Golden Age, December 10, 1930
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Golden Age
A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE
in this issue
INDICTMENT FOR CONSPIRACY
A reprint, by request, of a portion of the startling revelations published in No. 27 of The Golden Age.
FINAL appeal to the league
FLECKS OF FOAM
ON THE FIRING LINE IN INDIA
THE GREAT PROPHET
Full text of an address by Judge Rutherford, broadcast in WATCHTOWER national chain program
every other WEDNESDAY
'five cents a copy one dollar a year Canada & Foreign 1.25
'Vol. XII - No. 293
December 10, 1930
LABOR AND ECONOMICS America’s Annual Crime Bill .178 Poland 20-percent Workless . .179 Cotton Pickers Must Go . . .179 Bad Conditions in Germany . .179 The Crisis in Britain .... 180 Let Adult Workers Replace
Children
The Unemployed Outside
Sacramento
FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION
Soviet Wheat in England , .178
Russian Grain Brings Prices
Down
Russian Invasion of Finnish
Markets
"Washingtonians Prefer Taxis . 179 The Telephone Gold Mine . . . 180 Colorado’s Shale Oil Fields . . 181
Employer’s Personnel System (Agency) .....
POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN
SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL
A Final Appeal to the League . 177
Arrests in Italy......178
Mr. Ratti’s Hard Luck . . . .179
Golden Age Number
Twenty-Seven ..... 163
Indictment for Conspiracy , . 164
Not 100 Percent Anyway , . . 177
Flecks of Foam . . . . . .178
No Skyscrapers in London . .178
The Baby Bandits of Salinas . .179
Few Deserving Beggars . . . 180
Ludendorff’s Gloomy Predictions . 180
Wine Campaign in Italy . . . 180
Safety in Motor Traffic . . . 181
Judge Smathers on Prohibition , 191
SCIENCE AND INVENTION
New Power Scheme a Success . 185
HOME AND HEALTH
Guiltless of 71 Murders . . . 180
TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY
Abyssinia’s Big Dam . . . .178
The Unspoiled Guaharibos . . 180
On the Firing Line in India , . 182
MANUFACTURING AND MINING
RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
328.000 Oil Wells in United States 178
The Great Prophet- ..... 186
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(The Golden Age
Volume XII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, December 10, 1930 Number 293
Golden Age Number Twenty-Seven
THE International Bible Students are what their name implies. They are students of the Scriptures, and fortunate in the fact that they are living in the great and wonderful day of the Lord when these long-hidden and little-understood messages of wisdom are being opened by the same hand that wrote them, Jehovah God.
Bible Students do not claim that they have not learned anything in twelve years. They claim to the contrary: that they never learned so much in so short a space of time as during those precious twelve years. But that does not mean that they are ashamed of their efforts to understand the Word of God prior to that time. Far from it.
It is now about thirteen years since the death of Pastor C. T. Russell, a man who walked with God according to the measure of light given to him. Many Bible Students, while he lived, no doubt had too exalted an opinion of his understanding of the Scriptures; but that was because he helped them, in his day, as none had helped them theretofore, in seeing that our God is truly worthy of all praise. .
After his death a compilation of his studies on Revelation was published under the name of The Finished Mystery. That work is out of print, having been superseded by a far better explanation of Revelation, namely, Light, Books One and Two, of which mention was made in these columns recently. •
But, at the time it appeared, the Bible Students had every right that anybody could have to set forth their understanding of a passage of Scripture, a right guaranteed to them in the Bible itself and in the Constitution of the United States.
One of the passages of which an attempted explanation was made seemed at the time to call for a denunciation of militarism, and such a denunciation was made, being largely composed of extracts from the pen of Pastor C. T. Russell and other well known writers.
Eager to justify the payment of their salaries, the clergy, first of Canada and then of the United States and other warring countries, followed by hosts of government officials whose interest had been stirred up by them, commenced a persecution of the Bible Students for the publication, in a Bible commentary, of these seven pages against militarism.
The result was that Judge Rutherford, then and now president of the International Bible Students Association, and seven of his comrades and associates, were sent to Atlanta Penitentiary under four sentences of twenty years each for doing what they had every right to do.
That they had no adequate trial is proven by the fact that the presiding judge showed his bias one hundred and twenty-five times in his eagerness to get these Christian men behind bars. He succeeded for a time, but after nine months the Lord opened the prison doors and they came forth free men and resumed their work of witnessing for God.
About a year after they emerged from prison The Golden Age had the great privilege of laying before the American people a true picture of the conditions that prevailed in America at the time these men were indicted, tried and imprisoned. It is a record to make every American hang his head for shame. It was published in Golden Age Number 27, September 29, 1920.
In recent years -we have had so many requests for copies of this number, now long since out of print, that we have concluded to reprint in this issue a small portion of its contents. What appears following constitutes one-third of the issue of which, at the time, four million copies were printed and circulated. The article is from the pen of Judge Rutherford:
Indictment for Conspiracy
CONSPIRACY is an agreement between two or more persons or classes to do a wrongful act. A conspiracy may be established by an express agreement or may be inferred from the acts or conduct of the parties working for the accomplishment of one general purpose. The clergy as a class openly claim to be the Lord’s representatives on earth; therefore the allying of themselves with worldly classes or organizations to accomplish a purpose contrary to the Lord’s command would bring upon them the special indignation of the Lord, which would necessarily involve those allied with them.
Jehovah, through His holy prophets, laid an indictment against the unfaithful leaders and rulers of Israel, which indictment is also laid, according to the rules of prophetic application, against the clergy and allies of the present time. The charge in this divine indictment is, briefly, unfaithfulness to the Lord. Stated in prophetic phrase, the formal part of the indictment reads: “Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my [professed] people have committed two evils: (1) they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters [source of life and truth], and (2) hewed them out cisterns [man-made systems and creeds], broken cisterns, that can hold no water [really contain no life-giving truth].”—Jer. 2:12, 13.
A conspiracy is formed amongst the men of antitypical Judah and Jerusalem, namely, the hypocritical and unfaithful clergy. Catholic and Protestant, and their suborganizations, Knights of Columbus, Y. M. C. A., etc., together with the financial giants and professional politicians, to establish a system on earth for the control of mankind, and against the anointed of the Lord, the “seed of promise”, and against the common people and to deceive the people by setting up a counterfeit of Messiah’s kingdom. To accomplish this wrongful purpose “they [have gone] after other gods to serve them”, to wit, gods of power, wealth and fame.—Jer. 11:9,10; 18:18.
