Search This Blog

Thursday, February 18, 2016

S. D. Rogers - 1887


We can attach this ad to Rogers through his letter to Russell:



Grand Rapids, Mich.
DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:--I will tell you briefly of my
efforts here. Have been here two weeks and have been working
in the business part of the city nearly all the time. I have sold
300 DAWNS--nearly half of them being Vol. II. When here two
years ago, I sold only about 35 in the business part of the city.
The increase, I think, is owing somewhat to the interest formed
by hearing of the book; but perhaps more directly by a better
presentation of its merits. It requires considerable tact,
earnestness and experience to interest business men in a
religious work. Though if once interested the influence is apt to
be good, as they are generally at the head of practical and
representative families.
The principal object now, I think, is to find the "sheep" and
minister unto them; but in doing this, we can do good unto all,
as we have opportunity. I have not yet decided whether it will be
well to canvass the whole city again now. If the exceedingly
warm weather continues it will perhaps be better to work in
smaller towns for a while.
It is interesting to note the way in which the truth and harmony
brought out in DAWN is being circulated and found out. Being
good tidings, they who find it go and tell their own brother,
sister or friend. These likewise go and tell others, even as it was
when the Savior was first discovered among men. And how
blessed are they who are permitted to publish these things!
I greatly enjoyed the "View" in last TOWER. Truly, the Elisha
class will be more numerous than that of the Elijah. And though
the former class will be highly favored, I am striving and hoping
to be one of the overcomers. In considering the subject I have
been interested in trying to trace the import and typical meaning
of 2 Kings 2:10--where we read "If thou see me taken from thee;
but if not, it shall not be so." Will it be that the Elisha class will
need to know, or see, when the Elijah class is taken from them
in order that they may inherit a "double" portion of the spirit?
[This would seem to teach that it will be only such as keep in
fellowship with the Elijah class, such, therefore, as will know
them and realize that they are being exalted, who will constitute
the Elisha class and be inspired to fresh zeal and redoubled
earnestness in the service of the truth from a realization of the
facts.--EDITOR.]
With Christian love to you and Sister R. and others of them that
are His, I remain, Yours in service, S. D. ROGERS.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

We get many more visits

We get many more visits than a few months ago. This is good. Comments are few and far between. This is not so good. The recent visitor map:


More Adamson

Once we identified Adamson's peculiarly phrased sermon topic and paired that with the places we know he lectured, we found these advertisements:


Indianapolis 1884

Wheeling, West Virginia 1884

W. E. Richards - as it now stands



            W. E. Richards was born in Illinois in March 16, 1861, and with his family moved to Ohio sometime before 1870. As a youth he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. By the time he appeared in the pages of Zion’s Watch Tower, he was married with children. Writing to Russell in February 1892, he recalled his youthful interest in the Bible and his desire to preach: “From a child I have read the Scriptures, and all other books that I thought or hoped would make plain to my understanding the truth, as I was hungry to know and anxious to teach it.”[1] By the mid-1880s he was “quite active in the M. E. (Methodist Episcopal) church at Akron, Ohio.” His “great ambition was to become a Methodist minister.”
To pay for his education he sold his home and bought a store. Someone advised him that a store could be sold for cash more quickly than a house could, but the advice was poor, and he lost all he had. “Just as I seemed to be defeated,” he later recalled, “a man came to the store room and called my attention to a book, saying ‘it will unfold to you the deep things of God.’ He glanced at it, “and saw that it referred to earth’s dark night of sin to terminate in the morning of joy.”
            He described the Watch Tower evangelists as “some old gentleman, with a serene countenance.” Richards said that “he had learned that I was quite a Bible student, and that he had a book that would unfold some of the deep things taught in the Scriptures.” The Watch Tower evangelist seems to have handed Richards a folder advertising The Plan of the Ages. Two of those differing in content and format exist, but which he saw is irrelevant. He was intrigued and wanted to know more:

By his tactfulness he got my attention quickly, and glancing over the outline of its contents, and noting its purpose … I became very anxious to learn what it meant and began the study carefully and prayerfully. As I learned from it, I began to tell others and to loan the books to others who professed to be sanctified … .

I tried to persuade them to get acquainted with the message, but my books were returned unread. One said he would like to burn my books and decided I was beside myself. [ie: insane] I usually replied by asking whether I should prefer the teachings of Christ and the Apostles, or the teachings of men who could not prove what they taught from the Scriptures, and asked them why pope and preachers ignored what was taught by Christ … and teach that we did not die, in accord with Satan’s lie of Gen. 3:4, and asked them what Christ meant when he said: “marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth” …. [2]

The date of his initial interest is uncertain, though it seems to have been before his marriage in 1887. Though John B. Adamson was working in Ohio in this era and the description matches his age, we do not know who the serene gentleman was. Other aged believers worked through the American Midwest. We’re left with guesswork. Richards purchased the book, and it altered his belief system. He shared his newly found beliefs. The result was disappointing:

Seeing more real gospel or glad tidings in a brief glance and all in accord with a God of love, and in accord with reason and by examining the Scriptures to see if these things were so, ... [I] found it all in accord and began to tell others about it. My own father was one of the first, and he said, ‘Be careful my boy and do not run the risk of losing your never-dying soul. I also delivered the message to fellow members of the M. E. [Methodist Episcopal] Church, but they were afraid of it; they were taught fear of life in fire.[3]

            Richards wanted to meet Russell and traveled from Ohio to Allegheny City to do so. He “called at the then small office and study room and met a comparatively young man with real black beard and a sublime face, reminding me of the face of pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ, and said to myself and other friends, that I saw the most Christ-like face I ever looked at, and I have been endeavoring to live in accord and teach such a wonderful Gospel ever since.”[4]
            While sharing the Watch Tower message with fellow Methodists and meeting rejection for it, he remained within the Methodist Church, reluctant to sever pleasant associations. He finally left Methodism in 1892, sealing with a letter what had been the case for several years. He explained to Russell:

After having been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for about twenty years, I have to-day sent to the pastor a letter of withdrawal. I have hesitated long to take the step, as it is a coming out from pleasant associations, and fellowship with many who are apparently perfectly honest in their belief; but it is also a coming out of Babylon or confusion. My prayer has been, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do;” and now, with an honest desire to do God's will, and to walk in the footsteps of our Lord and Master, I have taken the step. ...

I preach the truth wherever opportunity affords; and if circumstances would permit, I would gladly go out into all the world and preach the gospel to all having hearing ears; but it is not my privilege so to do. Occasionally I have the opportunity to teach it to individuals.

I ask that you will remember me at the throne of grace, that I may be led by the spirit of Christ into all truth, that I may be enabled, by his grace, to walk worthy of the gospel wherein we are called, that my will may be fully submitted to God's will and that I may soon be buried with him in baptism; and, being filled with the spirit of Christ, that I may be permitted to go forth bearing the precious seed (truths) of the Lord.[5]

            Richards remained an active evangelist, working mostly locally in Pennsylvania and Ohio through 1917. We know little about him after that. He spent his last years as a farmer, dying June 17, 1932.


[1]               “Out of Darkness into his Marvelous Light,” Zion’s Watch Tower, March 1, 1893, page 78.
[2]               Voices of the People: What our Readers Say, The St. Paul, Minnesota, Enterprise, November 20, 1917.
[3]               Letter from Richards to editor of St. Paul, Minnesota, Enterprise, March 6, 1917.
[4]               Letter from Richards to editor of St. Paul, Minnesota, Enterprise, March 6, 1917.
[5]               Letter from Richards to Russell, Zion’s Watch Tower, March 1, 1893, page 78.

Monday, February 15, 2016

William Ellsworth Richards

For rough draft of his bio. see the recent long post. We need a photo. Anyone?

A note from a blog reader

One of J. P. Martin's sons, Homer, and Homer's wife Clara, were very well-known Jehovah's Witnesses in the Dayton congregation, both of them professing to be anointed Christians.  They later lived at an address on Illinois Avenue, in east Dayton.  I lived in the Dayton area when I was growing up, and I was acquainted with several Witnesses who knew them, including the Witness who purchased their house after their death (they both spent their last years in nursing homes due to dementia).

Because you've probably never seen one ...

von Zech's magaine, The Harvest Sickle. 


Adamson


Sunday, February 14, 2016

Temporary Post




We're combining parts of several chapters into one. This is work in progress, unfinished, and it will change. Don't repost it anywhere. Don't rely on it. However, I want you to see where we are going, what current work is. 

The Russell myth is that the Watch Tower movement was Adventist. We show in this chapter the beliefs and denominational origins of Watch Tower evangelists. You will note that they were not Adventists.

I'll take this down in a day or so. If you copy it for personal use or to further our research, please do not share it off this blog.


New Workers Enter the Field

            Mostly ignored by historians are adherent’s the efforts to spread the message through the religious press. Finding examples from the period before The Plan of the Ages was published is difficult. Most believers addressed doctrine and did not reference Russell or his associates or any of their publications. This is not surprising since affiliation was fluid and loose. Many – most in this period – who read and circulated Zion’s Watch Tower saw sectarian organization as a “mark of Babylon.”
            An article by G. W. Cone entitled “Is Christ on the Throne of David” appeared in the November 30, 1882, issue of American Christian Review, a Disciples newspaper not generally read by One Faith or Adventist believers. A copy was passed on to John B. Cox of Crawfordsville, Indiana, and he wrote a lengthy reply. His review was published in the January 4, 1883, issue. He refuted Cone’s contention that the kingdom promises were fulfilled during Jesus’ lifetime, referencing the Emphatic Diaglott’s rendering of Colossians chapter one and citing an many other verses to prove future, literal fulfillment. He concluded by saying: “We have an abundance of evidence to show that Christ is not yet seated on the throne of David, but is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High, and in the fullness of time will descend from heaven and take the Throne of David and rule the nations of the earth.”
            A debate followed with Cone asserting Whitbian views and Cox reaffirming pre-millennialism. In the February 1, 1883, issue, Cox focused on the earthly nature of Christ’s kingdom: “It will at once be seen that if the Church is the Kingdom, then the Kingdom is flesh and blood. This theory of the Church-Kingdom is contrary to teachings of the apostle Paul.”
            Substituting ridicule for scriptural reasoning, Cone wrote a blustering reply which filled nearly the entire front page of the February 15th issue. He sneeringly referred to the Millenarian (and Watch Tower) conception of Christ’s kingdom as the “imaginary kingdom established in Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital” and the twelve apostles as the cabinet. He assigned cabinet posts to the various apostles. The editors of the Review tired of the debate, but Cox was allowed one last reply which was published in the March 29, 1883, issue. Cox refocused the debate on the Bible’s message. “The kingdom of God and of his Christ is too sacred and important a subject for us to indulge in joviality,” he wrote. Mildly rebuking Cone for resorting to ridicule, Cox restated Millenarian belief: 

This post has been deleted. Thanks for looking.

Both Bruce and I have ...

This letter from Adamson to Russell appears in the April 1886 issue of Zion's Watch Tower. Adamson says he wrote letters to the newspapers in and around Binghamton, New York. Our only access to these is through fultonhistory.com. You can't view them by issue there, only through search terms. We couldn't locate Adamson's letters or articles. Can you?

Not in Reprints:

Binghamton, N.Y., March 15, 1886.
DEAR BRO. RUSSELL: We are still here, and enclose a list of
names and report. I think my course of lectures closed auspiciously
as I could think, if not wish.

Some told me that if the series did no other good, it at least softened
the attitude of the fiery dogmatic Free Methodists, who expect to
run away with all that dare try conclusions with them. At the
meeting yesterday they showed, as a result of my answers to their
questions at the stand and in the papers, that they were better
disposed and had "changed their minds," both as to methods and as
to denying all except tradition. At first they knew everything. The
congregation increased, and many expressed regret that the lectures
closed. The last lectures were received with great warmth and
expressions of benefits received. I stay till to-morrow to have
conversations with parties to-day. You see work is plenty for the
willing. Surely I begin to see why the Lord sent me this way. Mrs.
A. joins in kind remembrance, sympathy, and prayers for all saints,
but especially for you, dear Bro. and Sister Russell. In Christ,
J. B. ADAMSON.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Solving Puzzles


by Jerome

This article takes us away from the time period being currently researched, but is an example of how sometimes puzzles CAN be solved. That can only be encouraging in our present search for names to go with faces, or more likely faces and details to go with incomplete names. The material is slightly expanded from an article on the now defunct blog 2, where it might have been read by about three people.


I like solving mysteries. The photograph above has raised questions for many years. The two women sitting on a swing seat or hammock are the subject of a photograph in a photo album that dates from 1909. The simple question is - who are they?

The cover of the photo album was reproduced on blog 1 some time ago. It is an album of various scenes around the United Cemeteries. This was an amalgamation of three cemeteries in Ross Township, Allegheny. The Society founded the cemetery on farming land, next to an existing graveyard, and this is where Charles Taze Russell was subsequently buried. The cover of the album is reproduced again below.


