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Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Out of context paragraphs

 ... from volume three in progress:

            Adams wrote at the request of “a number of friends” near Beverly, Massachusetts. His letter itself seems to belie that claim. Instead, it seems that he wrote the letter, taking it from person to person to gather signatures. The initiative was his, though that does not diminish the support given by those endorsing it. “I can only say for myself and the little band of believers here,” he wrote, “that in the light of Scripture, type, prophecy and parable, and in the light of our past experience up to the present point, our position never was so satisfactory and convincing, to those who have eyes to see, as now.”

            This complex sentence shows them as far removed from the literalism that existed in the ‘movement’ before 1878 and which was the position Watch Tower adherents maintained. They saw in themselves the antitype of imagined Scriptural types. They saw each failure as progress. And there is a strong element of exclusivity. They saw their fragile, about to collapse, typology as truth, identifying themselves as those having “eyes to see,” apparently an allusion to Deuteronomy 29:2. At this point – late 1883 – there was nowhere else to turn. Adams quoted one of the Beverly adherents: “As one of our number has frequently said, though we sometimes, with heartsickness of hope deferred, grow weary in the way we never grow weary of it; sometimes with trembling hand we have clung to the silver cord of faith that as yet is our only claim to eternal life, and yet, thank God! we have held on.”

            Barbour strongly objected when, in 1894, Russell assumed the mantel of “the faithful and wise servant.” He did not object to Adams’, “The ‘prepared victuals’ fully sustain us,” an unmistakable reference to Matthew 24:47. This exposes the underlying conflict between Barbour and Russell. Each saw himself as the divinely appointed teacher.


1 comment:

B. W. Schulz said...

Jose,

Please post in English.

None of the blog editors are your personal encyclopedias. We expect you to do your own research before asking questions.

In this instance your question is too vague. If you mean when did he apply it to himself, that would be 1894. If you mean when did he first use the expression "faithful and wise," that would be in 1879-1881.

It helps if those asking questions say what they mean. Be specific. Also, when answering questions, please respond to the question as asked. That does not mean we cannot add additional information. But focus first on the issue at hand, in this case why Russell favored Rotherham's translation.

All the early issues of Zion's Watch Tower are online and downloadable. A search will turn them up. Also, our Bible Student friends have prepared a searchable disk will all the issues, minus a supplement or two. It notes the page numbers and issue date, including the page numbers as they appear in the Reprints.