c&e Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE

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in this issue

WHY ANOTHER "HOLY YEAR”?

EXAGGERATED PASSION FOR THE BEAUTIFUL

MORE ON THE HARPELL CASE

BITS OF NEWS
THE RIGHTFUL DICTATOR

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every other WEDNESDAY

five cents a copy one dollar a year

Canada & Foreign 1.25

Vol.XIV-No. 354

April 12, 1933

CONTENTS

LABOR AND ECONOMICS

Wild Times Among Farmers . . 438

Relief in Pennsylvania .... 439

Evictions in New York in Ten

Months.........439

Wages of New York Teachers . . 439

Texas’ 75,000 Homeless .... 441

SOCIAL AND EDUCATION AL

Exaggerated Passion for the

Beautiful

Blown Pollen

Homeless Boys to Be Helped . . 439

Achievements of the “Holy Year”

Further Light on the ILirpell Case 447

FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

Business Failures in Tlnee Years . 439

R. F. C. Directors

Bankers as Scavengers

POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

Plea for Recognition of Russia . . 439 Forty-Hour Week in Legislation . 439 “With Bravest Apprehension^-’ . . 440 Hitler Makes Germany a

Fascist State

SCIENCE AND INVENTION

Transparent Aluminum Window Panes

Dogs Without Sleep Die in 5 Days 441

Torturing Pregnant Dogs . . . 441

Disemboweled Dogs at Toronto . . 441

A Great Medical Discovery (

Choking Kittens Scientifically . . 441

HOME AND HEALTH

Mexico Drops Vaccination . . . 440

TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY

Kidnaped the Pay-off Man . . . 439

One-Tenth of Moscow’s Churches

Remain.........439

Michigan Legion Official Goes Bad 439

Japanese Massacres near Fusb.un . 440

Palestine Found to Be Prosperous 440

Deportations from Land of Liberty 440

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

Another “Holy Year’’

of La Bottega del Papa . . . 419

“They Pay Forever!^-’ .... 430

“The Church Makes Me a

Hypocrite”........430

Liverpool Figuring on Earthquake 430

The Rightful Dictator .... 442

Published every other Wednesday at 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N, Y., L’. S. A., by WOODWORTH, KNORR & COWARD

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Entered as second-class matter at Brooklyn, N, Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

The Golden Age

Volume XIV                       Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, April 12, 1933                       Number 354

Another “ Holy Year” of La Bottega del Papa

ITALIAN papers and magazines commonly refer to the papal system as “la bottega del papa” (the pope’s shop). Every year since Christ died has been a “holy year”. There is nothing about the year beginning April 2, 1933, to mark it as specially holy. Christ never asked us to make a special splurge once every century. The pope merely seizes upon the fact that Christ died nineteen centuries ago, to help his spring trade.

The pope had one “holy year” in 1929: we have not recovered from it. Why have another so soon? The answer is that the mere upkeep of Vatican City calls for a cash outlay annually of $9,360,000, and it is desperately necessary that the money come rolling in. Times are hard in Rome, a s elsewhere, and if a big pilgrimage to the “holy city” can b e arranged it will bring in much revenue.

It may be argued that, with 334,665,000 Roman Catholics in the world, a very little from each one would suffice to keep things going smoothly; and so it would. Even 1c apiece would mean an annual revenue of $3,346,650. But times are hard everywhere; there are 97,000 church centers that have to be kept up, and much that would otherwise come to Rome is sluiced away.

The successful operation of the papal system depends upon display, showmanship, and while this can be done to a good degree by such exhibitions as were manifested at Mundelein, Carthage, Sydney and Dublin, yet Rome itself is the best place, for here is the central plant, the greatest depot for the merchandising of superstition that man will ever see.

Not only is St. Peter’s the largest church in the world, coming to the huge dimensions of 619 feet in length, 449 feet in width, and 470 feet in height, but the Vatican palace which adjoins it is the largest building of any kind in the world, having no less than 11,000 rooms, 80 grand staircases, 200 other staircases, and literally priceless furniture and works of art. The V atiean palace has been in process of construction, addition and alteration since A.D. 498. The value of the Vatican plant is set at not less than $110,000,000.

So it is necessary, on one pretext or another, to get as many as possible to come to Rome to see for themselves what a colossal show is here staged. They come; they are deeply impressed; they return home and help sell the whole idea to those that could not afford to come.

The travel of tens of thousands to and from Rome is expensive, but that expense is borne by the washerwomen, the servant girls, and the man that works with pick and shovel in the trench. It makes a nice picnic for those that take the trip; and bishops and priests enjoy picnics. When the steamer went from Italy to the Carthage exhibition none were allowed on board except the papal delegate and fellow priests.

The Relic Business

"While the relic business is only a side show of the papal circus, yet in every first-class show the side show plays an important part. People flock in there to get a close look at curiosities, and whet their appetites for what goes on in the big tent. And so, when Mr. Ratti invited the people of the world to come to Rome in 1933, he did not forget to mention the so-called ‘Roly relics'-' there to be seen. We mention some of them:

At the Vatican itself are to be seen sacred relies of the true (?) cross and the centurion’s lance that pierced Jesus’ side. In the church of Santa Groce de Gerusalemme are to be seen three pieces of the true (?) cross, the title placed over the cross, two thorns from the crown of thorns, the sponge which was filled with vinegar and gall, Jesus’ teeth and hair, a phial full of His blood, the nails that nailed Him to the tree, a piece of the veil and some of the hair of the virgin Mary, and some of the manna gathered in the desert.

In the monastery of La Verna are exhibits of some of the clay of which Adam’s body was made, the rod of Aaron, the stone seats upon which the apostles sat when the spirit came upon them at Pentecost, the table of the last supper, the swaddling clothes in which Jesus was wrapped, a stone red with His blood, a piece of the ark of the covenant, the stone on which John was beheaded, Jesus’ bed in the desert, the stone on which He knelt when He washed the disciples’ feet, and the basin and cloth which He used on that occasion. Here also are to be seen numerous bones of Peter, Paul, James, Andrew, Thomas, Barnabas, Bartholomew, Matthew and Mary of Magdala.

In the church of Santa Maria Maggiore is exhibited the cradle of Jesus, i. e., a piece of the manger in which Christ was born. In the church of St. John Lateran is a twin of the table used at the last supper; also a twin of the towel Jesus used in washing the disciples' feet. In the Turin cathedral is the robe in which Joseph of Ari-mathea wrapped the body of Christ. It was declared bogus in 1898, when last shown, but is now O.K., for the times are hard; nobody expects a side show to be on the level anyway, and money is needed to keep up with the expenses.

In other churches are shown specimens of the bread and fish gathered up after Christ fed the five thousand and four thousand. A checkup of relics is said to have disclosed that some of the apostles and martyrs had three to four heads, seven feet, and four wrist bones. AVe have no details.

2,000 Papal Bulls

There are said to be 2,000 papal bulls, all in Latin. Fifteen of the oldest of these have been photographed. They all have names. We do not know the names of them. The encyclopedia mentions Aberdeen-Angus, Ayrshire, Brittany, Brown Swiss, Devon, Dexter, Dutch Belted, Guernsey, Hereford, Holstein-Friesian, Jersey, Kerry, Long Horn, Red Polled and Shorthorn varieties.

In the bull which came out January 15, 1933, the pope, after mentioning that Rome is a center for relics, said: "Here, as you know, is preserved the table on which tradition says our Lord Jesus Christ consecrated the bread of the angels.” This was an unscriptural expression. The bread which Jesus used to commemorate His death was not the bread of the angels, but ordinary, plain unleavened bread.

We have no desire to make this article too stiff and formal. The full name of the pope is Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti, which, in English, is Achilles Ambrose Damian Ratti (or is it Rats?). To call him Ratti seems impolite; Achilles is too reminiscent of Greek mythology; Damian is Italian; but the name Ambrose is a good one; so this is really a letter to Ambrose about his business, which we identify with certainty as the greatest show on earth.

In his invitation to come to Rome, Ambrose mentions four churches, St. John Lateran, St. Peter in Vatican, St. Paul in Via Ostiense, and St. Mary Major. Visit each church three times and get a plenary indulgence for all punishment coming for sins for which pardon has been secured. As soon as you have visited one of these churches you can turn right around and visit it again, and again, and thus work in all three visits at once. Just why you must come out and go back in we do not know, but suspect that the real object is to rake in the three paid admissions.

The concession is made that if you die on the voyage, you get the same indulgence, provided you confess and communicate. We do not know what meaning is put upon "communicate” in this connection. It may be something that comes free, but we doubt it.

A Huge Enterprise

Let no one imagine that it is an easy thing to keep 334,665,000 people in line. Ambrose is 76 years of age on May 31, but is up every morning at 6: 00 o’clock and works hard until 6: 30 every night doing the things that experience shows have to be done to keep the show going properly.

All modern conveniences are at his hand; a printshop where they have six linotypes, the same number as at where The Golden Age is set; a newspaper, the Osservatore Romano, which it pains us to have to admit is not nearly as good a paper as The Golden Age; a telephone which, for Ambrose, is of gold and mother of pearl. Ours is of bakelite, but we can talk as far as he can, and are not afraid that anybody will steal it.

When he broadcasts he sits on a gilded red damask throne; we sit on an ordinary stool, and it is plenty good enough. But maybe he has hemorrhoids, so that he is not comfortable in an ordinary chair. They are said to be very painful. Probably his diet needs attention. If he will write to us about this we will make some suggestions.

When he travels he has a special three-car train for his own use. One car is for a throne room, another for a chapel, and in another one he eats and sleeps. When we travel at night we rock around in an upper berth, and glad to get it; in the daytime a day coach is plenty good enough. When Jesus wanted to go anywhere He had to walk, and so did the apostles. When we think how easy we have it, it makes us ashamed.

Ambrose has 'a standing army of 598 Swiss guards, noble guards, palatine guards and pontifical gendarmerie’ that all have to be uniformed and fed. That is besides the firemen. Their job is to strut around with the processions and watch the public and watch one another to keep down the stealage. If he lived in an ordinary house he would not even need a night watchman.

More Progressive than Most

Ambrose is more progressive than most of the popes. At one time he was an Alpine mountain climber, and something of this is still in his veins. At 73 years of age he climbed the 400-odd feet into the dome, to see the cracks which at any time may bring the whole edifice crashing in on the thousands beneath.

He negotiated for a fleet of helicopters; we do not know if they were purchased; it may have been merely to gain publicity, which is the life of the business. Or it may be that the gentleman is assuring himself that if Mussolini should have another bad spell, he could at least escape, anyway.

Ambrose has an automobile. His carriages used to have a throne in them. Up-to-date elevators are being installed, to replace the hesitating, dignified old hearses of yore. Ambrose has his own currency, coinage, post office and telegraph office.

He is thinking of heating the Vatican by electricity, manufactured in his new oil-burning electric plant. His railway, though only 600 feet long, and 300 feet of that underground, is as wide as if it were 600 miles long. The railway station is a quite pretentious structure, with a length of 180 feet.

Jesus said, ‘‘Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” When He said this He did not have reference to a "great big flock’ of 334,665,000. The management of the little flock and of the "great big flock’ are two entirely separate propositions.

So far as we know, Jesus spoke but the one language, Syriac. But when Ambrose broadcast one of his bulls he translated each Latin sentence into French and then German. No doubt he speaks Italian, Spanish and English.

At first it was published around the world that Ambrose himself would not actually broadcast; somebody else would do it for him. It is part of the business to maintain an air of great aloofness, and high and mighty mystery. The people love to be humbugged, and it was thought more would be gained by staying away from the ‘"mike”, but that was talked down.

Some Intimate Touches

Every Friday Ambrose confesses to his private confessor, the Jesuit priest Celebrano. Once a year, June 29, he goes down into the grotto beneath the cathedral and spends a few minutes in silent prayer before the place where he will be buried. On that occasion he is accompanied by torchbearers in red cloaks. Seems like a gruesome job.

There have been about 200 Dago popes, 15 French, 14 Greek, 8 Syrian, 6 German, 5 Spanish, 2 Austrian, and 1 each Portuguese, Swiss, English and Dutch. In its practical aspects the ‘"bottega del papa” is a strictly Wop racket. Its business is to make merchandise of certain mysteries supposedly based upon the Scriptures but actually in mortal conflict with them.

In 1929 Ambrose spent an entire week in “spiritual” exercises, granting no audiences during that time. This is a part of the system. In the four months July, August, September, October, Ambrose is one of the few around the Vatican who continue to work. His principal relaxation is feeding bread crumbs to a parrot.

When he took over the government of Vatican City, with its 994 citizens, he disappointed some of the cardinals by proclaiming himself dictator, and then revealed his human side by putting his nephew, Count Franco Ratti, in immediate charge of the governing work.

On January 7, of this year, Ambrose told 4,000 electric power workmen, during a special audience in the “Hall of Blessings” at the Vatican, that the pursuit of honest labor is the highest condition in which man can be; and that is the plain truth. Incidentally, this hall, which easily held 4,000 men, is only one of sixteen such halls in the Vatican palace.

