THE CHURCH AT WORK IN ITALY

THE CHURCH AT WORK IN ITALY THE CHURCH AT WORK IN ITALY
Carl Mitchell

I am humbly grateful to your planning committee for the distinct honor paid me in being invited to appear on this lectureship program. It is a great joy to see so many people of kindred spirit in the same gathering, and my only regret is that my Brethren in Italy are not privileged to be here this morning. In doing missionary work there are many problems that must be met. There are two that are particularly important. The first is the problem of adjustment. Many times when we read Paul’s admonition that we become all things to all people, we are prone to pass over it lightly, not giving it the consideration that it deserves. The problem of adjustment becomes especially important in missionary work. One must come to know and understand the people with whom he is working, must come to realize and appreciate their philosophy and ways of meeting problems, and must try to become as much like them as possible. Sometimes a mistake is made of confusing Christianity and Americanism. We think that we have to make Americans out of them in helping them to become Christians. This, of course, is not true, as there is a great deal of difference between Christianity and Americanism.

Foreign peoples do not appreciate being told how we do things back home. It has been my experience that people of other countries are as attached to and devoted to their way of life as we are to ours. Therefore, the problem of adjustment is most important if one would have the maximum efficiency in preaching to foreign peoples. The second problem is that of language differences. It is a difficult and trying thing to go into another country burdened with the gospel message, but unable to speak to the people. Sometimes we might almost have wished that the age for' speaking in tongues still existed; however, that period being- past, we were forced to apply ourselves in learning the Italian language. We are thankful that the Italian language is comparatively simple in comparison with other languages; and this, together with the fact that the Italian people were very helpful in teaching and correcting us, made it relatively easy to learn. This, of course, does not mean that we speak perfectly. Oftentimes we make mistakes; some of them are amusing, more often embarrasing. I remember, on one occasion, that I wanted to tell a young lady in my class at Rome that I had seen her mother that morning. I confused the words “to see” with the words “to sell”, and announced to her that I had sold her mother that morning. Of course she was rather shocked until she realized that I had made a mistake. Brother Harold Paden was announcing to the congregation that they should remember one of the brethren in their prayer who had fallen and had broken his leg. He confused the word for leg with the word for “a rubber tire.” To the startled congregation he announced, “We must remember our dear brother in our prayer who has fallen and broken his rubber tire”. Brother Howard Bybee, on one occasion, went to the employment agency to hire some men to attach posters advertising a pending meeting. He confused the word for “poster attacher” with the word meaning “a baby turkey.” He then requested that several baby turkeys be sent out to attach posters for the church of Christ.

I would like to divide my discourse under three major headings. The first will be to indicate to you the actual condition of our work today in Italy. The second will be to give a brief narrative of the recent persecution suffered by the church of our Lord in Italy. I would like to conclude with a word of warning concerning what I consider the real threat that Catholi cism poses to our way of life.

Beginning in the northern most reaches of Italy, near the confines of Switzerland, and at the feet of the beautiful Alps, stretching down through southern Italy and across into sunny Sicily, there have been some 23 congreations established. In addition to these, there are 5 or 6 mission points whe^e classes are being held but where the church, as yet, has not come into existence. Serving congregations are 14 full-time native Italian evangelists, men schooled and educated by us in God’s word, who have chosen to dedicate themselves to the preaching of God’s word to the Italian people. Of this number, 6 were priests in the Catholic church; some held very high positions. These congregations represent a total faithful membership of between 400 and 500 persons. I say faithful because these brethren have shown themselves faithful through persecution, privation, and suffering. Of our total membership, 9 were priests in the Catholic church. These statistics are not satisfactory to us; but considering the fact that only 4 years ago, as far as we know, there was not a Christian in Italy; and that during this period, we have been forced to labor under very trymg circumstances, we feel that somo accomplishment has been made. In the city of Frascati, 28 little boys are living and growing as rapidly as well fed little boys do into Christian manhood. Every day they study God’s word and join together in periods of song and prayer. We have not attempted to dictate to them as to how they should use their life. The boys were assured that we would aid them in doing anything that was worthwhile, such as becoming a doctor, lawyer, professor, etc. It was gratifying to us when we recently called each of these young fellows into the office to ask them what they wanted to do with their life and found that almost all of them were planning to be gospel preachers. In Milano, we have the training system comparable to the University here in the United States. Eight young men are studying over a period of three years subjects pertinent to the work that they will be doing as gospel preachers. We have a rather peculiar situation in Italy: no division, no hobby-riders, and perfect unity. We want to keep it that way. Thus we are doing everything in our power to as-certain that those who preach the gospel in Italy are sufficiently prepared in God’s word to do the work which will be required of them, and at the same time, able to distinguish between their own personal opinions and the truth of God’s word. We have a correspondence course which operates out of Rome and reaches into almost every major city of Italy. Our student members number in the hundreds; and this course has been advantageous to us, not only that we are converting people through the mail, but it also aids in the beginning of a new work. For instance: if I should have the time expendable to initiate a new effort in the city of Florence, I would go to our card file, take out the names of perhaps 20 or 25 correspondence class students in that city, and use these people, already favorable to us, as a working nucleus; and, with a minimum of time lost, the congregation could be established. Just before I left Rome, through the contributions sent us as a result of a plea made by Brother Paul Edwards, we were able to buy a printing press. We are anticipating that our labor will be greatly aided by our being able to preach the gospel through the printed page. There are many other facts which could be stated, but I feel that these are sufficient to give you an idea of our work as it exists today in Italy.

