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Soldiers of the Cross
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Foreword
The following thesis is a historical
account of the life and ministry of Pastor Charles Taze Russell and the Bible Students
Association he helped shape.
This thesis is by no means an
exhaustive account of his life and ministry. In fact the last biography of C.T. Russell
was published in 1923 and has since not been reprinted. In fact, such a book has been in
the works for quite some years, and although many have tried to compile a historical
account, it has always falls short of its aim. The question asked is one really needed?
One may go to any bookstore or library and look up "Charles Taze Russell" and
you will find nine times out of ten the statement; "founder of the Jehovah's Witness
sect." But nothing could be further from the truth.
Indeed, the late Charles Taze
Russell (1852-1916) was the founder and organizer of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract
Society and served as the editor of Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence
from its inception in July 1879. But to claim him as their founder is a gross
misinterpretation. And yet to deny that there is a link between the two would also be a
gross misinterpretation. The Jehovah's Witnesses are a product of one man, and Charles
Taze Russell it was not.
Joseph Franklin Rutherford, a lawyer
and pilgrim in the service of the Watch Tower Society, gained control of the Society
shortly after the death of Russell in October 1916. It was Rutherford who reorganized the
Society to its current organizational structure, to the dismay of many. The reorganization
went contrary to Russell's last will and testament and caused a schism in the group.
Thousands upon thousands left the Society feeling they had been betrayed. The goal was set
to continue the work of Pastor Russell, independent of the Society he founded.
By 1930 three quarters of the
original Bible Students associated with the Society divorced themselves to function
independently of what was then the main publishing house. Those who gave up their
Christian freedom stayed and in 1931, Rutherford, in deciding to differentiate between the
two groups renamed his; and thus the Jehovah's Witnesses were born. By then, the mold had
been set and the dye cast. The Jehovah's Witnesses would flourish under the leadership of
Rutherford, and succeeding leaders. Jehovah's Theocratic Organization was now in
existence.
The Independent Bible Students,
although a fraction in comparison to the Jehovah's Witnesses, were rejoicing in their
Christian freedom, and were functioning as they had since the days of Russell. Studying,
holding Conventions and building each other up in faith and love. In the 1930s, 40s and
50s as the Society tightened its grip, many former Bible Students along with Jehovah's
Witnesses were returning to their roots and seeking out their former brethren, who were
welcomed with open arms.
Much has been written in regards to
the Jehovah's Witnesses. Very little has been written about the Bible Student Movement,
who have divorced themselves from the Society and have function independently since 1917.
Perhaps because many view them as Jehovah's Witnesses. After all, both groups claim
Russell as their founder.
Yet Bible Students are looked upon
by their "cousins" the Jehovah's Witnesses as "evil" and
"apostates". The Society has even gone as far as stating that the Bible Students
no longer exist. Why the charade? Why has the Society chosen to deceive their followers in
regards the truth? Why are many Jehovah's Witnesses been chastised for reading Russell's
writings?
The following history is a
compilation of various articles and historical data from various sources, and will answer
the many questions asked. Although not claiming to be an exhaustive account of the life
and work of Charles Taze Russell. It will hopefully fill in the gaps of history that the
Society in their current version, "Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's
Kingdom" left out.
And so this work goes out in hopes
of shedding some light on a dark subject.
Note: This work will from time to
time be updated as new data is collected.
-----------------------
Rolando Rodriguez [1995]
Back to contents.
In the beginning ...
The Bible Student Movement had its
humble beginnings in the 1860s, however what led up to that humble beginning, began much
earlier. Early Christianity began to be eclipsed after the year 100 by a creeping
spiritual darkness of Babylonish religious teachings, Grecian and Roman pagan philosophies
and rank apostasy. The adversary ever so active to crush Christianity, had produced
apostates, false shepherds, "wolves in sheep's clothing," eventually to bring
about extinction to the once spiritually flourishing Christian congregation. In spite of
the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, the shadow of darkness continued over
the minds of misled Christians until the time came for the almighty to send forth his
Liberator, Jesus Christ, to deliver the true Christians from their Babylonish bondage.
The period from 1870 to 1900 proved
to be destiny-shaping years for this twentieth century. Forces political, religious and
commercial began to maneuver for position to control the incoming new scientific era. Men
and organizations were filled with fear of the unknown as to the fast-moving days of the
future, which some even visioned correctly as being cataclysmic. At the Vatican Council of
1869-70 the Roman Catholic church began to strengthen its organization for the immediate
future by declaring its autocratic head, the pope, infallible. The leading Protestant
religious organizations became spiritually unprogressive in their ways. Their clergy
sought to consolidate their power over the laity. This clerical assumption of greater
authority over their flocks meant a backward step from freedom of Christian thought and
worship on the part of the masses of professed Christians. Infidelity, higher criticism,
evolution, spiritism, atheism and communism began to invade and decimate the great world
religious organizations Many of the evangelical churches began to "modernize"
their false religious doctrines, not according to restored Bible truths, but according to
theories of higher criticism and evolution. The paganized modernist form of theology
inundated the churches.
Politically great forces were
stirring. The United States of America was just recovering from its Civil War (1861-1865)
to regain its strength rapidly for phenomenal expansion into a great world power. Germany
had won the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, to be further built up into a powerful European
colossus. Britain was passing through golden years of her Victorian era, sparring for
future bids of world control. Industrially, the United States, Britain, France and large
portions of Europe were undergoing a revolution in consequence of the invention of the
steam engine. The industrial revolution was augmented, as the years progressed, by the
discovery of electricity, invention of the telephone, the motorcar and the dozens of other
"miracles" of this age. Commercialism likewise rose to new heights as a
consequence of the industrialization of leading nations and the creation of new "gold
mine" business enterprises. Labor unionism also came to the fore to become an
antagonist of advancing capitalism. All this meant a wave of materialism, moneymaking and
pleasure-seeking. The invisible demonic powers of this old world produced glittering
snares of new enticements to blind the peoples to the incoming higher and finer values of
restored Christian truth.
Amid these rumblings of industrial,
commercial, social and religious changes early voices of small religious groups were heard
in their efforts to read the signs of the times and predict the imminent second coming of
Jesus. Various Adventist groups were busy in the United States and Europe, proclaiming a
visible return of Christ for 1873 or 1874, even though the American founder of their
movement, William Miller, had acknowledged his error and disappointment as to the former
set dates of 1843 and 1844. Earlier, the German Lutheran theologian Bengel (1687-1751) had
fixed upon 1836 as the marked date for the beginning of the millennium of Revelation 20:6.
In Scotland and England others, commonly known as "Irvingites," raised their
voices to announce 1835, 1838, 1864 and finally 1866 for Christ's return. Christian
writers such as Elliott and Cumming looked for the end in 1866, Brewer and Decker
predicted 1867 and Seiss favored 1870. In Russia, Claas Epp, a leader of the Mennonite
Brethren (Bruedergemeinde), and his associate fixed upon the date of 1889 for a great
cosmic happening. But all these widely proclaimed predictions came to complete
disappointment. Christ's return was destined to be, not a physical manifestation as they
had assumed, but rather, as the Scriptures now clearly indicate, an invisible presence of
glory and power to provoke the greatest crisis ever experienced by man on earth.
Still other voices were heard, but
these began to proclaim an impending invisible return of the Messiah. One of these groups
was led by George Storrs of Brooklyn, New York. He and his associates after 1870 published
a magazine entitled The Bible Examiner, setting forth their views that Christ's return
would be an invisible one. Another group headed by H. B. Rice of Oakland, California,
published a magazine called The Last Trump, heralding an invisible return as occurring in
the 1870's. A third group comes to our attention, this time of disappointed Second
Adventists who forsook that movement because of the failure of the Lord to return in 1873
as the Adventists had further predicted. This group was led by N. H. Barbour. They
radiated their activities from Rochester, New York, performing a preaching service by
sending out speakers to whatever churches would open their doors to them. They also
published a monthly, The Herald of the Morning. One of this group came into possession of
B. Wilson's The Emphatic Diaglott translation of the "New Testament," noticing
in it that, at Matthew 24:27, 37, 39, the word the King James Version rendered coming is
translated presence. This was the clue that led this group to advocate an invisible
presence of Christ, claiming it began in the fall of 1874.
