The Finished Mystery and "Out of the Mouth of the Dragon."

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The most controversial book ever published by the Bible Students was The Finished Mystery, a verse by verse commentary on Revelation and Ezekiel published in 1917. As well as some internal issues, it resulted in key Watch Tower headquarters staff being arrested in 1918, and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment under the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917. It should be noted at the outset, as most readers will already know, those imprisoned were released in 1919 and all charges against them were ultimately dropped.

But it was a testing time, and in dealing with the problems faced on a day by day basis, various editions of The Finished Mystery were produced. This article is going to look at one paragraph in several of them. For the record, in this article the initials JFR refer to the Society’s President, Joseph F Rutherford, and page numbers in brackets refer to specific pages in the trial transcript United States of America vs Joseph F Rutherford and others (1918).

For a fuller description of how the book came to be produced as a proposed seventh volume of the Studies in the Scriptures series, see the following article on Gertrude Seibert.

https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2015/08/gertrude-antonette-woodcock-seibert-and.html

The paragraph that caused the controversy was a discussion of Revelation 16:13.

This defined patriotism as murder, “a narrow-minded hatred of other peoples” and “the spirit of the very Devil.”

The United States joined the World War on April 6, 1917, and was appealing to patriotism to recruit its army. Various religious figures supported this and came in for unsparing criticism in The Finished Mystery.

When the government objected to the book, especially pages 247-253 which included the offending paragraph, several steps were taken to calm down the situation. The printers were instructed to stop production (see JFR’s telegram on page 1309) and Bible Students were asked to physically cut out the offending pages from copies offer to the public (see Kingdom News no. 2).

Above is a copy with pages 247-254 excised. Written in pencil along the remaining stub of the pages is “to comply with government requirement.”

However, this did not make the problem go away, and in May 1918 eight members of the headquarters staff were arrested and charged with violating the 1917 Espionage Act. Repeatedly throughout the ensuing trial, these words condemning patriotism were quoted by the prosecution.

Nonetheless, not all Bible Students appeared to be in full agreement with the sentiments as expressed. From the trial transcript (page 552) cross examination of George Fisher by Counsel Isaac Oeland:

Q. Did this language meet with your approval that Satan deals with a certain delusion which is best described by the word, patriotism, but which is in reality murder, the spirit of the very devil; did that meet with your full approval?

A. No, sir.

Q. You knew Mr Woodworth had written that?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. You knew it was to be published and circulated in a book that you had helped to produce?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And that you did not agree with it?

A. I did not agree with that because my conception of patriotism does not agree with that.

Fisher was still sent down with the other defendants, but would later leave fellowship with defendants Woodworth and Rutherford before his death in 1926.

The 1917 edition of the book with its excised pages was not the end of the matter, because in early 1918 a new version was proposed called the ZG. This was planned as a magazine edition of the book, as other volumes had been before. ZA for example was volume one, The Divine Plan of the Ages. G was the 7^th letter of the alphabet so the 7^th volume. This is highly collectable today and throws up some interesting questions.

It was dated March 1, 1918, but never released then. When instructions were given to remove pages from the 1917 book edition, Bible Students were also instructed not to circulate this magazine copy, and an alternative March 1, 1918, issue of The Watch Tower was published in its place. The September 15, 1918, Watch Tower reminded Bible Students not to circulate the ZG and referred back to an earlier notification given in the March.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose book on page 90 says that ZG had been printed before the war. For America that would have to be before April 6, 1917. If correct, that would make ZG the first edition, because the trial transcript reveals that the hardback edition was first printed in July 1917. It had mainly been written before the war started (JFR’s testimony on page 974) – that was a key point of the Society’s defense – apart from a few additions including a poem written by Gertrude Seibert (GWS) at the end of the Song of Solomon section and dated June 27, 1917. However, the contract with the Conkey Company for the first edition was only finalised at the end of June 1917 (page 1172) and then very quickly indeed the book was printed in the first half of July to be released at the Bethel on July 17. This was after America entered the war.

However, while the bulk of it was certainly written before the war, the actual printing of ZG may have come later. As an indication, we have the printed date of March 1, 1918 on it. How much before intended publication was that decision taken? Also, on the actual Watch Tower cover of extant copies there was a message to send copies to soliders and sailors serving at the front once readers had finished with them. For this to make sense there would have to be Americans actually serving at the front at the time.

In reality it is a moot point, because as noted earlier the publication was pulled and the general issue of ZG did not see the light of day until 1920. (See The Watch Tower for July 1, 1920, page 199). At that time some copies had the original Watch Tower cover with the above message removed and a green title cover added in its place. (See Letter of Instruction to Directors in Bulletin for May 1, 1921). It should be noted that there was no mention of the ZG in the trial, which focussed on the first edition, and continually kept quoting from that specific passage condemning patriotism. The trial had a lengthy examination and cross-examination of the manager of the Conkey Company who printed the hardback edition. However, the paperback magazine edition was probably printed by another company. Had ZG been in circulation it would have likely been used by the defense, because the offending passage about patriotism had not just been torn out, the text had been altered.

The change is interesting, and would fit a publication that might reach American soldiers. Instead of an attack on “patriotism” the ZG version substituted “Germany autocracy” and condemned German “human butchery.”

Other changes in this special edition were the removal of the verse by verse consideration of Song of Solomon along with Gertrude Seibert’s poem and the addition of a chapter taking readers verse by verse through the world powers of Daniel 7.

Having taken the original offending pages out of the hardback version, later printings of the book in 1918 then replaced the offending pages with a revised text.

What had started as “patriotism” and changed into “German autocracy” then changed again. Now in 1918 the text read “race-hatred” – which of course could apply equally to all sides.

After the war the “Brooklyn eight” were released from prison and shortly thereafter all charges were dropped. Now the original text of the book was restored. Examining the 1924 boxed deluxe edition and also one of the final printings in 1927 (the 2,004,000 edition) it is noted that the criticism of patriotism had been restored in full.

