The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

The History of an Interpretation 47
restarted in June 1875 as the Herald of the Morning, thereby
dispensing with the first part of the earlier title.
In one of the very first issues (September, 1875), Barbour
published his calculation of the Gentile times, making them
terminate in 1914 C.E. 48 (See following page.)
Charles Taze Russell
In 1870, as an 18-year-old businessman in Allegheny, Pennsylvania,
Charles Taze Russell, together with his father Joseph and some
friends formed a class for Bible study. 49 The group was formed as
an outgrowth of Russell’s contacts with some of the former
Millerites mentioned above, especially Jonas Wendell, George
Storrs, and George Stetson.
Wendell, a preacher from the Advent Christian Church in
Edenboro, Pennsylvania, had visited Allegheny in 1869, and by
chance Russell went to one of his meetings and was strongly
impressed by Wendell’s criticism of the hellfire doctrine. Russell
had been brought up a Calvinist, but had recently broken with this
religious background because of his doubts in the predestination
48 Actually, Barbour hinted at the calculation already in the June, 1875 issue of
Herald of the Morning, by stating that the Gentile times began with the end of reign
of Zedekiah in 606 B.C., although he did not directly mention the terminal date (p.
15). In the July issue, he stated that the Gentile times would “continue yet forty
years.” Although this seems to point to 1915, it is clear from the subsequent
issues that Barbour had the year 1914 in mind. The August issue contains an
article on “Chronology” (pp. 38–42), but the Gentile times are not discussed. The
1914 date is directly mentioned for the first time in the September, 1875 issue,
where the following statement is found on page 52: “I believe that though the
gospel dispensation will end in 1878, the Jews will not be restored to Palestine,
until 1881; and that the ‘times of the Gentiles,’ viz. their seven prophetic times, of
2520, or twice 1260 years, which began where God gave all, into the hands of
Nebuchadnezzar, 606 B.C.; do not end until A.D. 1914; or 40 years from this.” A
lengthy discussion of the calculation was then published in the issue of October
1875, pp. 74–76.
49 Charles’ parents, Joseph L. and Ann Eliza (Birney) Russell, were both of Scottish-
Irish descent. They had left Ireland during the great Irish famine of 1845–1849,
when one and a half million people starved to death and another million emigrated
abroad. Joseph and Eliza settled in Allegheny in 1846, where Charles was born in
1852 as number two of three children. As Eliza died in about 1860, Joseph had to
take care of the upbringing of the children. As a youngster, Charles spent most of
his leisure time in his father’s clothing store, and at an early age he became
Joseph’s business partner. Their successful company, “J. L. Russell & Son, Gents’
Furnishing Goods,” finally developed into a chain of five stores in Allegheny and
Pittsburgh.—For additional biographical notes on Russell, see M. James Penton,
Apocalypse Delayed. The Story of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Toronto, Buffalo, London:
University of Toronto Press, 1985, 1997), pp. 13–15.
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