Golden Age, February 13, 1924
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OLD WORLD DYING
a. Journal of fact hope and courage
VbL V Bi-Wee*^y No. 115 February 13, 1924
MR. BOICS PEACE PLAN
REPORT.
FROM FOREIGN
CORRESPONDENTS
righteousness
A CONCLUDING CHAPTER OF INTERROGATIONS
5$ a copy — $ 100 a Year Canada and foreign Countries $ 150
VORLp BEGINNING
Contents of the Golden Age
Social and Educational Taking the Clock Apart
Political—Domestic and Foreign Ml Box's Peace Plan
Our Own Plan
Reports from Foreign Correspondents....... , . . . 299
From England
From Germany
Significant Utterances or Mx. Llotd George
la Anuthee Wax Coming?
Scixncb and Invention An Antediluvian Giant..........»•*»»••
Home and Health Oh, toe Some Fresh Air!.............. •
Religion and Philosophy ▲ Concluding Chapter op Interrogations
Necessity of Understanding the Scriptures..... ....
Error of Less than One-Half Percent......... .
Notable Events Occurring In 1918
Several Misapprehensions of L B. S. A. Teachings
The End of the Old Order............• . . 300
Palestine and Gentile Rule
Shifting Sands of Human Teachings
Intolerance of the Dark Ages
God's Word before Man's Theories........• • • • 309
'Millennial Conditions Misunderstood
Bible Study a Necessity............• . . . 311
Critic's View Too Narrow
Consecration a Personal Matter
Satanic Powers Mallfic
Editorial Comment
Interesting Scientific Data
Present-Day Scientists Not Infallible
Beloved of God (Poem)
Studies in “The Harp of God”
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Qhe Golden Age
Volume V
Brooklyn. N.Y., Wednesday, February 13, 1924
Number US
Mr. Bok’s Peace Plan
"The kings of ths earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against Jehovah, and against his anointed,**—Psalm £ * £.
A YEAR ago it was plainly apparent that 1924 would mark another desperate effort of big business to press the United States into the League of Nations. Ruling the earth, as monarchs of all it holds, the leaders of finance have “set themselves" that the United States must as surely enter the League as it did the War. Hence it was no surprise to us when Mr. Bofs peace plan was announced.
The American people love to vote on things. When they cast votes they feel as if they are running things, all unconscious of the fact that the persons for whom they vote and the policies for which they vote are selected for them by others months before the ballots are taken.
Mr. Bok gives $50,000, and possibly $100,000, to the framer of Plan No. 1469, providing for cooperation between the United States and other nations, to achieve and preserve the peace of the world. Mr, Bok truthfully says that "this is the time for the nations of the earth to admit frankly that war is a crime and thus withdraw the legal and moral sanction too long permitted to it as a method of settling international disputes."
He does not say why it is that the Pagan Roman Catholic Church and the almost equally Pagan Protestant churches have for centuries encouraged war, prayed for its success, and are even now licking the blood from their dripping fingers, while they put upon the admittedly godless nations of the earth the responsibility of admitting frankly what the churches have never had the courage to admit at alL
One thing seems sure and that is that if the Government ever puts the hated Espionage Act into operation again, it ought in all honesty to give Mr. Bok a chance to see what it is like to live for a while in the classic shades of the Atlanta Penitentiary.
He says that "war is a crime." He says it before there is any war. For saying just that, and saying it before there was any war, a number of men that we know got a free ride from New York to Atlanta and return, and free board, such as it was, for nine months, with a fair prospect of having it for life.
Mr. Bok and the Associated Press, the same Press that got us into the World War, have contrived to gain great publicity for his peace scheme. The award brought forth 22,165 plans and several hundred thousand letters. The chairman of the jury of award is the Hon. Elihu Boot, prominent in the World Court, and in the League of Nations. It is no hostile remark against Mr. Boot to say that the plan selected simply mirrors Mr. Boot’s personal ideas.
The plan selected proposes in brief:
"That the United States shall immediately enter the Permanent Court of International Justice under the conditions stated by Secretary Hughes and President Harding in February, 1923; That without becoming a member of the League of Nations as at present constituted, the United States shall offer to extend its present cooperation with the League and participate in the work of the League as a body of mutual counsel under conditions which: (a) Substitute moral force and public opinion for the military and economic force originally implied in Articles X and XVI; (b) Safeguard the Monroe Doctrine; (c) Accept the fact that the United States will assume no obligations under the Treaty of Versailles except by Act of Congress; (d) Propose that membership in the League should be opened to all nations; (e) Provide for the continuing development of international law.”
We quote here and there from the argument advanced by the framer of Plan No. 1469, with a few editorial remarks interspersed. He first points out that five-sixths of all the nations of earth are in the League of Nations, that they will not abandon the League and will not .organize a new one, and says:
asi
"The only possible path to cooperation in which the United States can take an increasing share is that which leads toward some form of agreement with the world as now organized, called the League of Nations.”
He then takes up the argument that, although President Harding was elected by an overwhelming vote because he promised to keep us out of the League, yet the Armament Conference at Washington, and the President’s oft-reiterated recommendation that the United States should become a member of the World Court, show that the United States has already, in principle, gone far toward entering the League. Besides this, the author declares:
"The United States Government has. accredited its representatives to sit as members rin an unofficial and consulting capacity* upon four of the most important social welfare commissions of the League, tnr.; Health, Opium, Traffic in Women and Children, and Anthrax (Industrial Hygiene). Our Government is a full member of the International Hydrographic Bureau, an organ of the League. Out Government was represented by an ‘unofficial observer’ in the Brussels Conference (Finance and Economic Commission) in 1920. It sent Hon. Stephen G. Porter and Bishop Brent to represent it at the meeting of the Opium Commission last May. Our Public Health Service has taken part in the Serological Congresses of the Epidemics Commission and has helped in the experimental work for the standardization of serums. Our Government collaborates with the League Health Organization through the International Office of Public Health at Paris, and with the Agriculture Committee of the League Labor Organization through the International Institute of Agriculture at Rome. In February, 1923, Secretary Hughes and President Harding formally recommended that the Senate approve our adhesion to the Permanent Court under four conditions or reservations, one of which was that the United States should officially participate in the election of judges by the Assembly and Council of the League, sitting as electoral colleges for that purpose. Unofficial cooperation from the United States with the work of the League includes membership in five of the social welfare commissions or committees of the League, in one on economic reconstruction, and in one (Aaland Islands) which averted a war. American women serve as expert Assessors upon the Opium and Traffic in Women Commissions.”