Since our work was initiated some 4 years ago, we have received continuous resistance from the Catholic church. At least 4 major attempts have been made to drive us from Italy. We are thankful to God that none of them have been successful. Shortly after our workers arrived in Italy, the first attempt was made. The Catholic church said we will follow you from place to place, challenging your teaching publicly and will debate you out of this country. Their plan did not work out as effectively as they had anticipated. Error always fares badly when confronted by the truth of God’s word. After a few nights, they realized that debating was not an effective way of ridding Italy of the churches of Christ. Today it is impossible to get an Italian Priest to engage you in public discussion. The obvious reason is they are afraid of the truth. The second attempt made was to scare us out of Italy. You remember how the workers were stoned out of the city of Castel Gondolfo; how in the City of Rocca di Papa an attempt was made to overturn our Jeep; and threats of physical violence were made against the missionaries. You will recall that a bomb was set for Brother Hudson, and a child accidentally touched off the bomb, blowing his hand from his arm; how on one or two occasions, bombs were found in the apartments of workers; how threatening letters were received: how the brake lining was found cut on the automobiles in the hope that the car, going down some incline, would go out of control killing the occupants; how members of the church were beaten; how7 some of them lost their jobs and others were turned out from their homes. All these were calculated to scare the Church of our Lord out of Italy. I am frank to admit. that there were times when I was very frightened; and yet, if one is truly a Christian, and appreciates his mission, you will not be able to scare him sufficiently to make him forget his responsibility.

Even though at times they still try to scare us, they have found it impossible to frighten the Church of Christ out of Italy. The third attempt was made through legal channels. The Italian government told the world that we were communists operating under a religious front; that we had come to Italy as tourists, masking our real motives and intentions; therefore we were in Italy illegally, and, as law breakers, so the Italian government was forced to invite us to leave. They refused to renew our permission to stay in Italy, commanded the Orphanage closed, and the little boys turned back out on the streets from whence they had come. It was only when brethren such as you protested to the State Department in Washington, causing the American government to make a strong appeal in our behalf, that the Italian government was forced to renew our visas, and to allow us to reopen the Orphanage. For a period of about two years we had comparative peace.

