Consolation, March 3, 1943

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Contents

Latin-American Democracy and Freedom of Worship

Kindred Nations

“Inter-American Seminar for Social

Studies”

■Statement on 'Victory and Peace’

defeat of Persecution in West Africa

‘The Increase of His Kingdom’

A Free Judiciary

“Thy Word Is Truth”

Humility Rewarded

What Destroyed the French Republic!

A Peculiar Local Patriotism

Too Much Venality—as Elsewhere

To Devil’s Island for Life 21

What Devil’s Island le Like

Some Judges as Bad as—Elsewhere

Too Many Politicians

Who Are France’s Enemies!

Dodging the Vital Truth

Another Real Statesman

Dove or Raven, Which! ■

“Blessed Are the Merciful”

Otto the White Hope

Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom” Gruden’s Concordance

Just Beginning to Learn

Published every other Wednesday by WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC. 117 Adarnfi St., Brooklyn, N. Y.d L\ S.A.

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Notanda

Just Beginning to Learn

♦ The human family is just beginning to learn something' about The treasure house, the earth, in which, by the kind providences of God, they now find themselves. The statement is made by those who ought to know that in the year 1941 Americans consumed $10,000,000,000 worth of products that were unknown before World War I.

You know some of these things. Maybe you are wearing some of them right now, as underwear, stockings, dresses, suits, hats, shoes, or what not. You call them nylon, rayon, vinyon, or something else, and all you know or care about them is that they are made of such things as milk, beans, peanuts, bark, and that they don’t wear quite as well as the things for which they act as substitutes. .

It was a big surprise to most people to learn that rubber can be made from -petroleum, yet that will probably be the principal source from which future supplies come. It is claimed that there are now about 6,000 research workers spending their time studying petroleum, to get out of it some of the things it evidently contains.

Lined Squarely Up with the Devil

♦ Arrested in Charleston, S. C., for circulating the^ gospel of Jehovah’s Kingdom in printed form, three women, with their children, summoned two clergymen to speak for them, but the clergymen, “Rev.” W. O. Kersey and “Kev.” Henry F. Wolfe, entered a plea against the innocent, instead; and, though these two men make their living by circulating what they falsely claim to be the gospel, they were delighted when these women were fined for preaching in this manner without first obtaining peddlers’ licenses. The Supreme Court of South Carolina had previously decided that circulating God’s Word and explanations thereof by books not sold for gain is doing the work of an evangelist and not taxable.

CONSOLATION

»

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

VolumeXXIV Brooklyn, N.Y,, Wednesday, March 3, 1943 Number 612

Latin-American Democracy and Freedom of Worship

SOUTH AMERICAN and Central

American lands are generally, for the sake of convenience, grouped together and called “Latin America”. They speak mainly the two Latin-European languages Spanish and Portuguese, although there are millions of their inhabitants that speak one of the aboriginal tongues that were spoken when the Americas were first discovered. ~ The west coast of South America is straight south of New York city, a small portion of its western bulge being the exception. The largest South American country, Brazil, extends east of that line twenty-six hundred miles. Latin America, most of it, is in the tropics. People in the tropical climes live at a pace different from that of those who live in temperate zones. They are neither worse nor better on that account, but would naturally prove somewhat difficult to understand unless one keeps that fact in mind. The bulk of Mexico and everything between it and Buenos Aires, Argentina, to the south, is subject to the effect of direct solar rays and all that is implied by that fact.

Yet, because altitude has an important bearing upon the climate of Latin America, there are places where the temperature, even in the torrid zone, is moder-. ate and sometimes chilly. Each ascent of 330 feet results in a variation of one degree Fahrenheit in temperature. A point 5,000 feet above sea, level at the equator has the same climate as one . at sea level 1,500 miles north or south. Mexico city, although in the torrid zone, is situated 7,500 feet above sea level, and has a climate described as that of an eternal spring. Plateaus and mountainous terrain in other parts of Latin America have similarly affected the climate, though not to the same degree. The capital of Equador is situated 9,371 feet above sea level, and has as a consequence a climate unusual in that torrid zone.

There is still a considerable measure of illiteracy in Latin America, a condition that is being slowly remedied. Theoretically, and in a measure actually, education is free all over South America, and in some parts it is compulsory. Whites and Indians, and also Negroes, have intermarried to a surprising extent. In Brazil only a tenth of the population is wholly white. The color line is almost entirely ignored. Similar conditions, though in different proportion, exist in many other South American countries.

A general survey of Latin America is difficult because there are such wide differences between the countries and peoples of which it is composed. Asia is more easily comprehended in a homogeneous whole than is South America. A separate visit to each country of.this part of the Western Hemisphere is therefore desirable, and it is hoped that such visits (on paper) can be arranged for the readers of Consolation from time to time. It will be well worth while to become better acquainted with our neighbors to the south. For the present, however, consideration is given to Latin America as a whole, representing a population of some 130,000,000.

Every country and every colony of Latin America is unlike the '.others. Although part, in the main, of one continent, they are all different; surprisingly so. -Each claims a republican form of government. Yet some of them have been ruled by dictators for long periods of tipe. One has an enviable record of orderly and constitutional government that has had but one interruption in a period of well over a century. Others have had frequent “revolution s” and consequent changes of government.

In some of the countries of South America there is as complete freedom of the press and speech as there is in the United States (although that is not as complete as some may think). In others there is practically no such freedom. Politicians who oppose or criticize the government are sent into exile, and critical newspapers are put out of business. In such lands the dictator or other ruling element brooks no opposition.

