Golden Age, April 6, 1927
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Y ONDEBS OF JORD IN
D4V® 4 PROTOTYPE
DOO BULES SCOTLAND?
ALL THINGS SH ILL BE MADE NE^
INDULGENCES
AT AB LB GUN’
or a copy — $ 100 a Ye ar Canada and Foreign Countries $150
Cl WORLD DYING
Iwoe and courage
Vol. ’■ Ill B’AWekly No. 197 Apul fi, 1®27
NEY
WORLD BEGINNING
Contents of the Golden Age
r_—7^===========^^ : iiA2L=====^ww=z7T=rSre
Labor and Economics
Conditions in Rumania . • •'-’*
Slavery in Portuguese Africa EEa'A*®
Social and Educational
Jewish Impressions of Bible Students . ■.. . . . . . . . . 428
Things that Endure (Poem) .............. 434
Society Gnm Becomes a Poor Clare ............ 438
Occurrences of Poltergeist .......... .... . 488
Science aid Invention 'Beam Radio Works Perfectly ....... Sweden's Aer;>te<l Cm wrote ........ T in <i r l ' 'Ki i nr 7 . .
Illi I 'I U I 111 I l| . .
TeAVEL AND Ifrrm.ANT
Religion and Philosophy
Mussolini'Will Teach Religion
3lX) Days’ Inisui.gence and Maybe Mors . . . . . • . . . . ,
About Masses for the Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A Pretty Goon Haul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Teacii.ri. Dies to the Im rm. ioutu ............. . ... .
How Peter Has Changed ................ -1-7 The Lobd's “BrothebS” ................. 4h3 isi.jr Marys in rite .\ow Lewaiiietit ............. . ICtVtD TltE 1'1101014 m ................ . .. —... '.i.
The First Farmer and Hrs two Littls Boys . . - . . .
Behold! I Make .-111 Things New
F '.IVi.E QF5i<;?,i*TOEd‘5 AND •zVlMSVl i'.I’S - « • - < » » • ■> « • c » v
i/r- - h ir'njs ipji Izhtie People e .
< i r'>i m “‘The Haep of God” e ........... p 447
ahe Golden Age
Volume VHI
N, Y., Wednesdays, April 8, 1927
Number 197
On Foreign Sliores
[Rti li.v-.wt ii-wa. StJtwc Al BBS on u W3\e ler^jJi 413 1 meters by Ui > Editor.]
Mussolini Will Teach ’’telipiw
THE Nev; York Tn^.s P'i> lliaL wnh the •*• cooperation and approval of the pop^, 'his-s.hini will now cngm. »• in h ? T’b.'ang of religion. Motion pic-une- vj’ be used to foster vehgion^ foelirg, v.Ta'' v~ u that is, and to smvad a knowledge of ih° ait and Met Mure of the p erjiar fem ofi'h; . ’ o wl Mu«-ol'r* ’$ a Idieted. Fascis’ i bm rlm-ady ord -re<« that one rL these films shall on emy movie
pogiam.
4 Sorry Compliment to Italy
John C^ldeii, of the American Management
Mission, writing in Tue Iron Age, says briefly: ‘’Mussolini's whole program is a sorry compliment to the intelligence of the Italian people. It has been decided that above all things they must not think.'5 It would be a good joke if after having made the men do just as lie told them in every little thing the women would trip him up by paying no attention to his orders or wishes respecting their dress, and the chances are that they may do that very thing. Even the pope could not bo>s them in that particular. He continues to fume about 'bort dresses and low necks and short sleeves, but in vain,
Italy's New Reign of Terror
T^OLLOWING the latest attempt upon Mm>— solini's lift, the London P<‘ lg < Wh-iW icy- ris that never, even in the h '-!ory of Fa-vm it. then been t1 roiighout the bmgtb and bi 'dth of Italv stwh sew e- of horror as veto 1h<-( > enacted. Even !“i)n(.si i epvLibh' am! m nt decs >it Italian people were attacked and thmr property destroyed if they were even simper twl of lacking enthusiasm for t*’e Easrisf cause. The demand is nov being made that def ending counsel he denied in political ea»ps, and that the exPremier, Signor Ni.tti, already' in exile, b,e murdered by the first Italian who can waylay him.
Fuseists Caught a’ Their Own Gome
TTTIE Itahmi T.:" d di have been " amht M the1'?
own game. Th-' Manchester (hmto con-tung fl e sk.ix'p nm ;■ d.at E'ocio'ii Garibaldi, seized for i on -girn-g on French sod both agmast Snnin and ?gai<'st Italy, and knovn to Lave organized an abortive attempt agaaiol the Lfe <.£ M”'"' >L' 'v r- mtu'dly in the mnploy of the Italian Fmwi -ti and received his pay from die Inspector G moral of the Italian Police. It is thus evident Liat the Fa-< isti have been trying to invobm France in trouble and got caught at it. It only helps to make a bigger monkey than ever of the wMfle hand-organ castor oil farce. When any government gets so far down in the scale of decency that it has to resort to the i.n-iamous use of agents provocateur, it is a pretty sure sign that it sees the end of its rule in sight. When Mussolini does go, it is the opinion of many that the Italian people will turn suddenly from tyranny to anarchy. This opinion is expressed editorially by the New York World.
Beam Radio Works Perfectly
/j mcoNi’s new system of transmitting radio Iwl waves in a single direction instead of broadcasting them works perfectly, and is now in operation between London and Montreal. This is unquestionably a great step forward and marks the time v.l in the wot Id will he cris-cio^ed by the^e !’adio waves between the wml'l’s important cenmis of population.
Sweden's Aerated Concrete
XTEW YORK at m e time bad a run on aerated T bread, Irat we never hear of it nowadays. The Sv. edes have applied the same principle to concrete. After the concrete has been fixed they blow it full of gas, which fills the finished concrete with Intie holes. This makes the concrete go farther, and it is said u> be fully as strong as if more solid.
Conditions in Rumania
WHILE plenty of Americans were making fools of themselves because the queen of
Rumania was visiting here, and while the papers here told how she was entertained at the White House in garments glittering with jewels from toe to crown, not so much mention wi s made of the fact that the general poverty in Rumania is so great that the Rumanian press itself was ilot permitted to publish the details of the queen’s de luxe trip to America. Seventy percent of the Rumanians are illiterate; wages are 25 cents for a fourteen io sixteen hour day; except on Sunday the Rumanian peasants live on boiled dried corn twinned from the ears, the same as the hogs eat raw. Their shoes consist of rough tanned hides laced around their feet. The queen had a private deck for herself and her retinue of thirty-two persons on the steamer Leviathan on the way here, and the party had baggage enough to fill two Pennsylvania Railroad baggage cars.
Important Astronomical Discovery
ACCORDING to the New York Times two
Swiss scientists, who spent a month living on the top of one of the highest Alpine mountains in Switzerland, have made the important discovery that a certain group of stars sends out radioactive waves stronger than the Roentgen rays. They are hoping to be able to capture these rays and make some use of them.
How the Soldier Got the Necklace
DURING the World War an Austrian soldier, arrested for taking a pearl necklace from the neck of a famou® < hurch statue of the Virgin, olleied the defense that the Virgin had bowed her head, taken the pearls thorn her neck, and given them to him. The court referred the matter to two bi khans who did not wish to admit that the Virgin statue was not a miracle worker, and who admitted that r-ueli a miracle vas possible. What a way to get a necklace!
