1917 Watchtower Bible Student Schism - A2Z.org

~oavrr li 1917 HARVES.T SIFTINGS 17
sides consulting othu brethren u above indiatod I ePpre that, but I ahall make no agreement with you to Induce you
to the condusion that it was my duty to use th power which to do itn
the Lord had put into my hands to support the interuta of
the shareholders and all others intere8tcd in the Truth
NO REAL FAULT FOUND
throughout the world who are loolcing to me to erform my At no time have the above named four brethren or any
duti~ in l faithful w a r ; md to be unfaithful to them other person ahown or made any charge that the President
would be unfaithful to the Lord. f resolved to take action. hu in any m e t misconducted or mlsmamgcd the corpobowing
that the required three mmbers of the Board ntioa They reern to have suddenly taken on an unfortunate
to b residents of the State of. PennQlml% a d that the desire to receive honor u members of the Board of Dlrecappolntmat
should be mud8 a* Ptn lwnk I went to tors and to imist on exercising authority in giving orders
Pitbbuqh. and oa the 12th day of ~ d~,317, there appointed about how the work should be done I cannot so well express .
Dr. W. E- Spill md Brother J- A. Bobeb of Allegheny it myself as it is expressed in r letter written me by one of
County, Pennsyl~ni* a d Brother c Fifher~ of the pilgrim brothers, which I hereto attach:
Saanton, Pmo~lvanf; and Broth- A k Yacm~lhn, of
New York, u members of the Board of Directors. 'Wayntaboro, Va., July 9, 1917.
Each of the above named.brethren srgned a written ac- "DM Bnar~xn Rm9~ao:
ceptance of such appointment We then bad a full and com- "My heart rejoicu, after my stay at Bethel, to
plete Board of reven members, to-wit: Brothers Van Am- note the loyalty, modent~on, and wisdom from above
bur h, Pienon, Spill, Bohnet, .Macmillnn, Fhher, and Ruther- displayed by the brethren, specially on the part of
fort AIl of these brethren syned a statement consenting to those left in charge to represent the Society's Mana
meeting of the Board of Drrectors, agreeing that meetin agement. With both sorrow and chagrin I observed
of the Board of Directors should be held July 17, 1917. f the fallacious reasoning of 8ome who think it ir a
had given notice of this meeting to the above aforesaid serious blunder that they are not made more prombrethren,
Wright, Ritchie, Hirsh and Hoskins, as will be inent. From my observation at home and in the
seen by the correspondence hereinbefore set out, and had field, I fear that thee same brethren, instead of stirtheir
adcnowledgmeat of receipt of such notice .and a de- ring up the pure minds of the friends, are sowing
clination to attend the meeting that time beauae th were disloyalty to the Trutb and to the service.
not yet ready. On the morning of the 17th of Jul 7 again "Instead of thii procedure meeting with path
announced at the Bethel table the meeting of the Soard of it ia revealing how great a dhadvantage to ~ r o r ~
Directon, and one of the abo.pe four .approached me' and in it would be were such mted greater power. It b
a very insolent manner aaid, There will be no meeting of also observable that the wrong a irit u leading to
the Board of Directors today; pa ~dustind thatl" I misapplications of Scripture and tEe very Scriptures
merely replied, Very well, brother,
which read rightly would reveal the wrongnus of
At the hqur duignated, the duly md Uy constituted their course. misread, prove to them that they are
Board of Duectors of the WMC~ T m 'if= wrp Tlt~cr right. HOW sad, to see dear brethren approaching the
SOCQTY met, as p t notiq ~ md 'ebr~mt 4- ~d tram- 'outer darknus.
acted businus in roper form. At that made a "It would not be your fault, dear Brother Ruthwritten
report of & activiti~ and work o ZGtty since pford, if a bro.thefs over appreciation of his selfish
the death of Broth Ruasell, and after hariac the report, mterests, and ha under apprmation of the interests
the Board of Directors prepared and signed and passed a of the Lord's people, limited his usefulness and conresolution.
