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Faith on the March
A.H. Macmillan
Copyright 1957
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| Chapter 3
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| "GOD'S WORD IS A FIRE"
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NO DOUBT YOU have heard some religious observers of Jehovah's witnesses deplore the lack of zeal in their own organizations. They say that if their workers would go from house to house as Jehovah's witnesses do much could be done to stimulate interest in their own way of life. But is a doorbell-ringing campaign enough to inspire faith? A man is only as strong physically as the food he eats. Spiritually, then, what gives Jehovah's witnesses the vigor that sends them out to the homes of strangers? Obviously it is their spiritual diet, the same food that invigorates those whom they serve to join them in active worship. Throughout the centuries Jehovah's witnesses have been impelled by the same active force of God. That which moves them is the message they bear. If their belief were not of sufficient vitality to make them speak, how could it possibly stimulate others to respond? However, the apostle Paul pointed
| "GOD'S WORD IS A FIRE"
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out: 1 "I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow." This is the growth to which Jehovah's witnesses accredit their increase.
Shortly after publication in 1886 of C. T. Russell's first Millennial Dawn volume, The Plan of the Ages, a convention had been arranged for Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on the occasion of the annual Memorial celebration of Christ's death. In those early days at our conventions it was customary to have a meeting at which different ones present would rise and give what we called a testimony. On this particular occasion Russell himself had charge of the meeting and was encouraging new ones from other cities present to join in the expressions. He was getting a ready enough response from some of the regular attenders but none of the visiting friends were inclined to volunteer, and yet there were a number of new ones present. After the meeting had been in progress for some time an elderly man poked his head in the doorway at the rear of the hall, looked around, then straightened up and walked in. Although there were still a few seats at the rear, he struck out for the front row and that's where he sat down. Russell looked at him. He bore unmistakable marks of a traveler who had come from some distance. His clothes were quite dusty and with him he had a small package of personal belongings that he deposited carefully under his seat. For a while he sat quietly, listening to the various testimonies. Then finally he got up. The chairman wondered, "Now what is he going to say?" But having called for comments from visitors, he thought,
"Well, this is the Lord's meeting, so we'll give him a chance." He did not have long to wait. "Well, I'm here! " the stranger began. That brought a laugh. The fact was obvious; but the old fellow wanted everyone to realize he was glad to be there. "Now I'm not going to say much," he continued, "but I just arrived in town. I came down from New England and I had to change trains up the road here a piece. I had about an hour, so I thought I'd hand out a few tracts to the people on the platform. I noticed some men standing around a platform truck and they were all laughing; so I walked over to them. " 'What's all the excitement?' I asked. "They pointed to a goat in a crate on the truck. " 'What's wrong with the goat?' " 'Nothing. They just don't know where to send him, that's all.' " 'Well, doesn't he have a tag on him?' " 'He had a tag when he started out; but he got hungry and ate it up. Now they don't know what to do with him.' "Now, folks," the old fellow continued to the audiences, "my name's George M. Kellogg. I'm a deacon in the Presbyterian Church and now I'm like that goat. I got a copy of this book and read it (here he drew out of his pocket a copy of The Plan of the Ages, holding it up), and I'm like that goat. At one time I had a tag but I ate it up and now I don't know where I belong; so I came here because I want to find out." That was all it took to get them started. Stirred by Kellogg's remarks many of the visitors stood up as opportunity afforded and said they were in the same position. They were Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians, but their tags were gone too and they would like to know where they belonged. Before the convention was over they all found out and Kellogg, for one, lived for a number of years as a faithful minister in Jehovah's service.