Overt Acts
In furtherance of such conspiracy the clergy in particular and their subordinate organizations and allies have committed the following overt acts, to wit:
(1) They have forsaken the Word of God, formulated and taught doctrines and creeds of their own, and set up other idols which they worship;
(2) The ecclesiastical systems, under the leadership of a disloyal clergy, have committed fornication with the powers of state, political and financial; and
(3) Posing as the representatives of the “Prince of Peace” a disloyal clergy have openly advised, encouraged and advocated deeds of violence and “in [their] skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents” (Jer. 2: 34);
(4) They have resorted to lying, fraud and deceit, thereby leading the people into paths of error, and destroyed their faith in God and His Word (Jer. 12:10, 11; 14:13, 14; 5:26-31; 8:9-11; 9:8, 9);
(5) They have scattered the flock of God, the true Christians, and suffered them to starve;
(6) Hating the light that exposes them and their disloyalty to God, they have persecuted the light-bearers (Matt. 5:14), and by and through their wicked spy system they have sought out, arrested, persecuted, imprisoned, and killed the loyal servants of the Lord; '
(7) Although divinely commissioned to teach the people concerning Messiah’s coming kingdom as the only channel and means of lasting peace, righteousness, liberty, life and happiness, they have, contrary to this command, advocated and endorsed the formation of an earthly “league of nations” and hail it as the savior, deliverer and blesser of mankind; all of which is a pollution of the office assumed by them and contrary to and against the peace and dignity of Jehovah and His Word. ’
The Proof
It is but necessary to call attention to the well known and indisputable facts that have developed in recent years to establish beyond question the truthfulness of every overt act charged in the indictment. We consider the main charge of the indictment and the overt acts in the order named.
(1) The forsaking of the Word of God and the establishment of man-made creeds instead:
Nineteen centuries ago Jehovah began the development of the “seed of promise”, Jesus the Head and the church, His body, Jesus referred to the members of His body as “branches of the true vine’. (John 15:1, 2) The church began its development in purity of practice and in action, Of it Jehovah said: “I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine [vine of the earth] unto me?”—Jer. 2 : 21; Rev. 14:19.
Jehovah gave to the church nominal, particularly its leaders, the greatest commission ever held by any earthly creature, viz.: To preach the glad tidings of great joy of Christ’s coming kingdom through which all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Isa. 61:1-3; Luke 9:60; 1 Cor. 1:21; 9:16) What a wonderful . and blessed opportunity to carry to a sad and sin-cursed world the very message of comfort all needed! To deviate from that message or to teach instead man-made doctrines amounts not only to a falling away but to positive disloyalty to the Lord. Christians are plainly told: “Love not the world [honor, plaudits, and the things that the world can confer], neither the things in the world.” “Be not conformed to this world,” but “keep [yourselves] unspotted from the world”.—1 John 2:15; Rom. 12: 2; Jas. 1: 27.
The early church grew rapidly and at first there was no distinction between the members, such as clergy and laity. The early history of the church nominal is full of beautiful stories of self-sacrifice and loving service. But Satan was active in planting ‘his seed’ among the loyal ones; prosperity and wealth came, and with them came men ambitious to be leaders—‘lovers of the world’. Office seekers crept in, obtained control, and soon substituted formalism for simplicity of worship. Theological contentions took possession of the church organization, and the religion of Jesus Christ became a political society. The church nominal surrendered to the emperor of Rome, Constantine, who, notwithstanding he put to death his own sister, his son. and his -wife, was fawned upon by the ambitious clergy and ivas chosen as the champion of the church. Christ and Him crucified then became and still is a reproach to the self-seeking ones. The state became so-called “Christian” and the church became imperialistic. True Christianity in its organization was supplanted by politicians and bishops, and the divinely given commission was cast aside. The selfish, ambitious clergy paganized and imperialized the religion of Jesus, and their disloyal course caused vast numbers to accept the new nominal Christianity, and thus true Christianity was turned into a political religion. The clergy loved the honors of the world and still love them and despise the selfsacrificing position of the one avIio faithfully performs his God-given commission. With the edict of Justinian came the parting of the ways between the true church of Christ and the church nominal, between Christianity and churchianity, and they have never met again. From then till now the true Christian has been ruthlessly persecuted by the church nominal.
The clergy took away the Bible and forbade the common people to read it and enacted laws making the possession of the Bible by a layman a criminal offense. From Arius till now some of the true followers of Jesus have dared hold aloft the banner of truth and thereby subjected themselves to wicked persecution. Time came when there w-as a great Protestant reformation, but alas, today the so-called “Protestant” church is a system without the protest. The God-dishonoring doctrine of eternal torment, originated by Satan and first taught by the Papacy, is eagerly taken up. and proclaimed to the people by many Protestant clergy who know they are teaching a falsehood, a defamation of God and His Word. In all the theological colleges the doctrines of higher criticism and evolution are substituted for the message of the Lord, His sacrifice and His kingdom. Instead of keeping themselves unspotted and separate from the world the larger percentage of the clergy, Catholic and Protestant, seek an alliance with the professional politicians and the financial giants who can confer wealth and honor upon them. Instead of humbly seiwing and worshiping God, they serve the worldly-minded, and set up idols of gold, earthly power, and influence, which they freely worship. The proof of the first overt act charged in the indictment is common knowledge and fully apparent to all.
Second: Spiritual fornication, the second overt act charged, means illicit relationship between the church and Satan’s organization.
The clergy claim for themselves the divine right to interpret the Bible and they interpret it to suit their own selfish passions. In modem times they have adopted worldly methods in their work. Organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, Y. M. C. A., etc., are the children or offspring of the church systems. They use the Bible in a distorted attempt to show the propriety of controlling the political affairs of this world through the church and their offspring organizations. They run after the political lords and professional politicians and brazenly offer the church systems as an added means to control the people. The church system’s methods are so very brazen in her attempt to ally herself with unholy earthly interests that the Lord says to her: “Thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.” (Jer. 3:3) And so abominable is the conduct of the church system, her clergy and her children in seeking the companionship of the professional politician and the financial powers that the Lord likens her to a certain wild beast who at the time of her regular heat seeks beastly gratification from anyone who will accommodate her, saying to her, “How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? See thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves [to locate her]; in her month they shall find her.”— Jer. 2: 23, 24.
