show and strengthen our love for divine truth in favorable season and in troublesome season.

This proved useful to me at a larger gathering in the very same convention hall in Lucerne where Brother Rutherford had spoken, for apart from my work at Bethel I had the opportunity of being district servant. My talk was widely advertised, but Catholic Action did not remain inactive. The hall was filled to the last seat. During the first fifteen minutes nothing happened. Then as I gave Bible proof that the religious systems of Christendom had not taken up a position against the two world wars nor had they strongly opposed them, a voice from the farthest rows in the balcony shouted, “That’s not true!” Immediately several young men in the middle and on the sides of the hall reacted and started to whistle. Jehovah gave me strength calmly to reprimand the disturbers and exhort them to be quiet. And they listened, with the exception of two or three persons who left the hall. But after twenty minutes things became more serious and a “whistling concert” began, and some young men got up from their seats. The attendants kept them in check for a while, but then I interrupted my talk and asked all present: “Do you agree with the behavior of these men?” A loud “No” was the answer. “Then I would like to suggest to those persons who do not agree with what I say that they listen to my talk to the end, that they take notes and then openly state their objections and questions.” This had the desired effect, and the lecture continued to its conclusion. At the close of the talk it was heartening to see little groups of young men forming around mature brothers, who discussed the truth with them, and to watch them accept literature and leave the hall quietly and even a little ashamed. Several of them attended all the follow-up lectures.

Bethel continues to bring us a varied life, many privileges of service, inexpressible joys, but also trials in various respects. I have had repeated and enticing offers of employment from previous employers and relatives. We have asked ourselves: “Would it not be unreasonable and extremely unwise to leave the way of truth and with it the way of life, on account of such transitory things?” Each time we have decisively rejected these enticements. Who gives us the necessary strength? Jehovah, our kind heavenly Father who has led us in his love. We love his truth, and it is our wholehearted desire that, with his help, we may never let it go.

Tradition versus Scriptures

The nineteenth-century archbishop of Dublin, Richard Whately, acknowledged the weakening effect of human tradition when he said: “Tradition, as held by the Romanists, is subordinate to Scripture and dependent on it, about as some parasite plants are on the tree that supports them. The former cling to the latter, and rest upon it; then gradually overspread it with their own foliage, till, by little and little, they weaken, and then smother it.” (The New Dictionary of Thoughts) No wonder Jesus condemned human tradition when he said: “Why is it you also overstep the commandment of God because of your tradition?”—Matt. 15:3.