Consolation, November 25, 1942

Download: PDF — Consolation, November 25, 1942

Contents

The Hierarchy vs. Government by the People 3

Why Behind Closed Doors? 4

'Patroness of the United States' 5

"An Insult to the Flag" 6

Masses Red and Gold 7

Bishop's Throne at Arlington 8

When a Catholic Was President 11

The New Government

Won His Own Case Before Jury 12

In Mob-famed Wewoka, Oklahoma 12

Brings Suit for $20,000 Damages 13

Invention 15

"Thy Word Is Truth"

Time to Understand the Bible 16

Germany's War Machine Sows and Reaps (3) 18

Damned by Their Works 19

Religion's Enemy No. 1 20

New Truths in The New World 21

From One World into Another 22

Young Elihu and "the Society" 24

Common-Sense Justice 25

Presenting "This Gospel of the Kingdom" 26

"Body of the Talk" 26

Different Methods of Arrangement 26

British Comment

War in Fourth Year 29

Clerics Alert to Their Future 30

The Catholic Herald 30

Published every other Wednesday by

WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC.

117 Adams St., Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A.

Editor Clayton J. Woodworth

Business Manager Nathan H. Knorr

Five Cents a Copy

$1 a year in the United States

$1.25 to Canada and all other countries

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS

Remittances: For your own safety, remit by postal or express money order. When coin or currency is lost in the ordinary mails, there is no redress. Remittances from countries other than those named below may be made to the Brooklyn office, but only by International postal money order.

Receipt of a new or renewal subscription will be acknowledged only when requested. Notice of Expiration is sent with the journal one month before subscription expires. Please renew promptly to avoid loss of copies. Send change of address direct to us rather than to the post office. Your request should reach us at least two weeks before the date of issue with which it is to take effect. Send your old as well as the new address. Copies will not be forwarded by the post office to your new address unless extra postage is provided by you.

Published also in Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

OFFICES FOR OTHER COUNTRIES

England 34 Craven Terrace, London, W.2

Australia 7 Beresford Road, Strathfield, N.S.W.

South Africa 623 Boston House, Cape Town

Mexico Calzada de Melchor Ocampo 71, Mexico, D.F.

Brazil Caixa Postal 1319, Rio de Janeiro

Argentina Calle Honduras 5646-48, Buenos Aires

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

Notanda

Proposed Abolition of Interest

◆ In a broadcast from Simla, Sir Mahomed Zafrullah Khan, law member with the government of India, proposed the abolition of the system of interest-bearing loans as a desirable feature of any "new order" and listed it first in his own proposals for such an order. The Holy Scriptures forbid the taking of interest. In the text, Psalm 15:5, translated "He that putteth not out his money to usury" in the Authorized Version, the correct translation is "that putteth not out his money for interest"; and that is the way the passage is rendered in Leeser's version.

The Wealth of India

◆ India is the primary source of the world's supply of jute; it has the largest high-grade iron-ore deposits in the world; it is second on the list of suppliers of oil seeds; it produces one-third of the world's supplies of manganese, and three-fourths of its sheet and block mica; it has one-third of the world's total cattle population, and, atop of that, has 26,000,000 goats, 22,000,000 sheep, and 14,000,000 horses. It is the world's No. 1 producer of sugar, and is the source of immense production of wheat, rice, and gasoline.

Japan Now Has the Rubber and Tin

◆ America has been riding around in automobiles and eating out of tin cans, and, now that Japan has both the rubber and the tin, it is, to say the least, slightly embarrassing. There is still some connection between Japan and the Allies; for the Japanese found a way to tell the Australian people that if they wanted their men fed they had better send along the food, and not enough only for the prisoners of war but for the civilians as well. So they will probably find a way to sell rubber and tin to the Allies in a way of their own making.

CONSOLATION

"And in His name shall the nations hope."—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.

Volume XXIV Brooklyn N. Y., Wednesday, November 25, 1942 Number 605

The Hierarchy vs. Government by the People

"THE Catholic church has always refused to admit that sovereignty resides in and is expressed through the will of the people, and has always dismissed as deadly errors the liberties without which true democracy cannot exist." So says Chas. Guignebert in A Short History of the French People. (English translation by F. G. Richmond, Vol. II, p. 580)

Pope Gregory XVI, in his encyclical Mirari vos, condemned liberty of conscience as a "most pestilential error" and as an "absurd and erroneous doctrine, or rather raving". In the same encyclical he condemned separation of church and state.

When, therefore, the bishops, in their letter to President Roosevelt, referred to their "tradition of devoted attachment to the ideals and institutions of the government", their statement must be taken with several grains of salt.

Statements by Catholic dignitaries are, moreover, subject to qualification and interpretation by themselves when the force of events makes it clear that the obvious meaning does not fit in with the current objectives of the Hierarchy. It is rather difficult for them, however, to explain away the all too numerous evidences of sympathy with totalitarianism and lack of enthusiasm for democracy that continually come to the fore.

In this connection a statement by a lecturer of some note, Gerhart Seger, in the New Leader of November 22, 1941, is pertinent. He says:

The general attitude of Catholic clergymen as well as laymen is, unfortunately, overwhelmingly anti-Ally. If the reader will pardon my referring to my own experience in going about the country lecturing, I would like to point out a strange fact. During the seven years in which I have had the pleasure of being in the United States I have delivered exactly 1,584 public lectures for democracy and against Nazism. I have been invited by practically every conceivable kind of organization. My sponsors range all the way from striking CIO automobile workers to local branches of the National Manufacturers Association. My lecturing activity involves contacts with all sorts of organizations and committees. I have addressed Negro colleges, and I spoke at the annual dinner of the chamber of commerce of Newport, Rhode Island.

There is no Protestant denomination where I have not spoken, from the swankiest Episcopal church in the most fashionable residential districts of large cities to the poorest Negro Baptist church in Alabama. I have been invited by the most orthodox Jewish synagogues as well as by the Freethinkers of America. But, of those 1,584 invitations to speak, only once, one single time, was I invited to address a Catholic women's club, in Hollywood. This is no accident—the conclusion is obvious.

Shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor American priests were polled with the question as to whether they favored the United States' engaging in a shooting war outside the Western Hemisphere. Of the nearly 35,000 priests, 91.5 percent stated that they were opposed to it. They were also polled as to whether they favored the United States' aiding Russia, and 90.5 percent stated that they were opposed to that. In that connection the force of the remark by John LaFarge in the Jesuit magazine America of September 20, 1941, is seen:

It will be a serious matter if America's twenty million Catholics, not to speak of many others outside the Catholic church, consider themselves obliged to declare a complete and radical non-co-operation with our country's program of defense.

These words conveyed a covert threat (even though the 20,000,000 includes numerous infants in arms, many more children, and plenty of aged). Hitherto the attitude of Catholicism on the subject of conscientious objection had been that of disapproval, but the suggestion subtly conveyed by Mr. LaFarge is that it would not be outside the realm of the possible for Catholics to take a different position (in sympathy for totalitarianism) and to take it en masse, and that in spite of pronouncements such as the following, from The Catholic Register (May 25, 1941):

The average Catholic reaction to a claim of conscientious objection on the part of a member of our church is one of contempt or astonishment. No official of the Church has given any public approbation to the establishment of a Catholic camp for conscientious objectors. If a Catholic feels that a war into which we are likely to be drawn is going to be unjust, and if he can induce a selective service board to let him join the Quakers, the United Brethren, the Mennonites, et al., in their pacifist camps, he is keeping within the civil law. But he cannot expect most of us to agree with him. We do not want war any more than he does, but if the country needs us we are ready. That stand has been the traditional one of the Church and it will continue.

Why Behind Closed Doors?

When President Roosevelt purposed to lend aid to Russia in its fight against Nazism, Justice Murphy of the Supreme Court was reported to be standing by him. But the result of the declaration was the receipt of hundreds of telegrams of protest from Catholics throughout the country, "with the result," says the London Catholic Herald, "that Justice Murphy had to make a further speech to the K. of C. delegates behind closed doors."

The constant effort of the Hierarchy and its agents is to gain increased influence and power. In the eyes of every Catholic theologian the Roman Church is the living embodiment of God on earth; so when the American Jesuit priest, Edward Dowling, suggested an amending clause to the preamble of the Constitution of the United States, not so long ago, "recognizing national dependence on God" he was really championing a national recognition of the Roman Hierarchy in due course.

Similarly, when, on the occasion of dedicating a new church in Washington, D.C., the dean of the school of philosophy of the Catholic University said "to repudiate religion is to be ultimately seditious" he had in mind the old "union of church and state" idea that has caused such havoc in past ages. Yet the inflexible aim of the Hierarchy is to dominate the state, even though ostensibly separate from it, and thus, by a domination of all states, to dominate the world. It will cooperate with, oppose or double-cross democracy with that end in view. Its diplomatic advances toward Japan are a striking present instance.

Would Like to Tell the Truth

Sometimes a newspaper indicates that if it only dared do so it would be glad to come right out and tell the truth about the Roman Catholic Hierarchy's plans for world domination. One can sense something of that in the following editorial in the Washington Post for April 2, 1942. The Post is one of the two Washington papers that in 1935, after they had the cash already in their possession, refused to reprint one of Judge Rutherford's lectures, given in that city to one of the greatest audiences ever gathered in the national capital, merely because he made some reference to "a foreign power" by which they adjudged correctly that he meant the Vatican. They were afraid of the dreaded Roman Catholic boycott.

ROAD TO ROME

Over the protest of the British Foreign Office the Vatican, according to a report from Rome, has accorded diplomatic recognition to the militaristic government at Tokyo. The news has been read in this country with a great deal of bewilderment. Even more than Nazi Germany Japan would seem to embody that anti-Christian concept of the deified state condemned by Pius XII in his encyclical Summi Pontificatus, of October 20, 1939.

However, a distinction must be drawn between Papal preachments and Vatican diplomatic policy. In what was obviously an attempt to prepare American opinion for the shock of the Rome announcement, Archbishop Spellman, of New York, from the pulpit of St. Patrick's, on March 21, declared that while neutrality between right and wrong is impossible, the Holy See must take advantage of diplomatic means "of keeping in contact with Catholics of every nation". There is some merit in that statement. Millions of Catholics in the Philippines, Malaya, China, Indonesia and elsewhere have been affected by the recent Japanese conquests. Certainly the willingness of the Vatican to achieve a modus vivendi with Japan concerning its interests in these countries does not connote or imply any indorsement of the Japanese aggressions or of Japanese war aims.

. Yet we may be sure that from now on Axis propaganda will exploit the recognition in an endeavor to prove that it does represent an explicit or implicit indorsement of Japanese ambitions. That was clearly what the Japanese were after. Their eagerness to open relationships at the Vatican is in suspicious and significant contrast to the open or tacit hostility toward Christian missionary activities which Japan has manifested for several centuries. Japanese success in this respect cannot but be viewed with dismay in Catholic America.

. There is another aspect of this extraordinary development which is equally distressing. An exchange of diplomats between Tokyo and Vatican City seems to suggest a belief at the Vatican that Japan may be able to consolidate her conquests in the Pacific area. It may even suggest a disposition to consider them as an accomplished fact. Such a view may influence many people.

For many decades, to be sure, Vatican diplomacy has had the reputation of being the most astute and farsighted in the world. This belief, however, is open to some question. In the conflict of 1914-18 Benedict XV, like Pius XII today, preserved scrupulous neutrality as between the warring sides while working unceasingly for peace. Nevertheless, the confusion in the church's affairs in Europe following the Armistice has been ascribed to the Vatican's anticipation of victory by the Central Powers. Certainly the wisdom of Vatican policy toward the Italian conquest of Ethiopia and toward the civil conflict in Spain has not been demonstrated by subsequent events.

The Washington Post treads softly, but it does notice the straws in the wind. Looking about for other straws, one notes that Lord Halifax, the British ambassador, is what is called Anglo-Catholic in his sympathies. He was pronouncedly for support of the rebellious Franco in his war against the Spanish Republic. He was on the appeaser side of the deals with Hitler, as were Kennedy, Roman Catholic ambassador to Britain, and John Cudahy, Roman Catholic ambassador to Belgium—both on Uncle Sam's pay roll, and both "resigned", for the good of the country.