Third: The third overt act charged is that of responsibility for the great wars that have afflicted the peoples of earth, and particularly the World War, which began in 1914, at the end of the Gentile times. And for this cause the Lord says to them: “In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I [Jehovah] have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.”—Jer. 2: 34.
Whether or not it is right for a nation to engage in war need not be here considered. The sole question here is, What is the proper position for the church to take. From God’s viewpoint the church must stand for things spiritual, as distinguished from worldly governments. The commission to the followers of Jesus nowhere commands them to go to war, but exactly the contrary course is prescribed. Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world: . . . [if it were] then would my servants fight.” 'When the mob assaulted Him He said He could call for twelve legions of angels to fight His battle, but He declined to resort to force. He even forbade His disciples to use weapons of defense. The church is His body, the members of which are called to follow in His footsteps. (1 Pet. 2: 21) If worldly nations want to fight, that is their business. The followers of Jesus, to be faithful, must obey His expressed will and refrain from shedding blood.—2 Cor. 10: 3, 4.
But the majority of the clergy have abandoned the will of the Lord and set up their own will, which they do. It is the clergy who taught the kings to believe that they have ruled by divine right. From their teaching came the axiom, “The king can do no wrong”; this upon the theory that the king (political governing factor) represents the Lord on earth, and since God can do no wrong, neither can the king, ‘ruling by divine right,’ do wrong. But rulers have convinced themselves that to make war upon a neighboring nation is justifiable, because the clergy have so held and taught. Had the professed Christian clergy taught the people the truth, and had the people received it, there would have been no wars between Christian nations nor wars of Christian nations against other nations. The truth would have turned the people away from an evil course and saved them from the horrors of war. The preachers have preached war contrary to God’s Word, as He says: “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel [Word], and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” (Jer. 23:21, 22) Hence the responsibility of the clergy for “the blood of the poor innocents”; and G-od will require at their hands a fearful accounting, unless they speedily avail themselves of the divine remedy.
Fourth: The clergy have forsaken God in this, that they have resorted to lies, fraud and deceit to build their own systems, and thereby led the people into error and away from God. For centuries they have maintained their organizations by imposing upon the people the false doctrines of eternal torture, purgatory, masses for the dead, etc., and thereby induced many honest people to support them morally and to contribute large sums of money for their upkeep. They have taken the position that all who are saved must go to heaven and that such must unite with one of their church systems in order to secure a passport to heaven; whereas, on the contrary, God’s Word shows (and they should have told the people this) that the mass of mankind 'will be saved on earth and restored to perfect manhood during Messiah’s reign. Since the great war the clergy are saying, “We must have some new religion; the soldier will not stand for the old,” some new stories by which to deceive the people and hold them in bondage.
The people greatly desire peace, liberty and life in happiness, all of which blessings the Bible teaches are coming to man during the millennial reign of Christ. The clergy scoff at these truths, deny the millennial reign of the Messiah, and resort to fraud and deceit in order to keep the people in subjection and to feed fat their own selfish desires; hence God says to them:
“For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine; yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked; they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my [professed church] people love to have it so; and what will ye do in the end thereof T’—Jer. 5: 26-31.
Many of the clergy class have claimed to have power to forgive sins, and use this fraudulent and deceitful means to extract money from the pockets of the people. They have claimed' to be the friends of the common people, whereas they deceive and defraud the people. lienee God says of those unfaithful stewards: “rind they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth.; they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord. Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit; one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this [a nation forming an alliance with such unfaithful stewards] ? Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets [preachers] prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy [speak] unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.” —Jer. 9:5, 6, 8, 9; 14:14.
Fifth: That the clergy, pastors, priests, etc.,
have scattered the flock of God, and left them to starve and die. The Scriptures refer to the followers of Jesus as “the flock of God”. The positive command given the elders and leaders (who became clergymen) was, “'Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking'the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but beingexamples to the flock.” (1 Pet. 5: 2, 3) The only food that would sustain the true followers of Jesus is the pure Word of Truth, the Bible. The clergy failed to teach the people the Bible truths which satisfy the hungry soul, namely, the ransom, resurrection and restitution blessings which will be extended to all people during the reign of Christ, now beginning. And when any of “the flock” sought and found the truth the clergy have scolded, threatened and persecuted them and scattered the Lord’s sheep among the ravenous beasts of the earth, and have destroyed the. faith of many thousands. When some of the humble followers of the Master brought forth the pure message of truth, exposing the error, this unfaithful clergy class caused the suppression of that truth and the prosecution and imprisonment of the humble teachers of the people, and for which denunciation is pronounced upon them by Jehovah.— Ezek. 34:1-8. *
“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit, upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the [preachers], Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem [interchurchianity] is profaneness gone forth into all the land.”—Jer. 23:1, 2, 15.
Sixth: In forsaking the Lord and following the evil tendencies of their own hearts the unfaithful clergy, and assistants, have committed the overt act of hating and wilfully spying out and persecuting the true and humble followers of Christ Jesus.
God foreshadowed and illustrated this in the life experiences of Esau and Jacob. Although heir to the Abra.ham.ic promise Esau, because of his love for fleshly gratification and earthly pleasure, sold his birthright for a mess of savory meat, and then persecuted Jacob because the latter made effort to avail himself of the prize he had justly bought. Esau pictured .the class of “Christian” people, laymen and clergy, who have loved the pleasures of the world, honor and preferment of men, and despised the promises of God concerning His kingdom blessings. Jacob pictured the humble and faithful Christians who purchased the heavenly birthright by selling their all in full consecration to the Lord. The Esau class, faithless ones, have persecuted the Jacob class, faithful ones, who preferred to suffer persecution and death, remaining faithful to God rather than yield to the spirit of the world and lose the promised prize. The very faithfulness of the Jacob class has been a rebuke to that class who have desired to use the Christian religion as a camouflage to hide their evil and selfish course. Of the true Christians Jesus said: “Ye are the light of the world.” The selfish, faithless clergy have hated this light. The true Christian progresses in the knowledge of God's purposes. “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Every progressive step of the true follower of Jesus has met with vigorous persecution at the hands of the clergy class.