Great Macedonian Mlgrsdrsn
THE great Macedonian migration, in which hundreds of thousands of Greeks weie removed to Macedonia from Turkey, and o‘her hundreds of thousands of Turks were removed from Macedonia to Tiukey, is pretty well settled at last. The Greeks are thriving in their new home. Athens has doubled m population, and Salonika has tripled. This is the largest migration in eenrr.iies.
Cooperation Spreading Rapidly in Greece
SINCE 1911, when it got its foothold, cooperation has spread so rapidly that in the little country of Greece, which is only the size of West Virginia, there are now 3.655 cooperative societies. one-fourth as many as there are in the whole I ’*ed States. The internal and political condition of Greece is considered greatly improved.
Plain Living Promotes Longevity
lO'OST people dig their glares with their A.VJL teeth. The oldest roan in the world, Zorah, the Constantinople potter, who was 152 years old. on November 15th last, has always had plain food because he could not afford any other. He has never* been a user of liquor or tobacco, and drinks hut little water. He lias used tea for a hundred years or more.
Rail Development in Turkey
CONCESSIONS have jn-t been granted to
Swedish and Belgian capitalists which provide for the construction of 900 miles of much-needed railway in Turkey, in the course of the next five years. The wearing of veils by women has been suppressed by Turkish law, on the sensible grounds that it is unhygienic and also promotes concealment of criminals.
French Administration of Syria
A WRITER in the .Manrimstor Guat diaii, **■ commenting upon tin- eh customs of opening drinking houses and In • ves of prostitution throughout Syria. say»:
I am a •wired by Curavwo new rin BaalNk) f’at there is no quwwn of t’-i w: tv ri the SwA admmvirwtkp of the ( on a-t*' ■ ’ t. ’has the maw a-tmy povci jn Syna. In tn" < am a-vs all the officials are local mm and the &i <t avi j- c< wymed of lo> al men; local aflarr® ace witbo kcalir, nc ihere is oriy one actual Ru<rian cemmitvar. m n i Moscow in the whole area. G Syria the ■ ffic-ris p.,e French, tie bonnev of the Jaw court •’ i« c< rim'd in French; gnj, by the hnll’ant idea of fixe nine< t rn of a local coinage compatible only in Paii®. ibr nedp and industry of the country have been swept ink; Iha ch hands.
Developments in Palestine
TWO large orders of fruit trees have been shipped from Monrovia, California, to Jerusalem, Palestine, recently; and 400,000 vines for the growing of muscatel raisins will be planted in the Holy Land this coming season. Doctor Chaim Weizmann claims that Palestine today is the only peaceful spot m a portion of the world seething with unrest. The Jewish invasion of Palestine, he reminds critics, has been not with guns and gunboats but with spades and. Kbovffis. In sever years JOO 000 Jewish colonists have been brought into the country. The Arabs have been paid millions for their neglected lands. The Jews are making such strides that in a few year'- wore the irrigated areas ahjut Haifa will be one of the show places of the world.
Driving Jews Pack to Palestine
THE Jews who still remain in Poland aie being taxed out of the country. All taxes are assessed by Poles and the taxpayer’s word is never taken. Thousands of the Jews are without relief of any sort, and the only hope for them is emigration to Palestine. These are the view’s of Judge Harry M. Fischer of Chicago, and are supported by the facts. Within three years last past 200.000 Jews who had formerly been in trading and other occupations have become farmers. This is a most encouraging sign. With all his trials, the farmer is the most independent man in the world today. Ue can usually raise enough to get something to eat, anyway.
Growth of the Hebrew University
THE Hebrew University at Jerusalem grows steadily, A new central building is about to be erected which will cost over half a million dollars; Sol Rosenbloom, of Pittsburgh, having left that amount for that purpose. The University will at once undertake to study the system of sacrifices called for by the Jewish law, to endeavor to ascertain their real meaning. This is timely, just what we would expect, and cannot fail to bring great blessings to all.
The Imbeaux Dead Sea. Plan
HPHE Dead Sea is 1292 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The hill between the two is 382 feet at the lowest point, namely in the valley of Esdraelon or Megiddo, and water cannot be siphoned higher than 32 feet. A tunnel fifty miles long is an expensive undertaking, and yet such a tunnel has been projected; hut now a French engineer, M. Jmbeaux, proposes to carry the waters of the Mediterranean over most of the 382 feet by the novel expedient of pumping. The pou er required to lift great volumes of water to such a height would be mior-mous; but the fall into the Dead Sea is so great that there would he sufficient power thus generated to accomplish this, and enough left over io give Palestine the cheapest and most permanent water power on earth. The water would be pumped from one elevatwn to another I welve times. The canals would be through the cm ter of the richest part of Palestine, practically all of which is now in the hands of Jew’s.
Details of the Imbeaux Plan
HpHE Imbeaux plan for electrifying Palestine involves the construction of a canal with 12
Jocks, gradually rising 382 feet in the valley of Esdraelon. At the summit will be a tunnel 3,300 yards long, beyond which is a drop of 1,200 feet to the Sea of Tiberias, with a further drop of 4.00 feet to the Dead Sea. The gross energy derived would be 617,000 horsepower, of which amount 190,000 horsepower would be needed to pump the water up the twelve elevations. There would be left a net product of 426,000 horsepower, sufficient for all Palestine's power needs. It is believed that the Dead Sea would handle all this extra water by evaporation; but some who have been to Palestine question this, as even the Jordan as it nori is overflows the Dead Sea at times and causes its waters to rise very materially.
The Riches of Siberia
A RUSSIAN who lived for nineteen years in the State of Washington, but who is now in Siberia and a member of the Siberian executive political committee, states that although the Siberian peasant knov s no better than to dump the stable manure into the creek, yet Siberian fields are incredibly rich. He states that in Siberia there is coal by the billions of tons, rivers teeming with fish and forests with fur-bearing animals. Gold, too, is plentiful. He believes that Siberia is the coming country of the world.
The Fate of the Rhineland
TN THE Yangtse liver in China the steamship •*■ “Rhineland” had a slight collision which opened one of its seams. It was not considered serious at the time; but the water leaked in on a cargo of dried beans, the beans expanded, and ripped the triple riveted steel hull apart, and the steamer sank. Building stones can be quarried by the same method. It is slow but sure.