The middle picture is of John Adam Bohnet who looked after the cemetery, and who later supervised the building of the pyramid on the Society’s plot. The bottom picture is of the main farm house and cemetery office. Familiar old pictures of CTR’s grave and the pyramid show this building from a different angle in the background, looking down the hill.

The rest of the photograph album shows various views of the surrounding landscape. But it does include the picture of the two women on the swing seat or hammock which appears to be taken from the farm house looking up the hill.

So who were they?

The wonders of the internet and sites like Ancestry have finally yielded the probable answer. In the 1910 census of Ross Township there are four people living on the property. Their names are given below:


So there are Edward Hollister, Head, Male, White, aged 66. His wife, Jane, aged 62. His daughter, Clara, aged 28. And then Adam J Bohnet, Boarder, aged 52. Further along the same line we get their occupations. Hollister is Cemetery Superintendent, his wife is not officially employed, his daughter is the book-keeper for the business, and finally, John Adam Bohnet (rendered here as Adam J Bohnet, just to make life difficult for researchers). Bohnet is specifically Cemetery Superintendent for United Cemeteries.


The women therefore are mother and daughter, Jane and Clara Hollister.

At some point the Hollister family moved on, because Bohnet is afterwards given sole credit as cemetery manager. There are pictures of him supervising at the time of CTR’s funeral, his bald head clearly recognisable. Shortly thereafter the newspaper, St Paul Enterprise, contained advertisements from him asking for help - manual help from men and also clerical help from women, to run the business. However, if any responded their employment was only short-lived because the bulk of the land was sold off in 1917, and the Society only retained ownership of certain sections.

It is interesting to note that the Hollister family, Edward, Jane, and Clara (who subsequently married J C Jordan) were all eventually buried in the United Cemeteries. (Edward in 1920, Jane in 1933 and Clara in 1958). However, it is significant that none of them were buried on the Society’s plots.

But it IS nice to put names to faces.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Last Ditch Effort

We still need a firm identity for the "Brother and Sister McCormack" mentioned in

C. T. Russell: View from the Tower, Zion’s Watch Tower, July 1882, page 1.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

William & Mary

We need someone who lives reasonably near to visit William & Mary University for some documentation. Otherwise we will have a 50 dollar fee plus scan/photocopy fees for something that may be of marginal value.

Horace Randle

After separating from Russell, Randle published from London a paper entitled Good New for the Coming Age. Does anyone have copies?

Worldcat says at least one copy is in the British Library. Anyone?

We need more information on this man

SCHUTZ, John 

The funeral of Mr. John Sheetz[sic] who died at the Western Maryland hospital, Cumberland, last Wednesday night, took place Sunday afternoon from the Presbyterian Church on Broadway.  A presentative from Zion’s Watch Tower and Bible Society of Pittsburgh, conducted the services.  Interment was made in Allegheny cemetery.
The Evening Times, Wednesday, August 19, 1908

Monday, February 8, 2016

The Biographies



            I’ve been posting many brief biographies; I should probably explain why we’re pursuing these. The current mythology that passes for history suggests that early believers were all poor, disenfranchised, marginally educated, and probably Adventists of some sort. The early influence of Zion’s Watch Tower is also questioned, even by its friends. The best way for us to analyze this is to examine the issue in detail.
            So ... we’re examining all the newspaper articles and letters to Russell we can find. If we can put a name to a letter, so much the better. But even the anonymous letters have detail. They tell us what the writer’s previous religion was. (Often Methodist; almost never Adventist.) The biographical details, minor though they seem, tell a better, more accurate story than the myth that floats around the Internet.

Hatton Turner

We need more information. Who is this man? Can we tie him to Zion's Watch Tower?


Maps

Bernard is making maps that show early meeting places and places were believers lived. We're working on 1880-1882. If you can add to the list, please do. We need the source of your information.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Never Ever ...