Ambrose Has Wrong Idea

February 12, 1931, at the inauguration of the Vatican City radio station (11 kilowatts—11,000 watts), Ambrose started off by saying, “We, being through the high design of God, successors of the prince of the apostles.” We don’t like to irritate an older man by disagreeing with him, but, Ambrose, that is just plain wrong.

Jesus never gave Peter mastery over the others; he told them to look to Him as the Master and to be subject to one another as brethren. In the days of the apostles there was no mention of a pope. When there was a conclave or council it was James, not Peter, who did the summing up. Paul rebuked the Paulites, and would have rebuked the Peterites if there had been any to rebuke. As it was, on one occasion he rebuked Peter himself. In all his writings Peter never had anything to say about his “primacy”; he knew better.

A little later on, in the same address, Ambrose, you addressed yourself to dissidents (those that differ with you) and said, “For you every day we offer prayers to God.” That being the case, we rather wonder why it is that you so often demand an end of protestant activities in Rome. You know the Scriptures say, “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Why can you not let other people go ahead and do what they think is right? Every man stands or falls to his own master, not to you, Ambrose.

We notice in your sermon of February 26, 1933, you say, “We are firmly confident humanity will be much better off before the end of the ‘holy year’.” January 16, 1933, when the year was first announced, you said “it should lead to social, political and international peace". That makes us think of the words of the prophet, “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3) The surest guaranty we would have that mankind would be in for the worst calamities it ever faced would be to have a prediction come from Rome that great blessings are just at hand.

For example, before the “holy year” was officially declared, back on December 24,1932, you predicted that debt payments and postponements, insolvencies, disarmament and lack of confidence will cease to preoccupy the universe during the “holy year” beginning April 2, 1933. Since then we have had the worst financial shake-up in America that the country has ever known.

Your Folks Are Crooked

Your folks are crooked, Ambrose. A few years ago a group of nuns came into New England from Quebec with hundreds of yards of choice laces hidden under their capacious Mother Hubbards. They claimed that they were so innocent and so godly that they did not know what they were doing. Rats 1

The London Daily News says that in September, 1927, a Roman Catholic priest, Martin Schichti, lied about tobacco and cigars he was trying to smuggle into Britain; also a revolver and 100 rounds of ammunition.

Here in New York, in the presence of Cardinal Hayes, “Father” Middleton said, “I wonder if God the Father, as he looks down on Catholic New York, can see the image of His Son.” To get the real answer to that, all you have to do is to turn to the Literary Digest of July 3, 1926, where you will see Jimmy Walker, then mayor of New York, photographed in the same row with eight of your cardinals. Jimmy is shown to have been one of the biggest crooks we ever had in America, but his face looks open and honest compared with at least six of your eight cardinals. Two of them have fairly honest-looking faces.

Just how do you feel about Jimmy Walker, anyway? He is a product of your religion, and important enough to pose in a picture with eight of your cardinals. His wife, who has been deserted now for over four years, the other day asked for a divorce. She knows that Walker resigned as mayor because he could not do otherwise, and that he sailed on the same boat as Miss Betty Compton, New York musical comedy actress, for long his friend. They are now in Cannes, France.

We don’t like the idea of your making marquises out of our private citizens. We notice that in February and March, 1931, your Cardinal Hayes had a five weeks’ trip to Texas, Florida and back in the private car of George MacDonald, a marquis of the papal court. Maybe fares were paid, but we chance to know that this year Roman Catholic bishops go free on American railways, while the rest of us, wholly engaged in Christian work, must pay.

Why do you withhold the communion wine from laymen? Is it because the priests like it better than laymen do ? You know that Jesus said, “Drink ye, all, of it.” All of you drink all of it is what He meant. He never intended the selfish and lawless course pursued by your clergy.

Alms to Be Seen of Men

We noticed, in 1927, that it was widely published that you gave $100,000 for the relief of Mississippi flood victims. Why did you publish that? Jesus said, “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly.” —Matthew 6:1-4.

The worst of it is that the distribution of the above relief was expressly and strictly confined to Roman Catholics. You were merely taking it out of one pocket, and an American pocket at that, and putting it into another. You were also advertised as making a cash gift to Mount Saint Mary Seminary in Cincinnati. The objection to advertising this is the same. You are also advertised as giving a chalice to the cathedral in Sydney. The objection is the same.

You do not divide up these cardinalates honestly. Most of the money to run your show comes from America, yet the last we knew there were 33 Italian cardinals, and only 4 in North America and 1 in South America, all told. It looks as if you were afraid that only a Dago is crooked enough to run the show properly. And you may be right at that.

The historian T. B. Macaulay said of your system, “Among all the institutions for deceiving and oppressing mankind, it occupies the very highest place.” He had it right. There are no other people on earth as capable at operating mafias and vendettas as the Italians. It is for this reason that you insist that a majority of the cardinals be Italians, so as to keep this system in hands where it can be operated.

As to Infallibility

We understand the distinction which you make between infallibility and impeccability. You do not claim that the pope is sinless, but you do claim that God prevents him from making mistakes in doctrine. We mention some items that you can explain at your leisure.

Gregory I said that anybody would be antiChrist that would take the title of "Universal Bishop”. His successor Boniface III did that very thing. Paschalis II and Eugenius III authorized dueling; Pius IV forbade it. Hadrian II declared civil marriages valid; Pius VII condemned them. Sixtus V recommended reading the Scriptures; Pius VII condemned the reading' of them. Clement XIV abolished the order of the Jesuits; Pius VII reestablished it, and you confess to a Jesuit. Vigilius purchased the papacy from Belisarius but never paid the money. Agathon officially (ex cathedra) condemned his predecessor Honorius I for teaching heresy. Stephen VII exhumed the body of Formosus, mutilated it, and threw it into the Tiber. Sergius III murdered Christopher; John XI was his natural son by Marosia. These were all popes.

Reading in the Scriptures that “Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, today, and for ever” you naturally wish that your organization could make the same claim. Indeed, some do make it. On July 1, 1928, your “Father” Hurley, speaking in St. Francis Xavier’s Jesuit church, is alleged to have said, “If Christ were sitting in one confessional box and a priest in another, the priest could blot out sin just as effectively as could Christ” Ambrose, that all comes around through your misunderstanding of a few plain Scriptures. If Hurley knew what he was saying he was uttering blasphemy; as it is, we merely say that he is all wet.

Infant Baptism and Christmas

Infant baptism is as unscriptural as “Christ’s mass”. There is not a hint of either one in the Scriptures. We all had to laugh the other day when the queen of Bulgaria gave birth to a little daughter, and while she was still helpless her hubby rushed off and had the kid baptized in the “Orthodox” Greek church.

You put up an awful squawk. You said you had it in writing that any children of the union were to be brought up Roman Catholics. No doubt you told the truth, because you are just tyrannical enough to do a thing like that, i. e., your system is. But have you not learned yet that kings are like that bunch of ugly mugs that were pictured along with Jimmy Walker? You cannot believe a thing that they say.

You should cut out this title of “pope”. You know it means “papa”, or “father”, and it was Christ’s express command, “Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9) We notice that not only you yourself, but all those of your clergy, disobey this express command. Why do you do it? You are neither a father nor holy.

The Scriptures grant permission to bishops to be the husband of one wife, but since the reign of Gregory VII, A.D. 1075, you have done what you could to enforce celibacy in all the priesthood, forbidding them to marry. (1 Timothy 4:1-3) Nevertheless many of your priests are not celibates.

The foregoing passage says something about “commanding to abstain from meats”. You are strong for that too, but we notice that an archbishop can allow the faithful to eat sausage on Friday if he wishes, as was done recently in Texas, and as was similarly done by consent of your cardinals at Sydney, Mundelein and elsewhere. And just this past St. Patrick’s Day, which occurred on a Friday this year, the Catholics here in Brooklyn had to refrain from eating animal flesh, whereas over in New York, at the other end of the Brooklyn bridge the Catholics were given a special dispensation to eat flesh so as not to interfere with their celebrations in honor of Pat.

Why do you stick your nose into this matter of what your people eat ? Do not the Scriptures say, “Study to be quiet and to do your own business” ? The show business is your business; what they eat is their business. Why try to mix the two? You have enough to look after, running the show.

Cybele — Mother of the Gods

If you will look it up in any good encyclopedia you will see that the doctrine of the “immaculate conception^-’, proclaimed by the “pope” in 1854, and the doctrine that 'Mary is the mother of God and ascended bodily into heaven’, not only are without a shred of support in the Scriptures, but are merely the dragging into a nominally Christian church of one of the most important of the Roman heathen goddesses.

A journal called The Catholic Mother, issue of September, 1927, describes Mary as “that beloved child who alone, of all the human race, was conceived without sin”. This is entirely unscriptural.

We have befoi'e proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin: as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that under-standeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.—Romans 3: 9-12.

Mary was a good woman, an excellent woman, but she was a sinner, and in the very nature of things could not be anything else. Her father was a sinner, and her mother a sinner, the same as she. They could not help it. It was born in them, as the sparks fly upward.

The same magazine, addressing Mary as “Queen of Heaven”, says further, “Thou art the Treasurer and the Dispenser of mercies.” That too is all wrong. There is not such a word nor such a thought in the Scriptures. To Jesus alone, not to Jesus and Mary, was given all power in heaven and in earth, and Jesus alone is the Father’s Dispenser of mercies. (1 Corinthians 8:6) Why do you allow such things to be published?

An Encyclical That Is Bull

In your plea of December 25, 1931, that “Christendom” should reunite under Christ and the virgin Mary, you are asking for the impossible; for those who know even the least little bit about the Scriptures know that all this about Mary is Simon-pure error.

You describe it as the “Nestorian Heresy’’ where some contending for the truth on one point said, ‘‘Let no one call Mary the mother of God, for Mary was a human." Alan alive! that is not a heresy; it is the gospel truth; and if you were not so carried away with the show business in which you are enmeshed, and would read the Scriptures, you could see it for yourself.

You want everybody to come to the Liberian basilica and prostrate themselves before the mosaics celebrating the triumph of Mary in the Ephesian council. That is all idolatry, the worship of Cybele. You will never see it. You say in the same letter, “We take refuge in her with prayers that she instantly beseech celestial aid.” Well, we don’t. Neither’ God nor Christ Jesus needs any woman to come to them beseeching them to do right.

You say that the mother of Christ ascended bodily into heaven (though the world had to wait 600 years to find it out). It is not true. To His own chosen disciples Jesus said, “As I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come: so now I say to you.” It was as necessary for Mary to lie quietly asleep in death awaiting Jesus’ awakening her out of it as it was for an}' of the apostles.

We have a picture of you, taken at your first consistory, published in the Sunday Star of January 14, 1923. It is enough to turn the head of any man that ever lived. The throne and canopy are magnificent, some 15 feet wide and 25 feet high. The thing about it that specially strikes us is that over your head was a picture representing Mary as the “Queen of Heaven”, dominating the whole scene. God and Jesus are both absent from the picture. Apparently it was the thought of the artist that you would yourself represent them. AVhat a monstrous blasphemy! It is written, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve”; nothing is said about serving you, Ambrose.

Vain Repetitions of Prayers

You ought to know that it is an offense to God to offer overmuch prayer to Him. “God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5:2) Jesus made this matter very clear when He said: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for* they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”—Alatthew 6: 7.

In the place of these plain statements we have the most astonishing violations of their provisions by your highest officials. Thus eleven bishops in the Cincinnati district issued a joint appeal to 2,500,000 members, each to offer up prayer No. 10 about the Mexican situation. This was to be followed by “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” prayers repeated three times, a total of seven prayers for each person praying. That figures out about 17,500,000 prayers to start with.

That brings us down to the rosary prayers which were to follow. Each was asked to say at least one decade of prayers (10) on the rosary daily. That is 25,000,000 more prayers, daily. But the faithful were urged to make five decades on the rosary daily, or 50 prayers each, daily, and if all did as requested the grand total for the first day was 142,500,000; and if that is not “much speaking”, won’t you kindly tell us, Ambrose, just what you think it is?

But what happened at Cincinnati is as nothing to what happened at Sydney. The New York Times of September 8, 1928, speaking of the recorded prayers in evidence at Sydney, which prayers were to be presented to you (presumably because you represent the god of this world), said:

The volume contains a list of several billion masses, communions, benedictions and rosaries. As Cardinal Cerretti left a men’s meeting on the show ground of the Eucharistic Congress last night, 150,000 voices burst forth into the song, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow. ’ ’

The Making of a Saint

The word saint merely means “holy one”, one who is wholly devoted to Jehovah God. The epistles are addressed “to the saints which are at Ephesus” (Ephesians 1:1), “to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi” (Philip-pians 1:1), “all the saints which are in all Achaia.” (2 Corinthians 1:1) They are not addressed to somebody up in heaven.

