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Faith on the March
A.H. Macmillan
Copyright 1957
| CHAPTER 8
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| A NEW NATION COMES TO LIFE
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| PAGE 107
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MARCH 25, 1919 we were released. We had been in the Atlanta penitentiary nine months. Judge Howe, who had sentenced us to eighty years, denied us bail while our attorneys were preparing our case for hearing on appeal. Bail was also summarily denied by Judge Martin Thomas Manton.1 However, our attorneys made application to United States Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Branders, and under his order another application was made to the Circuit Court of Appeals at New York.
Apparently the Department of Justice and Judge Howe, for reasons of their own, were extremely interested in causing withdrawal of the appeal. Our attorneys received from Howe a copy of a letter he had sent to the Attorney General at Washington, D.C., in response to a telegram the Attorney General had sent him. This letter was dated March 3, 1919, and in it he stated:
My principal purpose was to make an example, as a warning to others, and I believed that the President would relieve
them after the war was over. As I said in my telegram, they did much damage, and it may well be claimed that they ought not to be set at liberty so soon, but as they cannot do any more now, I am in favor of being as lenient as I was severe in imposing sentence. I believe most of them were sincere, if not all, and I am not in favor of keeping such persons in confinement after their opportunity for making trouble is past. Their case has not yet been heard in the Circuit Court of Appeals.
| CLEARED OF AN ILLEGAL JUDGMENT
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However, this effort at commutation of our sentences failed because March 21, 1919, the Circuit Court ordered that all of us be admitted to bail in the sum of $10,000 each. Then, on May 14 following, the court reversed the decision of the lower court and the case was remanded for retrial. Judge Ward, writing the opinion, said: 2 "The defendants in this case did not have the temperate and impartial trial to which they were entitled and for that reason the judgment was reversed."
The Court of Appeals in its decision held that it was for the jury to decide whether or not the defendants were guilty. But the Government didn't want to risk losing the case on another jury trial. The prosecutor was afraid that it would be lost, since the war hysteria that had helped the Government to convict us in 1918 no longer existed by the time the case had been reversed in 1919. The war had ended, and prejudice was then not so rampant. The Government was afraid that if an unbiased jury heard the case again it would be lost. It was this fear of losing the case that forced the Government to dismiss the indictments by motion to Nolle prosequi.
Occasionally since that time some of Judge Rutherford's enemies have referred to him as an "ex-convict." Nothing could be further from the truth, and, in view of all the well-known evidence to the contrary, this is an obvious attempt to
prejudice persons who may not be in a position to know the facts.
If the conviction against him had not been reversed, Judge Rutherford would have been disbarred as a lawyer. An exconvict can't be a lawyer. A lawyer who is an ex-convict must be disbarred. Yet Rutherford never lost his license.
After his erroneous conviction in 1918 Rutherford repeatedly appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States as counsel and remained a member of the bar of that court from his admission in May, 1909, until his death in 1942. Since the conviction was reversed and the stigma erased, it is wrong to say that Rutherford was an ex-convict. The facts are that he was wrongly imprisoned under an illegal judgment.
We were a happy bunch in Atlanta when a telegram came to Rutherford saying that bail had been granted. Our friends came down on Saturday so that we could leave Monday morning for New York, where arrangements for bail were completed. That weekend, of course, was a very exciting one to all of us. The guards in the prison were very kind, the Deputy warden in particular, and congratulated us on getting away.
We came to the Federal Court Building in Brooklyn, where bail was granted. It seemed very strange to walk out and go just where we wanted to without having guards shouting at us or asking us where we were going or requiring a pass.
Our friends had a real "welcome home" celebration for us in New York, but now that we were out of prison we had no place to go to carry on our work. The Tabernacle was sold and the Bethel was dismantled. That of course was a blow. Practically everything was gone. We needed an office and a place where we could do a little printing.
Rutherford went to California while R. J. Martin and I
went to Pittsburgh to look at the offices where our equipment had been moved, to see if there was anything we could do. C. A. Wise was there too. He had been elected vice-president while we were in prison. We were buried on the top floor of a new building on federal Street in Pittsburgh, and few people knew where we were. We were trying to get things going and increase the work if possible, but we were completely handicapped owing to the fact that all of our printing facilities were gone and our plates and other equipment that we needed to expand the work were destroyed. It seemed there was not a thing we could do. We would have to begin from scratch.
