pleased to use them as his visible organization. No question about that!

BUILDING UP THE WORKING EQUIPMENT

7. What is our fundamental piece of working equipment?

⁷ But human vessels fit for the divine Master’s service need equipment for doing his work. The great Master Jehovah has shown his favor upon his visible organization by blessing it with the equipment needed to accomplish its tremendous work under the modern circumstances of this perilous epoch. The Bible, or a knowledge of what is in it, is, of course, the fundamental piece of equipment. In proof of this the apostle’s words to a man of God are: “Every Scripture inspired by God is useful for teaching, for convincing, for correction of error, and for instruction in right doing; so that the man of God may himself be complete and may be perfectly equipped for every good work.”—2 Tim. 3:16, 17, Weymouth.

8. What instrument is needed in conjunction with the Bible? Why?

⁸ The Bible societies of Christendom have distributed Bibles by the hundreds of millions of copies in more than 1,100 languages and dialects. Yet great ignorance persists as to its teaching. Sectarian confusion is bewildering as to its harmonious teaching. Jehovah’s Word is not of private human interpretation. He is his own Interpreter. He causes light to be shed on one Scripture text by others elsewhere in the Bible bearing on the same subject. He also brings to pass the fulfillment of Bible prophecies by definite events and then he calls the attention of his witnesses to such fulfillments in clarification of prophecy. He has appointed Christ Jesus the Head of his visible organization and his associate interpreter for the organization, “an interpreter, one among a thousand.” (Job 33:23) So Jehovah’s visible organization under Christ is a channel for bringing the divine interpretation of his Word to his devoted people. What then? An organizational instrument must be provided to help all lovers of truth and life to gain a progressive understanding of God’s Word and for freeing themselves from all the confusing, faith-destroying religious doctrines and creeds of Christendom. Such an educational instrument this journal The Watchtower was meant to be and has proved to be. Not fettered by any man-made religious creed, it has been free to advance in the truth as the divine Interpreter has led the way by Jesus Christ.

9. How did the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society develop?

⁹ Besides The Watchtower other spiritual food was provided through the pen of Brother Russell. This was regularly spread to all hungry ones by the then available means of distribution. To keep pace with Jehovah’s blessing upon the work Brother Russell organized the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, at Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1881 (The Watchtower, April, 1881), and three years later, in 1884, this was incorporated under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania. This incorporated Society has since served as part of the equipment God provided for his people to do every kind of good work in both American and foreign fields. He has preserved it to this day. It now has its main offices at 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn 2, N. Y., but has its registered office still in Pittsburgh, Pa., where its annual meetings for transacting business and electing the Society’s directors are held as required by Pennsylvania law. It is merely an instrument, a legal and publishing servant, of Jehovah’s visible organization, his consecrated witnesses.

10. Who was its first president? What was its chartered purpose?

¹⁰ This Pennsylvania corporation’s first president was Charles Taze Russell, and he was regularly elected to this office by the contributors to the Society till his death, October 31, 1916. The purpose of this legal corporation was well stated in the charter granted it on December 13, 1884: “The purpose for which the corporation is formed is, the dissemination of Bible truths in various languages by means of the publication of tracts, pamphlets, papers and other religious documents, and by the use of all other lawful means which its Board of Directors, duly constituted, shall deem expedient for the furtherance of the purpose stated.” The Christian purpose of the Society was harmonized more with developments and was stated in greater detail in an amendment adopted in 1944 and which altered the above article.

11. Why is world-wide attention centered on the Brooklyn Society?

¹¹ The Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society today is at the heart of a visible organization that has Branches in 63 lands of the earth, besides financing missionary homes and supervising Kingdom-preaching activities in 104 lands. Hence the interest of hundreds of thousands of Bible Christians or witnesses of Jehovah throughout the earth centers upon what is going on at Society Headquarters. They appreciate the spiritual service that the legal Society is rendering them. Their prayers go up daily to the Most High God for his blessing upon it and its work. That is why we here take up a brief account of the Society’s development from its beginning, to show its growth and its use as an instrument of Jehovah God.

12. How was a Bible-study aid series published and pioneering begun?

¹² In 1886 the Society published the first of a series of seven bound books to be aids to Bible study and known as “Studies in the Scriptures”. The sixth of these was published in 1904 by Brother Russell, and the seventh was published in 1917, after his death. For many years, down to April, 1926, those Studies in the Scriptures, translated into many languages and reaching a circulation of millions of copies, served as the textbooks for weekly Bible study by many congregations in all the earth. It was with the first volume of such Scripture Studies that the house-to-house missionary work, first known as “colporteur work” but now called the “pioneer work”, was begun, in 1886. Pioneers now number thousands.

