worldly entertainment and call this the church service. It does not confer much honor on God to conduct a horserace from a church and have the horses blessed by the priest before they start to run. The church means a class separate and distinct from the world. This class is not selected by uniting with some denominational system or organization and thereafterwards conforming to the rules of that organization.
The Scriptures plainly state that the church is the body of Christ, of which Jesus is the head. (Colossians 1:18 and Ephesians 1: 22, 23) Such is the church of the living God, whose names are ’written in heaven, without regard to whether they are recorded on some earthly church book or not. There is no scripture which states that God has delegated to any man or class of men authority to prepare a book on earth and write down .therein the names of people and say that these constitute the church. For any man to say who are the ones that are the real members of the church would be presumptuous. It is God who selects the church. Not even Jesus Himself selects the church. ■.
Each member is justified, called and begot-
ten by Jehovah, and set in the body as it pleases Him. The call, or invitation, is from Jehovah through Christ Jesus. The apostle states it in this wise: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified them'he also glorified.”—Romans 8: 29,30. .
Certain conditions must be complied with before one can become a member of the church, and these conditions are prescribed by the Word of God. The first is, that one must recognize that he is a sinner and needs the Savior, Jesus Christ. Believing this, he must then consecrate himself to do God’s holy will. It is God then •who justifies. (Romans 8:33) This justification alone constitutes the call to the heavenly calling. It is God who begets one as a new creature. (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1: 3, 4) Let no one think that a deathbed confession prepares him for heaven. He must prove his loving devotion to the Lord and that cannot be done in a moment, nor in a day. The Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 2:21: “For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”
It is a great honor to be thus called, and no man takes this honor to himself. Those who are thus called are anointed as members of the heavenly priestly class. The scripture reads: “And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.” (Hebrews 5:4,5) Priests are not made by men nor by man-made organizations. The Lord alone makes them.
Suffering
TT PLEASED the heavenly Father to make
Jesus perfect as a great high priest, by the things that He suffered. All the others who become members of His body, therefore members of the church, must likewise pass through suffering. In proof of this we quote Hebrews 2:10 and 11: “For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain
of their salvath n perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified, are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.”
This is the reason why members of God’s church suffer ignominy, shame and persecution at the hands of others. Satan is the great enemy of the church and he is the one who induces the persecution. He despises and seeks to destroy those who are faithful to God; and he injects into the minds of others, even those who think they are Christians, to persecute and do violence to the faithful followers of the Master.
The rule of the Lord concerning the selection and development of the church is plainly laid down in 2 Timothy 2:10-12: “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying : For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us.”
The Christian delights in having whatsoever experiences the Lord brings to him, even though they are hard, for the reason stated by St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
The Christian who will attain unto this blessed and happy condition is the one who will endure faithfully all the trials and tribulations that the Lord may see fit to permit to come to such. There is no promise that one may live ungodly all his years and that then, when he is about to die, he may simply call in some priest or clergyman and have a few words said over him, and then go straight to heaven. Many have been made to believe this; but the Scriptures show that one must be faithful, proving his love, loyalty and devotion to God. To such Jesus said: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
In order to do this the apostle points out what must be done, when he says in Romans 12:1, 2: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
St. Peter shows also that these must endure much. In his second epistle, first chapter, enumerating the attributes that must be developed by the Christian, he says in verses 10 and 11: “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
THE church is called the bride of Christ because she will be associated with him in his reign as the great Life-giver to the world. Addressing the church St. Paul says: “I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you a chaste virgin unto Christ.”
In Revelation 19: 7 we read: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” In Revelation 21:9 again we read: “Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s -wife.” AncJ then the Rev-elator is shown a vision of the heavenly kingdom, with Christ Jesus and His bride.
The Lord will take unto Himself His bride when all the members have been selected, tried, proven overcomers; and this He does at His second coming. A parable is given of this concerning the virgins; and the wise virgins are pictured as those true and faithful Christians who are watching and waiting for the Lord, and who are faithful and loyal to Him in every respect. This select company shall be greatly honored by being made the bride of the beloved One of Jehovah God.