September 6, 1929, the Associated Press circulated a lengthy dispatch from Nice telling of what it described as “the long process of having Pius X proclaimed a saint”. Maybe it is not done yet. AVhat Paul could do without hesitation to the pool’ common people of Ephesus, Philippi and all Achaia (Greece), you have to do yourself at the A’atican, and then only after a “long process”. AVhat is wrong about Pius X that you have to wait so long? And why should it be necessary to write up a book of 425 pages of evidence?

It is said to have cost over $3,000,000 to have Joan of Arc sainted. In Psalm 106:16 Aaron is referred to as “the saint of Jehovah”. The making of that saint never cost anybody a red cent. Ninety-four times in the Scriptures they are mentioned in the plural, and refer to human creatures, almost always.

If it were not so serious, this matter of deceiving and being deceived, we should have to laugh about your antics. First you made the little girl Theresa a saint; you did it yourself. Then you say that you have “never failed to invoke her in all serious problems and always with good results”. Do you mind if we laugh, Ambrose?

Of course we know, “Brosie,” why it is that this sainting business is so expensive and requires so much time. It is on account of the purgatory mix-up. The theory is that it takes time and takes money to get out of purgatory, which is all the more peculiar in view of the fact that there isn’t any such place.

Everybody who has ever looked the matter up knows that the doctrine of purgatory (including masses and transubstantiation) was invented by Gregory I, who was pope from 590 to 604 (A.D.). When Phocas murdered Emperor Maurice and himself ascended the throne, Gregory wrote, “The Almighty has chosen you and put you on the throne.” Phocas was not ungrateful, and in return established the supremacy of the see of Rome over all the other sees. See?

The Expenses of Purgatory

Nobody has ever been able to explain to us just why there is so much expense connected with this matter of getting out of purgatory, and that despite the aphorism, “High money, high mass; low money, low mass; no money, no mass.”

It seems you fellows won’t do a thing for those poor fellows that are in your “purgatory” unless they slip you something substantial. For instance, here is this gem from your Sunday Visitor of November 4, 1928: “It often happens that a person makes provision for masses for his own soul by will, and that the bequest for this purpose is released only after a whole year elapses, with the result that during the year immediately following death the soul is neglected.”

Now you claim to be Peter incarnate, or his successor, anyway, so listen to this from 1 Peter 5:2: “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.” What a scandal, therefore, for you to take a man’s good money all his lifetime, and then when he dies, and it takes a year to probate his will, you let him burn to a char without even so much as taking the fork and turning him over until you get the cash. Shame on you, Ambrose!

We can well believe what the “Reverend” C. J. McCabe, of St. Patrick’s cathedral, New York, is reported as having said (New York Times, November 5, 1928), i. e., that in purgatory “the pain is inexpressible”. It must be. How could it be otherwise, in a place that does not exist ?

How About This Indulgence Business?

Here is some advertising matter about the Pious Union of the Pardon Crucifix. It bears the O.K. of Cardinal Begin of Quebec, one of your men. It says: “Whoever carries on his person the Pardon Crucifix may thereby gain 300 days’ indulgence once a day. For devoutly kissing the Crucifix 100 days’ indulgence each time.”

Now let us suppose a man carries one of these crucifixes for sixty years and kisses it every time he takes a drink of water, which ought to be once an hour, for, say, ten hours a day. He thus gets 1,300 days’ indulgence in purgatory for each of the days of the 60 years he carries it. We thus see that for this one little job alone he gets respite from the fires of purgatory for 60 times 365½ times 1,300 days, which comes to 78,000 years. Who would not carry a crucifix and kiss it ten times a day if he knew it was going to make him more comfortable in purgatory during 78,000 of the years he would be there? How much is one of these crucifixes, anyway?

Here is another piece of advertising matter put out by The Central Association of the Miraculous Medal, Reverend Joseph A. Skelly, C.M., Director, 100 East Price St., Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa. It is approved by Cardinal Dougherty. It says in part:

All who wear it suspended from the neck, after having been invested in it by a duly authorized priest, can gain an indulgence of 100 days (applicable to the Souls in Purgatory) as often as they repeat the invocation found on the medal: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” (Pius X, July 6, 1904.) Those invested who simply carry the medal can gain an indulgence of a hundred days, each day.

Now isn’t that grand ? By a little calculation, say, for just wearing this second medal and repeating those 13 words 12 times a day for 60 years a man can get another 78,000 years of comfort in purgatory, making 156,000 years of comfort there if he never does another thing. But there are literally thousands of similar schemes, so it follows that for the outlay of a little ready cash a capable mathematician can book himself up for untold millions of years on the cool side of purgatory, and probably by that time he would be so used to the climate that he would not care whether he got out or not. O Ambrose!

Souls Insured for 25c

It was your man “Reverend” F. J. Huber, 552 Protectory Place, Pittsburgh, Pa., in his little folder entitled “The Greatest Value Ever Received for Twenty-five Cents”, that made it all clear to us about how to get a year’s insurance on a soul for twenty-five cents. In the subsection entitled “Spiritual Insurance” he said:

Safeguard your soul as you would your life and business. Wc insure our lives against death, our bodies against sickness and accident, our business against loss, our buildings against fire and storm, yet we often neglect to insure our most precious possession, our immortal soul, against spiritual mishap and subsequent eternal loss. Our Association presents a Spiritual Insurance Policy which you cannot afford to overlook. Enrollment in our Patron’s Membership will procure for you yearly the immeasurable benefits of a thousand masses, five novenas of masses and the daily prayers of our boys for 25 years. The period may be doubled, trebled, or increased as you choose. An offering of 25 cents will entitle one person to these same benefits of the Association for one year.

That doesn’t look like a very big risk. Almost anybody would be willing to put up a quarter to make sure that his soul would get a fair deal. The difficulty seems to be that nobody is sure what Reverend Huber would do with the quarter. Would he see that the soul gets honest treatment, or would he wink with one eye and stick that quarter deep down in his pants pocket (or, if he wears skirts, hide it somewhere in the ruffles) ?

We were quite struck with one place in your long radio speech in 1931, Ambrose, where you said you were going to espouse the cause of the workingman. That is real good news. If that means anything at all, it means that the “church” of which you, and not Christ, are the head, will positively refuse to accept any more money from scrubwomen, ditch-diggers, and others of the poor and lowly, to get their relatives out of the “fires of purgatory”.

We have wondered all along, Ambrose, why you did not get after this purgatorj swindle, but we realize that when a fraud is deep-seated, and has been running along for hundreds of years, and there is good money in it, and the fellows that are working the scheme do not know how to do any kind of honest work, it is awfully hard to do anything in the way of reform. But you had better try it, anyway, for the whole show is going to break up soon, and when it does fold up, you will naturally want friends and a job.

Liberty and the Weaker Sex

We notice in your letter of February 8, 1930, that you want the Soviet government to grant your folks freedom of conscience, liberty of worship, and inviolability of church property. That shows that you appreciate liberty, and you ought to know that others do. We write it into the record.

On May 1, 1929, in an interview with Cardinal O’Connell, of Boston, you are alleged to have said that “Catholics in the United States should be extremely happy to be enjoying religious liberty, because that was all that the church asked”.

We are not so sure about that. Your folks have had our folks locked up time and time again, and for no reason. That is something you will have to explain to Jehovah God sometime, Ambrose. Meantime, this is just to tell you that we shall exercise all our rights, anyway.

We should think you would be ashamed to try to interfere with the dress of young girls, with their athletic exercises, and, after they are married, with their most intimate and wholly private conjugal affairs. Why is it that you and the other priests cannot stand it to look at a girl’s dimpled elbows or to sec her in athletic togs ? Shame on you, Ambrose!

When it comes to deciding how many children a man and woman should have, it would seem that if there is anything in this world that is their own business, that comes pretty near being it. You have some inspired advice on this subject : “Study to be quiet, and to do your own business.”—1 Thessalonians 4:11.

We know that your “church” urges all procreation possible, caring nothing about indecent homes or the number of sick, feeble-minded or deformed, but other people do care. They want children, but not more than they can take care of. If you and your fellow priests are so excited about the subject, why don’t you get married? You have 24,990 unmarried priests in the United States alone. You tolerate about contraceptive practices’ being unnatural, but it is unnatural for you to use spectacles and a razor, and you do both.

The Custodian of Morals (?)

We notice that in the year 1931 you made the claim that yours is “the Catholic Church to whom God has entrusted the defense of the integrity and purity of morals”. Did you think of Jimmy Walker and Tammany Hall when you ■wrote that?

July 2, 1928, Bertha Byron fell thirty feet while trying to escape from the Roman Catholic House of the Good Shepherd, Hunting Avenue, Boston. Her recovery was despaired of. In May, 1929, two young women tried to escape from a house of the same name, Peekskill, N. Y. One sustained a fractured skull, broken hip, fractured elbow, several broken toes, a broken ankle, and deep laceration of the forehead.

August 3, 1930, seven young women battled police and nuns almost an hour in Philadelphia, trying to escape from a house of the same name in that city. One of these girls almost choked a policeman to death in her mad desire to escape. Wonder why she wanted to get away from such a “Christlike” atmosphere. The Toronto House of the Good Shepherd produced laundry work of the value of $100,000 in the year ending September, 1927. Ambrose! Ambrose!

In Spain a father shot four nuns to death because they had hung his daughter in the convent. At Namaesti, Rumania, February 27, 1933, forty nuns beat to death a priest that tried to rape one of their number, a beautiful girl of 20. A nun divulged to her aged mother that she herself was the mother of 12 children, none of which she had ever seen.

On Good Friday of the “holy year” Ambrose presided in the Sistine Chapel. A New York photographer brought in photographs of the paintings in this chapel and was served with a notice that they were held as obscene, and asking him to show cause why they should not be destroyed. That was as silly as for you to insist that all women who see you must have high collars and long sleeves. What is wrong with you, Ambrose?

Not in Politics

You are always ready to swear by all that is holy that you are not in politics, and if that were the truth we would commend you for it. The apostle says, “Touch not the unclean thing”; and if there is anything more unclean than politics we do not know what it is, unless it be the system over which you preside.

What folly to say you are not in politics, when for more than a thousand years, you have been wrestling for control of earth’s civil governments, and even now maintain diplomatic relations with forty sovereign states.

It is probably true that you do not wish a place in the League of Nations. Most of the nations in the League are Catholics, and you do not wish to be involved in their quarrels.

We have not yet forgotten that when your man Cardinal Bonzano visited this city the great aldermanic chamber of the city of New York was temporarily converted into a Catholic cathedral; and the chair officially designated for the president of the board of aidermen was converted into a temporary papal throne.

And when your man Cardinal Cerretti went to Sydney, thousands knelt in the streets when he went into the town hall, and when the big show was on the very trains in the subway itself were stopped running. If you are not in politics why don’t you tell your men to keep away from city halls, town halls and other places where they have no business and where you have none?

You may not be in politics, but we wonder if it is just accident or deep design that at the moment the British ambassador to France is a Roman Catholic, and the British ambassador to America is also a Roman Catholic. You are alleged to be one of the master politicians of the world, and we wonder if it is not better politics for you to say you are not in politics, and to be in them up to your neck, than it would be for you to say that you are in politics and then to be only halfway in. A man inside a safe can clean it out more thoroughly than a man who is only halfway in.

Levites Had No Lands

When Israel went into the promised land the Levites were given no possessions in it. God said to them, “I am thy part and thine inheritance”; and that is the best part anybody can have. But, Ambrose, you and your folks have not been content with anything like that. You have wanted real estate, and lots of it. In the middle ages you had half of Italy, with other huge holdings in Franco, Spain and elsewhere.

You profess to think you are the personal representative of Christ, but He never did and never would do such things as you do. Do you suppose you could get Him to throw a dinner for “seventy diplomats, all wearing uniforms with their decorations’’ and all "grouped in order of precedence”.’

Just recently you put one over on Italy. For 1,116 years you tried to have your law, the so-called ^<,'cauon” law, installed as the governing law of Italy, and you finally got your desire. Mussolini took it on the chin and went down and out. Nevertheless you had better look out for him.

If you are not in politics how does it come that the recent national chairman of the Democratic party, John J. Raskob, is your private chamberlain, your Knight of St. Gregory and your Knight of Malta? And once again we remind you of Jimmy Walker. Samuel Seabury showed your whole Roman Catholic administration of New York city one reeking mass of corruption from top to bottom, and by “top” we mean you. “No man can serve two masters.”

In the new deal in Germany Hitler is a Catholic, vice chancellor von Papon is a Catholic, former chancellor Bruening is a Catholic, the minister of posts and transportation von Eltz-Rue-benach is a Catholic, and Dr. Paul J. Goebbels, the head of the newly created ministry of Propaganda and Popular Enlightenment, is a Catholic. Is that all by accident or by design?

Your very title “pontiff” is a political one. When Julius Caesar became master of the Roman world he was made “pontiles maximus” (“chief bridge builder") for life. Your predecessors grabbed the title when your system became “the ghost of the Roman empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof’’.

The Way of Peace

The Catholic News, in its issue of February 16, 1929, says of your words, at the time you regained your temporal power, that they are “the sure, unwavering light leading the individual in the way of eternal truth and nations in the way of peace”. If that is so, why is it that you have to have an army of about 600 men around you all the time ? We understand that your personal bodyguard consists of 10 officers and 110 men.

