Having traced this main detour from that great teaching which was the very lifeblood of the truth movement un- der the leadership of Brother Russell, let us now go back again to the time of his death and note other developments. Not all Bible Students remained in one group. Far from it. Some ceased their cooperation almost immediately upon Brother Russell’s death. Others “left” in connection with the “Seventh Volume” incident; and through the years, for one reason or another, other brethren withdrew their support from the “Society.”

Among these many who did not choose to remain in the “channel,” various “movements” developed, each with   a different viewpoint of the needs of the times. One had its inception in the northwestern part of the United States and Canada and, while it found adherents here and there, it never became organized outside of that limited area. Those who became associates of this movement were noble, earnest, and self-­sacrificing Christians.

And they were good students of the Bible, too. They had learned the truth and could give a reason for their  hope. They refused to compromise the truth and its ap- plication to their Christian lives. Their stand embodied also the refusal to buy war bonds and in other ways to cooperate with the war effort during the first World War.

The “Seventh Volume” also was involved in their conception of loyalty to principle and truth. These dear brethren accepted “The Finished Mystery” as the very book which Pastor Russell intended to write but didn’t. They believed that it was the posthumous work of Brother Russell. So, when those who published the Seventh Volume repudiated it,_, they stood fast in its support; and some of these brethren still do.

This movement, as a coordinated effort, was short ­lived. The brethren tried to work together without having any work to do, and the inevitable result was disintegration. And why did they have no work to do? It was because they decided that the harvest work of the Gospel age had ended with the death of Brother Russell, hence that a public proclamation of the truth would no longer be pleasing to God.

This was an unfortunate viewpoint because it robbed the truth of much of its joy-inspiring power. With the missionary incentive banished by speculative interpretations, the brethren found outlet for their energies in picking doctrinal and other flaws with one another, with the result that divisions and subdivisions became the order of the day. They stood fast in the truth, all right; but, by holding it exclusively for themselves, they lost much of its spirit. The theme song of love, the voice of God, ceased to be a power inspiring them to lay down their lives that others might have an opportunity to learn that God intends to bless all the families of the earth. They loved the truth, but forgot that God had called them into his marvelous light in order that they might show forth his praises by telling it to others. They forgot that their worthiness to share in the blessing of all the families of the earth during the next age depended upon their interest in all the families of the earth now.

With many of these, however, the zeal of God’s house continued as a flame that could not be quenched. The fact that leaders said the work was done could not and did not quench that flame. It burned on, and today is again finding expression in the joyful work of telling the whole world these blessed tidings.