The book went out of print towards the end of the 1920s. A new explanation of Revelation and Ezekiel was to be given in Light (two books on Revelation in 1930) and Vindication (three books on Ezekiel in 1931-1932).

Addenda from Gary

As regards the FM, at the time of their altercation with the civil authorities in 1918 they stated that the FM was “written prior to the time that the United States entered the war”, meaning before April 6, 1917. (See WT March 1, 1918, article headed ‘Religious Intolerance’.)

This statement was largely correct since most was written prior to this time. However, when Fred H. Robison was sent to visit Secretary of War Newton Baker on March 5, 1918, to see how their sudden objection to the publication could be resolved, he was intercepted en route by MID (military) agents who interrogated him instead and so he never got to see Baker. These quizzed him on the FM and he repeated that it had been completed prior to April 6, 1917. However, Robison was forced to back down when it was pointed out to him that it could not all have been completed prior to this time since the book included reference to seven billion dollars appropriated by Congress for the war; so, Robison acknowledged he must have been mistaken.

Indeed, Gertrude Seibert’s poem “written expressly for The Finished Mystery” was dated June 25, 1917, so it is evident that while, no doubt, most of the book was written prior to America’s entry into the war, some was added after. Other references could be found, but I think these two are sufficient to establish the point. 

Robison never got to reach Newton Baker but took advice from those he met that “there was no disposition on the part of the Government (to) interfere with our work in general and that if pages 246-253, inclusive, were removed, there would be no known objection to the volume.” As a consequence, I believe it reasonable to conclude it was just shortly afterward that the the special ZG Watch Tower edition was printed.  As you have noted it adjusts the ‘offensive’ reference to patriotism and excludes the relevant passages from pages 247-253 which were largely quotes from two pacifist ministers. This strongly suggests its writing, printing and distribution to IBSA colporteurs and classes occurred sometime after Robison’s Washington episode on March 5, 1918, but prior to the Department of Justice banning distribution of the FM, in any form, as a violation of the Espionage Act on March 14, 1918, whereupon the IBSA immediately instructed colporteurs and class Secretaries to desist from selling the FM books and hold on to copies of the special ZG Watch Tower edition. 

Thereafter, a belated normal edition of the Watch Tower dated March 1, 1918, was swiftly completed and sent out instead, but the fact that this was completed after the publication date is itself apparent since it makes reference to Brothers Woodward and Herr being arrested on March 4, Robison’s visit to Washington (which I know to have been March 5) and the banning of the FM on March 14.

Addenda – another version

Thanks to correspondent Benek, another variant can be added to the paragraphs on page 247 that originally condemned patriotism.

The original wording caused the attack by the government and copies of The Finished Mystery in circulation had the offending pages removed. However, to replace them a few pages were produced which could fill the gap. Below is an example. The heading plainly shows the purpose, and the text gives us our variant on “patriotism” as “hatred.”

When replacement pages were actually bound into the book at source, at some point in 1918 the wording changed subtly to “race hatred” as covered in the above article. That this became the favored text is shown by The Watch Tower for June 1, 1920, which gives a whole five pages of suggested alterations which readers could make in their copies if they chose.

The notice does not reveal what wording was being replaced, whether “hatred” or the original “patriotism.” It is unlikely to have been the ZG version of “German autocracy” which seems to have stayed in the magazine version only without any reference to a page 247.

As noted in the original article above, in the 1920s the text reverted to the original “patriotism.”

John Aquila Brown

Bruce,

 

This is an excellent find. There were two articles in the PDF from Google. Here is the text from them.

Jeff

DEATH.

On Wednesday, January 20th, at his house, Bouverie-street, Fleet-street, London, Mr. John Aquila Brown, for some time past the active and zealous secretary of the Philo Judean Society, in the 56th year of his age. He was for several years connected with the church and Sunday school at Jewin-street; also secretary to the North London Auxiliary Sunday School Union, and a very useful member of the committee of the Sunday School Union.

Mr. Brown having been much exposed to the inclemency of the weather during the fire which happened near his house, took a severe cold. No alarming symptoms were at first manifested, but when, at length, he appeared in some danger, a physician was sent for; before he arrived, however, the hand of the fell destroyer, death, had snatched Mr. B. from this earthly scene, and his spirit had Winged its way to a heavenly abode. From the resting-place of his ashes will be heard the admonition – “ Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” –The Sunday School Teachers’ Magazine and Journal of Education, March 1830, Page 192.

MEMOIR OF JOHN AQUILA BROWN.

BENEVOLENCE is that disposition of mind, which, when genuine, is always attended with sufficient decision of character to excite the person who possesses it, to form greater projects, to devise more extensive plans, and to engage in more arduous labors, for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, than can ever be accomplished by a single individual.

“His heart contrives for their relief, More work than his own hands can do.”

Such a person contemplating, with the deepest feelings of sympathy, the misery which exists in the world as resulting from ignorance and sin, cannot suffer himself to rest in a state of inactivity; but fixing his mind on the amelioration of the condition of mankind, as an object worthy of his noblest efforts, he employs all suitable means to afford relief, to the illiterate, the wretched, and the abandoned part of the community.

An individual of this description was our lamented friend and fellow-laborer, JOHN AQUILA BROWN. His prevailing disposition was benevolence; his general plans of Operation were the result of intense thought; and his active exertions for the attainment of his philanthropic objects, were not to be impeded by any difficulties, however formidable.

Our acquaintance with Mr. Brown commenced at a time when the North London Auxiliary Sunday School Union was in a languishing state, for want of proper officers to attend to the concerns of that institution. A special meeting was held in the year 1817, in the vestry room of St.--------church, in Silver-street, for the purpose of considering how the Auxiliary Union could be revived. Mr. B. attended that meeting, and such a man “could not be hid.” The interest he took in the proceedings of that evening, and his connexion with a flourishing Sunday school in the district, pointed him out to the meeting as a proper person to be elected SECRETARY to the Auxiliary Union; which was accordingly done unanimously. He with some diffidence and hesitation, at length consented to accept the office. His active mind speedily set him to work, and in connexion with the Committee, he revived and re-organized the Auxiliary, and brought it to a state of efficiency to which it had never previously attained.

