Only after 1900, as 1914 began to loom closer, did Russell’s tone start to sound suitably cautious. “We have never claimed our calculations to be infallibly correct,” he warned in the October 1, 1907, Zion’s Watch Tower. “Our claim has always been that they are based on faith.” By 1912, Russell had conceded that “there surely is room for slight differences of opinion on this subject,” reassuring his followers that nothing was set in stone. “We have merely pointed out what the Scriptures say, giving our views respecting their meaning and asking our readers to judge, each for himself, what they
...more