I remember talking with Brother Cline Paden in the opening days of February of last year. We concluded that the Catholic church had decided that it was best just to leave us alone and to hope that we wouldn’t do too much damage. It was only a few days later that Brother Paden and I were downstairs in the Rome Church building teaching some young people when Brother Melvin Pownall called us from the city of Alessandria announcing the fourth attempt. He said that they had received a police order informing them that our worship was illegal and that the Church building in Alessandria was officially closed. It further stated that any effort to hold services would be broken up with armed police force. So that you might fully understand the legal situation in which we found ourselves, I would like to explain something about the laws that exist in Italy. I have a copy of the Italian Constitution. This document was written in the blood of martyrs of Italy and was passed by popular vote shortly after the recent war. This document is very similar to the American Constitution. It guarantees liberty and the dignity of the individual. Among the liberties promised is that of the freedom of religion. Articles 8, 17, 18, and 19 guarantee that in Italy all religions are equal before the law and free to carry on their program, either publicly or in private, with no authorization or recognition whatsoever being required. There is only one condition stipulated, and that is that the religion not be immoral. Until we received this telephone call, we thought that, at least theoretically, this freedom existed. We had made it a practice to go to the Chief of Police in any city in which we desired to commence a new work, and to ask him if anything were necessary in the way of permission for the initiation of that work. In compliance with the constitution, they had always informed us that there was no authorization necessary and that we were free to carry on our activity. Contrary to the thought of some, that we went to Italy as hot-heads or troublemakers with a chip on our shoulder, we have attempted to co-operate with the authorities there in every way. It was only when they made further co-operation impossible, and told us that we would have to close down our work and go home that we were forced to tell them that we defied them or their authority; for we must obey God rather than men. Brother Pownall informed us that two old laws had been cited in the police order in justification of their action. As one man in the State Department in Rome said, “You men from the Church of Christ have forced us to search our laws to find those applicable to you. The laws quoted were taken from the Latern Pact of 1929 between Mussolini and the Vatican when Church and State in Italy were unified. These laws stipulated that the Catholic Church was the State church and that other religions would be tolerated; however, the provisions involved were of such nature that it made it almost impossible for the beginning of any new religious activity in Italy. Actually the above mentioned laws were obsolete, abrogated by the new constitution; but the Italian government, in an effort to mask its intolerance, fished out these two old laws and deceitfully told the world that these were existent legal norms in Italy. Brother Paden and I left immediately for Alessandria. We arrived the next morning just before the hour of worship, and together with Brother Pownall and Brother Petrim we made our way into the church building. As we rounded the corner, near the building, we saw 12 or 14 armed, uniformed policemen blocking the entrance to the church building. When we attempted to enter through the side door, they stopped us, telling us the building was closed and that we could not enter. We persisted, and they informed us that we should go home quietly before we would find ourselves in a great deal of trouble. We told them that it was a disgrace and a shocking thing that the Italian government, which poses as a free nation, and presents its spiritual leader, the Pope, as a great champion of tolerance and liberty, that screamed continually against Communistic oppression of priests in Communist held territory, should find itself guilty of religious discrimination and intolerance in its own country. After awhile, they told us that we 4 could enter the building, but that we could not worship, and that no one else would be allowed to enter. The first thing that we did after gaining admission was to open the large doors at the front of the building. The policemen commanded us to close them, but we refused; we knew that it was our right to have them open, if we so desired. They saw that it was useless to argue with us, and stepped in there and, by force, attempted to close the doors. There was a great deal of pushing and pulling, but we won and the doors were left open. They did content themselves, however, by tearing down the little sign which we had attached on the outside of the building announcing the hour of our services. One by one our members began to arrive, and one by one they were turned away. If they should question the authority of the policemen, they would be pushed and told to go home or they would be taken in. It is a terrible thing to see the look of hurt and anguish in the eyes of the people who approach the house of our Lord intent upon raising their voices in song and in prayer, but who find instead armed policemen who tell them that their worship is illegal. Many Italians passed by who were not members, and many of them stopped to ask what was happening. The average Italian is a very curious person, and these were no exception. I say they are curious—if you have a flat tire in Italy, before you can get out to fix it, there will be so many people crowded around you can’t fix it. They are very curious, and yet they are not always as thoughtful as they should be in offering assistance; not that they are unkind—it is just that they do not think. I have run out of gas and pushed my car uphill by myself, and have had Italians walking along beside me, pitying me for having to do all that hard work, and never think to offer to help me. The policemen would tell those who asked, that this was none of their affair and that they should move along. One rather large man came by and stopped, as did others, to ask what was going on. The Lieutenant in charge told him that it was none of his affair, and that he should go on his way. The man looked around him and then said that he saw nothing which said that he couldn’t stand there, and that he wanted to know what was happening. The Lieutenant became very angry and said, “What is your name?” The man, looking him squarely in the eye replied, “What is your name?” The policeman became all the more angry and commanded him to leave at once or he would take him into custody. The man responded that he would leave, but before he left he wanted to say one thing: that until that day he had thought that he lived in a free country, but he saw that he was mistaken. If you are laboring under the thought that Italy is a free country, or has anything vaguely akin to freedom, then you are laboring under a misapprehension.

