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Chronology and 607 BCE · Claim record

The same foreword told readers that the chapter ‘should be read with just as fresh interest as in the first edition, because its lessons have not altered or changed’, and that ‘scarcely a word of the Volume would need to be changed if it were written today’ — although a measurement in that chapter, and the date it was said to establish, had by then been altered between printings.

Claim ID claim-chronology-pyramid-lessons-not-alteredConcerns 1 October 1916Context
Context · 1 October 1916 Verified

The same foreword told readers that the chapter ‘should be read with just as fresh interest as in the first edition, because its lessons have not altered or changed’, and that ‘scarcely a word of the Volume would need to be changed if it were written today’ — although a measurement in that chapter, and the date it was said to establish, had by then been altered between printings. Studies in the Scriptures, Series III — Thy Kingdom Come (1,595,500 Edition), 1 October 1916Millennial Dawn / Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3 — Thy Kingdom Come, 1891Studies in the Scriptures, Series III — Thy Kingdom Come (839,000 Edition), 1910

Show the evidence (3 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

Studies in the Scriptures, Series III — Thy Kingdom Come (1,595,500 Edition), “The Author's Foreword”

1 October 1916 · pp.ii-iii · C. T. Russell · International Bible Students Association

“The Great Pyramid of Egypt discussed in this Volume has not lost any of its interest to the author. … We have never attempted to place the Great Pyramid, sometimes called the Bible in Stone, on a parallel or equality with the Word of God … We do, however, still believe that the structure of this Pyramid, so different from that of all other pyramids, was designed of the Lord and intended to be a Pyramid and a witness in the midst and on the border of the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 19:19.) … It should be read with just as fresh interest as in the first edition, because its lessons have not altered or changed.”

The foreword is signed 'Charles T. Russell. Brooklyn, N. Y., October 1, 1916', about a month before his death on 31 October 1916. In the paragraph immediately before the words quoted here, Russell restates the chapter's symbolic readings one by one — the Descending Passage, the First Ascending Passage, the Grand Gallery, the Step — and says that 'The connection between the top of the Grand Gallery and the spaces above the King's Chamber still represents the spiritual presence of our Lord in the Harvest of this Age, beginning with 1874.' Of the volume as a whole he writes that 'scarcely a word of the Volume would need to be changed if it were written today — 26 years later'.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. The foreword was opened and read in full in this session. Its pages are numbered in roman numerals; page-level extraction shows the pyramid passage beginning on p. ii (which ends ‘… beginning with 1874. ii’) and continuing on p. iii. The signature and date are on p. iv.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive scan. Public domain. Page-level text was extracted from the item's djvu.xml, one block per leaf, and the printed page number read from each page's own running head.

Corroborated by. src-pyr-w-1922-0815-implicit-faith, src-pyr-ss3-1918-descending-3457-1915

Notes. This is Russell's last recorded statement on the subject, in his own words rather than a later summary. Two things should be held together when reading 'its lessons have not altered or changed'. The lessons he lists in the preceding paragraph are the chapter's symbolic readings, and those had not been changed. A measurement in the same chapter, and the date it was said to establish, had been changed between printings. The foreword does not say which of the two he had in mind, and nothing in the printings shows who made the change.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-pyr-ss3-1916-foreword

Primary JW publication Verified

Millennial Dawn / Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3 — Thy Kingdom Come, “Chapter X — The Testimony of God's Stone Witness and Prophet, the Great Pyramid in Egypt”

1891 · p.336 · C. T. Russell · Tower Publishing Co.

“Then measuring down the “Entrance Passage” from that point, to find the distance to the entrance of the “Pit,” representing the great trouble and destruction with which this age is to close, when evil will be overthrown from power, we find it to be 3416 inches, symbolizing 3416 years from the above date, B. C. 1542. This calculation shows A. D. 1874 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble; for 1542 B. C. plus 1874 A. D. equals 3416 years. Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1874 was the chronological beginning of the time of trouble”

The method is set out on the preceding page: one inch of passage is read as one year. The junction of the First Ascending Passage with the Grand Gallery is taken as the birth of Christ; the measure back down to the Entrance Passage, 1542 inches, gives 1542 BCE; the descending passage is then measured from that point to the mouth of the Pit.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Page 336 opened and read in this session; the figure 3416 and the date 1874 confirmed. The 1891 typesetting uses a 'ct' ligature that the scan's OCR renders as '6l' or '6t' (for example 'destru6lion', 'fa6l', 'jun6tion'). These have been expanded to 'destruction', 'fact' and 'junction' in the quotation; no other word has been altered.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'millennialdawn03inruss', the 1891 Tower Publishing Co. printing (University of Pittsburgh copy). Public domain. Page-level text was extracted from the item's djvu.xml, one block per leaf, and the printed page number was read from each page's own running head. Note for anyone re-checking this item: the item's page_numbers.json is one lower than the printed page throughout — it maps the leaf whose running head reads 336 to page 335 — so the running heads, not that file, are authoritative here.

Corroborated by. src-pyr-md3-1898-descending-3416-1874, src-pyr-ss3-1910-descending-3457-1915

Notes. This is the measurement that was later altered. The same sentence in printings from 1910 onward reads 3457 inches and 1915.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-pyr-md3-1891-descending-3416-1874

Primary JW publication Verified

Studies in the Scriptures, Series III — Thy Kingdom Come (839,000 Edition), “Chapter X — The Testimony of God's Stone Witness and Prophet, the Great Pyramid in Egypt”

1910 · p.342 · C. T. Russell · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“we find it to be 3457 inches, symbolizing 3457 years from the above date, b. c. 1542. This calculation shows A. D. 1915 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble; for 1542 years b. c. plus 1915 years A. D. equals 3457 years. Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1914 will be the beginning of the time of trouble”

The same sentence as in 1891 and 1898, with the measurement of the descending passage given as 41 inches longer and the resulting date moved from 1874 to 1915. The tense also changes: the close of 1874 ‘was’ the beginning becomes the close of 1914 ‘will be’ the beginning.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Page 342 of the 839,000 Edition opened and read in this session; the figure 3457 and the dates 1915 and 1914 confirmed. The title page reads 'SERIES III / Thy Kingdom Come / 839,000 Edition' and '1910'. The Internet Archive catalogue record gives the year as 1906, which the title page does not support; the title page has been followed.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive scan. Public domain. Page-level text was extracted from the item's djvu.xml, one block per leaf, and the printed page number read from each page's own running head.

Corroborated by. src-pyr-md3-1891-descending-3416-1874, src-pyr-ss3-1914-descending-3457-1915, src-pyr-ss3-1918-descending-3457-1915

Notes. The revised figure was therefore already in print in 1910, four years before 1914 passed. The change cannot be explained as a response to the disappointment of 1914.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-pyr-ss3-1910-descending-3457-1915

Claim page

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