Britain Wins China Fight
I'pHE fight which Britain has waged off and on for about seventy-five years to fasten, the opium habit upon China has finally proven to be a complete success. A British gentleman, S. Henderson Smith, writing to the London Chtis-tia-n Wot Id from Taiyuan, Shansi, China, says:
The riwatioa is hopAvv Moe- and more opium is grown, weiy jear Jleiphia is smuggled in all over the Noirli. The •victims increase eseis day. It is enteiiiig the college® fo an alarming extent. Boys play with u, raid find, too iale, their careers ace lumed. The Devil smiles belli-*1 the wcncs vhde the. soldiers, merchants, scholar^ and the gieat majordj of officats, high aid lots, smoke or eat opium in some torn or another. They take it like snuff; thei dip tlicir cigaieties tn the pov dcr. All the time new device* aic being discovered. -
The Mossacre at Warihsien
TIWO British ships vitli cargoes of arms and ammunition which they had illegally carried 1,000 imlcs into tl e interior ot China were seized by military autnmities at IVanhsien, as they would have h *m had they attempted to lard a .mm at Loir w Jb or St. Lmfis or Kansas City. Thm-cupm* a B id b naval, vessel ck-P'-d Y’m b-mi’A ’b yarn new '1 mg a COO people. In the meant .at Jni> : ••an r-i .hosts me engaged i’’ the eg* long Av’O/ua.1 wnnpatior of pdlrng Bi’hshi t me-h ,j.s cm ot Lie t;'e. C!~ 't have bee ’ 'wcbm g olshu'.b'’v t- t .can and Clrre*'? b'-ct.-. a 1 of v'l ri. "’s e mw to Fmi. ah r W Aiuri' m . o'wr.'V't,. 'b oegrilao program would b° f r Anieiww "o fin' mo a vm in China, and fvi octhmg cni ot it hat glo.y ?*>d a good in my dml ^meii<‘an hoy*. Bn urn would, of course, v. am nil O* proceeds, and mency to boc+, to the end of time; and if Dfiele Sam should warn any of Lr womy back that twill of com so make him a Shjloc-k. to bo hated m d de.pised in the eostcra world as British propaganda lias made him hated and despised in the western one.
Japan Getting More Imperialistic
THE common people of Japan never have had very much liberty anyway, but henceforth they ’will get less. In the government schools the students are barred from reading any books or periodicals except such as the authorities have approved; students may not make speeches outside the classrooms, even on scientific subjects; they may not study private subjects. It is known that 1,500 students are under government espionage. Hatred of Americans and of all Westerners is being assiduously cultivated.
Courtesies of the Japanese
A HUNDRED young men from Japan spent a two weeks vacation in California., to get hrat-kand information. As some could not rIlford expensive steamer accommodations all the party, including squs of the wealthy, came by steerage. At a place where the group v.as photographed, American employes began removing to an upper floor the chairs no longer needed. Without a but each student picked up his chair and carried it upstairs. At tin’s time one b* y was overheatd io v.hisper to another, “Do nothing that will shame Japan.”
A Prodigious Storm in China
THE atori’s in the Chinese seas uio lam-, "g, A but they have just had ope that suipawcs. Sixty miles south of Hongkong thole is a lighthouse, t’»e snmimt ci which .s 140 feet cflvve high water, in a recent aoun the copmg stem s on the tpp of this light* ouse vere v. a -hod eri by the trcmei'dou, wan3;, and eight of the ha’i-iuch-ileck lenses in the 1'ghLng airau^A wcic a'-o biokcn.
ECeetrx ^;gL.is in
~Q EJORT has >1 that fw nu v sounded ;
Av ot- cat th, If t w, the “Vo hiddui L v A Tin jet, is now Iwliicd by elec ? liahw. L all ea^e t.l ot'f in the m^st ret»nal way. A . mg nvn of ‘he c ly v-imleiad Lk> adim twqi'ied an education, retimed and 1 ,rnested one of the waterfalls in the neighbor1 cod cf J w home city, secured permission of the Grand Lama of Buddbodom, instrl'ed. the sppmatus; and now the (Hand La m will have sometliing more ef-ficent than butler balls to 'lluminate his palace. Surely the world docs move.
Slavery in Portuguese Africa
THE Nation lias gathered and published all the proofs anybody could wish that the Portuguese government not only treats the natives of Portuguese West Africa as slaves but treats them so brutally that hundreds of them are starved to detoh, and the land is being rrmdly depopulated. Pour-fiAhs of the taxes of the country are paid by the natives, who are compelled tn labor rue hrmcied days of every yejf <o pay tLrir ti'V*. Ka ■> Ing paid their taxes to these Cl Hsutr. ecn.'nren who hive taken their count/y tLm then J sate die rig1 t to work for other wl ,te uim at a dn’b* wago of three cents. The tax is levied on bw^ as young as s«ven years of agm Not being able to live on the wage3 given them the natives are dying of starvation by whole colonies. It will now be in order for hit. Kipling to write pome poetry showing how Portugal is manfully taking up tho white man’s burden.
The Charleston a Kaffir Kance
ERSONS familiar with the customs of the
Kaffirs and Bantus in South Africa declare that the supposedly modern Charleston dance is nothing more nor less than a dance which has been practised by South African negroes from time immemorial. Department stores in Johannesburg warn all employes against practising Charleston steps behind the counters and thus lowering white supremacy in the eyes of the natives.
4 New Mountain Two Miles High
NEW mountain two miles high has been discovered, but it will be a long time before it will be of any trouble to aviators, because the top of it is still three-quarters of a mile below the surface of the South Atlantic ocean. The cable was found xwo miles nearer the surface than when it was laid hventy-seven years ago.
Sardinian Coal and Iron
ONE would suppose that in the famous little island of Sardinia all the minerals would have long since been discovered ; but now comes the news of a new coal field cstmiatod to contain 30,000.000 toi s, and a neai’w iron field which will probably give over 81.000 090 tons of ore. A local cox.ipauy Las been ferried, to exploit the properties. Foreign capital was refused.
fririaa a Source of Paper
AUBOO, which, lia^ Ufiierto been regarded as a weed and a nw-wnce in the countries where it is indigeimuj. will hereafter be the source of the world's paper s'my’y. This word, comes from Tnd;a, where expenments conducted for the pa.it fifteen years have finally disclosed the right method of handling the stubborn material. The paper will be unusually tough.
Cobham’s Trip io A.ustralia
THE actual flying time of Alan Cobham, from Britain to Australia and back, was 13 days 8 hours; so the trip may be said to presage the time when, people who are in a hurry will be able to get half around the world in a week. The return trip from Australia to Britain, including all stops enroute, was made in just one month. Britain gave the fliers the most enthusiastic welcome imaginable on their return.
Australia Sends an Envoy
USTRALIANS were determined to celebrate their new position in the British Empire by sending an envoy to the United States at once. The new commissioner, Sir Hugh R. Denson, was immediately named and put on the job forthwith. Australia and the United States have such great mutual interests in the Pacific that this move could hardly be longer delayed.
The Tallest Structure By B. S. Sckleui 'vfi
fpHE RCA tower at Tuckerton, N. J., isjhe tallest structure in the United States, being
■865 feet Iurii, and 1.00 feet taller than the Wool-
worth Budding.
Aside from this tower there are thirteen 550 foot towers supporting the antennae of several high-power, transoceanic transmitters, usuI for commercial traffic to various European and South American points. Radio is greatly overtopping the cathedral spires of Christendom.
Something About Scotland By D„ L. Cranston (Scotland^
SCOTLAND, a land of beautiful seeiyiy, is dear to the heart of every Scotsman. The schoolbooks of Scottish schools abound with stories of how, in heroic maimer, Scotland and Scotsmen obtained freedom from the yokes of their enemies. The “patriotic” Scotsman is promt of hi s country’s history.
Bui there are certain items of real import, generally withheld from the majority, which reveal that the Scottish people are in a bondage woi.j. tlia.li that of their enemies from which they broke free in the past, and which items also reveal that Scotland does not belong to the Scottish people.
In the light of certain facts such expressions as ‘"our country'’, “oor ain eountrie,” eta, in reference to Scotland by Scotsmen, are meaningless. Scotland belongs to a privileged few.
The story is told of the Scotsman who, in conversation with the American, said that America was not much of a place to live in because it had no nobility. ‘‘What is nobility?” asked the Yank. “Oh well, gentlemen who do not work,” was the reply. “Oh,” said the Yank, “we have them, hut we call them tramps.”