There is no real freedom in Italy today; whether the system be called the Ancient Roman Empire, the Papal States, the Mussolini Regime, or the Catholic Church, it is all the same totalitarian system. We saw that no one else was going to be allowed to enter the building, so we decided to have worship by ourselves. We went to the back of the building, and I opened my Bible to the 8th chapter of Romans and read the concluding verses, begining with verse 28. The precious promises therein recorded were certainly consoling to us that morning. We knelt in prayer as Brother Pe- trini led us, and then we began to sing; and when we began singing, the house fell in on us. The policemen ran in yelling, “You can’t worship, you can’t worship.” When we paid them no mind, they grabbed us by the shoulders and shook us, and we sang all the more sweetly and forcefully. They were afraid to be physically violent with us Americans; our citizenship has been of tremendous value in Italy, possibly somewhat as the apostle Paul’s was in his day. The Chief of Police told us in Rome that if we weren’t Americans, they would not have been so nice to us; that the building would be closed down and that is all there would be to it. The policemen, however, did lay hands on the Italian minister to take him outside with them; he asked them please not to bother him as he was worshiping ; when they attempted to take him out, he held on to his seat and they couldn’t budge him We must have been singing “I Shall Not Be Moved”. Seeing that they could not interrupt our worship, they retired outside the building in some confusion, waiting for us to conclude our services. After worship, we saw no point in staying further inside the church building: and we made our way to the office of the Chief of Police. He either was not In, or did not wish to see us, so we were ushered into the office of one of his assistants. This man was a gentleman and expressed his sympathy toward us for the occurrences of that day. He said that he hoped we would not hold him personally responsible; that he realized that we had been wronged; but that they had been forced to act on orders from very high authority. He further stated that we should realize that there was not any freedom in Italy as we know it in America. We agreed with him and understood his position; yet I felt forced to tell him that it was a strange situation; that Italy, a supposedly democratic country, had that day given government permission to the Communist Party to hold a mass meeting in the city of Alessandria, and they, at that very moment, were meeting, about 13,000 strong, in the city park. In this meeting, they were openly advocating their principles of violence and overthrow. In contrast, the Italian government declared illegal the worship of a small band of Christians meeting peacefully in their own hired house to worship God. I felt that he was made to feel ashamed.

There was no further point in staying in Alessandria, so Brother Paden and I made our way back to Rome. As we arrived at the church building in Rome and prepared to enter the downstairs apartment, Brother Corazza summoned us to the office upstairs where the Chief of Police was waiting for us. He informed us that our Rome church building was to be closed; on further investigation, we learned that the order was to include all of our church buildings throughout Italy; and for justification, the same two obsolete laws cited at Alessandria were being used. We immediately notified the brethren in the United States, asking that you appeal to Washington in our behalf; and we thank you for your marvelous and gratifying response. We thought that perhaps our government would aid us and made our way to the office of the American Embassy. We were met by a man by the name of Outa bridge Horsey, who is everything that his name indicated. He refused to consider our problem a serious one, and denied our request for an appointment with the Ambassador saying that he was too busy to see us, and suggested that if we wanted to contact him we should do so by letter. The only other thing that we knew to do was to contact the Foreign Press. We received a tremendous reception in the office of the Associated Press. Brother Paden’s and my pictures were taken and a full account of our situation was given them. The next day, September 14, in the majority of the major releases of this country, a complete and fair account of the condition in Italy was presented. Actually only three of our buildings were closed, and those were closed over a three week period. During this period, we tried in every way imaginable to have them reopened; however, though the buildings were closed, the Church of Christ certainly was not. The members met just the same in private homes; and when the policemen followed us making it impossible to meet anywhere in the city, we were forced to go about 20 miles into the country to worship God. We were proud of our members during this persecution. They said that the policemen could put them in prison or do whatever they liked, but that they were determined to worship God. You would have been proud of them had you been there. At the conclusion of the three week period, we received a telephone call informing us that the Italian authorities had decided to allow us to reopen our buildings; however, they said it would be conditional; and the condition was that we call off the Foreign Press. It was hurting them too much for the free world to know the situation as it actually is in Italy. We told them that we would call the Foreign Press off, but that we wanted them to know that these men were our friends and would be held in readiness for any future incident. We do owe a tremendous vote of thanks to the Foreign Press.

Shortly before leaving Italy, Brother Paden and I had a press conference with Brother MacDonald and Brother Nichols in which about 20 Foreign Press men were present. These men, representing Great Britian, France, Switzerland, Germany, and the United States, almost to a man, promised to aid us in every way possible; not because they agreed with us religiously, but because they recognized the activity of the Italian government as a flagrant violation of one of the most basic principles of freedom and democracy.

