Bruce

 Bruce passed out at work last night. He was helped by a couple of strangers who saw him. He will be away from serious blog posting for some time. -A. d'I. Stewart

Issues

I've stated this before, but it's time for a refresher. I am not interested in having this blog or my books translated into other languages. If I ever find that attractive, I will hire a professional translator. Please don't ask.

If you contact me, use your real name. Fake names are easy to spot. Picking the name of a dead comedian is a dead give away. 

I have limited control over how material on this blog is used. I can insure accuracy. Even then, understanding changes as research develops. If you use older posts without using the search function to find newer content - or contacting Jerome or me - you may not be using the best research. Many of the questions I receive can be answered by reading my books. Look there first. I will insist that you take down material copied from this blog without permission. This blog is copyright protected under US and International Copyright law.

What you believe is between you and God. In this setting, I will not argue theology with you. I've heard it all. I've been a Witness since 1952, and it is unlikely that you have an argument I haven't heard dozens of times - thousands of times. Also, our blog editors are not stupid. We're at least as educated as any of our readers, and we're old guys who are difficult to deceive. Don't even try.

You disagree with some element of our research? Fine, that happens in academic circles all the time. Write a blog post, footnoted to original sources.  Prove your point. If it's well-written, accurate, and derived from original sources, I'll publish it. Otherwise? Make your own blog and post your nonsense there. 

You want to help with our work? Good. Fine. Dandy. I post research requests. Tackle one of those. You find something interesting and pursue it? Write up the result and send it on. You want to send a photo? Make it the best quality you can. If it's poor quality, I probably cannot use it.

I'm not your personal encyclopedia. Do your own research before asking me questions.

 

The Swedish Work

 

Two images sent by a friend of this blog,

An article by E. L. Eaton

 Eaton wrote an article entitled "Between the Lines in the Book of Acts," which was published in the Methodist Review of July 1923. It's reproduced on books.google.com.

https://books.google.com/books?id=XoTTAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA6&dq=ephraim+eaton+methodist&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjP-KWt_Yf2AhWVJ0QIHUv2DpQQ6AF6BAgzEAI#v=onepage&q=eaton&f=false

You would be of immense help if you would read it and post your thoughts to this blog post.

I was there. Were you?

 

Lawyer's Viewpoint

 I need a scan of the original of Rutherford's Salvation booklet. Anyone?

New to my Research Collection: Bell on the Resurrection

 

For another project

 Can you translate this for me, please?

More Cedar Point Ohio 1922 - Then and Thereafter

 

Guest post by Leroy

Note: you may need to click on some of the photographs to see them to full advantage

Where, exactly, was the ‘Advertise, advertise, advertise’ call given?

In the 1922 IBSA Convention at Cedar Point, Joseph F. Rutherford gave the famous talk in which he made the important declaration “Advertise, advertise, advertise the King and Kingdom!” Even though photographs of the event do exist, few know the exact spot where this talk was given. Next, we can see two historic photos taken during the discourse. The first one is looking towards the stage, and the second one is from the stage towards the audience:

Many collectors and history enthusiasts have tried to locate the place where the above photos were taken. Today, we can discover it by analyzing a few old as well as recent photographs of the buildings that were present at Cedar Point in 1922.

The building in the next photo is identified in old postcards as the “Convention Hall”:

This building was originally known as the Grand Pavilion and it’s the first big structure erected in Cedar Point which is still standing today. The Grand Pavilion was opened during the 1888 season and had a capacity of 4000 people seated (Francis, Cedar Point - the Queen of American Watering Places (AP Books, 1995), 41). However, this was not the place where the iconic speech took place.

A photograph exists of the interior of the Grand Pavilion, in which we can notice that, even though they are similar, it is not the same place as the one we see in the photos taken during Rutherford’s talk.

