Awake!, December 22, 1951

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NOAH’S PASSENGER LIST

* Peace on Earth’—a Shopworn Slogan

The Orient Also Goes Festive

The Censoring of Movies

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

New* Sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital Issues of our times mart be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. “Awaker* has no fetters. It recognizes facte, faces facte, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; it Is unhampered by advertisers whose toes must not be trodden on; it is unprejudiced by traditional creeds. This journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to you. But It does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.

41Awake 1” uses the regular news channels, but Is not dependent on them. Its own correspondents are on all continents, in scores of nations. From the four corners of the earth their uncensored, on'the-scenes reports come to you through these columns. This journal’s viewpoint is not narrow, but is international It is read in many nations, in many languages, by persons of all ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its coverage is as broad as the earth and as high as the heavens.

"Awake 1” pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of a righteous New World

Get acquainted with “AwakeI” Keep awake by reading “Awake!”

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CONTENTS

•Peace on Earth’—a Shopworn Slogan

The Censoring of Movies

Direct Catholic Pressure

Taxes and the Ecclesiastical Conscience

Catching Up with Time

Noah’s Passenger List

How Large Was the Ark?

Variation ‘After Ite Kind'

The Migration from Ararat

Open Market in Wives

Denial of Freedom “a Grave Mistake” 20 The Orient Also Goes Festive

Religious Significance of Sho-Gatsu

“Your Word Is Truth”

Taking in True Knowledge

"M, Duplessis, Witness for Jehovah”

Stalin’s Birthday to Replace Nimrod’s 27 Watching the World

Brooklyn, Nt Y,f December 22t 1951

VoJumo xxxii

Number M

'PEACE ON EARTH’ —a Shopworn Slogan

CHANGING weather declares the seasons to man. But he can note them by other means as well. Popular custom has made certain slogans as seasonal as various types of clothing. Their appearance at once announces the season to which they belong. But beware that you do not lose the value of lofty principles because the world parrots them according to season rather than in sincerity and conviction.

In just this way has December become the month for reciting the Bible verse at Luke 2:14. All have seen it blazoned across newspaper heads on Christmas morning, or posted on billboards, in shop windows, in front of churches, etc. The rendering generally used is from the common Authorised or King James Version, whjch reads: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men ”

But the text is shuffled in with a host of other December customs. With December comes the “Christmas rush”. Everywhere, the spirit of giving is stressed. Mother, father, sister, brother, husband, wife, sweetheart, aunt, uncle, cousin or just neighbor —all should be remembered. But is the great spirit of generosity the motivating force behind all of this? Oh, no! Notice that it is the large commercial interests that promote such “Christmas spirit”, and that a substantial rise in prices accompanies the rush season. Even shop owners who do not believe in Christ find window wreaths, trees and greeting cards all “good business”.

The charitable spirit is everywhere, jamming the streets with contribution drums, tingling bells and Santa Clauses by the dozen. But charity drives must be managed. And, alas, there are so many managers that by the time each has had his turn at a share of public contributions, there is little left for the alleged beneficiaries—barely enough for a few newspaper pictures to be taken of one or two receiving the handout.

Still the spirit of generosity rages on. There is no time like Christmas time to adopt an orphan if you are ever going to. The president of the nation will probably set a national example for good works by pardoning a host of convicted criminals. Perhaps readers will recall how this presidential privilege was exercised by President Truman on December 23, 1946, the day he rejected a plea for blanket amnesty to American men of Jehovah's witnesses who had been convicted for conscientious refusal to participate in military service during the war; but, in sweeping fashion, granted such amnesty to one million Nazis in the American zone of Germany.

^Merry Christinas” parties often contribute an odious note, shattering the holiday quiet and adding widespread

drunkenness to the scene. Afterward, the merrymakers, feeling somewhat worse, have difficulty recalling just what they were supposed to be celebrating.

In such an atmosphere it is not difficult to see why catchy slogans are not long remembered; how they are packed away with the ornaments and kept in mothballs for another year. For so long has the world been reciting ‘peace on earth, good will toward men’ during the Christmas season, the slogan has come to be treated like any other part of the season’s trappings. It is placed in the same category with rising prices, gift-giving, orphan adopting, charity drives and presidential pardons. It comes and goes—like the buds of spring and the falling leaves of October. Nearly always, when the season rolls around, war darkens some part of the earth. But this Bible text makes good poetic material for political addresses and religious sermons, It would be a good idea, they think. So they keep quoting it, over and over again; and finally everyone forgets it is supposed to ever have a literal fuifiliment.

Is it any wonder, then, how lackadaisically the average citizen treats the Bible? Think of the example set for him by national leaders. International and national politicians will spend months spouting invectives at each other over conference tables, in Congress, or through press or radio. Then suddenly they note the calendar, jump up, shake hands all around, dispatch formal wishes of “Merry Christmas” to everyone, even the dourest foes. Then they rush off for a few public appearances where they may quote from the Bible; and a week end off before returning to get the buried hatchets and start all over.

Prominent figures will pose, smiling, for the press, and contribute what they fancy to be a very optimistic quotation on how things are looking brighter and if everyone continues co-operating all will get steadily better. But the flash bulbs have scarcely faded out before the smile is dropped and its temporary owner ducks quickly back into his lair where he is working overtime for the very reason that things are looking ever darker, no one is co-operating and all is getting steadily worse!

But God is not to be mocked! (Galatians 6:7, New World Trans.) The speech of fools who misapply his Word may try to do so, but in vain. It only proves that those who quote and kiss the Bible in public can be its greatest foes. Certainly there can be no godly peace for them.

And that is just what the Bible means. Modem translations show that Luke 2:14 promises peace only for those in harmony With God’s will, as when the American Standard Version states: “peace among men in whom he is well pleased.” Similar renderings by the New World, Moffatt, Goodspeed and other translations show their agreement, as does the translation in the Catholic Douay Version.