. It is of interest, too, that at Quantico, Virginia, "500 United States Marines were inducted into the National Holy Name Society" and that "similar ceremonies are scheduled in all military and naval bases in the United States and its possessions". Just how a sectarian "Society" can be "National" is a point of interest. The Hierarchy is fond of entwining its sectarian terminology about American interests, and introducing Catholic practices into governmental and national settings.

'Patroness of the United States'

. Away back in 1846 the Baltimore Council (Catholic) decided that the United States was to have the virgin Mary as patroness, whether she was wanted or not. That was eight years before the Vatican declared her “immaculate conception”, which the Scriptures not only fail to mention but contradict. Over a hundred million Americans do not, of course, accept the virgin Mary as patroness, immaculate or otherwise. But in addition to being the ‘patroness of America’, this lady is also hailed as “Our Lady of the Flag”. The Washington Times-Herald has a quarter column about the doings of St. Ann’s School there, and winds up with this: “Benediction and the singing of the hymn to ‘Our Lady of the Flag’, the patron of the U. S. flag, concluded the services.” And that brings up the matter of the forced salute.

The Forced Salute

Every real American knows that this business of flag saluting is something brand-new. A generation ago no civilian thought of such a thing. It is therefore interesting, though not convincing, when one reads in the Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette (February 1, 1942):

The salute which West Virginia school children have used for generations in pledging allegiance to the flag has been outlawed as ‘too much like Hitler’s’ and hereafter they will use the hand-over-heart citizen’s salute. . . . State education officials do not know where the old salute originated.

Regardless of its origin, the Baltimore Sun observes quite properly that “forced salutes are out of place in the free state”. It goes on to say, editorially:

Five more children have been expelled from Maryland schools and two others denied admission because they belong to a religious group that holds saluting the flag to be a form of idolatry. Nothing can be done about it, because the law of Maryland on this subject is as immutable as the law of King Darius under which Daniel was cast into the lions’ den because he considered it idolatrous to pray to the king.

The highest court in the land has upheld the law. It has decreed that,

“To stigmatize legislative judgment in providing for this universal gesture of respect for the symbol of our national life in the setting of the common school as a lawless inroad on that freedom of conscience which the Constitution protects would amount to no less than the pronouncement of pedagogical and psychological dogma in a field where the courts possess no marked and certainly no controlling competence.”

Those are the words of Mr. Justice Frankfurter, speaking for the Supreme Court of the United States. A great many Americans do not understand the reasoning that led to this decision, but the decision is plain enough. It is that the Legislature of Maryland can compel school children to make any sort of flag salute it sees fit, if the compulsion is done in the name of patriotism, and the Supreme Court will not presume to say that the law is unconstitutional, even though it cuts across religious scruples of a minority in a land in which religious freedom is the rule.

However, there is nothing in the decision that compels the Legislature of Maryland to enact such a law, or to retain one already enacted. The whole question is referred to the common sense of the State. Surely we ought to be able to think for ourselves deeply enough to realize that patriotism is not inculcated by a forced salute.

“An Insult to the Flag”

It can readily be seen that the influence of Catholicism would lean toward rigid enforcement of patriotic gestures. It has in the past laid great stress on religious gestures. Somewhat along this line, and showing the un-American as well as un-Christian spirit behind the effort to enforce salutes, Liberty, a national quarterly, says:

It is not for the state to determine whether a religious belief is right or wrong. It is the duty of the state to protect each individual in the enjoyment of his beliefs, so long as he does not injure or deprive others of their rights.

We do not believe that patriotism can be inculcated by force any more than that religion can be propagated by sheer force. The flag stands for freedom in political as well as in religious matters. In a democracy or in a republic every citizen has a right to his own opinions, and no one has a right to say him nay. In a totalitarian government no one can call his soul his own. All the activities of life are regimented and controlled by force.

Those communities which allow the mob element to do violence, to destroy property, to forbid the dissemination of literature and the holding of religious services by those minority sects which may hold religious beliefs not consonant with their own, are not a whit behind the totalitarian governments of Europe. The flag does not stand for such un-American methods of procedure. Such tactics are an insult to the flag. There is nothing patriotic or Christian in such behavior.

Reverence for and obeisance toward material objects of various kinds is prominent in Roman Catholicism, as is stress on ceremony and ritual. Recently fifty crosses, laden with gems and precious stones, and valued at about $20,000 each were placed on exhibition at the Washington (D. C.) cathedral, 'for the veneration of the faithful.' That is a total of a million dollars expended on idolatrous objects. It is not a far step from flag-worshiping to cross-worship. The next step is image-worship. The Washington Post of October 3, 1941, contained a picture of the chief representative of Vatican City, Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, apostolic delegate to the United States, "blessing" a statue of a priest who had been dead for only seven years. The statue was that of Godfrey Schilling, Franciscan, and the "blessing" prepares it for the veneration of the Catholic population. Also, that statue of Christ, of which you may have heard, and which was to be built in Washington (to make it look more Catholic), is merely a part of the new headquarters building of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, which is the political and practical arm of Catholic Action at the nation's capital.

Masses Red and Gold

There is as yet no indication that Washington's non-Catholic public servants have done reverence to any of these images or idols, of which there are now quite a number on exhibition. But they have in considerable numbers allowed themselves to be inveigled into attendance at Catholic ceremonial worship.

Not so long ago wide publicity was given to the fact that seventeen of the most prominent members of the United States government were present at a "Red Mass" for lawyers, and numerous Army and Navy medical staffs were present at a "Gold Mass" for doctors. Most of these men were Protestant in name, but evidently knew nothing of what that name implied in the past and should imply today. Nor did nor do they seem to be aware of the fact that a "Mass" is paganism in its worst form. The theory of the "Mass" is that the priest can order Almighty God in the person of His Son to come down out of heaven and be sacrificed by the priest and HE HAS TO COME. It is nothing short of blasphemy, and Jehovah God will require an accounting of those who make the practice of idolatry a means to gaining political or other ends. Sacrificing "Jesus Christ" in the form of bread is blasphemy.