The Grand Pavilion is an open hall with a very high vaulted ceiling; it has a second floor with an interior balcony, and doesn’t have columns among the audience, contrary to the building we see in the convention pictures. Also, in the photos from the IBSA Convention we see arch-shaped windows, different from the ones in the Grand Pavilion, which are squared. The Grand Pavilion was lit by 24 chandeliers (Francis,26), as opposed to the 1922 Convention auditorium, in which we can see only bare lightbulbs as a means of illumination.Also, the attendance at the 1922 convention was more than 10,000. A bigger place was required to accommodate such an audience during JFR´s talk, so we can conclude the Grand Pavilion was not the place where the talk was given.

Was there another structure capable of holding such a large amount of people? Yes, there was. Soon after the opening of the Breakers hotel in 1905, a new massive structure was erected; this new building would have two floors, the upper being an enormous dance hall, with capacity for 10,000 people. This structure is known as The Coliseum and is also still standing today.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate a photograph taken inside the Coliseum before 1939, the year in which the interior was remodeled into art deco style. However, written accounts of the appearance of the interior of the Coliseum tell us that it did not have a great amount of decoration. The pillars and the ceiling structure didn’t have any cover, and the means of illumination were bare lightbulbs (Francis,106). Despite the remodeling, a few fundamental aspects were preserved and they help us identify the Coliseum as the hall where the famous 1922 speech was given.

Let’s see a photo of the interior of The Coliseum in the beginning of the 1940s:

We can see at the back, the windows with a staggered design, with smaller squares in the upper levels. These same windows are visible in the 1922 photo. Here is a side by side comparison of both photographs:

In the 1922 photo we can see that behind Rutherford, as well as at the back of the audience, there are three arch-shaped windows at the center, followed by two narrower arch-shaped windows, and then the staggered windows. Although this is not seen in the 1940 photograph because the arch-shaped windows are covered by a stage, in other photographs taken from outside the building both styles of windows can clearly be seen.

In the above postcard we can see the arched windows at the center, and if you look closely to the window at the farthest right, you can see the staggered design at the upper part of the window.

This one shows clearly the staggered windows in the wall to the right, and in the wall facing the left of the postcard, we can also see the arched ones.

Finally, in a current photograph of the Coliseum, we can see that the Arch-shaped windows are still there, but the staggered windows have been changed for a different style of new ones.

Now, let’s see a photo side by side comparing the central windows of today’s building with the ones in the 1922 Convention.

As we can see, even today these central windows preserve the same style they had in 1922.

All of this makes clear without a doubt that the building where this famous talk was given is the Coliseum, a building that can still be visited today if one wants to revive those exciting moments in theocratic history.

Note

 

I cannot leave the Russell-Eaton notes up for very many days. If you wish to comment or add to my research, now is the time.

Clergy Crimes in the Russell Era

 One of the things that attracted new adherents to Watch Tower belief was its insistence on Holy Conduct. Though there were those who fell short, on the whole Watch Tower adherents took righteous conduct seriously. This was in stark contrast to clergy behavior in the period. The following is from a table of reported clergy misconduct from 1877 to about 1910. 