The very same paper, on the very same date, that told about your guiding the nations in the way of peace, said that you had blessed the troops and the Fascist militia. Blessed them for what ? In 1920, when you were “papal nuncio” in Poland you blessed the Polish guns and troops for an invasion of Russia, with the natural result that they got licked out of their shoes. You also blessed the Italian Alpine troops.

The Daily Times Star of September 29, 1927, lets fall the sentence: “The pontiff showed the keenest satisfaction at seeing so many American Legionnaires and thanked them for their desire to see him.” Why, if you are for peace, are you such a lover of the trappings of war?

We notice, too, that, when your man Cerretti was in Sydney, “during the procession through the city to the cathedral, the massive canopy above the sacred host (the little piece of bread) was borne by Australian soldiers, each of whom won the Victoria Cross in the World War.” If you are for peace, why glorify the soldiers? “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

We noticed in the Chicago Daily News of August 29, 1927, that some of Chicago’s business men, in their desperate desire to see better conditions in their city, appealed to you to have the crime gangs cleaned up. We think they went to the right shop to get the work done. Most gangsters are members of your “church”.

How About Alexander’s Monument?

In one of the big churches in the city of Rome there is a monument to the memory of “His Holiness Alexander VI”. This man, you will remember, had seven acknowledged bastards, and among his concubines numbered his own daughter. Like his daughter Lucretia, he was a splendid mixer of the death potion “cantarel-la”. He had all arrangements made to poison nine cardinals at one sitting, when somebody shifted the glasses and he was one of the ones bumped off. Why don’t you take Alexander’s monument down, Ambrose?

You are supposed to have received 2,000,000,-000 lire from Italy for settlement of your rights of sovereignty. That is a lot of money, something like $105,000,000, but you are in a bad business. The Mexican government officially accused you (your system) of murdering their president, Obregon.

strongly that you are a liar in some of the things you said about them. We do not know as to that, not understanding Spanish, and Latin but indifferently. If they say you lied, then we presume you lied, for our experience confirms the statement of your former priest, William Hogan.

You remember Mr. Hogan said, on page 172 of his book Popery: “I pronounce all Roman Catholic priests, bishops, popes, monks, friars and liars that ever infested this or any other country, or disgraced the name of religion.”

For a concrete illustration of how one of your publications, Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, Indiana, lied about Judge Rutherford, and about our friend Maria Neuffer, formerly “Mother Raphael” in several of your convents, see our issue of February 3,1932.

(To be continued)

“They Pay

AN ADVERTISEMENT of the Franciscan

Friars of the Atonement, Graymoor, Garrison, N. Y., carried on the back cover of The Lamp, bears the title “They pay forever”. And when you come to think of it, it is a wonderful thing that they do, but they still continue to pay, and pay, and pay, as long as there is a cent in the house.

But wait! Maybe we have not the right thought. Maybe it is not the poor servant girls and other unfortunates that are forever paying a bunch of idle, useless, well fed and well saturated priests, but somebody else does the paying. Wonder who it could be. We read on, and then we get the light all at once. It says:

Yes, forever! The Rock-of-Peter Annuity Bonds pay you cash dividends as long as you live and then, when your need for material things is past, they begin to pay spiritual dividends.

Ah! That is it. You send in the cash, your whole wad. The more you send in, the better. And then, at rates ranging from 5 percent to 73/2 percent per annum, you get some of it back until you die, when, of course, you won’t want it any more. But the payments don’t stop. Not a bit of it. Every month, if we have the right idea, Peter sends you a check written on asbestos paper with fireproof ink, and you can exchange these for ice-cold drinks if you can find any place where they sell them in the place where you are going.

But the chances are that you will be carrying those checks around with you till you get out, trying to find somebody to cash them or else trying to locate the man that gave them to you. But you won’t be able to do either. Do you suppose Peter is going to muss his temper all up visiting such a place, and run the constant risk of being hounded by people that want their money back 1 Of course, after you get to heaven you won’t need the checks, but they will keep right on com-

Forever!”

ing for ever and ever and ever. Why should we tell you that you are going to get them for ever if you are not?

Liverpool Figuring on an Earthquake

ON MONDAY, June 5, the foundation stone for the new Roman Catholic cathedral at Liverpool will be blessed and laid. It is announced that it will take the personal attendance of two cardinals and forty bishops to handle the thing properly. How long it will be after the blessing before the bottom falls out of the place which is blessed is all a matter of guesswork, but, after what happened to Nobile’s airship, it ought not to take long, a few’ hours at most. Meantime, if you are afraid of earthquakes, better stay away from Liverpool until after June. It is risky enough to be blessed by just one Roman Catholic dignitary, but to have forty-two of them on the job is just too much of a muchness for any use whatever. The cathedral will cost $15,000,000, and have 40 chapels. Appropriately, it is being built on the site of the old workhouse.

“The Church Makes Me a Hypocrite”

WRITING in the London Daily Herald, but requesting that his name be not published, a clergyman of the Church of England is quoted as saying: “It is not a nice thing to have to confess hypocrisy. Yet in so far as hypocrisy means 'acting a part’, the Church of England is making me a hypocrite of the deepest dye. There is more venom to be found in the editorials of many ecclesiastical publications than in whole columns of the secular press.” This gentleman seems to have the right idea. Now, when all the rest of them in his line of business get it, and they think of some other way to make a living, what a wonderful world it will be!

Exaggerated Passion for the Beautiful

IT SEEMS to be a law of nature that it is the men that have the most exaggerated passion for the beautiful, and that are willing to sacrifice even life itself to have it in their possession. Adam was not deceived; he forfeited everything that he might have, even temporarily, the beautiful Eve. Some of the angelic sons of God lost their poise when they saw how fair were the daughters of men. (Genesis 6:1,2) Hence it is the men that will be chiefly interested in this article. If curiosity leads some of our women subscribers to read, it is not our fault; it is not for them, but for the men.

It is literally true that God ‘‘hath made every thing beautiful in his time’’. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) Every tree, and flower, and star and face is different from every other tree, and flower, and star and face, but there is beauty in every line of every one of them. Every sky is a panorama sublime, and every landscape a picture gallery; and all are different.

The natural result of the union of men and women who love each other unselfishly is that their children will be beautiful, well and happy; and the greater the degree of love between the parents, the more beautiful the children will be. God is the Author of the laws of biology, and rewards in a fitting manner those who shape their course in accordance therewith.

How inconceivably exquisite is “the beauty of Jehovah our God” (Psalm 90:17) we cannot even imagine, though we all hope that some happy day we may have such eyes as will enable us to behold it.—Psalm 27: 4.

The Scriptures do not hesitate to mention the beauty of the two morning stars: the Logos, “fairer than the children of men” (Psalm 45: 2), “altogether lovely” (Canticles 5:16), and Lucifer, “perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:12) as he emerged from his Maker’s hands.

Various men are mentioned. “Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured” (Genesis 39:6); Moses was “a goodly child” (Exodus 2: 2), “a proper child” (Hebrews 11: 23) of such worthy and loving parents; David was “of a beautiful countenance” (1 Samuel 16:12); and “in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him”.—2 Samuel 14: 25.

The Holy Anointing Oil

The holy anointing oil mentioned in the thirtieth chapter of Exodus, and there described as composed of myrrh, cinnamon, calamus and cassia, was to be used only upon Aaron and upon his sons. It was to be compounded for that purpose only. Whoever would compound any like it, or use it for any other purpose, was to be put to death. It was for these men, exclusively. This was “the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments”. (Psalm 133:1,2) Our readers know well what this holy anointing oil represented. The point we here make is that it was used as a perfume on men, not women, and that by divine direction.

We have the instance of the perfume poured out upon Jesus. He was the guest of honor, His disciples sharing with Him. Martha and Mary, with Lazarus, were hostesses. The supper had progressed, when Mary entered with a vial of very expensive perfume, the contents of which she poured upon the head of Jesus. She subsequently poured a portion of the same perfume upon His feet. The house was filled with the perfume. The statement of Judas that the perfume was worth three hundred pence is probably not an extreme valuation. At a time when the silver penny represented a day’s labor, three hundred pence would practically represent the labor of a year. Sixteen dollars per ounce, sometimes more, has been paid for attar of roses; and history tells us of fabulous prices paid for perfumes in the past. Everybody that ever loved the Lord has been glad that Mary poured this perfume upon His head and feet.

Other men have occasionally used a dash of perfume. There is nothing wrong in it. The Lord made it, expecting it would be used somewhat. There is not a first-class barber shop but that keeps a small bottle of it and the customer is given a chance to say if he wants it used after a shave or hair cut, and sometimes he gets it whether he asks for it or not.

Along Here the Ice Is Thin

Along here the ice is thin. No man wants to be so homely that when he looks at a clock it stops running, but if he is a real man he would rather be as homely as that than to be effeminate. And there will be no effeminate men in the kingdom of God. God made men to be men.

Customs change. In their day Washington,

Franklin, Hamilton, and especially Jefferson, used plenty of powder and perfume and thought nothing of it; but today, a man who, outside of a barber shop, would powder and use much perfume would be considered a sissy and a sap. Beauty in a man, in a beauty parlor sense, is considered a handicap.

Proprietors of beauty shops report that an increasing number of young men invade their parlors for Marcels, facial treatments, hair dyeing, and even for permanent waves. On account of the unreasonable prejudice against gray hair, some men go regularly to have their hair dyed, usually dark brown.

In July, 1929, a New York barber said to a customer, “That’s a terrible sunburn you’ve got. Let me fix it for you.” The customer agreed, and the barber kept him in the chair an hour longer, charging him $7 for the> treatment, a beauty parlor price. But the customer got sore, believing he had been imposed upon (as indeed was the case), entered suit, and when the judge on the bench saw the bill he ordered the $7 returned.

In 1928 the Chicago Association of Ice Industries carefully selected their men with a view to having icemen with good looks and charming manners. We don’t know how they made out. Many women are inclined to help a fine-looking man make a fool of himself; an unnecessary assistance, often. One reason there are so many saps in the ministry is that fond mammas have thought of their nicer-looking but less intelligent boys as to what a fine show they would make in the pulpit. And if they haven’t done it! And how!

Meantime the scarecrows of the world have been doing most of its important and worthwhile work. They knew they couldn’t get any cheers for their features, so they just forgot them and did something else besides dressing up in laces and furbelows and trying to charm the women of the community by droning out meaningless prayers and wailing out platitudes in the tone adopted by a dog when the fleas are biting.

“The Daughters of Men”

The first time anything is said in the Scriptures about the daughters of men as being fair to behold is where it mentions that the discovery of how attractive they were upset some of the angels of God. That seems to provide a fairly reasonable explanation of why a man that is sensible and level-headed about everything else will so readily allow a few pounds of avoirdupois in a skirt to make an absolute fool of him.

Sarah, the wife of Abraham, was so beautiful that she took the Egyptian court by storm when she was sixty-five years of age, and even when she was ninety she made the heart of Abiinelech, king of Gerar, go pitapat so that he seems to have thought she was but about nineteen. Sarah is not the only woman that made a fool out of a king, but we may safely say she was the first one to duplicate the performance at the age of ninety.

Rebekah was “very fair to look upon”. (Genesis 24:16) Of course she was. And, after he got over being shy, that made it very easy for the old bachelor, Isaac, to take his medicine. “Rachel was beautiful and well favoured” (Genesis 29:17), and the same verse says that Leah her sister was “tender eyed”. So much for Jacob. The patriarchs all seem to have been partial to what are sometimes called “goodlookers”.

Esther was “fair and beautiful” (Esther 2:7), and as Ahasuerus (Xerxes), after all, was only a man, it is easy to figure out what effect it had on him. Abigail was “of a beautiful countenance”. (1 Samuel 25: 3) She was one of David’s wives. Bath-sheba was “very beautiful to look upon”. (2 Samuel 11:2) She was another one; and the less said, the better. Poor Uriah! He is not the only man of principle who had a wife too beautiful for her station in life. Didn’t Lilian Langtry make a fool out of Edward VII? But why prolong the list? It reaches from Adam even unto the present.

“Beauty Is Vain”

“Beauty is vain.” That was Solomon who said that. (Proverbs 31: 30) He ought to know. He had a thousand chances to find out. At the beginning of his reign he rated Abishag, who “was very fair” (1 Kings 1:4), as of more importance to him than the life of his brother Adonijah (1 Kings 2:13-25), though it is probable that the latter deserved what he received. In later years he advised young men “to keep thee from the evil woman. . . . Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids”.—Proverbs 6: 24, 25.

It is apparently not about men that the following is written: “In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and the [networks], and the crescents; the pendants, and the bracelets, and the mufflers; the headtires, and the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the perfume-boxes, and the amulets; the rings, and the nose-jewels; the festival robes, and the mantles, and the shawls, and the satchels; the hand-mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the veils.”—Isaiah 3:18-23, R.V.