He thus points out what we have claimed in The Golden Age; namely, that the United States has already, in effect, been put into the
League, in spite of the known wishes of the American people that it be kept out. He merely wishes that the United States should take the remaining steps necessary to full cooperation with the League. Then he approaches the border-land of the ridiculous when he says of these steps:
"They do not involve a question of membership in the League of Nations as now constituted, but it cannot be denied that they lead to the threshold of that question. Any further step toward cooperation must confront the problem of direct relations between the United States and the Assembly and Council of fifty-four nations in the League.”
Next he aims to show that the League, not having Uncle Sam’s pocketbook with which to foot the bill, has no power to enforce any of its decisions, and is, in effect, nothing more than a congregation of politicians, of which the world has had many, without beneficent result to itself. As really to enforcing peace he says:
"How far the present League is actually removed from functioning as such a State is sufficiently exhibited in its dealings with Lithuania and Poland over Vilna and their common boundary, and with Greece and Italy over Corfu. Experience in the last three years has demonstrated probably insuperable difficulties in the way of fulfilling in all parts of the world the large promise of Article X, in respect to either its letter or its spirit. No one now expects the League Council to try to summon armies and fleets, since it utterly failed to obtain even an international police force for the Vilna district.”
As to the threatened economic blockade against recalcitrant nations, which was worked so mercilessly by the Allies, first against the Germanic confederation and later against the Russian Republic, he says that this also is a false alarm, inasmuch as
"the Council of the League created a Blockade Commission which worked for two years to determine how the ‘economic weapon’ of the League could be efficiently used and uniformly applied. The Commission failed to discover any obligatory procedure that weaker Powers would dare to accept. It was finally agreed that each State must decide for itself whether a breach of the Covenant has been committed.”
Next he shows that the League has studiously refrained from interfering with the Monroe Doctrine, and that it may always keep its hands off, or even "define” for America what America has already defined for itself. In his argument on this point he lets slip one sentence which shows that he knows that big business is on the job of governing the world. The sentence in question is the second one of the following paragraph :
<rIt is conceivable that the family of nations may eventually clearly define certain powers and duties of relatively local significance which may be devolved upon local associations of unions. But the world of business and finance is already unified."
Then he argues that the League, after all, is merely another and better expression of the principle of confederation which began with the Protestant churches in the Evangelical Alliance in 1846 and subsequently extended to the nations in various conferences held at The Hague and elsewhere:
"In other words, the force of circumstances is gradually moving the League into position upon the foundations so well laid by the world's leaders between 1899 and 1907 in the great international councils of that period. The Assemblies of the League and the Congresses of the International Labor Organizations are successors to The Hague Conferences. The Permanent Court has at least begun to realize the highest hope and purpose of the Second Hague Conference. The Secretariat and the Labor Office have become Continuation Committees for the administrative work of the organized world, such as The Hague Conference lacked resources to create but would have rejoiced to see.”
The concluding argument that although the United States smothered the League scheme under the greatest avalanche of votes ever known, yet, after all, it was only joking when it did so, is stated in language which suggests to our mind that the author of Plan No. 1469 is one of those gentlemen who have no regular occupation during the week, such as engage the attention of the rest of us, but who button their collars backwards and present religion wrong end to on Sunday.
"It is common knowledge that public opinion and official policy in the United States hare for a lang time, without distinction of party, been favorable to international conferences for the common welfare, and to the establishment of conciliative, arbitral and judicial means for settling international disputes. In no other way can the organized world, from which the United States cannot be economically and spiritedly separated, belt the power of public opinion to the new machinery, devised for the pacific settlement of controversies between nations and standing always ready for uaa"
An Imaginary Soliloquy of Big Businoaa
ffVXTE ARE the directors of the largest banking
VY house in the world, with headquarters at New York. It was our concern that bought, for Lord North-difie, the editorial policy of the twenty-five leading newspapers of the United States. As a direct result of using their columns we fulfilled the promise of our agents to the Premier of France that we would see to it that the United States should enter the World War on the side of the Allies.
"We are the fiscal agents for Great Britain, loaded down with British securities of all kinds. These securities will be worthless unless Britain makes a success at her League, and through it controls the world to suit her policies.
"We tried to get the United States into the League head foremost in 1919, but failed wretchedly. Now we would like to get them in by any route conceivable; What shall we do ? We will lie low until another presidential year (1924) comes around, and then we will try to get the women voters on our side. If we get them the battle is won (maybe).
"How can we get the women voters? They are all sore over the war. Well I There is dear Mr. Bok. Was he not for years editor of the Ladies Home Journal, the most widely read woman’s paper on earth? Oh, Mr. Bok, you are just the man to bring it about I AU th* ladies know you and will vote for anything that will look good to you.
"And as for getting something that will look good to you, leave that to us. Or rather leave it to Elihu Root. He knows what we want He is the cleverest lawyer in America; be is one of the principal American champions of the League, via the World Court route. Nothing will get by him that does not incorporate his ideas We do not care where the ideas come from, so long aa they are his *jWs 4h1s is to say, our ideas—that is to say, Britain’s ideas. '
"But how shall we get publicity? Oh, that is too easy! Did we not use the Associated Press to get ua into the war? Yes ! Well I Who is at the head at that institution? Melville Stone. All right! Melville Stone will be on the Policy Committee and see that the adopted plan gets publicity to the nth degree.”
And, if yon will look at the personnel of the Policy Committee, you will see that Melville E. Stone is one of its members and you will know what to expect during 1924. Very likely there will be an effort to stampede both conventions, Republican and Democratic, to adherence to the adopted plan; but if the conventions will not adhere *the candidates will In other words, the United States goes into the League, anyway, willy nilly; that is, it will if big business san bring it about -. ■
But Mr. Brisbane says, humorously and pointedly: -
“You know the fable about ‘The Mountain in Labor.’ Much groaning and travailing, and when the critical moment came, out popped a little mouse. That was the mountain’s baby about which it had been making all the fuss.
“That story of the mountain must come back to Mr. Edward W. Bok as he contemplates the result of his $100,000 peace prize offer. It's a very small mouse that he got for his money.
“That Bok prize peace plan will amuse you. Poor Mr. Bok must feel rather silly paying $50,000 for a suggestion that the people of the United States should do now what four years ago they refused to do with 7,000,000 votes to spare.
“Go into the World Court now and join the League on a modified basis is the $50,000 suggestion. It is as though serious people, discussing what they should have for dinner, should see a well-meaning doggie drag in a cat long dead and offer that as a solution.
“The League of Nations is a dead cat.
“The United States doesn't intend to join the League of Nations, doesn’t intend to pay Europe's bills, or be held responsible for them, and does not intend to enter any World Court that would cause the affairs of the United States to be submitted to a foreign tribunal.
“Mr. Bok can charge his $50,000 to experience.”
Out Own Plan
OUR own plan is quite different from that selected by the committee of which Mr.
Root is chairman, which automatically rejected every plan that did not favor the League.
A Practicable Plan Whereby the United States Can Take Its Place and Do Its Share toward Preserving World Peace, while Not Making Compulsory the Participation of the United States in European Wars.
The Plan hereinafter set forth seeks to establish:
1. That unless something be done speedily civilization is in a fair way to be blotted out.
2. That a central authority, wise, just, benevolent and able to enforce its decrees, is essential.
3. That such a central authority must have the confidence of those in every nation who are molders of public thought and directors of public action.
4. That before such central authority can be given world position it should have demonstrated its ability to deal with questions at issue.
5. That credible and widely published record® of such achievements should be available, which could be cited to the peoples of all lands.
6. That no record of unwisdom, injustice, lack of benevolence, or inability to carry out its purposes could be laid at the door of the central authority; otherwise its influence would be impaired or become nil.
7. That one such central authority exists, and only one; that there is sound reason for belief in its potent influence in American affairs, and that America, of all countries, is best fitted to place this one in proper position before the world, and thus gain the world peace which by no other means can now be gained or preserved.
8. That central authority is well known to many of the members of the committee which shall pass upon this plan, and it is urgently requested for their own welfare, and for the welfare of mankind in general, that they give diligent heed to the evidence herein presented, so that they may not thoughtlessly turn down the best of all possible plans without giving adequate attention to the key which controls human destinies.
• • •
Detatta of the Plan, with Argument There-s for, Numbered as in the Above Summary
1. On July 18,1923, Newton D. Baker, former Secretary of War, stated before an audience of Cleveland women:
“Europe is now more nearly ready for war than it was in 1914, so far as underlying causes are concerned. I cannot see how it can be prevented unless some substitute is found. If the devil has it in his heart to let forth upon the human race more deadly instruments of destruction than were used in this last terrible war, it means international suicide so far as the civilized nations are concerned."
Mr. Weeks, the present Secretary of War, has said:
“The United States is preparing for a war that would tax us to the utmost in man-power resources."
Viscount Grey, of the British Government, has said:
“I think it is certain that if there be another such war civilization will never recover from it.”
Sir Philip Gibbs, of the same government, has said:
riMUABT 18. 1924
“No man unless he is drunk with optimism can deny that the world is very sick, and it may be a sickness unto death.
Ramsay MacDonald, the British Labor leader, has said:
“There is no settlement in Europe. Governments can do nothing. They are afraid to do anything and they stand by and allow things to go from bad to worse. 1923 is worse than 1914.”
Lloyd George has said:
“A new chapter opens in the history of Europe and the world, with a climax of horror such as mankind has never yet witnessed.”
To the foregoing words of British and American statesmen we add the comments of a few journalists, publicists, and educators. Frederick J. Libby has said:
"Airplanes, poison gas and hatred mixed together are spelling the doom of civilization. America is preparing for war on a scale so colossal that it has no parallel in the history of the world. Our civilization will perish unless we strive for international peace.”
W. L. Warden, of the London Daily Mail, has said:
“The next war will last but a few days. I mean it literally. And in those few days, with the air and gas attacks which have been planned by headquarters’ staffs, London and Paris will be wiped out in a night.”
Jesus of Nazareth, greatest of all prophets, referring to the same identical items, said:
"Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.”—Matthew 24:22.
Dr. Bernard L Bell, college president, has ’said:
"Before the war people often supposed that ours was a Christian culture. The war has revealed us to ourselves. Civilization is pagan.”
Mr. H. G. Wells, journalist, has said:
"We have come to the crossroads, and no one knows the way out”
Dr. H. L. Brailsford, publicist, has said:
"The future is very dark. We have reached the twilight of civilization.”