Nor does God depend on defiant men who misapply his Word to bring peace to the earth. Why, if not to do this through his kingdom, did Jehovah God anoint Jesus Christ for new world kingship? Jesus knew this, so instructed his disciples to pray for such kingdom in his model prayer found in Matthew, chapter six. This agency is God’s means of achieving peace for our earth.

It is not the sign of optimism to seek the success of organizations that have made shopworn slogans of Bible texts. Rather, note those who believe the Bible and proclaim to others the Kingdom hope it reveals. Behold their optimism for a new world where “righteousness is to dwell”. What joyous proof that God can and will bring righteousness to all the earth are those who now dwell in peace with him!

we have state boards for passing on pie

ty Official and Self-constituted Guardians of Public SMorals

is not office it hqrks back to at least the fifth century B.C. According to authorities it began in ancient Rome and it was considered the crowning of a political career. In those days the censoring was done by two officers who had among their duties the registration of all citizens, the assessment of taxes and the publishing of edicts establishing the moral code. They could deprive a senator of his seat, a citizen of his citizenship and a knight of his horse.

“Censorship in modem practice,” says the Encyclopedia Britannica, “may generally be defined as action taken by any governing authority to prevent the dissemination of false statements, inconvenient facts or displeasing opinions among the governed.”

Today, in the United States, there is censorship of the press, of the radio, of the mails and of the movies. Movies seem to have been particularly vulnerable to censorship, both by official and by self-constituted censors, their censorship getting its start in Chicago, Illinois, back in 1907. At present the movie industry provides selfcensorship by means of the Production Code which is now “under the rigorous interpretation of Joseph I, Breen, a lay representative of the Catholic Church, who administers it according to the narrowest standards of this religious group”.

All moving pictures produced outside of the United States must pass the federal censor to gain entrance. On a lower level

tures, in seven states, and some 100 cities have their own boards. In addition to these there are the self-constituted censors, such as the powerful Catholic Legion of Decency, and ten or more other national organizations, representing the viewpoints of Protestants, women's clubs, etc.

To what extent is all this censorship exercised in the interest of public ihorals, and to what extent does it merely serve to prevent dissemination of “inconvenient facts” and “displeasing opinions”? Judging by the results, one is reminded of what the Encyclopedia Britannica once had to say (1890) regarding the Spanish Inquisition: “Though in theory, the church was as anxious for the moral purity as for the right faith of her members, the moral questions were presently eclipsed by the dogmatic; the church discipline judged conduct lightly, while it controlled opinion with an iron hand.”

City Censorship

Memphis, Tennessee, has the most notorious movie censorship in the land, it going so far as to ban not only all pictures containing “inconvenient facts” regarding the race questions but even such epics as “The King of Kings”. In Chicago, Illinois, crime pictures may not have a Chicago locale, police may not be shown as being corrupt or brutal.

In 1948 the clergy of Sioux Center, Iowa, led a battle against the movies and won a plebiscite, banning them entirely. However, shortly thereafter a new council was elected which had other ideas, and it continued the license of the city’s lone movie house.

Some cities take their orders directly from the Catholic Legion of Decency, among which may be listed New York city, Albany, New York, and' Providence, Rhode Island; the spokesman for the latter city’s Bureau of Police and Fire, which censors the movies there, stating: “If the [Catholic] Legion of Decency condemns a picture, we’ll condemn it. We go along with the legion and will continue to go along with it.” Incidentally, Rhode Island, which is mostly the city of Providence, is the only state in the United States that is more than 50 per cent Roman Catholic.

Hollywood Censorship

Spokesmen for the movie industry profess concern at the increase of movie censorship, but when we examine its own methods of censorship we wonder which is worse. Take the character of Richelieu, for instance. Anyone familiar with history knows full well that that illustrious, villainous, cunning, wholesale plotter of intrigue and war, who served as France’s chief minister during the reign of Louis XIII, early in the seventeenth century, was a cardinal. Hollywood, however, unfrocked him, for in its code cardinals are very pious gentlemen. The result was, as one critic put it: “Were it not for his doublet and hose, you could hardly tell him from the standard Hollywood version of a fifth columnist or a crooked used-car dealer.”

Another case in point was the picture of the life of Juarez, whom many Mexicans consider their foremost patriot. Juarez waged a bitter fight against clericalism, caused the adoption of the famous anticlerical Constitution of 1857, and in 1859 issued the Reform laws which completely nationalized and secularized the Roman Catholic Church in that land. Yet when Hollywood made a movie of his life, his chief objectives and victories were censored. Why? “Inconvenient facts"? Inconvenient for whom?

Another case in point is the picture “The Bicycle Thief”. This Italian-made picture was acclaimed by the National Board of Review as the best picture of the year (1949); it received a special Academy Award, as well as the New York Film Critic’s prize for 1949, and was generally considered as one of the finest pictures ever made. And yet, according to Life magazine, the Motion Picture Association of America made itself ridiculous by refusing to give the picture a certificate of approval. Can it be that Catholic opposition to this picture, as evinced by a band of Knights of Columbus marching on a neighborhood theater and threatening boycott unless the picture were at once removed, had something to do with the Hollywood movie industry’s making itself appear ridiculous?

Direct Catholic Pressure

An outstanding example of selfconstituted censorship of the movies was the banning of the film “The Miracle”, in the spring of 1951. The Vatican had seen nothing amiss in this story of a simple-minded girl who became an unwed mother, nor did the U. S. censors who authorized its importation, nor the New York State Board. Surely that should have been enough. But was it? No. The Catholic Legion of Decency opposed it and so Catholic Action went to work, from Cardinal Spellman down to the Catholic war veteran.