Like Charles Russell, my own association with the work began in my youth, as I've already mentioned. I, too, was seeking a way to serve God in an acceptable manner, and, though my first acquaintance with the doctrines and work of Jehovah's Witnesses brought me much joy, it required a real change-over in my thinking. I was born July 2, 1877, in Canada. Both my parents were strict Presbyterians and active church members. However, I was brought up in a Catholic community in Nova Scotia where there was no Protestant church, just a Catholic church. We did have a hall in town where we had Sunday school and prayer meetings, and that was the extent of our religious activities. It was three or four miles out to the regular Presbyterian church, and when we attended church that is where we would go. As a youngster I did not study much about things of the Bible but I had a reverential attitude toward church matters. I accepted what my father and mother told me as true. My oldest brother was a skeptic and finally shocked us boys greatly by admitting privately he was an agnostic. He said: "If there is a God then he's something different from what the Calvinists say he is. I don't believe what they teach about predestination. If God assigned some humans to eternal torment and others to heavenly glory before they were born, where is there any justice? Then they tell us those in heaven sing God's praises and that's why he takes them there--because he enjoys that. But they also say those in hell-fire are there because it's God's pleasure. All I can say is he must enjoy the groans of those suffering in hell more than he enjoys the singing of those in heaven because he is taking only a little flock to heaven but they claim he has sent billions to hell I can't believe in such a God." That horrified me.
I never became active about my religion until a real tragedy occurred in our family. One winter when I was about thirteen my younger sister and I were out on a Saturday with our hand sleds, coasting. We got overheated. The next morning my little sister came down with diphtheria. They called it membranous croup. Monday evening she was dead. This came as a great shock to me. I said, "Life is short and uncertain. If what we do here has any bearing on what we will be hereafter, then we would be very foolish if we didn't devote our time to serving the Lord now with the hope of having something better throughout eternity. As for me, I'm going to take my stand and do what I think will be pleasing to the Lord." In our town here were only a few Protestant boys and they did not understand why I got so religious all at once. Nevertheless, I held on and did the best I could to serve the Lord as we understood it in my church.
When I reached the age of sixteen I decided to be a preacher. I went away to school some distance from home, preparatory to attending a theological seminary. For some reason not clear to me now I suffered a nervous breakdown and had to quit. I came home discouraged and almost brokenhearted, not knowing what to do. However, my father was very considerate and kind and did not reprimand me in any way but offered to do anything he could for me. I obtained some money from him and went away to Boston, Massachusetts. Alone in that large city, I was uncertain indeed as to the
future. But I intended to look around to see what I could find in the way of a religious life. I had not been there long until Dwight L. Moody and his associates Ira David Sankey, Francis Murphy and Sam Jones came to town to hold a revival. For about two weeks Moody spoke twice a day in the Tremont Temple and it was a truly exciting experience to me to see such large crowds coming to church. Their idea was to "surrender yourself to God" and be saved by his grace. How well I remember the turmoil in my young mind as I tried seriously to consider all of the consequences of such a responsible act. One night I lay awake until after midnight, tossing and turning, trying to tear my mind free of the prospect of all the natural pleasures of life. I was by nature a happy sort of person, and laughter and joking were as much a part of me as breathing. Would I have to give up these things, I thought? Religion and a religious life had always been painted to me as one of austerity, with a long-faced pious attitude that would not tolerate much levity. I was told Jesus never laughed, but he often wept. Still I knew that I could not be truly happy unless I could be serving God in some way. That night is as clear in my mind as if it were yesterday. Finally I made up my mind. I got down on my knees and "surrendered" myself to God. I know now that was one of the most important acts of my life and since then I have never had cause to regret it. I did not experience a great flash of light coming on me but I know that from that night forward I have grown steadily in understanding and appreciation of what it means to serve God. I have learned, too, that my previous notions as to what it meant to be "serious" about religion were all wrong. I have never lost my sense of humor. I made up my mind then, saying, "Now I know definitely what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a missionary of some kind if I can't become a regular minister." So I planned to go
to the Moody School at Northfield, Massachusetts, and study to be a missionary.
