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Saturday, August 5, 2017

From Roberto

Roberto continues to research the events of 1881:



Barbour, Russell, and the year 1881, another point of contrast.


Barbour and Russell finally separated in June 1879 over the doctrine of the ransom. They had another point of contrast over the year 1881. With the article “THE PARALLELS” published in the June1880 Herald, Barbour denied the thought of an invisible Parousia. According to him the second presence didn’t begin autumn of 1874, nor would there be a later invisible presence. Jesus would personally come in the Autumn of 1881, not seen by the world, but seen by his true disciples, that is, the Herald of the Morning believers.

Russell immediately replied with the July issue of the Watch Tower, confirming his belief that Christ’s invisible presence began in October 1874. Here’s extracts from the two magazines.

Herald of the Morning, June 1880, pp. 85-86, “THE PARALLELS”

“The scapegoat work in cleansing the sanctuary, is an invisible work, seen only in its manifestations; but the appearing of our High Priest, “unto them that look for him,” is never spoken of directly or indirectly, in a way in which we have the least authority to suppose that he will come in an invisible manner. But always the contrary; “He will appear to (optomai, be seen of) us;” he comes in the manner they saw him go, etc. It is true. He will not show himself to the world, when he comes to his church, but he will “be seen” by them that look for him, is the teaching of the law and the testimony.
I warn our readers not to be deceived in this matter; Christ left the church as her High Priest; and he returns to her as such. And after ascending into the presence of God there is no intermediate personal coming in any way, to his church, until he shall appear to them that look for him, Heb. 9:28.
Again, there was a separation of chaff and wheat, and a gathering of the wheat out of the rejected Jewish church, after the crucifixion: and there was a remnant of time still due, for that purpose. And although the half week was left obscure, and there is an equal want of absolute Scripture here pointing us to the end of this last half of the harvest, still the parallel, and the clear indication that the work belonging to this part of the harvest is in process of fulfilment, in the cleaning of the sanctuary, not only by the separation of wise and foolish virgins , but between the letter and the spirit, in all our views; is, all together, evidence enough to make us “look for him, to appear to us in the autumn of 1881.”

Herald of the Morning, July 1880, p. 4, “HAS CHRIST COME?”

“The Parousia, or presence of Christ, when “he shall appear (optomai, be seen),” by “them that look for him,” demands his personal presence; and this is his return in, not the invisible antitypical scapegoat work, but as the High Priest in person. And this coming of Christ, or his parousia, we have reason to expect, will occur in the autumn of 1881. That he did not come, in the autumn of 1874, or at the beginning of the gospel harvest, as we once supposed, is as certain as is the word of Jesus himself.”

The Watch Tower July 1880, p. 2, “AS THE LIGHTNING”

“ … the Lord informs us that there will be in these "days of the Son of man," false teachers who will be very powerful and exercise much influence upon the church, . . . We believe we find them in those who claim that Jesus is to appear shortly in the wilderness of Judea (Palestine) and that all who love him and expect to be part of his kingdom should go there and be on hand to receive and welcome him. . . . But there is to be more than one of these deceiving teachers; While one says He is coming in the desert, another says: "Behold he is in the secret chambers." Do we find teaching of this kind now, in the days of the Son of man? Yes, it seems to us that this is being fulfilled; a brother whom we knew well and loved much, thinks that God has given him what he terms "New Oil" (perhaps he does not notice that the virgins of Matt. 25, do not get any new oil; it is the same oil they had at first). But this brother is we think fulfilling this scripture. He is teaching that after 1881, Christ will appear in the flesh secretly, to be seen only by himself and those who believe exactly as he believes. This teaching not only leads to unscriptural expectations, but seems to open the minds of those who receive it to a perilous snare of the devil, which snare is referred to in the "Three Worlds," a book written by this very brother, in 1876, now out of print but possessed by many of our readers, extracts from which will follow this article. The wide diversity of views as stated in that article, and his present view as stated above seems to make good his claim that he has new oil; but it does not commend itself to us as being as good as the old "The old is better."

6 comments:

roberto said...

BARBOUR, RUSSELL, E IL 1881, UN ALTRO PUNTO DI CONTRASTO
Italian translation (traduzione italiana)

Barbour e Russell si separarono definitivamente nel giugno 1879 a motivo delle loro divergenze sulla dottrina del riscatto. L’anno successivo ebbero altri contrasti riguardo agli eventi che sarebbero accaduti nel 1881. Con l’articolo intitolato “I Parallelismi” pubblicato nel numero di giugno del 1880 dell’Araldo del Mattino, Barbour rigettò l’idea di una Parousia invisibile. Secondo lui la seconda presenza non era iniziata nell’autunno del 1874 e neanche in seguito ci sarebbe stata alcuna presenza invisibile Gesù sarebbe tornato in persona nell’autunno del 1881, non riconosciuto dal mondo, ma solo dai suoi veri discepoli, cioè i credenti dell’Araldo del Mattino.