Chureh-State Destroys Religious Liberty
The Catholic hierarchy and the Protestant nominal church systems have created societies, such as the Knights of Columbus, Y. M. C. A., Intercliurch World Movement, etc., to aid in their work, and these have rendered valuable aid to their parents. It has been another means to cement firmly the “unholy trinity”. Their members are active in politics and fill important offices in every branch of the government. They respond readily to the wishes of a parent clergy. These members of the antitypical Esau class have hated and maliciously slandered Pastor Bussell, the friend of the people, and his zealous associates. The great war furnished the opportunity to make manifest that hatred. In 1886 Pastor Russell began the publication of a series of Bible comments, Studies in the Scriptures, in seven volumes, six of which he published in his lifetime, and the seventh, The Finished Mystery, was published after his death. It is an interpretation of Ezekiel and Revelation. These prophetic books of the Bible contrast the course of the true with the nominal church. In prophetic phrase the Lord foretold the persecution of the true by the false, and the great hypocrisy of the clergy. Necessarily The Finished Mystery explained these Scriptures in the light of the historical facts, recording fulfilled prophecy. This greatly angered the clergy, because it interfered with their scheme to further defraud the people, and they sought an opportunity for vengeance.
The so-called “Espionage Lav/” furnished an effective weapon. It was to be expected that this law would search out spies. But what spy was prosecuted under the law? The chief selected for its enforcement was a well known, ultra-nominal churchman, who is known as a “heretic-hunter”, having heretofore prosecuted Rev. Crapsey for heresy. He was aided in the collection of evidence by a “dyed-in-the-wool” Knight of Columbus, and both of these men have ready ears for the cry of the clergy. The penalty for violation of the Espionage Law did not seem sufficiently severe. Early in 1918 a convention of clergymen was held at Philadelphia, at which a resolution was adopted calling upon Congress to provide that alleged violators of the Espionage Law should be tried by court-martial, and death inflicted as a penalty. A general in the United States army was authority for the statement that the purpose and intention of this proposed law was to punish the officers of the International Bible Students Association and the publishers of The Finished Mystery by putting them to death.
A bill was pending before Congress to amend the Espionage Law so that one charged with its violation might have an opportunity to make further defense. The member of the Department of Justice having in charge the enforcement of this law, namely, John Lord O’Brian, appeared before the senate committee having in charge the bill and argued that the amendment be defeated, assigning as his reasons therefor three classes that he could not prosecute successfully if the amendment carried, the three classes named being “The Finished Mystery”, the “International Bible Students Association”, and the “Kingdom News”. Mr. O’Brian well knew at the time that the three represented but one class of Christians. No other conclusion can be reached than that he deliberately misled the United States senate into defeating this amendment. His report appears in the Congressional Record of May 4, 1918.
Public sentiment must be worked up against the “offensive Bible. Students”. The clergy-started the ball. Another member of the unholy alliance, big business, dominates the public press. Unscrupulous politicians holding office are ready tools. First the books of account of the Bible Students were seized, on a pretext that money was being obtained from the enemy, Germany. For five weeks experts searched them and found not one penny coming from a questionable source. It was then discovered that before the war a little wireless receiving instrument had been presented to Pastor Russell and placed on the roof of the Bethel Home, and some of the boys had been attempting to learn the code. It never had a sending instrument. No messages ever were sent or could be sent from it. In November, 1917, this instrument was removed and stored in the basement. In the search by the secret service agents it was found packed away in the basement, and hauled out, and then a deliberate lie was sent by the Associated Press throughout the world, announcing that the ‘Russellites’ were maintaining a powerful wireless on the roof by which they could send messages across the ocean to the Germans; all of which was necessary to work up public sentiment. Then followed the indictment of the officers of the Association and their trial amidst a great excitement of the war. Being thus staged, a verdict of guilty was easily obtained. Sentence followed, in which seven of these Bible Students were sentenced each for eighty years’ imprisonment. Bail was denied and they were immediately incarcerated, and remained in prison for nine months, without the privilege of bail, pending appeal. Later they were released, and upon a hearing of the case in the Appellate Court that court reversed the judgment of the lower court, holding that the defendants had not been given a fair trial. On May 5, 1920, the indictments were dismissed by the government, and the defendants discharged. The defendants were thereby exonerated after suffering nine months’ illegal imprisonment; but the subsidized press industriously avoided publishing any facts about that part of it.
While these men were in jail their friends circulated a petition calling upon the authorities to grant them bail or a re-trial. Mr. John Lord O’Brian, contrary to all precedent known to American legal ethics, sent circular letters throughout the country defending his position in the prosecution of these men.
Widespread Persecution
The spring and summer of 1918 witnessed a widespread persecution of Bible Students, both in America and in Europe, at the instigation in every case of the clergy. The homes of the Bible Students were searched without warrant, their hymn books, Bibles, Studies in the Scriptures, and other Bible literature were seized, carried away, and in many instances destroyed. In Los Angeles, California, every kind of Bible literature was seized by officers without a search warrant, and many of the Bible Students were arrested and thrown into jail. Others were beaten, their ribs broken, their heads cut, and some permanently injured. Inoffensive men and women were mobbed and thrown into jail and held there without charge or without trial.
We give a brief statement of the facts in a few of the sample eases of persecutions, all of which occurred in a so-called “Christian” land.
When and Where Ministers Were Anarchists
Against the rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States, namely, the selling of Bible study textbooks not under ban of any kind:
Baptist ministers, taking advantage of war conditions, caused the following outrages:
March 1,1918, at Salem, Virginia, C. W. Morris was arrested at the instance of Rev. JR. C. Smith. March 23, 1918, at Checotah, Oklahoma, Charles J. Crews was jailed nine days at the instance of Rev. E. D. Cameron, his teacher's certificate was revoked and his home and furniture lost, all in accordance with the Reverend’s threat that he must give up his belief or go to the penitentiary. No offense was ever charged and the case was never brought into court. April 23, 1.918, at Miami, Texas, Mr. and Mrs. R, A. Bayless were jailed several days at the instance of Rev. J. C. Stalcup. May 30, 1918, at Post Oak, Missouri, W. L. Bowen’s new automobile was disfigured and he was carried to Leeton, Missouri, by a mob associated with Rev. L. Newkirk, pastor of Providence Baptist Church, after threats by members and deacons of his church. Rev. Newkirk is now insane.