In view of the foregoing opinions of some of the world’s most thoughtful men it must be conceded that the first point has been proven; namely, that unless something be done speedily civilization is in a fair way to be blotted out
• • •
2. Within the past century there have been many international conferences, such as those more recently held at Washington, Genoa, and The Hague. In spite of these the World War
took place; in spite of them another similar but greater cataclysm is feared. At Versailles an attempt was made, in the Covenant of the League of Nations, to provide the central authority which all see is needed. Insofar as such a central authority exists it has not been so exercised as to prevent numerous wars, and it is in spite of such central authority that the future looks so dark. The United States, thus far, has been unwilling to entrust its interests to such central authority; and if Great Britain is willing to do so there are great numbers of Americans who believe that her reason for so doing is because she believes that, with her colonies, she can control instead of being controlled. The fact that so many capable men have given serious attention to the establishment of a central authority shows the world’s need of just such an authority. It needs no argument to establish further the second point: That a central authority, wise, just, benevolent, and able to enforce its decrees, is essential*
• • •
3. Without discussing here the reasons for it, it is self-evident that the central authority which was sought to be established by the Treaty of Versailles has been unable to gain the confidence of many of those in the United States who are molders of public thought and directors of public action, and hence it is not in the confidence of the American public as a whole. What is true in America is true to some extent in Great Britain and in other countries. If a nation is sufficiently great to be admitted to a council of nations, it is evident that a majority of its people must by some means become convinced of the wisdom of recognizing and supporting a world central authority, or that nation, and all other nations like-minded, will always be a disturbing factor. The only way that the public in general can be convinced of a thing is through the molders of public thought and the directors of public action, and these cannot and will not teach and practise principles of which they are not themselves convinced. Many honest and influential Americans will always use their powers to combat any plan which could possibly result in the United States being drawn into another European war. It is undeniably true that if a central authority is to function properly it must have the confidence of at least a majority of the molders of public thought and the directors of public action in every country of consequence in the world.
• • •
4. It is but reasonable to require that before anything shall exercise such great powers as are implied in the term central authority it shall have demonstrated its ability to deal with the questions at issue, or any questions which may come before it. No thoughtful person could claim that either the League of Nations or the Roman Catholic Church, two of the leading contestants for this position, have made any such demonstration. Rather, it must be admitted that both of these organizations have not once but many times proven themselves helpless to prevent war. If the League of Nations had been organized at the same time that the Roman Catholic Church was organized there is nothing in its history to indicate that there would have been a less carnival of hate, unwisdom, injustice and bloodshed than there has been throughout-the years that the latter institution has been in existence. The very fact that civilization is now in danger of being blotted out shows that neither of these organizations has the ability to deal with the questions at issue.
• • •
5. If a central authority is to gain almost universal respect and obedience it is self-evident that the molders of public thought and the directors of public action would be greatly aided in their work if there were already in existence credible and widely published records, illustrating the wisdom, the justice, the benevolence and the ability of the authority supported, and setting forth instance after instance where the most difficult and seemingly unsolvable problems were handled with a despatch and a thoroughness that left nothing to be desired. These records would have to be such that a most critical examination of them by any thoroughly unbiased student would leave no doubt as to their truthfulness. They would have to be supported by an overwhelming array of corroborative evidence, leaving no doubt as to their authenticity.
• • •
& In order to obtain- and retain the full confidence of all persons in interest, a central authority would need to have the remarkable record of not being chargeable with a single instance of either unwisdom, injustice, lack of benevolence, or inability to carry out its pur poses. If such an instance could be clear!;, proven it would do much to shatter confidence. Every person in interest confronted with the evidence would withhold much or all of his confidence, fearing to entrust his own interests, or the interests of his loved ones or his nation, because he would fear, and properly, that if unwisdom, injustice, lack of benevolence, or inability had been manifested in one case it might be again and his interests might be the ones to suffer.
• • •
7. The object and intent of this plan is an act of humility on the part of the Government of the United States, whereby this government shall take the lead among the nations of the earth in officially acknowledging its inability to deal adequately with the problems now confronting mankind; shall admit, officially, its past ‘ and present failures in dealing with other nations along lines of wisdom, justice and benevolence; and shall acknowledge that the power to bring about and to maintain peace among the nations rests wholly in the hand of the One who has claimed it from time immemorial; namely, Jehovah, the God of the Bible. The intent further is that the United States should make an appeal to all the nations of the earth that, officially, their joint petition may humbly be laid before God Almighty, that He will deign to hear the cries of His creatures, and to spare them further wars. The belief is that the world is now in the very crisis foretold by Jesus, the Son of God, concerning which He said: "Except those days should be shortened, there should no fiesh be saved'*; and the realization, based upon the Bible, is that the only possible escape in this Day of Wrath is a national repentance and a world-wide repentance toward God.
Either the Bible is the Word of God or it is a lie. There is no middle ground. Jesus believed the Bible just as we have it today, the New Testament having not yet been written. Ho referred by name to the experiences of Noah and of Jonah. St Paul refers by name to Adam on numerous occasions. If the Christian religion be true the Bible is true, the whole of it If the Bible be untrue, Jesus and St Paul taught a false religion. If the Bible be untrue, there is no true religion in the world, no hope of a Cen-' tral Authority here or hereafter, and no hops of everlasting life to anybody. If the Bible be untrue, then self-interest is the only law for men or nations and peace can never come, and can never be maintained if it does come.
Let us now examine some of the claims of the Bible respecting Jehovah's place in the affairs of men. He selected and dealt with one nation for a time, in order thus to illustrate what His power will be. world-wide, when the due time has come for its full exercise. That nation was Israel, and we choose several illustrations.