Russell replicò immediatamente sulle pagine della Torre di Guardia di Sion, confermando la sua credenza in una invisibile presenza, e che questa parousia era iniziata nell’ottobre 1874. Di seguito alcuni estratti dalle due riviste (N.b. Ho sensibilmente ridotto le parti tradotte in italiano lasciando solo quelle più significative).

Araldo del Mattino, giugno 1880, pp, 85-86, articolo “I Parallelismi”
“... Non si dice mai niente, direttamente o indirettamente, che ci possa far solo pensare che egli verrà in maniera invisibile ……. (Gesù) non si mostrerà al mondo, quando verrà alla sua chiesa, ma sarà visto da coloro che lo attendono, questo è l’insegnamento della legge e della testimonianza … Abbiamo sufficiente evidenza per aspettare che egli apparirà a noi nell’autunno del 1881”

Araldo del Mattino, luglio 1880, p.4, articolo “Cristo è già venuto?”
"... Questa venuta di Cristo, o sua parousia, abbiamo ragione di credere avverrà nell’autunno del 1881. Che egli non è venuto nell’ottobre 1874, cioè all’inizio della mietitura dell’età del vangelo, come una volta pensavamo, è così sicuro come la parola di Gesù stesso”

Torre di Guardia, luglio 1880, p.2, “Come un lampo”
“... Un fratello che una volta conoscevamo bene e amavamo molto, pensa che Dio gli ha dato ciò che lui chiama “Nuovo Olio” (forse ancora non è stato avvertito che le vergini di cui parla Matteo 25, non hanno alcun “Nuovo Olio”, ma avevano lo stesso olio di prima). Ma in un certo modo noi pensiamo che questo fratello sta adempiendo questa scrittura. Lui insegna che dopo il 1881 Cristo apparirà di persona, in carne ma segretamente, per essere visto solo da lui e da coloro che credono esattamente quello che crede lui. Questo insegnamento porta non solo ad attese non scritturali, ma sembra aprire le menti di coloro che lo accettano al pericoloso laccio del diavolo, il laccio di cui si parla nel libro “I Tre Mondi”, un libro scritto da questo stesso fratello nel 1876, ora fuori stampa ma che molti dei nostri lettori hanno, proprio da quel libro riporterò alcuni estratti. Quello che scrive ora è così fortemente diverso da quello che scriveva allora, che a noi sembra corretta la sua affermazione che ha un “nuovo olio”, ma non si raccomanda a noi così buono come quello vecchio, perché “il vecchio è migliore” (citazione di Luca 5:39)

Hal.9000 said...

Grazie carissimo Roberto di questo prezioso lavoro di ricerca e traduzione, veramente interessante!

Anonymous said...

Quante false profezie, sembra che si rincorressero per spararle più grosse, per fare a gara su chi predicesse una data migliore, "la parola di Gesù stesso" addirittura!
Se si fossero attenuti alla vera parola di Cristo che il giorno è l'ora nessuno lo sa non avrebbero profetizzato falsamente.

roberto said...

Anonymous, this is a history blog, not a polemist forum. We write of history and don't judge the belief of others. Your comment is out of contest.

Anonimo, questo è un blog di storia, non un forum di polemiche. Scriviamo di storia e non giudichiamo le credenze degli altri. Il tuo commento è fuori contesto.

Anonymous said...


It would be interesting to have a pattern of the postulated dates as the beginning of the great tribulation and presence of the Lord and of the end, specifying who said it, the date of publication, etc.
Beginning in 1799,1874,1881,1884,1914,1918,1925,1932,1935,1975, xx century etc ...


Sarebbe interessante avere uno schema delle date postulate come inizio della grande tribolazione e della presenza del Signore e della fine, specificando chi lo disse, la data della pubblicazione ecc...
A cominciare dal 1799,1874,1881,1884,1914,1918,1925,1932,1935,1975, xx secolo ecc...
Visualizzare il quadro d'insieme é storicamente interessante.

roberto said...

Several dates you have mentioned were not seen as the beginning of the great tribolation or the presence of the Lord. You can find the answers to your question in the book "Nelson Barbour The Millennium Forgotten Prophet" and "A Separate Identity vol. 1" (Vol.2 is in preparation). The Watchtower theology is more complex than a simple chronology. In the books they have published Dr. Schulz and Dr. de Vienne tell the story of the Watch Tower Movement in the details. Only the facts, pleasant and unpleasant facts.

In the Introductory Essay of "Separate Identity vol.1" Dr. Schulz says:
"We believe our research restores detail. In doing so, we believe that a clearer understanding of events emerges. We examine the roots of Russell’s theology, tracing his doctrinal development to various individuals and publications ... We leave issues of faith largely untouched. We’ve taken a historian’s approach. We will tell you what Russell said of himself and others. We will tell you what his associates said and did. We will not tell you that all this was guided by Holy Spirit or God’s own hand.

So, buy the books of the series and read them. This blog has only one purpose. Not a doctrinal dispute, but to help Dr. Schulz and Dr. de Vienne to restore a detailed story.