Yet a fourth voice of proclaimers of
an invisible presence of Christ comes to view, a group of sincere students of the Bible at
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, with its Elder, C. T. Russell.
Back to contents.
Russell: The Early
Years
Like our Lord Jesus, whom he
emulated, very little is known about the childhood of Charles Taze Russell. We know from
secular sources that Russell had at least five other siblings. The second of two sons,
Charles was born of Scottish-Irish descent to Joseph and Elisa Birney in Old Allegheny,
Pennsylvania, on February 16, 1852. It seemed Charles was destined for greatness from the
time of his birth.
Charles Taze Russell was born with a
most exceptionally fine religious endowment. It was stated that before he was born his
mother consecrated him to the Lord, and afterwards gave him the most careful religious
training within her ability. [ZWT 08/01/05; R:3608] Although his mother died when he was
but a young child of nine, she no doubt instilled in him the fear of the Lord. As he spent
a lot of his free time pouring over the Scriptures with concordance in hand. He often
stated that he could not remember a time from childhood's first memories onward when he
was not consecrated [ZWT 11/01/04; ZWT 06/01/14; R:3456; R: 5477].
Inculcated in the doctrines and
creeds of Calvinism, His Godly zeal led him as a youth to "Go out at night to chalk
up words of warning in conspicuous places, where working men passing to-and-fro might see
them, that peradventure I might save some from this awful doom..." [Pastor Russell's
Sermons p. 517] He later joined the Congregational Church because it was more liberal.
Joseph Russell operated a clothing
store; "Russell's Haberdashery." Young Russell dedicated his time to his
father's business, he learned the business well, so well, that his father would send him
on business trips. At fifteen years of age Charles was in partnership with his father in a
growing chain of men's clothing stores throughout the Allegheny-Pittsburgh area. But while
things went well for young Russell in business, he was troubled in mind. When he was but a
lad of 16 years old, his zeal led him to convert an infidel acquaintance. The question was
posed to young Russell if he believed God to be perfect in wisdom, justice, love and
power. To this Charles answered "yes," his acquaintance asked him how such a God
could have absolutely predestined the vast majority of the race to eternal torment. The
boy answered that he could not understand it. Up to this time young Russell had not given
this doctrine much thought.
Troubled by the question young
Russell raised it in the circles of his church. Unable to get any satisfying answer, he
expressed his doubts on the matter. The report spread in the church that he was on the way
to becoming an infidel. The pastors and elders of the church appointed a special meeting
to solve his questions. But instead, they only increased his doubts. They told him that
the Bible taught the absolute predestination of the bulk of the race to eternal torment,
quoting such passages as they thought so taught. They convinced him that the God of the
Bible did in fact teach such a doctrine. Russell stood up and motioning to his pastor and
elders stated; "I believe God is perfect in wisdom, power, justice and love, and I
will not believe anything contrary to His character to be a revelation from Him. Therefore
I do not believe He gave the Bible as His revelation; for if He had given it as such, it
would agree with His wisdom, power, justice and love." With those word he left their
presence never to return. [The Parousia Messenger, p. 433].
Yet these doctrines of
predestination and eternal punishment still gave him particular difficulty, as time
passed, he just couldn't fathom how a god of love could predestinate persons to a fiery
hell of torment. We now find Russell as a child of 16 a unbeliever, not totally, though
ostensibly, in the Bible, but in the Calvinistic creeds, which he was taught to be the
right interpretation of the Bible. Russell was of too religious and logical a mind to be
content without a revealed religion. He therefore set out to learn what the true religion
was, and so to this end decided to investigate all religions until he would search out the
one true faith. His hunger for truth was so strong that he endeavors to study the
doctrines and creeds of both the great churches and those of the heathen faiths. He began
with that of the Chinese, whose idea of the creation is this: In the beginning all was
water. Then a god with a handful of earth boarded a boat and threw this earth into the
water, where it grew into our present earth. That was enough of the Chinese religion for
him! Worse absurdities than this made him reject Hinduism and Buddhism. The fact that
Mohammedanism was partly based on the Old and New Testaments impelled him to reject it.
And because Judaism was based in part on the Old Testament, this he too rejected. Thus his
rejection of all non-Christian religions left him for a while stranded high and dry on the
shores of unbelief, though all the while he devoutly held to God as perfect in wisdom,
justice, love and power and trusted Him as such. To his dismay he was disappointed.
He then began studying the creeds of
the great churches. Russell would later comment in regards his research among the creeds:
"Gradually I was led to see that though each of the creeds contained some elements of
truth, they were, on the whole, misleading and contradictory of God's Word." [ZWT
07/15/06; ZWT 06/01/16; R:3820]. by the time he was seventeen, young Charles although a
firm believer in an Almighty Creator, became skeptical, discarding the Bible and creeds of
the great churches. But not for long.
During the next few months Russell
continued to reflect over the subject of religion, unable to accept it, and yet unwilling
to let it go. His religious disposition could not be content with no religion; and what to
do troubled him. Finally he reasoned; I can at least believe so much of the Bible as is
contained in the Golden Rule Godward and manward: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all they heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul and with all thy strength;...and
thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. 22:37, 39).
Back to contents.
Stumbling onto
Adventism
One day in 1868 while taking a
stroll he dropped into a dusty, dingy little basement hall near his Federal Street store -
"to see if the handful who met there had anything more sensible to offer than the
creeds of the great churches. There, for the first time, I heard something of the views of
Second Adventists, the preacher being Mr. Jonas Wendell...Though his Scripture-exposition
was not entirely clear, and though it was very far from what we now rejoice in, it was
sufficient, under God, to reestablish my wavering faith in the divine inspiration of the
Bible, and to show that the records of the apostles and prophets are indissolubly linked.
What I heard sent me to my Bible to study with more zeal and more care than ever before,
and I shall ever thank the Lord for that leading." [ZWT 07/15/06; ZWT 06/01/16;
R:3821; Harvest Siftings, 1894, pp.93-95].
And back to the Bible young Russell
went to unlearn error and find the truth. Whatever he studied he made sure that it was in
harmony with God's character. When he stumbled upon Jesus' explanation of the law,
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," as meaning: "All things
whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them: (Matt.7:12), he
rejoiced. Thus he said, "I believe that much of the New Testament." This
prompted him to look up the context of Matt. 7:12, which he found to be a part of the
sermon on the Mount. He studied this in the light of God's character and recognized it to
be in harmony therewith. Therefore he accepted it. This moved him to desire to study more
of Jesus' teachings, which, accordingly, led him to study these as they found elsewhere in
the four Gospels. Always finding them in harmony with God's character. This moved him only
to accept all of Jesus' teachings in the Gospels as he understood them, but also greatly
to appreciate Jesus as a teacher Divinely inspired. Such appreciation of Jesus' teachings
prompted him to a study of the Gospels historically, resulting in his recognizing Jesus as
a perfect human being and the Son of God. But until then he rejected the New Testament,
except the Gospels. One day he noted the passage wherein Jesus said that the Spirit would
reveal to the Apostles such truths as Jesus would give them, and which they were as yet
unable to bear. He desired to know what those teachings were. Hence he began to study the
Acts, the Epistles and Revelation; and as he understood them he recognized their harmony
with God's character. Thus gradually, and that upon a right foundation, he came to believe
that the New Testament was the revelation of the God of wisdom, power, justice and love,
in whom he had always believed. But the Old Testament he continued to reject. The
following things gradually led him to believe in the Old Testament: He noticed that not
only did Jesus and the Apostles quote from the Old Testament, but used such quotations to
prove their doctrines. Hence he concluded that whatever they quoted from the Old Testament
was true. He later decided to study the connections from which these quotations were made;
and these he found to be in harmony with the quotation themselves and God's character.
Hence he accepted the connections of these contexts, and thus more and more of the Old
Testament became clear to him until his faith was confirmed in the prophetic writings and
in the historical writings which were closely interwoven with the prophetic writings.