Abduction 22; Abortion and attempts to procure 19; Abusive language 22; Adultery 676; Alienation of affections 17; Arson 62; Assault with intent to murder 61; Assault with intent to rape 50; Assault with intent to do great harm 26; Assault and battery 66; Attempted suicide 15; Bastardy 77; Bigamy, attempted and accomplished 144; Breach of promise to marry 27; Burglary 17; Cheating, swindling, grafting, malversation, misappropriation, etc.   288; “Conduct unbecoming a minister of the gospel” 44; Conspiracy 11; Contempt of court 13; Counterfeiting 16; Cruelty to wife or children 130/35; Debauchery 52; Desertion or non-support of wife or children 207; Disorderly conduct 44; Divorced or sued 56; Drunkenness 202; Elopement, attempted or accomplished 163; Embezzlement, fraud, defalcation, etc 162; Enticing women and young girls 15; False impersonation 13; Fighting 51; Forgery 123; “Fornication” 14; Gambling 19; Grave robbery 1; Gross immorality 40; Horse stealing 19; Illicit distilling 12; Illicit liquor selling 15; Immoralities with women and girls, miscellaneous and variously described 223; Larceny 181; Libel 50; Lying and deceit 138; Malicious destruction of property and malicious mischief 22; Manslaughter 14; Murder generally 119; Murder of child 12; Murder of wife 27; Obscene language 16; Obscene print, circulation of 14; Obtaining money or property under false pretenses 65; Perjury or subornation of 12; Plagiarism or literary piracy 14; Praying for death of neighbor, who died 1; Profanity 11; Quarreling 19; Rape in general 43; Rape of girls under age of consent or puberty 76; Seduction in general 273; Seduction of girls under fifteen 28; Slander 109; Sodomy or unnatural crime 67; Stealing religious funds or property 23; Suicide  117; Threatening life 16; Violation of postal laws 17; White slavery and pandering 15; Wife or woman beating 57. 

By incident of reported bad behavior Methodists led the list with 728 reported. Baptists followed with 492 incidents; Catholics with 325 incidents of clerical misconduct; then Presbyterians with 187, and Episcopalians with 164. In the same period only two Millennial Dawn believers were reported.

Russell-Eaton

 As I noted in a previous post, these are notes for a history journal article. They are far from complete. But here they are for comment, and, if you wish, your contributions. Corrections welcome. This post must be temporary.

These notes have been deleted.

E. L. Eaton Again

 Can you clean up this rough newspaper photo from 1912? Click on image to see it entire. 

John P. Brushingham

 I need help with this. J. P. Brushingham, B.D. was a Methodist Episcopal clergyman serving in various Illinois cities. In 1888 he was tried in a Chicago criminal court for seduction and fathering a bastard child. The first trial resulted in a hung jury because two jury members were Methodists and unwilling to see one of their own blameworthy. 

I need the results of the second trial. I cannot find them, and with an impending surgery do not have the time or energy to follow this further.

Also,

He was tried in a Methodist Ecclesiastical Court the same year. Indications are that he was found not guilty, but I cannot find a record of the proceedings. Can you?

Never presume I have something you've found.

The relevance to my history research lies in this: Brushingham and E. L. Eaton were best friends. Each had a seriously flawed character. Their flaws are relevant to the Eaton-Russell debate of 1903, which I am researching for a journal article. Eaton misrepresented his credentials on many occasions before and after the debate. Later he described himself as a scientist only on the grounds of his amateur astronomy and creation science lectures. In fact he had no relevant education. He called himself a well known scientist and lecturer, Dr. E. L. Eaton without noting what his degree was and that it was only honorary.  Eaton supported Brushingham despite the evidence that he was in fact guilty of seduction. 

So, can you help? Any? Even a little?

Personal Update

 I have surgery on Friday. There will be a period of recovery. If you have something for this blog, please send it. 

E. L. Eaton

 I need a volunteer to clean up this photo. Anyone? You may need to click on the image to see it in its entirety. 

For another project.

 I need a solid translation of this. Can you help?

Cedar Point Ohio 1922 - Then and Thereafter

 

Guest post by Leroy

This article will locate the exact spot of the 1922 Cedar Point Convention panoramic photograph.

Note: You may need to click on some of the photographs to see them in full.

 

Most of you will know this photo from the 1922 IBSA convention taken at Cedar Point, Ohio, but, where exactly was it taken?

A close examination of the buildings in the background can give us a precise location. Let’s take a closer look, starting from right to left.

 

In this image we can identify four landmarks, and with a nice closeup and the help of old postcards and photos, we can positively identify those buildings. In the next four photos you can see a closeup of the IBSA Convention Photo to the right, and a reference photo to the left. Some of the photos were taken from the book Cedar Point – The Queen of American Watering Places, by David W. Francis and Diane DeMali Francis.

First landmark: The Coliseum

 

In this old postcard you can clearly appreciate the features of this massive building, called The Coliseum, inside of which was probably given the famous talk by Brother Rutherford when the ADV banner was displayed, Friday, September 8, 1922.

Second landmark: The pagoda styled restrooms

 

Just in front of the coliseum there was a small building shaped like an oriental Pagoda, with three levels, and square windows in the second level; this building was a restroom, as you can see in the left photo featured in the mentioned book.

Third landmark: The pagoda styled post office

 

Between the trees in the 1922 IBSA Convention photo we can see another pagoda shaped structure, this time it is the post office. This building is still standing today, but it has been recycled as the main gift shop.

Fourth landmark: The Crystal Rock Castle

 

In the 1922 Convention photo closeup, you can clearly see one wall of this building, with two arcs at the bottom, and a watchtower and battlements at the top. This building is the Crystal Rock Castle, built in 1904. It was closed to the public in the 50s and later demolished when the current main midway was constructed.

These four landmarks are visible in the next aerial view from 1950. I’ve added the location of the IBSA crowd when the 1922 photograph was taken:

 

Today, only two of these buildings are still standing, as you can see in the photo below

 

In this 2018 photo you can see the pagoda gift shop and the coliseum in the background with its peculiar domes still visible. (Photo: themerica.org)

And finally, here is a current satellite photograph from Google, to which I have overlaid two maps from Francis’ book to show the locations of the different landmarks. This will allow us to locate the exact spot where the crowd and the photographer were standing when the famous panoramic photo was taken back in 1922.

 

The same photo without the map overlay:

 

As shown in this example, looking closely at the details in photos can give key information. When that information is combined with some research sometimes we can reach interesting and new conclusions. These can give color and life to a story and set the scene for important events of the past.

Can you add to this?

Because this may end up as a history journal article, this will come down in a few days. If you wish to add to it, do so promptly. Additional data of any sort is good. Don't presume I have something and fail to pass on something you've found. Fact and reference checking is useful. 

Assault and Response

Methodist Response to the Millennial Dawn Movement

B. W. Schulz, FRHistS

Remainder of this post has been deleted. I'll update the research in a later post.

Ephraim Llewllyn Eaton

"Dr. Eaton," of the Russell-Eaton debate rested his reputation on being called doctor. I've been probing that. Here is the result:

Hello,

 

I am writing to follow up with you regarding a research inquiry made to our library reference chat yesterday evening. According to our records Ephraim L. Eaton was awarded an honorary Doctor of Sacred Theology from Lawrence University at our Commencement exercises in 1890. Unfortunately I have no further information on Mr. Eaton or why he was awarded the honorary degree.

 

Best,

Lina  

 

Lina Rosenberg Foley

University Archivist

An honorary doctorate is not an earned doctorate. It is doubtful that he would be so recognized today. His word and views were not extraordinary then and are not now. The Eaton family connection to Lawrence University probably accounts for his honorary doctorate. 

I need more information relevant to Eaton. Anyone?

Update

It turns out that while Eaton attended Garret Biblical Institute, his degree there [Bachelor of Divinity] was also honorary, given some years after he left the college in 1877.  [1883-1884 Catalogue of the Graduate School of Theology.]

Addenda to The Finished Mystery

A flurry of comments on the article published on January 18 has yielded a little more information on the variants in The Finished Mystery page 247. Rather than do a new post the material has now been added as an addenda to the original article. Those interested in this material should go back and re-check the January 18 post.

Foreign Language Material

 I do not have the money to purchase any of it, and none of it is immediately needed for my research, though I'd love to have it. Currently on ebay are issues of the German Golden Age and Trust, the Swiss Watchtower. Also some booklets from the 1920s. 

Links are disabled here. If you're interested for yourself, email me, and I'll send you off to ebay.

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

Comments on this post are closed.

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.