Seven times, within a period of 450 years, Jehovah visited national calamities upon the Jews, and the Bible states that in each instance these calamities were from Him. They are recorded in the book of Judges. In Judges 2:14, as a rebuke for misdeeds, they were delivered "into the hands of spoilers”; in Judges 3:8, He sold them into the hand of the king of Mesopotamia; in Judges 3:12, He strengthened the king of Moab against them; in Judges 4:2, He sold them into the hand of the king of Canaan; in Judges 7:1, He "delivered them into the hand of Midian”; in Judges 10: 7, He "sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon” for a period of eighteen years, and in Judges 13:1, He "delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.”
While yet on the way to Canaan they were warned that it was useless for them to fight unless the Lord was with them; and when thiy did attempt to fight without His approval they were defeated, after first being forewarned that such would surely be the case. See Numbers 14:40-45.
Before Moses' death they were warned that after their period of probation as a nation had ended the Lord would bring against them a fierce nation from afar that would put an end to their national existence with one of the most terrible sieges of history. All of this was perfectly fulfilled when the army of Titus overthrew Jerusalem after the lapse of seventeen centuries.—Deuteronomy 28:49-57.
When the .divine decree had been placed against the house of Ahab, and Ahab repented and "rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth and went softly” there was a mitigation of the penalties against him. See 1 Hangs 21:27-29.
When three of Jehoshaphat’s enemies formed a confederacy against him, and he appealed the case to Jehovah, the attackers fell out among themselves and destroyed each other without a man of Israel needing to lift a hand against them. Israel was expressly told in this instance that "the battle is not yours, but God’s.” Soo 2 Chronicles 20:1-30.
When Sennacherib's general wrote a taunting letter to Hezekiah, demanding his surrender on the ground that his God was not able to care for him. Hezekiah spread the letter before the. Lord, with the result that the angel of the Lord stew the whole Assyrian army in a night. See Isaiah 37; 8-36.
Now as respects some other nations, tho Bible shows that the Pharaoh who had impudently demanded: "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey bis voice” was drowned in the Red Sea after a series of defeats that were in some respects worse than death.—Exodns 5:2; 14:1-3L
In Jehovah's hands nations are granted times for development and testing; also punishment. Abraham could not in his own day possess certain lands because "the iniquity of the Amoritss is not yet full.”—Genesis 15:16.
The Pharaoh reigning in Joseph’s thne was a recipient of special favors at God's hands. Joseph declared: "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace”; and the promise was fulfilled.—Genesis 41:16-57.
God expressly claims responsibility for the destruction of Sodom, and gives the reason for it "I took them away as I saw good.”—Ezekiel 16:50.
• • • . .
The peace of the world is peculiarly the problem of the people of the United States. Not only do the Scriptures show that "all the earths should reverence Jehovah who "bringeth tho counsel of the heathen to nought” (Psalm 33: 8,10); not only do they declare that "blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psabit 33:12), but the Revised Version pronounces a special blessing upon the United States in them words: "Ah, the land of the rustling wings [tho American eagle], which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: that sendeth ambassadors by the sea* even in vessels of papyrus.” (Isaiah 18:1*2) The only land west of -or beyond the rivers of Ethiopia is the United States. A special blesfr* ing is here pronounced upon'some message^ printed upon paper, that shall go forth to other peoples.
We are expressly told in prophecy that following the World War, when European kingdoms would be broken in pieces: "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.” (Daniel 2:44) Why hesitate to give God His rightful placet
Nebuchadnezzar, a great king on the pages of secular history, did not hesitate to promulgate a decree regarding Jehovah "that every people, nation and language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghill.”—Daniel 3; 29.
Daniel, man of God, thought to help Nebuchadnezzar later by warning him that he was about to go insane, and to urge him to righteousness and mercy toward the poor, so that the time of his tranquility might be lengthened. Nebuchadnezzar was insane seven years and at its close was not ashamed to say: "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”—Daniel 4:27,37.
Darius, another great monarch on the pages of secular history, after the deliverance of Daniel from the lions* den, "wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in the earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”—Daniel 6:25-27.
One more illustration of a truly wise monarch was that of the ruler of Nineveh who, when warned by Jonah that the city was about to be destroyed, even as you are now warned that Christendom is about to perish, "arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, and he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock; taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not! And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”— Jonah 3:6-10.
Has not Jehovah declared His ultimate intent that "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more”! (Isaiah 2:4) Why not be the first nation to issue a mighty appeal to Him to begin the operation of that law! But in making that appeal let the nation speak as a nation, through the mouths of its legislators, and not at all through the mouths of those who, professing to teach the Bible, really disbelieve it, or who, knowing this rule against war, were for war when they should have been for peace.
Why wait! Why wait! Was it not for you that the message was written three thousand years ago! "Be wise now therefore, 0 ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”—Psalm 2:10-12.
Nicholas Aligel, nine years old, of South Ozone Park, beat the police to it. Nicholas tired of school, so he engaged for a day as a traveling fruit peddler’s assistant Before night his father and mother and a squad of detectives were all looking for him. Worn out with their fruitless search, Nicholas’ papa and mamma returned heartbroken to their home late at night, only to find Nicholas sound asleep in his bed. We do not know what happened to Nicholas afterward. Perhaps his parents were so glad to see him that they said nothing and did nothing; and then, again, perhaps—but we draw the veil!
"Soon we shall have thinkers in the place Of fighters; each found able as a man To strike electric influence through a race^
Unatayed by city wall and barbican.”
Reports from Foreign Correspondents
From England At present the unemployment llgsres are a
THE result of the general election in Britain was an unexpected blow for the Conservative party, which has been pleased to consider itself as the only true support of the British constitution. The Conservative leaders were not at all prepared for the great set-back which they received at the polls and which, to their horror, brought the dreaded Labor government within view. To very many it is as if the enemy were already within sight of the city gates.
The present position is that there are three parties elected to the House of Commons, each approximately as strong as the others; and none loves the other. Here is disclosed one of the weaknesses of parliamentary government. No doubt Britain, the mother of this form of government, will join the general demonstration of the failure of all forms of human governance.