And how shall His bride look? St.John answers : “It doth not yet appear-what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) As the Lord Jesus shines in glory so shall His bride likewise shine in resplendent glory. They will dwell together in the temple or house of Jehovah. Concerning this the psalmist beautifully expresses it, in Psalm 27: 4: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”
The Apostle Paul, under inspiration, writing concerning the blessed relationship between the
Head and the body of the Christ, and the honor that the bride and Bridegroom will occupy wrote in Ephesians 2:6,7: “And [God] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
That (he bride and Bridegroom shall be greatly honored of Jehovah, His prophet says: “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings' thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown' of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.”—Isaiah 62:2,3.
God loves the Lord Jesus, His Son, above all others. He is called the only begotten, the dearly beloved of Jehovah. Evidently this is true •because of the absolute loyalty and complete faithfulness of Jesus to His Father at all times. It follows then that God would not grant- the great honor of being a member of the body of Christ to anyone unless that one, under adverse conditions, proved his loyalty, his love, his faithfulness and devotion to the Lord. It must be apparent to all that this could not be proven without some experience. It must be patent on the face of it to any one who thinks, that merely belonging to some earthly organization would not constitute one a member of the church, the bride of Christ.
God inspired His prophet to write concerning His beloved Son and His glory, which He takes unto Himself at the time He begins to oust Satan from his power. In Psalm 45: 2 we read: “Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, 0 most Mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach the? terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.” ,
Then the prophet turns his attention to the bride of Christ. Jehovah being the Father, of course the bride of His beloved Sonis Jehovah's daughter. She is spoken of as honorable. Concerning her the prophet, in Psalm 45:9, says: “King’s daughters were among thy honourable women ; upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.” The gold of Ophir ■was the most precious of all the gold of Solomon and pictures the grandeur of the divine nature.
Then the psalmist, addressing the bride class, those who will become members of the church, tells her what must be done before she can attain unto her* glory, in these words found in Psalm 45:10,11: “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty; for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.”
In the fulness of time the bride is completed: and then the Lord Jesus, her Head, presents her faultless before the presence of the glory of God with exceeding joy. ( Jude 24) Based upon this and other scriptures we may draw on our imagination for a moment:
The hour has arrived for the bride and Bridegroom to be united before the heavenly throne. Amidst peals of trumpets and the strains of entrancing music He comes forth with His bride, 144,000 members, all glorious because they are like Him. They are all glorious within the palace of the King and are described by the Prophet thus, in Psalm 45:13-15: “The King’s daughter is all glorious within the palace ; her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought; they’’ shall enter into the King’s palace.” .
Then will be fulfilled the precious promise given by the Lord to those who are faithful, as it is written in Revelation 3: 21: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” And again in Revelation 2: 26: “And he that overcometh, and keepth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.”
This royal line, composed of Jesus the Head, and His bride, will constitute the King of glory. The sweet singer of Israel, speaking the words that apply to the King, as recorded in Psalm 21:1-6, says: “The king shall joy in thy strength, 0 Lord; and in thy salvation, how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips, r or thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation: honor and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.” Thus does the Lord, in beautiful poetic phrase, describe the glory and honor of Christ and His future bride.
[Station WBBR, Staten Island, New York City.—272.6 meters.)
The Gowen Age takes pleasure in advising its readers of radio programs which carry something of the kingdom message—a message that is comforting and bringing cheer to thousands. The programs include sacred music, vocal and instrumental, which is away above the average, and is proving a real treat to those who are hungering for the spiritual. Our readers may invite their neighbors to hear these programs and thus enjoy them together. It is suggested that the local papers be asked to print notices of these programs.
Sunday Morning, February 28
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10: 00 Violin Duets, Professor Chas. Rohner and Carl Park.
10:15 Sunday School Lesson, W. N. Woodworth.
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10: 35 Fred Twaroschk, tenor.