Early in the nineteenth century all the South American and Central American countries revolted and threw off the yoke of Spanish domination that had held them. Brazil also gained her independence (from Portugal). The revolts were largely inspired by the American and French revolutions. Conditions that existed until these revolts changed them are summarized as follows by John Gunther in his best-seller Inside Latin America:

Latin America was, it happened, colonized by two countries, Spain and Portugal, that never experienced the Reformation. Thus Catholicism in peculiarly undiluted form dominated it from the earliest days and remains today a profound and tenacious influence. The early ‘Conqui st adores’ fought in the name of the cross, and baptized Indians by the tens of thousands. In every new settlement the clergy took a large share of the best land, and achieved an important vested interest in the community, socially, politically, economically. The great archbishops admitted allegiance only to the king of Spain. They ruled like princes. The clergy were their troops and the Inquisition their Gestapo. The church had no competition, since no other religion but Catholicism was permitted. It grew fabulously rich and fabulously decadent. In several countries the church owned as much as one-half the total land; Paraguay, for instance, became practically a Jesuit colony. Nowhere did the clergy, secular or regular, bestow upon the people anything like proper recompense for their inordinate position, though an effort was made in education.

In Jesuit-colonized Paraguay today from 60 percent to 70 percent of the people are illegitimate and Catholic. The claim that South America as a whole is Catholic is, of course, a very broad generalization. The Indians, Incas and others, who were baptized by the tens of thousands several centuries ago, evidently did not get very far beyond the starting point, nor did they bring up their offspring as “good Catholics”, willingly subservient to the “Church” and loyal to Spain as the instrument of the church in reducing them to bondage. As the Boman Catholic church retains its control of the men through its control of the women, every effort was made to keep the people, and particularly the women, in ignorance. This helps to keep the people at least nominally Catholic.

A large number of Latin Americans, and particularly the men, are indifferent to Catholicism. Yet the teaching and example of the priests have had their effect. In this connection an item is quoted fromiTAe Christian Century of September 2, 1942.

The legend that South America is a Catholic continent Still persists. But it is hard for its supporters to make a clear case. It was not so many decades ago that a recommendation went to the Vatican that South America be declared a mission field, moral and spiritual conditions were that bad. But, of course, it was -ftnpossible to do that and not lose face. All cWirrches and convents, however, in Ecuador webe closed, and a group of German priests we¥e put in charge to reorganize and reopen the Work of the church. Last year the theological seminary in one of the most Roman Catholic of South American countries was closed because of moral conditions and a group of Mexican priests were brought down to reorganize that institution. In that country-no priests will be graduated from the seminary for the next three years. . . . the first group of missionaries has gone out from the Maryknoll institution to do missionary work in Bolivia. A second group of fifteen missionaries is to follow soon.

Of course, the status of the Roman Catholic church in Latin America differs in each country. In some sections it has a strong hold upon the superstitious susceptibilities of the people, while in others it occupies a position more nearly like the one held in the United States. In either case, there are large numbers of the population that have no attachment for the church and there is a considerable number of Protestants. Protestant church organizations in the United States have also sent mission-, aries into Latin America; which, in every country, claims to adhere to complete religious toleration, though the Roman Catholic religion is generally said to be “dominant”. Whatever may be said of Protestantism’s'too obvious failings, the missionaries have brought the Bible with them. This fact, together with the further fact that these missionaries have met with some success, has greatly disturbed the Catholic Hierarchy.

In an effort to stop the introduction of the Bible and its teachings into Latin America the “princes of the church”, such as bishops and archbishops, have gotten together with United States clergy of the same general rank in a so-called Pan-American “seminar” ostensibly to further “social studies”. The pronouncements of the “seminar” and of the bishops of the Roman Church in the United States enable one to see just what the Hierarchy and its head mean when they speak of the triumph of “Christian; principles”, and of the necessity of seejpg to it that these principles shall be given first consideration in the building of a “new world”. There is no real , intention to extend liberty of worship and speech to all. The Bible, and those who sponsor its circulation, are not wanted. What the Hierarchy has done and is doing in South America or Latin America it will attempt to do wherever it can. One of the pronouncements of the seminar in its “studies” last year was as follows:

Democracy, whatever its deficiencies may have been in the past, is certainly opposed to totalitarianism, and when it is directed by Christian principles constitutes a system under which Christian living can be best achieved.

Interpreting that in harmony with what the Hierarchy are trying to do in Latin America, it is just saying that everybody must be brought around to accepting the pope as “God on earth” and Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a virtual goddess. These are the main tenets of Catholicism, and when Catholic bishops speak of Christian “principles” they certainly have in mind these fundamental doctrines of the Hierarchy. That the four freedoms are not a part of them is apparent from the pronouncements of the popes on democracy. None of them has done other than condemn it. The “essential rights” of the individual are to knuckle down to the “princes” of the “church”. According to the bishops, that is supposed to be the way Latin America accepts the Catholic idea. Actually Latin Americans assert in large and increasing numbers as much freedom of thought and action as do North Americans.

Kindred Nations

Ever since the Latin-American revolutions there has been a kindred love of freedom and democracy common to them and the people of North America. The constitutions of the Latin-American nations are patterned in considerable degree after the Constitution of the United States. True, there have been failures in living up to the implications of these constitutions, yet they are there, and .exert their influence upon the populations. Outstanding in all these constitu-

tions is the constantly reiterated tolerance in the matter of worship. In this respect the constitutions express the attitude of the people. A different thing, of course, is the attitude of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy.

Recently Latin-American representatives of the Hierarchy met with some of their fellow clergy in the United States, under the auspices of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, and took occasion to invite representatives of religious groups other than the Hierarchy to keep out of Latin America. These hated “heretics’" have gotten under the skin of the Hierarchy, particularly in view of the fact that quite a number of Latin Americans have shown an inclination to exercise the right of freedom of worship in a manner that the Hierarchy does not approve.

