C.T. RUSSELL'S FIRST BOOK —
THREE WORLDS (1877)

(Investigator 220, 2025 January)

C.T. Russell (1852-1916) is known as the founder of the Watchtower Society, hence the main founder of JWs.

Nelson H. Barbour (1824-1908) was an early Adventist (or Millerite) and lost his faith in the "great disappointment" of 1843-1844 when 100,000 people had expected Jesus' "second coming". He went to Australia and joined the gold rush. Returning to the USA he studied the Bible again and concluded that 6000 years from creation would end in 1873 when Jesus would return.

Barbour published these beliefs in his 1870 book Evidences for the Coming of the Lord in 1873 and in his magazine The Midnight Cry. The 1873 second coming failed, so Barbour tried 1874 and then discontinued his magazine. In June 1875 Barbour founded the Herald of the Morning. The name signified his new belief that Jesus returned invisibly in 1874 and the preaching work would finish in 1881.

The Seventh Day Adventist magazine The Signs of the Times mentioned Barbour in 1875:

Dr. N.H. Barbour "proclaims that the Lord has come and raised the righteous, but has not been seen by the living, but has commissioned him and his followers to preach the gospel, yet seven years, and to proclaim the hour of his judgment." When will these time-setting fanatics have done with their folly? (No. 36, July 15, p.287)

In 1876 Barbour converted Russell, and the followers of both men became one cult. Page 33 of Three Worlds summarizes their prophetic scheme which is detailed in the rest of the book.

Put briefly page 33 says that they were in 1877 in the final 3½ years before Christians, the dead and the living, are changed to immortality and go to heaven. Forty years of wrath were  "already commencing" and would finish with the rest of humankind risen from the dead to "fleshly life".

PROPHECIES

•    6000 years of human history ended in 1873;
•    Christ returned invisibly in 1874;
•    The dead "saints" were resurrected in 1875;
•    The "harvest" of the "saints" would finish in 1878 when the living "saints" (the Barbour-Russell cult) would ascend
      to heaven;
•    A 40-year final harvest period and "day of wrath" (or Armageddon) would finish in 1914.

There are other parallels between the ending of this age and the one at the first advent, that seem almost wonderful. From the beginning of the harvest, to their final and complete destruction, was forty years. This is, from A. D. 30, to A. D. 70. But as Christ began to preach when he was thirty, in the autumn of A. D. 29, it was really forty years and six months, to the destruction of Jerusalem, in A. D. 70. From the beginning of this harvest, at the end of A. D. 1874, to the end of the times of the Gentiles, and therefore, to the end of this time of trouble, coming on the christian nations, is forty years—or, really, as the harvest began in the  autumn of 1874, forty years and six months. (p. 129)

...the harvest, or end of the aion [age] began on the tenth day of the seventh month in 1874. And this time of harvest," measures three and a half years. If you ask how we know this, I answer, by taking heed "to the sure word of prophecy, which shines as a light in a dark place."  (p. 30)

Hence, it was in B. C. 606, that God's kingdom ended, the diadem was removed, and all the earth given up to the Gentiles. 2520 years from B. C. 606, will end in A. D. 1914, or forty years from 1874; and this forty years upon which we have now entered is to be such "a time of trouble as never was since there was a nation." And during this forty years, the kingdom of God is to be set up, (but not in the flesh, "the natural first and afterwards the spiritual)," the Jews are to be restored, the Gentile kingdoms broken in pieces "like a potter's vessel," and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and the judgment age introduced. These are some of the events this generation are to witness. (p. 83)

But after this remnant, that is, the living Jews of this generation have made there way back to Palestine, and the "waters of the Euphrates  are dried up," that is, the Christian nations of Europe, the kings of the east, and of the whole world are to be brought up to Jerusalem to battle, and the city is to be taken, as described in Zech. 14. Then the Lord shall appear with all his saints, and his feet shall stand upon the mount of Olives, which is a half mile to the east of Jerusalem, and overlooks the city. And the Jews, who have been worsted in the battle, will cry out, "Lo, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us" "Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations," and the battle of the great day of God Almighty takes place. This state of things, however, may not, and evidently will not, obtain for many years, probably near the end of the forty years. (pp 84-85)