10:45 Violin Duets.
10:50 I. B. S. A. Choral Singers.
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11: 00 Bible Lecture, W. E. VanAmburgh, “The Parenthesis of Sin.”
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11: 30 I. B. S. A. Choral Singers.
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11: 40 Violin Duets.
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11: 50 I. B. S. A. Choral Singers.
Sunday Afternoon, February 28
2:00 Watchtower Orchestra.
2: 20 Fred Twaroschk, tenor.
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2: 30 Bible Instruction from World Distress Why?—The Remedy.
by M. L. Hartman.
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2: 45 Fred Twaroschk, tenor.
3:00 Bible Lecture, W. E. Van Amburgh, “Gifts and Fruits of the Spirit.”
3:30 Fred Twaroschk, tenor.
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3: 40 Watchtower Orchestra.
Sunday Evening, March 7
10:00 Watchtower String Trio, Professor Chas. Rohner, R. McKnight and George Twaroschk.
10:15 Sunday School Lesson, W. N. Woodworth.
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10: 35 Fred Franz, tenor.
10:45 Watchtower String Trio.
10:50 I. B. S. A. Choral Singers.
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11: 00 Bible Lecture, M. L. Hartman, “The Doctrine of Restitution.”
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11: 30 I. B. S. A. Choral Singers.
11: 40 Watchtower String Trio.
11: 50 I. B. S. A. Choral Singers.
Sunday Afternoon, March 7 2:00 Watchtower Orchestra.
2: 20 Fred Franz, tenor.
2: 30 Bible Instruction from World Distress Why?—The Remedy.
2:45 Fred Franz, tenor.
3: 00 Bible Lecture, W. N. Woodworth, “When Eden Blooms Again.”
3: 30 Fred Franz, tenor.
3: 40 Watchtower Orchestra.
Sunday Evening, February 28
9:00 Watchtower String Quartette.
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9: 15 Bible Questions and Answers.
10:00 Watchtower String Quartette.
Sunday Evening, March 7
9:00 Watchtower Violin Choir.
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9: 15 Bible Questions and Answers.
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10: 00 Watchtower Violin Choir.
Monday Evening, March 1
8: 00 Irene Kleinpeter, soprano.
8:10 World News Digest, compiled by Editor of Golden Age Magazine.
8: 20 George Twaroschk, violinist.
8:30 Bible Instruction from The Harp of God.
8: 40 Irene Kleinpeter, soprano.
8:50 George Twaroschk, violinist
Monday Evening, March 8 8:00 Jubilee Entertainers.
8: 10 World News Digest, compiled by Golden Age Magazine.
8:20 Jubilee Entertainers.
8:35 Bible Discussion from The Harp
8: 50 Jubilee Entertainers.
Editor of Golden Age Magazine.
Thursday Evening, March 4
8:00 Watchtower Instrumental Trio.
8:10 Vocal Selections, Ruth de Boer and Elvira Kiefer.
8:20 Bible Lecture, P. H. Harding, “Jehovah the One True God.”
8:40 Vocal Selections.
8: 50 Watchtower Instrumental Trio.
Thursday Evening, March 11
8:00 Josephine Locke, violinist.
8:10 Mrs. Benjamin Brown, contralto,
8:20 Bible Lecture, T. J. Sullivan, “God’s Invisible Kingdom Being
8: 40 Mrs. Benjamin Brown, contralto.
8:50 Josephine Ixicke, violinist.
Established.
Saturday Evening, March 6
8:00 Dr. Hans Haag, violinist.
8:15 Helpful Items from The Golden Age Magazine.
8: 25 Fred Franz, tenor.
8: 30 Dr. Hans Haag, violinist.
8:40 Bible Discussion from Comfort for the People, 8:50 Fred Franz, tenor.
Saturday Evening, March 13
8: 00 Professor Charles Rohner, violinist.
8:10 Helpful Items from The Golden Age Magazine, 8:20 L. Marion Brown, soprano.