The gathering of the notables of America to the silly "Red Mass" is a direct slap in the face at everyone who loves righteousness and truth. The head speaker on the last occasion made the statement that "in America there is no dramatic evidence of opposition to Christianity". The gentleman lied, and if he will go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation he can see for himself the evidence of hundreds of cases of persecutions of Jehovah's witnesses by priest-led mobs. But as he doubtless knew about these when he said what he did, it would be useless to present evidence showing the falsity of his statement. There is no dealing with a willful and deliberate liar.

Those that attended the "Red Mass" might just as well have attended a "Black Mass", because both are Devil-worship. Commenting on the "Black Mass" The Converted Catholic says:

Belief in the power of a priest to change a piece of bread into the body and blood of Jesus Christ led (as can well be imagined) to the opposite belief and practice of trying to bring the Devil and his power likewise into a wafer of bread. It is admitted by the most reliable Catholic authorities that the cult of Satan was practiced to a great extent during the Middle Ages, and even up till the last century. Evidences of it were discovered in May, 1895, in the Palazzo Borghese on the Pincian Hill in Rome. During alterations to the building a suite of rooms on the first floor was found to be laid out as a Templum Palladicum for the worship of Satan; the candles, mass vessels, ritual book, missal, etc., used in this cult were all there. The usual method employed was the celebration of mass by a profligate priest who used a black wafer of bread, black vestments and candles, and recited blasphemous incantations and obscenities to conjure up the Devil and have him incarnate himself in the wafer which was then eaten by those present.

Bishop's Throne at Arlington

The Roman Cult has a wide variety of masses, all stereotyped and rigid in form and consisting of mummeries in a dead language. One of these varied masses is called the "Pontifical Mass". This farce was performed recently at Arlington National Cemetery. Commenting on this obtrusion of its own peculiar and idolatrous ceremonialism into a public place, the reporter of the occasion said:

Mass Sets Precedent. It is the first time in the history of the amphitheater that a pontifical mass has been celebrated there. Heretofore, although a bishop's throne has been erected on the stage, the officiating prelate has only presided at the mass.

In a speech following the service the "Reverend Father" Edmund J. Walsh made the statement, "The Catholic Church must and will resist every totalitarian heresy because of her trusteeship in the dignity of human personality. Every modern Caesar will first seek to annihilate the Catholic Church if he will annihilate democracy." Well, if that is so—which it is not—how is it that the Catholic Church rides so smoothly on the backs of the dictatorships that have turned Europe into a charnel house? All the European dictators, without exception, are Romanists! Why are they all conspicuous at these mass ceremonies?

The attendance of so-called "Protestants" and of Masons at these blasphemous rites not only shows the personal apathy of these individuals toward God and righteousness but also demonstrates the fact that Protestantism is dead, or no adherent to any of their sects would be able to retain membership for a day after thus compromising himself. The Masonic Trestle Board, June, 1940, began then to see that they were slipping and that "maybe their salvation will lie in a new battle cry and sanguinary conflict". They will get the sanguinary conflict all right. Rome will see, and is seeing, to that. But Masonry is done for, along with Protestantism. They have dillydallied too long. The editor sees "bills perpetually being introduced to give aid to parochial schools" and legislators (many of them Masons) "lacking the moral fortitude to say 'No' " and hoping "that the courts will declare the laws they pass unconstitutional and thus save them from the results of their own vacillation and crass neglect of duty". It did not occur to this particular Mason to insist that other Masons who kowtowed to Rome be dealt with accordingly. He probably hoped, too, that something would be done without his doing anything to see that it was done—the good old "Protestant" custom.

Sparing the Roman Cult

Here is more proof that great influence is being exerted over American government officials by Roman Hierarchy agents. In condemning the block bounded by Fourth, Fifth, G and H streets NW. (Washington, D.C.) as a site for the ten-million-dollar General Accounting Office building in Washington, government building planners let the Roman Catholic archbishop talk them into exempting St. Mary's church property, including the convent school and the rectory. In consequence, the G.A.O. office building will be built around the church property, which will be wedged in the outer wall of the government structure, designed to leave space for it. The religious buildings mar the architectural appearance of the important government building, but that makes no difference to the Hierarchy, which is public-spirited only when it can further its own ends thereby.

Further evidence of the encroachments of religious totalitarian Romanism is seen in the fact that "Good Friday", definitely a Roman Catholic religious observance, has been made a legal holiday in thirteen states of the United States. The evil practice of recognizing these "holy days" of the Papal system is spreading. In one locality the priest, having nothing useful to do, went about calling on merchants with the request that they close their shops on a certain church holiday, and threatening with boycott those who objected to the intrusion.

Just why so-called "Protestants" and others should be so afraid of the Catholic Hierarchy is difficult to explain. The power of the Hierarchy is mostly bluff; and the sooner the bluff is called, the better for democracy and liberty. Though the census reports show that there are but about 18,000,000 Catholics in the U.S., some of their recent spokesmen have claimed almost twice that number, or close to 35,000,000. It is interesting to learn that 80 percent of the actual number are concentrated in the cities—for political purposes. In more than one-third of the 2,952 counties in the land there are no priests, of whom there are 35,000. There are also 100,000 nuns and an insignificant number of monks. (American men are not intrigued by the monastic bait.) There is now some evidence of distress on the part of the Hierarchy because of the fact that Catholics are not reproducing themselves, there being only seven children born to ten adults, when there should be seven times that number, according to the idea of the priests. But the priests and the nuns remain unmarried and set a bad example.

Recently the Catholics sent the pope $300,000 to distribute to Christmastime war relief. Somehow, one doesn't hear much of the relief when it arrives, and you can bet your last cent that only Catholics, if any, get any of it, and then only "good" Catholics.