One morning a man walked into our office. There was no special entrance there and nobody at the door as receptionist. You could walk right into the office. I looked up from my desk and there he was--a man who had been associated with the work for many years and whom I knew well. He was a man of considerable means from one of the Southern states. He motioned for me to come out to see him and we went into a room we had fixed up as a living room or parlor.
"Who's in charge of the work here, Brother Mac," he asked. I told him.
"Is Brother Rutherford here?"
"No, he's in California. But Brother Van is here and Brother Wise and the rest of us."
He said, "Have you got a private room here?"
"Well, we'll lock this door. This is private. What do you want to do George?"
He began to take his shirt off as I talked to him. I thought he had gone crazy. He looked a little dirty and travel-worn, whereas ordinarily he was a tiny and well-kept man. When he got down to undershirt he wanted a knife. Then he cut out a little patch he had on there and took out a bundle of money. It was about $10,000 in bills.
He put it down and said, "That'll help you to get this work started. I wouldn't send a check because I didn't know who
was here. I didn't travel in a sleeper because I didn't want anybody to come and take this away from me if they suspected I had it, so I sat up all night. I didn't know who was in charge if the work. But now that I see you brothers here whom I know and I trust, I am glad that I came!"
"Well, George, you sure look like you had a hard time but we're certainly glad that you came too." It was a pleasant surprise and certainly an encouragement. Eventually funds began to come in when it became known that Rutherford was back in his position as president and the rest of us were busy at work with the same old organization getting started again. But that really did not take place until after we got back to the Bethel in New York.
| A TEST OF STRENGTH IS MADE
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In the meantime Rutherford, in California, decided to try a test to see if the work could be revived, or if it might be indicated that our work was already done. Some of us were still ready to go to heaven right away. We thought our characters should be developed just about right after we had, in a way, spent "eighty years" in the penitentiary. We thought we would surely be ready then, if we had not been in 1914.
However, Rutherford was anxious about the work. He was just in his prime, and he could not figure out why the Lord would make such extensive preparation in starting a great work of this kind and then letting it stop without accomplishing any more than had been done up to this time. If matters had come to a climax after World War I, and Armageddon had really been due to begin then, we would have been satisfied. We would have said, This is the end. But the war was over. The nations had patched up an armistice and it looked as if they were going to have peace. Now what were we going to do about it? We were not about to sit around idle and
twiddle our thumbs waiting for the Lord to take us to heaven. We realized we would have to get busy and do something to determine what the Lord's will in the matter really was. Rutherford announced that on Sunday, May 4, 1919 he would lecture in Clune's Auditorium on Fifth and Olive Streets in Los Angeles. The advertised subject of his talk was: "The Hope for Distressed Humanity." Newspaper advertising called attention to our illegal conviction with the promise that the reasons for it would be explained. That was the test case. If nobody came to that meeting, we were done. It was reported to us that some of the clergy had said, "There won't be a soul there to hear it. Perhaps a few tramps will go in. The International Bible Students and the Watch Tower are done." I suppose from the looks of things they had every reason to believe that. Rutherford was at the Trinity Hotel waiting. Within about twenty minutes after they opened the doors of the auditorium that place was so jammed you could not get another person in. About 3,000 had turned out to hear the talk. Well, there it was. Of course Rutherford was thrilled. He hurried down to the auditorium and that day he really talked! About 600 had been turned away with a promise that an overflow meeting would be held on Monday night. Although Rutherford had been ill in bed all day Monday, he went to the auditorium that night to talk to the 1,500 assembled, but after about an hour he had to give up and an associate completed his lecture. For several weeks he was in serious condition and we thought he might not survive. Due to his weakened condition he had contracted pneumonia. The doctors said his trouble was due to the poisons in his system from impure air and poor food while in the Atlanta penitentiary. He and Van Amburgh were in a cell that had no circulation of air. There was something wrong with the fan and, not getting enough oxygen,
their systems became filled with poisons. At any rate he was seriously ill and never fully recovered.