an exact copy of which appear8 on front page, tequcntly his prominence in tke service. HOW evident
The actions of at least two of the four brethren above it u that loving service toward the brethrm is given
named taken subsequent1 to their thrutr shows their inten- second place or completely lost sight of when such
tiom of carrying into elect their +WAIL Their scheme ru seek to stir up human mpathy on their side. What
to get up uatcment amongst the fna& on the score that 1 this be but the of fluh The grievvlce is
w a overriding the will and iporing the Board o! Directors . not that the Lord's people me not ruved, nor that
in th'e management of the Souety, and after aeatrng consid- the aervic$. L hindered, bat the entire ievlnce is :
uable sentiment against me. then to pass a resolution taking Dcy art not honortb Thae recm wilKg that the
out of my hands the managunent of the Society's affairs. ause shall suffer in order that their precious end
They expected a meeting of the Board of Directors to be
held on the 20th of Jdy. On Sunday night, the 15th of July.
and before they had intimation that I had hken action
to appoint members of3 e Board, Brother Hoskins cancelled
his appointment at Bridgeton, N. J and met Erother Hirsh
at Philadelphia, neither of them hamg a apporntment ther9
but they both appeared, and at a meehn of the Ecclesia
made accusations against Brother Van ~miurgh and myself dear brother, aa SO carefully seek the mind and will
and had the friend very much stirred.up. The day before. of the Lard Hat it givca the brethren rnnfidmca in
I had called a meetmg of the Brooklyn congre tion for an- you Beafur of thb the love and esteem th give
othu purpose to be held on Wedni$ay n. $; J~IY 18t+ you ir more to be ~ u e than d that based onKumm
Their purpose was to prevent a meetmp of %e Board until favodk.
after the Brooklyn con egation had met at which time they "We can well tremble to think of the pouibte conexpected
to start :anogr ron and then on ge 20th meet sequence of rebellior~ against our covenant of abedias
the Board of Directors to be my hands and. ~f I protested. enee to the will of Christ in favor of our hanrln will.
they would tie up the funds of the bank To be discredited "Be assured that if some make evident at they
before two congregations would have appeared as some no longer 'hold the Head'.in proper utwn, others
justification.to deprive me of the management of the Society. of us are dmwn et nearer to our Head, nearer to
All of this they were doing, because they had not been a& other. and Joser to yoarsclf and in loyalty to
honored as much as they thoyght they were entitled to be. the service which it ia otu meat and drink to accom-
The Philadelphia Class invited me to come there on the plish.
night of the 20th and make a statement of the facts. In the "Praying that everg tat may find us lop1 to His
afternoon before I started to Philadelphia Brother Hirsh will and our covenant of aacnfice, I remain,
came b me and said: "Brother Rutherford, can't we fix this
"Yours in the love and service of Christ,
thing up" I replied: "I am always wrlli: to fix up any- "M. L HZRL"
thing if it an be done rkhtn He said: &n't you put us
bad< as we were before" I said: "NO, Brother Hirsh, I THEIR GRIEVANCES AND INTENTIONS
cannot, and there is no usc to discuss thls point" He then
said: "If you will ut me back on the Board, I will go,out to The four brethren who brve taken a position in opposition
Philadelphia to-nigh ahd make it more UM ri ht with them 10 the affaira of the S-Q a d refusing to attend the meeta
d satirf nevbody." This I -promptly dehed, saying: ing of the Board of Director8, and the Bethel family being
"No, BroXer Hrrsh, I shall offer you nothing to take that SO disturbed about the conditions prevailing, it became netstand;
60 to Philadelphia and tell the truth. You did very essary for me to makr a shtemurt ublicly in the Dining
wrony going there the other nigh! and saymg what you Rooms which was done Tuadry, the 19th of Jul~
at the condid.
ow, if you want to do the right thing, go and tell clusion of which the attorney for Measrs. Hirsh, Hoskins
them the truth. rf you think the Lord would have you do and others .made a lengthy statement, followed by impas-