All of a sudden the city commissioner of licenses found the picture “personally and officially offensive”; the fire department

professed to find violations; the theater was fined $100 for permitting standees. Bomb threats and scares tried to disrupt the showings, while an unusually large and violent number of pickets insulted those who wanted to see the picture, resulting in a number of clashes and arrests. The state board, after twice licensing the picture, revoked its license; and the appellate court hid behind a 1915 statute which held that moving pictures, being entertainment, were not to benefit from the guarantees of the First Amendment to the Constitution, thereby ignoring a contrary 1950 verdict of the Supreme Court,

The New York Film Critics had planned on using the Music Hall of Radio City to award a prize to this bitterly opposed film, but in view of the threat of permanent boycott of the place by Catholics the ceremonies were held in the swanky Rainbow Room of Radio City. Seemingly the censorship of Catholic Action applies only to the common herd; the elite are exempt. This, incidentally, is clearly demonstrated in Spain, where liberal and radical plays can be produced if the audience is limited to the upper classes. There it is “poison” to tell the common people that “a Christian is not superior to a Jew”.

To present an impartial picture regarding censorship of the movies by selfconstituted guardians, there must also be included the attack made by Jews on ‘'Oliver Twist". The villain in this picture, one Fagin, a Jew, aroused such a storm that the film was delayed for two years, and American audiences (it was made in Britain) were able to see it only after eleven minutes of it had been deleted.

To people who cherish freedom there is something rather disquieting about the use of censorship powers by the self-constituted guardians of public morals, and especially so in view of the fact, as shown in American Freedom and Catholic Power, that the majority of films condemned In part were found objectionable because of dogma rather than morals (clearly indicating the purpose behind movie censorship). That this opinion is shared not only by non-Catholic Americans was very apparent at the time of The Miracle episode, when clergymen of all faiths, Catholic included, protested against the ban.

That not all Catholics support such unAmerican censorship can be seen from the following. Allen Tate, noted Catholic historian and author, writing in the New York Times, stated: “Is there any institution in the United States, civil or religious, which has the legitimate authority to sup-u press books and motion pictures, however disagreeable they may be to certain persons oh theological grounds? In my opinion there is no such institution under a system that separates Church and State.... It is a usurpation of the secular power if the Church tries to implement its religious authority with civil force.” And a Notre Dame professor writes: “The pattern of these campaigns has shocked thousands of non-Catholic Americans, and this shock is shared by many loyal Catholics.... We are profoundly disturbed to see certain of our coreligionists embark upon crusades which we feel can result only in great harm to the cause of religion, of art, and of intelligence.^”—W. P. Clancy, in the Commonweal, a Catholic journal.

Above all, such censorship violates the principles of Christianity. Trying to prevent your neighbor from seeing a film he would enjoy just because you do not like it can hardly be termed loving him as yourself, neither is it treating him as you would want him to treat you. Besides, not regulating the morals of others, but witnessing, preaching the good news of God’s kingdom is Christ’s commission to his followers.—Matthew 7:12; 22:39; 24:14; 28:19, 20; Acts 1:8.

^CCLEBUSTICAL to fosuta day

J" showed a man how he amid get rid of W obligation to care tor his aged parents,- ■ AU that wm necessary was to claim that aSl cmehs wessJ.tJi was dedicated to God,, (Matthew

Jfw WtorMl Tram J MrM century or twenUettL-cwtu.ryH Jerusalem or New York. dt.yf scdestasttaal cometance is ever the same. You ask far proof? Then note tite following examples, taken feom The and

^aforai few, a Roman Catholic publica-tfon for priedsc

CA priest inquired regarding a certain tor who wa$ doing much charity work and who had a large family,. Did. the doctor do wrong to .failing, to HsttJds total income, thus escaping some of his taxes? fTAnd] if it iff to violation of legal justice,, must a doctor make a readjustment; o.f former tax reform?" C, wNo, It would nut Ite a violation of legal Iwslte/* the priest was tokt k6Fer those who Wd that tax laws are .merely penal laws, the solution is simple, In the case we have a d*x> tor who fe paying some of his income tax, hut not all. Since tax rates are high, some morab lata teach that a person who conceals a thin! etf a fourth, part of the real value of taxable property is not. guiHy of injustice. Even after deducting that amount, he has still fulfilled hh obligation to Ow common good, (NoM.tor n; n, 31(>) ... <

"The answer to the second question is that, even though there a violation of legal jus-ffoe, there would be no obligation, .for the doe-tem to make a ixjadjustment of hfe past income, A. violation of legal justice tarn not carry with, it the obligation of restitution, What ha® been, written above pertains* to the forum of emwtoMce;' the cMJ Uw tata a very mong sgtandwn tax evasion?"—-Issue of Ja.mj.ary IM, U Ami in behalf of the comcience^tridten tas; coimftefor1 who had advised his diente to etekn the jM 15 per cent *;ta'Suctkm for charity reptrdleiss of what they actually contributed to charity and to double all the amounts for which they w.?re legally entitled to exemption md who iw.d. induced government tax agents to grant: illegal exemptions, the inquiring priest was counseled by the Km?sew?

^■< “We must. begin, by making the observe 7 tian that there h good, authority for holding that income tax; like taxes to general, So penal law, became 'many theologians. allege ■ that the .State has ample tadllties to collect taxes, , . j There is afeo thmlogical, authority for holding that 'taxes are excessive and intemted to beP to make up for successful s tax dodging; and .that they are excessive ? with present-day government by reason of uncaHed-for public' expenditures, So if au A individual alleges money spent for charity y that he has not. spent, and also expenditures in making money that he hadn’t actually m&deP k he seems to be justified in evading taxation by so doing, , .. I would be loath to say thrift

1 anything eta.? in the procedure inquired abbiA V but a form of aelM^feme against exc»tve exactions. Nor do I see h.ow the tax CTlteetOT

4 would te itMhy violating his oath ta making v ffofoMmenta that are at least equttabfo, if not demanded by distributive justim”.....rtrwe

of April, IM,

(i- Sc?, since Catholic theologians conrider / tax laws as “penal hws!,( and the tax r^tes as excessive, and the govemmente as unwise hi theSr use of the tax money, they adviw A the taxpayer that he is not under any oblh ' gatiem to fite tamest tax returns I When, the moralists and the tiwtogtam of tho target religious organization to a. land propagate such moral pMtawliy, U H any womler that tax evarioni has become wch a problem?