| NEW LIFE STIRS US TO ACTION
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By July Rutherford was back to work and right then arrangements were made for an assembly at Cedar Point, Ohio, and scheduled for the first of September. What a thrilling time that was! We had not known what to expect. The public season closed that year on September 1 and we had arranged with the hotels to take possession of all their facilities on noon that day. The week before this the weather had been very unsettled with much rain, but Monday dawned fair and clear. On Monday morning our people began to arrive and when the convention began there were about a thousand present. The hotels at Cedar Point accommodated approximately three thousand and we had hoped to fill them, so we were somewhat disappointed at this small beginning. However, later in the day special trains began to come in and it seemed that everyone was arriving all at once. The managers of the local hotels were completely swamped. Long lines formed waiting for assignments but everyone was cheerful because it seemed so good to get together again in a general convention. We had not been able to hold such an assembly since 1916. Martin and I volunteered to help out in assigning accommodations. I had had experience in hotel work and Martin's wide experience in once management made him valuable. We were behind the counter until after midnight, assigning rooms, while Rutherford and many of the others were having the time of their lives acting as bell boys, carrying the baggage and helping the friends get to their rooms. Everyone was thoroughly enjoying the experience and before we finished that
night around three thousand persons were on the grounds and settled.
Still they continued to come. The hotels in Cedar Point were filled and overflowing into nearby Sandusky, where soon not only the hotels but hundreds of private homes also were filled. By Friday six thousand were in attendance, and Sunday at the public lecture delivered by J. F. Rutherford there were seven thousand persons present.
This was the evidence of an organization truly come to life! If our enemies had had their way we would still have been in the penitentiary, just beginning our twenty-year internment. Now, instead of that, here we were--free--finally realizing that there was a real work ahead of us, and eager to get at it.
| THE "GOLDEN AGE" COMES INTO VIEW
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Announcement was made of the release of a new magazine as a companion to The Watch Tower, which was to be published twice a month and which was to be called The Golden Age.
In his talk to the convention when he announced the release of the new magazine, J. F. Rutherford answered a question that was in many minds as to our future activity. He said:3
Faithful followers of the Master . . . know that soon they must finish their course and pass off the earthly stage of action; and yet they know there is something, by God's grace, that they will be privileged to do, and, if faithful to him, will do, before they pass over. Beyond the time of trouble by the eye of faith they see the Golden Age of the glorious reign of the Messiah, which will bring peace and the blessings of life, liberty and happiness to the groaning creation of earth. They count it as their chief duty and privilege to announce to the world the coming of the Golden Age. It is part of their God-given commission....
St. Paul said: "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." We are sure that he here expressed the heart sentiment of every child of God who has the opportunity of proclaiming the message. The door of opportunity is opening before you. Enter it quickly. Remember as you go forth in this work with the new magazine you are not soliciting merely as the agent of a magazine, but you are an ambassador of the King of kings and Lord of lords, announcing to the people in this dignified manner the incoming of the Golden Age, the glorious kingdom of our Lord and Master, for which true Christians have hoped and prayed for many centuries. You are an angel of peace, bearing to a war-torn, sin-sick, sorrowing and broken-hearted world the glad message of salvation. How wonderful is our privilege!
We had truly come to life and were looking forward to years of work if necessary in order to fulfill our commission. Many of the discourses at this assembly were on service themes. The talk which I gave on Thursday highlighted the words of Jesus when he was on trial before Pilate:4
"To this end was I born, and for this purpose came I into the world, to bear witness to the truth." These words of our Lord Jesus to Pilate at the time of his trial set forth one of the main objects of Christ's life. The Master here showed with clearness that one of the main objects of his advent into the world was not to delve into Jewish politics, not to spend his time in various moralistic and humanitarian works, great and admirable though such works would be, but to bear testimony to the truth concerning God's aims and purposes for the blessing of mankind. It is true there were other objects in his leaving the heavenly glory which he had with the Father before the world was: he came to "seek and to save that which was lost"; he came to "give himself a ransom for man"; but his bearing witness to the truth was almost inseparably bound up with those exalted missions.
That kingdom, the true testimony of which the Lord bore and which true testimony he passed on to the apostles and
through them to his faithful followers of this Gospel age, will prove to be the very thing which man has wanted and needed all along. It will be the "desire of all nations." For the privilege of testifying to that message our Lord and all his faithful followers have counted shame, ignominy, imprisonment, persecutions and death as nothing. If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub for his faithfulness in declaring the Messianic kingdom and for the things necessarily associated with that declaration, it need not be surprising if they apply similar epithets to his followers who are, of course imperfect and much more likely to call forth the criticism of the enemies of the truth.
| WORLD-WIDE PREACHING IS THE GOAL
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So the idea began to take hold, "Now we have something to do." We were not going to stand around any more and wait to go to heaven; we were going to work. The clear demonstration of growing interest that was manifested in our message at Clune's Auditorium the preceding May made us realize the people did want to hear why we were so opposed, and what kind of hope we had that could make us persist in spite of it. Then we began to realize a truly world-wide preaching campaign was ahead of us. The response at our convention also demonstrated that our people were eager to go ahead with it. With this thought of increased activity in mind we set out to move headquarters back to Brooklyn, New York. It took some work to refurnish Bethel and equip our offices there, but by the first of October, 1919, we were beginning to operate. The Watch Tower was beginning to look as it had before. Rutherford's articles were being printed again, and our people began to respond with voluntary contributions in a fairly liberal way. It was remarkable how the Lord was providing just what was needed and thus we were able to spread out and increase our activity.
After our convention in 1919 The Watch Tower really began to emphasize the service for everybody. At first, a group of about seven thousand within the congregational organization carried on the bulk of the witness work. These had been active in distributing the seventh volume and now this small group reorganized and began to press forward again in their ministry.
Later The Watch Tower commented on Jesus' commandment,5 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." It was pointed out: 6
After the fiery experiences coming upon the church, and after admonishing his followers to endure cheerfully to the end, he then specifically states the general work that must be done throughout Christendom.... It will be noted he does not say the gospel that has been preached to the meek throughout the entire Gospel age shall be preached. What gospel then could he meant? The gospel means good news. The good news here is concerning the end of the old order of things and the establishment of Messiah's kingdom. It means the dark night of sin and sorrow is passing away. It means that Satan's empire is falling, never to rise again. It means the sun of righteousness is rising rapidly, its healing beams penetrating the darkness and driving back that which obscures the truth and bringing to the people that which will bless, comfort, strengthen and uplift them. It means the coming in of the Golden Age, the glorious time of which all the prophets wrote and of which the Psalmist sang songs of gladness and hope.... Plainly this would seem to indicate that now the church must engage in the proclamation of this good news as a witness to the nations of earth, and then the old order will entirely pass away and the new will be here. Surely there could be no tidings so good, no news so comforting and helpful to the peoples of earth in this time of distress. Evidently this verse means that the witness must be given to the nations designated as Christendom. All of Chris-
tendom is now in distress and perplexity. They have experienced great trouble, but there is even greater trouble yet to come. Before that greater trouble comes, this message must go to the people as a testimony.
Here, clearly defined, is the first official expression of the world-wide preaching work as it is now actually being carried out. Here, in its issue of July 1, 1920 The Watch Tower was pointing to the commission that has served as the dynamic stimulus for all of Jehovah's witnesses from that time forward.
| PUBLICITY AGENTS FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
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Unmistakable as those words were, our commission was to become even clearer, and with it, our responsibility was to be sharpened. This was at another convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, September 5 to 13 1922. The talk was J. F. Rutherford's.7
After explaining that Jesus Christ would occupy the throne appointed by God he pointed out that God had arranged for others to be associated with him as kings, and these would rule with him for a thousand years. Preparation for these had begun when he was on earth and God had been selecting them from that time forward. However, when Jesus was due to return and take up his power as King, he would gather together the last of those on earth of this group and prepare them for the work they were to do. Then the Lord would suddenly appear at his temple [i.e., the organization built of human "stones"8] for a judgment of those in line for the Kingdom to determine which were faithful to their covenant.9 From Isaiah's prophecy10 he showed that even those faithful ones would be found in a spiritually unclean condition and would have to have their lips cleansed as with fire in the prophecy. This called for a great change in the work, and a witness for the kingdom began in earnest.
