Some Quotes From Russell Related to the Races

The Lord clearly teaches us, through the Apostle, that his preferences and favors are alike to all the New Creatures – according to their zeal, according to their love for him and the principles represented in him; and that conditions of sex, race, color, etc., of the mortal body have no bearing with him in his judgment of his people, in his estimation of them, and in the distribution of the final rewards. Knowing the Father's view of this matter, all of the New Creation must take a similar view of it, must esteem all New Creatures in Christ Jesus as "brethren," must be kindly affectioned toward all, must seek to serve all, must know no partiality amongst the brethren, except such as the Lord himself showed – in that he favored and honored those who showed the largest measure of zeal for his cause. But all this impartiality, this ignoring of sex, color, race, etc., belongs to us as the New Creation, and only partially affects our mortal bodies, and their relationship with each other and with the world. Hence, the proprieties of conduct and relationship between the sexes must be maintained by the New Creation.

Obeying the spirit of the truth you recognized that all who trust in the precious blood and are consecrated to the dear Redeemer and seeking to follow his leadings are "brethren," regardless of race or color or education or poverty or homeliness. You reached the point where your heart is so free from envy and pride and selfishness, and so full of the spirit of the Master, that you can honestly say, I love all the "brethren" with a love that is sincere and not at all feigned.

It is not true that divine favor has gone with the whites exclusively, and against the blacks and other colored races; civilizing the whites and barbarizing the others. If civilization and barbarity are to be the tests entirely, we have only to take in a wide scope of history to see the fallacy of the view presented. Eighteen centuries ago the white peoples of Europe, with their straight silky hair, were savages, idolaters, barbarians — far more degraded than were the millions of India and the millions of China at the same time. This disproves this theory at a glance.

We hold that the Lord is no respecter of wealth or of men's persons, but that he looketh at the heart, and that the pure in heart and the sincere in consecration are acceptable to him regardless of color or social or other standing amongst men.

Adam’s death sentence passed by heredity upon all of his children, irrespective of their degrees of sinfulness. None of them being perfect, none of them therefore being worthy of everlasting life, all of them must die, whether with much or little pain, whether by famine or pestilence or war or accident. Justice took no note of the method of dying, but merely of the fact that they must die.... To bring Adam and his race back from the tomb signifies their resurrection. This is the promise of God’s Word that because Christ died for man’s sin therefore in due time “there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust.” Acts 24:15.... The new Judgment Day is designed by the Creator for the benefit of Adam and his race. In other words, it will be a second great trial of the race, the difference being that the trial will be individual, and the rewards or punishments individual, not racial.

Mankind is one family: God "hath made of one blood all nations of men." (Acts 17:26) Each member of the human family is a human brother to every other human being. All are children of the one father, Adam, a son of God (Luke 3:38), to whose joint-care the earth with its fulness was committed by God as a stewardship. All are therefore beneficiaries of the divine provision; for still "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." The fall into sin, and its penalty, death, accomplished by a gradual decline – physical, mental and moral – has left all men more or less impaired, and each needs and should have the others' sympathy and aid in proportion to the degree of his impairment and consequent dependence, mental, moral and physical.

We stick to the Bible as God's revelation and, hence, superior to all human conjectures. It declares the solidarity of the human family in no uncertain terms, saying: "God made of one blood all nations of men." (Acts 17:26) And again that Adam was "the first man." (1 Cor. 15:45,47) Again the story of the deluge is most explicit to the effect that only eight human beings were saved in the ark, and they all children of Noah – descended from Adam. The variety of human types, or races, must be accounted for along the lines of climate, customs, food, etc., and especially along the lines of the seclusion of the various peoples in various quarters from each other, by which peculiarities became fixed.

The Bible shows that God has manifested His favor toward the negro. For instance, Zipporah was an Ethiopian, Ebed-Melech was also an Ethiopian, one of Zedekiah's household, and very zealous for Jeremiah, the Lord's Prophet, and was specially honored by the Prophet.... The inspired witness of the Lord settles this question [about the Negro] beyond doubt when he says (Acts 17:26), "God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."

the Scriptures are positive in the declaration that Adam was the first human being. In 1 Cor. 15:45,47, he is called the first man. In Acts 17:26, it is stated that God "made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth;" in other words, all the peoples of the earth are descended from Adam, no matter how different in color, stature, intelligence, etc., they may now be.

The Scriptural teaching is that God created man in Eden, and that all the families of the earth are the posterity of this first man, Adam; and because of this relationship to Adam as their father, and their consequent relationship to his sin and its penalty, death, therefore all in Adam die – his entire race is a dying race. The belief in the ransom settles this doctrine most thoroughly, showing that our Lord's life redeemed the life of father Adam, and thus incidentally redeemed all who lost life through him. "As by man came death, by man also came the resurrection from the dead; as all in Adam die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." "Of one blood God hath made all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." – Acts 17:26.

"How shall we account for racial differences? ... From the Scriptural standpoint we must and do recognize all of the human family as one race, of which father Adam was the original head; a later head being Noah."

"The beast of the field God created without moral sense, but of man it is written, 'God created man in His own image.'(Gen. 1:27) God endowed man with reasoning faculties, the sense of justice, of right and wrong. This endowment He did not give to the brute beast, and yet we know from experience that the negro possesses these Godlike qualities."

"Every effort made for the uplift of the negro race is commendable, and should have the sympathy of all honest men."

"The inspired witness of the Lord settles this question beyond doubt when he says (Acts 17:26), 'God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.'"

"The whole race was condemned in Adam. We are all of one race. We were all alike sinners, the same sentence upon all, from Father Adam."

"Since the death of Christ the arrangement between God and those whom he acknowledges as his children is called the New Covenant -- sealed or made of force by Christ's death, -- by the precious blood of Christ. Its provisions or benefits are not for one race or family of mankind merely, but are open for all people, -- through faith in Christ."