1917 Watchtower Bible Student Schism - A2Z.org

(referring to the above four) are set, therefore, upon brcaking
you, and say emphatically that nothing will brcak their
urpose nve the death of one of their members of thc
board." Brother Wisdom further said, "I tried to reason
with thu poor Fother, but reason seems to have gone from
him altoper Further Brother Wiadom aaid to me: "I
lamed rom them that they are determined to oust Brother
Maanillan and permit you to continue m President without
pow- and that they are to run things, you to give your
approval, pur wnsurt t not to be asked for." Brother
Widom further said that Brother Hirsh stated to him that
if they could not get control by peaceful methods then their
yrpae ia to invoke the law of nun, tie up the money of the
oc~ety, in the B d so no one could draw it except themselves.
He further said, "Then if you will not bow before
them it will prove that JOU are rebellious." Th further
mid to Brother Wisdom If ruin follows in the w&, it will
be the 'Judge' (referring to myself) who will be responsible
altogetha."
BROTHER WISDOM'S LETTER
A few days later, Brother Wisdom wrote me the following
letter:
"Dm BROTEEP RVIHP~OPD :-
"In view of the trying experiences through which
you and your associatea ue pusing it seems proper
that I should give you in writing a brief aummary
of what I utd to ou in person while in Chiago.
"The rucnce oTthe charges made against you by.
the 'Board Member,' who apparently usumed to
8p.d for the other three with whom he is in league,
mlght be comprehended in one sentence: You'are
a wlrrpcr of authority. But to particularite briefly:
You have over-ridden the Charter of the Society, set
aside itr By-laws and ignored the Will of the Founder.
In short that you are running everywhere with a high
hand. without regard to the kw of God or man
"The 'sore spot' s e a to be that you have not 'consulted'
what some one hu dubbed the 'Big Fouf
in every little detail pertaining to the managanent
of affairtin other and plainer words that they would
and lhorrld be the Red directors of things.
"It is openly charged-and this was reputedly
stated to me, that you are aet upon rusntng the Society
if you annot run thing your own war, in
other words, you are actuated altogether by a Rule
or Ruin Spirit Quoting the words of our victorious
Pastor, 'They seem to be guilty of the very things
they charge against you! (This from a letter written
just a short time before his death, a copy of
which ia fn my paucrsion.) They say they are regarded
u but Zkrmmica,' and apparently they would
make of you r 'Figurehead.' This seems to be their
real purpose40 take all power out of your hands
save what they are willing that you should exercise.
"It ia freely charged that you have set aside Brother
Rwrelrs rrnngements in the conduct of affairs at
headdquuten. They specialize in this the contract
of aale of the Drama, the 'throwing out,' as they
expressed it, of the Anglophone, and changing the
methods of conducting the Pastoral Work. Then
you have set Brother Maanillan over everybody and
everything, one whom they brand as a Czar and
scoundrel. They seem to think no more of 'evil
speaking' than of the anticipated pleasure of sitting
down and eating a good dinner. I could not repeat
the awful things they said to me about dear brother
Mac-not merely the case of a wrong head but
wrong kcart, that in effect he is a disgrace to the
brd's cause. I listened to all this without remonstrance
for I wanted to see how far they would
go and how much of the Spirit of the Adverrorp
they would manifest, besides I well knew
that rrprooft would be worse than useless, a waste
of aery. I feel sure that this was but theworkof
the Dtor From certain other information that came
to me, I believe I would be marranted in surmising
tkt tfiii 'evil rpenki is being freely indulged in
these poor &6a r Brethren. I pity them from
R
e battam of heart, for I love them all.
"So this is r h kind of a man you have chosen
for your Ucotcnrnt and they re resolved that 'this
mm shall not rult Ovar them. They are set therefate
upon 'brsrkh ye*' and say emphatically that
nothing will change their purpose, save the death of
one of their members of the Board-the officers are
not co~isjdercd as members-THEY are THE Board
of Directors.
"For some reason the Lord seems to have purposed
that I should have become possessed of these facts.
for I really tried to evade what came to mc (The
manner I have already urphined to you;) I tried
to reason with this poor Brother but reason aeems
to have gone from him altogether. I then warned
him of .what the results would be if they pursued
the course outlined to me-that it would surely wreck
the work of the Society. He free1 admitted that he
too saw this. but there is a GAT Principle at
stake which to forsake would mean the loss of his
crown, the Prize. Therefore to my warnin he was
immune I then pleaded with him to let 8roUaerly
Love continue. to controt He Profes~ed deep Love for
you, but protested that he .must be faithful to his
stewardship or lose the Crown promised to the faithful
stewards. He just had to do what he did not like
to do, etc So all my efforts were in vain. I mode
no impression whatevcr, though we continued this
talk from a little after eight o'clock till a quarter of
one A M.
The gist of their purpose being to oust Brother
Mac, and permit you to continue as President without
power-what they all 'The Board,' the 'Big Four,'
are to run things, you to give your approval, your
consent is not to be asked for. If Fey cannot get
control by eaceful methods then thew purpose is to
invoke the Lw of man, tie up the money in the Bank
so no one but these of their designat~on a n draw.
They protest however that this would not be a pealing
to Caesar, but I would like to know what erse it in
reality is, as I said to the brother. Then if you
wit1 not 'bow to them,' it wonld 'prove that you
are rebellious,' ctc What next they would do was
not explained. but if ruin follows in the wake of such
course it would be the 'Judge' who would be responsible
nltogether. You are not spoken of as Brother
by these, it seems.
"There may be other points I touched upon ia my
talk with you which I have omitted; if ro, it Ia ruerely
because they have st~ped from my mind for the mament
However, if you ted any points whldr m
your opinbn woald be of service to mu, then ref+
my mind please.
"In closing, 1 think I thoukl say that if I did not
finnly believe you and your a-laboras to be In the
absolute right in this aonrroverg, I wodd 81 so jwt
as freely u I rr~&
ha statemcats kreln. am not
thinking or considering rnna's approval I ~tand for
what I believe to be the Lsrd'r armnpcment The
Lord put ou Brathrrn where you are, not man.
It is hard tLefare for me to believe that ahould
put you out .But Nu win be done.
"In sincerest love and s~mmthv.
Your brother by If is ' Gmch
"W. M. WIW."
Learning that It waa the determination of there brothers
to take charge ot the Soeicty md run it or wreck it which
in my opinbn would b. he #.re result if $cy 616 tah
charge) and knowing that thq had no legal rig t to do so, I
considered ~uiousty what rn step8 should be. I consulted
some prominent and wire brdren as to my course. I asked,
"Shall I resign .aa Presideat and let these opposing ones take
charge" Each .one of the brethren replied, "Brother, the
Lord put you where you are;and to reslgn or quit would be
disloyal to the Lord."
SOCIETY'S ONLY POSSIBLE COURSE
I left Chicago on the night of the 11th and went to Pittsburgh,
and there took legal action to have a proper and legal
Board constitutcd as hcreinafter explained. I did this as a
last resort. On Friday, the 13th, I arrived at Brooklyn, and
that day I had a conversation with Brother Ritchie and
stated to him that I probably would have to be away the
latter part of the week and sug ested that we meet as a
Board on Tuesday, the 17th of fuly. He replied, "I think
that will suit us better." 1 thereupon sent notice to Brother
Pierson, and served notice on each of the brethren above
named, calling the meeting for Tuesday, July 17th. The next