The Rainbow

 (Much of the background to The Rainbow’s doctrinal position with its key players is taken from Edwin Le Roy Froom’s The Conditional Faith of Our Fathers, volume 2 (1956) starting on page 380.)

The Rainbow was a British monthly periodical which is of interest to those researching Watch Tower history. Its first issue was in January 1864 and its final issue was for December 1887. Its founding editor was William Leask (1812-1884). Leask came from a Congregationalist background and had the pastorate of the independent Maberly Chapel in London for the last twenty years of his life. After his death Joseph Bryant Rotherham (1828-1910) took the editorial chair. Rotherham came from a Church of Christ (Campbellite, Restoration Movement) background and brought the paper to its conclusion.

The purpose of the magazine was stated clearly on its title page.

The subheading “with special reference to the revealed future of the church and the world” remained with the magazine throughout its history.

According to Froom (volume 2, page 381): “Starting out as a forum for discussion of opinion, the journal soon became a veritable battleground of effective debate.” So in its first year, for example, you had contrasting articles side by side. From the April 1864 correspondence section you had “COMING” AND “APPEARING,” DIFFERENT (pages 180-182) immediately followed by (pages 182-184) “COMING” AND “APPEARING,” THE SAME. (pages 182-184).

The periodical fulfilled its brief with a variety of articles. In its first three years, subjects included:

PLAN OF THE AGES

SCRIPTURAL DATES OF THE TIME OF THE END?

SECOND ADVENT – PRE-MILLENNIAL

WILL THE RAPTURE BE VISIBLE OR SECRET?

WILL THERE BE A SECRET PRESENCE?

The concept of certain events being secret or invisible was frequently discussed and when Matthew 24 v.3 was explained, “parousia” was often rendered as “presence.”

Here are a few examples:

July 1864

July 1866

December 1868

When Benjamin Keith showed Nelson Barbour the Diaglott’s interlinear rendering “presence” in Matthew 24 v.3 in the mid-1870s, leading to the invisible presence explanation for 1874, he could perhaps have been a Rainbow reader. We will return to this thought later.

The magazine soon settled into its most identifying feature, promoting the tenet of conditional immortality. According to this belief, man does have an immortal soul and there is no literal eternal Hell fire; rather, immortality is only granted by God through Christ and is conditional.

The catalyst that led to The Rainbow’s reputation for this doctrine, was an article written by William Maude (1827-1883). Maude was a contributor to the paper from its very first year on various subjects, but it was his article on conditional immortality simply titled IMMORTALITY published in March 1869 that cemented The Rainbow’s position. Maude’s history and a detailed précis of this key article can be found in Froom, volume 2, pages 383-389.

This caused a furore and around five hundred promptly cancelled their subscriptions. But the die was cast. New subscribers soon replaced those who had gone, and the follow-up articles included (from 1870):

IS ENDLESS SUFFERING THE DOCTRINE OF SCRIPTURE?

LIFE AND IMMORTALITY ONLY IN CHRIST

Various names were given to this position, Life only in Christ, Immortality through Faith, Annihilationism, Conditionalism, but Froom (page 451) credits Leask and The Rainbow for popularising the expression “Conditional Immortality.”

In America writers like Henry Grew and George Storrs promoted conditional immortality and now The Rainbow was doing the same in Britain. It is therefore not surprising to find Rainbow readers in America.

A number of American periodicals mentioned The Rainbow. In the Advent Christian Church fold, The World’s Crisis called it “an able monthly” (1 April 1868) and offered to act as agent for American subscribers. From the Crisis for 13 October 1869:

Here it is called a “valuable monthly.” These offers and descriptions were to be repeated and the Crisis also frequently republished material from The Rainbow; perhaps most notably when William Maude’s key article on IMMORTALITY was serialised over three issues, 31 March, 7 and 14 April, 1869. 

Confirming the connection, the Crisis editor Miles Grant had a letter of support published in The Rainbow for February 1870.

When an official agent was appointed in New York to handle subscriptions, the Crisis published the information and continued to make positive comments such as (19 February 1873) “The Rainbow contains valuable articles from able writers. We commend it to our readers.”

Other Advent Christian papers followed suit. The Advent Christian Times (9 January 1872) with typical verbosity called The Rainbow “an invaluable arena for adventurers in the stupendous conflict of religious thought” and frequently reprinted its articles.

The Advent Christian Quarterly likewise reprinted material from The Rainbow’s pages. For example, from Volume 1, number 3 (January 1870):

In the Church of God/Age to Come fold, the Gospel Banner and Millennial Advocate (edited by the Diaglott’s Benjamin Wilson) regularly re-cycled Rainbow articles. See the example below from 15 May 1868.

The Banner was succeeded by The Restitution and that too used Rainbow material. One of the earliest surviving issues is for 16 December 1874, where an article is introduced:

The Life and Advent Union’s Herald of Life and of the Coming Kingdom frequently raided The Rainbow’s pages for copy. Under George Storrs’ stewardship, the Herald noted (March 29, 1871) that “The Rainbow is doing a great work in (Britain).” When an accredited agent was appointed for American subscribers in May 1871 (George W Young of New York) this was advertised in each weekly issue until nearly the end of the year, and the paper probably used Rainbow material more than any other American paper at this time.

When Storrs went back to producing Bible Examiner it too praised The Rainbow. The February 1874 issue described The Rainbow as being “filled with good and interesting matter.”

Storrs advertised that George W Young was still the American agent for subscriptions and articles continued to be taken from its pages.

Joseph Seiss’ Prophetic Times was another supporter. The November 1865 issue described the new periodical as a “sprightly and valuable English Magazine of Christian Literature” and like others reprinted material from it. A further testimonial from June 1867 read:

Looking at all of the above, if you were a reader of Adventist or Millennialist periodicals in the United States in the late 1860s and throughout the 1870s there was no way you could avoid The Rainbow.

We mentioned Benjamin Keith earlier. We know he was a regular reader of The World’s Crisis for a number of years. This paper contained a feature where the names of those who requested literature were listed. The name B W Keith occurs in this a number of times, including the issue below for 30 September 1868.

Other examples are found in issues for 24 June 1868, 4 November 1868, 9 June 1869, 28 September 1870, 12 October 1870, 21 February 1872, 31 July 1872, and 2 April 1873. In addition Keith attended New York State conferences at Springwater (including in June 1872) and wrote to the paper, for example, in its issue for 2 April 1873. He is also mentioned as a conference delegate in the Advent Christian Times.

So with all these quotations and links, the suggestion that Keith could also have been a Rainbow reader, and might therefore have partly absorbed the “invisible presence” concept from that source, while unproven, is perfectly feasible. But certainly the historical influence of this periodical was considerable.

In view of all the above, it is not surprising that the Rainbow had connections with certain key players in Watch Tower history and pre-history.

Here now are some examples.

 

George Stetson.

George Stetson (1814-1879) spoke at different times at Quincy Hall, Allegheny[i], and CTR credited him as an influence in Harvest Gatherings and Siftings (ZWT May 1890 and several times reprinted)[ii]. When Stetson died in 1879, CTR spoke at his funeral.[iii]

Stetson wrote a letter to The Rainbow in its issue for February 1873.

George Storrs

Another American figure, already mentioned, who features in Watch Tower pre-history is George Storrs. Storrs was a champion of conditional immortality and after leaving The Herald of Life returned to publishing Bible Examiner. In 1874 he visited Allegheny for a series of meetings, and specifically mentioned CTR’s father, Joseph Lytle Russell, as a friend he made there.

We have already noted Storrs’ enthusiastic endorsement of The Rainbow in Bible Examiner for February 1874 and he often reprinted articles from it thereafter. The Rainbow in turn referred to Storrs in its February 1879 issue.

Nelson Barbour

Barbour is mentioned several times. A British writer, retired Baptist pastor Elias Helton Tuckett (1814-1891), wrote for The Rainbow, and singled out Barbour for special mention. In an article entitled “Probable Time of the Second Advent” which ran in two parts over August and September 1877, Tuckett highlighted the predictions of Joseph Seiss for 1870 and then those for Nelson Barbour a little later. From the September 1877 issue, page 426, Tuckett wrote:

The article concludes with a summary straight out of Barbour, featuring the dates 1874, 1878 and 1881.

