by biblexaminer 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
IN RE "THE LAST TRUMP"
Bro. H. B. Rice, editor and publisher of The Last Trump, has been obliged by circumstances beyond his control to suspend its publication. Knowing that such a course was probable, we two months ago proposed to Bro. Rice that we would supply THE WATCH TOWER to his subscribers, instead of The Trump,... w1879 Vol 1, page 3
CT Russell with his 'Watchtower' moved in on The Trump 137 years ago. Will the modern day Watchtower follow suit?
There's a biography and photograph of Hugh Brown Rice in Schulz and de Vienne's book, Separate Identity, Volume 1. http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/b-w-schulz/a-separate-identity-organizational-identity-among-readers-of-zions-watch-tower-1870-1887/paperback/product-21546337.html Here is part of it:
Hugh Brown Rice
H. B. Rice entered the picture through a letter to Barbour. He became a prize convert whose interest was cultivated by both parties. Hugh Rice was born in Eden’s Ridge, Tennessee, on October 6, 1845.[1] He “united with” the First Presbyterian Church in Knoxville in 1859 and attended East Tennessee University at Knoxville where he won a twenty-dollar prize for “declamation,” or public speaking in 1867.[2] He completed college preparatory classes and his freshman year there. He enrolled in Amherst in September 1867, where he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.[3] Rice graduated in 1870 and enrolled in Amherst’s Auburn Theological Seminary where he “was for a time.”[4] He may also have attended Christian Theological Seminary, a Disciples of Christ seminary in Rock Island, Illinois.[5]
He “preached for a short time among the Presbyterians.”[6] Rice was ordained as a Disciples of Christ minister at Webster, Illinois in 1872. One of his first assignments was the Disciples of Christ congregation at Washburn, Illinois, and a history describes him as one of a group of worthy ministers who were held in “high esteem” by the congregation.[7] He was also pastor of a Disciples congregation at Rock Island, Illinois. By 1875 Rice was a Disciples evangelist in California where he was pastor of congregations in San Francisco and Oakland.[8]
Edmund Gruss, seldom accurate, and Zygmunt, asserted that Rice had been a Millerite.[9] Basic research – simply finding his birth date – disproves this. Rice was never an Adventist. He was, however, attracted to Age-to-Come belief as represented by The Restitution. In the mid 1870s David Renner from Illinois and a “Brother” Wagner preached the One Faith message in California. Rice and his wife attended their meetings and were convinced. In March 1878, one of their number, Thomas Hughes, recounted this and the formation of a small group of believers:
We started together not quite one year ago, but prior to this, Brothers Renner and Wagner had introduced the one faith and truth to be found only in the Bible to the people and created not little wondering among sects; and to the brethren mentioned, through their kind words and influence of God’s Word (for it is influential to those that are not blinded) sister Wagner (now diseased), myself and wife were immersed by Bro. Renner into the truth – the one faith, and the glorious promises of the soon coming kingdom of our dear Master. Oh! Happy day for us when we were brought to see the truth. Since then we have had Brothers Corbaley, of Hearldsburg, and [Benjamin] Wilson of Sacrament, Cal. With us, and many a pleasant hour we had together.[10]
When Thomas Hughes wrote (late February or very early March 1878), their small congregation numbered eleven souls, including “Rice and wife at Sacramento.” Rice was still associated with the Disciples of Christ, though he had started to preach the One Faith message. Rice wrote that he preached “some seven years among the ‘Disciples,’ but that, seeing the way of the Lord more clearly in reference to the life eternal and the gospel of the kingdom, I was baptized on the confession of this faith by Brother Richard Corbaley in Yale County, Cal., in 1878 or ’79.”[11]
By January 1879 Rice was fully committed to the new doctrine and resigned from the Disciples ministry. He wrote to his parent church at Oakland:
To the members of the Central Christian Church, of Oakland, Cal.
Since I am at present considered as a member of your body, and as a minister in
good standing among the disciples of Christ (as you think it right to call
yourselves); and since I have recently changed my views concerning the commonly
named doctrines of the immortality of man, the state of the dead, and the
kingdom of god, I feel it is my duty to withdraw from your
body.
I would not willingly and knowingly misrepresent you. I desire to do towards
others as I would have them do towards me. I disclaim all unkind feeling, and
avow the most friendly emotions towards you all personally.