Mr. B. took great interest in the establishment of the QUARTERLY CONFERENCE of Sunday School Teachers belonging to the North Auxiliary, and at its various meetings he manifested deep interest on every subject that was calculated to improve the minds of Sunday school teachers, to render the plans adopted in the various schools more effective, and to promote the prosperity of these useful institutions.

Mr. Brown held the office of secretary to the Jewin-street chapel Sunday school, from the year 1817 to 1827, during which period he had the principal superintendence, and general management of its affairs. His indefatigable exertions conferred great benefit on that institution, and the rules which he arranged for its general regulation were admirably adapted to answer the important purposes for which they were designed. He proposed, and established a Relief fund, for the assistance of the most necessitous scholars, which still continues in useful Operation.

In the year 1821, the EDUCATION BILL, as proposed to parliament by H. Brougham, Esq. M. P. claimed the strict examination of Mr. B. and after mature deliberation, so thoroughly convinced was he, that, if passed into a law, its tendency would prove injurious to the cause of Sunday schools, that he exerted his utmost influence to promote opposition to this measure. He accordingly drew up the resolutions which were passed by the North Union, and published in in the Teachers’ Magazine, vol. v. page 100; reference to which will show what were the opinions of himself and his co-adjutors on the proposed plan, which its advocates considered as likely to promote general education, but from which Mr. B. differed exceedingly.

At that time, he spared no trouble to collect an accurate account of the number of children who attended Sunday schools in the north district of the metropolis, and who also received education at day schools. On turning to the Teachers’ Magazine, vol. v. page 168, it will there be observed that nis communication to the Editor States, “I have now before me the returns from 19 Sunday schools, which contain 3,840 children, of whom are educated in day schools 1,594, being as near as possible, in the proportion of 41 to 10. It should also be observed, that by far the largest portion of the day school children are in the lowest classes, so that those who stand most in need of the instruction imparted in Sunday schools, would, in general, be deprived of the advantages which their age requires, were it not for the existence of such institutions.”

ln the same year, Mr. B. transmitted also to the Teachers’ Magazine a very forcible appeal which he had written “On the Education of Jewish Children.” vol. v. page 239.

“The attention of Sunday school teachers has lately been directed to the gipsy babes, and shall the children of Abraham be neglected? Forbid it honesty, charity, and Christianity; all our comforts and religious advantages have descended to us from the Jews; consequently they have the first claim to our benevolence, O, let it be extended to their young and rising generation; let the different auxiliaries open schools exclusively for their instruction; let the Old Testament be the school book, and I am satisfied they will attend. I speak not at random, for I have four Jews in the school under my own care, who attend on these conditions,—that they read the Old Testament exclusively, and return home instead of going to chapel.”

This extract will serve to show the extreme ardor of his mind towards “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and will in a great measure account for his sub sequent secession from several societies to pursue more vigorously the plans which he had formed and unfolded for benefiting the Hebrew nation in its present scattered condition.

Mr. Brown, as a representative of the North London Auxiliary, was a member of the Committee of the Sunday School Union, and during his connexion with this institution, he was remarkable for his constant attendance at the meetings, and his close application to the business of the society. While secretary to the book Department, his exertions and habits of business contributed greatly to the firm establishment and subsequent good management of the Depository in Paternoster Row, which has proved so extensively useful in supplying Sunday schools with suitable books at low prices. To his diligent revision, many of the publications of the Sunday School Union owe much of their correctness and excellence. To the cash accounts his attention was peculiarly directed, which tended greatly to enable the Committee to present clear and well-arranged Statements to the public in their annual reports. His spirited and argumentative addresses delivered at the quarterly meetings of the Union, will long be remembered by many of his co-adjutors. The natural warmth of his temper might on some few occasions have carried him rather farther, in his expressions of difference in opinion, than was quite agreeable, but no doubt could be entertained of the sincerity and uprightness of his intentions.

Whenever Mr. B. was completely convinced that important benefits were likely to result from energetic proceedings, he was never to be satisfied with half measures. To prove this fact, he, in the year 1824, was the chief promoter of a very spirited Statement which was published by the North Auxiliary, and circulated among the committee and members OF “THE SOCIETY FOR THE SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH DOMINIONS.” This address respectfully recommended to the Society a revision of its rules, and a decisive change in its measures.  Many of his friends at that time considered that he was too intemperate in this measure, and though they were desirous of seeing that Society extend its usefulness, they could not agree with Mr. B. as to the mode which he had adopted to force the members to compliance with his wishes.

Still they respected his ardent zeal, and the result was, that the Society's donations of books were subsequently considerably extended, from which necessitous Sunday schools reaped a decided advantage.

The devoted attention of Mr. B. to the concerns of the North London Auxiliary Sunday School Union, during the eight years in which he was secretary, will be evident from the Statement, that at the time of his appointment in 1817, that Auxiliary reported 5,520 scholars, and 550 teachers, in connexion with the Union, and in the year 1825, THE NUMBERS HAD INCREASED TO 14,012 SCHOLARSs, and 1,371 teachers.

From the early age of 15 years, we have been informed, that the mind of Mr. B. had been very sensibly impressed with the deplorable state of the Hebrew Nation, and his sympathies never suffered him to tum his attention from the prophecies that he considered had a favorable aspect towards the Jews. He had on several occasions shown a strong disposition to render any assistance that he could towards benefiting that ancient people. He accordingly wrote and published in the year 1823 the “Even Tide,” in two octavo volumes; also an abstract of it, called the “Mount of Vision,” designing thereby to show that the period for the re-gathering of the Jews was not far distant, and explaining, according to his views, the prophecies relating to that event. By the year 1827, his mind had become so completely absorbed in the subject, and his time so fully occupied in attending meetings, and carrying into effect plans which he had devised for bringing to the knowledge of the Jews the cause of their present condition as a people, and their future delightful prospects; that having his attention thus engrossed, and his time thus constantly employed, he was obliged, in a great degree, to cease from his other benevolent labors, in connexion with Sunday schools, and the Sunday School Union. By this secession, the cause of religious instruction in Sunday schools, lost one of its most efficient and arduous supporters; and from that time the Jews, almost exclusively, reaped the advantages of his disinterested labors.