The Roman Hierarchy is alarmed. It proposes to change, if not the constitutions of Latin-American countries, at least the effect of them. Having made a had botch of instructing the people in morality and religion, they propose that no one else shall do. so. They intend to keep the field for themselves, to rule or ruin as may suit their purpose.

With an eye to their own advantage, the Hierarchy are turning the “good neighbor” policy to account. This policy was in reality begun by President Hoover. He visited Central America and South America with the thought in mind of closer co-operation between the two divisions of the Western Hemisphere. Before Hoover diplomatic service of the United States in Latin America left much to be desired. Each new president had, as a rule, appointed his supporters to diplomatic posts, and gave Latin-American countries to those political favorites that were least competent. Hoover appointed men better equipped intellectually and more competent from the standpoint of education. The result was generally beneficial. American diplomats in the lands below the Rio Grande were worthy of the name. As a result the Americas have been drawn closer together. Conferences of various kinds have also served the purpose of acquainting nominally Catholic Latin America with nominally Protestant North America. It has also tended to show that North American Protestants were not what Rome pictured them to be, even though admittedly not perfect.

The “good neighbor” policy was resulting favorably in many respects, furthering collaboration between the countries of Latin America and the United States and opening up new fields of commerce and mutual profit. A concrete example of the effectiveness of the policy of cooperation is the opening up of the PanAmerican highway system. Linked with United States highways at Nuevo Laredo, it runs through all of Central America to Panama and continues to Bogota, Colombia, whence it branches out to Caracas, in Venezuela, and Quito, Ecuador. Thence it continues to Vitor, Peru, branching again to Valparaiso and Santiago, Chile, and La Paz, in Bolivia. Continuing thence to Rosario, it divides into three branches, one going to Buenos Aires, Argentina, another to Asuncion, Paraguay, and a third to Porto Alegre, Brazil. Thence it branches once more with Montevideo, Uruguay, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as termini. There is also a connecting road between Santiago, Chile, and Buenos Aires. At least a part of the work in linking various highways together to constitute this international system has been financed by funds supplied by the United States. Only the Guianas remain to be reached, and an extension from Caracas, in Venezuela, to accomplish that end is not hard to visualize.

These various inter-American transactions and relations have resulted in greater understanding between Latin America and North America. Missionary. activity has also played a part. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy, fearful of the results of this better understanding of “Catholic” Latin America and “Prot-

estant” North America, proposes to do what it can to keep out the Bible and those who. whatever their motive, play a considerable part in its circulation.

“Inter-American Seminar

for Social Studies”

The “Inter-American Seminar for Social Studies”, already alluded to, is one of the instruments which the Hierarchy uses to consolidate its own interests in the Americas. In its August (1942) meetings in North America it visited various cities in the- United States. According to press reports it was then composed of some 'thirty Latin American and North American leaders of social thought and action’. When the “seminar'''' came to Washington, D. C., Archbishop Michael J. Curley extended a welcome by letter, saying, in part:

I will pray that the good God may bless the deliberations of the delegates and that both" clergy and laity will go back to their homes with a feeling that the 25,000,000 (?) Catholies in this country have a profound interest In the faith and welfare of every republic in Latin America. [The Catholic population is growing by leaps and bounds— on paper.—-Ed.]

The idea of this welcome was mainly to impress South American Catholics, and particularly the lukewarm ones, that North America is strongly Catholic, and that there the Catholics are the ones that really count. The seminar is bound to do what it can to further the aims of the Boman Hierarchy. “Bev.'’ Alfonso Castiello, of Mexico city, addressing the seminar, urged closer co-operation between the United States and Mexican Catholics in developing and applying a social action progrgpi to improve living conditions in Mexico. He charged that the “Catholic program of social reform in Mexico” had been impeded by the foreign owners of capital. Just what he means does not matter. It is well known that the Catholic Hierarchy has fought the social reform program in Mexico tooth and nail, and is still lighting it as far as possible, and especially in the field of education. One wonders whom the Hierarchy thinks it is kidding.

Another Mexican bishop attending the seminar, the “Most Bev.” Miguel Dario Miranda, bishop of Tulancingo, said that the “providential destiny” of the Americas was to return Christ to a world which has forgotten Him. Just where the Vatican comes in here is not too clear. But one feels that, viewing what the Hierarchy have accomplished in South America and Central America and the way the Indians have been treated, America is not too well fitted for the job at the moment.

The seminar also issued a statement, which said, in part: “Even when not totalitarian, any government that suppresses the individual or persecutes him in his essential rights deserves a complete condemnation.” It also opined that “the totalitarian state betrays the common good and must suffer the condemnation of every civilised and Christian conscience”. .

It would be more significant, however, ■ if such a statement issued from the Vati- ' can. Statements of the “lesser fry” of clergy are contradictory. Even though it is made to appear that the clergy of Germany are persecuted, it is well known that they fully7 backed Hitler in his program of conquest and pillage. What American clergy say is spoken to the galleries. Is the Catholic Hierarchy catholic, or what? Note what the German bishops said, as reported in the New York Times of September 25, 1939:

In this decisive hour we admonish our Catholic soldiers to do their duty in obedience to the Fuehrer and be ready to sacrifice their whole individuality.

Statement on ‘Victory and Peace’

It is at this point that a consideration of the .recent statement of American bishops and archbishops on ‘Victory and Peace’ should be examined, particularly in its bearing on Latin America. In this statement, after the customary endorse-

ment of America and its allies in the war, the Hierarchy state:

We send our cordial greetings to our brother bishops of Latin America. We have been consoled by recent events, which give a sincere promise of a better understanding by our country of the peoples of Mexico, Central and South America.