The majority of Scottish nobility live in ease and luxury by reason of their possessing land which in the past was stolen from the people. In the 11th century Britain, including Scotland, had the privilege of a visit from one known as “William the Conqueror” accompanied by a mimber of henchmen and retainers. Many today boast of their descent from those who came over with the Conqueror. A book, “Our Noble Families,” says:
The history books of out school days supplied us with many fiction--, but <m no part of our nr.tinnal records life, o they woiei!. more I’idstuhnis iioiisewe than on the Norman concpifA William die Corqueror is represented as landing at Hastings with the chnalry and nobility ol France at bis back< . . •
Alas that I should shatter a delusion, but it is necessary that the truth be told. The Norman conquerors were not mostly “of blue blood’’; they were, as Mc-Kenlle the hi-dorian juotly says, “the sewn of France”; they were led by one William, stuuamed the Conqueior, who was an illegitimate son of a Duke of Normandy, by the daughter of a tanner in Falai«e, and they simply murdered, dabbed and grabbed their way to aSuenee.
This same hook shows that the ancestors of our Scots noble families stole, murdered, bribed anti reported to every evil, immoral and dishonest practice to secure the land which they now possess, which land they tax the people of Scotland for the privilege of living upon. Their greed for possession seems to have been insatiable. Very few of them appear to have had any deceucy or honesty whatsoever. They have treated the common people as slaves or worse than slaves. They have received titles and honors from profligate kings. But, as Scotland's national poet says:
A prince can mak’ a belted knight, A marqui®, duke, an’ a’ that;
But an b.oneA man’s aboon his might, Guid faith he manna fa' that.
The nobility have dishonestly and fraudulently used government and public offices for their own enrichment. They have brought untold sufferings to the people. An example of thi« is the clearance of the crofters (those who rented small pieces of land for farm-crofts) from the land in Sutherlandshire, because the then Duke of Sutherland saw that it would be more profitable for himself to rent out the land for large sheep-farms. A brief account of this is given in the work, “Our Noble Families”:
Huge farms were deemed more profitable to the landlord than small crofts; and in several parishes, the crofting population got notice to “clear out”. Ciops were standing limit in many eases; the houses had ell been built by the tenants or their ancestors; and they, the tenants, had nowhere else to go.
It is true that many of the tenants were offered “al-lotxnentb” on the barren seashore: it is true that they were given the privilege of gathering whelks for food, and of fishing in the rcugh seas of the outer main if they could lav Ihoir bauds on sufficient- money io marebase a boat. Still they had no money for boat pv.r-chasing.-: they had no desire to leave their almost the ctops at a landlord's whim, and betake themselves avay irom the family croft on the ancestral strath to make com grow on soa-shmgle!
They thought that their homes were their own; an,I that, having improved it, tiny had some rights in the soil and in the growing crops. Alas [ Down swept we Apaches from Dunrobin Cadle; whole parishes were “cleared”, roof trees pulled down; and the little emits, and frequently the miserable furniture, were committed to the flames, with the women and children weeping by the loadside.
Tn one er tv, o cases the pillagers did not even trouble to leruove sick persons before setting fire to the thatch;
women almost in childbirth were thrown on the roadside ; mm—red. hopeless min-—everywhere: cruelties and savageries almost unmentionable and unbelievable, clouds of smoke filling the valleys; and the peasantry, tha had been a counfiy's pride, were hunted and driven, ragged and. homeless, to a barren eoast.
James Macdonald, w-tired revenue officer, in hi> evidence before the Crofters’ Commission in 3884. said, beside other things:
Other cottages I have seen in the act cf being de-nwhihed. leveled with the gionnd; and I have seen the people, who have occupied them, for days without shelter, bundled together at dykesides, and roadsides and on the beach, waiting for the arrival of ships to carry them fciM the Atlantic, or whereter they were forced to go.
I hare a distinct recollectkni of seeing a notice that ww i ued simultaneously with those proceedings, posted upon the door of the parish church, iatimat.ng that any per--on who was known to have given shelter to, or to base uarbored am of the evicted people, would, m turn, without any warning, be summarily ejected fremhisor her ran house, and be compelled to leave the country: and the harsh decree applied irrespective of any ties of relationship whatsoever.
These things took place during the early part of the 19th century, in a so-called Christian land; and are but samples of other like proceedings.
Lest we should be too severe on such noble (?) people, we must recognize that they are but the victims of the present evil order. Brought up from childhood to believe that they are superior to others of the human race, and that they are specially chosen of God to have dominion over others, their reason is necessarily warped, and twisted.
But greater is the responsibility of those who, while claiming to be God's representatives and ministers of His Word, have taught the people to reverence and worship the privileged few as a divine right. They have hailed such an institution as Christendom instead of pointing out ta the people that it is Devildom.
But such an order is now come to its end and is in process of passing away. The present world trouble, clearly in fulfilment of prophecy, is proof that the reign of the King of kings has begun, who. in the battle of Armageddon ahead, will destroy this present satanic order.
We often hear cries of “Egypt for the Egyptian”, ‘'‘India for the Indian,” “Ireland for the Irish,'3 etc. With these sentiments we can but concur. For who have better rights to the blessings of Egypt than the Egyptians, of India than the Indians, and of Ireland than the Irish? So why not “Scotland for the Scotsman”?
But God's kingdom, the time for whose establishment has come, will bring all these things to pass—and more; for it is written: “The heavens are the Lord’s but the earth hath he given to the children of men”—not to a privileged few.
300 Days’ Iiadtolgenee and Maybe More By 0. Heels.
PROBABLY some of our readers would like to know how to get 300 days’ indulgence; so here goes. It’s simple. First, be sure to get a set of beads. Better get two while yon are at iff one big set and a little one. But be sure to buy your beads from the proper dealers. Now on the big beads yon say, “Eternal Father, I offer thee the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ —to heal the wounds of our souls." That's all there is to it—and ynu get the 300 days’ indulgence the first crack. And each time you repeat it you get 300 days more! It counts up fast.
Then you can begin all over again on the small beads, and isay, “My Jesus, pardon and mr-rey—through the merits of Thy Holy Wounds ” and you will get 3(f0 days’ iwiulgo.ee again; and each time you say it you get 300 days more. It isn’t 299 or 301. It’s all most carefully figured out so as to land you just a good even 300.
This is all up-to-date stuff, too. We got the dope right from the Sacred Penitentiary, and the date when they found it out was January 16,1924. It is all entirely authentic, for it comes via the .Arcbconfrate.rn’ty of Separation, Academy of the Visitation, of St. Louis, Mo., and the leaflet is marked “D. S. B., Imprimatur Joannes Josephus, ArchbisJiop of St. Louis.” You can’t beat that for authority. But you’d better get your indulgences now, while the getting is good. Peradventure, after a bit, you may get some place whore you earit get any more on these terms, and then you’ll be out of luck
.....jllgllllliJlIgiilii
^lifliliiiiiiiiigEi^-®
If ve jaiu.4 Mieie ihte each of cs mute r-ivc Ids or her o’hi foliI Lis or l<: '"'.n ' ff '*’1-, lnTv < a-> paicl-L>r M? i . lufi iL> Jr i i' L sr" 'Lp ■ ■>> 6 ' e’L’as :
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1 f,w not • ,'Lvvn a to (.’nr ’io tit v'e per ->1 . e op > h> ,i. < <’ , i n ■ rn ! v a- ; Te ‘ t ’ ’I fi. 'L .1'J" <’ 1 - f 1 > 1 >a< ■“■
vgMgsieiit,i before there is tane to have even one Mass said. Does God recall His decision after the Mass is said ? Andi bow do you know ?