This was particularly the case since the establishment of the PHILO-JUDEAN SOCIETY, in the year 1826, of which he was the chief originator and principal agent. His interest in the concerns of the Jewish nation, and in the prophecies relating to them, was, however, of much earlier date, and in fact it was this subject which first called him to the scene of public life. Shortly after the formation of the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, Mr. Brown, formed with a few friends of the cause, at the west end of the town, in the year 1810, the “Westminster Auxiliary Committee” of which he was secretary, until its dissolution in 1817, when a “Westminster Auxiliary Society” was formed instead. In connexion with that committee, he proposed and carried into effect the establishment of a library of books relative to the prophecies, to be circulated among its members, which, while it served to spread more widely a knowledge of, and interest in those portions of the sacred volume, which refer to the expectations of the church, and of the chosen seed, afforded him ample opportunities for pursuing his own assiduous studies on these subjects. Still farther to awaken the attention of the public, separate courses of lectures to Jews and to Gentiles, were at the request of the committee delivered in various places of worship, both by clergymen of the establishment and dissenting ministers.

Mr. Brown’s intimate acquaintance, not only with the scriptural prospects of the Jews, but also with their habits and modes of thinking, led him to the conviction, that to produce a general and permanent effect upon the minds of that interesting people, a more enlarged plan of proceeding must be adopted, than that permitted by the rules of the London Society; which, together with the change of his residence to the city, induced him to relinquish the part which he had taken in the proceedings of the Westminster Auxiliary committee, when it was merged into a distinct auxiliary society. But although, during a period of nearly eight years from that time, he was not in any public capacity engaged in the Service of the Jewish cause, his writings, published in the interval, show that his attention was not in the slightest degree diverted from it, nor his zeal relaxed. In 1825, at last, a circular, issued by Mr. William Brooks, of Salvador-house, entitled Domestic Mission to the Hebrews, renewed his hopes of enlisting the public energies in support of an object to him so interesting. The result of the first deliberations at Salvador-house, was the formation of a new society, under the name Abrahamic Association, which, however, was soon dissolved, in consequence of a clashing of views between the parties concerned in it. A secession took place, and the remaining members formed the PHILO-JUDEAN SOCIETY, which has ever since been actively engaged in promoting the temporal as well as spiritual welfare of the Jewish people; the former chiefly by its exertions to procure the removal of the civil disabilities under which they labor, and by charitable assistance to poor Jews, irrespectively of their creed; the latter by the circulation of the Scriptures, the establishment of schools, and argumentative discussions on the Old Testament, and especially prophetic subjects. Mr. Brown*s views were, however, not confined to the benefiting of the Jews; they extended to the enlightening of the Gentiles, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the cause for which he had suffered much obloquy and ill favor, powerfully vindicated in the celebrated lectures delivered in 1827, by the Rev. Hugh McNeile, at the church of St. Clement Danes.

A further object soon presented itself to his active mind; and at the end of the year 1828, he put forth the plan of an institution for the reception of enquiring Jews, who should find in it an asylum against the persecution of their brethren, and an opportunity of supporting themselves by some regular employment. This plan gained ground so rapidly, that a society was almost instantaneously formed, of whose committee Mr. B. became an active member. Two houses having been taken in Randolf-street, Camden Town, the Hebrew Institution was commenced in spring 1829, and at the time of Mr. B’s. death contained seventeen inmates.

During a fire which happened nigh to his house, he was so much exposed to the severity of the weather, that he took a severe cold. No immediate danger was apprehended, his disorder however increased, but such was the activity of his mind, that with in four days of his death, he made daily efforts to rise, at least for a few hours, notwithstanding the exhausted state of his Constitution. At length the ties of nature were broken, and his spirit winged its way to the abodes of bliss, on Wednesday afternoon, the 20th January, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. His mortal remains were carried to the grave by Jews belonging to the Hebrew Institution, at their own particular request, and deposited in Bunhill-fields, on Wednesday, January 27th; the family procession being joined by his fellow laborers of the Philo-Judaean committee. The impression produced upon the minds of the Jews by the intelligence of his death, was very great; and the officiating clergyman remarked, that during the long period of his appointment at Bunhill-fields, he had never seen such an assemblage of Hebrews on the ground. The same interest was manifested by their numerous attendance at the sermon preached in memory of the deceased, by the Rev. T. S. Miller, minister of Salem Chapel, on the appropriate text: “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.”

We conclude with an extract from a letter written by the Rev. Thomas Wood, of Jewin-street chapel, which, while it bears additional testimony to the excellences of our departed friend, calls to notice several more particulars of his useful and truly Christian career.