            Our blog visitors are important to us. Some of you help us as you can. Many of you are repeat visitors, sometimes viewing the blog several times a day. Comments help. Even a question helps, because it can point the way to further research. Most of our visitors are well-behaved. Sometimes we get one that is not.
            The recent Korean troll is an example. All of his comments were marked spam and we no longer see them. In the last few months we had a semi-regular visitor who wanted to insult a religion. He left of his own accord; at least he no longer comments. He’s welcome to comment as long as he keeps it within blog rules. This is a history blog and not open to disputatious comments or insults. Apparently his feelings were hurt by the reminder, and he’s gone. We’re not responsible for your personal angst, peevishness, or rude behavior, and you may not bring it here.
            In the last few months a Russian visitor has emailed me privately, asking questions. I’ve pointed him to answers. But this is a really good place to say that I don’t do basic research for others. I don’t have time. If you want to know what we have to say about Watch Tower history, buy our books. Now ... back to our Russian visitor. He signs himself Vlad.
            Vlad thinks that because I’m a woman and Mr. Schulz’ name comes first on our books, I know less; I’m less capable and pretty much inadequate. So he wanted to email Mr. Schulz. I reminded him that Mr. Schulz is not taking emails. His health is fragile and he’s old.
            Vlad has an agenda. He’s a nominal Witness who believes 1914 is not the date of Christ’s parousia. (I’m sympathetic. But I’m not a Witness trying to sway others to change doctrine.) Vlad wanted Mr. Schulz to agree with him, thinking that because we write independent research he must hold similar opinions. Vlad wrote to Bruce anyway. My cousin answered him.
            Vlad shouldn’t expect further assistance with his research, not because he has views contrary to Witnesses, but because of the sexism and lack of respect for Mr. Schulz’ health issues.
            My screen name may be frivolous, but I am an exceptionally well qualified researcher. I have two bachelors degrees (history, education); two masters degrees (history, education) and a PhD (history). I’m a certificated teacher, with the “Highly Qualified” designation and board certified. What’s between my legs does not make me a second rate researcher, hardly more than a secretary.
            My frivolous blogger name derives from a novel of mine published in 2007. It’s out of print. But some of you have read it. I created the name to comment on the Miss Snark writer’s blog.I see no need to change it.
            My last thought on this matter is, Never, ever peeve a Pixie.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Recent Visitor Map


Help!



I want to bring this back to the top. Bernard, who contributes much to our work, needs help finding “Le Petit Inventeur,” a French language periodical. William I. Mann’s photo and a brief biography appears in the 1930 issues. Copies are in a Paris Library. Anyone in France willing to search for it?

Adamson - Partial, rough draft



John Bartlet Adamson

            Adamson (1837-1904) was a businessman. There is some confusion as to his occupation, but Russell described him as having “a profitable and increasing business paying about $1,500 a year as well as other things.” One presumes Russell meant he had other sources of income. How much beyond that he had in “other things” is impossible to calculate. While fifteen hundred dollars is a paltry sum today, it was a large income in 1881. Later in life he said that he had “always been a church worker of an independent sort” and that he “always took a great interest in religious matters.”[1]
            He was introduced to the Watch Tower message sometime in 1881, while staying at the YMCA in Columbus, Ohio. He found a copy of Zion’s Watch Tower and “was attracted at once, finding in it so much Gospel (good news) and so much better than I had.” He traveled to Pittsburgh, searching for the Watch Tower office. He asked for it “among various religious newspapers,” each of which disparaged the paper. Adamson thought that gave it “Scriptural marks of saintship – being ignored, ‘cast out,’ and ‘suffering reproach’ for Christ’s sake.[2]
            Russell’s explanations confused him: “I could hardly follow Bro. Russell in his explanations and see at once that there really is a plan of God in the Ages, and that all the Scriptures fall into line and harmonize with it. It was too good.” He left Allegheny unconvinced. “Still pondering these things in my heart,” he wrote, “I went East to attend Dr. Cullis’s training school, and finding it unsuitable for me, I went on to Providence, where I acted with the Y.M.C.A. in a revival; thence to Bridgeport, Conn., where I attended the Mission revival services. From that I purposed to return to Boston again, but there was no opening except toward Pittsburgh.”
            We are left wondering if he was confused by Russell’s explanation or if he found it “too good to be true.” Which ever was so, he left Allegheny unconvinced and sought out Charles Cullis in Boston and enrolled in his Faith Training College. Cullis, a graduate of the University of Vermont and a Holiness-oriented Episcopalian, was a homeopathic physician in Boston. He advocated Faith Cures and founded among other agencies the Faith Training College (1876) to advocate his views. Adamson enrolled but terminated his studies, finding the college “unsuitable.” He doesn’t explain if he had a doctrinal difference or if he found he was not an apt scholar.[3]
            He was introduced to Watch Tower readers in the same issue as the two men mentioned above, but only by the initials “J.B.A.” A brief letter of greeting from him and some introductory words by Russell form the basis of most of what we know of him. Russell introduced him as a “very dear saint” and “brother in Christ” and explained that Adamson had decided to “give up all that he has of time, reputation and ability … for the Crown of Life.” Adamson’s self-introduction to Watch Tower readers is worth reproducing in full:

Beloved: It is fitting that new recruits should cheer, if nothing else presents that they can do. It is well that overcomers should continue to use the “word of their testimony.” In true life of faith there must be habitual obedience to the revealed will of God. The just shall live by faith. To the one that lives by every word that proceedeth out of they mouth of God, [sic] it should not appear strange that God should present objects of faith one by one, and not all at once; neither should we stumble if our faith meets with higher truths than those first presented. Faith, like muscular organs, is strengthened by use – the whole gymnasium is open to the athlete; he would spurn the gentle and easy exercises of the invalids. But how often we rebel when this principle is used in the acts of faith: It is trying to the man who has arrived at the justified plane to be told about the entire consecration demanded of the “overcomer.” For a week I have been instructed in the things of the Kingdom especially referring to the presence of Christ doing the separating work preparatory to the marriage. And most joyfully do I receive these teachings.

With shame I record that for three days I rejected these truths, almost wishing they were not scriptural and the very truth of God, instead of joyfully welcoming them with grateful heart. Following closely came another trial of faith and measure of my obedience and consecration, when I as one of God’s stewards, was urged to do the work of a steward and deal out these truths exactly in the measure of my ability to proclaim them. This meant for me the preaching service; the proclamation of truths so unwelcome to many up and down the land everywhere and always.

I ask pardon of the blessed Master – Christ Jesus, that I ever hesitated to accept His place in true humility, and the obedience of faith. I bring not a parade of the Christianizing and civilizing elements to elevate and liberalize the world, and thus make it fit for a coming Messiah; but we proclaim: “The times of restitution spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world began” – the glorious manifestation of the sons of God, so near.

Glorious body of Christ, take courage. “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Sprit, that ye strive together with me in prays go God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea (the nominal church), and my service that I have for Jerusalem the Baide [Bride] may be accepted of all the saints.”[4]

            This is more than an expression of newly found faith; we see something of his personality in this. He is verbose, as if many words enforce his thoughts. Though he would become an effective colporteur, he was not an effective preacher. He tells us that he once believed it a Christian duty to improve the world, to make it a fit place to which Christ could return. This was a common belief and the belief that stood behind social improvement schemes. We can’t psychoanalyze the dead, at least not successfully. But we come away from his letter wondering about his stability. Angst over new understanding is foreign to the authors’ nature, and we are – perhaps – unsympathetic as a result. We see in this letter an immense pride of self. 
            Adamson explained that he had “always” been religiously inclined because he had “godly parents,” but “I failed to get as clear an idea of consecration as I wished. I never believed in lukewarm or disobedient Christians, but I had no wise, loving saints to confer with in my early religious experience. Few or none thought of the Bible as the only rule; therefore, I was sometimes cast down and discouraged. I never could join a church, or enter the ministry, though I had tempting offers of the necessary funds. .. Yet, I always worked heartily in all churches, Y.M.C.A., or other revival work.”[5]
            We have the benefit of hindsight. We know what outcomes were for Adamson, so we can see elements from his letters Russell and Watch Tower readers could not. Odd, ungrammatical phrasing characterizes some of them. In this one he says he never “believed in lukewarm or disobedient Christians.” He meant that he rejected their behavior, not that he didn’t believe they existed. He wrote as he spoke. He tells us he considered a career in the ministry but found no church satisfactory enough to seek membership. He was a frustrated preacher, and within his Watch Tower ministry often included street preaching, though not always successfully because of the flawed grammar. He confused people, not an uncommon outcome when a speaker makes his audience mentally translate his words. Adamson impresses one as vague. His letters leave an indistinct trail He uses a common vocabulary, but one is occasionally left wondering if he meant exactly the same thing as did everyone else. His description of his first meeting with Russell falls into this category. At first it appears plain and straight forward, but on analysis it becomes imprecise.
            He left Boston for Providence, Rhode Island, where he “acted with the Y.M.C.A. in a revival.” Again, his statement lacks specifics. He doesn’t say if he merely handed out tracts or if he picked up litter, or explain in anyway what “acting with” the YMCA meant. From there he made his way to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to attend “the Mission revival services.” He “proposed to return to Boston again, but there was no opening except toward Pittsburgh.” Again, the lack of specifics is maddening. What, exactly, does he mean by the phrase “no opening except toward Pittsburgh”? That he had no more money than a fare to Pittsburgh? That makes no sense because Boston is far closer to Bridgeport than is Pittsburgh. Business took him toward Pittsburgh? Who knows? The man is frustratingly vague. Nevertheless, six months after he’d visited Russell (December 1880 or January 1881) he returned for another conference. In his verbose, confusing way he reported the results of his second conference with Russell:

With shame I record that for three days I rejected these truths, almost wishing they were not scriptural and the very truth of God, instead of joyfully welcoming them with grateful heart. Following closely came another trial of faith and measure of my obedience and consecration, when I, as one of God’s stewards, was urged to do the work of a steward and deal out these truths exactly in the measure of my ability to proclaim them. This meant for me the preaching service; the proclamation of truths so unwelcome to many up and down the land everywhere and always.

I ask pardon from the blessed Master – Christ Jesus, that I ever hesitated to accept His place in true humility, and the obedience of faith. I bring, not a parade of the Christianizing and civilizing elements to elevate and liberalize the world, and thus make it fit for a coming Messiah; but we proclaim: “The times of restitution spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world began”— the glorious manifestation of the sons of God, now so near. Glorious body of Christ, take courage. “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea (the nominal church), and my service that I have for Jerusalem the Bride) may be accepted of all the saints.” Rom. 15:30, 31.[6]

            Russell’s account differs in minor detail. Adamson says about six months elapsed between his first meeting with Russell and his second. Russell says it was nearly a year. We have no sure way to harmonize their accounts. Russell was impressed by Adamson’s earnestness, telling Watch Tower readers:

It gives me pleasure to thus introduce to the readers of the watch tower one whom we have recently come to know as a very dear saint – a brother in Christ. We first became acquainted about one year ago and his interest has been growing in the precious truths advocated in the tower. Again visiting this city, we have had very pleasant and profitable interchanges on the all important themes – the presence, the “high calling” and the “narrow way” of entire consecration by which it may be reached.

Our brother has concluded as ... to give all that he has of time, reputation and ability for the Pearl of great price, the “Crown of life,” – immortality and joint-heirship. He leaves a profitable and increasing business ....[7]

            As vague as Adamson was as a speaker, he was an adept colporteur and reported success in personal evangelism. He played a significant part in the circulation of Food for Thinking Christians. Russell reported that, “Brother Adamson is now in Illinois and Iowa distributing pamphlets from city to city, and preaching as he goes. An extract from a letter in another column, shows that he is enjoying the work. The Lord give him grace for every time of need – though showing him how great things he must suffer for the truth’s sake.”[8] We do not know what Adamson suffered, but we suppose it was partly financial. He abandoned his business interests and was dependent on the goodwill of his hearers.


In He reported work among Methodists late in [congtinue]

            After some weeks of silence, Adamson wrote to Russell, reporting his progress. Detailed reports from Watch Tower evangelists are rare, and, though his letters reflect his personality, they give us clear insight into methods. Adamson traveled from camp meeting to camp meeting, circulating Food for Thinking Christians and meeting sharp opposition:

After several months engaged in distributing and preaching the Gospel, you will doubtless be glad to hear from me again. I have had good opportunities for observing how this Gospel of the grace of God is received by the different classes in and out of the nominal churches. Only those who go forth into the world, with the real Gospel of gladness, can have a full idea of the joy and rejoicing of God's true people, when presented with these truths. And only such can realize how bitter is the opposition of many of the clergy (Scribes) and false religionists (Pharisees) who abound in the churches now, as they did in the Jewish.

I worked in nearly all the large towns of twenty states, being present also at nearly all the leading Camp Meetings, Conferences, and Assemblies of the year: distributing thousands of books, and addressing many people. At Camp Meetings it was impossible to give away books with much discrimination, but after the season for such gatherings ended, I found time and place for seasonable words about our hope, joy, heirship, and the restitution of the world at "the manifestation of the sons of God." I soon began to realize what a blessed work I was engaged in, and the glorious privilege of being a mouthpiece for the Lord.