Citizens of these countries are bound to us by the closest bonds of religion. They are not merely our neighbors; they arc our brothers professing the same faith. Every effort made to rob them of the Catholic religion or to ridicule it or to offer them a substitute for it is deeply resented by the peoples of these countries and by American Catholics. These efforts prove to be a disturbing factor in our international relations.

Commenting on this statement the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America said:

... we deplore the pretension of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy to circumscribe the religious freedom of Protestant Christians in the proclamation of their faith, while by implication reserving for themselves the right to the universal proclamation of their own.

The council also said, significantly, that the bishops of the Roman Communion had “set the relation of Protestant Christianity to Hispanic America in a perspective which does violence both to historical truth and contemporary fact”. In plain phrase that means that the bishops did not tell the truth. The council continues:

We affirm, with full and first-hand knowledge of the facts, that, so far from Protestant institutions and the representatives of Protestant Christianity being a peril to good relations between the Americas, they are . . . regarded with extreme favor by governments and peoples in the countries where they are located.

It is obvious, in any event, that the Hierarchy’s bishops, although professing support of the fight for freedom of speech, worship, press and assembly on the one hand, do all within their power to obstruct those very freedoms in their subtle attack on other religions in their statement on ‘Victory and Peace’. It offers an example of how little stock should be taken in the pronouncements of the Hierarchy at any time, which vary according to the lands in which they are made, while the Vatican maintains a fictitious neutrality. Among other things the American bishops say:

Since the murderous assault on Poland, utterly devoid of every semblance of humanity, there has been a premeditated and systematic extermination of the people of this nation. The same Satanic technique is being applied to many other peoples.

Yet the German bishops, exhorting German soldiers to obey the fuehrer, sacrificing their whole individuality, said:

We appeal to the faithful to join in ardent prayers that the Divine Providence of God Almighty may lead this war to blessed success and peace for our fatherland and nation.

And so the German bishops endorsed what the American bishops characterize as utterly devoid of every semblance of humanity. Are not all bishops subject to the pope?

Commenting on this aspect of the ‘Victory and Peace’ statement The Christian Century says, under date of December 2, 1942:

But there is at the top of the hierarchy an authority which symbolizes the whole church, which is slow to take sides in an international war, which deplores the war and works for peace, and which waits until its own ecclesiastical interest is clearly known to be involved on one side or the other before it surrenders its catholic position. . . . Thus the Catholic Church is able to maintain the fiction of catholicity or ecumenicity while its national branches are allowed to fight on both sides of the conflict. What would not the United Nations give for a statement from the Vatican like that of the American prelates! How can these prelates make such a decisive declaration as, “This conflict of principles makes compromise impossible,” while the Holy Father [sic] himself is vacillating and will continue to vacillate until he is satisfied which side is going to win?

But The Christian Century realizes that the real purpose of the bishops’ manifesto is to suppress freedom of worship in Latin America and to keep the Bible out. It continues:

The bishops and archbishops could not refrain from revealing their strategic motivation even in the text of their manifesto. The document reaches its climax in an implied but unconcealed reference to Protestant mission work in Latin America. On this subject the resentment of the hierarchy has been gaining in frankness of expression in recent years. . . . But in the prelates* manifesto it is brought to focus in a fashion which clearly bids for government favor in return for the hierarchy’s [verbal] support of the war. . . . the church now hopes to win the good offices of the American government in support of its claims to exclusive religious rights in Latin America.

While grossly exaggerating the loyalty of the peoples of these countries to the Catholic Church, . . . the prelates decry “every effort to rob them of their Catholic religion or to ridicule it or to offer them a substitute for it”. This caricature of Protestant missionary effort among a people millions of whom in disillusionment have left the church, is made the basis of an assertion that “these efforts are a disturbing factor in our international relation.” . . .

The bishops are quite frank about it. . . . they boldly suggest action by the national government to restrain Protestant activity in Latin America because it is “disturbing international relations”.

Meanwhile the Hierarchy, through its Latin-American Catholic press, shows its real sympathy as being for the Axis cause. The London Catholic Herald says:

While the popular press has a marked leaning to the left and is pro-Allies, the Catholic papers [which the pope calls his very own voice] react in the contrary direction, sympathizing with Germany and her friends.

Indicative of the same trend is a report from Rio de Janeiro; which states:

Brazilian police have uncovered evidence of subversive activity in a German Franciscan Convent at Sao Pessoa in the Northern State of Parahyba. Nazi propaganda, insignia, maps and Brazilian Army uniforms were found.

In Argentina it was reported that members of the Catholic Order of the Divine Word, a missionary organization, were conducting a Nazi propaganda agency. The order exercises a virtual monopoly of religious teaching throughout the territories of missions and the Chaco.

Reports from other sources in Latin America show the same “leanings” on the part of the Hierarchy, contrary to the attitude of the people generally. These are not in favor of the Axis or totalitarianism. They love liberty and are aware that after more than four hundred years of Hierarchy domination the Indians are no farther advanced than in the days of Cortez and Pizarro, and in some respects they have retrograded. They feel, too, that they have been held back from advantages and advancements which they have noted in other lands, and particularly the United States. Hence they are not likely to allow the Hierarchy to hinder amicable relations with the northern neighbor while professing to promote them. North Americans, including a good many Catholics, are aware of the insult gratuitously handed out in the bishops’ statement on ‘Victory and Peace’ and note the very evident effort to interfere with freedom of worship. If some Latin Americans do not want the Bible or those who bring it, that is up to them. They do not have to accept it or even to listen. Generally the purpose of restrictions of the kind favored by the Hierarchy is to keep people who wish to know from learning the facts. To close Latin America to the entry of reputable and non-seditious persons active in some non-Catholic religious work is not likely to promote the friendship between the South American and North American republics. The fact that this effort to exclude these nonCatholic workers is coming to the fore in every one of these South American countries indicates that the international influence of the Hierarchy is back of it. Whether Latin-American peoples will be long deceived and influenced by these manipulations is another question. Unquestionably many Latin Americans will see the obvious inconsistency of fighting for freedom of religion or worship, on the one hand, and denying it on the other.