“I have personally known Mr. Brown about 13 or 14 years, and on October 3rd, 1817, I had the pleasure of giving him the right hand of Christian fellowship, on his admission to the church over which I am pastor, in Jewin-street. Of his zeal, his activity, his tact for business, his liberality, &c. &c. in promoting the cause of Christ amongst us for a number of years, I cannot speak too highly, nor recollect without the highest admiration and esteem. We took sweet counsel together, and went to the house of God in Company, with mutual delight. It is well known, how-ever, that within the past two or three years, our excellent friend was completely abstracted from almost every object of a public nature, excepting the Philo-Judaean Society. On that point I had the unhappiness to differ from him in opinion, and our intercourse of late has been much less frequent; but at the same time, I believe our reciprocal friendship had not suffered the least declension. When we could not accord in opinion, we could exercise Christian candor, and it affords me great satisfaction in saying, that I always experienced the utmost kindness from him. When he had in a considerable measure withdrawn himself from worshipping with us, I was not astonished; indeed, my surprise was, under all circumstances, that he had continued so long, because our ideas on that very point on which his whole soul was set, were in complete Opposition. But, I repeat, he acted in that affair, not in the spirit of dictatorial insolence, not with censoriousness, not as one determined to make divisions in the church of God; but with the meekness of wisdom, as a friend, a gentleman, and a Christian. He ever took an active part in the annual meetings of our sabbath school; and it is with more than ordinary satisfaction that I have to state, that on the very last monthly association of the congregational churches in London, which was held at our chapel, on the 7th January, our deceased friend was with us, both at the public Service and at dinner. He took a part in the interesting conversations and discussions of the afternoon; and subsequently expressed himself as much gratified with the proceedings of the day. But, alas! ere one short fortnight had passed away, he was numbered with the dead, and separated from all transitory scenes, to hold an immediate intercourse with the realities of eternity. Of Mr. Brown’s birth, parentage, and early life, I know nothing, excepting I have sometimes heard him say, he was a pupil under the late excellent Cornelius Winter, of Painswick. Under that-reverend gentleman, I trust our deceased friend received those important instructions, and imbibed those evangelical principles, which were so closely connected with HIS USEFULNESS ON EARTH, and HIS HAPP1NESS IN HEAVEN.” -The Sunday School Teachers’ Magazine and Journal of Education, April 1830, Pages 227-235.

 

John Aquila Brown

An extensive obituary of J. A. Brown appeared in The Sunday School Teachers' Magazine and Journal of Education. This is available through Google Books. I need a volunteer to transcribe it into text so I can post it on this blog. 

Anyone?

E. L. Eaton and Ghosts

 

The Grand Valley News, July 20, 1911 

Research Help

 You up to the challenge? I need original source material for these Watchtower statements:

*** w67 2/15 p. 108 par. 13 Jehovah Makes Full Might Abound ***

¹³ A forceful example of this was the series of debates held in 1903 between the Watch Tower president of that time, C. T. Russell, and a Pittsburgh clergyman, Dr. E. L. Eaton. As a result, not only did many of Dr. Eaton’s congregation leave him to become Jehovah’s witnesses, but a number of clergymen acknowledged the correctness of The Watch Tower’s stand on fundamental issues. After the last debate, during which Brother Russell clearly showed that “eternal torment” is unscriptural, one of these clergymen told him: “I am glad to see you turn the hose on hell and put out the fire.”

 

*** w55 2/15 p. 107 Part 4—Going on the Offensive ***

Interesting side lights: During the debates several of the local clergy were on the platform with Dr. Eaton to give him textual and moral support, while Russell, alone, stood his ground as a sort of Daniel in a lions’ den. On the whole, Russell came off victorious for each of the six debates and especially the last one, on “hell.” It is reported that one of the attending clergymen, acknowledging that victory, came up to Russell after the last debate, saying, “I am glad to see you turn the hose on hell and put out the fire.” Soon after this exposure of the false doctrines of the “Babylonish” church systems quite a number of Eaton’s Methodist congregation became Bible students.

Talk outline needed.

 

I need a scan of the original talk outline for this Circuit Assembly main lecture from 1950. Anyone?

Standards

 Speculation has little to no place on this blog. We maintain an ethical standard that the controversialist blogs and boards lack. Speculation based on the lack of records falls into one of the major logic faults. I am open to well researched articles, footnoted to original sources, even if they reach a conclusion other than one I 've reached. Neither Jerome nor I are open to anything based on flawed, speculative research. 

So you left a comment here, and we disallowed it? Return to your research. Improve it. Make it solid. Try again. One of the professional societies to which I belong notes the following standards. I expect those who comment here, especially those who wish to present 'controversial' conclusions to abide by them:

The maintenance of high professional standards includes:

• being acquainted with best practice in the use and evaluation of evidence, in whatever form it takes;

• understanding and following copyright laws;

• being mindful of intellectual property issues;

• taking particular care when evidence is produced by those still living, when the anonymity of individuals is required and when research concerns those still living;

• observing the ethical and legal requirements of the repositories and collections being used;

• being aware of conservation issues concerning materials that historians and those working in the heritage sector use and produce;

• eschewing plagiarism, fabrication, falsification and deception in proposing, carrying out and reporting the results of research;

• following the most rigorous procedures for the citation of sources, including materials obtained from the internet;

• observing the law of the land, and not committing, planning or colluding in the deliberate breaking of the law.

Horace Hollister Post Card

 

Willmington Deleware Evening journal. October 28, 1899

 

Ives: Bible Doctrine of the Soul

 My Thanks for help acquiring this. As you will - I hope - remember, Ives was admired by Storrs who read his work. Ives is responsible for Storrs view of the Holy Spirit, which remains our view. This is an excellent find, and a real contribution to my research. 

A Reminder

Because of the extremely bad behavior of someone posting as Jose, this blog is moderated. That means your comments will not appear until either Jerome or I review them. You need only post once. We'll see it. Jose? His posts will never appear here again. 

I need good, clear scans of these two booklets. Anyone?

 

Watch Tower Letter. Can you translate this?

 

W E Van Amburgh

  

W E Van Amburgh at C T Russell’s grave in January 1917.

Taken from a card listing Bethel hymns and prayer meeting texts for March 1917.

The original card pictured here was sold on eBay in December 2021 for over 700 dollars.

I am a bit reluctant ...

 My research fund is depleted. I need to raise $80.00 to purchase a Storrs relevant booklet. The seller will not come down on price. If you are inclined to help, please do so.

I no longer need donations to the research fund. Thank you for your help.

Update on the update of the ...