?' $■'- Needta to say the Bible doe® not authorize any suck course of. conditet What. Caesar a does with his tax money h Caesar^ bwtam, not the Christian^. The Christian^ obligation I,.?s not to try to transform Caesar, nor to

| penaltae him by withhoMing taxes? legally imposed. He will Jet God avenge tol wiright" eottsnm In Hfe due time, Until there I® sfo more Caesar 'the Christian will follow .insjtraction.ff consenting texe^: ‘Tay tack Caesaito tltinga to Caesar, but things

\r to GodT Tita Christi an will, follow the apostolic* injunction: "Render to all their dwff, i. to him who ealta for tribute, the tribute; tax' him who calls for tax, the tax; to Mm who calls for tarr such fear; to him who calls for horror, such honors.......-John 18;37; Mark 12:H'^

Romans 12:10; 13:7, New World Tran&, ■

generations gave him little more than approximations, when it came to the exact minute. Today’s busy, train-and-plane-catching world could not be easily placated with such goings on as that. And radio stations must know even the precise second for timing their programs.

Even the rotation of mother earth with its ever so slight variation, though ever the standard medium for time calculation, is no longer accurate enough to fully satisfy the modem age. The U. S. Bureau of Standards maintains an electrically driven dock controlled by the movement of atoms in ammonia molecules, and is comparable to clocks in the Bell telephone laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, and the U. S. Naval Observatory. Though such timers operate independent of astronomical calculations, they are periodically checked with these. Since the latter depend upon the rotation of the earth, the great ball we live on can still be considered our basic dock. Its accuracy is estimated at within one part in thirty million; while the Bureau of Standards* clock is calculated to have a constancy better than one part in 20,000,000, and is rated as potentially accurate to within one part in 10,000,000,-000. Accurate timing should result.

On the face of the great earth clock there is a bump near the spot known as Washington, D. C. On clear nights an astronomer from the U. S. Naval Observatory peers off into the great universal “works” and by means of precision instruments calculates the exact time the earth passes under a certain star. The following night like calculations are taken when the star is again passed. The resulting interval is, of course, one day reckoned according to star or sidereal time.

Ancients Used the Same “Clock”

The ancients were smart enough to recognize earth’s value as a timekeeper as well, though their instruments for calculation may have been a bit more crude. An ancient Egyptian observer and his assistant would sit some distance apart, but on the same meridian, on an elevated roof top. The observer would sight a rising star ' through the forked top of a palm leaf, and in his other; hand, line up the star with the top of a plumb line. Just above the weight the line was allowed to dissect part of the head of the assistant. When, by following the star, the line dissected the exact crown of the assistant’s head, the star was said to be in culmination, crossing the observer’s meridian. The primitive device used was called a merkhet, meaning “instrument for knowing”, in this case, for knowing the hour. Hence this might be the earliest known word for “clock”.

It is presumed that the Egyptians also utilized an early timepiece to mark the time for them they so carefully figured. This is thought to have been a water clock, an instrument termed by the Greeks a tiepaydra, or “water stealer”. An early example known is one made for Amenhotep I around 1550 B.C. This clock was fitted with little statuette figures that made appearances at the proper intervals and indicated the hour. Since no mechanism was then known in the form of cogwheels and gears, these figures probably were on floats that moved up and down with the water level. The Greeks timed their long-winded orators with a clepsydra, and, on one occasion, Martial, a Latin poet, capitalized on this fact to jibe one particularly wordy speaker who took frequent drinks of water during his speeches. How much more relieving to both himself and his listeners, the poet observed, if, instead of from his cup, he would drink from the clepsydra?

Then there were sand clocks. These were an improvement in that, whereas water changes In rate of flow with a change in depth, sand does not. Variations like the hourglass or the three- or four-minute glasses used in cooking eggs are most well known now. Some say the Chinese timed their days with a smoldering rope of punk-like material, and an age-old means of calculation hinged upon the consumption of given amounts of oil by lamps. Alfred the Great of England divided his day into six 4-hour periods by the burning of candles, requiring four hours each. The renowned sundial, still prominent as yard decoration, consisted of an elevated rod in the center of its dial which was parallel with the earth’s polar axis. This was called the style. The face or dial could be in any position so long as it could catch the sun's rays. The style’s shadow would then shade the hours as the day progressed.

Cloekmokers Contend with the Devil

The spirit of the Dark Ages draped Europe under a veil that branded virtually all progress as of the Devil. Perhaps

this induced inventors to be very modest in taking credit for their accomplishments. At any rate, the exact origin of our more modem orthodox timepieces is very vague. Weight-driven clocks seem to have appeared suddenly in advanced stages of design around the close of the thirteenth century. Prominent among those credited with this invention was a French Benedictine monk of the tenth century, named Gerbert. Jh his time he is said to have set up an intricate timepiece at Magdeburg, but another monk of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries declared it was so complicated that only the Devil could have assisted in its construction.

However, by the year 1500 most persons had dismissed the notion that the Dtfril was at the bottom of everything progressive, allowing inventors to crawl out from their holes and work publicly without fear of the gallows or headsman's fix! Even before that the magnificent clock associated with the Wells Cathedral had been completed in England (about 1392). It struck hours and quarters and its dial gave hours and minutes and the age and aspects of the moon. It was still in running and striking order right into our generation. By 1550 clockmaking attained much importance, and by 1600 the bitterest of the diehards acknowledged that the clock was here to stay. Advancement went on to the pendulum, the coiled spring and today’s fine electric varieties.

, Soon the public demanded more than simply timekeeping from its clocks. To satisfy the demand, artificers adorned their clocks with pictures or models of rocking ships, turning waterwheels, windmills, etc. Many clocks were encased in the tower of mtxjels of churches or cathedrals. On exhibit in 1949 in Heidelberg, Germany, a twelve-foot-high clock marked each minute with a deep gong and through the carved figures of a child, youth, adult, and aged man, announced the quarter hours. Ev£ry sixty minutes a skeleton declared the previous hour dead. In a collection of old clocks in New York there was found a 100-year-old time-teller in the form of a gruesome statue of an Oriental warrior. Heads of Chinese gods were displayed on its armored chest in place of numerals to represent the hours. On the hour, the eyes and teeth light up. This may fit in a museum but it Is not recommended to entice guests into your dining room—especially if you dine by candlelight! Woman’s world of fashion has done its bit by installing tiny watchworks in rings, bracelets and brooches, and even In the end of a lipstick holder.