It will, doubtless, show in due time whether the seminar and the bishops represent its real sentiments in the matter or not. It is not likely that the Hierarchy is the official spokesman for the Latin-American peoples, though for the moment it may have succeeded in pulling the strings to its own advantage.

Defeat of Persecution in West Africa

THAT was a big order that Jesus gave to His faithful apostles, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them,” and it was a big prophecy that, in “the time of the end" “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations” and then shall the final end come. But all the resources of the Creator are back of the command and of the prophecy.

Strung along the west coast of Africa are seventeen countries between Morocco and the Belgian Congo. Seven of these are French, two are Portuguese, one is Belgian, one is independent, two are Spanish, and four are British. If you agree with the politicians that what the world needs is more religion, you should go to any of these west coast countries and see in what a flourishing condition the religious business is as there carried on.

The natives have the same ancestors as the 11,000,000 Negroes in the United States. For the most part they are intelligent, simple-hearted and inoffensive. But when they get religious they lose all the common sense they ever had. The native gods (demons) put them up to killing and eating one another, either to square the account or to assimilate the good qualities of those that were bumped off. Some of them are devil-worshipers, but none are so fallen that they could imagine a devil so hideous that he would stand up in a pulpit and warn the people not to read any books that tell anything about God’s kingdom.

One has to be educated to be that kind of devil. And so along the West African coast there are altogether too many European educated missionaries whose business on arrival is to confirm the heathen in their pagan beliefs that the dead are more alive than ever, and that what they really need is—not the truth, that would never do at all—but that what they need is- more religion.

The European missionaries train the native clergy, who thereafter are twice as useless as they were in the first place. One idea goes over big with them, however, and that is to get out of the common people, on one pretext or another, every last nickel that can be extracted. On account of the customs of humanity, to get married, and to die, the native clergy work the marriage and funeral rackets to a finish. Especially do they foster the idea that without a church funeral there is no salvation. One wouldn't think that the common people would fall for such a line of foolishness; now, would one? Have you ever heard about the mass racket?

The Great State of Nigeria

When looking at the map of Africa one readily discerns that Nigeria is one of the great states of a vast continent, but it is hard to realize that it is in itself as large as all of the United States between the Hudson and Mississippi rivers and north of the Potomac and Ohio. The real ruler of Nigeria is not the British Empire, but is actually The Niger Company, which has the exclusive right of importing rum and missionaries

and exporting the host of equatorial products for which the country is famous. Its tin, lead and iron ore industries are old and valuable. There are more than l 2,000 miles of railways.

" “God hath made of one blood all nations of men,” and the Negroes of Nigeria are as bright as the Negroes of North America, or the whites either, for that matter. And as the Kingdom message has found many hearing ears among the colored of the United States, and thereby offended those in the religious business, so in Africa. And if, to protect his bread ticket, a missionary is willing to lie about Jehovah, what is more natural than that the stigma attaching to Him should attach also to His faithful witnesses?

So it was in the regular way of business that, about two years ago, the publications of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society were banned in Nigeria and the importation thereof was strictly prohibited. There it is now a ‘‘crime” to even have one of the publications of the Society in one’s possession. So strict is the censorship, and so dreadful the fear I that some of the natives of Nigeria might get to learn of the Kingdom message, that all mail is withheld from Jehovah’s witnesses.

For example, Lagos, Nigeria, was at one time one of the principal slave markets of the world, and the authorities there are still so terror-smitten about the four freedoms that Mr. Churchill and Mr. Roosevelt talked about, at the time they got up the “Atlantic Charter”, that the Branch servant of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society at Lagos has not been permitted to receive even one piece of mail (not even personal mail from his relatives) for two full years.

What lies back of this persecution? The answer is simple. It is just religion. Those that are operating the religious prison-houses cannot endure the thought that knowledge of the way to life should come to the common people; that they should learn that the dead are dead; that the only hope of humankind is in the resurrection and in The Theocracy which Jehovah’s witnesses in Nigeria, as elsewhere, so boldly proclaim. But has the estoppage of entry of books explaining the Bible, and the cutting-off of all correspondence regarding The Theocracy, achieved its desired end of disorganizing the work? The answer might reasonably be Yes, but actually is No.

‘The Increase of His Kingdom’

‘Of the increase of His Kingdom there shall be no end.’ What is true of Jehovah’s kingdom as a whole is true even of Nigeria. To be sure, some have been sent to jail for having the Kingdom literature in their possession, but that merely makes a good advertisement for the truth. Many are constantly watched, and it is often true that if one of the Lord’s people makes a call he is followed up by one of the authorities who is fearful that he may have left some literature behind him. This also is an advertisement. The Devil cannot make a single move without sticking his foot into it clear up to his thigh. Many people are afraid to receive a Kingdom publisher, but they are not afraid to discuss the whole phenomenon with their next-door neighbors. The Society’s Branch servant at Lagos is restricted in his travel. Those who wonder why this is will naturally talk about it, and thus the Kingdom is advertised some more.

Under the above conditions, and especially because of the close censorship of the local mails, it would seem impossible for the organized work to continue throughout Nigeria. But, true to His promise, Jehovah has made a provision for His servants there to receive some information from time to time. Jehovah’s witnesses there may not receive this information as quickly as it is received in America or Britain, but eventually the Kingdom message reaches them in a manner which Jehovah directs. This information (and the Bible, which they have) strengthens the witnesses.