To this the aforesaid Catholic journal replies:
The customary stipend of a low Mass,, in the United States and Canada, is one dollar, and. of a high Mass five dollars. If a priest should say two Masses the same ;day, a stipend may not be'accepted for the second Mass, For many priests, especially those l iving in ont-of-the-t a ’ plarop Masi stipends are their only means of liveli-;;liooa,: and frequently they do not derive sufficient in-iieotneifrom this .source to enable them to live. If it were Dot lor the help given them, by brother-priests living in the large cities and towns, many would be deprived of the meaiisf of subsistence. [And would have to go to wojk for a iivmg.—Ed.] i the first book of Maccabees there is an account of Jrfias sending olformg--; to the Temple fi- .Te-p.-ulcm m y.r.-. fimrifi<\'S oilerM for those who 1ti<I teller n bat1!.-, "tig tiny may to loomd fem their rii.to
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r Lm'"‘ML to'.j ri • <> ww • b , ■ =
< ~ V t > ‘ j ,1 1 »|,| 1 1 F V ,
Gospel according to St. M'atthew (.26:28), “This is My Blood . . . which shall be shed for many unto the re-mission of sins.” The price paid for the dead naifs entry is the Blood of a God Incarnate which is mystically shed anew in. every Mass.......not the miserable little
stipend.
All the members , of the Church on earth and all the souls in Purgatory are remembered in every single Mass th at is celebrated. Moreover, the charity of the Faithful inspires them to offer hundreds of thousands of Masses each year A or iflil the souls in Purgatory. We can trust the infinite justice and goodness of God to sec to it that thote souls uho have no charitable, thoughtful or prayerful friends on earth, are not neglected in the apportionment of .these spiritual satisfactions.
A Pretty Good Haul
WE HAVE before us the. “Coal Collection Book” of St. AJieliael’s Clrareh, Fourth Avenue and Forty-Second Street, Brooklyn, Nw York. It is a book of twenty-four pages. The main item on the front pag’e is the total, $5,634.?0, whtoh cM[w-i;H j.gvi the poor souls catalogued in the pages that follow.
The streets arc listed in order, beginning with Twenty-oigntb steed a <d running to Fifty-sixth sheet, and iro> i Gmoml ;ww G, Aixw avenue. The 'saints m.r- al.-o h.-v^ in oMt. The $10 Saints com? fi. t, L.-i to* .{0 te’of. to $3 ones, 'l.te tlw f? >w:-, fho'i <h° .,.1 m <■Tose who did not sb'1 Uy ai hi t fL ;u . put toto 3 class by themseives. ' : : is,
Then eighto.w of ilu satoi.-' 1, yutoon come across with amounts ranging from. $3 to
them, by their friends on earth—the idea being i'" I I e • i ii,y -V < that if the four priests named on the front cover are kept comfortably warm here, the temperature in purgatory will cool off a little for those particular eighteen who are there. ।
Last in the book are the poor little kids. They also are listed according to streets and classified, all the way down from the $2 children to tlm pool- yoBhgstersvwho come in the 25^ row. A» jo<>i brtle dhn? OTuura, (h 'HDie J rgi and,Francesi:JfcOeure are listed under the head-' iingi “BoiAiliouJito. It; is a;>onde rfally spiritual and uplifting book. : : <
But the four holy fathers raked in $5,634.20 frotii iRwe pom tollw to ' * .,mghi> ’lice L t"'. ii mis a. pre if \ go,.d lark Tim prkn'i r 'A bo,Im*, as? wiy r.wyu nsivc ma-.ei Yodod'* each coate'ibntoi got a copy and had h“ sit’?-factJoii of seeing his name in print. n vnlli cause some to dig up more next year.
Teaching Lies to Little Folks
FROM the "Short Catechism for Young Chil-
’ * Wfitbd eshy tlf tan
Board o£ Publication. Pittsburgh. Pa., we quote tin- folic wing quotient and ansvvers. They- are interesting only because 'they are falsehoods. It seems a pity to teach children such lies in the name cf religion, and-lies, too. for which there-:is not Wemblance of either Bible proof or -common sense:
0 t 7’har Lin’ or yi;ce w Ml?
c A. A place of endless torment, being a lake that burns with lire and brimstone. '
: Q. Where do the godly go at death?
t A. To heaven. ' ' < :
Q. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A. Three; the Father, the Son. and the Holy Ghost.
Q. Will everything beeides God have an enu?
A. Xo; angels and souls of men wK. live forever.
-' "SQ. IBhriat iiiiM'did dbB||iake“glli thihgkld ■ o yjgy(;
A. In the space of six days. :: ;
M W hat are the wages pf lsin ? . Jj , m
A. Healh’and hell. ""i""?'t Gf 'XltA .....Gy
Q. What are the two natures of our Redeemer?
A. The nature of God and the nature of man.
Q. What doth Christ now continue to be? _ ,
A. Both God and man- ifcone person. : t
Q. What became of Christ after His death?
■ A. His body was buried, and His soul went to heaven.
. Q. What will the wicked-forever do in hell?
A. They will.roar, curse, and blaspheme God.
Every one of the above statements is a lie.
The catechism was prepared by the Rev. John
Brown. -
An appropriate name. Might have known it.
fiew Peter Has Changed!
A M ' n A ' OT L. ’ M«
a.A Corneliiis to his foot ami wd. “Staml up: I myself also am a mam"—Acts 1U; 20. :
: The Sacramento Bee contains an item by. its . 1 ' haw of ' n m iruirti i
tourist in Rome "who. when the Pope came around, noisily■feltiTted out that he wouldn't kneel to; any 'maif5. f Mr. McClatchy, the editor, with
considerable feeling, comments as follows:
With that an immensely powerful Vatican guard grabbed the inshlter, pulled him along through the various halls, and literally pitched him down the marble stairs; leaving it to other Vatican employes to see that his speed was accelerated, down the other Vatican stairs and out into the open.. And he got no more than he deserved. 1
How Peter has changed! ;
More about the Channel Islands By John Bourgalze
TT Wyy a ALA'* - two articles ap-"• •>>’:.» Ia i , ,
Channel Islands’? 1 was Boni hi Guernsey sixty ' d to o<l • t. ’ * when I came
to Toronto. Gaimda .-w • Mr. -w' ■ 5 ' . ' W J H A . , < l Th
p t J .<■ I; a r ’ , , >■ -
C > ; ! ; W
g I Unde, d.-
e > , j <> iu • ’ ' - , *
1 ' ’ '- ’ „ * - of
pmw i')W yarne, • u. • . h -m over 300 feet Vhey:A-lso the , bemitiful bays all-' around the i b '' — ।’ < i > • t < • e
World over!