And as from where the harvest of the Jewish age began, to A. D. 70, was forty years so this 2520 years, or the "times of the Gentiles," reach from B. C. 606 to A. D. 1914, or forty years beyond 1874. And the time of trouble, conquest of the nations and events connected with the day of wrath, have only ample time, during the balance of this forty years, for their fulfilment. (p. 189)

The "translation" or ascent to heaven of Barbour's cult, also referred to as their "deliverance", would come in 1878:

And as we journey on a little further, deliverance may come any time between this [i.e. 1874-75] and the end of the "harvest," in 1878. (p. 124)

REVIEW  and CONSEQUENCES

THE idea of this work is in 2 Pet. iii.—the world before the flood, that which now is, and the new earth which is promised. Mr. Barbour is entitled to honour for the care and labour he has, bestowed on this deeply interesting subject; but his book contains, amidst much truth, not a few doctrines and statements which are not only erroneous but mischievous. The incurable tendency of our American brethren to fix dates for the advent and the resurrection is fatally exhibited in this pamphlet. We say fatally, for it would be death to a book of far greater power than this to say that Christ ''left the holy place on Oct. 22nd, 1874;" and that "the resurrection began in the spring of 1875," adding the gross absurdity that the great mass of mankind are to be raised in the flesh, with the animal body." No one can believe these statements, no one should believe them, as they are simply incredible. We are thankful to any brother who teaches that the Saviour's coming will be pre-millennial, but we would have that divine truth kept clear from notions that have no foundation in Scripture.

The failure of the ascent to heaven in 1878 led to disagreements between Barbour and Russell and they separated in 1879. Russell tried 1881, then postponed it to 1914.

Besides failed prophecy, many other beliefs in the 1870s differed from later beliefs of JWs. Until 1881, for example, the cult believed the Trinity doctrine which JWs now call unscriptural and pagan.

Based on Paul’s statement at 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52 it had been expected 'that at some time the living saints would be suddenly and miraculously caught away bodily, thenceforth to be for ever with the Lord.' Believing this would take place in 1878, some were disappointed because nothing occurred that they could see. (p. 19)

Notice that neither Three Worlds nor Russell is blamed for what "some" wrongly "expected". It became standard practice through many further prophetic-date failures to blame the victims. The JWs leaders also constantly call the old beliefs "truth", "true light", "true worship" and similar labels. For example the Divine Purpose book in reference to the 1870s says:

So it is that after centuries of darkness and weeping, the true light of God's Word began to shine forth again and the message of Christ's return that began to be heralded so zealously was like a joyous shout at the dawning of a new day. (p. 15)

He [Russell] was a man of faith. He was highly privileged to understand the divine will and he knew it…
That same year, 1877, together with Barbour, Russell produced a book called "Three Worlds or Plan of Redemption." Nothing like it had ever been published before. It combined for the first time the explanations of time prophecies with the work of Restitution. At this early date they recognized that the end of Satan's period of uninterrupted rule of the earth, called "Gentile Times," would come in 1914. (p. 19)

From the time Pastor Russell had stood firm for true worship in 1878, throughout all the years The Watch Tower and its publishers had continued the war against compromise and apostasy, the evidence had been mounting to identify this body of Christians as having a singular place in the divine purpose. (p. 127)

CONCLUSION

The "this generation" mentioned in Three Worlds page 83 (quoted above) has now (2025) increased to five generations, during which about twenty further prophetic dates of the sect failed. None of it was "true light of God's word", "the divine will", "true worship", "Christian", or "divine purpose".

For further accurate knowledge about the "true light" of JWs see:

https://ed5015.tripod.com/jwdictionary/

https://investigatormagazine.net