Peter was married, but not for that reason, but for a spiritual reason, he counseled some in his day, “Your adornment ought not to be a merely outward thing—one of plaiting the hair, putting on jewellery, or wearing beautiful dresses. Instead of that, it should be a new nature within—the imperishable ornament of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is indeed precious in the sight of God. For in ancient times also this was the way the holy women who set their hopes upon God used to adorn themselves.”—1 Peter 3:3-5, Weymouth.

There is no record that Peter was ever in Londinium, as London was then called, but if he had been he could have found at the apothecary’s “Lucius Julius Senis’s Saffron Salve for Roughness” and four different beauty preparations, all put up and sold by T. Vindacius Aro-vistus. Cosmetics three thousand years old were found in the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen.

In the Middle Ages, Lucretia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI (one of his seven acknowledged bastards), not only was like her father, an adept at mixing poisons, but in her time was a famous beauty specialist. She treated her face with white of egg and sugar candy rubbed on. She washed her teeth in a concoction of rosebuds, citron pips, pine cones, clay and wine. She painted her face with mercury sublimate and white lead. This worked all right until someone chewed saffron and breathed it on her, when she turned bright yellow, while garlic turned her black.

Was Jezebel the First Calciminer?

We cannot be sure that Jezebel was the first calcimine artist. We do know that “she painted her face, and tired her head” (2 Kings 9:30) and tried to make a hit with Jehu, but without marked success. The dogs got her instead. But if she was the first, she was not the last.

A British lord justice fulminated from the bench against “those people with plenty of money and no brains, who are ready to spend that money in attempting to improve the face that Providence has given them”. But he might as well have saved his breath. If for any reason a woman thinks it advisable to don the war paint, who is he that shall hinder ? The women of ancient Egypt reddened their lips and darkened their eyes. If you want to know why they did it, ask them.

Complexion means considerable to a woman. It was her matchless color that made Lilian Langtry able to marry into one of the oldest families in England at the age of forty-seven and to draw crowded houses as an actress in America at the age of sixty-seven. A New York beauty who made her living as a model had her appearance ruined by a varnish truck, and the courts allowed her $55,000 damages.

Clothes, the right kind, make a big difference to a woman. An experienced woman advises office girls to wear dark blues, dark greens and black, with long sleeves. Collars and cuffs, if worn, must always be fresh; shoes brushed and not run down at the heels; seams in stockings straight; hands always clean and nails manicured; hair perfectly coiffured. She says further: “If you can contrive to have stockings, gloves and bag match, without owning too many of each, you will do much toward lending distinction to your appearance.” That all sounds like good common sense.

The Catholic church has a lot to say about women’s fashions. Not being interested in the Scriptures, the clergy feel that they have to do something that will have a religious smack to it. The vast number of Roman Catholic foundlings in institutions convenient to convents indicate the practical aspects of the question. Priests are men; nuns are women.

Figure means much to a woman, and the knowledge of that fact leads to more and more display of comeliness that once was hidden. In Port Jervis six years ago five young women were arrested because they appeared on the streets without stockings; but it would not be done now. Indeed, nobody would think anything of it. When first used, the one-piece bathing suit was considered shocking; now it is accepted as a matter of course.

If You Will Use Cold Cream

We can talk freely to you men, for you don’t look like anything, anyway. But if you use cold cream excessively, this is just to tell you that its excessive use serves to enlarge the pores of the skin and make it wrinkle early. And when the barber shaves you, better have him go easy on the talcum powder. Most powder preparations for the skin are injurious; they often contain poisonous substances and clog the pores of the skin, interfering with its natural functions. Why hasten the scarecrow epoch?

We say to you men that not infrequently women use barber's talcum powder and find it as nicely perfumed and every way as satisfactory as their own powders, and cheaper, too. They get more for the money.

But back to the cold creams. That found in the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen was analyzed and found to be composed of bear’s grease, melted with pine needles, to give it a pleasant odor. A better variety was made by Galen, the 'father of pharmacy’, and is still in general use.

As a cleansing cream for the skin (World Almanac recipe): Spermaceti, ounce; white wax, 14 ounce; sweet almond oil, 2 ounces; rose water, 2 ounces; borax, 1 dram. Dissolve the spermaceti and wax over a slow fire, stir in the sweet almond oil. Then add the rose water, in which has been dissolved the borax. Whip the entire mixture until it is cold.

As a nourishing cream for the skin (World Almanac recipe) (to correct lines, wrinkles and crow’s-feet): Anhydrous lanolin, 3 ounces; pure cocoa butter, 3 ounces. Dissolve the cocoa butter and slowly add to it the lanolin, stirring the mixture until cold. At night, pat the feeding cream into the skin; it should remain on for at least half an hour.

Astringent lotion for the skin (World Almanac recipe): Tincture of benzoin, 14 ounce; rose water, 2 ounces; oil of bergamot, 3 drops. To the rose water add the tincture of benzoin, drop by drop, next the oil of bergamot, drop by drop, and bottle. After removing cleansing cream or nourishing cream, pat the astringent lotion into the skin. It closes the pores and firms the tissues.

Astringents and Face Powders

Other astringents are alum, camphor, ice, grain alcohol, rose water, elder flower water, orange flower water, witch-hazel, benzoin and lemon juice. The last named is also a bleach. Astringents are necessary to make flesh firm which would otherwise be flabby. The body tends to lean in whatever direction it is helped. Aid the flesh with astringents and it wants them regularly. The output of toilet preparations has multiplied six times in America in the last ten years.

An old-time recipe for an astringent and whitening lotion: Shake together in a bottle: 3 teaspoonfuls of tincture of benzoin, 8 tablespoonfuls of rose water, 6 tablespoonfuls of glycerin, and 2 tablespoonfuls of witch-hazel.

A recipe for keeping the hands soft and velvety : Take a pair of untanned kid gloves a size too large. Turn them wrong side out and dip in a preparation made by mixing the yolk of two fresh eggs into two soupspoonfuls of sweet almond oil, the same amount of rose water, and one of tincture of benzoin. When the gloves are almost dry, turn them right side out, blow the fingers to prevent them from sticking together. Lay in a cool place until bedtime and wear at night. Use oatmeal or almond paste instead of soap, to cleanse the hands.

The best face powder is said to be not talcum, not rice powder, not starch, but the powdered shells of diatoms, sometimes called diatomaceous earth. This earth, found in quantity at Carlin, Elko county, Nevada, is also shipped to South Africa and used to take off the haze that is left on the diamond before polishing. It is also used for fine concrete products and linings for furnaces.

The Best-looking Women

The best-looking women don’t either paint or powder; they don’t have to, and they keep their youth a generation longer than others. A famous Kentucky girl was so beautiful that when she visited New York she had to wear a veil to prevent a crowd of admirers from following her wherever she went. Why should such a woman paint or powder?

But others think they have to. A long-faced girl puts rouge on her chin to make her face look shorter. One with a sharp, thin face puts a tiny spot of paint high on the check-bone and light powder on the rest of the cheeks. One with protruding eyes rouges the eyelids and with an eyebrow pencil makes a faint dark line in each outside corner. The girl with a broad, short face uses light powder around mouth, chin and nose and darker powder on the cheeks; it changes the “flat” effect. And so on.

More than two hundred years ago British newspapers carried the story of an angry man who threatened to leave his wife because he discovered that she had fooled him entirely in his admiration of bosom, lips, cheeks, forehead, neck, arms and hair. All that was genuine was a clever pair of eyes. Women who paint in public do it to attract attention to themselves. They succeed. A garlic-eater also attracts attention to himself. Most men hate a primper, and, for that matter, hate paint and powder altogether.

Your grandmother, when she went to a party, had three or four elaborately cut out patches of black court plaster, on her right check if a Whig, and on the left if a Tory. These decorations were common in the days of the Romans. In the Samoan Islands beauty patches that shine at night, made of thin luminous fungus, are sometimes worn by the women.

Lipsticks were used in China in 1730. ‘•'Twenty-five years ago,” says the New York Times, “no nice woman used rouge. Today no detail that can be touched up is left to nature. No one should resent the youthful appearance of modern women, but it would be pleasant to see a little more variety.” And that is putting it kindly and mildly. Most women today, with their vermilion lips and painted cheeks, look like the coarse-colored prints which we call chromos. The color is there, but the artificiality spoils it all.

The Masculine Viewpoint

Women don’t put on paint and powder to please the men, for it is well known that the men don’t like it; they put it on to please themselves. The way a man views it is succinctly expressed in a statement credited to one of them, that “in the eyes of a regular fellow a good-looking girl does not need to use it, and a girl who is not good-looking looks worse with it on”.

Women who desire it can have their cheeks and lips tattooed, and, sick or well, they always look the same, and if there is anything that will make a woman look more like hades just as they ring the first rising bell, it has yet to be found. And it costs $75; at least that is the price in London. It ought to cost $75,000,000.

It is said there has been a recent improvement in lipstick flavors; but how any man would want to try to find out about them passes comprehension. Most men would just as soon kiss a freshly painted door jamb. Paris sells a combination watch and lipstick. When the lipstick is turned up for use, the movement winds the watch.

Puffed or purple lips indicate heart trouble or other disorders which need attention. If painted, they conceal truths important to be known. Safflower, a plant used by the Chinese for dye purposes, mixed with ordinary chalk, forms a natural rouge.

Two British girls saved their lives in Kenya with a lipstick. Their plane cracked up, and with the lipstick they wrote a note to Nairobi, fifty miles away, telling of their location and their predicament.

Removal of Blemishes

In a beauty contest a Chicago girl with freckles liberally sprinkled over face, arms and shoulders was the choice for Illinois; so freckles are no longer blemishes. It is claimed they can be removed by lathering the face with pure soap and then, with a soft little scrubbing brush, rub away at the skin until the top skin peels off, taking the freckles with it. Rinse thoroughly in several waters, and in the last one, of warm water, put a tablespoonful of pure glycerin. But why remove the telltale advertisement of an unusually fine complexion? White freckles (or leucoderma, or white skin) are irregular patches of white where the pigment of the skin is destroyed. Nothing can be done to rectify this innocent and harmless lack of coloration.

To avoid a double chin sleep on a small pillow or no pillow at all, and when you read hold your book up and away from you. Swimming is good. Standards of beauty vary greatly in different parts of the world. Mohammedans like to see their women folks plump; the plumper, the better. Africans are the same, while in the Western world, and in China and Japan, the women starve themselves to keep thin. Such are the ways of men’s complements.

Sunburn is becoming to men and not to women. It yields to calamine, 2 drams; zinc oxide, 2 drams; phenol, 5 drops; pure glycerine, 1 dram; rose water, 2 ounces; lime water, 4 ounces. Mop the lotion freely over the ailing skin and it will be found soothing, cooling and healing. (World Almanac recipe)

To remove blackheads, steam the face by repeatedly applying a hot face cloth. When the face gets sufficiently heated, most of them can be readily removed, with a handkerchief covering the finger tips, and the more stubborn ones can be left till the next day, when they will come too.

Dangers in Cosmetics

George Starr White, M.D., famous Los Angeles physician, states that within a period of sixteen months he came in contact with six young women made totally blind from the use of face cosmetics, and within one year treated two dozen women for face troubles caused by face powders.

Under the head of “Beauty Destroying Parlors” the magazine Health Culture, after pointing out that the only real beauty anybody can have is their own hair and features and a clear, smooth skin, says: “The beauty parlor range of facial treatment consists mainly of skin peelings, that are produced by caustics and escha-rotics, such as carbolic acid, resorcin, and salicylic acid, in tinting or painting the skin with aniline dyes, and of filling in skin depressions by injecting melted paraffin: these methods and some others, such as burning out wild hairs by electric treatment, face bleaching, face steaming', face lifting, wearing of facial poultices, facial night masks, spraying the features with hot air, trimming and penciling the eyebrows, painting the lips and powdering. Every form of treatment is trite and foolish.”

Concerning “face lifting”, Dr. White says: “Cutting the skin and drawing it up will give a temporary ‘baby look’ to the face, but that never lasts long. I have known of very many deaths following this ‘face-lifting’ operation, no matter how skillful the operator may have been. It is never a safe operation. Cultivate a smiling disposition and the face will naturally ‘lift.’”

Ten or twelve years after paraffin has been injected under the skin it has to be removed in the form of a tumor. The skin ovei’ it gradually breaks down and particles of paraffin are gradually extruded until finally the whole mass becomes unsightly and has to be removed.

Lip rouge made of white lead has been found; it is poisonous. Mercury has also been used for cosmetics, and it too is poisonous. There are women arsenic-eaters. The arsenic positively removes facial blemishes, and, after a little while, removes the face itself from among its fellows.

Doctor Fishbein’s Statement

Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is accredited with saying: “Ten million Americans each year, mostly women, are losing health instead of finding beauty and youth, as the result of falling into the hands of ‘beauty quacks.’ Many will carry scars to the grave.” We do not usually agree with Doctor Fishbein, but no man can be wrong in everything, and this statement may be partly true.