It is not so long ago that a check for $216,164 was presented to Bishop M. J. Curley, archbishop of Baltimore and Washington. It was an outright gift, and no strings attached. (But did the archbishop pay income tax on it?) This same gent said it was his ambition to "die a poor man". He seems to be having a hard time of it, and no doubt suggestions from Consolation would be unwelcome.

It still seems that there is money in the religious business. And money is power. Also, it "talks".

Flirtations with the Pope

It may be for this reason that flirtations with the pope continue, even though people, for the most part, do not believe in the "divine right of kings" any more. Anyway, one should not unduly blame rulers when in a tight spot they stoop a little in dealing with the Hierarchy. Of course, it does look queer that President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill should have to call on a Roman Catholic bishop "to offer prayer at the White House" when they were trying to decide what to do. It may be assumed that these two statesmen are doing the best they can to get along with the balky Roman Catholic Hierarchy and that this was probably done with an eye to appeasement. You have heard all about appeasement, haven't you? And what it accomplishes? If Chamberlain were alive he could tell you about that. A little later Vice-President and Mrs. Henry A. Wallace attended the nonsensical "Red Mass" for the same reason, no doubt. They did not say, as Catholics do generally, when somebody seeks to discuss Scriptural truth with them, "We have our own religion."

Wonder why one never hears about Catholic statesmen (excuse it, politicians) attending "Protestant" services. Do they ever? Or don't they believe in reciprocity?

But the point here is the slide Romeward, as evidenced by the numerous incidents mentioned. The absence of Catholics at "Protestant" doings of all kinds is just another straw in the wind. Anyway, Mr. Roosevelt, though bending backward to the point of discomfort, has not yet gone so far as to attend a "Mass", whether "Red" or "Yellow" or some other color. One has to hand it to him for that. He has doubtless had "invitations". But he is "nice" to the Hierarchy, though circumspectly. Remember when he wrote to the pope that he hoped all mankind might "find again that faith without which the welfare of nations and the peace of the world cannot be rebuilt"? That was worded rather adroitly, and the pope could attach his own definition to "that faith" as being the one and only "faith" of which he is the one and only shepherd. Meanwhile the president could have his opinion of it.

An American Dictatorship?

The Hierarchy's claims of its affinity for democracy are belied every now and then by some utterance of an indiscreet priest or bishop. For instance, Bishop Hurley lost sight of this affinity when he suggested that Congress should abdicate in favor of the president, so that the president could declare war with Germany on his own hook. That is really Catholic doctrine, Walsh and others to the contrary notwithstanding. The Hierarchy takes to dictatorships and totalitarianism like a duck to water. Meanwhile they are not missing any bets, to use a common term.

Speaking of the making of a dictator, Senator Bailey, of North Carolina, remarked:

It is bad enough when our politics are controlled by money from unseen sources and special interests, but it is still worse for Government to use its credit and its taxing power to control the Congress and the States and even a presidential election. For by this means, those in power may perpetuate themselves in power. To tolerate this policy is to invite a dictatorship,—a dictatorship of borrowing on one hand, of taxing on the other, and of absolute control of the people as a consequence.

Samuel B. Pettengill, in his book Smoke Screen, also called attention to the trend dictatorward, identifying government as "Caesar". He said:

Strange it is that this modern tendency to render all things to Caesar—education, hospitals, the care of the sick, the errands of mercy, the compassion of suffering, the support and therefore the slavery of the church through public taxation, the destruction of local self-government, the bribery of states, the pressure for the control of radio, the press and lecture rooms, the justification given for diverting huge public funds to tons of propaganda, the sneers at the Constitution and the courts, the most disinterested interpreters of its meaning, and the most independent guardians of your inalienable rights, the gradual erosion of the sense of personal responsibility for the care of one's aged parent, one's child, one's community and its charities and philanthropies—strange it is, that all this has been so successfully sold to so many people as a progressive and liberal movement. It is a false label for spurious goods. Hidden within the velvet glove of much so-called "social welfare" is the iron hand of Caesar.

And back of "Caesar", according to the Hierarchy ideal, should be the Hierarchy itself. Where this cannot be done openly, it can be accomplished by other means.

It is a big help to the Vatican that the chairmen of both the big political parties are Catholics. Also, the bosses of most the big cities are Catholics, the chief chaplain of the United States Army is a Catholic, the majority of the chaplains are Catholics, and there are more Catholic chaplains among the CCC camps than there are Protestants. Also, most police are Catholics, as well as most detectives. Nice going. Of course, the Protestants would not think of offending the Hierarchy by suggesting that proportionate representation in all these important fields would be more in line with "social justice", nor do they do anything about it, as they jolly well could if they were alive, which they are not, as shown foregoing.

In addition to the afore-mentioned advantages, the Hierarchy setup in America comprises 1 apostolic delegate, representing the pope, 2 cardinals, 21 archbishops, 122 bishops, 35,839 priests, 19,121 churches, 7,660 parochial schools and 2,017,094 children attending them. There are 304 orphan asylums, 181 homes for the aged, and 709 hospitals under Catholic control.

When a Catholic Was President

In Argentina only a Catholic may be president, in harmony with the concordat between that country and the pope. This the Hierarchy thinks is perfectly all right. If in this country it were specifically stipulated that only a Protestant could be president, it would be highly resented by the Hierarchy. However, thus far no Catholic has been successful in attaining to the presidency. Only once, when President Wilson was wholly incapacitated, was a Catholic in a position to virtually pre-empt the office. On this point Ira E. Bennett, in an article appearing in Fact Digest, says:

Mr. Houston [secretary of agriculture, 1913-1920], in his memoirs, reveals that the letter purporting to come from President Wilson was revised. He says: "He [Mr. Tumulty] read the letter at the conference. It was unsatisfactory. . . . I did not say so, but I doubted if the president had had anything to do with the preparation of this letter. . . . It contained erroneous statements. . . . The conference asked me to revise the address. In the circumstances, I agreed to do what I could to alter the letter. . . . I revised the letter. . . . I sent the revised letter to Tumulty. . . . On the afternoon of the 8th I called him up and asked him if there was any news. He replied that everything was fine and that the letter as revised would be substantially accepted. At the banquet the letter was read."