Methodist ministers caused the following outrages :
February 15, 1918, at Anadarko, Oklahoma, A. H. Sempley was threatened with imprison-xnent. April 19, 1918, at Winnsboro, Texas, G. W. Wilcox was jailed in a filthy privy over night. April 28, 1918, at Farmington, "Washington, Mrs. C. A. Imhoff was threatened with imprisonment. At Tamaha, Oklahoma, Mr. and Mrs. B. Merriman and M. R. Charley were jailed six days at the instance of Reverend Phal. Mr. Charley, 65 years of age, died from the effects of his imprisonment. May 1, 1918, at Mesa, Arizona, an Episcopalian minister joined with a Methodist minister in causing the jailing for two days of P. R. Starks.
In March, 1918, at Enid, Oklahoma, L. F. Hall was jailed three times and bonded for $12,000 on complaint of a Lutheran minister. On May 25, 1918, at Harrah, Oklahoma, Jesse Hearn was jailed two days without warrant or explanation and beaten into insensibility in his own field by a mob organized by a minister of the so-called Christian denomination.
Other ministers, acting individually, procured the following outrages:
March 9, 1918, at Chickasha, Oklahoma, A. H. Sampley and Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Croy were jailed and fined. March 17,1918, at Weiser, Idaho, two colporteurs were threatened and compelled to stop work. April 30, 1918, at Thayer, Missouri, Charles Franke, Edward French, M. R. Griffin and Mr. and Mrs. D. Van Hoesen wyere taken to the Y. M. C. A. and threatened by a mob. Griffin was forced to leave towm and sacrifice home and business. The postmaster here held mail in the post office six months without delivery. April 30, 1918, at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, Mrs. Minna B. Franke was mobbed and compelled to close out a $10,000 stock in one day and leave town. At Garfield, Washington, Donald Main and Mr. Ish were jailed and threatened with death. At Minerva, Ohio, S. H. Griffin was first jailed and then released to a mob, then lectured fifteen minutes by the minister, then struck repeatedly, cursed, kicked, trodden upon, threatened with hanging and with drowning, driven from town, spit upon, tripped repeatedly, jabbed repeatedly with an umbrella, forbidden to ride, followed five miles to Malvern, Ohio, rearrested, jailed for safety at Carrollton, and finally taken home by brave and faithful officials who, after examining his literature, said, in so many words, “We find no fault in this man.”
Companies of ministers, acting together, procured the following outrages:
March 20,1918, at Checotah, Oklahoma, T. II.
Bradford was jailed two nights, his home entered and Bible study textbooks seized, and he was driven from towm. March 27, 1918, at Corpus Christi, Texas, the home of Mrs. Clara Hanke, a native American, was raided, her person attacked and threatened and Bible study textbooks seized. April 24, 1918, and April 28, 1918, these raids were repeated, accompanied by more threats and by an invasion of Mrs. Hanke’s bedroom when she was resting on the bed. The court’s final disposition of the matter, April 30, 1918, was that no more literature of the kind should be circulated during the war, inasmuch as it hurt the feelings of the clergy. At Globe, Arizona, EL Bender and P. R. Starks vzere jailed two days, and three ministers were heard to urge the officials to “give the boys the limit”.
April 12, 1918, at Medford, Oregon, E. P. Taliaferro was mobbed and chased out of town for preaching the gospel, and George R. Maynard was stripped, painted and driven from town for permitting Bible study in his home. April 14, 1918, at Denison, Texas, W. E. Murphy, P. E. Williams, A. M. York, J. IV. Safford, B. Drake and A. E. Class were mobbed, and attorneys forbidden to accept the case. Knights of Columbus assisted the clergy in the Denison outrage.
April 25, 1918, at Comanche, Oklahoma, O. M. Davis and son were insulted and threatened. May 1, 1918, at Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mrs. Beulah B. Covey was arrested and suitcases and Bibb* study textbooks seized without warrant. May 4, 1918, at Newr London, Ohio, Clyde Morrison and Claude Morrison were mobbed and arrested. May 8, 1918, at Greenville, Mississippi, Mrs. L. F. Lartigue was arrested, but after examination of the literature the sheriff dismissed her with the statement, “No one could find fault wfith those papers except the clergy.” At Celeste, Texas, a mob demanded the arrest of A. J. Tolbert, G. B. Weaver and Mrs. Harvey Huddleston; the demand was refused by the authorities but the parties had to leave town to escape violence. June, 1919, at Rochester, New York, William E. Wheeler was -twice arrested and browbeaten for circulating a petition appealing for the release of Bible Students unjustly sentenced to prison. All the foregoing outrages were directly incited by two or more clergymen.
Church members, acting as tools of clergymen, caused similar outrages as follows:
March 28, 1918, at Monroe, Louisiana, Henry C. Humble was made to lose a government position and was jailed three months at the instance of two Methodist church members, one of whom secured his job. April 28, 1918, at Centreville, Iowa, E. A. Talbott was abused, threatened and jailed three days at the behest of a mob of whom four announced themselves as church members determined to secure his imprisonment. October 16, 1918, at Marshfield, Oregon, Fay R. Smith was thrown out of employment and jailed twenty-four days on complaint of two prominent Presbyterians,
Catholic priests were not in any mobs that attacked Bible Students. They have had centuries of experience in getting results otherwise. At present, if they want any rough work done for them they use the Mollie Maguires, alias the Ancient Order of Hibernians, alias the Knights of Columbus. Also, they prefer to put these people in office first and then use them with a show of legality, instead of following the coarser, less efficient mob tactics of the Protestant ministers. This is the Beast in action. Attention is invited to the following, by way of illustration of the point in question':
March 4, 1918, at Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Benjamin Kimmel, Reuben Platt, Amos K. Smoker and William Kimmel were jailed by two alleged officials named McKelvey and O’-Larnic, given a hearing before Curcio in the office of Gorman, questioned by O’Brien in the presence of McHenry, McDermott and Boyle. March 4,1918, at Scranton, Pennsylvania, Clayton J. Woodworth, M. L. Herr and Stanley Young were arrested by McCourt and McHenry and arraigned before Kileullen. April 28, 1918, at Boise, Idaho, Dr. H. D. Morris and nine others were jailed and covertly threatened with mob violence by McClear. That night Dr. Morris’ house was disfigured. April 30, 1918, at New Orleans, Louisiana, James M. Wilbon, carrying a permit from the mayor for distributing his literature, was jailed two days by Mooney, the chief of police. At Jacksboro, Texas, Miss Lula E. Jackson was visited by the sheriff twice, once with McCombs and once with Keith, demanding the surrender of Bible study textbooks. May 18, 1918, at Houston, Missouri, a poor woman, Mrs. Gertrude Kimpe, was jailed by McCaskill because she was unable to buy bonds. At Henderson, North Carolina, Mrs. K. W. Edwards was repeatedly threatened, the threateners including a judge and a Roman Catholic. At Kennebec, Maine, Mrs. Frederic Holmes was grilled three hours by McKean. At Rossville, Georgia, G. W. LaFerry was visited by Finley, "who demanded all his religious books and literature.