Today our buildings in Italy are open. The government tells us that through a treaty agreement existing between the U. S. and Italy that they will be forced to allow us to continue our work. I personally am convinced that we will be allowed to stay in Italy at least as long as she is financially and economically dependent upon our country. As I see it, we are working against time in Italy; and our task is to labor as effectively as we can, so that if and when we should be forced to leave Italy, the church will be sufficiently strong to carry on by itself. Looking back over the situation, I see two major goods that have been accomplished. The first is that we usually think of the power of God in terms of some Old Testament inci-dents, for instance: the time of Gideon or of Sampson or of Moses. Often we think wouldn’t it be wonderful if God did work in that way today; and yet I feel that I in Italy have witnessed one of the greatest manifestations of the power of God. God has proven, with mighty force, his presence and his faithfulness to his church. Consider Catholicism, numbering several hundred million adherents in the world, and representing a potentiality and organization umparalleled in human history. This great force rose up in defiance against the small, relatively insignificant numerical group, which is the Church of Christ, commanding that they cease to teach within her borders. This group rose to respond that we challenge you and your authority for we must obey God rather than men. God in his faithfulness and in a manifestation of his power, has enabled us to make this challenge successfully, and today the gospel is being preached in Italy.

Brethren in the church need a restoration of faith.
We need to remember that it doesn’t all depend on us and we must realize that we are workers together with God. We have arrived at the point where we feel that everything depends upon us; and in making our plans for the future, we judge according to what we have done in the past. It is time that we quit limiting God and learn to trust in the truth of his statement that his strength is made perfect in human weakness. It is time that we begin to believe and to practice what we say that we believe that if God is with us, who can be against us; and that we can do all things through him who strengthened us. The second great good is that through the persecutions of the church in Italy, the cause of Christ has been made known throughout the world. You know, as well as I, that publicity was received in the United States that money could never buy; and today throughout Europe, people are asking about us, and want to know what we teach and who we are. I was talking with a Baron, Von Lumberg, recently in his hotel at Rome. He is one of the great statesmen of Europe. He said that he had just returned from Sweden, and that many people there had been asking him, “What is the Church of Christ.” It is a pitiful thing that so many nations of the world are asking this question and are going unanswered. Today in Italy cries are going up, doors of opportunity are being opened, and from every part of that country people are asking for Christ. Men are traveling hundreds of miles to come to Rome or Milano to plead with us to send someone back with them to the city from whence they came to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God has given us opportunity in Italy, but because of the short-sightedness of our brethren, we are unable to accept these opportunities. Today in Italy, only three American missionaries are attempting to preach the gospel to 47 million people. This has been my purpose in coming back to America: to convince you of the urgency of that work, and to encourage other workers to labor there. I have found about fifteen qualified preachers desirous of going to Italy this summer, but their going will depend upon you. Today the door of opportunity is open; tomorrow it might be closed forever.

I want to conclude by attempting to impress upon your minds the grave danger that Catholicism is to our way of life. It might be shocking to you if I were to tell you that I consider the greatest threat to the American way of life the Catholic church. I hate Communism as I hate any system which denies liberties, but if I were forced to choose between living under Catholicism or Communism, I, with no hesitation whatsoever, would say let me live under Communism. I know that Catholicism offers no hope for liberty, will not be tolerant toward those of other religions, and will do anything that they feel necessary in establishing their system. You need not think that they have changed through the years; their system of oppression suffering and persecution, is still the same. The only reason we have not been put to death in Italy is because they are afraid of the rest of the world; and if it suited their purposes, they would be willing to persecute you or put you to death in order to establish their ends. The Catholic church is working toward one thing, and only one thing, and that is world domination. Today while you and I continue to kid ourselves into thinking that our system is going on forever, Catholicism is working and eating away at the foundation of our democracy, and some day will cause it to collapse.

Catholicism cannot exist together with democracy. Catholicism thrives upon ignorance, poverty, superstition and hate, and these things are directly opposed to every principle of democracy. If you think that they are not working while you are sleeping,^ then you are refusing to accept the facts. Look at our school system which is being undermined by the Catholic Church. Look at our political system which is almost already under Catholic control. Attempt to write an article in which you attack Catholicism and see if you are successful in having it printed in the paper. Attempt on the radio to speak against Catholicism and see how long you continue to broadcast. Attend the movies and see that in pictures, such as Quo Vadis, Catholic doctrine is openly taught; and in our present day, every time the religious character is depicted as a Catholic. Pick up any major magazine publication and find the Knights of Columbus and other Catholic organizations bombarding you with Ues in which they are attempting to convince you the best way to be an American and uphold democracy is by being a Catholic.