Incidents such as this leaked out to the newspapers. The papers refrained from publishing them and made no comment as to the possibility that some one other than Mr. Wilson was discharging his duties.

As the weeks went on, the situation caused great uneasiness throughout the Government. Congress, the departments and the courts searched for something that would serve as a precedent for taking official action to ascertain the facts. They could find nothing. The newspapers knew what was going on, but were silent.

It is conceivable that something like this might happen again, and, if it did, the Hierarchy, together with its Jesuit guides, would take full advantage of it.

The conclusion of the matter is that the Hierarchy is inevitably on the side of totalitarianism as against the principle of government for the people, of the people and by the people. It is not suggested that all Catholics in America, or even most of them, are consciously supporting that idea or the program attached to it. It is certain, however, that only those Catholics will be favored and advanced by the Hierarchy who do lend themselves to its objectives.

The Youngest Supreme Court

◆ The youngest Supreme Court in American history is now on the bench. The ages are: Chief Justice Stone, 68; Associate Justices, Owen J. Roberts, 65; James F. Byrnes,* 62; Felix Frankfurter, 58; Stanley F. Reed, 56; Hugo L. Black, 55; Robert H. Jackson, 49; Frank Murphy, 48; and William O. Douglas, 42. The average is under 56 years. Justice Roberts was originally appointed by President Hoover, and Chief Justice Stone by President Coolidge, but all other members of the court are appointees of President Roosevelt, and it was by his appointment that Stone became chief justice.

* Justice Byrnes resigned from the court since this was written.—Ed.

RIGHTEOUS RULER THE NEW GOVERNMENT

Won His Own Case Before Jury

◆ The Washburn (Wis.) Times, February 16, 1942, contains an interesting story, a little over a column long, having the headlines: "Jehovah's witness Won Court Case Monday; Acquitted of Violation of Ordinance; Jury Finds Solicitors' Registration Invalid for Those Who Distribute Literature." One paragraph:

In summing up his case Ellquist read the U. S. supreme court decision dealing with an almost identical case in Georgia. He said: 'When the law of God conflicts with the law of man, we obey God's law.' The religious aspect of the case was not considered by the jury, however, which rendered its verdict on the free press issue.

In Mob-famed Wewoka, Oklahoma

◆ I believe our difficulties re court trials are over for a while. Our lawyer, Kenneth Kienzle, got them to postpone our cases until another session and they will finally be dismissed. As to the police force, that has been so keen about arresting us every time they had an opportunity, our chief of police, Grover Harrison, was taken up for hijacking and is now out only on bail. Our night chief, Joseph Hagen, was forced to resign. The city judge was also asked to resign, one reason being that he had convicted Jehovah's witnesses on no evidence or on flimsy evidence. Shortly after all this happened, the secretary of the chamber of commerce was asked to resign.

Now we have a new chief of police, a new night chief, and a new judge, and since these have taken office we have had no trouble in Wewoka. A different attitude seems to prevail among the people since the change.—Armenia B. Cox, Oklahoma.

Enfield, London, pioneer magazine publishers

Jehovah's Kingdom publishers, London, England

Brings Suit for $20,000 Damages

◆ At Lexington, Missouri, one of Jehovah's witnesses, Finis Necessary, brought suit against seven ruffians of Odessa, Missouri, for assaulting him without cause and encouraging twenty or thirty or forty men to deprive him of his civil rights. Of course, all the cowards involved committed perjury, denying that they had done what everybody in the community knew was properly charged to them. It does not take much manhood for seven men to stir up a mob to attack one man for serving God, and, of course, any coward will lie like Ananias when he is cornered.

Street witnessing work with magazines and booklets in London. 600 engaged in this work on the occasion here shown, May, 1941.

These transcription machines are in daily use in Britain. Tricycles are used because automobiles are seldom obtainable.

Garden walk at Kingdom Farm, Tillingham, Essex, England.

Quick Action in Cheyenne

◆ Jehovah's witnesses, arrested in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for doing what they know they have a right to do, both by God's laws and by American laws, appealed a fine of $50 or sixty days in jail, assessed against Mrs. Elaine Greene. Judge Thompson pointed out that he was compelled by decisions of higher courts to annul the ordinance under which Mrs. Greene had been arrested. In almost less than no time the witnesses were back on the streets, performing their duty, when an officer rushed up and arrested them, dragged them into court, and there learned for the first time that "bodily exercise profiteth little", and if he would use his head more and his feet and arms less he would make a better officer. He had no case.

Janesville Jonadabs

◆ Janesville, Wisconsin, passed an ordinance intended to prevent the circulation of the Kingdom message. Eight days before the ordinance was to go into effect three of the Janesville Jonadabs were taken to the station house, where they informed the police of the Irvington decision of the United States Supreme Court. The result was that the ordinance was repealed, and since then the Jonadabs stand on Janesville's busiest corners and offer their magazines. The cops lean up alongside and say never a word. The Jonadabs say, "They think they are bothering us, but it looks to the public as if they are protecting us in our work; so we should worry."

Leo Mushitz, Anarchist

◆ At Lake Andes, South Dakota, Leo Mushitz, anarchist, attacked two of Jehovah's witnesses, smashed their phonograph, and fired ten shots into the back of their car, any one of which might have killed D. F. Potter or his wife. He got arrested for his pains. The local paper believes in smashing and shooting people who try to teach anything about God's kingdom.

Lawlessness in Lawler

◆ The Des Moines Register states that a mile out of Lawler, which the Register describes as "a Catholic and Lutheran community", sometimes referred to as "little Ireland", religionists, who were grieved that they had been invited to use their brains, tore the shirts and neckties off some of Jehovah's witnesses, and assaulted and bruised those who had come there in seven automobiles and tried to teach them something of the Bible. This information came through a report of Sheriff Murray, who, as usual, and as they always do in such cases, slept soundly through the whole performance. If an American community in these days should ever have an American sheriff, sometime something might happen that would startle the world.

Sheriff Might Turn Out O. K.