Still he suspected the books of Moses, except those parts quoted by Jesus and the
Apostles; because he mistakenly was led to think that Moses made himself a dictator to
Israel and established a priesthood that tyrannized over the people. But deeper study
convinced him of his mistakes on these points; and he came to see that the Mosaic
legislation was the most benevolent, and freedom, equality and fraternity-inspiring
legislation ever inaugurated. Accordingly, he accepted also the Pentateuch as Divinely
inspired; and thus his faith accepted the whole Bible.
In 1870 young Russell began
associating with a small Bible study group in the Pittsburgh area. It is not certain if
this is the same study group whom he stumbled upon a few years prior, or if he started
this group as a result of his experiences with Jonas Wendell. Convinced that we were
living in a time definitely marked in the Scriptures, when the Lord would acknowledge to
His children on the watch, His divine plan, this small band of Bible students began
between the years 1870-1875 to see constant growth in grace, knowledge and love of God and
His Word. During those years of Bible study, they also began to see God's love, and its
provisions for the whole of mankind. Although it would be too lengthy to list all of the
Bible Student beliefs, the basics will be discussed in detail in the chapter titled: The
Divine Plan of the Ages.
In brief the class came to believe
according to their Scriptural understanding, that mankind came to his present state of
degradation through Adam who sinned. Jehovah God then made provisions for Adam and his
offspring to reconcile themselves to Him. This came in the manner of His Son, Christ
Jesus, who had been spoken of by the Holy Prophets of old.
Back to contents.
Unlearning Error
Russell was able to refine his
thoughts with the spiritual aid of such pioneers of the Adventist Movement as George W.
Stetson an earnest student of the Bible and pastor of the Advent Christian Church in
Edinboro, Pennsylvania and George Storrs, editor of the Bible Examiner in Brooklyn, New
York. Concerning these two and their assistance in helping him and the Pittsburgh class
unlearn errors he wrote:
"...We were then merely getting
the general outline of God's plan and unlearning many long-cherished errors, the time for
a clear discernment of the minutiae having not yet fully come. And here I should and do
gratefully mentioned assistance rendered by Brothers Geo. Stetson and Geo. Storrs...The
study of the Word of God with these dear brethren led, step by step, into greener pastures
and brighter hopes for the world." [R:3821]. It was from Storrs that Russell learned
the true condition of the dead and the mortality of the soul. Russell contributed articles
that were published in the Bible Examiner.
Back to contents.
The Herald of the
Morning
In 1876 at the age of 23, Russell
received a copy of the Herald of the Morning, a paper by Nelson H. Barbour. [Barbour
previous to 1874, published a monthly paper title, The Midnight Cry, pointing to 1874 as
the second advent of our Lord, its circulation reached 15,000. But with the failure of
Christ's physical return many were disenchanted in time prophecies. And so in re-examining
the prophecies, Barbour concluded that Christ had indeed returned in 1874, but invisibly,
Thus the title of his monthly journal was changed from The Midnight Cry to Herald of the
Morning in 1875]. He automatically associated its contents with Adventism, by its style
and pictures. With curiosity as to the new date for the burning of the earth, as
promulgated by the Adventist, Russell carefully poured over the magazines contents. To his
surprise he learned that Christ was not to return to destroy, as many believe and
associated His return with destruction, but to bless all the world. The Herald also taught
that Christ was to return invisibly, as a spirit, not in the flesh as many believed, and
that His return was not future but had already begun since 1874. This thought interested
young Russell, and so immediately he contacted Barbour informing him that his thoughts
were in harmony with his views, but that he wanted scriptural evidence as to why he
believed Christ returned invisibly in 1874, before he accepted it. This Barbour did
convincingly, when Russell paid his traveling expenses to visit him. Discussing the time
prophecies, Russell inquired of Barbour what was being done by him in the Herald. Barbour
stated that the Herald was practically suspended due to a lack of interest. To this
Russell encouraged him not to give up hope and sent Barbour with the needed finances to
continue the Herald and to start preparation of a book detailing the Bible truths and
chronology as they believed it to be.
Russell then closed out his
Philadelphia business and dedicated his remaining time engaging in the work of traveling
and preaching. Russell learned much from Barbour in regards to time prophecies as did
Barbour from Russell in regards to Restitution. So in 1877 they released a 196 page book
titled, The Three World, and Harvest of This World. The book was published by Barbour and
financed by Russell. It's sale was enough to supplement Russell's income so as to travel
and preach. It was decided that Barbour would stay behind in Rochester, New York and
publish the Herald while Russell would travel and preach as well as contribute an
occasional article for the columns of the Herald. Russell took along with him as a
traveling companion John H. Paton, a gentlemen who responded to their message to assist
him in keeping up the interest shown from both the book and earlier speaking engagements.
Paton also had experience in the publishing business, which later proved valuable.
In the same year (1877) while on
their preaching tour, Russell and Patton met a young Methodist minister by the name of
A.P. Adams, who after discussing the scriptures was convinced of its accuracy and heartily
accepted it. Russell then proceeded to introduce him to other individuals in the area who
had like dispositions.
Russell was later surprised and
elated to find that A.D. Jones, a clerk in his clothing business in Pittsburgh had also
accepted the message and joined them in promoting it. Sad to say he did not last long in
their company. As ambition got the best of him and he soon departed on his own.
Back to contents.
Disappointment,
Disagreement and Separation
In the book, The Three Worlds, on
page 108, Barbour had this to say concerning the resurrection: "We now purpose to
show that the time was due, and therefore the resurrection began, in the spring of 1875.
Not the resurrection of the great mass of mankind, who are to be raised in the flesh, with
the earthy, natural, or animal body; but the resurrection of those who, "sown a
natural body, are raised a spiritual body;" and therefore, as invisible to us as the
angels, or as Christ himself. This is what we understand to be the "second
birth," viz: an entrance into a second and higher life...the resurrection is now due,
although it does not now all occur at one and the same time, but 'every man in his own
order.'"
N.H. Barbour and C.T. Russell came
to believe as did the Adventist and many other Christian churches then and now, "that
at some time the living saints would be suddenly and miraculously caught away bodily,
thenceforth to be forever with the Lord. And, now, our acquaintance with time-prophecy led
us to expect this translation of the saints at the point of time in this age parallel to
the Lord's resurrection." [ZWT 07/15/06; R:3823]. Although they believed the
resurrection had begun in 1875 they also concluded that the last feet members would be
caught away by the end of 1878. Russell went on to explain: "We did not then see, as
we now do, that the date (1878) marked the time for the beginning of the establishment of
the kingdom of God, by the glorification of all who already slept in Christ, and that the
"change" which Paul mentions (1 Cor. 5:51) is to occur in the moment of dying,
to all the class described, from that date onward through the harvest period until all the
living members ("the feet") of the body of Christ shall have been changed to
glorious spirit beings. But when at that date nothing occurred which we could see, a
re-examination of the matter showed me that our mistake lay in expecting to see all the
living saints changed at once, and without dying--an erroneous view shared in by the whole
nominal church, and one which we had not yet observed or discarded...So this re-
examination showed further light upon the pathway and became a good cause for
encouragement, as evidencing the Lord's continual leading." [ZWT 07/15/06; R:3823].
In the spring of 1878, Nelson H.
Barbour disappointed in the seemingly failure of 1878 didn't recoil as did Russell.
Instead as Russell later stated Barbour began rejecting his plain, simple solution:
"Mr. Barbour seemed to feel that he must of necessity get up something new to divert
attention from the failure of the living saints to be caught away en masse." [ZWT
07/15/06; R:3823]. Barbour decided to introduce "New Light." According to
Russell:
"Mr. Barbour soon after wrote
an article for the Herald denying the doctrine of the atonement-denying that the death of
Christ was the ransom-price of Adam and his race, saying that Christ's death was no more a
settlement of the penalty of man's sins than would the sticking of a pin through the body
of a fly and causing it suffering and death be considered by an earthly parent as a just
settlement for the misdemeanor in his child." [ZWT 07/15/06; R:3823; Herald of the
Morning, July 1878].
Russell, after reading this article
was astonished and so decided to set matters straight by contributing an article in
support of the ransom doctrine; John Paton convinced too that Barbour was in error also
contributed an article in support of the ransom. And so from July through Chapter 1878,
went an ongoing battle in the pages of the Herald in regards the ransom doctrine.