Judges Do Some Wonderful Things
March 14, 1918, at Pomona, California, J. Eagleston was jailed fifteen days in prison tanks, four of them with no bed or mattress, with insufficient covering and insufficient food. When the jury disagreed, 5 to 7, the judge said in open court, “If there is no law to settle these cases, they will be settled, if it is done by the American people themselves.” What did this judge want done by the American people?
April 17, 1918, at Shawnee, Oklahoma, G. N. Fenn, George M. Brown, L. S. Rogers, W. F. Glass, E. T. Grier and J. T. Tull were jailed. During the trial the prosecuting attorney said, “To hell with your Bible; you ought to be in hell with your back broken; you ought to be hung.” When G. F. Wilson, of Oklahoma City, attempted to act as counsel for the defense he also was arrested. Each was fined $55 and costs ; offense, distributing Protestant literature. The trial judge encouraged mob action following the trial, but the mobs were foiled.
April 22, 1918, at Kingsville, Texas, L. L. Davis and Daniel Toole were chased by a mob led by the mayor and a county judge and subsequently caught and jailed without a warrant. Davis was forced out of his job. In May, 1918. at Tecumseh, Oklahoma, J. J. May was seized and incarcerated thirteen months in an insane asylum by the order of a judge, after threatening and abuse. His family was not advised as to what had been done with him.
In June, 1918, at Roanoke, Virginia, C. W. Morris was jailed three months for being “a strict adherent of the Pastor Russell sect” and was warned that if, after his release, he preached his doctrine he would receive milch worse treatment. In fulfilment of this, in the same city, February 15, 1920, Alex. II. Macmillan was jailed by the mayor, without warrant or charge, at the hour when he was advertised to lecture to the public on the topic, “Christ’s Second Coming Near; Millions Now Living Will Never Die.”
In the spring of 1918, at Los Angeles, California, Ernest D. Sexton, with twenty-five others, was tried for distributing Protestant literature which the trial judge, Benjamin Bled-see. admitted contained nothing whatever seditious. The only charge against several of these men was that they had attended a prayer meeting. Not a scrap of evidence was produced against a number of them. The jury disagreed and the case was dismissed, but while en route to the bullpen these innocent Christian men were assaulted and terribly beaten by the Roman Catholic police; one of them received serious injuries.
November 8, 1918, at Iroquois Falls, Ontario, A. R. Wood, Peter Wood, Thomas Phillips, Mrs. A. E. Holland, Mrs. Wood, Mrs. McCurdy and Mrs. Atcheson were fined $100 each for having a prayer meeting. The Bibles seized at this meeting, together with the Bible study textbooks, were all burned in the furnace by order of the trial judge, J. K. Ebbitt, member of the Church of England.
Bankers and Big Business Anarchists
March 17, 1918, at Grand Junction, Colorado, a meeting for Bible study was broken up by a mob composed of the mayor, leading newspaper men and other prominent business men. April 80, 1918, at Brownstown, Indiana, Curtis Plummer was threatened and coerced by a mob composed of the county sheriff and business men. May 5, 1918, at Corpus Christi, Texas, Mrs. Bertie M. Chalk was threatened and insulted by officials. May 10, 1918, at Tarboro, North Carolina, C. F. Bullard was jailed ten days, a local banker refusing to honor a cashier’s check intended to effect his release on bail. April 14, 1918, at Denison, Texas, J. R. May was forced out of business by the Denison bankers for not hiiying bonds. He entered the secret conference where they were deciding to ruin him, laid down five one-hundred-dollar bills in front of them and offered to give the entire amount to any Denison banker who could show where the war had cost him one dollar of Iris own money, and not one of them could or did open his mouth in reply.
June 5, 1918, at Indianapolis, Indiana, William Darby, after thirty-two and one-half years of honorable service as a letter carrier, was discharged by J. C. Koons, First Assistant Postmaster General, for the offense of being a Christian; no other details available. At Fontanelle, Iowa, Etta Van Wagenen was forcibly driven from town by a banker and another silk hat anarchist. Subsequently, men in the uniforms of officers of the United States army endeavored in vain to force her employer to dismiss her. At Fort Cobb, Oklahoma, A. L. Tucker’ was driven penniless out of town by a mob of ten men, which included his own banker with whom he then had funds on deposit. He wTas forced to leave the county and sell his property at great loss.
Other Sickening Examples of Anarchy
In March, 1918, at Shattuck, Oklahoma, J. B. Siebcnlist, a native American, was jailed three days without warrant and without food, except three pieces of spoiled cornbread, was taken from jail by the mob, stripped, tarred with hot tar and whipped with a buggy-whip having a wire at its end, for the offen.se of applying at the depot for a package of Protestant literature. April 22, 1918, at Wynnewood, Oklahoma, Claud Watson was first jailed and then deliberately released to a mob composed of preachers, business men and a few others, who knocked him down, caused a Negro to whip him and, when he had partially recovered, to whip him again. They then poured tar and feathers all over him, rubbing the tar into his hair and scalp. April 29, 1918, at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, W. B. Dunean, 61 years of age, Edward French, Charles Franke, a Mr. Griffin and Mrs. D. Van Hoesen were jailed. The jail was broken into by a mob who used the most vile and obscene language, whipped, tarred, feathered and drove them from town. Duncan was compelled to walk twenty-six miles to his home, and barely recovered. Griffin was virtually blinded, and died from the assault a few months later.
