As to his education we quote his own words: “As respects my education in Greek and Hebrew: Not only do I not claim very special knowledge of either language, but I claim that not one minister in a thousand is either a Hebrew or a Greek scholar. To be able to spell out a few Greek words is of no earthly value. Nor is it necessary longer to study these languages in order to have knowledge of the Bible. Our Presbyterian friends have gotten out at great cost Young's Analytical Hebrew, Chaldaic, Greek and English Lexicon Concordance, which any one may procure. And our Methodist friends have issued a similar work—Strong's Analytical Concordance and Lexicon. And there is a still older one entitled Englishman's Hebrew, Chaldaic, Greek and English Lexicon and Concordance. Additionally, Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon is a standard authority. The prices of these are not beyond the reach of the average man. By these works scholarly information respecting the original text of the Bible is obtainable. I have all four of these works and have used them faithfully. Very few college professors, even, would risk to give a critical translation of any text of Scripture without consulting these very works of reference, which are standard. Additionally I remind you of the many translations of the Bible now extant—all of them very good. I have all of these and find them useful in comparison and study of any text—one [pg 056] sometimes giving a thought which another may not. The other day, for curiosity's sake, I counted Bibles in different translations, etc., in my study, and found that I have thirty-two.”—Z. '14-286.
As to his ordination we quote him again: “There are two ordinations proper. One is of God; one of men. The ordination of God is the begetting of the Holy Spirit. If any are preaching without this ordination, they are doing something that they are not authorized to do. There comes, however, another special ordination of those who are called ministers of the Gospel, in which class I count myself. This is ordination by the Church, and is recognized by all denominations everywhere. By some it is considered a mere form, by some it is performed with great ceremony, by others with less ceremony. But to our understanding, each congregation should have those whom it has chosen ordained in a Scriptural way—by the stretching forth of hands—by a vote. Whoever has not been ordained in these two ways is not an ordained minister of the Gospel in the Scriptural sense. First, the Divine ordination is necessary; second, the earthly ordination is necessary. By the grace of God I have both of these.”—Z. '15-358.
As to his doctrines we quote him the third time: “To us the Scriptures clearly teach that the Church is the ‘Temple of the living God’—peculiarly ‘His workmanship’; its construction has been in progress throughout the Gospel Age—ever since Christ became the world's Redeemer and Chief Corner Stone of His Temple, through which, when finished, God's blessing shall come ‘to all people,’ and they find access to Him. (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; Eph. 2:20; Gen. 28:14; Gal. 3:29.) That meantime the chiseling, shaping and polishing of consecrated believers in Christ's Atonement for sin progresses; and when the last of these ‘living stones,’ ‘elect and precious,’ shall have been made ready, the great Master Workman will bring all together in the First Resurrection; and the Temple shall be filled with His glory, and be the meeting place between God and men throughout the Millennium. (Rev. 15:6-8; 21:3.) We affirm the pre-existence of Jesus as the mighty Word (Logos)—Spokesman—‘the beginning of the creation of God,’ ‘the First-Born of every creature,’ the active Agent of the Heavenly Father, Jehovah, in all the work of creation. ‘Without Him was not anything made that was made.’ (Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15; John 1:3.) We affirm that the Word (Logos) was made flesh—became the Babe of Bethlehem—thus becoming the Man Jesus, ‘holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.’ As we affirm the [pg 057] humanity of Jesus, we equally affirm the Divinity of Christ—‘God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name.’ (Heb. 7:26; Phil. 2:9.)
“We acknowledge that the personality of the Holy Spirit is the Father and the Son; that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both, and is manifested in all who receive the begetting of the Holy Spirit and thereby become sons of God. (John 1:12; 1 Pet. 1:3.) We affirm the resurrection of Christ—that He was put to death in flesh but quickened in Spirit. We deny that He was raised in the flesh, and challenge any statement to that effect as being unscriptural. (1 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:8; Acts 26:13-15.) That the basis of Hope, for the Church and the World, lies in the fact that ‘Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man,’ ‘a Ransom for all,’ and will be ‘the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,’ ‘in due time.’ (Heb. 2:9; John 1:9; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6.) That the Hope of the Church is that she may be like her Lord, ‘see Him as He is,’ be ‘partaker of the Divine nature,’ and share His glory as His joint-heir. (1 John 3:2; John 17:24; Rom. 8:17; 2 Pet. 1:4.) That the present mission of the Church is the perfecting of the saints for the future work of service; to develop in herself every grace; to be God's witness to the world; and to prepare to be kings and priests in the next Age. (Eph. 4:12; Matt. 24:14; Rev. 1:6; 20:6.) That the Hope for the World lies in the blessings of knowledge and opportunity to be brought to all by Christ's Millennial Kingdom—the Restitution of all that was lost in Adam, to all the willing and obedient, at the hands of their Redeemer and His glorified Church—when all the wilfully wicked shall be destroyed. (Acts 3:19-23; Isa. 35.)”—B. S. M.