8: 30 Bible Instruction from Comfort for the People,
8: 45 L. Marion Brown, soprano.
8:50 Professor Charles Rohner, violinist.
STUDIES IN THE "HARP OF GOD” ( JUDt^^tUraERgMlD’S )
■With issue Number 60 we began running Judge Rutherord’s new book, “The Harp of God”, with accompanying questions, taking place of both Advanced and Juvenile Bible Studies which have been hitherto published.
4WThe apostle then alhistrates the growth of a Christian by likening the entire new creation to a building, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone and the other members of the body built up in harmony with Him. He says: “If so be.ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. [Those who have been begotten of the holy spirit have tasted that the Lord is gracious.] To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as living-stones, are built up a spiritual house, .an holy priesthood, to offer up sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion.a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders' disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient.”—1 Peter 2: 3-8.
Paraphrasing these words, the apostle states that'Jesus is the chief corner-stone; He is the Head of the elect; He is the precious One. Those who believe, on Him, to such He is precious ; and those who hold fast to that belief shall not be confounded. To believe means to act by fully7 consecrating oneself to do the Lord’s will. This great One, the Lord Jesus, has been and is a stumbling-stone and a rock of offense to those who have not believed. Those who have not appreciated the fact that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and that it is a privilege to suffer with him, have been offended and turned away from Him. It is a great privilege to suffer with Christ. “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. ' .
48<iThe course of the world is directly opposite to the course of the Christian; hence the Christian finds that he must constantly put forth an effort to develop. For this reason the apostle Peter wrote: “Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue [that is, fortitude, steadfastness, being determined to stand for the truth and on
the side of right]; and to virtue knowledge [in order to do this one must study the Word of God, not only occasionally, but regularly, systematically] ; and to knowledge temperance [which means self-control, learning to control oneself under provocation, being calm, gentle, self-possessed, trusting in the Lord]; and to temperance patience [which means cheerful endurance, no matter how fiery the trials are; to endure cheerfully because it is pleasing to the Lord and because it makes a strong character]; and to patience godliness [which means to grow in the likeness of the Lord, with piety, purity]; and to godliness brotherly kindness [which means that kind and loving disposition that exists and should exist between those w’ho are really brothers]; and to brotherly kindness charity,” or love, which means an unselfish desire to do good and doing good to others even at a sacrifice to ourself.—2 Peter 1: 5-7. ,
4S7When we recognize that the course of the world is exactly opposite to this, we may know it requires a warfare, a constant vigilance, and the subjection to persecution because of misunderstanding. But if we do these things, we shall make our calling and election sure. The apostle puts it thus: “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shs.ll never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”—2 Peter 1:10,11.
QUESTIONS ON “THE HARP OF GOD”
Give a figure of speech illustrating the development of the church, with Scriptural proof of same. fl 484.
Give a paraphrase of the apostle’s words in 1 Peter 2: 3-8. fl 485. ’■
Give Scriptural proof that it is a privilege to suffer with Christ, fl 485. ■ '
What course must a Christian take as compared to the world? fl 486.
Explain the development of the Christian, as taught by St. Peter in 2 Peter 1: 5-7. fl 486.
What should a Christian do with reference to making his calling and election sure? Give Scriptural proof, fl 487.
FSeSOntmtoI
FOR THE PEOPLE
■ Peaioe' Prosperity
i Life Liberty Health
I Happiness and DESIRE
i ■
For six thousand years the standards raised by men, parties, or nations, have served only to lead the human family deeper into the quagmire of sorrow, distress and perplexity. The leaders of today-men of brilliant minds—openly admit their utter impotence to point any way out. Before them, from the ever-deepening fog, looms the shipwreck of civilization. Surely “gross darkness covers the earth” as the Bible predicts.
And now comes Judge J. F. Rutherford holding aloft in his latest work God’s Standard for the People, pointing the only way to peace, prosperity, life, liberty, health and happiness—truly man’s heart desire.
Sixty-four pages with decorative paper cover, only ten cents.
International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A.