After some thought, it was clear to
Russell that he would have to withdraw his support from the Herald and Barbour, both
editorially as he served as co-editor and financially since he was the Herald's financier.
And so in the spring of 1879. Charles Taze Russell withdrew all support from the magazine,
Herald of the Morning. In a letter to Barbour dated May 03, 1879, Russell explained his
reason:
"There has arisen a difference
of view between us as to the teaching of our Father's word, and while giving you credit
for all sincerity and honesty in your views, which I claim for myself in the opposite
view, yet I must be guided by my own understanding of our Father's word, and consequently
think you to be in error...The points of variance seem to me to be so fundamental and
important that the full fellowship and sympathy such as should exist among publishers and
editors of a paper or magazine, no longer obtains between you and me, and because this is
the case, I feel that our relationship should cease." [Jehovah's
Witnesses--Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, p. 48]. In a follow-up letter dated May 22, 1879,
Russell wrote:
"Now I leave the Herald with
you. I withdraw entirely from it, asking nothing from you...Please announce in next no. of
Herald the dissolution and withdraw my name." [Jehovah's Witnesses--Proclaimers of
God's Kingdom, p. 48].
Starting with the June issue,
Russell's name no longer appeared as an assistant editor of the Herald. Barbour continued
to publish the Herald until about 1903, when, according to available library records, it
ceased publication. However Barbour did publish a book in 1907, he later died in 1908.
Back to contents.
Zion's Watch Tower:
A New Beginning
In the year 1879 it became evident
of the many early voices announcing Christ's second coming were being chosen by the Lord.
Looking back it clearly appears that in those early days the Lord's hand was upon the
small Pittsburgh ecclesia under C.T. Russell's Eldership. For eight years prior to 1879
these "layman" students of the Bible had gained much experience as to right
Christian doctrine, prophetic time, and in preaching to the public as well as in printing
their new found truths. They were tested, too, as to their loyalty to the Bible on the
issue of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus, even though it meant severing of company with
former religious affiliates.
By 1879 they had become sure that
Christ's second coming would begin his invisible presence; that a hard time of world
distress was ahead; that there-after would follow a millennium - the thousand-year reign
of Christ, to bring about restitution of paradise conditions on earth with everlasting
life for men of good will from all nations; and that the glad tidings of such restitution
blessings should be heralded the world over. Their field experiences taught them that, as
people soon forgot sermons and lectures they heard, it was advisable to add an educational
service with the aid of books, pamphlets and magazines. They also came to realize that it
was necessary for them to become better equipped to do their on writing, printing and
publishing instead of leaving these operations to other so- called "Bible
groups."
Having now withdrawn their editorial
financial support from the Rochester group's monthly, "The Herald of the
Morning", the Pittsburgh ecclesia decided to embark upon a great project, in regards
to this project, Russell stated:
"I therefore understood it to
be the Lord's will that I should start another journal in which the standard of the cross
should be lifted high, the doctrine of the ransom defended, and the good tidings of great
joy proclaimed as extensively as possible."
Russell's field experience taught
him that, as people soon forget sermons and lectures they heard, it was advisable to add
an educational service with the aid of books, pamphlets and magazines. He also came to
realize that it was necessary for the class to become better equipped to do their own
writing, printing and publishing instead of leaving these operations to other so-called
"Bible groups."
So Russell with the aid of the
Pittsburgh class began publishing for the first time their own monthly magazine. And so,
July 01, 1879, saw release of the first issue of Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's
Presence. Soon 6,000 copies had been distributed. [ZWT August 1879, P. 2] Class chairman
C.T. Russell was chosen to be the editor, with five other mature Bible students serving as
regular contributors. The new journal's first word's were-
"This is the first number of
the first volume of "Zion's Watch Tower," and it may not be amiss to state the
object of its publication. That we are living "in the last Days" - "the day
of the Lord" -"the end" of the Gospel age, and consequently, in the dawn of
the "new" age, are facts not only discernible by the close student of the Word,
led by the spirit, but the outward signs recognizable by the world bear the same
testimony, and we are desirous that the "household of faith" be fully awake to
the fact." [ZWT July 01, 1879 p. 1]
Here, then, we have the story of the
birth of "The Watch Tower" Magazine. In 1892 it was changed from a monthly to a
semimonthly, to keep pace with the ever-expanding flow of new Scriptural material. The
record of its circulation is most interesting. From its initial copies of 6,000 in 1879,
to 25,000 by 1904 (Z 12/15/04, p. 371)
Russell having spent the years 1877
and 1878 largely in preaching afield, zealously going from city to city, and also by this
time having closed out most of his previously successful business interests, which had
netted him more than a quarter of a million dollars, it became necessary, in 1879, for him
permanently to locate in Pittsburgh. (A Great Battle in the Ecclesiastical Heavens, J.F.
Rutherford, pp. 16-18). Furthermore, in that year he was married to Maria Frances Ackley,
who had become a co-laborer and a contributor of articles to the Watch Tower magazine.
They came to have no children. Nearly eighteen years later, in 1897, due to Watch Tower
Society members' objecting to a woman's teaching and being a member of the board of
directors contrary to 1 Timothy 2:12, Russell and his wife disagreed about the management
of the journal, Zion's Watch Tower.
Thereupon she voluntarily separated
herself from him after they had arranged a financial settlement to enable her to live
apart from the Society's headquarters. This agreed separation, however, had absolutely
nothing to do with a much later divorce proceeding (1906), charging "adultery,"
as clerical enemies of Russell slanderously tried and still try to maintain. The court
records plainly fix the lie to all those who falsely accused and even now accuse Russell
as having been an immoral man, divorced foe adultery. ("That Mrs. Russell herself did
not believe and never has believed that her husband was guilty of immoral conduct is shown
by the (court) record in this case where her own counsel (on page 10) asked Mrs. Russell
this question: "You don't mean that your husband was guilty of adultery?" Ans.
"No." - A Great Battle, p. 19; Z 07/15/06. pp. 211-227)
During 1879 and 1880 efforts were
made to organize small ecclesias of interested ones, that is, Watch Tower subscribers.
More than thirty Bible study groups had come into existence in Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
New York, Massachusetts, Delaware, Ohio and Michigan. In 1880 Russell visited these
ecclesias, spending at least six hours of study with each group. (Z 06/80 p. 8; 09/80, p.
8; 11/80, p. 8) A special songbook had been prepared, called "Songs of the
Bride." (Z 09/79, p. 4) By this time it had become understood from the Scriptures
that the Lord's "evening meal" should be celebrated as a Memorial only once each
year on Abib (Nisan) 14, the Passover date, (reckoned as the nearest full moon after the
spring equinox as determined in Palestine. (Z 03/15/97, p. 86). This was quite contrary to
the unscriptural custom of churches that held the "Lord's Supper" or
"Mass" many times each year. In 1879 and for a few years thereafter all the
interested associates traveled to Pittsburgh to meet with this first and largest of the
early ecclesias to celebrate jointly what they called the "Anniversary Supper."
At the same time they conducted a small convention for Christian study and fellowship,
which annually strengthened the growing association, (Z 04/15/92, p. 14; "Believers'
Convention, attendance 400.)
These early ecclesias were organized
on the congregational and Presbyterian style of church government. All members
democratically voted on certain matters of business and also elected a board of seven or
more "elders" (presbyters) who directed the general governmental interests of
the class. These ecclesias were loosely tied together merely by accepting the leadership
and pattern of activity of the Pittsburgh ecclesia where Russell and other watch Tower
writers were elders. The Pittsburgh class held meetings on Sundays from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m.
to hear Bible lectures; on Wednesday evening from 7:30 to 9:00 "Cottage
Meetings" for prayer and personal testimony were held, and Friday evenings "Dawn
Circles" were conducted for Bible Study (Z 01/81, p. 7; 04/81, p. 8; 06/97, p. 158).
During 1880 Russell and his helpers
were further busy in writing several tracts, each being numbered. After 1891 this tract
series first regularly marked "Bible Students Tracts" also were called "Old
Theology Quarterly." They were provided free for general public distribution by Watch
Tower readers to expose fallacies of church doctrines (Z 12/80, p.8; 01/81, p. 3; 03/89,
p.7) Soon it was recognized that there was need for organizing a definite society to guide
and direct the growing publishing work. So early in 1881 Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society
was established as an unincorporated administrative agency with Russell as its manager.