The wisdom of the world is visibly perishing here as well as elsewhere, not only because of the self-interests and class interests so assiduously sought, but because of the great complexity of the problems which have arisen, and which do not decrease but increase rapidly.
The Labor party is by no means opposed to the present constitution; so no great changes are probable even if and when it comes into power, which event seems near at hand. There are in it some who would break down the constitution, but the leaders are not of that mind.
It will be one of the ironies (or humors) of the situation if some of the leaders of that party are made Lords of the Kingdom and take a place amongst that oft-derided company. Strange things are possible in these days of upheaval. Out of the melee the Liberal party has come back.
This may almost be said to be a personal triumph for Mr. Lloyd George. Some fondly hoped that Mr. Lloyd George was a spent force, once and for all. But his trip to America restored his name and fame, and he came back to a set of circumstances which made him a very powerful force. Also he wrought like a Titan.
Probably Mr. Lloyd George is one of the signs of the times, and one of those who are to be used to do a work for the kingdom of peace, even though indirectly used of Jehovah. His motives are surely good, and he is no doubt seriously desirous of amending the conditions of the people. He is not merely a politician.
little lower. They are indeed about 400,000 less than this time last year; and yet there are about 1,000,000 persons getting unemployment money. Trade shows a slight improvement, though, say the authorities, there is no improved outlook, nor is one to be expected till Europe is settled. The Christmas season has been a busy one. Never were such shopping crowds, nor ever had' the railways a busier time.
The country has been afflicted with a bad outbreak of cattle foot-and-mouth disease. As the policy of Great Britain is not to trust to remedial measures but to kill and burn all the livestock on the farms where the disease shows itself, there has been a great slaughter. The total number of local outbreaks to date is 1,846, and 117,257 animals have been slaughtered: 62322 cattle, 30,758 pigs, 23,631 sheep, and 46 goats, This represents gross compensation amounting to £1,846,000.
Most of the trouble has been in the county of Cheshire, one of the most fertile of the English counties, and where its best dairy farms are. The condition of the county is pitiable; Habak-kuk*8 word may be applied: “The dock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.” (Habakkuk 3:17) Its well-stocked fields and its farmyards are empty. The farmer may get some compensation for the destruction of his beasts, but the life of the farm has gone; and he is much in the same position as the man- • ufacturer who has had his mill burnt out.
Now, when so many animals have been destroyed, the government department is questioning whether or not it is using the right method of fighting the disease. In France and Belgium remedial measures are tried. Here they kill the animal, and think afterwards.
From Germany
FOUR years ago Austria seemed doomed, but was placed upon its feet by the combined efforts of the Boman Catholic Church and the great banking interests which center in America. Something of the same situation now confronts Germany. The bands of a very extensive secret organization of Rome are being quietly wrapped closely and more closely round about the German country and people.
In a recent address Heir von Graefe, member of the German Parliament and speaker for the German-nationalist party, with great force and clearness declared that Herr von Kahr, the Bavarian Premier, intends nothing less than the destruction of Protestant Germany, and the restoration of the Hapsburg monarchy with its ultramontane (Church of Home) influence.
For some time it has been plainly evident that all the powers of Germany's leading statesmen were unable to bring about a stable government without surrendering to the Centre Party, the Catholics. In spite of every effort to stabilize the value of money, the Reichsmark decreased more and more, while prices mounted astonishingly.
It was evident that some secret influence was working against the Protestant statesmen. Every effort made by them was rejected with disdain by the papers, largely under Catholic influence, so that the people had no confidence and a general stoppage of industry and business was the result
As a consequence of this secret influence, the cabinets changed one after another, so that within the whole Parliament it seemed quite impossible to find a new cabinet member who would have the confidence of the majority, or be able to undertake the formation of a new cabinet.
But suddenly, in the hour of the greatest exhaustion of the Reich and of the people, and amidst the general fear that another dissolution of the Reichstag was inevitable, with its inevitable delay of reform and prosperity, the Centre Party and its famous leader, Herr Dr. Marx, came into the limelight
Herr Marx offered to form a new cabinet, with the remarkable result that the newspapers, which had formerly been sowing seeds of distrust, at once took an opposite course. There was evident, all over the country, a systematic secret political force in favor of the new Government Prices immediately declined and almost incredibly the Reichsmark rose upon the foreign exchanges, under the pressure of ultramontane influence.
The tone of the new Government suddenly hardened, becoming almost a dictatorship. Of course this cannot be kept secret, and has resulted in general discontent. The empowering law, passed at the instance of the new cabinet, is not well received by the people; but after a bitter fight in the Reichstag it was finally accepted, and the Reichstag adjourned to meet again several weeks later.
The adjournment of the Reichstag virtually means that its members have been sent home and told to keep their lips dosed. Hence at this moment all the people are looking intently to Rome to see and hear what the "Old Wife” (the Roman Catholic Church) will command from there. Meantime, it does not forget that Protestant Germany has been compelled to surrender the Rhine and the Ruhr to Catholic France, and Upper Silesia to Catholic Poland.
All in all it may be said that at this time, more than at any other thus far, the German people see fulfilled in their midst the words of our Lord that at the time of the setting up of His kingdom there should be "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.”—Luke 21:25.
Significant Utterances of Lloyd George
STATESMEN are not always able to put into effect the things that they plainly see ought to be done. There are too many obstacles in the way, too many enemies who must be pacified, too many friends who must be catered to, too many interests involved.
Lloyd George is being criticised now because some of the statements he has made in the past have not been too well lived up to. But these statements are of interest, anyway. They show how far the world's greatest statesmen have moved forward within the history of men now living. Only a few years ago the following utterances by England’s greatest statesman would have been condemned as rank socialism by the capitalistic press. But today they do not attract more than passing notice.