London doctors are said to disapprove the craze of tattooing the lips, but “approve, however, the custom among women here of late to have some dainty little device, usually a butterfly, tattooed over disfiguring scars.” Probably Doctor Fishbein would approve of that; for he is a strong believer in vaccination. But why implant disfiguring scars on a beautiful arm ?

Dr. Frederic Bordas, French Minister of Hygiene, says that in many beauty shops surplus flesh is pounded and bruised to make it disappear; and Dr. Eugene Lyman Fiske, of the New York Life Extension Institute, says that this craze for slim figures runs many women into tuberculosis, turns them into nervous wrecks and destroys the beauty it was intended to conserve.

To make her neck longer a Burmese belle wears a 12-pound brass collar. It elongates her neck about two inches. She also wears heavy brass anklets, the two of them weighing eight pounds. Chinese women once cramped their feet until they were but the size of a babe’s. Some African women insert disks six to eight inches in diameter in both lips. Certain savages, and some others, wear earrings.

Dr. Charles W. Pabst, chief dermatologist of the Greenpoint Hospital, Brooklyn, says that the lead in some face powders causes eczema and that the “remover” provided by the manufacturer contains alcohol or ether in such strength that it would take the paint off an automobile. He declares that there has been an increase of 50 percent recently in the number of skin diseases resulting from the use of cosmetics.

Laundrymen complain that when women retire with certain cosmetics on their faces, the pillow cases are ruined. They cannot be restored to whiteness except by operations that rot them.

A recent book on cosmetics covered 1,000 pages, 300 of which were devoted merely to a consideration of the raw materials now employed. The women of America alone are spending $1,825,000,000 a year for artificial aids to beauty, which, of itself, seems to justify our giving this subject attention in one issue of The Golden Age.

The Fashion of Short Hair

The fashion of short hair was set by men, not women. The Paris hair dressers figured out correctly that if they could persuade women to wear their hair shorter it would give them more work. It has done so. The men that paid the bills did not like it, but eventually had to go along.

Many women after being sheared too close are sorry. That makes extra business, supplying switches, detachable curls, wigs and transformations. And men wear some of these things, too. It is hard on the scalp to grow brains on one side and hair on the other. In these days of much and rapidly revolving machinery a woman is safer with cropped hair.

Whenever you see notice of a change in the style of dressing women’s hair, you always find that the National or International Association of Hairdressers is back of it. The women, more or less haltingly, follow the path mapped out for them.

New York Local 14 of the Association has announced that any woman or girl, upon proof of being unable to afford beauty care, shall receive the best of treatment at beauty clinics and at no cost. That shows the style makers are not entirely heartless.

The beauty business is a business, the same as any other, and very much of a business, too. A couple of years ago 1,500 beauty-shop workers in Brooklyn went on strike for better hours and better wages. At that time many of them were working from 10: 00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. daily.

Customers Sometimes Injured

Hairdressers have to know what they are about. In Scranton a young woman went to a beauty parlor to get a hair bob and henna rinse. At its conclusion she was given a radiol treatment, with the result that her head swelled, her scalp burned, and her hair turned gray. She was awarded damages of $2,300. Women are often seriously injured in beauty parlors.

In London a woman paid £3 2s. for a permanent wave, but the next day her hair was as straight as before it was waved. She took it to court and got her money back, but the hairdresser insisted that the wave was still there and would have been restored by a shampoo. American women spend $75,000,000 a year for permanent waves.

The Incorporated Guild of Hairdressers, Wigmakers and Perfumers of London have asked women to forego the tinted eyelashes sometimes sought, on the ground that the operation is difficult and unsafe, and likely to lead to unpleasant complications in the law courts. In other words, the women are liable to go blind and had better not take the risk.

Queen Elizabeth had a wig of false red hair. The poor old woman has been dead for 330 years. Why bring that up ? Hasn’t a queen got just as much right as anybody else to wear false hair?

How to Be Beautiful!

The way to be beautiful is to have an honest, sincere love for Jehovah God in the heart, and to live for Him.

Health is a matter of proper rest, cleanliness, food and elimination, and the greatest of these is elimination. When the blood is clean the flesh is pink, and that is beauty, all there is to it. Paint by the bucketful doesn't help it a particle. But this is not telling you not to paint.

The poor have their compensations. Carrying packages on the head gives the carriage of a queen. Blowing bubbles is an innocent sport; there is said to be nothing like it for rounding out thin cheeks and scraggy necks. Soap and water are cheap, and most people can get close to eight hours of sleep at night, if they really make the effort. These recipes beat cosmetics by miles and miles.

When it comes to getting rid of wrinkles, try a smile. You can’t be beautiful with a sour look. Don’t try to carry the burdens of the universe, nor try to avenge yourself for real or fancied wrongs. The Lord has made all necessary arrangements to handle these matters, and much better.

Recharging the Batteries

If you are situated so you can get it, try getting even five minutes after the noon meal, stretched out flat. Perhaps you can acquire the habit of sleeping soundly for two or three minutes of that time. There is nothing that will invigorate the mind and body more effectively. Sleep brightens the eyes from the inside, where it counts. Use a low pillow or none at all. Don’t overeat. Cut out all stimulants and sedatives.

A good cry, if you have to have it, is one of the best beautifiers. In the most natural manner it does what the beauty experts try to do: lifts the corners of the mouth, exercises the eyes and massages the muscles of the face upward. Sunshine usually follows a squall. It rests the nerves. Self-control is important, too. Don’t cry unless you have to.

There is no evidence that tooth pastes are of any good, any of them. Proper exercise, a good walk in the open air every day, is a necessity. Sauerkraut juice is better than the most expensive skin lotion. Take a glass every morning and see. Candy is a curse. Cold water is not.

Many a young girl has clogged the pores of her face with paste, when all she needed to be beautiful was to have proper instruction on how to take care of her digestive tract. Work as one of Jehovah's witnesses has made a well person out of many a semi-invalid. Sleep with your windows wide open winter and summer. Pure fresh air means life and health. Decayed air rests nobody, and if you do not rest while in bed, you cannot look fit later.

London hospital records show that the women of today have much bigger hands and feet than a generation ago, and that they are very much better-looking. In other words, they take better care of themselves than was possible or popular back in the days of tight corsets.

We don't know how true it is, but the claim is made that it is bettor for the health to ride in trolley cars than in automobiles. A certain proportion of (he electricity which operates the car is radiated through the bodies of the passengers, to their benefit.

As to Beauty Contests

The very fact that the Roman Catholic church has come out with a lot to say against beauty contests would make us look for something good in them, for it is impossible for that masterpiece of the Devil to have the truth on anything. Is there anything wrong with a flower show’?

And behold! This very year we have Judge Rutherford’s thrilling book Preservation, which is, in part, the story of the first beauty contest on record, the selection of Esther to take the place of Vashti. When the emperors of bygone times would take a bride they sent their emissaries throughout their dominions to find the loveliest that the city, village or hut could show, and if she had the other qualities essential, the diadem was placed upon her head. The Lord has been doing something like that. Read Preservation and see.

A good joke! Europe had a beauty show’, but when Miss Diplarakos, of Greece, olive complexion, was selected by the Grecian judges, three-fourths of the spectators demonstrated against the choice and sent a telegram of protest to the Paris jury of final determination. But when all nations had sent their gifts of human flowers to be seen and admired, Miss Diplarakos was the one selected to be Miss Europe. It is something like that in this picture Judge Rutherford has so beautifully presented based on the book of Esther. Do you know who the antitypical Esther is? If you don't, you certainly ought to read Preservation.

Beauty show’s have their tragedies, too. When a Polish girl who came near being Miss Poland missed the selection by a small margin, she shot and killed herself in the presence of the judges. And so, back there, in Persia, Vashti ruled herself for ever outside of the kingdom.

No doubt modern beauty shows have been too much commercialized.

At a beauty contest in Belvidere, Ill., the committee, desiring that the award of a $60 watch should be based on an impartial decision, called for a stranger to step from the throng and be the judge. A man who said he was a traveling salesman volunteered and stepped to the platform. The committee handed him the watch and then became occupied elsewhere. Pretty soon they looked around for the traveling salesman, but he was gone. So was the watch.

Wild Times Among Farmers

THESE are wild times among the farmers: a 10c farm equipment sale at Aurora, Nebr.; $4.90 on a $2,500 equipment mortgage sale at Ivesdale, Ill.; 1,300 irate farmers run the representative of a mortgage-holding concern out of Cherokee, Okla., when he tried to foreclose on a widow; foreclosures suspended by law in Arkansas for tw’o years; at Watertown, Iowa, 200 farmers bought 12 head of cattle and a cream separator for $1.35; at Shelby, Nebr., a farm and equipment mortgaged for $4,100 went for $49.50; at Ithaca, Mich., a grain binder drew’ a bid of 2c; at Ohoopee, Ga., six cows went for $3.25; in sections of Virginia one-fourth of the land went under the hammer for taxes, some of it bringing as little as 30c an acre; in Wisconsin a sheriff besieged a farmer with machine guns, rifles, shotguns and tear-gas bombs; calls for a rope were heard when an attorney sought to foreclose a mortgage at Pilger, Nebr., in the presence of 1,000 men; owners have been compelled to give up notes given by a tenant; at Greencastle, Pa., horses went at 10c, cows 10c, hogs 10c, binder $1, hay rake 50c, harness 1c, 1927 Chevrolet 60c. The farmers are determined not to allow their brother farmers to be ruined.

Relief in Pennsylvania

TN DECEMBER, 1931, in the state of Pennsyl-T vania, 165,000 were on relief; a year later the number was 397,279, an increase of 140 percent. Fifty thousand of the anthracite miners are out of work.

Evictions in New York in Ten Months

HOW many evictions for non-payment of rent do you suppose there were in New York city in the first ten months of 1932? You would never guess. There were 259,602, representing well over 1,000,000 people. Can you fathom all the misery that is back of these figures?

Plea for Recognition of Russia

ON THE ground that the peace of the world is hazarded by Japanese militarism, eight hundred American educators have petitioned President Roosevelt to recognize Russia, as one of the best means of offsetting present 'war-making conditions.

Transparent Aluminum Window Panes

GERMAN chemists, so it is claimed, have developed a transparent aluminum window pane, suitable for 'glass’ roofs and skylights. The new material is said to lose many of the properties of metallic aluminum in the process of manufacture.

Wages of New York Teachers

THE average wage of New York city school teachers is $314 a month, for twelve months in the year. These teachers must now give up the extra $14 and a little more, to help feed the hungry school children, or else face a cut in their wages. They must agree to 5-percent deductions for food relief.

Kidnaped the Pay-off Man

TWO policemen in Brooklyn kidnaped the pay-off man of a rum ring and held him for twelve days in the unsuccessful attempt to sweat $100,000 out of him. They grabbed the man in front of the federal building in Brooklyn and carried him to New York, where they kept him a prisoner for almost two weeks in an apartment house. The worst of it is that they did not get anything, they have lost their jobs, and it was brought out at the trial that they bungled badly, because the liquor man had the money and still has it.

Business Failures in Three Years

FIGURES compiled by R. G. Dun & Company for the years 1930-1932 show no less than 89,590 business failures during those three years, with aggregate liabilities of more than $2,322,000,000. In New York city alone there were more than 18,000 foreclosure actions in that time.

Forty-Hour Week in Legislation

WHEN, in January, the national Congress voted the purchase of 350,000 bales of cotton, to be worked up into clothing for the needy, the stipulation was included that the cotton is to be made into cloth only in establishments that work not to exceed five days of eight hours each per week.

Homeless Boys to Be Helped

CONGRESS has done the right thing in setting aside $22,500,000 for helping 88,000 of the homeless boys now wandering over the country. The boys will live in army tents, wear army clothes, and receive army training, for not to exceed one year each. They may leave any time they find work.

One-Tenth of Moscow’s Churches Remain

OF THE 560 churches that Moscow had prior to the revolution, only 56 remain. Every year more and more churches are closed, for lack of collections; and as fast as they fall into decay they are pulled down or rebuilt to serve other purposes. All reports from Russia indicate a great shortage of food, due to the resistance of the peasants to the Bolshevik program. In some places, rather than give up their grain, they have burned it.

Michigan Legion Official Goes Bad

AN AMERICAN Legion welfare worker should not have too active an imagination.

A Michigan man worked on Uncle Sam’s sympathies and used $40,000 of Michigan’s money to get rare bargains from the war department, with the understanding that the goods would not be resold. Then he sold 23,000 dozen pairs of gloves to a London concern, and shipped 4,000 overcoats to South Africa, and hocked 17,000 dozen pieces of underwear in New York city, and was working up a good business in other directions, and now he is sorry that he did not give them away as he said he would.

Japanese Massacres near Fushun

THE massacre of all the inhabitants, men, women and children, of eight villages near Fushun, Manchuria, marks the Japanese troops in the neighborhood as among the most horrible savages that ever lived. The dispatches of Edward Hunter, American newspaper correspondent, shows that 2,700 were slain.