From Gmvnfwy ■ yen con -re Ju- T-dnu.l of ju-T-m-’ tr,~ gy ; t ,r • , t
you lav r I' k । , , <« li u & on tlio coast of France, If in the’coining kingdom itds still Pit T-' K ”U< kt , V ill b ’1“7* n b J< < J
I have been privileged to know the truth for the last quarter of a century. A young coiyor-
’ 'on- me t< i >
ohoring me a book. I ina.de him welcome, bade
। a ( l । i ।'. l'w hwf I , - - 1
‘ " u • ■ < . i n ■■ I 1 - J ■
the booKcTn'E DmtE Flax. Twas then a Baptist local preacher.
, c - ,i -ii s ,A i c • G 'G-p changed my views, and in eon sequence I began t > । i ,-jg
"•> t v io w, comp mr'ton. The
result was that . ot I vw exer, *d of i-- nig
> A ! < to- < lb’' ' "a M p I?
JtotMwi .w-i rd cmno w Gnnad.i I v- v14 soon have b- am* -ci „ "i 1 '■> t .my.
job as a preacher anyway. When I bought The Divixe [‘lax I was also a letter carrier as the church collection was insufficient to live on. -
.1 wonder if the colporteur who sold me the book is si ill this side the vail? If so, and he should read this, I want to tell him that it was the happiest day of my life when I met him. I may also say that I had the great privilege and pleasure of hearing the late Pastor Russell on two occasions. And now my prayer is that God may bless the work still more abundantly; and that soon, yea very soon, His kingdom may come, and that His will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven.
Jewish Impressions of Bible Students
HOIjE Jervislt, Cttlctinn, Pittsburgli, the lead-’*■ ing weekly devoted to Jewish interests, referring io Judge Rutherford’s address to the Jews of that city, said in pait:
Th" Zrei’bt dvtrirl of Pittsburgh views with especial favor the attitude and work of the International Bible Students Association in reference to the rebuilding of Palp-tine as the Jewish homeland. The understanding by the non-Jewish public of the greatest problem facing the Jev.ieh people Mill help greatly in creating a better feeling Im tv. eon Jew and Chridian.
Here we have an earnest, high-minded body of Christians, trying to bring the Jew closer to the Jewi=h L th and spending money awl effort to arou-e the Jeu- of the world to the fact that the prophecies ci die Old Te-tament are to bo-fulfilled m th" return to Pale-tree.
The men who are engaged in the work are not a Semites trying to rid this country of its Jews. IV e kn <w some of them. Vie have direusred the matter vitli their.. They are deeply in earnest. They believe that the religious life of the whole world will be bettered if the Jews, not all of them, but a representative number '<f them, return to the Holy Land. They believe that the life of the Jews will be bettered. They believe fhere rell come'a religious regeneration through the atmosphne and environment of the ancient home land. “
The Lord’s “Brothes’s” (Contributed)
( f DROTHERS” or “brethren” are terms which
J-J usually denote the nearest consanguinity that is, male children of Iho same parents; but sometimes the oxpiossion is Biblically applied to persons of more remote kindrod, of the same nation, or even of those closely united in affection. (Hoe Genesis 13:8; Esther 10:3; Acts 7: 2b, 37; 13: 26.) In the Xew Testament the term is more iToqnoiifly applied, to that spiritual relationship which the followers of Christ sustain to Him and to each other.—Matthew 12: 50; Romans 11: 10; 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
The Scriptural passages referring to James, Joses, Simon and Judas, as “brothers” or "brethren” of the Lord, may be principally cited as follows: Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3; Galatians 1:19. Of the last cited passage, Maeknight, a Bible critic of note, says: “The Hebrews called all near relations ‘brethren.’ This James was a son of Alphffius by Mary the sister of the Lord’s mother." That these four “brothers” were in reality cousins of the Lord; that their mother was Mary, a sister of the Lord’s mother, and their father Cleophas (otherwise called AI-phams), is clearly taught in the following passages : John 19: 25; Mark 15: 40; Luke 6:15, in; Acts 1:13.
James, sometimes called James the Less---a distinction, either on account of years or of stature, from the other James who was the son of Zebedee and Salome (Mark 15: 40)—was one of the twelve apostles. (Mattliew lO: 3; Luke 6: 15) He is the author of the epistle hearing Ms name, and in the opening vocse of which Ire claims, not the kinship of a “brother” of Jesire. in the ordinary usage of that term, but the relationship of a “servant” of God and of the Lord Jesus. He is mentioned with distinction in Act.-> 12:17; 15:13; 21:18.
Joses, one of the so-called brothers of the Lord (see the passages above cited), was another son of the same parentage, being a full brother of James the Less and of Jude. (Matthew 13; 55) Seo also Matthew 27: 56 and Mark 15:40, wherein the mother of James the Less is also named as the mother of Joses; thus identifying him as one of those mentioned as the Lord’s “brothers” (kinsmen) named in Matthew 13: 55. Compare now John 19;25, which proves that Mary the wife of Cleophas is one and the same with the mother of the Lord's “brethren '. It is clear that she was not Mary the mother of Jesus, hut a sister of Jesus' mother. Little is said of Joses in the Now Testament.
pinion is nu rely mentioned in Matthew 13: 55 and in Mark 6:3. The foregoing references com-rw pH that is recorded of this Simon in the Scriptures.
Judas. or Judo (Matthew 13:55: M?’N 6:3: Acts 1:13), is the amber of the geiw/M epistle herring his name. In Jude, verse 1, he £-s i.ot eimm to be a "brother” of the L<wd. but HL servant. He doos, however, say that ho is a brother of James and by that statement lie prow’ to us that he and the Judas of Matthew 13: 55 are one and llm same person. He was one of “the twelv< (Luke 6:16) In the list of the apostles, recorded in Matthew 10:2-4, Lis name is given as "Lehbaus, whoso surname was Thaddwus". He is also tailed Tbeddauis in Mark 3:18. We find him asking the Savior an important cjnostiom in John 14:22; and later locate him with the praying company in the tipper room.—Acts 1 :13.
It hardly seems probable, if Mary the Lord's mother had sons and daughters living, that Jesus at His death would have completely ignored such family ties and committed His mmhei into the care of John, who was not a kinsman. (John 19:27) It is more reasonable to hel'a-ve that Josep];, the hmband of Marta was already dead, and that there wore no ether member^ of the family or immediate kinsmen to care for her. In ‘mpport of such a view, we recall th t no record it- given us of Joseph being at *he truci-lixion, nor al the bnrir.l, i or with the- brt th? < n in tlim upper room.
No drubt Satan hrs j'osNred the gent wf misconception that Jamc= and .loses and Mnm i and Judas were the children of Mery the L< d's mother (Matthew 13: 55), so that when we L-.tor read that Alphams and not Joscnb was father (Acts 1 :13) a roflec4ion migld be east upon Mary and thus ii L-revtially i;p< n the Linh of J emis Himself.
Sfce Marj/s in the New 7estcmtnt
npETE name Alary has been freovz; Jy con"®- lused by those who read the Serb wres carelessly. It is clear that there aie no less than six Marys mentioned in the New Testament, as follow s:
1. Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus. (Luke 1: 27) She was a cousin of Elisabeth the mother of John the Baptizor. (Luke I: 36) The sacred history records hut few incidents of her life. (See John 2:3; Luke 8:19, 2a.) She was present at the Lord’s crucifixion. (.John 19:25) She is also mmtkmed ; s tnvuig the praji->g company in the upper loom at Jerusalem after Hit, ascension.- mb 1:14.
2. Mary, a sister of the Lord's rioiher, the wife of Cleophas (John 19: 25), other; i«c eaPed Alphams. (Matthew 10:3: Lake 6:15; This Alary was the mother of the I.ord’s ' L Nireif (cumins), viz., James the L< ss, Simon, Jude and Jews. (Matthew 13: 55; 27: 7G: Mark 6:3) She was "the other Mary’ who was pr > 'em at the- errwifixion and buiial of the Lord (Matthew 27:56-61), was among those who went to embalm Hi- body (Afark 16:1-10), and she also met the lison Lord.—Matthew 28: 9.
3. Alary, the mother of John Mark, at whose house in Jtrusakm the sori owing friend - were having a prayer meeting the night of Peter’s miraculous dellv. rance from prison.
4. Mary, the sister of Lazarus (John ! 1), who lived at Bellinny. a village about two nrlc-s from Jerusalem. This village was the scene of some of the inch inion Ming events of the Lord's Me. - See Matthew 21:17; 26: 6; Afark 14: 3; John 11:1-46:12:13.
5. Maiy Mm-dalene, or Mary of Magdala. (Lure 8:2) The i e seems to bo nothing to vwtr-
rrnt tin y iioiH iinyrw-.-hm that she w,m an rm-<6 w. ear. In ha I a re'ieved of a ■ rk-v-one ah •< < on by the Savh-r. at d w-cm n I’h devoted i- .!<’ SI o was at His e me n’.iou (Jehu J9: 25) a sd burial. (Mmk 15: 47) , >hc lit.-i. went fo J e sepulchre, with otLw ?, “ rely
in the tuorJi g," and was the fiiM to whom the nsen Redeemer appealed.
6. Alary, mentioned in Romans 16:6, was a member of the clrcreh at Romo, She was one wm, had be. i> 1.1 ir.ud asv 'Manco 1o the Apostle Paul, and to whom he w , fa j,l: t 'hr'.stian greetings. N< fidiig is krof.n of her history beyond this Lil' f salutation.
The Wonders of Jordan
WITHOUT question, the most remarkable river in the whole earth is that of Jordan, situated in the land, of Palestine—a land beloved by the Jew, held sacred by the Christian, and viewed with fanaticism by the Moslem. Come, l*'t us trace the course of Jordan-and see not cnlv its natural wonders but its amazing si gid iiemwo.
t ‘lEHAX springs joyouslv, amid many natural hmud'cs, from Mount Hermon, which is the kip hod pimiaele m Palestine, approximately JO.Ouu fiM above sea level. It is capped with shov wmneally all the year round, and is the vei i • U • Mont Blanc of the Holy Land, seen from « ty other prominence in the country.
The mow during the summer months condenser, d, vaporous clouds that envelope it, so that abundant dews descend, and this while the surrounding country may be parched. How many a thirsty traveler has looked longingly at the cool, pleasant and majestic prominence of Hermon ! The mountain formed the northernmost. boundary of the tribes of Israel; therefore as a mountain represents, from the Bible standpoint, a kingdom, so from the point of view of its majestic height, its northern aspect and its relationship to Jordan, Mount Hermon represents God’s kingdom throne, from which spring the blessings of life and peace.
Tn evidence thereof we have the voice of the inspired sweet singer of Israel: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. ... As the dew of Hermon, that comcth down upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” From this expression one recalls the divine blessing upon our first human parents, since then the tragic drama of ages. Also in after days on Mount Hermon was enacted the scene of the transfiguration, picturing in L< autiful symbolism, the ultimate triumph and sdon of Messiah’s kingdom.
K'ilto rays;
These Gm be no doubt that Hermon wa? the scone of Iramfiytiiatien. Our Lord Panelled from Bothsaida on the noithw'-t <hore of the Sea of Gahkc. tbimce to (tro-saica Philippi; from thence He led His rb«ciple« into a high mountain where He was “trandig’iied before them’5, Hi>s idimeut became Juning exceeding white as snow. Aitei that He returned toward Jerusalem through (lalilee.
By Frederick Lardent {England}
Compare Mark 8:22-28; Jlatthew 16:13; Mark 9:2-13. 30-33. Truly, as the Psalmist again declares, “The north and south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall cry aloud in thy name.”—Psalm 89:12, lammi;,
The Akwe Jordan
HEBE is some uncertainly m regard to the i ■leaning- of the word Jordan. S> >me say that i c
is derived from y? , den, to “descend'’. Others assert that it signifies “the spring/ of Dan”, because its large.-t fountain of waters enimirks from the anJent city of Dar, wh’cb no,-ties at the foot of Mount Hermon. Both thowdns, howbeit, unite null double significance. Ban mwv;ii ".judgment”, and die history of that tribe appears in an ad wise light. It is even omitw'l from the genealogies (1 Chronicles 2:121, a.K. from the elect scaled.—Bevelation 7: 5-7.
Jorian does descend, ever descends, ? d rapidly, throughout its entire course: thereby bespeaking the-dying processes of the human race, who, contrary to the evolution theory, ‘descend” more and more from the glorious likeness and abode of the Creator, till death takes place.
Xowbehold a contrast! There high up, piercing the azure of the heavens and clothed with its glistening mantle of snow, stands Mount Hermon—Jordan’s source. Now look a hundred miles to the south and see that sullen, tropical, “bottomless” lake in the heart of the earth. It seems never satisfied, but receives Jordan’s torrents apparently without troubling to raise its level. That lake is known as The Dead Sea— the end of Jordan, and a fitting illustration of the end of all those who are judged down. But there are mam* other wonderful features, connected with the Jordan river.
The Waters of Lake Merom
URTNG the rainy months Jordan is fed by hundreds of little tributaries that flow from the ravines of Hermon. The waters flow through marshy land to the river which eventually arrives at an expanse termed Lake Merom or Lake JJideli, which is about eight miles long and about six miles wide at its northern end. Thence it runs southward to a triangular point, where the Jordan leaves it.
In its symbolic relationship to the divine plan not only is the source and consunimalion o£
Jordan significant, but also is its windings and the lakes through which it passes. What then
jaciiiiBiiliihf -ifiei • oil
Bidt 0 ® lbw
with the Canaanit^s.
Even as th- au«'-u-nt British chiefs were driven to Land’s Encl before the advance of the Saxons, iso at this ‘land’s end” of Palestine were gathered for their final struggle not, only the kings of the north but also from the desert valley .of Jordan southward-—-all “went out, even as the sand by the seashore for multitude”—and it was at Merom that the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them. (Joshua 11) This event strikingly pictured the final overthrow of Satan’s organization by Joshua’s antitype. Jesus, who will vanquish all enemies pflicting livmmuify.—1 Corinrhions 15: L-l-fd. •
Ip HOM Lake Merom to the Sea of Galilee is a -*• distance of about ten miles. The “sea”* Oighfis reail^i^Snfli&il^iKs^iiiiisbiWboijL.iiii^iiii^liiiBIlii^iiii Ioyv?|he Mediierrane®,irandimeas miles long and eight miles broad at its widest part. From.its sacred association theltSObLi Galilee is the puhi i am resting body of wav.-v in the whole earth. In the New Testament neither Mm-’an nor the D->ad Sea is even mentioned; 1 but there are abundant references to Lie- Si:n of Galilee. In the time of Jesus, it was the center of a prosperous populatiCn.' The remains of Iheir splendid cities. !■ be Capernaum, who; -> our Lord at, times resided, still lie on height and slope a round. ■ tvtdL ' r-’ei
Our Lord’s ministry is inseparably linked with Pk-Sea of Galilee. Id its vicinnv IL-called the chief members of His disciples, including the impressionable' and loving John, who was so~ familiar- with that beautiful lake from chiMhood. How often had.be seen it smooth as polished glass, reflecting every wrinkle of its guardian hills and the flush of oleanders onritaffertile banks. I Sometimes he had seen, its sm fscc kindle into mwarirdy splendors, by the glorious shafts of:the setting sun reflected over the adjw-mt hilltops. ■
In later times, when John on Patmos saw that' heavenly vision of “a sea of glass mingled with , fire”, lie doubtless recalled the -familiar scenes of Galilee of bygone days. If from the middle of the sea one has seen the shining glory or Hermon thrusting,its crystal hr oh . n nib ’>i_h ‘ wo the royal Mne of the northern d:y. orc fam.bar with his GiLL t am - t • Ip \ u w < all d-.- y of “ d _ < ->t v 1 ri'-- tiir _ ■ l Leve’r r c ' 2,{: II.
i oifioW w.i-tiL hiPo:ve ph ,vr.s the evem'cl ov'-'' ( - -o । -;'Ji w.aS ,
rl ‘ - 7 m'"i - --- - ■ - i ’"'dri a-
H ri,- - . ■ <■ ■. I i;-/ tri } <- i-
1 k .. G_ri Cl.’ ') To le||||i)|||iiif77 to H- t‘ mfi t, r <> of G fim-? ahw.mJs
" ’ 1 .'<> ' j i <. m* 'O 3u'l mi-
11 • • < ? < - .o r s _a " on L i i il
works, foreshadowing restitution ?/ . --m were enacted there. The very fish of that sea :
■ '' L< - -- L I’e h‘lj H’z G-1 Tvo »oL .m-of-s u ■ ■ . .1 m J 'Ll- - £
icnri . Lk ”’aim in J .rim Gab’Ico is t-leaw sweet and fit to
The lake or Sea of Galilee was called in ancient times the “Sea of Chinnoroth”. (Numbers 34:11) That name came from the Hebrew liinnot^ meaning “a harp”; and the lake closely resembles that shape. The harp symbolizes the AVbrd of God; and thus for the first time dn the shores- of the “lake of the harp” One was able to Held the sweetest music of the justice., love and mere’/ «>f the groat Creator.—Psalms 33: ,14; 92:1-4; 49:1-4.
ITaHovtd thine every rippling wave, () of Galilee!
That “lot.on One who came to save
Hala v.ni -tood by thee!
J n a-_< L 1 \< in otl er lands, u i, >c pin- 1 al birther grow;
I t'lV L'C lull Il “ t'S’b clldb
V> hat na1 iv‘e e«in bestow.
(> Hind, Though gone vith. God to be, His glow to fulfil; '
hw ha weed slioies of Galilee
it peak Thy presence still!
The Jos'-clim Valley
WE HAVE already noted the fair beginning of the Jordan river, and followed its rapidly descending current to Merom, which at first glance seems destined to stay its waters. Then w* have noted how it rushes onward and downward with wonderful impetuosity to Galilee, where again it might seem to have met its end; but that nevertheless it flows onward, plunging through twenty-seven rapids to its final resting place in the Dead Sea.
During its strange, serpent-like passage through what is known as the Jordan Valley, the river seems to make every effort to escape. It darts to the right, then to the left, now apparently upward and then violently downward, so deviously and capriciously as to present the unparalleled spectacle of a course of only sixty miles straight-line measurement increased, through it"S windings, to nearly 200 miles. How like the course of sin and death is this! The sin-cursed human family, strive as they may to stay the inevitable, find their efforts futile; and downward they eventually plunge to oblivion!
Were we to compress our Lord’s earthly ministry into a few words we would say that He went from Nazareth to Jerusalem. At Nazareth, a perfect man, full of glory and vitality—at Jerusalem, the Man of Sorrows, despised, rejected and crucified as a malefactor. Nazareth, be it noted, is on the same latitude as the extreme southern portion of the Sea of Galilee, from which Jordan resumes its eventful course, Jerusalem, on the other hand, is on the extreme northern latitude of the Dead Sea. where Jordan empties itself. This suggest-. how our Lord took the sinner's place; He ended iun in the depth* of the Dead Sea, however. h”t of ly at its ortixu’w —at Jerusalem, “the city of the great King!” —Matthew 5: 34, 35.
The River Jordan therefore was the only appropriate place for Jesus to symbolize Tr» om-secration even unto death.; vhile His ab*ocjaH< priesthood was likewise pictured by auotlec important ev ent in the history of the same m er. —See Joshua, chapters 3 and 4.
John the Baptist immersed repentant simims in Jordan as a token of their desire to conicrm to God's will, putting to death everything contrary to His will. (Matthew 3:1-6) Naamam the Syrian general, was cured of his leprosy (typifying sin) by immersing himself, at the command of Elisha, seven tunes in the River Jordan—his flesh becoming as that of a little cliilcL—2 Kings 5:1-14.
Thus is shown the treble significance of the Jordan river: First, the river’s course—aptly representing the dying processes of the human race which lead on to destruction; second, the act of immersion in its waters of the sacrificial priesthood—symbolizing the putting to death of justified human nature so that the world may live; third, the act of immersion of sinners in Jordan—picturing how that sin and selfish propensities may cease to exist and God’s will maybe done in heart and mind, which in the case of humanity will result in perfect health and everlasting life on earth.
Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom, Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom, By waters still, o’er troubled sea— Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.
And when my task on earth is done, When by His grace the victory’s won; E’en death’s cold wave I will not flec^ Since God through Jordan leadeth me.
The Dead Sea
The Overcoming of the Dead Sea
JORDAN, toward the end cf its course, winds rpiIROUGH the merit and power of the Re-through. tropical jungles, the haunts of wild deerner the human race is to be released beasts. (Jeremiah 49:19) Gradually all pleas
ant verdure dies away along its banks, and the now" hopeless river melts into its grave as a tame, sluggish, marshy stream. There is still, however, sufficient force to carry its polluted waters far into the sti ango green sea of death.
The water of the Dead Sea is totter and salt, far beyond that of anv ocean.' It acts on the tongue like alum, sum? ■- the eye Vke camphor, produces a burniuc i irking sensation to the skin, and stiffen* tin tai'- rto pomatum. Tl- water has a much g' .-atoi specific gravity than the human Jody, Lw .w ear may stand perpendicular therein, srik” g down into it io tno wwpii*. „
It !•> a vevilfitoo ma m >L. JL tor (and in striking contrast to Cab ce' no ftsh can live ih-w^im Analysis reveals that it contains chloride ot sodium (or common salt) eight parts, potassium one pan, calcium three parts.
It is estimated tlmt the Jordan empties into the Dead Sea about six million tons of water daily, and yet the surface of tie sea, does not seem to rise! This natural phenomenon of'the Dead Sea is due to the intens’ty of evaporation, even to the extent of clouds and mists. Thus it is with death; being the condition bf oblivion, it can never overflow.—Job 3:17.
In the immediate vicinity of the Dead Sea stood the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which at the given ia< ment were overcome by fire and biiinsl<me. All. thiw added to the still present odor of sulphur, gives vividness to the svmbolism of Divine wrath and destruction.—Genesis 19:23-28.
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