To answer several emails: My health is still precarious. I have an ultrasound of my kidneys and related areas on the 9th. I'm on some rather strong pain pills. I'm accomplishing very little meaningful work. If you wish to help I can use any newspaper or other reference to A. P. Adams. You may post them in comments or email them directly. There will be another surgery sometime next spring or summer.

In other news, I received an email notifying me of my election as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. This is useful in small ways. 

Best part of the last two weeks came from my youngest daughter: "I love you dad." Always nice to be reminded of what I already know.

We need a new car. That's in the distant future. And that's the news for today. ...

Oh, and I'm still open to submissions. Usual stuff: Times New Roman, fully justified, tab key for first line. Must be footnoted to original sources. Controversial is okay as long as your work is well supported. Submit via email: bruce . schulz @ aol . com

The Chicago City Temple and the Photodrama

Following on from meeting places being called Tabernacles (e.g. Brooklyn Tabernacle, London Tabernacle) it was easy to see why some large halls would be called Temples in the Bible Student world. So there was the New York City Temple, where the Photodrama of Creation was shown in New York. However, probably the most famous of all was the Chicago City Temple (formerly the old Globe Theater), which again was used for the Photodrama.

The Chicago class produced a special brochure entitled Our Temple, which is highly collectable today. It shows how the Photodrama presentation worked, and as a bonus had a photograph from the first Bible Student convention held in Chicago in1893. It also contained numerous portrait photographs of men and women who were involved in the Photodrama work; in many cases these are the only photographs that have survived of some of these individuals. If you visited the Chicago Temple you would likely have been given a tour by Albert Franz, whose photograph is in the brochure.

Albert Edward Franz (1889-1940)

As a link with more recent times, his younger brother, Fred Franz, was president of the Watchtower Sociery from 1977-1992.

The Temple was only used by Bible Students for a short time. The Chicago class grew to about 600 in 1914. They first hired the Auditorium Theater in Chicago to show the Photodrama in April-May of that year, while looking for a more permanent location. They then obtained a lease on the Old Globe Theater (which was origionally built to exhibit the Panorama of the Battle of Gettysburg) and after much work redecorating opened for business as the Temple later in 1914. There is an article in the St Paul Enterprise for October 16, 1914, showing it to be up and running then. As well as a theater it included a book room, library, dining room, and accommodation for the workers. The address was 700 South Wabash Avenue, near 7^th Street.

However, an internet search shows that this building became the Strand Theater in May 1915, so it wasn’t used by the Bible Students for very long at all. When a new film for Bible Students called “Restitution” came to town in 1918, they were back in the Auditorium Theater. The former Chicago Temple was demolished in 1921.

In that window of operation the Temple sold postcards, and one is reproduced below from Tom’s collection. It was mailed on November 13, 1914.

The writing on the reverse gives no clue that the writer or recipient was ever an active Bible Student. The message from “Auntie Emma” refers to the weather and a funeral of someone both parties knew, but there is none of the usual scriptural references you would expect in a Bible Student message of that nature. The recipient, Isabelle Youle (1892-1971), appears to have never married. When she died her obituary in the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Leader Telegram for May 8, 1971, said she was born in Chicago and that “she was active in Christ Church, Order of the Eastern Star, White Shrine, Order of the Amarenth, of which she was past Royal Matron and present secretary.”

Whatever connection with the Bible Student movement there may have been with this particular postcard is sadly lost in time.

Another postcard needing translation.

 Can you help?

Families in Bethel

The Story of the MacMillan family

The post that follows this shows how many children at one time lived with their parents at the Society’s hedquarters. This was particularly true after the move to Brooklyn in 1909 and the establishment of Bethel.

One such family was that of Alexander Hugh MacMillan (1877-1966). He is known today for his 1957 autobiographical work Faith on the March. However, although the book covers his conversion and many key historical facts of Watch Tower history, much of his personal life is omitted. He does mention in his book (on page 43) that he was married in 1902. For the record, his wife was Mary Goodwin (1873-?). The marriage took place on October 6, 1902, when he was 26 and she was 29. She supported him as a Bible Student and full-time worker for the Watch Tower Society.

Picture of Alexander and Mary taken from

Who’s Who in the Bible Student Movement.

Alexander and Mary were to have two children, and in the census returns for the Brooklyn Bethel taken in April 1910, the whole family are living there. Alexander is listed as Minister, Bible Society. The head of the whole household is given as Charles Taze Russell. The MacMillan’s first son was Albert Edmund Cole MacMillan who was born on December 11, 1907. In the 1910 census he is 2 years old. Their second son, Charles Goodwin MacMillan (shortened to just Goodwin in the census return) was one month old. Charles Goodwin was born on March 28, 1910, but died of tubercular meningitis on February 3, 1912.

The 1910s was a tumultuous decade for the MacMillans. It included the death of a child, the death of Charles Taze Russell, the appointment of a new president, Joseph Franklyn Rutherford, and then the arrest of key officals on charges of sedition in 1918. Alexander was one of those convicted and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. The men were freed in 1919 and all charges then dropped.

By the 1920 census Alexander, Mary and Albert Edmund were back in the Brooklyn Bethel with J F Rutherford as the head of the household. Here is an extract from the census return. Albert Edmund was now 12. Alexander is listed as Minister, Religious Pub(lishing) House.

Travelling forward to the 1940 census, Albert Edmund is no longer with them (at some point he married Dorothy, born 1908, died 1969) and Alexander and Mary now live in West Virginia. Alexander’s occupation is now Regional Director for the Watch Tower Society.

According to his life story in The Watchtower for 1966 Alexander went back to live in Bethel in 1948. It may be that Mary had died. He was to work extensively at the Society’s radio station WBBR and then write his famous book.

When he died, the newspapers gave Albert Edmund as his main surviving relative.

Albert Edmund did not stay with the religion of his parents. He died in 1971 and was buried next to his wife in the Long Island National Cemetery. 

The Brooklyn Bethel family in 1910 and 1913

This article could be subtitled: Did they have a crèche?