Russell and others liberally contributed $35,000.00 to get this tract-publishing
organization going, (Z 01/82, p. 2). They then moved from their 1879 headquarters located
at 101 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, to new and larger premises in 40 Federal Street building
from where he had formerly directed his early chain-store enterprise. Through this new
arrangement began to flow millions of Bible tracts and the printing of additional Watch
Tower issue put out as pamphlets. By 1881 Russell had completed writing the large
pamphlets entitled "Tabernacle Teachings" and "Food for Thinking
Christians," the latter being a 162 page booklet which was printed and distributed as
a special edition of the Watch Tower for September, 1881 ("This Society (Zion's Watch
Tower Tract Society) is organized for the purpose of spreading literature similar to this
pamphlet, published by Zion's Watch Tower, an eight-page monthly journal. This pamphlet is
a number of said journal put into more convenient shape, and during the last four years
this Society has paid for and circulated over a million copies of it free of charge."
- Food for Thinking Christians, 1881, p. 162)
Russell, still under thirty years of
age, and his enthusiastic associates were eager to get their message spread broadcast as
quickly as possible. This is manifest in the following 1881 Watch Tower announcement,
especially so when one recalls that there were only about a hundred active associates with
the movement:
"Wanted 1,000 Preachers. A vast
field is open for the employment of the time and talent of every consecrated man and woman
to whom the Lord had committed a knowledge of His truth ... To those situated that they
can give one-half or more of their time exclusively to the work of the Lord, we have a
plan to suggest... viz: That you go forth into large or small cities, according to your
ability, as Colporteurs or Evangelists, seek to find in every place the earnest
Christians,... As few could afford to travel, pay their board and clothe themselves
without some income, we propose to furnish the tracts and Day Dawns free, and to allow any
such person to take subscriptions for the Watch Tower, using the money obtained from both
of these sources,...in defraying necessary expenses." (Z 04/81, p. 7)
Eventually by 1888 fifty had
volunteered for this full-time service toward the "1,000" eagerly desired. They
were requested to submit weekly reports to the Pittsburgh office (Z 10/92, p. 301) An
effort also was made to get all Watch Tower reader and especially all congregation-meeting
attendees to commence a share in the field witness work by distributing tracts to their
friends and neighbor. Note the following early instructions of 1881 as to field preaching:
"To those who would go forth to
use either much or little of their time, we would say: It is a matter or great importance
not only to teach the right thing but to present truth in a proper manner and
order...Present first the Restitution and the beauties of God's unfolding plan; then show
that all this awaits and is dependent on the King and kingdom coming. Then, when your
hearer or reader has come to love the King and to long for his kingdom, may be quite soon
enough to present the manner of His coming- that it is not Jesus the man but Jesus a
spiritual man, who comes, unseen,...And lastingly present "the time", that now
we are "in the last Days of the Son of Man." (Z 04/81, p. 8) In this way
gradually hundred of Christian Bible Students were trained to have a share in the work of
witnessing for Christ.
Other manner of witnessing were also
undertaken, Russell later commented:
"The manager of the principal
paper of New York City agreed to send a copy of the Tract to their entire list of
subscribers, and several other papers of Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and New York
favored us similarly in the work, for which they have our sincere thanks." (Harvest
Siftings, 1884, p.114; Z 10-11/81, p. 5) Additionally, other methods used:
"from an apparently small
beginning, the tract work has spread to the immense proportions of 1,200,000 copies,
...employed hundreds of men, women and boys in preparation and distribution, nearly 500
boys being employed to distribute in London, and about 300 in New York-other cities in
proportion. The distribution was made in the larger cities at the church doors on
Sundays." (Harvest Siftings, 1894, p. 10-11/81, p. 5)
Also in 1881 two brothers were sent
to Britain to augment spreading the work to Europe and they reported the distribution of
100,000 pamphlets in London and 65,000 in Scotland's Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and
Aberdeen, (Harvest Siftings, 1894, p. 10-11/81, p. 6).
Back to contents.
Expansion
Many letters kept coming to the
Society's head office showing the heart reaction of Because of continuing expansion of its
work, legal incorporation of the Society established in 1881 became necessary. After
proper application, finally on Chapter 13, 1884, Judge F.H. Collier of the Court of Common
Pleas for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, granted a legal charter that was duly recorded
Chapter 15, 1884, thus giving the Society life, (Z 01/85, p. 1). Its original corporate
name, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society, was changed in 1896, by court-sanctioned
amendment, to its present name, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The Society's general
purpose is stated in its charter's Article II:
"The purpose for which the
corporation is formed is, the dissemination of Bible truths in various languages by means
of the publication of tracts, pamphlets, papers and other religious documents, and by the
use of all other lawful means which its Board of Directors, duly constituted, shall deem
expedient for the furtherance of the purpose stated." The Charter provided for a
board of seven directors, three to serve as officers. The original officers were:
Charles Taze Russell, President
William L.. Mann, Vice-President
Maria F. Russell, Secretary-Treasurer
While the Society had been
circulating a bound book entitled Day Dawn, written by an early associate, J.H. Patton, it
was decided for Russell to become writer of a new book to be called Millennial Day Dawn,
which after many difficulties appeared in 1886 as Volume 1 of a promised series. Later
this became known, instead, as Volume 1 of Studies in the Scriptures as well as The Divine
Plan of the Ages. More than six million copies were distributed over a forty-year period.
It covered more clearly subjects previously explained in Food for Thinking Christians and
in Tabernacle Teachings (later called Tabernacle Shadows of the Better Sacrifices.
(Harvest Siftings, 1894, pp. 107, 114, 115; Z 07/86, p. 1; 08/86, p. 1.) Its sixteen
chapters (352 pages) included "Our Lord's Return," "Ransom and
Restitution," "Plan of the Ages," and "The Kingdom of God,"
Chapter 15, "The Day of Jehovah" had this to say:
"The 'Day of Jehovah' is the
name of that period of time in which God's kingdom, under Christ, is to be gradually 'set
up'...while the kingdoms of this world are passing away and Satan's power and influence
over men are being bound. It is everywhere described as a dark day of intense trouble and
distress and perplexity upon mankind...That some of the saints will still be in the flesh
during at least a part of this burning time seems possible. Their position in it, however,
will differ from that of others, not so much in that they will be miraculously preserved
(through it is distinctly promised that their bread and water shall be sure), but in the
fact that, being instructed from God's Word, they will not feel the same anxiety and
hopeless dread that will overspread the world...The troubles of this 'Day of Jehovah' will
give opportunity for preaching the good tidings of coming good, such as is seldom will
follow the footsteps of the Master, and be the good Samaritans binding up the wounds and
pouring in the oil and wine of comfort and cheer." (DPA, pp. 307, 338, 342; Z
08/15/11, pp. 320, 329.)
By the end of the 80's they had
outgrown the quarters at 151 Robinson Street (earlier designated as 44, and then 40,
Federal Street), Allegheny, Pennsylvania. (Z 12/84, p. 1; 03/87, p. 1) They decided to
build, and in 1889 they moved into their own large, handsome four-story brick structure
costing $34,0900.00, located at 58 and 60 (later renumbered as 610-614) Arch Street,
Allegheny (North Side, Pittsburgh), containing quarters for a small "Bible House
Family," printing works, shipping rooms, an assembly place for about 200, an office,
an editorial department and a store front. They named it the "Bible House," (Z
01.90, p. 1; 09/01/00, pp. 260, 272) Years later, the Society's board of directors
accepted the donation of title to this plant, the board valuing the building's net equity
and all of its equipment at $164,033.65. (Originally this property was legally held by the
Tower Publishing Company, a Private Concern personally managed by C.T. Russell. In April,
1898, the Ownership of this plant and real estate was transferred to the legal
corporation, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Z 04/15/98, p. 114; Z12/15/98, p. 369.)