Not long after this and before I could make arrangements to attend the Moody School, I was discussing religion with some of the men in the commission house where we were working. A middle-aged man came in, listened to us a minute, and then joined in the conversation. I could see that he knew more than I did about the Bible, so I inquired where he got his information. He invited me to come to a meeting at No. 4 Park Square in Boston, at 3:30 P.M. the next Sunday. I accepted. The speaker at that meeting, Alexander M. Graham, was giving a talk on the progressive ages of man's history in his relation to God. I could not follow him too well because the material was new to me. He talked fast and I did not have time to consider the meaning of all the figures, lines and curves on the chart he was using to illustrate his talk. However, I enjoyed the meeting; but, more important, there I obtained the first Millennial Dawn book, The Plan of the Ages. That very night I began to read. The first chapter quoted Psalm 30:5 -- "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." The writer (whose identity was unknown to me at the time, for the book did not contain his name) described briefly the sufferings of humanity for the past six thousand years; he pointed to the morning of a new day at hand. "Well, that sounds like the truth!" I thought. "That's reasonable; that's what I want; that's Godlike. This will answer my questions as to man's destiny and God's purpose for man's being on earth." In the next chapter proof was submitted that there is a God; another viewed the Bible as a divine revelation in the light of
reason. Next, epochs or dispensations of the world's history were explained and the main outlines of the "three worlds" given.
Chapter 5, entitled "The Hidden Mystery," cleared up a question I had never been able to understand: Why are efforts of the church to convert the world making so little progress? The matter of man's salvation was of deep concern to me. In Chapter 8 this was explained. Centuries ago, as recorded in the Bible, God had promised his faithful witness Abraham that he would bless all the families of earth through Abraham's seed.2 But who was that Seed? I didn't know. Here it was explained that Jesus Christ and his bride, the true church, was the Seed.3 Furthermore, that Seed would not be completed until all members of the true church had been gathered in the final harvest. Since that harvest was still going on it was not yet time to bring the promised blessings to the faithful ones of mankind.
Now it was clear to me why the world was not being converted, and what else was necessary before mankind in general would be restored to a peaceful way of life. I was so happy about this that I literally could not contain myself. I would go out on the street and stop people to tell them what I had learned. Today many, especially relatives and friends, cannot understand why it is that, when one becomes really acquainted with the work of Jehovah's witnesses and accepts Bible truths and begins to preach them, he sometimes appears to be a little extreme at first. Perhaps that has been your own experience with one of Jehovah's witnesses. Well, persons who are happy about anything seldom are quiet about it. They generally are
very expressive, showing their joy. They want everyone else to share it.
So, when one really sees from the Bible the glorious picture of the blessings God has promised obedient human beings during the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ just ahead, he does not want to keep it to himself. He has to go out and tell others about it, especially those who are near and dear to him It reminds me of what the prophet Jeremiah of old said when he deliberately tried to keep quiet about the message he had been given to proclaim,4 "His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." That is exactly the way I felt when I learned about the promised blessings for all families of earth through Abraham's seed.
One day, as I recall, I approached a stranger on the street. Without any other greeting I asked him, "Do you know about the great promise God made to Abraham, that through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed? " Looking at me in surprise, the man asked, "What Abraham are you talking about?--the Abraham that has that pawn shop down on Salem Street?"
That was all the interest he had in my message. I'll never forget how disappointed I was at his reaction. True, I still was quite young, but the blessing of mankind was to me at that time the most important matter I could think of. However, I was not discouraged by this man's seeming lack of interest. I continued talking to anyone who would listen. Later, of course, I learned a more tactful and less startling approach.
Then I almost lost all I had gained.
A short time before all this a number of prominent clergymen including G. Campbell Morgan, had come to Boston to carry
on a religious campaign. They were connected with the Moody School at Northfield. Some of their talks were exposing teachings of the Unitarians. The Unitarians did not believe that Jesus had a pre-human existence or that he was the redeemer of mankind. To them he was just a remarkable man who set a good example to be followed.
I had attended many of the campaign meetings held by those clergymen. They were fluent speakers. They told many stories that were designed to attract and interest the unlearned. I recall one of them said: "All of the apostles called Jesus 'Lord' but Judas; he called him 'Rabbi.' . . . Oh well," the speaker added, "Judas was a Unitarian and that's why he did that." This had impressed my youthful mind because I certainly did not want to be like Judas. These thoughts were still in my mind as I continued reading my precious book, The Plan of the Ages.
