Early Opposition in the United States

For 32 years (1884-1916) the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was Charles Taze Russell. He was a fearless preacher and a prolific writer. He boldly denounced and refuted the Trinity doctrine, the immortal soul and eternal hellfire teachings. At one time Russell’s sermons were being featured every week in some 3,000 newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. Consequently he was under constant attack, mainly by the clergy. Many of his enemies stooped to personal attacks in an attempt to discredit him. How did he view these slanderers? He once said: “If you stop to kick at every dog that barks at you, you’ll never get very far.”

He decided not to waste a lot of time and money in the courts, which would only give more publicity to his clergy opposers. He believed in the rule that Jesus laid down: “For there is not a fine tree producing rotten fruit; again there is not a rotten tree producing fine fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. . . . A good man brings forth good out of the good treasure of his heart.” Russell preferred to let the good fruitage of his ministry vindicate him.​—Luke 6:43-45.

“Some Will Grow Angry”

Yet the greatest opposition arose shortly after Russell died. During his lifetime he had published a series of Bible study volumes called Studies in the Scriptures. It had been his intention to write a seventh and final volume, or, as he said, “If the Lord gives the key to someone else, he can write it.” Russell died in 1916, and the seventh volume, called The Finished Mystery, was then completed by the Brooklyn headquarters staff and released in July 1917. Within a few months it had reached a circulation of 850,000 copies.

The book was a stinging exposure of Christendom’s clergy class and of the political manipulation of patriotism to justify mass murder by both sides in the world war. The preface to the book stated: “Some will murmur and find fault with this book; some will grow angry, and some will join the persecutors.” The blow that fell on the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was very severe. How did it come about?

In April 1917 the United States declared war against Germany and thus became an active participant in World War I. The British Empire, including Canada, was already embroiled in that war. This combination of events along with a few paragraphs in The Finished Mystery gave the clergy their opportunity to try to smash this Bible Society.

In the United States, a district court in New York issued a warrant for the arrest of the Watch Tower Society’s new president, J. F. Rutherford, and seven of his close associates. They were accused of “the offense of unlawfully, feloniously and wilfully causing insubordination, disloyalty and refusal of duty in the military and naval forces of the United States of America . . . [by] distributing and publicly circulating throughout the United States of America a certain book called ‘Volume VII. Bible Studies. The Finished Mystery.’”

In the midst of war fever and inflamed patriotism, the eight accused were submitted to a travesty of court proceedings that ended with seven of them, including lawyer Rutherford, each being sentenced to four concurrent terms of 20 years’ imprisonment. The eighth individual accused was sentenced to 10 years. Since appeals had been lodged, bail was requested. Catholic Judge Manton refused their request.

After nine months in the Atlanta penitentiary, the Watch Tower officials were finally released on bail pending their appeal. It was later shown that the original trial contained at least 125 errors, of which only a few were needed to have the erroneous convictions reversed. Thus J. F. Rutherford and his associates were exonerated. In fact, he went on to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States, which would have been impossible if he had been convicted of any crime.

The Clergy and Mob Violence

However, these events unleashed a wave of persecution to which the clergy eagerly added fuel. Here was their chance, with the excuse of patriotism, to crush the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society once and for all, they thought.

A report informs us: “In a town in the State of Oregon the Mayor and two clergymen organized a mob, chased one of the lecturers of the [International Bible Students] Association out of the city and followed him to a neighboring town. The lecturer escaped, but the mob caught the friend who accompanied him and covered him with a coat of grease and tar. . . .

“At Los Angeles clergymen made their boasts that the Bible Students would be arrested and held without bond. Some of these clergymen went about to owners of apartment houses and tried to induce the owners to dispossess tenants who are members of the International Bible Students Association. . . .

“April 22, 1918, at Wynnewood, Oklahoma, Claud Watson was first jailed and then deliberately released to a mob composed of preachers, business men and a few others that knocked him down, caused a negro to whip him and, when he had partially recovered, to whip him again. They then poured tar and feathers all over him.”