“What (hall we tax? We shall tax the man who Is getting something he never earned, that he never pre* duced, and that by no law of justice and fairness ought ever to belong to him.”—Speech of December 8,1909.
"Who ordained that a few should have the land d Britain as a perquisite; who made 10,000 people owners of the soil and the rest of us trespassers in the land d ow birth? Who ia responsible for the scheme of thin^
▼hereby one man is engaged through life in grinding labor, to win a bare and precarious existence for himself : and another man who does not toil receives every hour of the day, every hour of the night whilst he slumbers, more than his poor neighbor receives in a whole year of toil?”—Speech of 1912.
"I say to Labor: You shall have justice; you shall have fair treatment, a fair share of the amenities of life; and your children shall have equal opportunities with the children of the rich. You shall not be plundered nor penalized. Labor must have happiness in its heart We will put up with no sweating. Labor is to have its just reward. There will be abundance to requite the toil and gladden the hearts of all.”—Speech of December 5, 1918.
Lloyd George sees what is easily possible; indeed, everybody sees it. But the thing which he desires, and which everybody desires, can never come as a result of human efforts. Experience proves this, positively.
Taking the Clock Apart By Benjamin Iwm
XTEAIiS ago, when I was in the jewelry business, several boys came to me, each having a piece of a clock which they had taken apart. Each claimed that the piece in his possession was the most valuable, and they all had something to sell. Everything they had to sell, however, was deformed, twisted and bent by their violence in taking the clock apart.
Ignorant boys have torn the Bible in pieces; each piece is a creed. Those creeds are bent and twisted clock-wheels which the clergy, like the inexperienced boys, imagine comprise about all there is of value in the Scriptures, when really all that each one has is junk.
Yes; those boys got into an argument and "het up” till their countenances resembled a ripe erysipelas—just like the rich master-parsons of flocks who do violence to Scripture. Those boys knew instinctively that those violently-handled wheels of a clock were of no use to me; but if I was silly enough to buy them, they in turn could buy peanuts.
The men "sent” from theological and divinity schools know instinctively that a few verses of Scripture with "sectarian finger-prints on them” are worse than useless; but they pander to the heterogeneous mass, and are looked upon as "wise men.”
Those "wise men” have mince-pie dreams, "and cannot rest day or night,” till those dreams are made into laws. An "office seeker9' must first endear himself to the "wise men,” or he will be defeated on election day. The "wise man” wants his dismal nightmare on the statute books so that he can father a "reform movement ” to make saints of us by law, that he can say on the day of judgment; 'tHere, Lord, are the saints I redeemed from the earth with the mutilated constituent components of an alarm clock. Please decorate my crown with garnets and diamonds.”
Those "wise men” who have mince-pie dreams take special delight in arguing with one another about their respective wheels and pendulums. One "wise man” says that the pendulum is the most important part; another, that the ease is more important; still another declares, in a temperature of 1,000 degrees, that the hands of the clock are all there is to it; and yet another answers that the figures on the dial are the chief of the tribe; another remarks that the key and the muscle applied keep everything moving. Thus we have violence from start to finish; force, not connection, is the fountainhead of sectarianism.
A wheel, case, pendulum, dial, and key separated—these are not a clock. "All scripture is given by inspiration for instruction in righteousness? Not a verse nor a chapter is complete in itself. Neither can a toothed wheel, mainspring, dial, time wheels, hands, or case be a clock till each part is properly assembled and adjusted between power and resistance. When this is done, we have a mechanical device for measuring time. When the Scripture is Scripture, it is a time guide; but when we separate it into creeds, we divide the “vesture of Christ,” which his murderers had the unlimited gall to do.
The “wise ones” of today have the audacity to tell us that "the world is growing better”; that it is "safe for democracy.”. Instead of preaching “the good tidings of great joy,” they preach war, causing bloodshed, famine, and pestilence. Christ knew full well when hesaid: "Woe unto you lawyers, . . • scribes, Pharisee^
hypocrites* that they were, as they are today, I will apologize. But it is my firm conviction the aristocracy of Satan's realm. that the choicest maledictions in prophecy can-
If I have made any statement that is not true, not do these “wise ones'* injustice.
Antediluvian Giant By John c. Ne ft
I AM greatly enthused about the “Antediluvian Giants/* in The Golden Age No. 109. On that line I have some information which no doubt will be of interest.
I was once a globe-trotter; and before I knew anything about present truth I did not appreciate wonders when I saw them.
In 1907 there was exhibited at various places throughout the United States a giant—a son of one of the fallen angels, without a doubt.
I will reproduce the history, connected with this monster, to the best of my ability.
In the early part of this century two fossil giants were found in a cave in the Ural Mountains, on the eastern border of Russia. The larger is something over eleven feet, from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. The other is much smaller, and was considerably decomposed before petrifaction took effect. Therefore I will say no more about that one.
The larger giant is in almost a perfect state of preservation, except that one ear had begun to decompose, also his upper hip and part of his abdominal wall; part of his stomach is therefore visible. This decay, of course, took place before petrifaction took effect.
A specimen like this has never been recorded before or since, with the exception of Mr. Hubbard's find, described in Golden Age No. 109.
It is probable that this giant did not perish in the flood; but that he died before the flood, is evident from the fact that he lay as straight as any corpse could lie, and with hands folded.
The finders stated that, due to the surroundings of his tomb, he might have been a chief. He had neither beard nor moustache, but a heavy head of long hair, a rope-like portion extending from the top of his head to each shoulder. That also is petrified, and is also proof that he was laid out with special care. I do not believe that special care was the order of the day when those monsters saw the great deluge coining.
Truly, he is a wonderful sight; but I did not appreciate it then; for I knew not whence it came.