A further article by Tuckett in the November 1878 issue entitled “The Midnight Hour” also singles out Barbour:

These comments on Barbour were highly favourable, although an earlier review of his book Three Worlds was less so. From July 1876, and we assume written by editor Leask:

The review mentioned C F (sic) Russell as publisher of Barbour’s work.

The Crisis never deigned to review Barbour’s work, but in its issue for July 25, 1877 a correspondent took issue with the above review; not the actual criticism of Barbour – they fully agreed with that - but the statement: “The incurable tendency of our American brethren to fix dates for the advent and the resurrection is fatally exhibited in this pamphlet.” They felt this was unfair to Americans, and some of the British were just as bad.

Charles Taze Russell

CTR’s key work The Plan of the Ages (later re-titled The Divine Plan of the Ages) would be given a full-scale review by Joseph Bryant Rotherham in 1886, who by then was the paper’s editor. From The Rainbow for December 1886:

Rotherham starts very positively:

“THIS is a notable book—bold, broad, and breezy; very refreshing after the stereotyped dogmas and platitudes which pass current in the theological world. It is a book for men and not for children... “The Plan of the Ages” is a valuable production, and is probably destined to furnish material assistance in shaking down old walls and building up new.”

The review totals nearly ten pages. Rotherham concluded with:

“Only those who read dispassionately for themselves “The Plan of the Ages” will perhaps believe us when we assure them that enough in any case remains that is unimpeachable to render this volume such as is likely to repay abundantly any discreet man’s perusal. The Chapter on “The Permission of Evil” is alone more than worth the price of the whole volume, and is the fullest discussion of this great mystery, and the nearest approximation to a probably correct solution of it, with which we are acquainted.”

It should be noted that in the full review, Rotherham questioned some of CTR’s views on the millennium, dispensations, restitution, the person of Christ, judgment day and the nature of man. However, it has also been observed that many of these reservations were resolved by Rotherham in two detailed appendices in the 1902 edition of his Emphasized Bible.

 

Zion’s Watch Tower articles

This positive view of CTR’s ministry was reinforced when The Rainbow chose to reprint three Zion’s Watch Tower articles, all in the September 1887 issue. All three had been taken from Zion’s Watch Tower for July 1887. Pages 383-384 (Rainbow) carried the article THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST NECESSARY TO SALVATION. This originally appeared in Zion’s Watch Tower as part of THE VIEWS FROM THE TOWER. The Rainbow reprint concluded:

Then pages 401-403 carried the article “HOW CAN YE BELIEVE,” which was a complete article from the July 1887 ZWT.

And finally, almost immediately afterwards on pages 404-405 came the article REVEALED IT UNTO BABES which again first appeared in the July 1887 ZWT.

 

End of the Rainbow

The magazine was struggling with its circulation during 1887 and attempts were made to attract new subscribers. But eventually in the December 1887 issue Rotherham announced that it would be the last. Soundings were taken for a new replacement journal that would be half the size and half the price. But this apparently never happened.

One possible reason for this was that back in 1878 the Conditional Immortality Association was formed. Leask was one of the founding members. They organised annual interdenominational conferences. They also had their own journal The Bible Standard which started the year before in 1877. Its masthead proclaimed that it was “devoted to the doctrine of...Conditional Immortality.”

Other papers too promoted the same view like The Bible Echo (1872>) and The Messenger (1876>).

The Rainbow had served its purpose for 24 years but now it was time to call it a day.

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[i]See for example, World’s Crisis, 9 October 1872 page 3, and Speaker’s Appointments from 20 November 1872 page 27, and several weeks thereafter, also Advent Christian Times, 11 November 1873, page 112.

[ii] ZWT May 1890 page 4, Harvest Gatherings and Siftings, reprinted in ZWT 15 July 1906 page 230. Also incorporated into A Conspiracy Exposed and Harvest Siftings, special ZWT, 25 April 1894, page 96.

[iii]See Stetson’s obituary in ZWT November 1879 page 2, and World’s Crisis, 5 November 1879, page 102.