Alarms and Accessories

The next time you feel like throwing your clanging alarm clock out the window on an early morning, try to remember that it only records the time, it does not make it Anyway, the American alarm clock, chiefly through the exploits of Westclox's "Big” and “Baby Bens”, has proved quite durable under nearly all circumstances. They have survived airplane crashes, hurricanes, trips through, washing machines, and, in 1940, one even went “down with the ship” when all hands were lost on a Lake Michigan freighter. Later the clock was recovered, firmly encased in a cake of ice. When thawed out, it at once resumed ticking operations! Primitive natives have taken to such clocks with great glee. A native king In Siam was buried with one; and some African witch doctors are known to carry them in their paraphernalia.

The angry awakener may take solace in the fact that clock manufacturers have long sought desirable substitutes for the brassy bang alarm. Enterprising inventors have come up with attachments for pulling away the sleeping one's covers instead or for tickling his face with silken threads. Another well-meant suggestion offered a hinged bed that, by communication from the dock, would dump Its occupant on the floor. In a far more considerate Une, one 1906 patent provided for a mechanism to brew a cup of steaming-hot coffee, ring a gohg when ready, and swing the prepared potion around under the nose of its proud owner. Modem pleasantries include clocks that turn on the radio at your favorite station and fill the boudoir with music.

This introduces the marvel of electric clocks and the array of special switches that have been provided for them to turn on lights, radio, shower baths, open garage doors, sound the dinner bell, etc. A model now exists that sets off the alarm when room temperature reaches an unsafe level, thus acting as an automatic fire alarm. Inhabitants of such clock-run residences must toe the mark to carry on their activities on time to correspond with the clocks, A citizen of Minneapolis mentioned in the Saturday Evening Post of December 9, 1950, subdued his dog to such a “dog's life” as well. A clock opened the dog's house door at six each morning. Furthermore, a microphone attachment reacted to any barking by the dog during the night, causing the apparatus to answer the surprised canine with a stream of water In his face!

Until electricity entered, man's long record of timekeeping followed ever ^imllar lines, first marking time by letting out sand or water, then by easing away a coiled spring. Now an evermore precisiondemanding age has developed atomic clocks. Yet the most shrewd inventor cannot trap time, but only clock it/ Man might long for more hours to the day or an eighth day to the week, but he must wait yet a bit for a new system of things that will not be forced to crowd so much living into so limited a period of time. Then life worth living will depend upon worthiness rather than time.

What animals made up the drtc’s “Zao’f Who"?

WITH unwarranted pride, distinguished American families frequently point to an ancestor who arrived in this country aboard the “Mayflower". But the “Mayflower’s” contribution to human genealogy is fragmentary when compared with the cruise of Noah’s ark. All present earthly life can attribute its existence to this latter vessel’s one voyage, upon the crest of a global flood washing out an entire world in the year 2370 B.C

Thanks to the devastating theory of evolution and the taunts and scorn of higher critics, multitudes have lost faith in the clear record of the flood found in the Bible book of Genesis, chapters seven and eight. Popular objections to the flood link in with genetics, the study of heredity recently treated in these columns, because facts relative to this science, founded on the now-recognized principles first taught by Gregor Mendel, provide the basis for answering such objections, they are hare considered.

In contrast with the idea of special creation, evolution holds that the discontinuities between life kinds rose gradually. Modem exponents of the theory claim that if all life ever in existence could be assembled, it would illustrate this by furnishing all the necessary bridges between kinds. To support this, they like to talk of the constant changes going on even now between “species”, with new “species” ever making appearances.

This requires a very broad use of the term “species”, as becomes evident when one turns to page 290 of the book Man and the Biological World, published in 1942, and reads that there are now known to be “more man one million species*" of plants and animals. A footnote .reveals: “According to a careful and recent estimate, there are now more thadJ5O,boO describedspecies of animals anymore than ouOflbO described species of plants ?

The gist of the argument is that changes keep until

new species^T^broughtJorth which itT tum also^ keep changing^ Proof of 'tfie'element of change is easy to find. They may point to Michael F-Guyer, professor of zoology, University of Wisconsin, who says in his book, Animal Biology: “No two organisms are exactly similar; moreover, chan^esj>ccur from gen-e^tio^t^^^ratfon, -sothaf^no offspring is^precisely like either parent or like any ancestor Varia-\tion is one of the most obvious facts 'in the animal world.” Ernest Mayr of the American Museum of Natural History presents convincing evidence of infinite variety in life in the book Systematics and the Griff gin of Species, then adds: "If some-/ body were to name consistently everything that is different, he would have to give a name eventu-

ally to nearly every single Individual.”

Now then, if every variety, or at least every form dignified by evolutionists with the label of “species”, had to be proved an original created “kind”, how in the world did Noah ever manage to take the required number into the ark with him? Furthermore, today certain singular varieties (like the red fox, Vu?-pes alascensis, of Alaska) exist in only one sector on earth, -tlpwjiid their ancestors get to such isolated spots without previously muTtiplyihg"&nd leaving descendants between , there .and Ararat?

Bow Large Was the Ark?

In the first place, how large was the ark? Genesis 6:15 answers: “And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hun-d^^^ybitS) the breadth of it ..fiftycubits' and the height of it thirty ^eu^its/’

Commonly the cubit was thought to represent the distance from elbow to fingertips, but due to obvious variation of arm lengthsfeighteen incfiesxame to be accepted as the equivalent. If this was the cubit of Noah’s day, the ark would have measured 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. However, there is very good reason for believing the cubit of Genesis was a longer unit than this.