What Work Can the Witnesses Do?

Perhaps you wonder what work the witnesses can do. Well, they are permitted to hold study meetings, and in these meetings the message of Jehovah’s kingdom may be proclaimed, despite the fact that the Kingdom literature may not be used openly, on account of spies, who are quick to report if any literature other than the Bible is used. But there is nothing to prevent an attendant at one of the meetings from using typewritten notes, and if he chances to have personal possession of some one of the 400,000,000 copies of the banned publications which have been distributed world-wide, who but he himself can be certain of the facts? Many hundreds attend these Bible studies regularly, and the Lord sees to it that they are fed.

One of the standard methods of preaching the gospel of Jehovah’s kingdom is the back-call method. In Nigeria hundreds of back-calls and model studies, using the Bible, are under way with the people of good-will toward God. As a result of these back-calls and model studies and the regular witness work done by word of mouth, using only the Bible, many honest-hearted ones are taking their stand for the Kingdom.

Recently, and simultaneously with the New World Theocratic Assembly in the United States and other parts of the earth, three assemblies were held in Nigeria. From the one at Abeokuta came this touching report:

All activity was carried out very nicely at the convention. The witness work was done well. All auditoriums being denied, we held the meetings out in the open. The rain we had proved the determination of the brethren and all those of good-will; for the shower was so strong Saturday evening it was almost impossible to finish the program. All were soaked through, but we counted it a privilege to suffer for this cause. This was a witness to the people of the city, who said: “Those people must be of God: even rain cannot stop them”; and, “These people really have the love of Jehovah, or they would not hold the remaining part of their meeting.” Many of them wished more information about the Kingdom because of this.

All were received with kindness in the homes and shops of the city. The police were courteous. A cafeteria was arranged which was like in the days of Israel in the wilderness (held in the open air) and there was food enough for al).

We discussed the important parts of the new work, such as individual territory, back-calls, model studies, house-to-house witnessing, street-corner witnessing, and many more features. We had many demonstrations of the work during the convention so that all might be thoroughly furnished unto all good works upon returning to their homes. The assembly sends their love to the brethren all over the world.

Other conventions were likewise very successful. Many new ones are taking their stand for the Kingdom, proof of which is seen in the fact that during the past three months, including the convention, 542 have been immersed, showing their devotion to Jehovah God.

Convention on the Gold Coast

Another of the seventeen countries on the west coast of Africa is Gold Coast, of about the size of Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia and West Virginia, the cocoa center of the world. The crop, grown entirely by the natives, is of the value of $50,000,000 a year. Gold Coast has a $17,000,000 harbor and 5,000 miles of fine roads. The natives enjoy and freely use the buses, which race from one end of the country to another.

The truth has spread here also, and has aroused the political religionists, as it does everywhere, into measures of attempted repression. These follow the same lines as in Nigeria. But a grand convention of New World publishers was held here at the same time as the three conventions in Nigeria and the 90-odd held elsewhere at the same time, September 18-20, 1942.

A faithful witness who has recently

CONSOLATION

One of the four West African conventions, the Branch office at Lagos, Nigeria, and a group of ' some of those baptized

returned to America after a visit to Jehovah’s witnesses in Nigeria, the Gold Coast, and two other of the West African countries, Liberia and Sierra Leone, in which the Kingdom message has been proclaimed, reports all the witnesses standing at full unity in the Kingdom service, recognizing their privilege of bearing each his own burden, and * thankful for the provision Jehovah makes for the -welfare of His people every-where. These West African witnesses have requested that their greetings be conveyed to all bf good-will toward Jehovah. God throughout all the earth.

This news from West Africa brings joy to the people of good-will everywhere and shows clearly that none can fight successfully against Jehovah God. Jehovah is permitting His people to maintain their integrity under test and is blessing their faithful efforts. As hundreds more rally to the standard of The Theocracy, the religionists of West Africa are at their wits’ end. Persecution is being defeated ' in West Africa. Christianity shall triumph. —Isaiah 54:17.

All

One of the four West African conventions, the Branch office at Lagos, Nigeria, and a group of some of those baptized

A Free Judiciary

AVERY recent opinion by the New York Court of Appeals calls to mind that a free people must have a free judiciary to remain free from fear, free , from want, and free from oppression. 1 Failure to interpret the law fearlessly * and impartially impairs justice, breaks down public confidence in the state and destroys the spirit and welfare of the people, and invites destruction, of the institutions of democracy.

On June 8, 1942, the United States Supreme Court took another step in the direction of destroying the “self-confidence of a free people” by sustaining the validity of the license tax as applied to the-Christian activity of Jehovah’s wit-1 nesses. In this that court blindly declared legal and sanctioned the resurrection of the ancient “stamp taxes” against publication of literature which were the cause of the American Revolution.

' It was thought and hoped by some that such decision by the “high court” would smother out the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses in this country. In spite of the five to four decision Jehovah’s witnesses have continued to push on with the apostolic house-to-house preaching and at the same time carried more like cases to the higher courts of the states of the Union for their decision. Many thought that all the state courts would follow the lead of the high court and do likewise; but in this they were wrong. Why? What has since happened?

More than one hundred fifty years ago, when the fearless and thinking forefathers of this country began deliberation over-the ratification of the Constitution in the various free states of the confederation they became very jealous as to a repetition of the condition against which they had just revolted. The issue that was a topic of heated discussion, along with centralized power of government and state rights, during that hectic creative period of this nation, was the failure of the writers of the Constitution to provide for freedom of speech, of press, and of worship of Almighty God.