By 1890 there were about 400 active
associates of the Society. The only report available shows the placement of 841,095
tracts, 395,000 extra copies of the Watch Tower magazine, and 85,000 Millennial Dawn bound
books between 1886 and 1891. (Z 01/01/92, pp. 9, 10)
Through the years five other
powerfully written bound volumes of the series called Millennial Dawn were produced by
Russell, each playing its part in gathering more of the Little Flock members. Volume 2,
The Time Is At Hand, was released in 1889; Volume 3, Thy Kingdom Come, in 1891; Volume 4,
The Battle of Armageddon (originally called The Day of Vengeance), in 1897; Volume 5, The
At-One-Ment Between God and Man, in 1899; and finally Volume 6, The New Creation, in 1904.
A seventh volume the author had promised but did not survive to write it was released in
1917 called The Finished Mystery, this was written by C.J. Woodworth and George Fisher.
Particularly from the early 1880's
Russell's writings had been circulating in Europe where small groups of Bible students
were being gathered together. So in 1891 Russell as the Society's president made his first
trip abroad to stimulate and expand the interest in countries outside the United States
and Canada. Two months were set aside for this missionary tour. From New York City
Russell's party sailed for Belfast, Ireland. From there, after a meeting with friends,
they went on to visit other groups and historic places in Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh;
then to Copenhagen, Denmark; Germany's Berlin and Leipzig; Vienna, Austria; Ischenev in
Russia; Constantinople, Turkey; Athens, Greece; Jerusalem in Palestine; Egypt's Cairo and
the Pyramids; Rome, Italy; Berne, Switzerland; Paris, France; Brussells, Belgium;
Amsterdam, Holland; and then to London and Liverpool, at each of which Russell spoke to
150 before returning to New York. Of this tour he reports:
"We saw no opening for the
truth in Russia...nothing to encourage us to hope for any harvest in Italy or Turkey or
Austria or Germany...The Italians have been so long under the baneful influence of the
Papacy that they, like the French, are rapidly turning to open infidelity...But Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and especially England, Ireland and Scotland are fields ready
and waiting to be harvested." (Z. 11/91, p. 148; Z. 07/91, p. 956) At London a
publications depot was set up following Russell's visit; and then in 1900 the Society's
first branch office was established there at 131 Gipsy Lane, Forest Gate, East London. (Z.
05/00, p. 146)
Also after this foreign trip
arrangements were made to begin publishing various books and pamphlets in German, French,
Swedish, Dano-Norwegian, Polish, Greek, and later in Italian. With its January 01, 1892
issue, the Watch Tower began to publish in each issue the "International Sunday
School Lessons" whereby a short commentary study was made of the
Protestant-denominational chosen "golden text" for each Sunday's scheduled
lesson.
"Suggestive thoughts designed
to assist those of our readers who attend Bible classes, where these lessons are used;
that they may be enabled to lead others into fulness of the Gospel." (Z. 01/01/92, p.
13)
Now it became apparent that there
was a need to hold conventions in various parts of the country other than at Pittsburgh
with the annual Memorial celebration, as had been the practice of several years. So in
1893 a convention was arranged for Chicago, August 20-24, where the Columbian Exposition
(World's Fair) was being held that summer. Those traveling to Chicago for that assembly
thus were enabled to obtain special rail fare rates.
"The number in attendance was
about 260...Following the manna text came a discourse of about an hour and a half, then an
adjournment for dinner, after which the afternoon, from 2 until 5, was devoted to the
public answering of questions. The last day was devoted to the interest of the colporteur
work; and on the day after the close of the Convention, some of the experienced
colporteurs remained with some of the less successful and beginners, and held a school of
colportuering- giving instructions, pointing out good and bad methods. manners and
expressions...(about 50 colporteurs attended). The Calvary Baptist Church of Chicago very
kindly granted us the use of their baptistry; and, in all, seventy symbolized their
baptism into Christ's death by immersion into water. The proportion of brethren and
sisters was about equal, and their ages ranged from 17 to 70 years." (Z. 09/01 and
09/15/93, p. 280)
Many letters kept coming to the Society's head office showing the heart reaction of those
being called to associate with the Lord's people. Historically, the activity of C.T.
Russell through the activities of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society from 1909 to
1914 must be viewed largely with respect to the warning work of proclaiming the fateful
year 1914. For thirty-two years since 1877 the Bible Students had publicly set forth the
chronological proof and the physical facts indicating that the "gentile times"
were due to end in the fall of 1914. (Z. Oct/Nov/81, p. 3)
During the two decades prior to 1914
explosive forces had been generating among the Gentiles nations that had become dynamos of
nationalism. Under an enlightened liberalism there might have been a period of great
advancement for the general welfare by man's harnessing and utilizing all new inventions,
by industrial build-ups, by scientific developments, and by acquired natural wealth usable
for the common good. But, no, the Devil was at the helm of these ships of state. Instead,
an armaments race had begun among the nations, each side striving to outdo the other for
offsetting the balance of power. Old-world thinking, religious and political, was forced
to adjust itself to this pattern of national rivalries. Truly the masses of mankind were
being herded for the twentieth- century global debacle of nations. Amid such feverish
Gentile madness these dedicated servants of the Lord embarked upon their final, all out
warning work concerning 1914.
Back to contents.
Relocating to
Brooklyn, New York To undertake an all-out campaign of world-wide proportions the
Society's twenty-year old four-story "Bible House" headquarters in Allegheny,
Pennsylvania, had become inadequate, besides being not strategically located for world
shipping and communication. In 1908 representatives of the Society, including its legal
counselor, J.F. Rutherford, (W 1919, p. 18) were sent to Brooklyn, New York, to negotiate
the purchase of more desirable quarters. Those quarters Russell himself had found on an
earlier trip to New York. They bought the old "Plymouth Bethel," a mission
structure completed in 1868 for nearby Plymouth Congregational Church. This mission, at
13-17 Hicks Street, Brooklyn, had long been used in connection with Plymouth Church (built
in 1849 on Orange Street, near Hicks) where about half a century earlier antislavery
sermons were preached by the noted Brooklyn clergyman, Henry Ward Beecher. They also
purchased the old Beecher residence at 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, where other
notables, even Abraham Lincoln, are said to have conferred with Beecher in the 1860's. On
January 31, 1909, some 350 attended the dedication of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, the new
name for the now-renovated former "Plymouth Bethel." Its second-floor
auditorium, seating 800, gleamed in soft color, olive green prevailing, with tastefully
artistic Bible text wall decorations. The street floor was altered to be the Society's
headquarters operating office. The large basement floor had been turned into a small
printery, stock and shipping department. Soon, too, the home at 124 Columbia Heights had
been readied fore occupancy by more than thirty full-time members of the headquarters
staff. "The new home we shall call 'Bethel,' and the new office and auditorium, 'The
Brooklyn Tabernacle'; these names will supplant the term 'Bible House.' ( W 1909, pp. 67,
68) By 1911 a spacious new dormitory addition had been completed , adjoining the rear of
Bethel and fronting on Furman Street, further enlarging the facilities. (W 1917, p. 53)
To hold this new property in New
York state and to do business as a recognized religious body within this state it was
necessary to form a New York Corporation. Such corporation came into legal existence
February 23, 1909, under the name, PEOPLES PULPIT ASSOCIATION as decreed by then New York
Supreme Justice Isaac N. Miller. This New York corporation was structured similar to that
of the Pennsylvania corporation, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
From 1909 onward a monthly tract -
first called "People's Pulpit ," then "Everybody's Paper," and still
later, "The Bible Students Monthly" - was widely distributed annually in
millions of copies, clearly explaining vital Bible truths and warnings the Gentiles
nations of the fateful year 1914. And so during several years these earnest united workers
became more and more widely known as Bible Students, or International Bible Students. In
fact, in 1914 the identical work in the British field was legally established under law of
Great Britain, being incorporated under the name INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION.
All three of these corporations were organized for identical purposes and they
harmoniously work together. (W 1917 pp. 327-330, W 1914, p. 71)
The Watch Tower Society now in its
Brooklyn headquarters had become equipped to keep abreast with the continually expanding
gigantic publishing work then under way. The years from 1909 to 1914 saw an
ever-increasing output of tracts, pamphlets and bound books running into many millions.