I came to its Chapter 10: "Spiritual and Human Natures Separate and Distinct." There I read this statement: 5
We are told that Jesus, before becoming a man (in his pre-human existence), was "in a form of God"--a spiritual form, a spirit being; but since to be a ransom for mankind, he must be a man, of the same nature of the sinner whose substitute in death he was to become, it was therefore necessary that his nature be changed; and Paul tells us that he took not the nature of angels, one step lower than his own, but came down two steps, and took the nature of men--he became a man; he was "made flesh."6
Jesus nothing more than a perfect man on earth? That statement left me confused. I was greatly shocked. Violently I threw the book to the other end of my room, saying to myself, "I'm certainly not going to be a Unitarian, but the author of this book must be!"
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| MADE IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN
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For a few moments I sat there in serious thought. I felt depressed, and finally concluded, "I've lost something that was very precious and dear to me. That book brought me more joy and peace and satisfaction than anything I have come in contact with. Now why throw it away because of the one point that I can't understand? Should I allow something that some men have said prevent me from considering the evidences, at least? " (Of course I learned later that C. T. Russell had no connection with the Unitarians.)
I walked across the room and took the book up from under the table where I had thrown it, dusted it off and began to read it all over again. Then I saw why Jesus had to become a man. It was in order to meet the terms of the sentence God had pronounced against the perfect man Adam. The perfect Adam had brought the curse of death upon all his offspring for any to be redeemed it would require a perfect man's sacrifice. Jesus could accomplish this only by becoming a man.
Now that was reasonable, I thought. Just assuming the form of a man while retaining his spirit nature would not answer God's law of an eye for an eye, a life for a life. Besides, if he were part God all this time, what must he have been thinking for the nine months he was in Mary's womb, or for the time he was growing from infancy to manhood? Certainly he was not just acting a part all those years. That would have made him a hypocrite. Yet if he were really God, then he must have been conscious of more than a real child; otherwise God is no different from men.
Now I could see what Paul meant when he wrote7 that Jesus took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." Realizing, too, that there is a legal basis for the hope God has given us, it makes even stronger our certainty that the God who cannot deny himself will carry it out. The joy that this understanding brought me has not diminish
with the passing years. From that day to this I have never had any difficulty in understanding and appreciating any of the points of doctrine that have been revealed relative to the redemptive work of Jesus, the resurrection and the restoration of the way of life begun in Eden.
At that time I was a member of the Tremont Temple in Boston and we had there a Bible class of some two hundred young men and women. Many spent more time socializing than they did in studying, but to me it was really an opportunity to gain more knowledge of the Bible. One Sunday we were considering the parable of the sheep and goats for our Sunday school lesson. Mr. Jamison, a broker down on State Street, was leading the study. He was talking about the goats' being cast off into the fire of eternal torment as he summed up the lesson. When he had finished, I got up and said, "Mr. Jamison, I would like to ask a question. If the goats and the sheep in this parable are just symbols of human creatures, the sheep of good people and the goats of wicked ones, then why do you say that the fire is literal and that the goats are going to be tormented forever?" He turned around to the class and shook his finger at me and said: "That young man by that question has destroyed in this class all the good I've done teaching during the whole quarter." That was an indication to stay away, and I did; although there were a few who felt the question was a reasonable one and wanted to discuss it with me further. From that time on I began to attend meetings at the Park Square hall where I had obtained the book, The Plan of the Ages. I continued to study there and to engage in the work that was available to us at that time.