The failure of the federal constitution at the time of adoption caused all states (that -did not have specific guarantees of the fundamental freedom of worship, speech and press in their own constitutions) to adopt and write into their constitutions that guarantee, to make up for deficiencies of the federal constitution, The State of Virginia went farther than the other states and passed a special statute on “religious freedom”. Many of the states would not ratify the federal constitution until it had been amended providing for guarantee of these freedoms. The first .ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the ‘‘Bill of Rights”, were proposed and adopted; then followed the ratification of the Constitution by the original thirteen states.

The “Bill of Rights” as originally adopted in 1791 was a restraint only upon the federal government against encroachment, and not against the action by states. The later passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, in 1868, made the First Amendment of the “Bill of Rights” an injunction against invasion by the states as well as against encroachment by the national government.

For almost seventy-five years after the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment the people of the United States enjoyed a double wall of protection around their sacred liberties of speech, of press and of worship of Almighty God by having the restraint against abridgment by government in the state constitutions as well as in the national compact and its amendments.

This double protection did not appear to be actually needed until the spirit of totalitarian aggression began to spread over the face of the earth and terrified state and federal judges lost their judical balance. When the invasion of the precious liberties began in the Supreme Court of the United States in June 1940

and reached its climax in June 1942 it became clearly manifest that there was great need to fall back behind the shield of protection contained in the various state constitutions. ■

New York was one of the original states to adopt the federal constitution without the Bill of Rights, on July 26, 1788. At that time it had a strong guarantee of freedoms of speech, press and worship in its own state constitution, to protect its people against internal* aggression upon these rights.

This old and faithful shield of guarantees of that state.was recently pulled out from the shelf and used as a strong instrument of protection from the totalitarian suppression of liberty approved by the Supreme Court in 'the notorious license tax decision of June 8, 1942.

On January 7, 1943, Judge Lehman, writing for the New York Court of Appeals in the case of People of New York against Carmen Barber, one of Jehovah’s witnesses, declared that such highest court of New York was not obliged To follow, the path of error made by the United States Supreme Court, and specifically held that the constitution of that state would not allow the application of the license tax laws to the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses in New York.

The case originated in the town of Irondequoit, before a justice of the peace. It was charged that Carmen Barber committed the unlawful act of “selling” a Bible and “offering to sell” Watchtower literature without applying for and obtaining a license, obtainable upon payment of a tax fee in money. The witness. Barber, refused to do either, on the authority of the perfect word of God recorded in Acts 20:20; 1 Peter 2: 21; Matthew 24:14; and Acts 5: 29, which reads, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Although it was plainly shown that Jehovah’s witnesses did not and do not sell anything, but preach and receive contributions, the police officer testified that^the witness MARCH 3,1M3 ’ offered to “sell” him a Bible for twenty-five cents. (Psalm 94: 20) Upon the testimony of the police officer the defendant was convicted, and on appeal to the County Court of Monroe County the judgment was affirmed.' An appeal was allowed, and the case was argued before the Court of Appeals in October, 1942.

In that case Chief Judge Lehman said:

In the case of Jones v. Opelika, decided June 8, 1942, the Supreme Court of the United States sustained the power of a state to impose by statute or ordinance a tax upon the sale of all merchandise, without discrimination between religious books and tracts and other articles or merchandise, and sustained the power of the state to require a license for the exercise of . . , Four justices of the court dissented from that decision on the ground that taxing or licensing statutes or ordinances “could—when applied to the dissemination of ideas—be made a ready instrument for destruction of that right” and “place -a burden on freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the exercise of religion” in violation of the guarantees of those freedoms contained in the Constitution of the United States . . . Parenthetically we may point out that in determining the scope and effect of the guarantees of fundamental rights of the individual in the Constitution of the State of New York, this court is bound to exercise Its independent judgment and is not bound by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States limiting the scope of similar guarantees in the Constitution of the United States. ...

The Bill of Kights embodied in the Constitutions of the state and nation is not an arbitrary restriction upon the powers of government. It is a guarantee of those rights which are essential to the preservation of the freedom of the individual—rights which are part of our democratic traditions and which no government may invade. Where a legislative body has sought to invade a field from which under the Bill of Rights the government is excluded, and has violated rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the courts must refuse to recognize or sanction the legislative decree—but legislative bodies are no less responsible than

the courts for the preservation of the liberties of the individual, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, and legislative bodies, as a general rule, accept no less sincerely the democratic traditions and principles which the Bill of ' Rights expresses. We may not impute to a legislative body an intent to adopt a statute or ordinance which might be used as an t instrument for the destruction of a right guar-1 anteed by the Constitution which executive and legislative officers of government, no less than judges, are sworn to maintain. For that reason an ordinance or statute should be construed when possible in manner which would remove doubt of its constitutionality, and possible danger that it might be used to restrain or burden freedom of worship or freedom of speech and press.. . . We conclude this opinion by a quotation from that brief: “It may seem to some that appellant’s activities were of such a character that, at this critical period in world history, the Courts and the Bar need not be particularly concerned with their repression. But, if appellant’s activities involved the exercise by him of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Federal and State Constitutions, the violation of those rights cannot be disregarded as of trivial consequence. Each case of denial of rights to an individual or to a small minority may seem to be relatively unimportant, but we know now, more surely than ever before, that callousness to the rights of individuals and minorities leads to barbarism and the destruction of the essential values of civilized life.” We can find no reason to doubt that the ordinance was not intended to furnish an instrument by which the right of any group to spread its religious beliefs, or even social opinions, could be curbed. We are bound to construe the statute in manner which would exclude possibility that the ordinance might be given such effect.