Here it is of interest to cite the authority of Clarke's Commentary on the Bible, where it deals with Genesis 6:15: “Bui that the ancient cubit was more than eighteen inches has been demonstrated by Mr. Greaves, who travelled in Greece, Palestine, and Egypt, in order to be able to ascertain the weights, moneys, and measures of antiquity. He measured the pyramids in Egypt, and comparing the accounts which Herodotus, Strabo, and

others, give of their size, he. found the length of a cubit to betwenty-onef inches and eight hundred and eighty-eight decimal parts of a thousand, or nearlyt twenty-two inches; And from this it will appear "that, the three hundred cubits of the ark’s length make five hundred and forty-seven feet; the fifty for its breadth, ninety-one feet two inches; and the thirty for its height, fifty-four feet eight inches.” McClintock and SMong’s C^cZoyedHz ^Vol. if'[X’S9§)7aEq^bacK^K^Sthorltifi^OT ancient architecture, makes similar obser-vations.

Other features of the ark’s construction are of value. Common fancy usually pictures it as an orthodox boat with pointed prow and stem. 'But while efficient for cutting the waters in normal ocean travel, such cons ti^tipnj^b^of^potential storage and accommodation spaqq^ things oF utmost importance to Captain Noah. The originaljiebrew word for ark, in this case, is tebahj which, McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia informs us, denotes a chest or ark. It is differentiated from the term aron describing the sacred ark of the covenant, in that itdenQtes something jiesjgned to float upon the water. (See McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 400, under Ark.) Further in the same item, this source relates:

“If we examine the passage in Gen. vi, 14-16, we can only draw from it the conclusion that the ark was not a boat or ship: but, as Dr. Robinson (in Caimet’s Diet. s.v.) describes it, *a building in the form of a paraBelogragU-^O cubits long,^j? qu-bitsbroad, and 30 cubits high."... So far as the name afforSsiny evidence, it also goes to show that the ark of Noah was not a regularly-built vessel, J)ut^ merely intended to float at: large^upon thejvatera. WeTnay, Therefore, probably with justice, regard it as a large oblong, floating house, with a roof either flat or only slightly inclined. Jt was constructed with three stories, and had a door in the side?’

Yet even this learned Cyclopedia betrays its fear of evolution’s hundreds of thousands of “species”. Apparently holding to the ancient belief that each of these varieties represents an original created kind, this source derides the fact that Noah could have provided for them all, several each of the “dean”, two of the “unclean” kinds, in the ark. (Genesis 7: 2, 3) Thus, while citing ecclesiastical authority for doing so, the authors conclude that^the FlQQ^^nyJ§tji^^been rnerefy^Iocal, accomplishing the blottingout of humanity, and necessitating only the preservation of a relatively few local forms of animal life. But the true Christian and believer in God’s Word can never accept such a compromise He reads that ’all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered’, and that ’all flesh died that moved upon the earth’. (Genesis 8: 19, 21) So he turns away, as we now do, to consider another more plausible explanation.

Variation * After Its Kind *

In Genesis 6:20, the account of those life forms saved reads: “Of fowls after their, kind, and of cattle after their kina, or every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive?! fhis win remind one of the original creation account in the first chapter, except that the “beast of the earth” is there added as well as “the fish of the sea”. Of course, this latter class would be unnecessary for the ark. Carefully examine this use of the term “kind”. Observe that the Creator makes no effort to itemize the hundreds of thousands of “species” of the evolutionists. True, a large number of original created types would be found within each main division; but there is nothing to show that such Genesis fcjndslwould even approach in number the varieties of them now living.

So It is not necessary to dispute the facts related by learned biologists relative to obvious variation of kinds. What they see is correct, but this simply proves creation of original kinds which have since varied according to their natures. John W. Ritchie, in his book, Biology and Human Affairs, supposes that two animals, male andfeniale _of likejciiid, are “of a kind that would be able if need be to dig a hole, swim a stream, climb among the branches of a fallen tree, live on either animal or vegetable food”. Turned loose in a broad land of varied topography and resources, these hypothetical animals would, in what he calls “geologically a very short time”, produce many_diverse offspring, including some good climbers, some runners, some swimmers, some car* r — ™■ i i I -1- —wj 1 — -• ■ M x * j—i . • - Lx" j* ■ -r. . r . — .J.

nivorpus and fierce, etc. Yet, despite the vafied^pfogeny? aTTdescendants w p u 1 d rejnain^f the same basic Idnd as the original pair. Evolutlonhas never preved otherwise. TJor will it ever.

This is not a rash conclusion. According to the Mendelian theory of genetics, now recognized everywhere but in the Soviet Union, variations must always be traced to activities of genes and chromosomes wjthinthe living cells of the various brgan-isms. The noted evolutionist, Theodosius

Dobzhansky, in his work, Genetics and the Origin of Species, discusses at length every known way in which gene and chromosomal changes can take place. Yet he concedes, “It must be admitted that in n6 case have all the differences between two good species been completely resolved into gene changes/’Frank L. Marsh, professor of biology, Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska, notes this and adds that then the distinction and immutability of whole groups of species must be even more concrete. Further, Marsh observes of Dobzhansk/s work, “Those who have given the second edition of this author’s book, Genetics and the Origin of Species, a careful reading will notice that after he very diligently considers all forms of change now known, he still finds no force in operation today which is of the quality to produce the present marked discontinuity. The greatest changes he hasfound are the mere production"pfaddit i^^rnod^rn ^species’ within groups already clearly set-off nature^ ~

Fossil Record Verifies

To keep his language clear, Marsh defines a commoi^fcinSfas a division within whiph cross-fertilit? is possible. Where failure to accompnsh vf.ertjlization occurs, a demarcation of a kind is reached'Then ” he turns totfie TbSSiPfecofdlSFTife destroyed by the Noachian deluge. There, he points out, is to be found not the evolutionary continuity of life, bridging from one basic kind to another, but the direct opposite, clear-cut discontinuity of kinds. In support, note the words of George Gaylord Simpson, in his work, Tempo and Mode in Evolution, page 99:

“The facts are that many species and genera, indeed the majority, do appear suddenly in the [fossil] record, differing sharply and in many ways from any earlier group, and that this appearance of discontinuity becomes more common the higher the level, until it is virtually universal as regards orders and all higher steps in the taxonomic hierarchy.”