13. How did the Society come into ownership of its first plant?

¹³ For years the literature was published by the Tower Publishing Company, which met all expenses and furnished the books, tracts, etc., to the Society at an agreed price. But in 1898 the ownership of the entire plant at Allegheny (North Pittsburgh), Pa., came into the hands of the Society, this carrying with it The Watch Tower, the Bible House with its complete outfit of office fixtures, type, stock of Bibles, Studies in the Scriptures, booklets, tracts, etc., together with tons of valuable electroplates of various publications in a number of languages. The Bible House there on Arch street was a four-story building built really for the Society’s use. From the first it was intended to be presented to the Society in course of time, and was valued at $34,000. The net equity of all this donation to the Society was appraised at $164,033.65. From here on the Society furnished its own capital, and all colporteur (pioneer) accounts, etc., were owing to it.

14. By what financial method has the work been supported till now?

¹⁴ It sent out traveling representatives who gave public talks and visited the congregations and served them with spiritual admonition, but never did these take up collections, either privately or publicly. The collection plate was absolutely banned from all congregational meetings, and all meetings were advertised under the legend “Seats free, no collection”. “Freely ye have received, freely give,” Jesus told the missionaries he sent out. Since this was Jehovah’s organization and work, it was felt he would provide the money for carrying on his work by his spirit moving upon his devoted people. So support of the work was left to voluntary contributions. In this way Jehovah God, whose is all the silver and the gold, has provided the money to this day, both for the local congregations and for the legal Society. This is another evidence that he is back of this visible organization.

TRANSFER OF HEADQUARTERS

15. What guided toward the moving of headquarters to Brooklyn?

¹⁵ In 1908 it was decided to transfer headquarters of the Society to Brooklyn, New York, as it was considered a more impressive place from which to carry on the newspaper work by which the weekly sermons of the president of the Society were published in newspapers throughout the land. At that time Brother Russell’s sermons were being published in eleven newspapers. But in course of time the number rose to more than 2,000 newspapers, with a combined circulation to 15,000,000 readers, concurrently publishing his sermons. All together, there were over four thousand newspapers in several lands which at one time or another published these sermons either free or for a charge. So Brother Russell became the greatest syndicate writer of his day. Many came to a knowledge of the truth by means of these published sermons. At the time of transfer Brooklyn was known as “The City of Churches”, and within a radius of a few miles of it there lived a population of seven and a half million of many nationalities. So Brooklyn was chosen as “our most suitable center for the harvest work during the few remaining years”. (The Watch Tower, Dec. 15, 1908) That Jehovah guided in this transfer to a bigger field for larger service is manifest, for it has been out from Brooklyn that the greatest work of the Society has been projected. Yes, from here has been directed the greatest campaign of announcing God’s kingdom by Christ Jesus in all the history of the Christian church. By his protective care and providence we are still here in Brooklyn in 1950, possessing greater equipment now than ever before for what we believe will be the grand climax of the global testimony to the name and word of Jehovah God and his Theocratic Government of the new world of righteousness.

16, 17. What events marked opening the new quarters?

¹⁶ Property was purchased at 17 Hicks street, Brooklyn, New York. This came to be known as the Brooklyn Tabernacle. On its second floor was a large auditorium seating 800, and here public addresses by Brother Russell and other Society representatives were to be delivered and other meetings held. The street floor was fitted up for office purposes, and the basement floor for the literature stock and the shipping department. Into this the Society began moving in January of 1909, and on Sunday, January 31, there was an opening celebration, almost 41 years to a day before a similar event this year which we are about to describe.

¹⁷ The total number attending that Tabernacle opening was about 350 from New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Newark, and other cities as far away as Boston. The following Sunday all the friends present from New York, Brooklyn and Jersey City voted unanimously to be parts of a congregation whose home would be at Brooklyn Tabernacle, and they unanimously elected Brother C. T. Russell to be “pastor” of the same. And so the designation “Pastor Russell”, by which he became known world-wide, was not because of any self-assumed title. Ephesians 4:11, 12 declared that Christ Jesus would give some of his consecrated followers to be “pastors”; and in view of the pastoral work Brother Russell was doing under the Chief Shepherd Christ Jesus the congregations throughout the earth voted him to be their acknowledged pastor. By extensive travels he personally served many of them. It was while on a tour visiting and serving congregations that he died, in great pain from a physical infirmity, on a train moving through the state of Texas, October 31, 1916. At a little Texas town his body was taken off and deposited in a basket on a loading platform of the railroad station, before it was finally taken care of for regular interment at a Pittsburgh cemetery.