For distributing the same Protestant literature, which no government official has ever found objectionable except that it hurt the feelings of the clergy, the following other riots and outrages were arranged:
March 26, 1919, at Jacksonville, Toxas, C. L. Schellinger was jailed twenty-six days; April 10, 1918, at Vinita, Oklahoma, Ray Vvalrod was jailed ten weeks. April 22, 1918, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, H. A. Wenricli and Mrs. James G. Zea were arrested and placed under $2,500 bond. April 29, 1918, at Pasadena, California, Clayton II. Loose was jailed one night. April 1918, at Missouri Valley, Iowa, A. C. Northop was jailed.
May 1, 1918, at Greenville, Texas, A. J. Tolbert was jailed. May 1, 1918, at Tulsa, Oklahoma, Leota S. Cunningham was arrested and threatened. May 2,1918, at Wilson, North Carolina, C. F. Bullard was arrested. May 18, 1918, at Corpus Christi, Texas, B. H. Posey and Dr. George L. Spivey were jailed two days. May 29, 1918, at Jamestown, North Dakota, Allen D. Moser was jailed three days. May, 1918, at Terrell, Texas, Mrs. Lee Versell and Mrs. Harvey Huddleston were arrested and mobbed. May, 1918, at Commerce, Texas, A. J. Tolbert, G. B. Weaver and Mrs. Harvey Huddleston were arrested and mobbed.
June 3, 1918, at Auburn, Nebraska, Mr. and Mrs. David Smith were reviled and coerced. June 12, 1918, at Huntington, West Virginia, Frank A. Poston was jailed twelve hours, without warrant. June 30, 1918, at Pride, Louisiana, C. J. Robinson was jailed eighteen days. At Oakland, California, Benjamin F. Holaday was arrested and jailed. At Knowles, Oklahoma, Charles L. Coultrup and Otis Hummler were jailed. At Appleton, Wisconsin, M. T. Lindeni was abused, insulted, and jailed four days. At Bandon, Oregon, Mrs. Edith R. Smith and son, Walter B. Carpenter, the latter in naval uniform, home on a furlough, were run out of town.
Is It a Crime to Sell Books?
At the following times and places the parties named were arrested and jailed for selling religious books not under a ban of any kind:
In February, 1918, at Bogosha, Oklahoma, Mrs. C. L. Knowles, was jailed. March 4, 1918, at Siloam Springs, Arkansas, S. Van Houten was jailed. March 12, 1918, at Vanoss, Oklahoma, J. T. Grier and R. Hall, jailed eleven days and fined $88. March 25, at Ardmore, Oklahoma, Claud Watson, jailed eight days. At Franklinville, New York, Mr. Yeager, fined $10 for selling a ten-cent copy of The Divine Plan of Ike Ages.
“The Right of Petition”
For the circulation of a petition for the release of Bible students unjustly sent to prison the following outrages were perpetrated:
February, 1919, at Tulsa, Oklahoma, C. M. B. Claus was arrested. April 13, 1919, at Shawnee, Oklahoma, G. M. Brown, Thomas Kociolek, J. T. Tull and R. S. Teeplcs were arrested and jailed. At Memphis, Tennessee, R. M. Irwin was arrested. At San Francisco, California, Benjamin F. Holaday vras arrested. At Brownsville, Pennsylvania, because they happened to be Hungarians, who loved their English-speaking brethren, and because there is too much love abroad in the world, the following not only were arrested for circulating the petition, but were fined $10 each, viz.: Louis Zazic, Alex. Vargo, Andrew Lassen, George Azari, Bila Gara and Steve Basty. Did you ever read the Constitution of the United States?
June 30, 1918, at Olive Branch, Louisiana, Alex. Evans was jailed four days, under $5,000 bond, for distributing copies of a regular weekly newspaper, the St. Paul Enterprise.
“Secure in Their Persons, Houses, Papers, and Effects”
March 1, 1918, at Cleveland, Oklahoma, T. D. Johnson was'jailed three days and books confiscated that were never under any ban. March 1,1918, at Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mrs. Alta Randall’s home was entered by officers and others who confiscated Bible study textbooks without any warrant, accompanied by abusive, threatening and violent language. March 30, 1918, at Tulsa, Oklahoma, O. R. Cove;/ was arrested, his home and garage entered and searched and property seized, all without any warrant. On the same day, in the same city, Mrs. Elva Thomas’ home ■was entered by other alleged officers in plain clothes v/lio confiscated Bible study textbooks without warrant. March 16, 1918, at Princeton, Indiana, J. A. Miller and S. A. Keith -were jailed five days, their homes entered and property’ seized without warrants.
March 19, 1918, at New Orleans, Louisiana, James M. Wilbon, Frank M. Douglas and Raiford A. Fleming were jailed without warrant, the first night without any bed. Bond was refused and for forty hours they were forbidden to consult attorneys. Meantime their homes were ransacked and property seized, including seven Bibles, hymn books, concordance and lantern slides of Bible pictures.
March 27, 1918, at Corpus Christi, Texas, the home of Dr. George L. Spivey, a native American of English descent, was invaded without warrant and his effects seized. He was cursed and abused as a German spy, falsely, and his patient driven away and told not to return. In March. 1918, at Alba, Missouri, at 11 o’clock at night, the home of Mary E. Thayer, 71 years of age, was invaded without warrant, her person threatened and her effects seized.
April 1, 1918, at Pocatello, Idaho, the roof of P. G. Gloystein was raided and his Bible, hymn book and Bible study textbooks were confiscated. April 24, 1918, • at Corpus Christi, Texas, Mrs. Bertie M. Chalk was threatened and insulted and her effects seized. At Victoria, British Columbia, A. Sutherland was jailed three months for having a Bible study textbook in his possession. At Wickliffe, Ohio, the home of Mrs. K. F. Burkholder was entered and a Bible study textbook confiscated without warrant. June 5, 1918, at Greenville, Texas, the home of Mrs. S. H. Lynch was invaded and several religious books were confiscated that were never under a ban of any kind. At Wilmington, Ohio, in August, 1918, the home of A. 1ST. Price was invaded and religious books and papers seized that were never under any ban. July 10, 1918, at Tulsa, Oklahoma, C. M. B. Claus was misrepresented as a German spy, discharged from his position, mobbed, whipped, kicked and his jawbone fractured, necessitating six weeks of intense sufferings.