Palestine Found to Be Prosperous

THE Oakland Post-Enquirer, November 28, .1932, says in a dispatch bearing a Washington date line: ‘’The holy land is the only locality on earth that has escaped the depression, according to Paul Himmelfarb, lecturer, who has just returned from a tour through Palestine and other countries of the East. Inhabitants of the holy land are unaware a depression existed, he declared.”

Mexico Drops Vaccination

FURTHER evidence of Mexico’s enlightened policy is seen in the fact that from and after November 18, 1932, tourists in that land of wonderful scenery are no longer required to be vaccinated at the border. In recent years several other countries in which superstitions have a less firm hold than in the United States have come around to sanitation and other intelligent methods of treating smallpox which, so far as known, is spread only by the bite of the bedbug. Probably Mexico, feeling that by now it is reasonably free from bedbugs, is unwilling to further frighten away tourists by having pus scratched into their arms. Sensible Mexico.

"With Gravest Apprehension”

AV1NG chased the Chinese out of Manchuria, without the Chinks’ making any resistance, or trying to make any, the Japanese are now pressing their conquests farther and farther, and whenever it has the appearance that the Chinese are about to resist having some part of their country stolen from them, forth comes a statement from Japanese statesmen that they regard such moves ‘‘with gravest apprehension”.

If at some future time you hear a noise downstairs, and you grab a gun and start to descend the stairway, don’t be surprised if you hear the gunman that is waiting for you to make your appearance suddenly call up the police on the telephone and say to them that he regards your conduct “with gravest apprehension”, and intimate that if you take another step toward him he will plug you for keeps. Your proper course would be to go back to bed and let him go through your house from end to end without causing any strife.

Deportations from the Land of Liberty

THIRST you look around for a job that you desire, the present occupant of which speaks a foreign tongue. You express your suspicions to the Labor Department. They arrest the man and lock him up. He is a foreign-speaking man and does not know his rights, or how to defend himself. When the case comes up against the man, you appear against him, and after a few weeks or months in jail he is deported.

In Buffalo an American Indian was forced to prove that he was not an Italian in order to remain in the land that was taken away from Ids forefathers. A Negro committed suicide because he was threatened with exile. The Labor Department acts as policeman, judge, jury and executioner. It is a good thing that America still has the “statue of liberty”, so that we can at least remember what she looked like when she was here.

R. F. C. Directors

RECONSTRUCTION Finance Corporation directors are as mild-mannered men as ever scuttled a ship. There is Jesse Jones, not Jesse James. He asked that the R.F.C. loans should not be given publicity, and then somebody⁷ found out that he is chairman of the board of the Bankers’ Mortgage Company, of Houston, Texas, which borrowed $1,489,091, not $1,500,000, mind you. Then there is another director, present chairman of the R.F.C., who is also a director of the Guardian Trust Company, of Cleveland, Atlee Pomerene. Mr. Pomerene’s company borrowed $11,915,902 from the R.F.C., not $12,000,000, mind you; and afterwards came back for $5,900,000, not $0,000,000, more. Then another director, Mr. Couch, of Arkansas, is a board member of the Frisco raihvay system, which system has borrowed from the R.F.C. $7,995,175, which is less than $8,000,000. You know it is. And if you want to borrow any money for something, you had better get yourself appointed a director of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation while there is still something to direct, lest peradventure you should be too late.

Achievements of the “Holy Year”

Dogs Without Sleep Die in 5 Days

A SCIENTIFIC magazine says that a dog that is prevented from going to sleep dies in five days. And imagine the almost infinite cruelty of a person who, for any conceivable reason, would deprive a dumb animal of its rest until it died from the torture.

Texas' 75,000 Homeless

AT THE close of 1932 it was estimated that there were 75,000 homeless people in Texas, men, women, boys, girls, of all ages, black and white, sleeping on wet ground in freezing weather, many of them very sick, and infested with vermin, without adequate clothing, without food, without money, and chased by the police from one city to another. These people come from every class, bank officials, business men, salesmen, lawyers, ex-convicts, and all other conceivable strata of American life. These people are, 95 percent of them, anxious to work but cannot find anything to do.

relaxes, wrenches his body in every direction, flops clear of the floor, finally relaxes for a second, his eyes protruding, his saliva in a puddle, and he is dead. “Medicine” continues on its “glorious” path.

A Great Medical Discovery (?)

MEDICAL authorities are in a furore because a Korean cut a half pound of meat off his left leg, cooked it, and gave it to his wife, and she got well from neuralgia. If Jenner, the discoverer of cowpox vaccine as a remedy for smallpox, were not dead, the matter would be referred to him. Meantime the great lights of medical science are trembling when they think of all the human legs they will have to slice when the craze gets fully under way. See the scientific department of any Sunday newspaper for morons. Hereafter, when you see a man who limps badly in his left leg, you can bet that his wife did have the neuralgia, but doesn’t have it any more, not since she found out how to get it cured, by this astonishing medical discovery.

Choking Kittens Scientifically

CAN you imagine grown men standing around a glass bell jar for twelve hours watching to see how a kitten behaves that receives not enough air to live on, but just enough to prolong its agonies for that many hours? The cats were also poisoned by illuminating gas and by wormwood, and incisions were made into their scalps and the brain laid bare so that the sufferings could be watched more minutely. Nothing was learned.

Another bunch of “scientists” opened up several cats and transplanted gallstones from human patients into their gall bladders. In some of these instances they teased the hungry animals with food, even allowing them to have it in their mouths, with the express intention of tantalizing them as much as possible.

Experiments at University of Buffalo took the form of incisions of cats’ eyelids, pulling the eyeball forward and downward, cutting certain nerves with a hook. At the same time heat was applied to the cat’s legs, and it was placed just out of reach of a barking dog. Both adrenals were removed. Other cats were immersed in water just above actual freezing. After ten minutes in ice-cold water, it was discovered that the eat was chilly. What wonderful intelligence !

JEHOVAH is the God of order, and that is of itself proof that He has an organization. Jehovah is supreme, the Most High, and the absolute Dictator in His organization. (Ps. 83:18) The Chief One in His organization, and hence the One who is next to Jehovah, is Christ Jesus, His beloved Son, the duly appointed and anointed and now installed King of His holy organization. Associated with Christ Jesus as subordinate members of that organization there will be, when completed, a company of 144,000 whom the Scriptures designate as the members of "the body of Christ”. (1 Corinthians 12:12, 27; Revelation 7:4; 14:1) In this body or organized company Jehovah places the respective members according to His pleasure. (1 Corinthians 12:18) The Christ, the Head and “body” thereof together, constitutes the capital of Jehovah's organization, and is called “Zion” in the Scriptures. Necessarily that organization is made up according to the will of God. As to the desirability of this capital organization and what it will mean to the peoples of the earth, it is prophetically written: “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King [Jehovah].” (Psalm 48: 2) That it will be the perfect government over man has been foretold: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.” (Psalm 50:2) All the peoples of the nations of earth shall walk in the light thereof.—Revelation 21: 24.

The Higher Powers

The claim to be the “higher powers” has been put forth by all the political ruling factors severally of “Christendom”, be they of absolute monarchies, limited monarchies, democracies, or dictatorships. All these claims have been a presumptuous wresting and misapplication of the thirteenth chapter of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. Such improper application has really been the basis for the false doctrine of the “divine right of kings” or of rulers to govern and oppress the people. Though it is asserted that the late World War showed up the hypocrisy and falsity of the claimed “divine right” of earthly kings, yet the claim to being “the higher powers” is still tightly held with an unyielding grip by the political controlling factors of “Christendom”, and the commercial and the ecclesiastical elements “love to have it so”.

The power of Jehovah is supreme. From Him proceeds all rightful authority. He is the Creator of heaven and earth. (Isaiah 42:5; Jeremiah 10:12) There is no limitation to His power, and there is no qualification to the Scriptural statement that He is supreme. (Genesis 17:1-3 ; 35:11) He is the Most High, and none can be above Him. (Psalm 91:1; Ephesians 4:10) Properly, then, the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, says: “There is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of [or, arranged under] God.” Otherwise stated, all power that is rightfully exercised is that which is delegated by Jehovah to the creature exercising that power. It follows, then, that there is no creature or group of creatures that could rightfully make and execute laws or rules of action that are contrary to God’s law. When the apostle says, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,” his words apply to the true church, the “body of Christ”, now, forasmuch as the apostle was writing his letter to the members of the true church; but his words will later apply to all who come into harmony with God.

The Powers That Be

Many ecclesiastical writers, filled with the spirit of man-worship, but out of harmony with the spirit of God and disloyal to Him, have written many comments upon the thirteenth chapter of Romans to the effect that the governments of “Christendom” are what the apostle meant by “the powers that be” and that such governments derive their powers from Jehovah God. At once it is seen that the foundation is hereby laid for the doctrine of the “divine right of kings”, for the reason that the argument is that whatever power a nation has and exercises, that power is ordained of God, and that therefore even one who is a spirit-begotten child of God must be obedient to that power. For many centuries the rulers and the nations called “Christian nations” have insisted that God has delegated to them the power to rule, and have used this to cause the people to pay them great respect and homage. But let this argument be followed to its logical conclusion, and where do we find ourselves?

In the United States it has been unlawful for a citizen to be found in possession of or transporting intoxicating liquor. In Canada, England, Germany and other countries, which also style themselves “Christian”, it is not unlawful to be found in possession of or (and)

transporting intoxicating liquors. Has God delegated a different power or authority to these different nations? Is He the God of confusion, or of order? The apostle Paul answers: “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” (1 Corinthians 14: 33) But note further: In the United States, in time of peace no citizen can, by law, be drafted and required to render military service. In Italy and other countries called “Christian”, even in time of peace all citizens are subject to military service, and refusing to render such service are subject to severe punishment, especially so now under the present dictatorships. Which one of the nations is making and enforcing the military law in harmony with God’s law, seeing that their laws are different?

God's Laws Unchangeable

In the United States, in time of war a law is made compelling persons within a certain age limit to engage in military service. Is the law of God different at different times and in different countries? The scripture (Malachi 3:6) answers: “I am Jehovah; I change not.” (M.Z?.U.) Of necessity Jehovah God must be, and is. at all times consistent.

God says to His spirit-begotten sons on earth: ■'■'Thou shalt not kill.” (Matthew 5:21,22) He that kills is a murderer. Furthermore, it is written: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15) All the so-called “Christian” but in fact “Gentile” governments of the world in time of war compel their respective subjects or citizens to participate in war and to kill. Has God delegated the power to these governments to order men to kill each other, and are the sons of God, anointed with His spirit, bound to obey the laws of the land which require killing when at the same time God’s own law commands that they shall not kill? If the child of God engages in war and deliberately kills, he precludes himself from entering the Kingdom, according to God’s law.

If a worldly government can enact a law forbidding the use of certain drinks, that nation or government can also enact a law (and enforce it) forbidding the use of certain foods, even including bread. Jesus directed His followers to pray to God: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Would God delegate to a nation or government a power that would permit that nation to make and enforce a law forbidding the use of the very thing for which the children of God were directed to pray to Him, even under the so-called “exigencies of war” so as to provide food for soldiers at the front murdering their fellow men? If it is lawful to drink beer of a certain alcoholic content while eating cheese in Germany, and unlawful to drink such beer while eating cheese in the United States, which one of these nations is exercising the power delegated by the Lord God? If the answer be, Both, then the question is properly asked: Is God declaring that the doing of a certain act is right in one part of the earth and wrong in another part of the earth ?

The U. S. a Christian (?) Nation

The Supreme Court of the United States has rendered the decision that this is a Christian nation (although it is not). The fundamental law of this country declares that a man may exercise his religion in any manner he may choose. Contrary to this fundamental law, some of the states enact a law that the gospel cannot be preached in certain places or under certain conditions, and they arrest and punish those who attempt thus to preach it. In Russia, once professing to be Christian but now under a Bolshevist dictatorship, the law is that one cannot preach the gospel at all without a permit from the government. God’s commandment to His sons, which commandment was given through Jesus Christ, is that His gospel shall be preached in all the nations as a witness. (Matthew 24:14) Shall the child of God be obedient to the law of the United States, or of Russia, or to the law of God? Is it possible that God has delegated to these various nations the right and authority to make and enforce laws that are inconsistent with and in derogation of His own expressed will or law?

Is it not therefore clear that there has been a decidedly improper application of the words of the apostle Paul when they are applied to the governments of this world? When he says, “The powers that be are ordained of God,” does he have any reference whatsoever to the nations of “Christendom” or any other Gentile nations of the earth? Is it not more reasonable that he directs his words exclusively to the powers possessed and exercised in God’s organization, and not to those that are exercised in Satan’s organization? Be it remembered that when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Satan laid claim to all the nations of the earth as being his and part of his organization. (Luke 4: G, 7) Jesus did not negative Satan’s claim.