I have received only generous treatment from the church of which you are members, and cannot, therefore, be moved in this stand from any but the strongest convictions of duty. These convictions are based on a careful and independent examination in the Book of God in the honest desire and full determination to accept its teachings at all hazards.
While, then, I reject your teachings on the subjects specified as but the teaching of men, making void the word of God, I have the warmest and most charitable feelings for you all personally.
I beg you to consider this resignation and withdrawal from you (as a religious body) as positive and final.
Most respectfully,
Hugh B. Rice
West Oakland,
Jan. 10, 1879
The Oakland church published his letter in The Christian Standard.[12] They recommended a withdrawal of fellowship: “H. B. Rice has gone out from us not being of us, as clearly shown by said letter. We do recommend that the church withdraw its fellowship from H. B. Rice, and that his name be dropped from the church book.”
H. B. Rice contacted Barbour in late 1878, his first letter to Barbour appearing in the January 1879, Herald of the Morning:
Some one, I know not who, has sent me several copies of your paper which I have
read with interest; indeed for years I have been deeply interested in
everything pertaining to the second advent.
Your views are new to me, and I never like to take up with a new teaching
without investigation. [I] have been preaching among the Disciples for six or
seven years. I do not want to be led away by fanciful interpretations; nor do I
want to miss any light which God has made it possible for me to receive. I
notice that you apply John 16, “guide us into all the truth” to the gospel
church; do you mean directly by the Spirit imparting new revelations to
Christians of the present day, or that through the Scriptures we may be led
into all truth? If the latter, I am with you, otherwise not.
[1] Several birth locations are given for H. B. Rice. Among them is Rogersville, Tennessee. The Samuel Moore Bible Record has an entry for his birth: “Hugh Brown Rice was borned October 6th 1845 on Monday 2 O’clock P.M.” No location is noted.
[2] Lucius S. Merriam: Higher Education in Tennessee, Bureau of Education Circular of Information No. 5, 1893: Contributions to American Educational History, No. 16, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1893, page 69.
[3] W. Maxwell: Greek Letter Men of the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States, College Book Company, New York, 1903, page 220
[4] H. B. Rice to Editor The Restitution, September 1, 1887.
[5] General Catalogue of the Auburn Theological Seminary Including the Trustees, Treasurers, Professors, and Alumni: 1883, Daily Advertiser and Weekly Journal Printing House, Auburn, New York, 1883, page160.
[6] H. B. Rice to Editor The Restitution, September 1, 1887.
[7] N. S. Hays: History of the Disciples of Christ in Illinois: 1819-1914, The Standard Company, Cincinnati, 1915, pages 451-452.
[8] General Catalogue of the Auburn Theological Seminary Including the Trustees, Treasurers, Professors, and Alumni: 1883, Daily Advertiser and Weekly Journal Printing House, Auburn, New York, 1883, page160.
[9] E. C. Gruss: Apostles of Denial, page 33.
[10] Thomas Hughes to S. A Chaplin as printed in the March 13, 1878, issue of The Restitution. Richard Corbaley was a native of Indiana, the first white child born in Indianapolis. He was a minister of the Church of God (One Faith) and was Marshall County, Indiana, clerk. He died in 1903 in or near Los Angeles, California. (See N. W. Durham: History of Spokane and Spokane County, J. S. Clarke Company, 1902, volume 2, page 808.) Included in this small group were members of the Kimball family of Stockton. The Kimballs connect to one of the authors of this book through his Great-Great Grandmother’s first marriage.
[11] H. B. Rice to Editor The Restitution, September 1, 1887.
[12] The Case of H. B. Rice, The Christian Standard, March 22, 1879, page 90.
You can follow Schulz and de Vienne's current research here: http://truthhistory.blogspot.com/
Old Goat20 hours agoThere's a biography and photograph of Hugh Brown Rice in Schulz and de Vienne's book, Separate Identity, Volume 1. http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/b-w-schulz/a-separate-identity-organizational-identity-among-readers-of-zions-watch-tower-1870-1887/paperback/product-21546337.html
Interesting. I may get the books.
I have been looking through my old Watch Tower bound volumes, very carefully though as they are old, old, old.
The story they tell... Mmmm Mmmm
@ biblexaminer...
Oh, yeah; there's some seriously weird shit in those old publications.
Ol' Freddy Franz could have given Hubbard a run for his money.
:smirk:
