Russell's Alleged "Perjury"

A writer on a blogsite states:

In 1913, Russell sued Baptist minister J.J. Ross in the Ontario High Court for libel for a tract Ross wrote about Russell the previous year.

The very titles of Ross' publications: "Some Facts (and More Facts) About the Self-Styled 'Pastor' Charles T. Russell," belies the deceptive spirit of the publications, since Charles Taze Russell was indeed appointed first as "pastor" by the Allegheny Church associated with the Bible Students, and he was later appointed as "pastor" by many other churches all over the world. Ross simply ignored those appointments. (Russell believed that every consecrated Christian, sanctified by the blood of the covenant, was "ordained," appointed by God, to a ministry.) Of course, what Ross meant by this is that Russell had never been appointed as "pastor" by what Ross considered to be accepted sources for such an appointment by men educated in the Protestant doctrines of men and their philosophies, that is, by a Baptist, a Methodist, or similar school. And yet, how many denominations that can give scriptural authority for its own ordinations and the scriptural right to forbid it to others, or to question the scripturalness of other denominations' or religious groups' ordination than its own? Some have tried, but all such, in the end, leads to assumptions being read into whatever scriptures are presented.

The writer continues:

Ross accused Russell of being undereducated in areas of religious concern, such as theology, classical languages and philosophy.

The above represents a rewording of what Ross actually said. Russell had, through his own self-study educated himself along many lines. The fact that he did not receive his education at the hands of humanly-recognized sectarian theological schools does not mean that he did not understand what he was writing about. That Russell did correctly present the usage of Hebrew and Greek words was confirmed, with some few minor exceptions, by Paul S. L. Johnson, who was well-educated and who was a thoroughly trained scholar in both Hebrew and Greek. Johnson graduated from from Capital University in Columbus, OH on May 25, 1898. He won the valedictory and also the highest honors ever given in the history of that university. He also graduated from the Theological Seminary of the Ohio Synod of the Lutheran Church. He was thoroughly educated in both Hebrew and Greek; this gave him the skills necessary to understand the Bible from the original languages. He had been taught in the seminary the doctrine of eternal torture of those not saved; through his studies of the Bible itself he came to understand that a God of perfect, wisdom, justice, power and love, would not, could not, punish his enemies with such a punishment as eternal roasting. He also came to see the Hebraic viewpoint of God, as opposed to the trinitarian or oneness views. With few exceptions, he confirmed the conclusions that Russell had reached. (See his books "God," "Creation," "The Bible," "Christ--Spirit--Covenants," etc., in which he verifies most of Russell's conclusions and elaborates upon the Hebrew and Greek usage involved.)

Russell did not perjure himself in court. He did at times, evidently after hours of interrogation, seem to be confused over some questions, but this can happen to the best of us, especially after more than two or three hours of questioning. Nevertheless, there is evidence that Ross rearranged the sequence of events of what actually happened in court in order to give the impression that Russell had committed perjury. The only court transcript was stolen from the county clerk's office in Hamilton, Ontario, evidently by Ross. Nevertheless, there is no court record showing that Russell was ever accused of, or charged with, perjury, nor was Russell ever accused by any court of perjury.

The charge of libel was considered a criminal offense in Ontario. Thus, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Ross. Ross evaded the officer for some time and even failed to keep his appointment at his church to prevent the officer from taking him into custody. Finally, he was taken before George E. Jelfs, Police Magistrate, on the charge of criminal libel. Upon a hearing he was committed for trial. Upon motion, the Superior Court quashed the commitment because of a technical error in the proceedings. Ross was again taken before the Magistrate.

When the case came on for hearing the second time Pastor Russell, who was a necessary witness, was away on an extended trip in Panama and other parts of the South, filling appointments previously made, and had no notice of the date of hearing. Ross and his counsel tried to make it appear that Pastor Russell was evading the trial. As soon as Pastor Russell returned to Brooklyn and heard that he was wanted he immediately notified the Magistrate that he was ready to come to Canada. He did go and gave his testimony. Again the Magistrate committed Ross to appear before the high court to answer an indictment to be preferred by the Grand Jury. When the case came before that court the Judge of the court, in charging the Grand Jury relative to its duties, among other things, said to the jury: "Unless the jury finds that this alleged libel would cause a breach of the public peace in Canada then no indictment should be returned, but the parties should resort to civil suit for damages." The jury returned "no bill," and it is manifest that they could not have done otherwise under this charge of the Court, for the reason that Pastor Russell lived in Brooklyn, New York, and Rev. Ross lived in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and it would be physically impossible for the libel to cause a breach of the public peace when the parties were so far apart. It is because of this that Russell "lost" the court case.

Thus it will be seen that the issues were never tried and never determined. Pastor Russell did not resort to civil action for damages, for the reason that he was advised that such an action would be useless, since Ross was irresponsible financially and could not be compelled by such a proceeding to publish a retraction.

Thereafter, Rev. Ross published another pamphlet against Pastor Russell which for unmitigated falsehoods and misrepresentations of facts. Selecting here and there isolated paragraphs from the court records, he twisted them, added to, misrepresented and made them appear entirely different from their true meaning. This could not have been accidental on his part. For instance, among other things, he charges: "He (Pastor Russell) sought to evade payment fixed by the court by fleeing from one State to another, making it necessary for his wife to get an extradition order, which she did, and which led to the condemnation of the cunning pastor by a third court, and the increase of the alimony." Rev. Ross probably did not know that extradition proceedings cannot be resorted to in order to enforce a money judgment. No "extradition order" was made, nor were there any extradition proceedings. But probably Rev. Ross thought the people would believe his statement, even though false, because he is recognized as "Reverend."

Ross charged that Pastor Russell was unlearned because he was not a graduate of some theological school. Yet there are many living men who never even saw the outside walls of a theological school who know more about the Bible and its teaching than is taught in any theological college in the land. Pastor Russell was not a graduate of any man-made theological college, that is true. The greatest lawyer this country has produced -- Benjamin Harrison -- never attended a law school. Theological colleges teach theology, usually the traditions of men, but not necessarily the Bible, except that they might be able to make the Bible appear to be in harmony with their theology and tradition. Pastor Russell, however, probably knew the Bible better than any other man in his day.

Upon this point we should note the words of Dr. G.W. Bull in his learned treatise of "The Gospel of John," as follows:

AN IRREGULAR (John 7:15). That is what they all say. The crime of Christ was that He had not taken a course in their college. 'Whence hath He learning?' There are some professional policemen who must protect all learning; medicine, law, gospel, or what not. If you never went through their schools of learning you are a freak, and there is something suspicious about your good sense. These men thought there was only one way of learning -- they would ask a certificate of the sun! There are many schools and schoolmasters in God's universe. Cease your criticism of any Christian scholar. Let him learn in his own way; the Kingdom of God is going to make great progress when some of these high brows are removed to Heaven. Sometimes a man's utterance of profound Truths is stated in poor grammatical form, and the philosophers are puzzled by his power. They wonder where he got it: I do not know -- probably his alma mater was his mother's knees -- then let him speak. Remember today: 'God hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the mighty.

It has ever been the rule of those entrenched in error to persecute others who bring forth light and truth, exposing error. Why was Jesus persecuted by the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees? Because He taught the people! He said to them that because of their selfishness they persecuted and killed the prophets whom Yahweh had sent to teach the people.

The apostles taught concerning Jesus and the resurrection of the dead, and the Priests, Sadducees and Pharisees persecuted them. Why? "They were grieved that they taught the people."--Acts 4:1-5.

Is it because Pastor Russell was at one time engaged in secular business, or because he was connected with some business corporations several years ago, or because they are especially interested in his domestic relations, that many who profess Christ persist in persecuting him even long after his death? No, indeed! Why then? BECAUSE HE TAUGHT THE PEOPLE! And yet the truth, to those who receive such with an honest heart, actually exposes the decietfulness of those who continue to spread lies, misrepresentations, distortions of facts, quotes out of context, misquotes, etc., in order deceive the masses.

For more concerning the alleged "perjury" of Russell:

http://tinyurl.com/4ocwz
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/6444/perjury.htm
http://www.pastor-russell.com/life/lie1.html

Much of the material in this presentation has been adapted from:
http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/contents/history/gr8%20battle.htm