The 1914 warning work was augmented by the organizing of an international newspaper
syndicate service that sent Russell's sermon for each week to approximately three thousand
newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. Ten million people were reached each
week in this manner it was estimated. (PRS pp. 3, 4; W 1909, p. 269; 1916, p. 388; 1912,
p. 26)
The public platform also was geared
to expanding witness about the nearing year 1914. In 1911 alone, as officially reported,
12, 113 public and semi-public lectures had been given all over the world. fifty-eight
pilgrims were regularly sent on assigned routes from the Society's Brooklyn headquarters
to serve in this public-speaking campaign, in which also many hundreds of local resident
speakers carried on the "Class Extension Work," endeavoring to organize new
Bible classes. (W 1911, pp. 453, 454) Much growth resulted. Finally by 1914 there were
1,200 eccelsias or classes operating in union with the Watch Tower Society at home and
abroad. For 1915 the partial number reported as attendees of the annual Memorial
celebration of Christ's death was 15,430, and by this time there were 55,000 Watch Tower
subscribers, thus indicating the approximate number associated in the warning and witness
work. (W. 1915, pp. 127, 372).
In this period of witness the demand
for personal appearances of the Society's president, C.T. Russell, to address public
gathering in large centers, also was exceedingly insistent. To Europe he went every year
for speaking engagements; and in North America he traveled extensively on "convention
tour" special trains, accompanied by scores (once 240) of eager fellow workers,
visiting all large cities in the United States and Canada. (W 1909, pp. 183, 196, 259,
298). Thus he personally addressed thousands in many parts of the English-speaking world.
(W 1913, p. 218) From Chapter, 1911, to March, 1912, Russell, as chairman of a committee
of seven men, made a round-the-world- tour, spreading seeds of truth that in time brought
into fruitful action additional groups of anointed Christians in far-flung areas of the
globe. For local lectures and for study of foreign missions the committee called at the
following places: Honolulu, Hawaii; Yokohama, Tokyo, Kobe and Nagasaki, Japan; Shanghai
and Hong Kong, China; Manila, Philippine Islands; Singapore and Penang, Straits
Settlements; Colombo, Ceylon; Trivandrum, Kottarakara, Calcutta, Benares, Lucknow and
Bombay, India; Aden, Arabia; Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt; Piraeus, Athens, Corinth and
Patras, Greece; Brindisi and Rome, Italy; Paris, France; and then London, England, and
finally New York. (W 1911, p. 434; W 1912, pp. 123-138. CR 1912, pp. 7-387). Truly an
extensive journey to gird the earth with the warning message of the approaching end of
"Gentile Times" in 1914. Before Russell's death in October 31, 1916 it is said
that he traveled more than a million miles, preached more than 340,000 sermons, and wrote
books totaling over 50,000 pages. (Pittsburgh Press, August 23, 1953, Magazine section, p.
286) By this time the Society's publications were appearing in 15 languages.
To offset any private wild
speculations as to 1914, Russell published the following in the Watch Tower; he stated:
"There surely is room for
slight differences of opinion on this subject and it behooves us to grant each other the
widest latitude. The lease of power to the Gentiles may end in October, 1914, or in
October, 1915. And the period of intense strife and anarchy 'such as never was since there
was a nation' may be the final ending of the Gentile Times or the beginning of Messiah's
Reign. But we remind all of our readers again, that we have not prophesied anything about
the Times of the Gentiles closing in a time of trouble nor about the glorious epoch which
will shortly follow that catastrophe. We have merely pointed out what the Scriptures say,
giving our views respecting their meaning and asking our readers to judge, each for
himself, what they signify. These prophecies still read the same to us ... However some
may make positive statements of what they know, and of what they do not know, we never
indulge in this; but we merely state that we believe thus and so, for such and such
reasons." (W 1912, p. 377)
Back to contents.
The Photo-Drama of
Creation
From 1912 to the beginning of 1914
Russell spent a small fortune (over $300,000.00; W 1914, p. 375) in preparing the
Photo-Drama of Creation, to spread Bible knowledge to the masses of people during and
after 1914. Although use of recorded talks and music synchronized with projected moving
and still pictures was an art then in infancy, nevertheless Russell boldly proceeded to
pioneer this field. In primitive studios in New York it produced a combined movie-film and
picture-slide show of rare beauty, synchronized with which was a large variety of choicest
musical recordings and 96 phonograph-record talks , each 4 minutes long explaining the
principal features of the Bible. Describing it, The Watch Tower of 1914 said:
"Naturally our readers are
deeply interested in the Photo- Drama of Creation. All of you have heard more or less
concerning its preparation during the past two years. The work has been more tedious than
we expected. All who have seen it concede that it is very beautiful. A minister, after
seeing two parts, said, 'I have seen only one-half of the DRAMA, but already have learned
from it more about the Bible than I learned in my three years' course in the theological
seminary." ... It includes everything appertaining to the creation of earth-animals,
man, the experiences of mankind for the past six thousand years and work of the thousand
years of Messiah's kingdom. It divides these into four parts- four Entertainments with
appropriate music, etc. Part I carries us from star nebula to the creation of the world
and down to the deluge-down to Abraham's time. Part II reaches from Israel's deliverance
from Egypt, wilderness experiences, etc., down through the periods of the Kings to the
time of Elisha, the Prophet. Part III continues the story from Daniel's time down to the
time when the Logos was made flesh at the birth of Jesus, his boyhood, manhood, baptism,
ministry, miracles, crucifixion, death, resurrection. Part IV begins at Pentecost and
traces the experiences of the Church during the past nineteen centuries to our day and
beyond for a thousand years to the glorious consummation." (W 1914, pp. 105, 106)
Many complete and unabridged sets of
this colorful sound drama were produced, trained traveling supervisors and operators
taking it to millions of people in free showings at the largest auditoriums and pictures
places of North America, Europe and Australia. This new medium for Bible education was
ready in time to be shipped to Germany and other foreign countries where showings during
the first world war brought comfort to multitudes of bewildered peoples. (W 1914, p. 142)
A truly great witness was given in this manner. Incidentally, the Supreme Court of Idaho
granted the Bible Students a victory over opposers who objected to Sunday showings of this
Photo-Drama. (State v. Morris, February 23, 1916), 28 Idaho 599' 155 P. 296). During the
first few months of 1914 the clergy and others poured considerable ridicule upon Russell
and the Bible Students Movement for failing to see anything happening to the Gentile
nations. But all this ridicule stopped when nation after nation and kingdom after kingdom
began cascading into what now is called the first world war. From July 27 onward into
August of that year was a time of world-shaking surprises. A typical public-press reaction
to the situation was published August 30, 1914, by a leading New York City newspaper, THE
WORLD. "End of All Kingdoms in 1914 -'Millennial Dawners' 25 year prophecy" was
the arresting headline of a long feature article in that journal's Sunday magazine section
Pages 4 and 17), from which we quote:
"According to the Calculations
of Rev. Russell's 'International Bible Students,' This Is the Time of Trouble' Spoken of
by the Prophet Daniel, the Year 1914 Predicted in the Book "The Time Is at Hand,' of
which Four Million Copies Have Been Sold, as the Date of the Downfall of the Kingdoms of
Earth. "The terrific war outbreak in Europe had fulfilled an extraordinary prophecy.
For a quarter of a century past, through preachers and through press, the 'International
Bible Students', best known as 'Millennial Dawners,' have been proclaiming to the world
that the Day of Wrath prophesied in the Bible would dawn in 1914. 'Look out for 1914!' has
been the cry of the hundreds of traveling evangelists who, representing this strange
creed, have gone up and down the country enunciating the doctrine that 'the Kingdom of God
is at hand.' ...