Yes, while we continue to kid ourselves into apathy and indifference, the Catholic system is taking control and one day you will awaken in a bondage similar to that existent in Italy and other Catholic countries. You will come to your church building and find uniformed policemen outside who will tell you that your worship is a violation of law and order and will no longer be tolerated. You say that American Catholics are different from European Catholics. It is possible that in many respects they are different, and yet when the church can convince its people that only through persecuting you they can insure their soul’s salvation, you can expect to be persecuted. To prove to you that Catholicism in America holds to the same philosophy for which the Catholic Church throughout the whole world stands, I submit this quotation from the Catholic position on freedom of worship by Francis J. Connell with the imprimatur by Francis Cardinal J. Spellman, printed by the Paul- ist Press in New York City, April 6, 1944, quoting from page 10: “Besides these principles for the conduct of individual Catholics, there are other principles regulating the conduct of a Catholic government toward the non-Catholics in its domains.

If the country is distinctively Catholic—that is, if the population is almost entirely Catholic, and the national life and institutions are permeated with the spirit of Catholicity—the civil rulers can consider themselves justified in restricting or preventing denominational activities hostile to the Catholic religion.” Perhaps you are thinking that Protestantism in America will protect us from the things that I have mentioned. I have been in Italy, and I know that protestantism has nothing with which it can effectively combat Catholicism. Catholicism is positive in its teaching. They, believe in only one Church; they believe in one God; in Christ; in the Virgin Birth; in Heaven and in Hell; and in living a life of preparation for the day of judgment. On the other hand, Protestantism does not really believe in the Church, Many of chem do not believe in Heaven and Hell. They are divided and at war among themselves and almost completely negative and modernistic in their teaching. A Catholic cannot be enticed to leave such a positive position to accept something so much inferior. We cannot expect Protestantism to fight our battle for us; in fact, they are unequipped to do so. There is only one thing that can destroy Catholicism and that is God’s word. You couldn’t destroy Catholicism by killing or persecuting Catholics, but you can overcome it by making Christians out of those who are Catholic. Today we in Italy are devoting ourselves in attempting to do just that. It seems to me that the Italian work in our present situation has a special appeal. Not only are we bringing souls to Christ, but we are carrying on the most effective battle that can be made against Catholicism there from whence it originates. Every time a person of that country is baptized into Christ, every time a priest leaves that system to embrace the word of God, the Catholic system staggers and shakes throughout the world. We have ample illustration of this fact in the recent persecutions. Italy would not have been willing to risk public opinion in their activity against us for our numbers. They would not have been willing to jeopardize their position in the free world as they did because we represented a great numerical force in Italy, 400 out of 47 million is nothing. However, because they realized our potential strength and realized that we are the only ones who pose a threat against them, they were moved to act against us. Today there are books written on how to answer Methodists and Baptists. There are no books written on how to answer the word of God, and there will be none; thus our advantage against error throughout the world.

I want to close with an illustration that I would like for you to burn upon your minds and remember forever. I have a friend in Rome who was the Chief of the Fire Department in our area of the city, and who was the secretary for the government of all fire fighting units throughout Italy. This man is an educated man and a free thinker. He came to us recently, desirous of studying the Bible, and enrolled in our Correspondence Class. Recently he was called in before an investigation group and was told that a pending special tour that he was taking into northern Italy was temporarily cancelled. When he asked why, they informed him that he was under investigation because they had heard that he was a propagandist for the Churches of Christ. He denied it, saying that he wasn’t even a member. They took out in his presence the second lesson of the correspondence course filled out by him and intercepted in the mails by the Italian authority. They asked him if it was his, and of course he had to admit that it was. They completed their investigation and found him guilty. And that man is a ruined man; the 20 years that he had spent arriving at that position had been wiped out at a single blow; and all because he dared ask, “What is truth?” Brethren this is the condition under which we are working in Italy, and yet literally thousands are pleading for Christ. God calls you to have fellowship with us in carrying the gospel to these souls and in helping the church to stay at work in Italy.