But someone might conclude: "Ohl well, somebody just molded that thing out of cement, to make some easy money.** From here it would be hard for me to convince you to the contrary; but try I wilt
Let anyone that doubts the genuineness of this narrative gaze upon his own hands, arms and feet, and notice every detail—the wrinkles, the knuckles, the nails, the skin, the muscles— and then imagine them turned into stone. Portions of this giant are just that perfect. His teeth are as natural in setting as mine are! Another feature I noticed was what is commonly called the Adam*s apple. I tapped on it with my knuckles. The sound indicated that there was a cavity therein.
If anyone is further interested in this, I believe that he will find this giant in the National Museum in Washington, D. C. If he is not there at present he could be easily located.
No genius could model anything like it Truly he is one of those giants that filled the earth with violence in the days of Noah.
These which I mention here and those of Mr. Hubbard’s finding are the only petrified giants on record. But there have been many bones of this race found throughout the United States, of which the American Indian is not ignorant ; When some of these bones were unearthed 'during the early days of the Middle West, the red man recited his tradition as follows:
"Long time ago great big men live here; heap fierce; when thunder cracked, they mocked; when lightning flashed, they laughed, and said that they were greater than both. Great Spirit sent heap big flood; kill’em all.”
This is Indian tradition, recorded in history; and yet it is not so far from the truth. It was handed down to them by their ancestors from the days of Noah.
A Concluding Chapter of Interrogations
THE publication of ‘'Interrogations” in The Golden Age No. 109, being answers to sundry questions and objections brought forward by Mr. Jasper Jones, has produced another crop of interrogations in the form of five more letters from Mr. Jones, one from Ludwig Larsen, one from Axel Hjalmarson, and one from Thaddeus Tornowicz, all following the same general lines. For convenience we consider them collectively.
’As the letters from Messrs. Jones, Larsen, Hjalmarson, and Tornowicz all come from the same post-office, are all in the same handwriting, and as none of these gentlemen appear on our list of subscribers at the post-office named, we assume that this one answer should suffice; and we will not carry the matter further.
*We are glad to devote a reasonable amount of effort to assist any one to a clearer view of God’s plan, though we do not forget the command of Romans 14:1: “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.” This Scripture text we understand to mean that we are not expected or even permitted to waste consecrated time in disputing with one who, at the moment, seems more eager to find something which he can criticize than something which he can commend.
4We ask Mr. Jones-Larsen-Hjalmarson-Tor-nowicz not to take offense at this statement We ask him also to bear in mind our oft-repeated and self-evident proposition that we do not know it all, and to be reasonably patient while we try to give some answers to what we recognize are unusually intelligent criticisms. We proceed as before, with quotations from the letters, interspersed with our answers or comments on the same.
Necessity of Understanding the Scriptures
jlHE original doctrine propounded by Pastor Bus-J- sell was sufficiently plausible to solve every doubt of the confirmed skeptic—for the time being. Unfortunately too much of its credibility depended on the infallibility of a set of dates, and the parallels based thereon, which the relentless logic of events has shown not paralid.”
•From our point of view the original doctrine propounded by Pastor Russell still solves every doubt, and would be wholly credible if it was divorced entirely from any set of dates; but the logic of events shows that his chronology was correct and is correct Chronology is not a proper basis for faith. It should never be anything more than an aid to faith, but it may be that, and it is that.'
’"Your doctrine is rooted in the presumption that Pastor Bussell wrote under divine inspiration. Indeed, the candor, temperance, charitableness, lucidity and apparent logic manifested in his words impress the reader as favoring that assumption. Any careful student of history must have drawn the conclusion that our civilization was to end in a cataclysm, and Pastor Bussell points out (whether it was his own discovery or not, I do not know) that the Bible prophesies this very thing. But it seems strange that Pastor Bussell, writing under supposed divine inspiration, could have perpetrated so many egregiously false guesses concerning the date 1914, the keystone date of his whole scheme of parallels.”
•It was never the thought of Pastor Russel] that he was inspired, nor was it ever our thought respecting him. We prefer to accept his own statement on this subject, “If it was proper for the early Christians to prove what they received from the apostles, who were and who claimed to be inspired, how much more important it is that you fully satisfy yourself that these teachings keep closely within their outline instructions and those of the Lord; since their author claims no inspiration, but merely the guidance of the Lord, as one used of him in feeding his flock.” (Watch Tower, June 1,1893) We could reproduce this sentiment from Pastor Russell’s pen many times. This was always his thought of himself and our thought of him. However, we hold that Pastor Russell was right in regard to 1914, as your next sentence practically admits.
•"It is true that events of stupendous importance did transpire on this date, but not exactly what was expected by him and his followers came to pass, nor on schedule time, but several months earlier. Your attempt to explain this discrepancy seems to me entirely inadequate; and the fact that even the Great War did not occur as per schedule, and that your other anticipations cosh cerning this date failed, serves to invalidate your whois scheme of chronology and parallels based thereon, wheel harmony and exactness it refutes.”
10We cannot undertake here to quote at any considerable length from Pastor Russell’s writings as to his expectations regarding 1914; but from his journal, The Watch Towek, for January, 1881, we quote the following paragraph: “We see, too, that not only are the harvest of Jewish and Gospel ages parallel in point of beginning, but also in length of duration; theirs being in all forty years from the time of Jesus* anointing, at the beginning of their harvest, A. D. 30, to the destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. So ours, beginning in 1874, closes with the end of the day of wrath and end of the times of the Gentiles, 1914, a similar and parallel period of forty years. The first seven years of the Jewish harvest were especially devoted to the gathering of ripe wheat from that church; three and one-half of it were while He was present as the Bridegroom and three and a half of it after He had come to them as ETing and had entered into glory”
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