It was this grand and ennobling truth of “restitution” for a sin-cursed and dying race that proved largely to    be the inspiration of the “truth” movement which was inaugurated and fostered by Brother Russell. For the first time since the death of the apostles, this real essence of the Gospel was lifted free from the traditional rubbish under which it had been buried and was trumpeted throughout the earth.

Church leaders of all denominations were shocked that anyone would dare to preach what they considered to be a “second chance,” forgetting that the vast majority of humanity had died without having had any chance. So long had they been accustomed to circumscribing the grace of God and magnifying his vengeance that their narrowed vision of truth and their resultant shrunken hearts would not permit them to believe that God could possibly bestow his grace and blessing upon others besides themselves. As a result of putting the fires out in hell and portraying God as loving and ready and anxious to bestow his blessings upon those who had died in ignorant unbelief, Brother Russell became a hated object of attack and persecution by nearly all Christendom.

But that which called forth the cry of “Heresy!!” from his enemies warmed the hearts of those who responded to the original, and  now  revived,  Gospel  of  love—  the true Gospel of Christ. The word “restitution” was almost a magic one, opening up a new vista of hope    and inspiration. Men and women of all denominations responded. Atheists, whose largeness of heart belied the creedal god of torment, rejoiced to find the true God of the Bible. Regardless of former beliefs or disbeliefs, those who “came into the truth” were, by the sheer grandeur and beauty of the message, imbued with a determination to spread the good news far and wide.

“I love to tell the story, it did so much for me” is the way the “truth people” felt about it. And what a grand story  it was! Truly did the poet say, “It satisfies my longings  as nothing else would do,” Brother Russell himself once said, and very truthfully so, that if the Gospel of Christ as embodied in the Divine plan does not satisfy one’s longings, there must be something the matter with his longings.

The heavenly calling of the church became more understandable in the light of restitution blessings for the world. In fact, every phase of Divine truth radiated a new and better meaning when viewed in the light of restitution. We might almost say that without restitution the study of any part of the Bible merely leads up a blind alley and leaves the student without an answer to his questions. Restitution  proved  to be the common denominator of all the problems of Divine revelation. Without it there came endless controversies, contradictions, and chaos; with it there were found harmony and satisfaction and an incentive which could not be denied to tell the whole world these blessed tidings.

The hope of restitution for the world of mankind lifted the Gospel out of the realm of selfishness into the sphere of love. Those who “came into the truth” had no further use for that puny and selfish conception of Christianity embodied in the traditional prayer, “God bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us four and no more.” They knew now, and how they rejoiced in that knowledge, that God’s plan calls for the blessing of “all the families of the earth.”

For more than forty years this glorious Gospel of the grace of God was heralded forth by Brother Russell  in every conceivable way. Increasing thousands labored with him and rejoiced with him.  Together they scattered the message by printed page and from the platform, through the public press and the Photo Drama of Creation, and over the garden fence. Those who rejoiced in the restored Gospel of Christ were often referred to as “Russellites,” and sometimes “Millennial Dawnists,” but it made little difference what the world called them, for they knew that “God had called them out of darkness into his marvelous light.”