A review of the 1910 Brooklyn census reveals the names of those then living in the newly established Brooklyn Bethel. What is unusual by modern-day standards is how many children were living there.

There were fifteen married couples living there, and nearly double that number who were single people. But the married couples included a number of children.

For example, the Brenneisen’s (Edward and Grace) had two children, Susan aged 10 and Ralph aged 7. The MacMillans (Alexander and Mary) had two children, Albert aged 2, and Goodwin aged one month. It might explain why MacMillan disappears from view at times in the Society’s history – he could have been outside Bethel handling family responsibilities for while.

The Sturgeons, (Menta and Florence) had a son, Gordon, aged 11. The Parkepiles (Don and Blanche) had a daughter, Mildred, aged 11. The Horths (Frank and Lilian) had a daughter, Marie, aged 15. And the Keuhn’s (J G and Ottile) had a daughter, Mildred, aged 16, as well as four adult children living there.   

In a supplemental census a few days later, the names of Joseph and Mary Rutherford, with son Malcom aged 17 were added.

We could well ask, did they have a crèche?

Moving forward two and one half years we find that the Bethel family still had a number of children living there.

The occasion was the trial in January 1913 of Charles T. Russell vs. Brooklyn Daily Eagle (commonly called the “miracle wheat” trial). In the trial witness Menta Sturgeon was asked to name all those who were currently part of the Bethel family, either living in or working there regularly. He was asked first in direct examination, when he outlined mainly the married couples and families there, and then in cross examination when he added those who were single. I am providing the full list here. They have been alphabetised according to surname. Sometimes Sturgeon gives a first name or initial, but often he does not. Of course, this is not as accurate as a census return; it is all down to his memory on the witness stand, so there may be omissions.

Miss Alexander

Miss Allen

Mrs Ambler

Mr and Mrs Bain and son

Mr and Mrs William T Baker and son

Miss Bebout

Miss Bourquin

Mr and Mrs Brenneisen and child

Mr and Mrs A Burgess

Mr Cohen

Mrs Cole

Mr and Mrs Cook and two daughters

Miss Darlington

Mr Davidson

Mr John DeCecca

Mr and Mrs F Detweiler

Mr Dockey

Miss Douglas

Mr Drey

Mr Edwards

Mr Emmerly

Mr Ferris

Miss Fitch

Mr Gaylord

Miss Gillet

Mr and Mrs Glendon and son

Miss Hamilton

Mrs Hartsell

Mr Heck

Mr Holmes

Mr and Mrs Isaac Hoskins

Miss Edith Hoskins

Miss Elizabeth Hoskins

Mr Howells

Mr Hudgings

Mrs James

Mr Jansen

Mr and Mrs H F Keene

Mr and Mrs John Keene and three daughters

Mr Knox

Mr and Mrs A H Macmillan and one child

Mr Mayer

Mr and Mrs McGregory and daughter

Mr William Miller

Mr and Mrs Mockridge

Mr Myers

Mrs Nation

Mr and Mrs Nicholson

Miss Niland

Miss Blanche Noble

Miss Virginia Noble

Mr W Obert

Mr John Perry

Mr and Mrs Peterson

Mr Plaenker

Mr and Mrs Raymond and daughter

Mr and Mrs Ritchie

Mr and Mrs Robinson

Mr and Mrs Rockwell

Pastor Russell

Mr and Mrs Schuler

Mr Seary

Mr Shearer

Mr Stamball

Mr Stevenson

Mr and Mrs M Sturgeon and son

Miss Taft

Mr Thompson

Miss Tomlins

Mr Totten

Mrs Wakefeld

Mr and Mrs A G Wakefield

It is interesting to note how many families still lived there. Where the children were of adult age they appear to be listed separately as working there in their own right. But those listed as sons and daughters and uncategorised children may well have been minors.

 

S. S. Thomas

I need basic biography including first name for S. S. Thomas, a lawyer active in 1890 in New Jersey and New York. I have no detail beyond the name. Anyone?

How's your Latin?

Please find Bullinger's  De Scriptura Sanctae praestantia, dignitate, excellentissimaqu authoritate on books.google.com.

Scroll to pages 68-70. Translate them for me if you can. Please and thank you.

Comment moderation

 

Because of a bad actor who will not go away, I've turned on comment moderation. That means your comments will not show up until approved. Jose, of bad reputation here, continues to comment knowing his posts will be deleted as soon as one of the blog editors sees them. Apparently he thinks they'll be up long enough to be read by someone. I've removed his ability to post at all through comment moderation.

Sadly, that means a delay before your comments appear. For that I am sorry. But now, not even the blog admins will see Jose's comments, just his posting name, and his comments will be trashed. He's not the first bad boy to visit this blog. He won't be the last. 

Final resting places

Graveyard memorials are an interesting adjunct to genealogy and history. They often tell us about attitudes towards death and also fame, going right back to the pyramids of Egypt. It is notable in the 19^th century with the attempts of Victorians (in the UK at least) to outdo their dead rivals in the cemetery with spectacle. It’s been said that the attitude in 19^th century Britain was – if you can’t take it with you, you can at least show the rabble you once had it.

With that in mind, it is interesting to note the grave markers of the first six presidents of the Watch Tower Society.

William Henry Conley

Conley was a wealthy industrialist who became first Watch Tower president in 1881. By 1884 he had left regular association with Charles Taze Russell to go on a different religious journey. But his memorial is typical of wealthy men who made their name.

Photograph by the author

In fairness to Conley, his actual grave marker was quite standard, alongside almost identical ones for his wife and adopted daughter. But the family memorial for his name is quite striking, even today.

Charles Taze Russell

CTR was the first president of the incorporated Society in 1884, and founder of the magazine now known as The Watchtower (originally Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence). He gave instructions for a simple funeral at the Society’s own plot in United Cemeteries, Ross Township, Pittsburgh. His first marker pictured in the 1919 convention report was very simple, but something more elaborate was installed in 1920. Even so, it was a fairly modest affair, when compared with other markers of the time, including in the same series of cemeteries.

