I need biographical and other detailed information:
*** w79
10/1 p. 9 The Light of Truth Shines in Belgium ***
Motivated by deep love for fellow humans and a keen
desire to declare the “good news” to all kinds of people, Charles Taze Russell
visited Belgium in the autumn of 1891, during a tour of Europe. Russell, the
first president of the Watch Tower Society, realized the people’s need for
spiritual freedom, as they were still in dense religious darkness. For most of
them, Bible reading was forbidden, and they lived in fear of hellfire and in
reverential awe of the parish priest.
Ten years later, a lover of justice living in the
region of Charleroi began to brave the superstitious dread associated with
reading God’s Word. As soon as he had obtained the first two volumes of Millennial
Dawn, this man, J. B. Thilmant, organized a family Bible study.
Soon the “good news” was spreading to other towns and even to France, thanks to
the courageous work of the Thilmant family.
6 comments:
Some information about Jean-Baptiste Tilmant can be found in the following references :
– Jehovah’s Witnesses-Proclaimers of God's Kingdom p.409-10
– 1980 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses p. 36-39 France
– 1984 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses p. 35-38 Belgium
– A letter of his children (“J. B. and J. Tilmant--Belgium”) appeared in the The Watch Tower of January 15, 1916 p.71 [Reprints 5841 : page 31] “French Letters from Territory invaded by Germans (From the French Watch Tower [of September, 1916 p. 66])”
– The following announcement was published sporadically in the Watchtower, and continued to appear some time after the death of J.-B. T. in 1911 :
Les commandes d’“Aurores”, les abonnements au “Phare” et les demandes de brochures et de journaux gratuits (ainsi que les envois d’argent), peuvent aussi être adressées : […] Et pour la Belgique à Mr. J. Bts TILMANT, Négt., 40 rue de Marchienne 40, JUMET GOHISSART.
[“Dawns” orders, subscriptions to the “Tower” and requests for brochures and free magazines (as well as remittances) can be addressed too : […] for Belgium to Mr. J[ean-]B[ap]t[i]s[te] TILMANT, Grocer, rue de Marchienne 40, JUMET GOHISSART.]
(Gohissart [today : Gohyssart] is a neighbourhood of the district of Jumet in the Belgian city of Charleroi)
Le Phare de la Tour de Sion et Messager de la Présence de Christ, [Zion Tower's Lighthouse and Messenger of Christ’s Presence] (*) nº 1, 2 et 3 jamvier-mars [January-March] 1905 p.119
(*) To be renamed as La Tour de Garde et Messager de la Présence de Christ [The Watch Tower and Messenger of Christ’s Presence] since July, 1909.
(To be continued)
Stéphane
PS
Dear Bruce, I was pleased to learn that your state has started to take a turn, and I would like to offer you all my best wishes for your full recovery.
(Continuation)
– For all intents and purposes, here is a summary of Bro. Tilmant’s activity as a Bible Student as it appeared in the book :
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Europe – Past and Present Volume I/1
Edited by Gerhard Besier and Katarzyna Stokłosa
2016 Cambridge Scholars Publishing
in its section : Belgium – A History of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Belgium, by Willy Fautré p.14-5 :
p.14-5
1. Jehovah’s Witnesses Before World War I
The first record of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Belgium dates back to 1901. An advertisement for one of their books appeared in a Belgian newspaper. It had been placed there by Adolphe Weber, a Swiss citizen […] [who] met […] [Charles T. Russell] after emigrating to the United States in the 1880s. […] Weber was baptised in 1890. He returned to his homeland in the mid-1890s and began distributing Russell’s books and spreading the beliefs of the Bible Students throughout several countries, including Belgium.
Weber was followed by Jean-Baptiste Tilmant who lived in Jumet- Gohissart, a coal-mining village near Charleroi (Wallonia). Tilmant came across the advertisement and ordered two volumes of “Millennial Dawn” (later known as “Studies in the Scriptures”), a series of books written by Russell and printed by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.[3] The following year, Tilmant gathered some friends who wanted to study the Holy Scriptures and requested help from Weber. In 1903, the first French-language issue of the magazine “Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence” was […] [distributed] in Belgium, and this early group of followers extended its activities to the north of France, in particular to the city of Denain where a congregation of Bible Students was established. […]
Although the direction and encouragement from Tilmant ended when he died in 1911, groups of Bible Students were meeting regularly in seven cities in Wallonia by 1912. Weber visited them from time to time and gave his backing. […]
2. Jehovah’s Witnesses Between the Wars
In 1914, German troops invaded Belgium and annexed the German-speaking part of the country. When the war ended on 11 November 1918, there were only five active Bible Students left in Belgium: two members of Tilmant’s family in Jumet, a man called Fontaine in Haine-St-Paul, and two in Liège by the names of Smets and Poelmans.[6] In 1920, 14 people in Jumet and Charleroi, along with another 40 in Liège, attended the only annual celebration of Jehovah’s Witnesses – the commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ. […]
[italics mine]
(To be continued)
Stéphane
(Continuation)
In the December, 1909 issue of the French Watch Tower, its editor, Bro. Adolphe Weber, published a very interesting letter (not reproduced in the English edition) from Bro. Jean-Baptiste Tilmant that gives a lot of precious information about the beginnings of the Bible Students’ activity in Belgium and France, with a whole series of names of persons and locations, as well as a lively glimpse of their zeal and enthusiasm in propagating the Millennial Dawn message, their resorting to ingenious methods, the least of those not being to use Bro. Tilmant’s own grocery store as a real discussion forum, everything presented with much fervour and a certain charming candour.
Here is a translation of this quite lengthy text that I renounce to reproduce in French due to the limited length allowed for the comments.
