The Parting of the Ways - 2

 

There is a certain poignancy to these two advertisements from the Washington DC Evening Star for October 7, 1922, page 10. In the Church Notices under Bible Students you were given two choices.

There were the regular meetings of the IBSA group at the Pythian Temple Auditorium. G W Walters was a local man, whose lectures were often advertised at this venue over 1921-1922. The visiting speaker was W E Van Amburgh.

But there was also a meeting being sponsored by the Associated Bible Students, which was the name now used by those who separated from the Watch Tower Society. The speaker here was F H Robison. Robison and Van Amburgh had been at Bethel together for many years and were jailed together as part of the “Brooklyn 8” in 1918. But Robison had left Bethel and his position on the Watch Tower editorial committee early in 1922. His journey would lead him into Universalism by 1923.

Here they were at the same city, lecturing at different venues. Interestingly, the timing as advertised would have allowed any wavering or curious to attend both meetings.