The amount of work that Pastor Russell performed is incredible, and it is doubtful whether it was ever equalled by any other human being. When he was in his twenties he was refused the lease of a property because the owner thought he would surely die before the lease had expired. For fifty years he suffered constantly with sick headaches, due to a fall in his youth, and for twenty-five years had such distressing hemorrhoids that it was impossible for him to rest in the easiest chair; yet in the past forty years he traveled a million miles, delivered 30,000 sermons and table talks—many of them 2-½ hours long—wrote over 50,000 pages (of this size) of advanced Biblical exposition, often dictated 1,000 letters per month, managed every department of a world-wide evangelistic campaign employing 700 speakers, personally [pg 058] compiled the most wonderful Biblical drama ever shown; and with all that, he found time in the course of each year to personally aid thousands with his fatherly counsel. At one time his writings were subjected to an analysis of 20,511 Scripture expositions. These were assembled in Biblical order and disclosed but six points of inquiry, all easily harmonized. No writer, not even excepting the writers of the Bible, have ever had such critical readers. His works have been published in 35 languages. During the last eight days of his life he had appointments in California, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and New York; and though for several days manifestly dying, with cystitis (caused by excessive travel and speaking), he declined to cancel any engagements, and went out of this life October 31, 1916, on a railroad train en route to his Kansas appointment. At the age of 30 he had accumulated a fortune of over $300,000, but died penniless, his own fortune, as well as all the large sums contributed to the cause, having been used up in the Master's service. He was beloved everywhere by those who “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.”—Rev. 14:4. For further particulars of Pastor Russell's service of God's people see Memorial Number of Zions Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence.
Of the church [of the Laodiceans] IN LAODICEA.—It is significant that in the first epoch of the Church there were Nicolaitanes (nikon ton laon), “vanquishers of the people,” a clergy class who succeeded in pulling the wool over the eyes of the common people; but that the last age of the Church is Laodicean (laos dike), “justice for the people.” We find we get along much better without the clergy than we did with them. The Laodicean period of the Church extends from the fall of 1874 to the spring of 1918, three and one-half years of preparation, and forty years of Harvest. “The parallels affected merely the nominal Jewish House there and the nominal Christian House here. Both were rejected because of failure to be in the right condition of heart for the truths that were due to them—both rejected for destruction. The Jewish System was a Church-State affair, paralleled here by the great Church-State systems of Europe, whose destruction began in 1914. Let us remember, however, that the three and a half years of Jesus' ministry were more a time of preparation of the Apostles to be the instruments for the harvesting and a sharpening preparation of the Sickle of Truth for the later work, which began at Pentecost. Prior to Pentecost, there was no ‘garner’ into which to gather the wheat.”
“Jewish And Christian Parallels
| “Jewish-Nominal Church | Christian-Nominal Church |
| A. D. 29-33 | A. D. 1874-1878 |
| “They knew not the time of their visitation.” | |
| “A. D. 33-36 | A. D. 1878-1881 |
| The Most Holy anointed, Divine favor prolonged for three and a half years to complete the 70 weeks of favor promised to Israel, their rejection being deferred. | |
| “A. D. 36-73 | A. D. 1881-1918 |
| Because of the overspreading of abominations, He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, or utter destruction—until all that God has predetermined shall be accomplished.—Dan. 9:24-27.—Z. '16-264. See pages [594], [595]. |
The foregoing is Pastor Russell's last expression on the subject of chronology; and we believe that it was designed to be of great value to the Lord's people at this hour. “The Apostles, the Prophets and the angels all desired and sought earnestly to know what time the Spirit of God indicated through the Prophets. And this interest on the part of His children is ever pleasing to God. He called the inquiring Daniel greatly beloved, and answered his inquiry so far as was consistent with His Plan. Such inquiry should not be regarded as an improper prying into the secrets of God. God would have us quickly discern the Truth as it becomes due.” (B. 17.) “Let none, then, of the truly consecrated under-value these prophetic time-evidences, which were designed to guide our words and deeds in the early dawn of the Millennial Day. These prophetic time-proofs were largely God's means of drawing the attention of the writer more carefully to other features of the Divine Plan.”—B. 31.
Daniel “understood by books” (Jeremiah's prophecy) the length of the great captivity of the children of Israel. (Dan. 9:2.) At Christ's First Advent there was but one time-prophecy calling attention to that event (Dan. 9:24-27), yet all the people “were in expectation” of it (Luke 3:15.) In the year 1190 the good monk Joachim declared that the Papal system was Antichrist, that the history of mankind is divided into three ages, and that in the year 1260 the Papacy would give way to a new system in which the whole world would be “one vast monastery.” “In 1260 the Council of Arles pronounced all followers of [pg 060] Joachim heretics.” His application of the correct principle, “a year for a day,” made in the very depths of the Dark Ages, is one of the most pathetic incidents in the history of mankind; but his study of time-prophecy brought him peace and joy of heart. He was an opponent of the prevailing “doctrine of the Trinity.” William Miller, in the year 1829, was privileged to see (approximately) the correct date for the setting up of the abomination of desolation (539 A. D.), and for the beginning of the Time of the End (1799 A. D.) Morton Edgar, author of Pyramid Passages, has found foreshown in the Great Pyramid of Egypt abundant evidence of the accuracy of the Bible chronology of Pastor Russell and the supplements thereto supplied by Dr. John Edgar, deceased. These findings are set forth in his work, Pyramid Passages, Vol. II, of which we recommend sections numbered in the following table. For convenience we give the citations to Pastor Russell's works in which the same items are discussed. The Pyramid is still there, and the measurements can be made by anybody. Pastor Russell's chronology was written before he ever saw the Pyramid.