In his own book, Evolution, Creation and Science, Professor Marsh reconciles the variations within kinds with the stabil-'itv of the kinds themselves, adding: “If /processes of variation today are not erasing JheTfiffererice^hetweenSriMS^ nfettfier could theyjlp It’ in ‘ OTe'^houMd/million years.” Taking three simple kinds, man kind, horse kind and dog kind, he shows by a chart how relatively few created types of each could produce the great variety of each now known.

Hence, it would seem reasonableJdiflt Noah’s animaTgassengers included a rather select “zdq^swEqIL representing original Genesis kinds (ormaraminsy as Professor Marsh also terms them). Thus would the preservation of all “kinds” of life be assured. Take man as an^example. Within the one original man^ZAdanx/residea The genetiejngke^up able in due timgjo produce^ the great spread of humanity now evident. The fact that the great body of the race was destroyed in the flood in no way hindered this, for Noah’s sons possessed within their loins the potential for producing this same varied progeny.

Ark Provides for All Passengers

To trace back to each original animal kind that entered the ark would, of course, be impossible. The fact alone that some have since become extinct would prohibit this. However, Clarke’s Commentary makes certain interesting observations. Of the six divisions of animal life it assigns, this source eliminates fish, worms and insects as not concerned in the ark calculations. This leaves mammalia, aves and amphibia. Though the Commentary gives the entire naturalist breakdown of each group, it emphasizes that undoubtedly only the basic genera or kinds would be of concern. With interest we note that they assign only forty-three genera to the mammalia division (excepting the whale kind, certainly of no concern here), seventy-four to the second class, birds not including webfooted fowls), and ten to the third class, amphibia (reptiles and serpents).

Bishop Wilkins is cited, who believed that buf seventy-two kinds of quadrupeds required space in the ark and less than two hundred birds. The bishop even worked out what he considered the space necessary to accommodate all of the meat eaters as equivalent to twenty-seven wolves. The rest he computed as requiring space equivalent to 180 oxen. He allows 1,825 sheep for a year’s food supply for the carnivorous kinds and 9,500 cubits of hay for the others. Ample room for such animals and their food was considered available in the ark’s first two stories, with the third left for the fowl, Noah and his family.

Note now the following from George Bush, then professor of Hebrew and Oriental literature at New York City University, published in his Critical and Practical Notes on Genesis, in 1844. Taking even the short eighteen-inch cubit, he found the ark a vessel capable of carrying 43,413 tons. Compared to a first-rate man-of-war of his day, Professor Bush observed that “the ark consequently possessed a capacity of storage equal to that of eighteen ships of the line of the largest class, which, upon a very moderate computation, are capable of carrying 20,000 men, with stores and provisions for six months* consumptipn, besides 1,800 pieces of cannon. As all the various distinct species of four-footed animals may be reduced to two hundred or two hundred and fifty, it cannot for a moment be doubted that the ark would contain the specified proportion of these, of birds, insects, and eight human beings, with the requisite supplies of food for a year”.

The Migration from Ararat

The flood waters subsided, the ark, perched on one of the peaks of the Ararat chain, was opened, releasing its live cargo to scatter in all directions. How then did that red fox, Vulpes dktscensis, get to Alaska? The same way its relative, V. casca-densis, managed to make California— through a long and extended migration. But none need try to prove that each of these varieties was an original Genesis kind that moved halfway around the world from Ararat before trying to reproduce. How much more likely that these and probably a number of other fox varieties are all descendants of an original pair of ancestors that rode out the flood in the ark. As they migrated they multiplied, leaving varieties of their kind all along the way. How far the original pair got is unknown and unimportant, TJie migration continued until the farthest point of distribution was reached. Time, geographical influence and the normal degree of mutational changes did the rest: Variations occur, the kinds remain, unchanged, immutable. Now science is able to prove the very things the Bible, oldest scientific textbook of our globe, has so long taught.

The part Noah’s ark played in the ancient and modern study of genetics has been considered. Whether or not fortune hunters ever find the frozen remains of the craft is unimportant. Its use is over. Testifying to its existence and memorable voyage are the multiplied varieties of life descended from its passengers. Now scientific fact joins hands with Bible truth to slap down God-defying evolution and critics of God’s Word; Like grass, vain theories wither and die while "the word spoken by Jehovah endures forever**.—1 Peter 1: 25, New World Trans.

of Brewers Lagoon, some two hundred miles of water separated from the sea by a long, sandy,

MOSQUITO COA

By ''Awcfal'* fa Honrimtn

Coast, is one of the fringes of civilization. Very few places, whether in the depths of Asian or African Jungles or in the frozen reaches of the Arctic, could be more remote and isolated. Lying along the extreme east end of the sandy north coast of Honduras* the area comprises parts of the Honduran province of Coldn and the Nicaraguan province of Cabo Gracias a Dios. Although it lies not one hundred miles from modem civilizations, it is virtually untouched, being one of the earth’s last unexplored regions. The area is of interest to God’s ministers also, for the Mosquito Coast cradles several semicivilized Indian tribes that have not yet been reached by the grand message of Jehovah’s established kingdom.

The Mosquito Coast gets its name from the race of Indians who were originally called Misskito Indians, but who are now by corruption called Mosquito Indians. Coincidence played its part in accurately naming an area so completely infested with those two-winged denizens of the tropics. The Mosquito Indians are now divided into several tribes, the Zambus, Payas, Vicen-tinos, Toacas and Secos, These Indians have never been civilized and still live in much the same condition as their ancestors did centuries ago.

The swollen waters of the muddy Patuca river make their way out to sea by way palm-lined spit of land. This is the entrance to the Mosquito territory, and it is as lonely as it is remote. At the mouth of the lagoon, where the water spills its way to freedom, stands a small Carib village.