Although millions of people must
have listened to these evangelists, although one of their books, "The Time Is At
Hand," has had a circulation of more than four million copies, and although their
propaganda has been carried on through religious publications and a secular press service
involving hundreds of country newspapers, as well as through lectures, debates, study
classes, and even moving pictures, the average man does not know that such a movement as
the 'Millennial Dawn' exist ... Rev. Charles T. Russell is the man who has been
propounding this interpretation of the Scriptures since 1874. ... 'In view of this strong
Bible evidence,' Rev. Russell wrote in 1889, 'we consider it an established truth that the
final end of the kingdoms of this world and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God
will be accomplished by the end of A.D. 1914.' ... But to say that the trouble must
culminate in 1914-that was peculiar. For some strange reason, perhaps because Rev. Russell
has a very calm, higher-mathematics style of writing instead of flamboyant soap box
manners, the world in general has scarcely taken him into account. The students over in
his 'Brooklyn Tabernacle' say that this was to be expected, the world never did listen to
divine warnings and never will, until after the day of trouble is past ... And in 1914
comes war, the war which everybody dreaded but which everybody thought could not really
happen. Rev. Russell is not saying 'I told you so'; and he is not revising the prophecies
to suit the current history. He and his students are content to wait-to wait until
October, which they figure to be the real end of 1914."
And so it proved to be that about
October 1, 1914, the 2,520 years of divine tolerance of the Gentile nations' assumed
sovereignty over the earth came to a legal end. C.T. Russell and the Bible Student
Movement were right in their thirty-year public campaign of warning the Gentile nations of
the fateful year 1914. (W. 1914, p. 371) Individually, however, some who had shared in
giving that warning were disappointed in that their incorrectly thought of themselves as
due to go to heaven in 1914 to be with the Lord. Many also inaccurately thought that the
world war which began in 1914 would merge into the "battle of the great day of God
Almighty," Armageddon, and thus cleanse the earth of all opposition to righteousness.
C.T. Russell and his associates gave
all of their strength and fortunes in prosecuting as vigorous a campaign as was possible
in their time under the guidance of the Lord's holy spirit. The years 1915 and 1916 saw a
decline to the period of witnessing activities amidst growing opposition, ridicule and
world-wide disruption. (W 1915, p. 371) Toward the end of 1916 Russell began to fail
rapidly; and finally, on a return speaking trip from California, he died aboard a train
near Pampa, Texas, October 31. (W 1916, p. 338) By the fruits he brought forth in his
multitude of labors as a minister of the Gospel, Brother Russell surely proved to be that
faithful and wise servant. He had fought valiantly in defending Bible truths. During his
32 years as President of the Society, his many devoted Christian associates supported him
to perform a phenomenal work under the leadership of the foremost faithful servant, Christ
Jesus, to the praise of the creator. (W. 1917, pp. 131-136, 323-326; W 1916, pp. 356-
359).
Back to contents.
A Servant is Taken
On October 31, 1916, on a railroad
train eastward bound through Texas, Pastor Charles Taze Russell, Familiarly known to
thousands of his brethren in Christ the world over as "Brother Russell", passed
away. The news of his death spread rapidly, and for a time those who knew and loved him
for his work's sake thought and spoke of little else as they met one another except that
"Brother Russell is dead." Somehow many of the Bible Students felt that Pastor
Russell would remain with the Church in the flesh as long as there was work to do, and it
was difficult to grasp the hard fact that now he was gone.
Forty years of missionary effort by
a group who were thus inspired to the love of God resulted in thousands accepting the
message and becoming "truth people." Nearly a hundred thousand subscribed to The
Watch Tower. Twelve hundred local groups of Bible Students elected him as their pastor.
Some of these groups numbered more than a thousand, many of them in the hundreds. The
Brooklyn and London Tabernacle congregations were outstanding among them.
But now Brother Russell was dead!
That he died while still active in the missionary field did not alter the fact that he no
longer could be the pace-setter for the zealous workers who loved the truth they received
through him and who wanted to lay down their lives to give it to others. He was dead, and
the brethren were stunned. What now?
Back to contents.
Siftings, Schisms and
Separation
After the death of Pastor Russell,
the Watch Tower Society began to fall apart. 1914 failed to bring about the glorification
of the Saints, many of the Bible Students were still somewhat at a loss. Some had even
fallen away from the association in disappointment. But if this were not enough, a bitter
power struggle occurred at Watch Tower headquarters over control of the Society.
In 1917, Joseph Franklin Rutherford,
the Society's lawyer, succeeded Pastor Russell as Watch Tower president. He tried and
succeeded in gaining complete control over the Society's activities. Rutherford's first
act was to have by- laws introduced and signed, giving the President, full control over
the affairs of the Society. However, this was not Russell's wishes. In his Last Will and Testament
he had provided for a seven man board of directors to succeed him. Thus four members of
the Society's Board of Directors, a majority of the Board, took strong exception to what
they regarded as Rutherford's high-handed behavior and opposed him. Eventually tension
between Rutherford and the directors grew and on July 17, 1917, Rutherford simply
announced to the Bethel family in Brooklyn, New York, during meal time that he had
replaced the four directors with his own appointees, using his legal jargon that the
directors who had opposed him did not hold their positions legally under Pennsylvania law.
The Society would later claimed that
a heated, five hour debate that followed his announcement was caused by the deposed
directors' opposition to the publication of The Finished Mystery, a book released to the
Bethel family immediately before Rutherford took charge. That book was styled the seventh
volume of Pastor Russell's Studies in the Scriptures and advertised as his posthumous
work. Rutherford could falsely claim that the four directors and others with them were
refusing to cooperate with the Society. Hence till this day the Jehovah's Witnesses are
told that the four directors who were expelled from Watch Tower headquarters were wicked
and self-serving individuals
True, the four directors as well as
other Bible Students did reject The Finished Mystery as being the work of Russell. In
fact, the "seventh volume" contained very little from Russell's pen, it was the
work of two of Rutherford's supporters, Clayton J. Woodworth and George Fisher. To add
insult to injury, it was passed off on those loyal Bible Students as the "penny"
in Jesus' parable of the penny at Matthew 20:1-16 and Luke 12:42-48. At a Bible Student
convention in Boston in 1917, C.J. Woodworth would described Rutherford as the
"steward of the penny" With the view that the last "messenger" to the
church was dead, many of Rutherford's Bible Student critics could not accept The Finished
Mystery as "new light" nor could they regard Rutherford's violation of Russell's
will and his single-handed publication of the "seventh volume" as anything but
an unwarranted usurpation of power.
Those who did not accept the
"seventh volume" were excommunicated, yet the Society would later discard the
volume for a fresh interpretation. Those who were loyal to the "seventh volume"
were excommunicated for not accepting the new interpretations. An interpretation which has
changed several times over since then, and an inconsistency that the Society still carries
with them today!
As early as 1917, Bible Students
were withdrawing their support from the Society to function independently. The four
directors would form an institute to continue the work of the Pastor independent of the
Society. Others would form corporations of their own. Some Bible Students followed the
lead of their favorite elder or teacher. Still others, leary of Societies and organization
decided to stay independent of all others.
As the years went by, more and more
Bible Students seeing a change of direction and attitude within the Society soon departed
and thus the exodus started. By 1930 some seventy-five percent of the original Bible
Students left the Society. By this time, all of Russell's writings were discarded for the
writings of Rutherford. Writings which contradicted each other. By 1929 over 100 changes
in doctrines alone were made by the New Society. The Society no longer resembled that
which was started by Russell and his early associates. The Society had taken a new look
and a new attitude. No longer was it a publishing house for the dissemination of Bible
literature. Now it was God's Theocratic Organization. To disagree with it was tantamount
to treason against God Himself
In 1931, Rutherford decided to make
a distinction between the independent Bible Students and those loyal to him. He changed
their name to "Jehovah's Witnesses." And thus from this year were Jehovah's
Witnesses born. The Society had become what they themselves abhorred in Christendom. They
became a little Babylon. And so, those Bible Students remaining within the Society, heard
the admonition, "Get out of her my people!" and fled.
Till this day the Watchtower
describes members of the Bible Student community of that day as "wearing unclean
garments", were "contaminated by apostasy", "were guilty of wrong
practices", "displayed characteristics that were weed-like",
"manifested fear of man", "sold themselves because of wrong
practices". Today, although many of the original Bible Students have left this earth,
their children carry on. Children and grandchildren born decades after the events of 1917,
even new comers have no mercy from the Society. These are considered evil and apostate,
and Jehovah's Witnesses are to have nothing to do with them. The Society has even gone so
far as to state that Bible Students no longer exist, that they have all died out and none
remain.
Back to contents.
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