This decision received wide publicity through the large newspapers throughout the east, which was followed up by a number of editorials; from two we quote. The Washington Post of January 9, 1943, says, among other things, New York’s Court of Appeals has courageously reasserted that religious freedom is a right which must be respected and preserved by governments, even though it had to fly in the face of the United States Supreme Court to do so.

The New? York Daily Mirror says:

The New York State Court of Appeals has taken an enlightened stand on a far-reaching question of civil liberties which has unusual interest because the decision ignores and, in effect, overrules, a decision taken in a similar case by the United States Supreme Court. . . . With all who regard Constitutional guarantees sacred, never to be infringed or abridged, this newspaper congratulates Judge Lehman and his colleagues.

We too congratulate such judges and give praise to the great Creator for endowing the judges and honest men, who wrote the provisions of the New York constitution, with the quality of justice and liberty that resulted in this decision of rebellion against oppression approved by the highest court of the land. In thus taking their stand the judges have held up the barrier of protection against the “Ammonite” aggression and invasion of the “land” of worship of Jehovah. We recognize this victory, therefore, as from Jehovah God, the Almighty Judge.

It is therefore the persistent pushing on with the house-to-house and street witnessing to the name and power of Almighty God regardless of the impotent adverse decrees of men to the contrary, and following in the footsteps of Jesus and His apostles by obeying God rather than men, that causes ,the victory to be given by Jehovah. It takes a miracle to cause a loWer court to willingly and knowingly rule contrary to a higher court as was done here. This is' solely because Jehovah gave the victory. Although persistent fighting in the courts is necessary to give the courts the opportunity to take their stand, nevertheless the victory has been given solely because of the continued and faithful proclamation of the Kingdom message by Jehovah’s witnesses in the manner commanded by Jehovah, and not as commanded by man.—iPsalm 37:39,40.

TiiyWoitD

“John. 17:17

Humility Rewarded

HUMILITY'S path the Son of God himself faithfully walked. Born in h manger, He said of himself: “I am meek and lowly in heart.” His humility is a model of perfect deportment. (See Luke 2:7; Matthew 11: 29; Zechariah 9:9.) It is therefore with interest that we are privileged to observe the results or reward of blameless obedience in this particular. The record states that He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name”. (Philippians 2: 7-9; Acts 2:33; 5: 31) The lowly and humble Jesus now has pre-eminence in all things, and all power in heaven and in earth.—Colos-sians 1:18; Matthew 28:18,.

In addition, Jesus called attention to some notable examples of self-exaltation against the Lord in the past, and did so as a warning to the haughty and high-minded of all times. His words, recalling history more ancient, referred to cities, such as Capernaum, which: refused the message of God’s kingdom-brought to them by the Lord’s seventy commissioned disciples, thus inviting a worse calamity than befell Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom. To the wicked of that day, picturing “Chris- • tendom” in her self-exaltation now, Jesus repeated the rule: .“And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell [the grave].” —Luke 10:15. i;

Turning back the pages; of history nearly 3,500 years we may read about one of the earliest examples of selfexaltation against Jehovah, Pharaoh of Egypt thought it expedient to hold the Israelites in subjection in spite of God’s frequent 'warnings sent through His servant and witness, Moses. Not even the ten plagues brought Pharaoh to a humbler attitude of mind. He continued his arrogant defiance of the Lord God, with the result that Egypt was wrecked by national disaster, losing first-born children and cattle, armies and wealth, —Exodus, chapters 11-14, inclusive.

About 780 years later, the record of Hezekiah, king of Judah, who humbled himself, and of Sennacherib, the Assyrian invader, who exalted himself, is in point. Concerning the latter’s aggression the Scriptures read: “Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed ? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high ? even against the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 37: 23) The braggart Assyrian lost 185,000 men slain by the Lord and he himself died by the hand of his own sons. (Isaiah 37:36-38) In this connection it is of especial importance to note why Hezekiah was blessed with deliverance: “Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.”—2 Chronicles 32:26.

The reason for God’s favor is repeated at 2 Chronicles 34:27. His mercy was similarly extended to King Rehoboam for the same reason. (2 Chronicles 12: 7, 12) To that effect the Lord had appeared to King Solomon in a vision and given him this message: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray7, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and -will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”— 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Further and abundant expressions of condemnation of the high and mighty, and contrasted approval of the humble,

occur throughout the Scriptures. “And he shall save the humble” (Job 22:29) “He forgetteth not the cry of the humble.” (Psalm 9:12) “The mighty man shall be humbled.” (Isaiah 5:15; 2:11) “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.” (Prov-, erbs 18:12) .“He that exalteth his gate 1 seeketh destruction.” (Proverbs 17:19)

At the overthrow of Zedekiah, last king of Israel (606 B. C.), the Lord caused Ezekiel to utter this prophecy: “Thus saith the Lord God'; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.” (Ezekiel 21:26,27) Twefity-five hundred and twenty years later the crown and kingdom were given to the one who had had neither home nor possession on earth, but whom God later exalted to become the Invisible Ruler in the Theocratic Government, next in authority to Himself,

In current usage “humility" is often ascribed to people of low degree, and it is never considered a proper attribute of rulers or officials. Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary defines it as “the quality or condition of being humble”; and the adjective is defined as “Having or expressing a sense of inferiority, dependence, or unworthiness; meek;... lowly in condition; submissive, deferential.” On the other hand, the Scriptures indicate that humility is the quality to be most sought after by princes and kings, Jesus said: “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant,” (Matthew 23:11; Mark 10: 44, 45) Nor does humility mean to be’abashed before creatures or subservient to them. Applying the word to the crude and witless divests it of the noble qualities which should spring to mind on mention of humility. Few have desired it. So it is commonly applied to the undesirable.

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