◆ Connersville, Indiana. Ex-sheriff Hunt, who was sheriff at the time of the arrest and sentence of Lucy McKee and myself, has for some months been substitute city mail carrier here and it has been his duty as mail carrier to deliver The Watchtower and Consolation at the homes of Jehovah's witnesses in this city. The Connersville company has got a big laugh out of this, as Lester Hunt told Lucy and myself there was not going to be any more WATCHTOWER literature put out here. But he now thinks we should never have been imprisoned. The present commander of the American Legion is my regular mail carrier; so it is his duty to deliver the magazines regularly to three of us who are on his route.—Grace Trent.

West Virginia Judge Acts Justly

◆ At Charleston, West Virginia, Judge Jackson Savage dismissed truancy charges against Walter Barnett and Mrs. Lucy McClure, whose children had been ordered by school officials to remain home from school for refusal to salute the flag on conscientious grounds.

(To be continued)

Invention

Still Monkeying with Bread

◆ The inventors are still monkeying with plans to make bread that will last longer than its eaters will last. What with plaster of Paris added to make it white, nicotinic acid to enrich it, and one recent invention to keep it fresh indefinitely, there is now a new invention for putting in sorbitol, an ingredient used in making explosives. Each of these inventions is alleged to be harmless. So sorbitol is harmless. You put it in your bread and the bread keeps fresh for a long time without drying out or becoming brittle or hard. If you eat enough of this chemical stuff, the only way you can keep your bowels open is to periodically have some well-driller take you in hand and give you the works. P. S. You could try eating matches.

"What Shall I Wear?"

◆ "What shall I wear? Will it be a velvet dress made of a combination of coal, air and water, called nylon? Or how about that smartly tailored suit made of casein? If you want me to wear white I could put on that vinyon dress made of a combination of natural gas, coal, oil, salt and air. I think you will like my new soybean housecoat; the stripes in it are made of metal foil laminated with kodapak." That is the way wifey will be talking to her hubby not long hence; for all those things are even now in the market.

Electric Eyes Along the Coasts

◆ Electric eyes are being installed along all coasts, with the intent of detecting planes or ships a hundred or more miles away. These detectors work as well in the dark as in the light, and as well in the fog as in clear weather. 14,000 men are being trained for work in the Signal Corps, so that should anybody come there will be someone who will know all about it.

New Way to Make Diamond Dies

◆ The making of very fine wire is necessary to the manufacture of aircraft instruments, radio tubes, measuring instruments, and electric lamp filaments. Until just recently the diamond dies, which are essential to the manufacture of very fine wires, were made by repeatedly poking at the diamonds with freshly sharpened needles until holes were worn in them. Now the holes are drilled in groups with high-speed electric motors, and the quickly instructed operators, who take the place of those that spent a lifetime learning to do the work by the methods now superseded, think nothing of turning out diamond dies with holes in them as small as one ten-thousandths of an inch. Old things pass away suddenly in these days.

Scrambling Television Images

◆ As radio waves may be scrambled, so that only those who have certain kinds of radio sets can understand what is being said, and as a score or more of telegraph messages may be sent over a single wire at the same time and each be received and read accurately and separately, so now television images may be scrambled and may be properly seen only by those who have the proper receiving device. It is believed that this system may be of use in sending confidential maps, charts or photographs from one war station to another.

Annealing Steel with Hydrogen

◆ It used to be that steel got old, but the process has been arrested. Structures that undergo repeated strains and stresses sometimes gave way because they had too much nitrogen. A new invention anneals the steel with hydrogen. The hydrogen attacks the nitrogen, withdrawing it from the steel in the form of ammonia. The result is a steel that is almost without any aging properties.

"THY WORD IS TRUTH" —John 17:17

Time to Understand the Bible

THE name “Bible” is taken from the Greek word Biblia, which means “little books”. The volume which is called “The Bible” is in reality a collection of sixty-six books, written over a period of fifteen hundred years but all under the inspiration of the one Author, namely, Almighty God. The books together known as “The Apocrypha” (meaning “hidden” or “spurious”) bear no evidences of inspiration, and hence are not included in the Bible accepted by those who believe in it as God’s complete written Word which needs no addition.—Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Proverbs 30:5, 6; Revelation 22:18, 19.

That the Bible was written under divine inspiration, note the following facts: Through His holy prophets God foretold that at a future time there would come into the earth a mighty man. He would be born a Jew, the place where he should be born, namely, Bethlehem in Judea, being specified. (Deuteronomy 18:15-18; Genesis 49:10; Micah 5:2) He would come to his own people, and they would not receive him; he would be despised and rejected of religious men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53:1-3) He would ride into Jerusalem upon the colt of an ass and offer himself as king to the Jews; however, he would be rejected by the religious Jews and would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. (Isaiah 53:3; Zechariah 9:9; 11:12) He would die, on a tree, but not for himself, and there would be no just cause for his death; nevertheless he would be numbered among the transgressors. (Deuteronomy 21:22, 23; Daniel 9:26; Isaiah 53:8, 9, 11, 12) He would die a violent death, yet not a bone of his body should be broken; moreover, his flesh would not corrupt, and he would be raised from the dead. (Psalms 34:20; 16:10) All of such prophecies and many more similar ones were actually fulfilled upon Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem and brought up in Nazareth, and who was a great Teacher among the Jews and who died at Jerusalem as a witness for Jehovah God.

All the foregoing facts show that the Bible was written, as it is claimed by honest students thereof, by holy men of old who were directed in writing it by the power of Jehovah; and that it is a record which God caused to be kept and which He has given to man for man’s guidance in righteousness and to foretell the course and final destiny of man and the vindication of God’s name.—2 Peter 1:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17.

The prophets who made record of the divine purpose and arrangement did not understand what they wrote. They knew they were writing something that would take place in the future, but just how and when they did not know. They inquired and searched diligently all sources of information open to them as to what these prophecies meant and when they would be fulfilled and in what manner of time. Particularly with reference to the coming of Jesus, His suffering, death and resurrection and the establishment of His kingdom they prophesied but did not understand, although they attempted to do so. (See 1 Peter 1:10-12.) Even the angels of heaven knew that the prophets were thus writing, but they did not understand, although they desired to look into these things. God revealed the features of His purpose only in His own due time, and until that time He kept it all to himself:—Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32.

