Charles Taze Russell on William Henry Conley

     Charles Taze Russell gave his thoughts on William Henry Conley in a Watch Tower magazine for July 1, 1912. The article was “Delivered for the Destruction of the Flesh.” Under the subheading “The Cares of the World Overcome Many” CTR warned about being deluded by “the deceitfulness of riches.” He gave a warning example. While not namng names the main example cited has to be Conley. He was someone who had been very close to CTR, who started as a book-keeper and then made his fortune. This proved to be a snare. He joined the Christian Alliance and tried to practice faith healing. It didn’t work in his case, and in spite of calling in a doctor he subsequently died. His attitude had more or less cut the two men off from their previous intimate fellowship. CTR thought that, while he likely did not get into the kingdom, probably he would be part of the Great Company.

     It is probably best to just let CTR speak for himself. Extracted from July 1, 1912, WT pages 211-213.

 

     THE CARES OF THIS WORLD OVERCOME MANY

     There was a gentleman with whom the writer was once very intimate; we were like brothers. One day he said, "Brother Russell, I should like very much indeed to be out in the Lord's work and to do some kind of service for the Truth, but I have a wife, and I understand that the Lord holds me responsible for the care of my wife. I could not think of going out and leaving her dependent. But if the Lord in His providence should ever send me money so that I could go without my wife's suffering any serious inconvenience, I would be very glad to go out and preach the Gospel." The Lord took him at his word. He was then a bookkeeper; but the Lord opened the way, by the death of a member of the firm, for him to become one of the principal partners in that firm. Without any effort at all he prospered financially until he was worth at least half a million dollars.

     One day we said to him, "Brother, we have a very serious matter that weighs on us a great deal." He said,"Tell me what it is and I will assist you, whatever it costs." You see how gracious he was! He thought that we were after his money! Dear friends, we thank God that we have never yet found it necessary to ask for money; and we do not suppose that we ever shall. We said, "Brother, we are in great distress, and no one but you can help us." "Tell me what it is," he replied.We said, "Dear Brother, we desire to call your attention to something which you said several years ago when you were poor." Then we recited our previous conversation as best we could, and said, "The Lord has given you the money; He has done His part; are you ready to do yours?" With streaming eyes he answered, "Brother Russell, I am so bound to my business--hand and foot-- that it would be impossible now." The cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, according to his own words, had bound him hand and foot; but his heart was still loyal to God.

     We have no desire to be his judge, but we are inclined to think that dear brother did not get into the Kingdom. While we do not know, yet we fear that his being bound "hand and foot" may have stood in his way, though we think that he was truly a child of God. Are we to suppose that because he failed to make that sacrifice which he had agreed to make, he would go down into the Second Death? We hardly think so. We think that the Lord loved him and that he had a very loyal character. The Lord loves good characters. Our thought is that quite probably the dear brother will be in the Great Company; and we are very glad that there will be a Great Company class...

     …Regarding the case that we have mentioned earlier in this article you might ask, Did that Brother lose the knowledge of the Truth? We will tell you; for this is a very interesting question.

     In this Brother's case we do not know what were the sentiments of his heart, of course, for we are not able to judge those. But he left us and joined the Presbyterian Church. Then he joined the Christian Alliance people and tried to believe in faith-healing and to practice it, although he had possessed much knowledge of the Truth along these lines. After pressing along the line of faith-healing, etc., he had several attacks of sickness and had to call in a doctor, notwithstanding faith-cures. Finally, after very serious illness lasting a number of weeks, he passed away. We do not know enough about him to say to what extent his mind was turned toward the Lord. We had no opportunity of knowing; for his attitude had more or less cut us off from our previous intimate fellowship.