“The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble”
At all the following times and places meetings of Christian men and women at which the gospel, and only the gospel, of our Lord Jesus Christ was discussed, or would have been discussed, were broken up by mobs arranged for the purpose, usually with some alleged officer of the law as spokesman:
March 10,1918, at Walla Walla, Washington, accompanied by threats and abusive language by chief of police. March 16, 1918, at Denison, Texas, accompanied by abuse and seizure of Bible textbooks without -warrant by alleged Federal officers. April 21, 1918, at Corpus Christi, Texas. April 5,1918, at Grand Junction, Colorado, by that fearless warrior LieutenantColonel Furman, who led a large company of armed men, with bayonets fixed, into the private home of a gentle Christian, Mr. Perry, and without any warrant confiscated his Bible study textbooks. April 24, 1918, Polish Bible class at Chicago, Illinois. On this occasion W. Jasinski, ten other excellent Christian men, and one woman, -were jailed two nights, and hundreds of Bibles and Bible study textbooks never’ under any ban were confiscated, together with a phonograph, magic lantern and slides. Does such action make the vmrld safe for democracy? On the same date, at Plover, Wisconsin, the Polish class there was also jailed. The same month, at Du Bois, Pennsylvania, the Knights of Columbus, after a night invasion of a Protestant home, forced the abandonment of a meeting and seized the $25 paid for theater rental.
May 6, 1918, at Nashville, Tennessee, a meeting of colored Bible students consisting of a grand total of three men, three women and two children was broken up by just forty brave armed men, twenty of them in policemen's uniform, and the hymn slips were confiscated. June 1, 1918, at Jamestown, Kansas, late at night, the Roman Catholic .mayor’s mob drove R. L. Robie from town so that he could not, on the next day, preach upon the topic, “The World Has Ended; Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” June 29, 1918, at Estherville, Iowa, C. E. Stewart was run out of town to prevent his giving a similar lecture. July 1, 1918, at Portland, Oregon, Ernest D. Sexton was jailed one night for delivering a lecture, illustrated by Bible pictures of the highest class. In Roanoke, Virginia, March 21, 1918, Oscar E. Rylander was arrested by one IV. R. Bryon, without warrant or charges, while on his way to a Bible study. A loaded revolver was held to his temple, he was threatened with tar and feathers, and also threatened with being thrown from a seventh-story window-; total criminality consisted in the fact that he had with him some hymn books for use at the meeting. At Perry, Oklahoma, brave men waited on an aged woman, Mary E. Vollmer, and threatened her with physical violence if she continued discussing the Lord’s gospel v.-ith anybody. But she refused obedience. Which is better: To be a real Christian during war-time, or an Interchurch IVorldling afterward ?
Christians Entrapped
The following reads like the wicked Inquisition. On March 17, 1918, a little class of Christians had quietly assembled in southern California to study the Bible with their textbook, The Finished Mystery. The United States district attorney, officer of the department of justice, knew of their meeting place. He sent four men to attend the Bible class. These men, Messrs. Atwood, Boden, Mussel, and Meeker, sat through the study and at the conclusion manifested interest in the Bible. They then approached Mrs. Emma Martin, the widow of a well known doctor, and Messrs. Sonnenberg, Hamm and Stevens, students and members of this Bible class, and induced them to let them have a copy or copies of The Finished Mystery.
A few days later these Christians were arrested and the above named men appeared in court as the only witnesses against them, testifying that they went to the Bible class at the direction of the district attorney to get evidence against these harmless people, They were tried and sentenced to terms in the penitentiary for interfering with the selective draft. The cases were appealed and affirmed.
On May 17, 1920, more than a year and a half after the war was over, they were taken to prison. The Los Angeles Record said: “Two hundred and fifty Bible Students assembled at the pier and sang, ‘Blest Be the Tie That Binds Our Hearts in Christian Love’ and ‘All the Way My Savior Leads Me’, etc. A stranger inquired, ‘Are these departing missionaries?’ and was amazed when told that they were going to the penitentiary”, for selling a religious book to sleuths of the law.
Officers of the law, in league with an apostate clergy, deliberately conspired for the conviction and imprisonment of these innocent Bible students. It is inconceivable how their acts could have interfered with the selective draft, and still harder to believe that a year and a half after all other* nations have discharged even their political prisoners these Christians should be quietly taken off to serve terms in the penitentiary. This case is a disgrace to American institutions and proves that the unholy alliance has destroyed religious freedom. Such was foretold by the Master -when He said: “They shall deliver you up to councils [courts], and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.” (Mark 13:9) These cases will ever stand as a testimony against the unholy trinity.
Seventh: Substituting a man-made “League of Nations” for Messiah’s kingdom. In this the clergy have denied the divinely given commission to every follower of Jesus Christ to proclaim the message of His kingdom as the panacea for all human ills. God never fails to make good all He promises. He has promised and bound that promise with His oath, and it cannot fail (Heb. 6:18) that in “his due time” every man shall have a full and fair opportunity for life, everlasting liberty and eternal happiness. Such is the great desire of all honest hearts, and God’s rvay is the only way these blessings can ever be had. Radical elements of society honestly think they can bring about this desire, but they cannot in their way. God’s way is the only way. He commissioned His church to keep before the mind of the people His great promise of blessings under His kingdom. The clergy claim to hold a commission to preach the gospel. But alas, they have abandoned the Lord and His way and set up a way of their own. Their overt act here consists not only in a failure to tell the people of restitution blessings coming through Messiah’s reign, but in trying to keep others from telling the people. They not only reject the Lord’s way, but set up a way of their own by advocating and urging the formation of a league of nations and hail it as the emancipator and blesser of man, created and set up by man in lieu of the Lord’s kingdom. Hear the authoritative words of The Federal Council of Churches, issued January, 1919:
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