Photograph by the author

It should be noted that the pyramid installed near the grave marker, was not for CTR but for the whole Bethel family along with colporteurs of the day. Like a war memorial it was originally intended to commemorate the names of 196 people. In practice only nine names were ever engraved on it before the idea was abandoned. The structure was taken down in 2021.

Joseph Franklyn Rutherford

The second president of the incorporated Society was Joseph Franklyn Rutherford. Originally a grave space was reserved for him on the same site as CTR. But the headquarters were now in New York and a new graveyard was established on Staten Island. The Society bought land in 1922 and established both a farm and a radio station there. The radio station had the call letters WBBR and opened for transmission in 1924. Adjoining this property was a famous landmark, the Woodrow Road Methodist Church, with a number of graveyards surrounding it. The Society was to have its own section here. It is not known when this began, but the last interment of a Bethel worker at the old cemetery in Pittsburgh was that of Charles Buehler in 1925.

When JFR died he was buried at Staten Island.

Below is a snapshot from Google Earth taken from Woodrow Road showing part of the cemetery.

The Woodrow Road Methodist Church is on the right. On the left is a fence separating a housing development, which was where the Woodrow Road entrance to the Society’s property used to be. The radio masts for WBBR were behind the Methodist church and their own graveyard adjoined the WBBR property. The graveyard is noted for the policy of having no grave markers at all. This was used for Bethel workers until the end of the 1960s, even though they sold off the radio station in 1957. The last recorded interment was in December 1968. (See The Watchtower magazine for February 15, 1969, page 125.) So J F Rutherford has no grave marker at all. He is buried in this private cemetery area with five others who went to prison with him in 1918.

Nathan Knorr, Fred Franz and Milton Henschel

In the 1970s a new private cemetery was established at Watchtower Farms in Walkill, Ulster County, NY. It is also a private cemetery but this time on private land, and now the decision was taken to have simple grave markers flat on the ground.

Here are the markers for the next Watchtower Society presidents, Nathan Knorr, Fred Franz, and Milton Henschel.

Nathan Knorr and Fred Franz

Milton Henschel

It is an interesting progression from the memorial for William Henry Conley.

Watch Tower Conventions

I need scans [or originals] of Convention related materials from 1889 to 1942, no matter how insignificant the material may seem. Usher/attendant instructions, handbills, seating charts, maps, posters, what ever you may have. 

Was William Conley always a Millionaire?

 Jose objected to Jerome's article on Conley suggesting that Conley was always a millionaire. As a reminder, comments should be factual. Jose's comment is not, but since others may view matters as he does, I'm posting an extract from Separate Identity volume one: 

William Henry Conley 

Other than the Russells, the only name we can positively associate with the Allegheny Study Group in this period is William H. Conley. Russell described him as “a member of the early Allegheny Bible Class.”12 Since they were closely associated in religious work, his wife would have been a member too.

Conley was born June 11, 1840, in Pittsburgh to George Washington Conley and Matilda Balsley. His father died about 1852, when Conley was twelve years old, and Conley went to work in a woolen mill in Allegheny.13 In 1855 he was apprenticed to an uncle, a printer in Blairsville, Ohio. In 1857, he moved with his uncle to Plymouth, Ohio, where he met Sara Shaffer (also spelled Shafer), two years his junior and a transplanted Pennsylvanian. They married in 1860.

Significantly, Conley associated with the Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Ohio. There is little documentation for Conley’s life there, but it is into this time that one can fit his first acquaintance with George Nathaniel Henry Peters, later the author of the massive three volume work, Theocratic Kingdom. Peter’s obituary as found in The Lutheran Observer of October 22, 1909, notes his service to the Plymouth, Ohio, church. Another source shows him serving as pastor in Plymouth during the years of Conley’s residence.

While it is possible that Russell met Peters through another, it is likely that he met him through Conley. It is also extremely likely that Conley’s interest in the Lord’s return and last-times events derived from his association with Peters. Though somewhat sympathetic toward Adventism, Peters was pre-millennialist Lutheran and would not have led Conley into Adventism.He was already committed to his great study of Christ’s return and rule, having started the research about 1854. His preaching at Plymouth must have been colored by his study. ....

There are three William Conleys listed among Civil War soldiers from Ohio, but none of the biographical notices of William H. Conley list Civil War service. At or toward the end of the war the Conleys moved back to Pittsburgh where he joined a commission house, a wholesale firm. Later he became a bookkeeper for James M. Riter, whose company, established in 1861, worked in sheet metal and copper. The business seems to have been prosperous though not large. Riter supplied major portions of the iron work for the Escanaba furnace in 1872.

James Riter died in 1873, and Conley “took a half-interest in the business with Thomas B. Riter, the firm name being changed to Riter & Conley; he attended to the financial and office work while Mr. Riter attended to the outside and mechanical part.” Eventually Riter & Conley “became the most extensive of its kind in the world.” That Conley focused on a major business venture that year is a strong indicator that he did not take the predictions of Jonas Wendell, Nelson Barbour and others seriously. Others who were swayed, though not enough to form a positive conviction, also engaged in business, and his partnership with T. B. Riter is not proof that he didn’t find the movement interesting or even somewhat persuasive.

One can find supporting footnotes in SI1. There is enough here to show that in his early years Conley was a laborer with little money. Money came later in life. The lesson is this: Put some thought into your comments; support them with a reference to original source material. Do not post silly comments.

Several things:

Jerome's article below mentions Conley's large chart. I've been looking for that for about four years. Perhaps you can find success where I cannot.

You might also note that Sarah Conley's obituary puts a better light on her relationship to the C&MA than existed in her last years. More on that in a few months.

I need scans of Watchtower Talk Outlines from the 1940s to 1957. Anyone?

AND for another project I need the writing on this envelope translated. I cannot read the old-fashioned German script. Anyone?