The chief servant of Jehovah God foretold and named in the Bible is the afore-mentioned Jesus born to the virgin of the tribe of Judah. The first one to understand the divine purpose was this Jesus, who prior to coming to earth was known in heaven as “The Word”, which title means one who speaks and acts for Jehovah God. (John 1:1-3; Revelation 19:13) In chapter five of Revelation a wonderful picture is given in symbolic language. Jehovah God is pictured as seated upon His throne, holding in His right hand a record or scroll of His great purpose, particularly for the “time of the end” of Satan’s world. The hand is a symbol of power, and holding it in His hand foreshadowed the fact that Jehovah held it exclusively in His own power and keeping. The prophetic picture then shows a strong angel or messenger speaking with a loud voice and asking the question: “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” In heaven there was a host of holy creatures or angels. No one of them was able to open the book or scroll, neither to look on it. Of course, no one in earth was able to look upon it or to open it. At that fact John, who beheld the vision, wept.

The lion is a fighter and the king of the beasts of the forest, and one of the titles given to Jesus since His human birth, death and resurrection is “The Lion of the tribe of Juda”. This great and mighty One, the beloved Son of God, was now granted the privilege of opening the book and of loosing the seals that kept its contents secret, thus picturing how Jehovah God made known His purpose in its final features to His beloved Son. The Son had been sacrificed as “the Lamb of God”, and the Revelation describes Him thus: “And I [John] beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne . . . stood a Lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, . . . and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him [Jehovah] that sat upon the throne.”

Seven is a symbol of spiritual perfection; horns are a symbol of power; and eyes are a symbol of wisdom. Therefore this One is pictured as having power and wisdom in completeness to perform this wonderful privilege and duty set out in the book. This is the first time that great mystery of Jehovah was made known to anyone. Now during this actual “time of the end”, since A.D. 1914, Jehovah by Christ Jesus has been pleased to reveal the mystery to humans who have honestly and faithfully sought to understand it. He has promised to reward those who diligently seek Him and who seek a knowledge of Him. (Matthew 7:7, 8) To this effect it is stated, at Daniel 12:9, 10: “And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Therefore we can come to the study of God’s Word, confidently expecting that He will grant us from time to time such a vision and understanding of the Bible as pleases Him and as would be for our good and happiness.

Further confirming the “time of the end” of Satan’s uninterrupted rule of the evil world as being the due time for the understanding of the Bible to be unfolded, the apostle Paul writes to men and women who devote themselves to God and the doing of His will and purpose: “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ENDS OF THE WORLD are come.” (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11) It being the time for understanding, the great Author of the Bible has now in this day, through His organization of devoted Christians under Christ the King, provided helps in print for the understanding of the Bible, and Jehovah God is using His faithful witnesses on earth to pass out these printed helps and to place them directly in the homes of the people by house-to-house calls. Now is the time for the meek to avail themselves of these helps to understand God’s Word of life.

Germany's War Machine Sows and Reaps

(In Three Parts—Part 3)

IN PUSHING her conquest for world domination, Germany has run counter to the laws of Almighty God. She has wantonly broken God's everlasting covenant concerning the sanctity of life; denied His people the right to worship Jehovah, as did Pharaoh; and has trampled upon many other God-given privileges and heritages of His servants.

She has trafficked in and made merchandise of human flesh. To solve her acute shortage of man power, Germany moves whole populations from conquered countries to sweat in the Third Reich. This is not original with the Nazis. Heathen totalitarians practiced the same thing against God's typical people long before the time of Christ on the earth. Since then it has been used as a weapon of the heathenish Roman Catholic Hierarchy, through her church "swords", in her quest for power. Catholic Hitler does her bidding and follows in her devilish footsteps.

It is upon this large army of laborers of conglomerate nationalities that many base hopes of internal difficulties for Germany. Certainly they are a potential powder keg should any revolt or third inner-front manifest itself. Hitler doubtless feels apprehensive about this large force of "household servants", all of whom must bitterly hate the Nazi Socialist Party responsible for the wrecking of their homes and lives. Germany needs living space, and she gets it; she needs more people, and gets them. Now she needs ways of controlling them. So this remedy for labor shortage creates in turn its worries for the Nazis.

Drastic measures are taken to cope with the precarious situation, and News Flashes from Czechoslovakia, release No. 119 on February 9, 1942, gives an account of a favorite Nazi method:

The unrest existing among two millions of foreign workers recruited by and deported to Germany for forced labor to replace the German workers drawn into the army is spreading rapidly, causing great apprehension among the Nazi leaders. The Polish Telegraphic Agency, in London, reported on January 19 that 150 foreign workers in Germany were executed by firing squads during November and December for rebelling against overlong hours and harsh treatment. Not only Poles and Czechoslovaks, but also Italians and Spaniards, were included among the victims of Nazi terrorism.

These executions testify to the fact that all measures heretofore adopted by the Nazis in order to isolate the various groups of foreign workers one from another and to hinder their contact among themselves as well as with the native workers have proved ineffective. The Nazis are confronted with a new menace on the inner front. Two million foreign workers provide a dangerous wedge of internal unrest in Germany proper.

The question might occur to one as to just how these workers are "persuaded" to go to Germany and work in the first place. The April 4, 1942, bulletin News from Belgium shows how the Belgians were recruited into serfdom:

These hordes of miners and industrial laborers are represented as enthusiastic believers in the New Order and volunteers for the Nazi cause.

But it is impossible to silence millions of men or prevent the truth from breaking through. The smallest injustice, the pettiest crime cries louder in the end than even Minister Goebbel's loudspeaker. This comforting fact is once more proved by a news item just received from Belgium.

When the Nazis marched into Belgium, they automatically broke the country's economic backbone by cutting it off from the world. Belgium's existence depended on huge imports, and its main resources came from transforming imported raw materials into finished products, which were shipped all over the world. Belgium ranked fifth or sixth among the countries exporting to the United States. More than 2,000,000 men and 600,000 women were employed in Belgian industries and commerce.

…