Stéphane
Dear Brother: I greet you in our Lord Jesus. I am again physically well and I brought back a good impression of Switzerland... If we belong to Jesus, we know that everything contributes to our good.
We distribute here every Sunday to one church or another. Every day we have a discussion with one person or another; our store is often a school of theology. We spend whole hours, even half days, with Darbysts, Adventists and Salutists; and since there are people all the time, many hear about the Gospel. Blessed be God!
A Adventist colporteur came on purpose to speak of the sublime present truth; my son Jean-Baptiste showed him the common sense of Scripture; another colporteur, more sectarian however, came again, we urged him again as it should, etc. We are true pastors with this difference that we worship anywhere and at any time, all week, and not only on Sunday. In the meantime, we earn our living and help unfortunate people. Great privilege that God grants us; may he keep us in humility and love. There is a 75-year-old brother here who makes visits with me and also comes to distribute, he seems a bit like Brother Ambresin from Lausanne [this Brother Ambresin, despite his age and infirmities, is always very zealous and active in spreading the 'present truth' on the Swiss shore of the blue Geneva Lake, by distributing leaflets and newspapers and by spreading ‘Dawns’ etc. – the editor.]. The predicted apostasy is increasingly manifested in all religious denominations, here are some examples: While distributing leaflets a young man from the Protestant temple sent me to distribute among the Catholics; but after having spoken to him a word or two he declared to me that he did not believe in the afterlife [the life to come], so it was indeed him who needed a little explanation of the things that concern every man... this is what happens to a child raised in their temple. Another raised among the Darbysts declared to me that he no longer believes and no longer attends services… — how do they want to convert the world if themselves fall into disbelief? Yet another, a pillar of the Protestant Church, told me that the apostles might have been mistaken, he does not believe in Satan or in fallen angels and yet Jesus cast out demons...
(Letter to be continued)
(Continuation and end of J.B.Tilman's letter)
I am going to visit God willing the brothers of Denain and Auchel (France) on the occasion of the opening of a meeting room; those of Denain especially want me to be present, because, by Providence, I have been (with my daughter) the instrument to bring them the first the sublime lights and truths of the Millennial Dawn. I am delighted to meet with them; they are now the first and firmest brothers of France.
That is a bit of the main news from here. Praise be to God that he has also remembered Belgium to raise in some hearts already the beneficial and blessed effect of the Sun of Justice (Jesus Christ) with its luminous rays of the current heavenly call and of the restoration of all things in the next age with the brilliant shine of the parousia of our Lord since 1874. Oh, may the Kingdom of God be established, so that there will no longer be evils and miseries and true light shines in all the hearts of the universe!
I am sending you here 10 francs from Bro. Gédéon, 5 francs from Bro. Mairesse, 1.50 for a subscription and the rest for the Lord’s harvest.
Brother Denis and those around Haine St. Paul and St. Pierre are walking and making progress. Brother Jonet and others from the province of Liège are, like us, always active in distributing tracts and discussing the things of God with anyone willing to listen.
Fraternal greetings from all to all brothers who love the advent of the Lord and the Kingdom. I especially greet the Swiss brothers whom I had the privilege of encountering at the meeting in Lausanne.
May the Lord sustain and bless our dear brother Russell and all the collaborators in the harvest field.
J. B. TILMANT.
(To be continued)
Stéphane
(Continuation and end)
To conclude this series of comments, here is the translation of two announcements published in the French Watch Tower on the occasion of the death of Brother Tilmant (which occurred on February 16, 1911), and which give some additional information:
– Death notice published (inside a black frame) in the French Watch Tower of March 1911, p. 80:
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from now on [1878]. Yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their sorrows [toils], but their works follow them." — Rev. XIV, 13.
The dear brother, J. B. Tilmant, Senior died and entered into the joy of the Lord (as we have every reason to believe) on the past 16 February. The funeral took place in Jumet on the 20th. There were crowds of people from all religious denominations. Also, did the brothers (S. Lequime, Elie Vaucamps and Elie Jerville from France and others from Belgium) take the opportunity to speak to the crowd about the infinite love of God, who through his dear Son Jesus redeemed all humans, not of hell, but of the sepulchre of death and that for eternal life. — Brother Elie Gerville, on his grave, concluded well, saying: Brother Tilmant, goodbye and see you soon!
The entire Christian career of Brother Tilmant was a life of love and dedication for others. He fought the good fight of faith. From a zealous Salvationist soldier, he became, in all the force of the term, a fervent soldier of Christ, when, since 1901, the good heavenly Father gave him to discern the "present truth" and that he received the seal of the Spirit. One can apply to him the passage that Brother Russell once applied to Brother H. Weber of Maryland: "He was not lazy in activity, fervent in the Spirit, serving the Lord... and persevering in prayer." — Rom. XII, 12.
“On the throne, the crown awaits this victor,
That one can believe, in glory, with the Lord.”
To his dear family and to all of us who remain, let’s say again:
“Without wait, with much haste, to the happy promise!
Who rushes, who advances, will get the prize...
So let’s go, not forego, to so great a goal!”
– Thanks from the family published in the French Watch Tower of April 1911 p. 88:
The TILMANT family greatly thanks the brothers and sisters who expressed their sympathies to them; they send them their sincere greetings. [We are happy to be able to say that the Tilmant children continue the work and are doing well in the footsteps of their father; likewise for the numerous and beloved LEQUIME family, which is increasingly devoted to the work of the harvest, for the holy cause of the Lord. — The editor]
PS If needed I gladly make available the transcription and reproduction of the texts published in French
Stéphane
Excellent help. Thanks. Please provide the full bibliography for each quotation.
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