Then he quoted from Isaiah 43:8-12, "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen," and pointed out:
Thus we see that those of the temple class are clearly designated as the Lord's witnesses at this time, to bring a message of consolation to the people, that the Kingdom of heaven is here, and that millions now living will never die. Thus it is seen that God purposes that his name shall be magnified, that the people shall know that he is Lord. Thus we see that God purposes to have a people in the earth in this time of stress, clearly marked as separate and distinct from all others, standing as his witnesses, fearlessly crying out the message: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand!" . . .
For six thousand years God has been preparing for this kingdom. For nineteen hundred years he has been gathering out the kingdom class from amongst men. Since 1874 the King of glory has been present; and during that time he has conducted a harvest and has gathered unto himself the temple class. Since 1914 the King of glory has taken his power and reigns. He has cleansed the lips of the temple class and sends them forth with the message. The importance of the message of the kingdom cannot be overstated. It is the message of all messages. It is the message of the hour. It is incumbent upon those who are the Lord's to declare it. The kingdom of heaven is at hand; the King reigns; Satan's empire is falling; millions now living will never die.... The world must know that Jehovah is God and that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the day of all days. Behold, the King reigns! You are his publicity agents. Therefore advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom!
Suddenly, as these words filled the auditorium, a platform length banner was unfurled that echoed the stirring phrase: "Advertise the King and Kingdom."
A mighty shout went up from the assembly. Here was our answer. No more could we doubt what Jehovah God would
have us do. Gone was any question as to whether we would be working or "going home soon." The privilege and duty of all those dedicated to Jehovah's service was to advertise the presence of the Lord and to publicize his kingdom, now definitely known to be established since 1914 This we must declare world-wide if we would prove our love and loyalty to the Lord.
| THE NEW WORLD SOCIETY IS BORN
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Thus, was our work revived.11 It was more than an old work coming to new life. In the fall of 1919 a new nation was born. It was the New World society of Jehovah's witnesses.
It did not all come at once. Conceived under trying conditions from its inception in 1872, it was almost brought to a stillbirth by the pains of travail from 1914 to 1918. Only Jehovah's healing hand was able to deliver it to vigorous life. Growth has been steady though fraught with tribulations and the rate of increase has multiplied in recent years.
With the regathering of Jehovah's people after their death-like inactivity in 1918-1919 the germ of theocratic structure was implanted. At that time the Society began appointing one person from each congregation to represent it directly in organizing the new work of witnessing with The Golden Age. Then, after we moved back to New York in 1919 we found the quarters at 124 Columbia Heights insufficient, so we expanded to 35 Myrtle Avenue, where we got several floors of a building to work on and where we installed a large printing press to print The Golden Age. Finally that building was too small. In 1922 we moved to 18 Concord Street, where we had four stories. Within four years we were spilling out the doors and windows again. We realized then that we would have to build our own factory.
In 1926 we purchased some ground at 117 Adams Street and
that winter erected an eight-story printing plant. In 1937 a four-story addition was made and in 1949 a nine-story annex was built. These were all joined as though they were one building. In 1956 a completely new thirteen-story building was constructed across the street that doubled all of these facilities up to that time.
These have been remarkable years. When I look back on our experiences since we entered Atlanta penitentiary in 1918 I am more than ever convinced that Jehovah God is with us. Sentenced to twenty years, with animosity against us so strong we could not obtain bail during appeal; expecting to end our days in prison; seeing the organization we had helped to build violently throttled to death--then, within one year's tine, released and completely cleared of all stigma flowing to us from our conviction, with the strength of our early planting shown in the immediate restoration of vigorous activity--to me, this is a miracle of Jehovah, evidence that the planting was not man's but God's, revived by him to grow even more, with his spirit bringing the increase.
Yes. It is the spirit of Jehovah that moves his people. But remnants of creature worship and human adulation still remained after the internal rebellion in 1917. These must be completely cleared out if the Society of Jehovah's witnesses was to be wholly dedicated to God's service. Rutherford struck at the very heart of this structural weakness.
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