These Caribs of Honduras belong to the race of black Caribs, the original red-cinnamon color having vanished. During the past century the whole of the Caribbean seaboard has been flooded with the blood of runaway slaves, and the dominating blood of the African Negro has greatly changed the characteristics of the Caribs, so that now they appear almost more African than Indian. The Negro blood has greatly strengthened the race physically so that they are now much larger and more muscular than the pure red Carib. Their hair is thick, long and very black. Their features are African, manifesting the flat, spreading nose, but they still have the high cheekbone of the Indian.

Enter the Zambus

In the multitude of cayukas and pipantos that are being paddled out to meet us there begins to appear a different type of Indian, slightly lighter in color and more characteristically Indian. These are the Zambus from the upper reaches of the Patuca river, a few of whom have come down to the coast and are living here among the Caribs and other Negroes. To reach Zambu territory we must cross the lagoon to the mouth of the Tom-Tom cut-off and proceed up the cut-off by boat to the main branch of the Patuca river. From there we travel several days up the Patuca until we are deep in the heart of the Zambu country.

We come across our first Zambu village after nearly a week of travel on the river, a small village of less than a dozen huts. There is no evidence whatever of order in the village. There is no evident authority except for one old man who seems to be a sort of patriarch. They have no regular and well-run hierarchy composed of chiefs and medicine men. These Zambus seem to live more or less haphazardly at random and in complete democracy.

The religion of the Zambus is simple and primitive. The only real ceremonies accompany marriage and death. The Zambus are disorganized polygamists on a large scale. Four “wedding days1* are held each year, and no one is exempted from taking part in the ceremonies. On these days the young are married for the first time and only those giris who have proved themselves capable of producing children are allowed to participate. The older members of the village take part too, for on the quarterly wedding days the men are allowed to buy, sell and exchange wives with other members of the tribe. The fate of the women depends entirely upon the whims of their husbands and how much the men are willing to pay for their friends’ wives. Prior to the ceremony, enormous dowries of gold dust and ornaments are prepared.

In the center of a clearing far away from the village a huge bonfire is built. Around this the Zambus arrange themselves in three orderly rings, women in the center. When the moon is bright and the flames reach high, the ceremony begins. The men leap to their feet and begin a wild chant. The gentle shuffling of feet becomes a frenzied dance. The leaping flames of the fire grow higher and higher, giving the Indians a copper glow In the moonlight. Their faces betray that their senses have fallen captive to complete demonized frenzy.

Open Market in Wires

After the dance and a brief address by the patriarch, the buying, selling and trading of wives begin. With much shouting, shrieking and gesticulating, the men begin making offers of what they are willing to pay for a good wife. Not always a simple operation, sometimes this involves first selling one’s present wife for a stipulated amount in order to buy the woman one wishes from another. As the frenzied bartering continues, the group becomes ever smaller as more and more satisfied couples steal off into the woods. Finally, even the disappointed men make their way back to the village. They must be content with their wives for another three months; for exchanging wives at any other time than the quarterly wedding days is considered very immoral, and certain to arouse the anger of the evil spirits.

The Zambu Indians do not believe in the immortality of the soul. Death is taken very calmly and there is very little grief at a Zambu funeral. Nevertheless, a great deal of ritual and mysticism always attends the burial. The body is buried far away from the village in order that the evil spirits may not molest the tribe. All living vegetation must be destroyed in the area around the burial, that nothing may come between the dead man and the ground. He must be buried in the softest place in the area, the place where the ground is most “willing” to receive the dead.

As we move up the river after leaving Zambu territory, we come across the Paya Indians. These are somewhat smaller in stature than the Zambus but much more alert and Intelligent. Their language is complicated and is not apparently related to any other known tongue. They use two sets of words, one vocabulary for the men and still another for talking to the women.

Their religion is only slightly more advanced than that of the Zambus. Briefly, they believe in two great forces, one for good, one for evil. The latter is a cooperative society of scoundrels, known as the forever at war with the powers of goodness. These two forces are constantly struggling for control of the universe, or at least of the Mosquito Coast. Unfortunate events are alternately blamed on the unusual activity of the evil gods or the laxity of the good ones.

Each village is led by a Suquia, who is a combination judge, doctor and king. The principle of their ceremonies is celebration in an effort to please the gods. Before the ceremony a large quantity of strong liquor is brewed of yucca, oranges and cassava. Their demon-placating rituals involve getting drunk on this potion, a frenzied dance and a speech by the Suquia.

The Payas are even less formal about marriage than the Zambus. Apparently the village is the smallest social division, and the family, as such, does not exist. The Payas share the views of the Zambus regarding death and immortality. They are not advanced in the creative arts. There is very little music. They do not paint, weave or make pottery.

To reach the other tribes along the Mosquito Coast, one must backtrack down the river and make a portage overland to the Guanmta river. On reaching the Guarunta there is a change in the jungle. The air of tropical decay vanishes and there is new beauty in the foliage along the river. A riot of fantastic color breaks through the vivid green. The river becomes clear and swift. Along this river live the Secos and Toacas, along with a mixture of Zambus. The Secos* villages are larger and cleaner and better built. Solid and clean, they are built on mahogany piling. The Secos, too, show initiative in planting their own crops. Whereas the other tribes of the area content themselves with picking wild fruit from the jungles.

As one travels back down the river toward the Caribbean, the fringes of civilization begin to reappear, the Negro influence grows stronger and Spanish and English become more the languages of the people. The Guarunta river flows into the Caribbean by way of the Caratasca Lagoon. As we leave the jungle we pass through the trackless marshes surrounding the lagoon. Soon we once again find ourselves taking in the fresh salt air of the blue Caribbean.

Reflection on the pathetic condition of these people brings at once to the mind of the Christian the realization that thefr greatest need is to learn of God and his established kingdom. That many of them would respond is evidenced by the multitude of Caribs and other natives found associating with Jehovah's people farther up the coast. Perhaps the day will come when these very ones will carry the message to their own people that the Indians of the Mosquito Coast may become part of that great crowd from all nations and tribes who attribute salvation to our God and to the Lamb.

After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, . . . And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: “Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb” —Revelation 7:9,10, New World Trans.

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