18. How was the Brooklyn Bethel established and opened?

¹⁸ At the time of opening the Brooklyn Tabernacle the headquarters family numbered more than thirty. With that number it was felt that they fairly needed a hotel in order to house them. The Tabernacle had no living apartments. Hence property was purchased in the nearby residential section on the heights. This property, which was numbered 124 Columbia Heights, proved to be none other than the residence of a former famous Brooklyn preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, whereas the Tabernacle building had been the “Beecher Bethel”. After extensive repairs the dwelling was made suitable for the headquarters family. As the purpose was for this home to be a house where God dwelt by his spirit, it was called “Bethel”, that name meaning “house of God”. When the Bethel family finally got moved and established in the Brooklyn Tabernacle and Bethel home, the family held a reception for the friends outside, one night in April from 7 to 9 p.m. About 400 came. They were first received over at the Brooklyn Tabernacle and shown the features of this part of the Society’s equipment and then went to the Bethel home, where they were privileged to inspect the place. Before they departed, refreshments were served them in the dining-room in the basement. It was a grand occasion for then! Some time later the adjoining property, 122 Columbia Heights, was purchased and thus the home enlarged.

19. What other corporations were formed, and why?

¹⁹ In order that Jehovah’s consecrated people might hold these properties and carry on all the business connected with their publication work in New York state it became necessary for another corporation to be formed. In February, 1909, under provisions of The Membership Corporation Law of the laws of New York a membership corporation was established known as “Peoples Pulpit Association”, with a board of seven directors and of which Brother Russell was elected president. Thirty years later, by an amendment filed February 6, 1939, the name of this New York corporation was changed to “WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC.” The first issue of our magazine The Watchtower to be published as from Brooklyn was that of April 15, 1909. It announced as foreign agencies of the Watch Tower Society three Branches, in London, England, Barmen, Germany, and Melbourne, Australia. In 1914 it was found advisable to organize a British corporation for expediting the gospel-preaching in the British Isles, and thus the International Bible Students Association was formed. Brother Russell was elected president of this British corporation. He served in the capacity of joint president of the Pennsylvania, New York and British corporations till the day he died.

20. How was the Bethel enlarged in 1910-1911? With what features?

²⁰ In 1910 an addition to the rear of the Brooklyn Bethel home began to be constructed. This ran back to Furman street, at the foot of a precipice. So the Bethel addition, completed in 1911, extended down the precipice nine floors to the Furman street level. In this addition the Bethel dining-room was located, where the family ate together, and where study meetings were held; and a tank sunk in the concrete floor served as an immersion pool on occasion.

Postwar Enlargement of the Theocratic Organization

1. What silenced clergy ridicule as to predictions about 1914?

AWAY back in 1880 the columns of The Watchtower had called notice to Bible chronology marking A.D. 1914 as the year for the 2,520-year period to end referred to by Jesus as the “times of the Gentiles” in his prophecy on the world’s end. (Luke 21:24) In harmony with this it was expected that in 1914 the kingdom of God by Christ Jesus in the heavens would be fully established, while this world would be involved in an unprecedented “time of trouble”. The religious leaders and systems of Christendom were all set to laugh at Brother Russell and his fellow witnesses of Jehovah over failure of his announced predictions concerning A.D. 1914. But it was no laughing matter when, at the end of July, World War I broke out and by October it had become global in its scope. Christendom’s religious mouths were silenced at this frightening turn of events, but not Brother Russell’s. October 1, 1914, on taking his place at the breakfast table in the Brooklyn Bethel dining-room, he in a strong voice denoting conviction announced: “The Gentile Times have ended!”

2. What heavenly events marked A.D. 1914?

² Knowing that the world had now reached the time for its dissolution he refused to heed the plea of U. S. President Wilson for all clergymen and preachers to join in nation-wide prayer for peace. At that time it was not appreciated that there was also war up in heaven, between Jehovah’s newly inaugurated King Jesus Christ and the Devil’s hosts, resulting in the Devil’s being ousted from up there and debased to this earth for a short time before his destruction. But the Bible prophecies kept fulfilling. Light upon God’s Word, particularly Revelation, chapter 12,