The blessed light of truth, made radiant by the hope   of restitution blessings for all the families of the earth, revealed the love of God as nothing else could do; and it inspired love in the hearts of those who believed. Divine love is an unselfish principle that thinks of others and reaches out to bless them. It was inevitable, therefore, that the truth movement should be characterized by a fervency of the missionary spirit.

Brother Russell couldn’t keep the truth to himself. He devoted his personal fortune to spreading the message and used up all his vitality of mind and body for the same purpose. He felt that he could never do enough. The creedal gods were so mean and contemptible that he could not be satisfied short of devoting his all in showing forth the praises of the good God of love whom he found revealed in the sacred Word. And all who came into the truth felt the same way about it.

It was not surprising, therefore, that forty years of missionary effort by a group who were thus inspired by the love of God resulted in thousands accepting the message and becoming “truth people.” Nearly a hundred thousand subscribed to Brother Russell’s semimonthly magazine, The Watch Tower. Twelve hundred local groups of Bible Students elected him as their Pastor. Some of these groups numbered more than a thousand, many of them hundreds. The Brooklyn and London Tabernacle congregations were outstanding among these.

But now Brother Russell was dead! That he died while still active in the missionary field did not alter the fact that he no longer could be the pace-setter for the zealous workers who loved the truth they received through him and who wanted to lay down their lives to give it to others. He was dead, and the brethren were stunned. What now?