by Finkelstein 1 Replies latest watchtower bible
I came across this web site that I thought was chock full of information about C T Russell
and his beginning operation of the WTS., as well from whom he was getting some of his
theological ideas from.
Some of you I think are aware of it, but for those who are interested I'll leave a link.
http://www.catholic-forum.com/members/popestleo/jwhistory.html
This bit on Jonas Wendell I thought was interesting in its familiarity to what the WTS. put out by C T Russel and J Rutherford.
The Present Truth or Meat in Due Season , written by Jonas Wendell in 1870. (Wendell was the Adventist preacher Russell credited with restoring his faith.) On pages 35-36, Wendell explains Miller’s “mistake” and proposes 1873 as the year chronology pointed towards:
All those who are familiar with the views of Father Miller know that he terminated the seventy weeks or 490 years at the crucifixion of Christ, in A.D. 33. Here we discover a mistake of thirty years: for it is certain the seventy weeks did not end at the cross, but extended on to about the time of the Roman army going against Jerusalem. In one of the published lectures of William Miller, he said: "Let my enemies show any other year in which all these periods will center, then I will admit I may be mistaken." Time proved that which his enemies could not do. I must confess that it did appear to me that no other year could be found, in which all the periods would center, until within a few months; and now I am satisfied that the year 1873 is the year in which the 2300 days [years], the 1335 days [years], and the 6000 years end. They come together in that year without the sound of a hammer; there is no passage of Scripture strained from its plain, literal meaning to reach this result .
On page 45 Wendell gave 1880 as an outside date for Christ’s return:
"This generation" who see these things begin to come to pass "shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled." It is certain. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." That this is the true import of the passage is to my mind clear, from the fact that the events here specified did not take plane in the lifetime of those who heard him, but were to, and did, take place since the "great tribulation" ended. There is no other rational conclusion but that the same generation who see the signs of an event should live to witness the event signified by those signs. As a generation is equivalent to a hundred years (compare Gen. 15:16 with Matt. 24:13), and the first sign was the darkening of the sun in 1780, this generation will end in 1880: therefore we may expect the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven before 1880.