The true people of God who are really making good their promises of entire consecration of all to the Lord, received me with every sign of gratitude and love, and praise to God for this message of grace and love, expressing surprise that the "Food" had reached them, and gratitude to God for "meat in due season." Limited in time, I devoted it principally to those who seemed to "have an ear to hear" – the truth hungry, passing by those who seemed to think themselves rich and increased in goods and needing nothing; thus following the example of our Forerunner--convinced that now, as then, no man can come into the light except the Father draw him by his Word and Spirit of truth. There is no inducement of a worldly character to lead one of the world-conforming, Babylon people into the narrow way and race for glory. On the contrary, this teaching is most repulsive to the larger portion of the nominal church, and those who deliver them are continually subject to contempt, reproach, and dishonor. Those who for years have been carrying the honors of the world with the name of Christ in self-indulgence, feel outraged by the teaching that glory, honor, and immortality will only be given to those who take up their cross, deny self, and follow their Leader in a life separate from the world.

Most bitter in their opposition are the clergy who doubtless feel their craft endangered--some of whom obtained the books from their people when I was gone and burned them. This was especially true among the sect calling themselves "Second Adventists," strange as it may seem. They greatly fear, that which they cannot gainsay.

I now gladly recur to the effect of the truths we hold, upon the dear sainted people of God who only are the church – yet for the present much mixed up in Babylon except to God's clear vision. These were glad to get out of her, and hailed the message and the result, as a deliverance from sin. Many infidels and worldly people got to hear the message also, and often spoke of God's plan in the ages, as something reasonable, and as demonstrating his Wisdom, Justice, and Love.

Being a willing instrument in God's hand, subject to any use I can be fitted to, I now try a preaching tour, and expect to meet many of the brethren and labor together with them. Again desiring your prayers, I remain your brother and fellow worker in Christ Jesus.[9]

            Indiscriminately handing out tracts at camp meetings produced little result. We see that from this letter. Yet, for some years it remained Watch Tower practice to dispense tracts at church doors, most of which went unread. Adamson was more effective in personal conversation. He doesn’t say which of the Second Adventist camp meetings he attended, but knowing does not matter. They were especially opposed to the Watch Tower message. Some would have seen it as a continuation of Barbour’s work, though by 1883, Barbour had moved onto other doctrine. Adventists did not see kinship between Watch Tower adherents and themselves. In his last paragraph, Adamson proposed a ‘preaching tour.’ He was an indifferent, discursive speaker. Apparently he meant to visit other believers, working with them.
            In May 1882, Russell reported that “Bro. Adamson is holding some very successful, and we trust profitable meetings in Mercer County, Pa.”[10]


[1]               A Curious Sect, The Wilmington, North Carolina, Semi-Weekly Messenger, January 21, 1898, page 7.
[2]               J. B. Adamson: Letter from Brother Adamson, Zion’s Watch Tower, February 1883, pages 1-2. [Not in reprints.]
[3]               Ann Taves: Fits, Trances, and Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James, Princeton University Press, 1999, page 227; Randall Herbert Balmer: Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism, page 166; See also the article Faith Cure: McClintock and Strong, eds., Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Supplement, Volume 2, 1889, page 372.
[4]               J. B. Adamson: To the Readers of the Watch Tower, Zion’s Watch Tower, July 1881, page 8.
[5]               J. B. Adamson: Letter from Bro. Adamson, Zion’s Watch Tower¸ February 1883, pages 1-2. [Not in reprints.]
[6]               J. B. Adamson: To the Readers of the Watch Tower, Zion’s Watch Tower, July 1881, page 8.
[7]               C. T. Russell’s comments on: To the Readers of the Watch Tower, Zion’s Watch Tower, July 1881, page 8.
[8]               C. T. Russell:
[9]               J. B. Adamson: A Word from Brother Adamson, Zion’s Watch Tower, March 1883, page 4.
[10]             C. T. Russell: View from the Tower, Zion’s Watch Tower, May 1882, page 1.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Adamson

Adamson's last address was Chicago, Illinois. On this basis it appears that our man is John Bartlet Adamson, born 1837 in Pennsylvania. He married Amelia Whitney, August 1882. It appears that there was a second marriage to Emily Moore, in Allegheny City, PA, Nov. 15, 1893. This explains earlier confusion over wife's names. He died in Chicago, Jan. 22, 1904.

So ... can we prove this beyond doubt?

This does indeed seem to be our guy. His address in as given in and 1898 newspaper matches that on the death record for John Bartlet Adamson. Some of the marriage details are puzzling. They may be wrong.The birth date as given in the newspaper matches John Bartlet.

J. B. Adamson

We need a birth and death date for John B. Adamson, an early Watch Tower evangelist. Anyone? Early life details would help too.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Your friends

You truly help us if you recommend our books to your friends.