Earth’s Rightful Dictator

Aside from the supreme Dictator, Jehovah himself, His organization in its entirety consists of Jesus Christ, His holy angels, the resurrected members of the “body of Christ”, and those on earth who have been brought into the true church and anointed with His spirit and who are putting forth their best efforts as Jehovah's witnesses to be obedient to Jehovah Cod. At present there are a “great multitude” of spirit-begotten ones who are virtual “prisoners” in the religious systems of earth and who are trying to be obedient both to Satan's organization and to God’s organization. (Revelation 7:9-14) In the great show-down which is rapidly approaching, these must renounce all obedience to Satan's organization and take their stand undividedly on the side of God’s organization and be subject to the “powers that be” in God’s organization, if they would gain eternal life as spirit creatures in heaven. At present also God is causing the Devil’s organization to be glaringly exposed, and He is sending forth His representatives, Jehovah’s witnesses, to warn the people of the approaching complete destruction of Satan’s organization and to admonish those who incline toward righteousness to forsake the enemy organization and to come into line with God’s organization.—Jeremiah 51:6.

Shortly after His consecration to do God’s will on earth, Jesus was anointed to the high office of “priest for ever after the order of Mel-chizedek”. (Psalm 110:4) He was then and there clothed with certain powers as the man Christ Jesus on earth. Speaking to His disciples Jesus said that “the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins”.—Mark 2:10.

All Power in Heaven and Earth

After Jesus had been raised from the dead He said to His disciples: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18) As to His position in God’s organization Jesus said: “Thou [Father] hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” (John 17: 2) “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.” (John 5: 22, 27) These scriptures prove that Christ Jesus is the “higher power” and that Jehovah is the highest or supreme power, the absolute Ruler of the universe, and the only rightful Dictator, to whom every soul on earth should be subject, first, last, and all the time. The expression “the higher powers” may therefore be applied to both Jehovah and Jesus, because Christ Jesus always carries out the order of His Father. Christ Jesus is the higher power, which power is always exercised in harmony with Jehovah, the Supreme One.

Christ Jesus, acting under the authority granted to Him, organized the church. (Matthew 16:18) The church is composed of many members, assigned to different positions in the church. It is through Christ, the Head of the church, that the members thereof have access to the heavenly Father. The true church is of God’s organization and is one building of God, with the apostles of Jesus Christ holding important positions therein under Christ Jesus the Head of the “church, which is his body”.—Ephesians 2:19-22.

That Christ Jesus conferred power upon His apostles, there cannot be the slightest doubt. (Matthew 16:19; John 20: 21-23) Furthermore, the Scriptures show that the apostles exercised power conferred upon them by the Lord and in so doing they had the Lord’s approval, as in the case when Peter pronounced judgment upon Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:11,12) Others committed offenses in the church, and the apostle Paul, though absent, exercised his power and authority in judging the offenders. (1 Corinthians 5:1-5) That the true church also should properly take action in judging certain offenders is proved by Jesus’ words as stated in Matthew 18:15-18.

The Organization of Jehovah

The organization of Jehovah is of far greater importance than any other organization. It is to His organization that the apostle Paul’s words are addressed: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” (Romans 13:1) At once the question arises, To what shall God’s people be subject? The scripture (1 Corinthians 15:28) really answers the question: “And when all things shall be subdued unto him [Christ the Son], then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” This proves that the higher powers are Christ Jesus and Jehovah and that the supreme power is Jehovah God. The apostle could not mean that the “higher powers” are the Gentile powers either in or out of "Christendom”. It is not possible that these are higher than and having control over God’s arrangement of His own people.

The apostle says: “The powers that be are ordained of God.” Can this properly be applied to the Gentile powers on earth and not applied to the church? The apostle’s own words (t Corinthians 12:18, 28) are in answer to that question : “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles; secondarily prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that, miracles; then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” It should always be kept in mind that Christ is the Head of the church, and that the apostles held special positions therein and that no men since the apostles’ day have filled their places. They exercised certain governing powers in the church. The Lord Jesus, and the apostles, under His direction, laid down certain rules for the governing of the church; and the church, as a body, is clothed with certain power and authority to act, and every individual member of the church should be subject to that arrangement.—Ephesians 2:18-21.

Resisting God's Arrangements

“Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation [Greek, kriina; R.V., judgment].” (Romans 13:2) Hence, whosoever in the church resists the arrangement which God has made for the governing of His church is resisting God, and therefore shall receive judgment or punishment from God through Christ Jesus for so doing. Whether or not the Gentile powers inflict punishment upon evildoers often depends upon how much influence the one charged with the crime has with the one who does the judging. But in God’s judgment there is no partiality. The text says, “Whosoever therefore resisteth,” and therefore applies to every one, without any exception. This alone would confine the judgment as being to God’s organization by the authorities in God’s organization constituted to do judging.

“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not he afraid of the power ? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.” (Romans 13: 3) Who are the rulers here mentioned? It cannot be said that they are the rulers of the present governments of earth, for they are “a terror to good works”. Fully consecrated and anointed sons of God, known as Jehovah’s witnesses, go about the country doing good in the highest sense by preaching the good news concerning God and His kingdom, and the rulers of the nations of “Christendom” arrest, fine and imprison them for so doing good. Do Jehovah’s witnesses, who go from door to door and thus do good by carrying the message of God’s kingdom to the people of earth, “have praise” from the princes or rulers of this world? No one ever heard of their receiving praise for so doing. Also, when Paul writes, “Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?” can it be said that he meant that the anointed witnesses of God are to fear the “prince of this world” and the rulers in his organization? Could that be true, then every one of Jehovah’s witnesses would refrain from giving testimony from house to house to the glory of God. That is exactly what the Devil would want them to do. Hence what Paul means is this: You who are members of God’s organization should fear the power (Christthe Judge). The rulers (Christ and those who act under His direction) are not terrors to good works, but to evil, and if you do that which is good you will receive praise of that power (Christ, and those of His organization clothed with authority to praise).

The Church the Minister of God

“For he [the power] is the minister of God [Diaglott: is God’s servant] to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he [the power] beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God [God’s servant], a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” (Romans 13:4) This statement could not have reference to the power that the Gentiles exercise. Surely God has not committed to Satan or anyone in Satan’s organization the power to act as God’s servant or minister for good in the church. Nor has He appointed any of that same wicked organization to act as avenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil in the church. The church is arranged by the Lord for good to those who are of the church and for the judgment of those who do evil. (2 Corinthians 10:8; 13:10) The Gentile powers use the sword to kill. Did the text above apply to them, then it would mean that such are clothed with power and authority over the Lord’s people to literally kill those who are in the church, and that such are avengers of God. Jesus was charged with the evil of sedition, was unjustly judged and killed. In bringing this about surely the Devil was not acting as God’s avenger there. Hence the apostle’s words mean that “the sword” represents the power which God uses to punish those in the church who do evil and who therefore do contrary to Ills law by which the church is governed. The creature (or creatures) whom God uses to exercise such power of “the sword” is the avenger to execute wrath upon the evildoers. None of such avengers are a terror to good works; but that power which God uses is a terror to evil works and bears not God’s punishing instrument in vain.

“Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.” (Romans 13: 5) God has not called His people to set them aside to be victims of His wrath. He called them to be His faithful witnesses and to receive salvation through Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:9) But God’s wrath is visited upon those who are disobedient and who do evil. (Ephesians 5: 5, 6) If one in the church does evil he shall suffer; but not for that reason should he refrain from evil. He should also for conscience’ sake refrain from evil or wrongdoing in the church. If he refrains from evil merely in order that he may escape punishment, his motive is not proper and unselfish. If he refrains from evil because he knows that it is right to do so, and pleasing to God for him to desist from evil, then he does so because he loves God, and his motive is right and pure and he has a clear conscience. (1 Timothy 1:5) The apostle adds: “For this cause pay ye tribute [taxes] also; for they are God’s ministers attending continually upon this very thing.” (Romans 13: 6) That is to say, For what cause do you pay taxes to earthly governments? For conscience’ sake; for the reason that it is right to pay for what service you receive. For the same cause or reason also one should show respect for those in the church whose office as ministers or servants of God is to maintain order and authority in the church; because the Lord has set the members there.

In the Present Emergency

For a long time professed Christians have been in a condition of sleep concerning their duty of service in the Lord’s organization. They have tried to please the rulers of this world, and to do so they have taken a course of action that is a compromise between faithfulness to Jehovah and faithfulness to the world. Now it is time to awake. (Romans 13:11) Christ Jesus is invisibly present directing the work of Jehovah’s witnesses on earth. He has not two organizations on earth. There is but one. God, through Christ, is now giving orders to His people which they must obey. These orders He makes clear by the flashes of lightning upon His Word, and discloses to His people the facts in fulfilment of prophecy which show that the time of the setting up of Jehovah’s kingdom through Christ is here. Therefore “let every soul be subject to the higher powers”. All the commercial, political, and religious elements trying to hold power on earth since 1914 must go down, because not subject to the “higher powers”, Jehovah and Christ, but rather in diametric opposition to them. The conservative elements of the nations may put forth human dictators or dictatorial groups to maintain the doomed organization longer in power, but in vain. Jehovah is the only and true Dictator. Before His installed anointed King, Christ Jesus, all powers of Satan, in heaven and earth, must shortly be milled to powder and vanish for ever. Let all souls now who hear the gracious divine message of Jehovah’s kingdom and His appointed King hasten to be subject unto the “powers that be” and that shall be for ever. All who would live must eventually do so; for it is written: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is Jehovah’s; and he is the ruler [dictator] over the nations.”—Psalm 22:27,28, A.R.V.

Hitler Makes Germany a Fascist State

NOT waiting for the election, March 5, Chancellor Hitler took the bull by the horns and made Germany a Fascist state. The last Socialist police head in Prussia has been removed, and any meeting that criticizes the government will be immediately dissolved. State weapons have been issued to Hitlerites.

Further Light on the Harpell Case (From the Toronto Daily Star)

GRAVE charges that political pressure had been brought to bear in connection with the case of James Harpell, recently convicted of libel in printing accusations against the Sun Life Insurance Co. of Montreal, were made by Henri Bourassa seeking to show that all large enterprises in Canada were ‘"built upon fraudulent processes or watered stock”.

One example, he said, was the lumber industry, which had suffered from the “brigandage of a handful of the most unscrupulous financiers in Canada”.

“Another example,” he continued, “is the operation of the Sun Life Insurance Co. There has been a sensational trial of a man in Montreal who, I think, wrote foolish articles. Not that what he wrote was untrue, but he wrote in a very foolish tone. But the manner in which that trial was conducted is a striking picture of the spirit that prevails. He had engaged good lawyers to defend him. Those lawyers were made to understand if they took up his case they were done for as far as the favor of the Quebec government is concerned, the head of which is a director in the concern.

“They quit the case. The case was shifted from one court to another till it reached the judge who—I do not wish to be disparaging, I think he is a very nice man—before he became a judge had all his life been a corporation lawyer, connected with the organization of some of the most shameful enterprises of this country.”

He had studied a report of this company, he said, a report which had been "thrown out” through the efforts of Hon. Mr. Robb and G. D. Finlayson. “This report, on its face, showed a diminution of $6,000,000 in their assets. Yet they increased the dividends to their shareholders from 50 to 75 per cent, in one year, with the result that the shares, originally $100, were quoted at some $3,000 to $4,000.”

Bankers as Scavengers

enry Ford says: “When bankers get into a business it is because that business is out

of date and suffering from bad management. It is ready for the scavenger. The bankers milk it dry and break it up. The reason that bankers ruin an industry when they get into it is that their object is not production, but profit.”

THE GOLDEN AGE

^rJpiIIS magazine does not lay claim to perfection. It is aware of its limitations, but it seeks to set before its readers such information

as will be both helpful and enlightening. In its efforts to expose rascality and fatuous religiosity it may sometimes appear a bit savage, but its object is to do good, not harm. For the oppressors of the people it has no sympathy whatever, but for the oppressed it has a message of real hope and comfort.

TO KEEP YOUR COURAGE UP, KEEP THE GOLDEN AGE COMING

THE WAY OF ESCAPE

FOR several years past one evil upon the people has been quickly followed by another and greater evil. Now the whole world is in a state of distress and perplexity. Human remedies have failed to relieve that world distress. In the language of Jehovah’s prophet now, “all the foundations of the earth are out of course.” (Ps. 82:5) The final evil will be reached at Armageddon. When will it come? Concerning that time God by his prophet has said: ‘My determination is to gather the nations, that I may pour upon them my fierce anger. ’ (Zeph. 3:8) In his last prophetic utterance when on earth Jesus foretold Armageddon, describing it as a time of “tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be”. That will be the final trouble. (Matt. 24:21) Is that great cataclysm rapidly approaching ?

WHAT IS THE WAY OF ESCAPE?

These questions are of the greatest public interest, convenience and necessity, and God has provided the radio that the people may collectively and calmly hear them discussed. J. P. Rutherford, the man best qualified to dispassionately and instructively answer these questions, will do so, in person, in a lecture to be delivered

7 to 8 o’clock

Eastern Standard Time

To be broadcast over a wide-spread network of radio stations

The purpose of this lecture is to aid the people to find the way of greatest safety in this crucial hour.

A List of a Few of the Stations