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| C. T. RUSSELL GREETS A YOUTH
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Next summer saw the turn of the century and I met Pastor Russell. It was at a convention in Philadelphia. June 17 was Bunker Hill day in Massachusetts and, of course, a holiday. There were special train rates to Philadelphia at that time because the Republican party was also holding a convention there. That year they nominated William McKinley as president and Theodore Roosevelt vice-president of the United States. So I took advantage of the holiday and special rates and went to the Bible students' convention sponsored by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. There, as I now recall, Russell talked to the public on the subject, "Salvation from what, to what?" The theme of his discourse was that men are not saved from eternal torment, which does not exist. They are saved from eternal death to everlasting life. After the talk I was delighted to meet the speaker. He was an extremely kind man. I was just about the only young person there. All others present seemed mature in years. His willingness to talk to me impressed me greatly, because I knew of no man of his importance on the public platform who would talk face to face with young people from his audience after his lectures. I recall that in Boston Dwight L. Moody would leave the hall immediately after his sermons and go to his hotel nearby. Anyone who desired to ask questions would have to go to others of Moody's party. But C. T. Russell always made himself personally available to anyone who wished to talk to him.
| INVITATION TO HEADQUARTERS
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From that time I never missed any convention that was held in the East or the Middle West. In September, 1900 after returning from Philadelphia to Boston, I was baptized by total
immersion in water, the service being conducted by Hayden Samson, a traveling representative of the Society. In July, 1901 I was ready to realize my ambition to become a missionary and entered the full-time ministry in Massachusetts. In September of that year we had a convention in Cleveland and I attended. It was at this time that President McKinley was assassinated at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, so there was much excitement throughout the country. The convention at Cleveland ended Sunday night and Russell invited me to make my home at the Watch Tower Society's headquarters in Allegheny, though I was not a member of the staff. When I went there to the Bible House (where the headquarters "family" lived and worked) I was in my early twenties. C. T. Russell was very kind to me. I had no home, both my parents having died; so he took me under his wing and made me feel at home with the headquarters family. He was thoughtful and considerate in every way, and as I would go out on a trip or special assignment he always would say, "Brother, the door is open for you when you return. This is your home." In October, 1902, I attended a convention in Washington, D.C., where I was married. My wife and I then spent a year in California, returning in 1904 to Allegheny. In 1905 I made a nation-wide convention tour with Russell. It was on this trip that I met J. F. Rutherford, whom I baptized in 1906 and who became the second president of the Society. In 1909, due to expansion of the organization world-wide, headquarters were moved from Allegheny to Brooklyn, New York. There, at 13-17 Hicks Street, a mission annex of the Plymouth Congregational Church, called "Plymouth Bethel" was purchased and new operating offices of the Society were installed and a large auditorium utilized for meetings. The building was called the "Brooklyn Tabernacle." At the same time the former residence of the Plymouth church's famous preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, was purchased
This was at 124 Columbia Heights. Here the headquarters family were housed and the structure was named "Bethel" supplanting the term "Bible House" used for the Society's building in Allegheny. International headquarters of the Society and the headquarters family are still at this address and, after all these years, I am still a happy member of that family.
| DARKNESS LIGHTENING INTO DAY
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As I consider the years that I have been associated with the organization of Jehovah's witnesses I can appreciate more and more the value of the path along which we have been led by Jehovah God. Until I first began to study I had never been able to find any religious teaching that answered all my questions. And yet the knowledge of God's Word that was available to us at that time was so limited (compared with what we now rejoice in) that it would be like coming out of the faint light of dawn into the brightness of high noon. But the gradual growth in knowledge, as well as in numbers of persons associating in the work, has strengthened and developed the organization and brought it to maturity. C. T. Russell had no idea of building a strongly knit organization. At that time we saw no need for it. We expected 1914 would mark the end of this system of things on earth. Our big concern at that time was to preach as effectively and extensively as possible before that date arrived. In the meantime, we thought, we must prepare ourselves individually to be ready to go to heaven. Exactly what would occur in 1914 we did not then know, but of one thing we were certain: The year 1914 would see the beginning of the worst time of trouble the earth had yet known; for so many Bible prophecies foretold that. Our faith was strong and our hopes were based on much more than mere human speculation. Yet 1914 and the years that immediately followed proved to be a time of severe testing for the developing New World society. Had we realized then the trials we were still to face or the years that were to elapse before our preaching commission was due to expire, perhaps we would have entered the year with far more agitation of mind.
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